You Know - There are Reasons I Avoid Zombie Stories....

I have to admit, I should really stop trying to be a glutton for punishment. I tried being brave today and watching the the trailer for the upcoming "Fear the Walking Dead". I was curious about how they would handle the initial outbreak and spread of the Zombie contagion. While the anticipation terrifies me - I was curious about what they had to show for their work.

I should not have tried.

I did not finish the entire video (when it comes in at just over three minutes that is truly saying something) and closed out the tab before I raised my blood pressure anymore. The hilarity is what comes after the initial terror.

*Listens to helicopter flying overhead as I leave work*
(Inner voice) "They must be on their way to the initial outbreak site. Maybe they are running from the first infect."

*Hears truck blasting its horn around the corner while walking to car)
"The zombies must have broken through. Maybe those are the reinforcements to try and stop them."

*Hears rustling in a shrub that is all of eight inches high and a foot wide.*
"Goddamn Zombies are here already!"

Also - why the flip do people need to take SOOO much time to recognize there are zombies and enter into execution mode. "Oh I see they are biting people now...." *Headshot* It makes me angry that people are so dumb. The first time I see someone start biting another one I am not going to lolly-gag about things.

Anyways - I made the mistake. Again. Now every out of place sound is making me get jumpy and prepare for a undead apocalypse. I look forward to the nightmares about this tonight.... *sigh*

Updates for the Month

My apologies for the lack of updates in the past few weeks. I have been trying to make progress on a few different fronts when it comes to the world of Theron - so I apologize but do not excuse my absence. That being said....

I am trying to make more happen with the books. My last post focused on Merchandising and how others have been successful with it. Some people that is all they had to do because their work stood on its own. I am in a bit of a catch-22 scenario for myself when it comes to this sort of thing. I want to make things happen that would be cool and help make the world my book takes place in more exciting - but I lack the funds to do it. I want the books to support this creativity habit of mine and at this early stage it's going to be hard. This is the struggle for all new artists - at first you are jut trying to get any notice and then have your habit support itself.

Will I get there? Sure - after a time. I am sure I will get somewhere with things. Following are a few of my goals for this year with my books.

Goal #1:
Finish the second book. Its getting closer - and I am very nearly at the tipping point so this is totally possible. However it will just be the first draft and will need to be edited and read through by Beta readers. Beta readers I still do not have a list of. (Applications please?) Editing will need to be completed by an editor.

Goal #2:
Line up a publisher. This will help with both distribution (getting in front of readers) and helping with the editing and drafting process. This will also help grease the gears to get the third book started and get the Zombie book written.

Goal #3:
Art Tablet. I want a tablet designed for graphic art work. Something I can electronically paint/sketch with to get some new products to go with the book. This will allow posters, t-shirts, pins, book marks and other fun stuff to get made.

Goal #4:
Do a convention out of state. Hell, just get to a few local conventions that are not scheduled on important family dates would be great. It would be awesome and terribly exciting to travel across state lines to bring the book to the masses.

Goal #5:
Finish composing my song. I have had this thing in my head for years, and it is about time I get it out of my skull and into some other heads.

I think all of these goals could be possible, and I will look into ways of making these more financially viable in the coming weeks. I will be recording videos for a Patreon campaign later this week and will launch it to get a little bit of additional fun stuff going. I will keep everyone posted and send out a link once everything is ready to go. 

Something New for Authors: Merchandizing

In the past I have written about how amazing the internet now is for the creative class. I have followed many different individuals over the last decade and a half on the internet, and some have risen to insane levels of stardom. And they all started with a small following to some videos posted online. My personal favorites are Lindsey Stirling, Scott Kurtz, and Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins.

That is not a ranking in any sort of way of how I feel about them. My love of each comes from a different part of the creative persona that is me. As hilarious as it sounds - I possibly found all of them within mere minutes of each other. I can't confirm that but I came across them all during a distinct period of my college life.

I had purchased the MMO Heroes Online - and inside was a comic that Scott Kurtz had done. I enjoyed it more than game and began following him online. Shortly after I probably came across Penny-Arcade - the creative child of Jerry and Mike. I tend to binge-read a new comic that I find so chances are I stayed up all night reading both online comics.

Lindsey I found perusing the precursor of YouTube. It was a video of her dancing about playing a song of her own on an electric violin. It was love at first site. Stringed instruments are my favorite type of instrument to be played as their sound is, well, exquisite to my ears. If your song has them in it I am already a fan. Lindsey is a talented woman and I am very glad to see she has gone from that living room and moved on to things like, I don't know, National Television appearances and World Tours. Both pretty epic. I would settle for just one, but both? Goddamn!

What does this have to do with authors? Well it matters because there are a lot more ways for artists to get themselves in front of audiences. That is competition. These artists are all creating more than just a single item for visual consumption, they are branding themselves and getting other ways of engaging audiences. This means that if writers are going to maintain the same involvement they are going to have to adapt and do the same thing.

Authors need to find ways of getting in front of more than just an audience of individuals who read books. They need to find ways of getting people to come back again and again when they show up at conventions. This means that instead of just writing a story - we have to create other items to go with our world.

I am already preparing to do this myself. Once I get a bit more money in - I will be ordering the first in a series of collectors pins that compliment my book series. I am toying with the idea of creating my own audio book so that I can offer my story in another format. Eventually I will digitally paint a full world map for my book - I already did so on paper with colored pencils to great success. Hell - I am even planning on ideas for t-shirts and small posters for my fans to purchase. I will hopefully help use this as a way to re-engage my readers between books, and help draw people in to the books as the audience builds.

I am not a marketing genius - if I was I would have been on The Colbert Show before it ended. What I do know is that the creative class includes Authors - and if we don't keep up with those who are doing more and more to engage the audience we all vie for, we will be left behind. Get out there, make some doodles for symbols or images from your stories. Create a map of your fantasy world. Your future success may just depend on it. 

Holidays And What I am Doing

I love Christmas. I could care two-wooden nickels about most every other holiday. Hell, I would gladly skip my birthday if all my family and friends would let me get away with it. I enjoy having an excuse to get gifts for people - and I don't think I have ever gotten people around me enough. I always wish I could do more and get more and decorate more. For those of you who know me closely you might think of this as being slightly out of character. I am so flipping ascetic with purchases for myself that I am pretty sure my wife and I have had money fights over me not buying myself new undershirts or socks I need.

I have not lived a life that including being spoiled on the holidays. In fact, a majority of my childhood Christmas memories have been, well, less than stellar. Once I got into control of my holiday experience (when I had a job and was an adult) I turned things around drastically. If I had the money - I would not even scoff at dropping multiple thousands of dollars on Christmas. Completely serious.

The first part of my adoration for Christmas comes from decorating with Christmas lights. I enjoy putting up Christmas lights. Any gap or space larger than three or four inches deserves more bulbs. I typically keep to the blue and white lights for my own home - but I will helps friends out with their own adornments of photons. It is my hope that when I own a home again, I take over the neighborhood at Christmas to decorate every home around with a huge light display. Eight house minimum. Think "Christmas with the Kranks" level of involvement.

The second and even more important part about Christmas is the whole "Christmas Spirit" thing. I don't need to get a bunch of stuff, I am not worried about commercialization of Christmas. What I care about is that it is a time set aside to care. Not like an a month of awareness like they do for Breast Cancer or Black History; this is a season devoted to the idea that we should take time with our families and loved ones. In an America where we are afraid to even take our vacation time we have earned and much of our workforce faces loss of income just to care for a sick child it is a welcome respite to know that culturally we are making a period of time about others.

Yeah - there are some horrible consumerist aspects about Christmas and every other Holiday out there. But the idea behind it, behind all the fluff and the advertisements and the gift giving and caring is something I love. That I look forward to. That ideal can't be taken from me.

I have been quiet this year as the holidays approached because I have not had the best of years. I lost some family that were dear to me. However this silence does not mean I have not been busy. Or more accurately, I have been supportive of a project my wife cooked up last year. We are having our second annual toy drive for a local Children's Crisis Center. My wife has a lot more friends than I seem to so I am glad she got this thing going. In our first year we were able to donate three care loads of stuff - toys, games, hygiene items and clothes. This year we may have even more stuff to donate - which brings me nothing but joy.

I spent some time in one of these Crisis Center's as a child myself. I was waiting for a foster home placement and I understand a bit of the feelings and experiences these children have endured. I did not stay nearly as long as some of these kids have - so the depth of what they are feeling is beyond what many can imagine. There is a certain loneliness that really can only be experienced to be believed, and each of these kids endures that. I still remember the feeling, but I don't know how to communicate that emptiness I feel when I look back to that time. My mind has a memory and my heart has an emotion but between the two I can't decide what the best way to help others understand this is.

So I want to do more. If I could take all of these kids and put them into homes today that would support them and help them heal I would do so. If I had the money I would take them all myself. Hell - I have even considered building a group home to make sure that someone is looking out for these kids. These children deserve a shot, they deserve to have someone, all of us, making sure that they can do great things with their lives. That they can create supportive families for their children they will hopefully have in the future.

So in the next few days I will be helping make a large, kick-ass delivery to a local center. I am helping make sure a bunch of kids who will never know me have a decent Christmas. It is pretty awesome to think about that - and it is something that I know I want to do more of.

So to anyone who read's this (that isn't already involved) take a look at the link here and figure out if there is any thing there that you have or would like to donate. These kids need the village to step up and make sure they have someone looking out for them. You can message me directly (Facebook or Email) and I will help you get something in the hands of these kids.

You know they deserve it. 

Jumping off into the Holidays

Halloween has passed us by and we are now quickly marching onward into November. I am a huge fan of the Christmas – mostly because of the lights. I am already planning my outside light display (soon lights… soon….) which will hopefully not blind my neighbors.

I had an interesting October that included a real vacation, recovery from having my wisdom teeth removed, and going to a convention and conducting panels. Hell – I even recorded them (insert links) so you can all view them at your leisure. I felt incredibly proud of my panel on sexual assault and consent issues. It is something I am personally attached to given the past I have lived through. If I could make a living just helping work to prevent women and children from being mistreated and abused I would probably do it. Though the work is hard and very "sticky" for me mentally. I would need a hell of a vacation policy to recover pretty regularly.

In book news, I am a little stuck in a very important chapter for the second book. It is a chapter involving Cael's father so I am taking careful pains to create the exact scene I want to help explain more of Cael's backstory and why he could be, well, annoying at times. I think there is a little piece of my mind in each of my characters – so I do get attached to them and their stories.

If you take the time to watch the author's panels, you will find that writers can even surprise themselves while they create these stories for your consumption. I create ahead of writing and while on the fly. Sometimes as I type the words into the word processor something comes to mind that just needs to be said/described/experienced and I put it down on the page. Just as a point of how important those little pieces are to me as a writer – Mesieve was created on the fly. There was no pre-thought into him; his story just happened. He has become a central character that I never knew I was going to have.

I also had some amazing networking opportunities at the convention I attended. The Comic and Media Expo was in Mesa, Arizona, and had a nice list of skilled artists and content creators for attendees viewing and purchasing pleasure. I am sure everyone wanted more people to attend, but that is the fate of every artist trying to make a living (or a hobby) out of hawking their wares. I did however get a chance to meet some awesome people, and make connections for content and ideas that I never thought of. A few people stand out and I would like to cover all of them in due time – however a couple major ones stand out I want to talk about today.

The first – Tavis Maiden. I started following his work when I saw him on Strip Search. He had his booth set up and was incredibly friendly to chat with. Since there were not too many people present I talked to him for the two days I attended around my panel times. I also gave him an ebook copy of my book since I got to read a lot of his stuff online for free as well. It's only fair. Don't know what he will do with it but I hope he reads and enjoys it.

The second person was Jessica Feinburg, who was selling many of her dragon themed art items. I can't really do her work justice by describing it, so please just go to her Facebook page and store and check it all out. I traded a book for a dragon play/place mat that I already put to use rolling the dice in my Pathfinder campaign. She tolerated my presence and gave me a lot of product ideas that I am trying to find a way to make possible.

Lastly, I want to thank those who attended the panels I was hosting. The convention was nice enough to give me time to fill – and I actually did which surprised even me. All of these videos are available on my YouTube channel linked off of my Facebook pages. If you get time, check them out. I will have a book signing in December so keep posted on the next time I am out in public selling/signing books for all of you. 

Terminal Defense Position: Pertek Castle

I do my best to keep track of what is going on in the world - its very important to understand our world and the events shaping it. I feel this is doubly important when someone is trying to write a story that includes global level events. If you don't understand the impact of that crop failure on a nation thousands of miles away your world begins to fray. You can't have an army destroy every food source available in its march to conquer the world without SOMEONE going hungry. Food comes and goes somewhere so you need to understand it.

I was reading up on what the Islamic State was doing in attacking a city near the Syrian border with Turkey and I discovered a very fascinating location for a Terminal Defense Position. Following the river just west of the city of Kobane, I followed the river into the mountains of Turkey. Once there I noticed an island with an old fortress on it. The fortress of Pertek.

Given its location, the island probably has more history hidden on it than any writer would dream of making up. Sitting smack in the mountains of Eurasia this sort of place is a wonder unto itself.

Limited Approach:
This is an island located in a lake surrounded by mountains. Can't argue against deep water with steep cliff approaches as benefits. However - in a global wipe out of humanity by zombies being in the connecting land between most major population centers of the planet might be a big downer.

Length of Stay Before Resupply:
Across the lake is ample farmland. If you prepare for it and bring solar panels it is on a similar parallel to my current one making solar electricity very viable. These two supply items would make the stay work quite well.

Supplies:
Farms will work decently for a long while, and being a freshwater lake it is likely to have some decent fishing. However mineral and technical resources are limited in the area - and it won't be an easy trek out of the mountain country to replace things.

This place is a defensible spot with food sources nearby. There is ample sunlight and fresh water would be readily available - as long as no contamination comes from upriver. I think this local with its food nearby makes a solid place to hang out in the apocalypse of undead.

Also - do a Google image search for this area. It is absolutely beautiful. All the good pictures I felt were copyrighted and I didn't want to deal with that issue today.

October Special Events

About a week and change ago I posted that I was waiting for some news, and I finally have it. I will be attending the Comic and Media Expo in Mesa in mid-ish October. The dates for this are the 17th through the 19th. This is a first year event, and it sounds like these people have their ducks all in a row. Not to mention they have what appears to be a pretty good guest list.

Speaking of guests - I am leading a few panels with local authors in the Phoenix area/region. First I will talk a little bit about the guests and then I will talk about the panels we will be doing.

Deena Remiel is the mind (and typist fingers) behind at least 16 different books (according to Goodreads) and enjoys writing stories involving the fight between good and evil.

T.M. Williams (Tina Marie) has written at least 10 works (again according to Goodreads). She focuses on Science Fiction and Horror writing, but has at least one Business book to her name.

Patti Hultstrand Is a writer and works in local publishing for authors of all types and genre's.Patti has helped to publish 74 books since 2009, she can also help you to get your book(s) out into the marketplace. If you want to know how to get your book physically out there - She would know whats what!

Matthew Cerra - This is me! I will be leading the panels, but also participating in these. I have the fewest books to my credit in the group so I get to be the baby on the panels.

These authors all deserve support so I encourage you to share/like their Facebook pages and check out their works. Breaking out in writing is all about getting in front of people that enjoy your Genre and impressing them with what the world inside your head is like.

The Panels
"Author Ask Me Anything - Late night" is scheduled for Friday from 8:00PM-10:00PM in panel room "Palo Verde III". - This is a great opportunity to ask these authors, well anything! If you are a fan and have wanted to just find out what drove your favorite character over the edge, into the edge or anything else, it is a great chance to ask.
Participants: T.M. Williams, Deena Remiel, Patti Hultstrand, Matthew Cerra

"Creation, Struggle and Dystopia: Your First Story" is scheduled for Saturday from 8:30PM-9:30PM in panel room "Robson". - This panel is a place to discuss how to get that first story from idea and onto the page. Authors have to manage a lot of threads at the same time so this is a chance to hear how some others have made their mark and gotten their books together and on the market!
Participants: T.M. Williams, Deena Remiel, Matthew Cerra

"Respecting Consent: A Reverse Perspective" is scheduled for Saturday from 5:30PM-6:30PM in panel room "Palo Verde III". - This panel is an updated talk about a subject I have not spoken about for over twelve years. This panel will be covering issues of sexual harassment and consent and while I do believe that it has content that younger audience members should not see - it would be best to keep this to mature 10+ audience members. I used to give this talk to 5th graders so I think it is still safe for them to hear.
Participants: Matthew Cerra, Sakura Thumbelina