The Coranite Chronicles

It's Time...

2012-03-07T15:04:00.002-05:00

It seems as though the Free Promotion days have been reset. That means we can do a few more Free Promotion days. I'm thinking that the 17th and 18th of March would be a good weekend for it.
So keep that date in mind.
Here, I'll bold it so it's more eye-catching and memorable. :P

The Guardian (Book 2 of the Coranite Chronicles) will be Free to download from Amazon on the 17th and 18th of March.

If you're wondering why I'm using these free promotion days (and why I'm announcing them ahead of time), it's because the Coranite Chronicles is still unknown. It sells terribly (we'll be lucky if we get 10 books sold in a month :) ). And when it sells terribly, it pretty much won't show up on Amazon. For example, at the moment, the Guardian is ranked like... 100,000 something. And that's because of 1 sale (by the way, thank you for that, whoever you are). At least with these free promotion days, if enough people download it, I can go up the ranking on the freebies. So that's the story behind that.

Of course, as always, I appreciate it even more if you guys buy the book instead.
But for those who really can't spare the cash (these are rough times), are too uncertain about the book, or can't/won't buy the book for whatever reason...then mark your calenders!

Here we go again...and again...

2012-03-01T00:05:00.000-05:00

ABNA News:
As I had stated last month, I entered S3 into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
Ah, but S3... is hardly what one would call a work of art. I don't know much about art to begin with, but I know S3 is definitely a troublesome book to enter. Didn't have much of a choice.

While I was editing, I ran into quite a few problems. I did what I could to salvage the situation.
All I can do now is hope for the best.

The good news is that it did manage to pass the pitch stage for the first time in MY LIFE(okay, so I've only entered 3 times, but still...this is a first). So, onto round 2! The results for those moving to the next round will be revealed on March 20. It's excruciating to know that there's absolutely nothing I can do anymore but wait for the results. It's not like a normal competition where you're actively engaged. Can't even edit the submission. Permanently locked.

So I will wait.

______________________________________________________
As for other news, the ninety day period should be over soon, which means I'll be able to do another set of Free Promotion days on Amazon for the Guardian. I'll make a post in advance when that happens. This time I'll space out the days a bit better. So be sure to check back around the middle of March. I think it should be about March 10th or so, but I don't know exactly how it works.

_______________________________________________________
And finally...
Sales report for the month of February.
3 books sold total. Two from UK.
Better than nothing, right ;)
Thanks for the support and... hopefully I can spark a bit more interest on those free promotion days.

It's that time of the year again...

2012-01-31T23:54:00.000-05:00

Once again, I am entering the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award...for the 3rd year in a row.
The last two years... didn't even make it past the pitch stage. This year will be different.
I've been hard at work, perfecting the manuscript. Still have a few days before it closes and still a lot of editing needs to be done. It just never ends.

Anyway, usual monthly report time.
Let's see.
Amazon.com - 9 sales! 3 were for the Guardian. An unusual sales spike for the Judge.
Amazon.co.uk - 8 sales! WOOOOOOOOOW. What just happened there? UK sales have never been that... high. (O_O) And 5 of those were for the Guardian. Nice. :D

Er... Amazon.it - 1 sale of the Guardian! THAT'S EVEN MORE AMAZING! First sale of that country!

All in all, what an amazing month!
18...books...sold...in one month. *GASP* unbelievable!
Thank you all so much! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is... unbelievable.
Brings our grand total up to... 122!

Reaching 1000 might only take 10 years now.

2012! 2012!

2012-01-02T14:14:00.001-05:00

2012 is upon us. And I'm late for the monthly report. I thought it'd be done with by the last post, so I wouldn't have to do it again on the 31st, but there were some surprising (totally unexpected) end-of-the-month sales!

7 sales on the Amazon.com front, and 5 were for the Guardian.
2 sales on Amazon.co.uk, and 1 was for the Guardian.

I don't really understand the sudden sales, but thank you so much!
That's nine total!
(Almost 10% of our current all time sales (aka. over a year's worth) :P )

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-28T02:51:00.001-05:00

All right. Looks like we're just about finished with the second round of free days for the Guardian on Amazon.
So what are the final results?

Amazon.com - 178
Amazon.co.uk - 47
Amazon.de - 5
Amazon.fr - 1

Hmm, overall it's better than the first time--not by much, but better. But it's not a fair comparison, as the first time was only 2 days and this time was 3. Then again, these should be unique downloads, so seeing a drop is expected.

Thank you all for participating, and if you missed it again, I think the next set of free days will be in a couple of months. (Sometime in March?)

And finally, for some personal records:
6 books have been sold for the month of December. 2 of those were for Guardian.

Kind of a depressing, but since there really doesn't seem to be much interest in the series, the final book of the trilogy for the Coranite Chronicles will be on an indefinite hiatus.

Get ready for the next Free promotion...

2011-12-12T02:56:00.002-05:00

On Dec 10th and 11th, the Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) was free on Amazon. It wasn't really planned in advance. Amazon just gave this free promotions tool recently. And so I thought I'd give it a test run to see if it works. And it seems to work fine.

This time I will announce the dates for the next free promotion in case you missed the last one.
The next free promotion will be from Dec. 25th (Yay, Christmas!) to the 27th. That's three whole days.

By this time the current promotion will be coming to a close, so for my own records, I'm going to list the current (and most likely final) results of putting the Guardian as free on Amazon.
Amazon.com - 148 downloads.
Amazon.co.uk - 25 downloads.
Amazon.de - 2 downloads.

And for some final thoughts...
If you've downloaded it/bought it, I really, really hope you enjoy it. I really do.
I know that there is at least one person who is disappointed in the book, and so I must apologize if it doesn't/didn't meet your expectations.

The Guardian - FREE for a LIMITED time only (Dec 10 to 11) on Amazon

2011-12-08T16:23:00.004-05:00

The Guardian (sequel to the Judge of the Coranite Chronicles) is FREE for a LIMITED time only.
Amazon now has a thing where I can offer certain books for free, but only for a few days. I can set the days, so I figure, better sooner than later right?

The Guardian is FREE to download right now.
You have two whole days to nab it: Saturday and Sunday.
AMAZON US LINK HERE

If you haven't bought the book yet, this may be the best time to check it out.
It's a limited time offer, so go get it while you can.
____
For Personal records: Judge sold 2 books so far for the month of Dec.

December

2011-12-01T21:54:00.000-05:00

2012 is coming up soon. Another year went by in a flash.
Only 3 sales last month. (2 for the Guardian). Inching our way to 100.
Maybe we'll break 100 by the end of next year?
Well, seeing some people buy the Judge every now and then gives me some hope.
So, 10 sales total for the Guardian.

Welcome to November...

2011-11-01T11:56:00.000-04:00

Not gonna talk about much so I can keep the posts below alive. Just the usual quick monthly report.
6 more sales of all books for October.
Specifically for the Guardian, a grand total of 8 sales.
It might not be lighting up the charts, but it's progress.

Thank you all for the support and have another great month!

Yessss...

2011-10-10T15:05:00.000-04:00

Welp, it took a while...but now we have two more books of the Guardian sold--bringing our (semi)grand total of all book sales to 78! Thank you! And once again, I apologize for any distracting typos you may find. I searched pretty thoroughly, but there will always be some crafty little typos that manage to sneak past.

And for those of you who are wondering what all the hubbub (not so much hub as bub) is about,
I recently released the sequel to the Judge (Coranite Chronicles).
It's called the Guardian and is currently available in the Kindle store,
and on paperback from Createspace or Amazon.
You can find the links on the Where to Buy page on the right.
And a brief (pdf) preview of the Guardian is here: https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1088590

I am a broken record.

And thanks again for all your encouraging support, your cool reviews, your wonderful comments, your yummy sales and any other nice things :)

The Guardian Book version is now available on Create Space.

2011-10-05T23:11:00.000-04:00

The Guardian (paperback) is now available on CreateSpace.
https://www.createspace.com/3699005
It'll take a while before the paperback gets listed on Amazon.

The Guardian - Kindle Version up on Amazon.

2011-10-01T00:15:00.000-04:00

And here we go! The Guardian is now up on Amazon Kindle for $0.99!

US link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QU8A5G

UK link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005QU8A5G

And...oddly enough, someone bought a copy before I even found out it was up already.

So, thank you! :D (That brings our total sales up by 2)
If you're wondering if the sequel is any good before you buy it, you can check out the lengthy preview on the post below, OR you can view the preview on Amazon, but I think it's probably only a few pages or a chapter.

Also,
I don't know if anyone cares to buy a paperback(almost nobody buys them ), but I've put that into the system just for completionist's sake. I just need to see if everything looks all right in a proof copy before I set it in stone. I mostly put it up because I like to have a personal copy as a memento.
______________________

A word from the Author (I feel kinda silly writing that title):

It has been a long journey in writing this book. It pretty much drove me insane. I thought I would be able to finish it much earlier, but pushing through the last few chapters was tough. But I didn't want to go back on my word. I said I would write it and so I did. At that time, I had already finished half of the book. I thought it'd be simple to just finish it up. Boy, was I wrong. However, I know there are a few fans out there of book and so this is my act of saying thanks to everyone who cared.

Coranite Chronicles has always held a special place in my heart.
I think that everyone has a story to tell. And Coranite Chronicles was mine.
Even though I plan out the story ahead of time and know what's going to happen, it's always something else to put it into words. And when I finally can read it (during the process of editing), I am delighted to know that someone else (however, few) might read this story and enjoy it.

Due to time constraints, (I really wanted to just get it done with so I could focus on other things), I had to keep the book short and to the point. When I first wrote the Judge, I messed around with a lot of ideas...so much so that the book was over 150,000 words. And that's too much for a novel so I had to cut out entire sections. With the Guardian, it felt like the opposite. I made it so simple and basic that I had to expand upon things. And by the end of it, I still felt like there was more that could've been done, but it would've taken waaaay to long to properly plan it out and write it.

And really, I do have some regrets about the whole thing. The first thing is that I didn't take as much time to edit it. I revised the Judge straight through at least a dozen times and every time I went through it I always noticed something wrong. And when I wrote the Judge, my friends and family would help me out by reading it. Time has changed. Everyone is too busy with life now to read my book and give advice/opinions. That was one of the more painful things about writing the Guardian. I was flying solo. And because of that, it makes me nervous. I hope I didn't screw up really bad somewhere.

It probably won't have the same impact on you guys, but I love the ending of this book. It is really such a painful cliffhanger though. There really wasn't much I could do because it is the end of the book and sets the stage for Book 3, which wraps up the trilogy's storyline. It's only fitting for it to be that way. Doesn't make it any more pleasant.

Anyway, happy reading. Best wishes. I really, really hope everyone enjoys it. I was never a good writer, but I do hope I've improved enough in the craft to make this book even better than the Judge. And if you like it, remember to tell your friends about it. I'm just a lowly indie author, so every little bit of word-of-mouth helps me out a lot.

Ahh, finally done with the Guardian.

2011-09-29T21:37:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it. It's done. I have finished uploading the book to Amazon Kindle distribution.
However, it'll take some time (about a day?) before they put it up for sale.
In the meantime, I uploaded a preview for the book here in PDF format:
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1088590

It's a pretty big preview. It includes the prologue and the first five chapters.
<--------And there is the cover. Simple. But it works. (I know, I know, some parts of the drawing aren't that great) Anyway, it's not really a big deal since it'll mostly be digital sales anyway.

And finally, for the mini-synopsis:

A terrible incident. A Federation battleship destroyed, its crew mercilessly slaughtered. The prime suspects? The Guardians of the Elements—powerful spirit beings in control of all nature. No longer considered a myth, the Guardians are feared by the Federation for their incredible abilities to manipulate fire, ice and thunder. The solution? All out war.

But there are those who realize the Federation is making a big mistake. The Guardians aren’t to blame. A much more sinister force is at work, pitting the strongest factions against each other. And an all out war against the Guardians will only result in untold death and destruction.

The next thrilling adventure of the Coranite Chronicles is here!

Join Darek and his friends as they scour zombie-infested starships, explore the mysterious void between dimensions, race across the sky on hover boards, escape from underwater civilizations, battle massive armored giants, and witness the revival of a deadly evil.

________________________________________

And that's it for now. I hope you guys enjoy the preview. I'll put up the link to the amazon link when they finish whatever it is they are doing.

All right! Cover done.

2011-09-29T20:26:00.000-04:00

Almost done now. Cover is finished. Book is finished. Description is finished. The only problem? Formatting issues. I want to make sure all the indentations are good. Should be finished in a couple of hours.
It will be such a relief to finally have this thing done.

The Guardian

2011-09-29T12:12:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe it has taken so long. But I'm finally finished with the Guardian. I didn't want to spend too much time on it, so it turned out shorter than the Judge, but still a good length, I suppose.
Anyway, it's done, but before I put it up on Amazon, I need to make the (dreaded) cover.
So...hopefully I can make something nice and simple and upload the book soon.

Just a quick update.

2011-09-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

The book is pretty much complete. But now I need to do some editing. Not sure how long it'll take as the book is about 100,000 words or so. Hopefully won't take too long.

The Guardian is Almost Complete!

2011-09-01T15:44:00.001-04:00

Finally, the news some of you may have possibly perhaps been waiting for...
The Guardian is almost complete.
Just got about a chapter and a half left to finish up. And once I'm done writing it, I'm gonna need to do a few edits. So, almost done, but not gonna be released quite yet. I'm hoping to finish it in a week or two.
I am dreading the creation of another cover though. It's troublesome and I'm not really that great of an artist.

I initially planned on adding a few extra chapters from the intro of the 3rd book, but since I'm not planning on working on the 3rd book, I'll save myself the trouble. Maybe I'll write a few rough drafts for a couple of chapters and let you guys read it, but that'll be it. Nothing official.

As for the plan for the release? I'm thinking of just putting it on Amazon Kindle, and it'll only be for a buck, like the Judge. I said I would make it free, but I don't plan on doing that immediately. But I'm giving you this warning ahead of time: I'm going to make the Guardian free, but I will do it AFTER a few months. If you can wait, then wait. But if you can and would like to support my books, please buy the Amazon Kindle version when I put it up. Thanks.

If you're wondering why I want to hold off on making it free, it's because I'm hoping that if people buy the books, it might actually get somewhere on Amazon's charts and offer up some (kinda) free publicity.
I mean, just take a look at the other books:
THE JUDGE - Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #356,516 Paid in Kindle Store
AWAKE - Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #295,221 Paid in Kindle Store

Yeah...those are some pretty low rankings.

Anyway, we're up to 70 books sold! Three in the last month. It's been almost a year since I've uh...put my books up for free and well, it has made a difference. So, I'm glad and thankful that some of you are willing to buy my book even though it is currently free. Thank you all very much, and I hope to get The Guardian out into your hands as soon as possible.

A New Month...

2011-08-01T15:12:00.000-04:00

And it's that time again. The monthly update.
Wow, I can't believe August is here already.

Sales: 2!

I was looking through the news to see if there's anything nice happening lately. I could always use some good news. It's troubling then that the media mostly focuses on bad news--which can't be helped.

So...let's see...hmm.... war, terrorism, crime, debt crisis, disasters...
What the heck...gamer dies from playing games twelve hours a day? A blind woman gets choked and mugged in broad daylight? China censors information about a train crash? School bus catches on fire on the first day of school (How does that even happen)?
Yup, everything looks bad.

Meh, forget the news.

Uh...the last movie of Harry Potter came out in July.
Seeing that it was the end of an era, I thought I might as well check it out.
My thoughts on the movie? It was fine. I can't say I had high expectations. But it did its job.

I felt pretty...disappointed by the very end though. I think it said something like 19 years later, but it really looked weird. Seeing all of them wear grown-up clothing didn't really make them look older.

Anyway, the Guardian is about...er...85% done maybe? As always, I hope to finish it soon.
Until next time...

Summer is unofficially here!

2011-07-01T20:55:00.000-04:00

Some people consider June to be part of summer, but I say...that July is when you really feel it. Summer feels especially hot this year. But maybe I just feel that way every year because I forget just how HOT summer really is.

Anyway, four sales for the month of June. Not bad. We're...getting somewhere--I think.
Okay, it's a decline(ever so slightly)...but not dead yet!
Speaking of dead (ominous voice needed), The Judge has disappeared from the top 10 rankings on Free Ebooks. I don't remember if I talked about this, but I might as well make a mention of this again. We had a good run. It was amazing while it lasted.

My book, S3, doesn't seem to have any takers. Ah, I so wished it would've made it into the Amazon contest. But what can you do? But I'm not going to stop pitching until I've reached out to every last agent.

I'm thinking of trying something new for the next book. But gotta finish the Guardian first.
I hope I can finish it soon.

About to make a post...

2011-06-28T17:33:00.000-04:00

There hasn't been much going on lately. So I figured I might as well just keep these updates to a minimum. I'm having a really hard time finishing The Guardian. But I don't just want to throw it out there and call it a day. I'll make an "End of the month" post on the 30th.

Favorite drink of a hot summer day?

2011-05-27T20:32:00.000-04:00

Now that the hot summer days are here, it's time to think about refreshing ice-cold drinks to keep cool.

As I've said before, I personally feel that water is boring. While it may be healthy and whatnot, it's not really my go-to drink when the weather gets hot and humid.

My personal favorites were Iced-Tea and Lemonade. How convenient then that they come in powdered forms. Even a one day old baby could make it (given some adult-assistance)! Just dump all the powder/sugar in a cup, add water+ice, and mix to your heart's content. Then just drink: Shuuup. Clink. Aaaaaaah.

Of course, variety is the spice of life! We can't just let it end there. There are also plenty of other quick/easy/convenient cold drinks to fix up in emergencies.

Milk shakes, pina coladas, milk teas, and fruit punch are also nice cold drinks to whip up and enjoy.

And who can forget the existence of thirst-quenching soda (not baking)?
Man, we sure live in a such a convenient time when anything is just simply stored and easily accessible. Can you imagine having to run up a tall mountain (or live in the coldest place on Earth) just to get snow cone?
And what would be the point of eating something cold if it is cold?

Okay, I've rambled on long enough about pointless things.
Anyway, there've been a lot of tornadoes in the midwest lately. So...I hope everyone stays safe.
There's not much you can do but run I guess. Too bad scientists can't invent a way to disperse tornadoes.

Condensed Progress Report:
One sale. Whoo. CC is still on top ten of FreeEbooks (over 32,000 downloads!).
The Guardian is about 70% done.

What time is it kids?

2011-05-17T20:33:00.000-04:00

What time is it? Why, it's HOWDY DOODY--er...okay, it's actually Jury Duty time, but it doesn't have the same terribly sung theme song.

Yeah, so that's what's up. The best part of Jury Duty? The vending machine in the Jury Assembly room ripped me off. It said 85 cents. I put in a buck and got back a dime. So there you have it. One missing nickel.

Two more sales!

2011-05-06T16:17:00.000-04:00

We've finally got our sales for this month. Two books sold! Ah, progress, progress.

What is there to talk about? I don't know, the world's been pretty much in a mess lately.
Giant storms have been wreaking havoc in southern US. And that has only added to our problems as of late. Gas prices has almost hit $4 a gallon! It's not like it hasn't happened before. But even so, I guess it has a few good things going for it (less cars on the road=less polution?).
Has the economy been getting any better? Maybe? The news is always conflicting on that. They like to say: "HEY! THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER!" But...I wonder if the public feels the same way.

And the middle east never seems to be at peace. I really hope they can solve their problems soon. Turmoil is sucky. A very sucky thing. You know, that's a very interesting thing. When I was in elementary school I used to wonder (as the stupid little kid I was) why do people always talk about world peace? Well, it's obvious. Because there's never peace. :( :( :(
Speaking of middle east, they say Osama's been killed. Everyone's making a big fuss over it, but I wonder if it really changes anything.

But wait, isn't there ANY GOOD NEWS? Uh...something about a marriage of royalty. That's nice? I guess.

I watched the first two episodes of Doctor Who. Interesting concept. I mean, as ridiculous as always, (and I love ridiculousness, it's practically my middle name--whatever that means) but still entertaining nonetheless. I don't really want to spoil anything, but I really love the memory extraction. It's like nothing ever happens...but IT DOES. And you don't realize it until it's too late. Those aliens were U-G-L-Y though. No nightmares thankfully. Well, there was that one nightmare, in which I kept getting chased by a friggin' T-Rex, but that has nothing to do with Doctor Who.

See attachment for your winning information!

2011-04-25T11:42:00.000-04:00

And here I thought Gmail had perfected their spam blocker. But today I got one of those infamous YOU WIN emails from Nigeria in my inbox. I cannot deny that it made me kinda happy at first...until I realized it was just spam. I don't think I've ever really won a sweepstakes/contest thing in my life and I've been entering those darn things all the time. Can't win anything. :( I guess the odds are pretty bad. Although, I did win Jury Duty for next month, if you can call that winning.

Anyway, another day has come and gone. And we got another sale! Coranite Chronicles still hanging in there on the top ten and we are still inching ever so slowly towards 30,000 downloads!

Oh, and it has finally come upon us! Doctor Who's next season is here! I was never really a fan of the series, but I really like this latest Doctor and his seasons.

Easter Easter Easter!

2011-04-23T11:36:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year again! (Yes, I know, every time of the year comes again, every year with the possible exception of Feb29.) Easter! I've always wondered... why is it called Easter?
Now with the power of the Internet, there is no need to wonder!
*does quick google search*
Hmm... Looks complicated. Something about Old English taking the name from Germanic calendar which refers to the month of April named after some pagan goddess...
*mumble mumble*
Who comes up with this stuff? WHO?
Now I don't even want to bother searching for the origin of bunnies that lay eggs.

Post for the Week

2011-04-14T20:52:00.000-04:00

Today, I thought I'd try to give some kind of progress report on the Guardian. Basically, I'm currently on working chapters 18-20. And I expect there to be about 30 chapters. After I finish writing it, I'm going to do some extensive editing. *sigh* I keep wishing I'd be done with it, but...it always takes so long. Hopefully I can get through the editing quickly.

Cleaning up

2011-04-11T15:24:00.000-04:00

Another sale! Up to 55! 5's are like S's. And S's stand for Super!

Okay, enough about that. Yesterday was insanely hot. And I mean, hot(what else would I mean?). It was only inside though. Outside was cool. Anyway, my computer got totally fried from the heat. I checked the temps on the cpu and it was reaching almost 70c while idle! Kept crashing and freezing up. So I decided to clean it up a bit. So much dust everywhere! Thick balls of dust. THICK BAAAAAAAALLS! After cleaning up the dust, it now idles in the 40's. Not great, but I don't really have the money to look into a better cooling situation. Oh...well....works fine, can't complain.

First sale of the month.

2011-04-05T17:14:00.001-04:00

It may have taken a while, but now we can all celebrate! Yes, one more book sold. Up to 54 books now!
Weather's been pretty crazy lately. It was insanely hot yesterday, then we had this ridiculous thunderstorm with crazy winds, and now it's kinda cold. Typical. Also...it looks like that stupid web counter is busted. Figures. I know it's free and all, but what's the point if they just break after a few months?

April fools!

2011-04-02T15:21:00.000-04:00

April fools!...oh wait, I'm one day late.
Uh...progress report? I don't know. Maybe the Guardians is still about 30-40% done.
But I've been making some changes so it kind of added extra editing.
How much longer? I'm not sure. I want to finish it by this month. We'll see.
S3 threw me off track totally.
The Judge is still hanging in there on the top 10 fiction ebooks on Free-Ebooks.net. I'm surprised it's been there for as long as it has. It's always at the bottom so it's nerve-wrecking. It's at 27558 downloads. Almost to 30,000. No sales for this month. Bummer. I wonder if a better economy would help. But I don't know. The book is only 1$ online and I think I've only sold about 30 or so of them.

As for some added news:
As you all probably know I won't be writing the final book of Darek's trilogy. I think it's supposed to be called The Immortal. But I think I might try to just write a few chapters and throw it in at the end of the Guardian.
Even though I will make the Guardian free, I don't think I'll put it on Free-Ebooks.net. Why? It's a simple reason: putting books on Free-Ebooks cost money. Downloading the books may be free, but putting it up does come with like a $20 cost. Yeah, $20 may not sound like much. But I'm dirt poor. Maybe even poorer than dirt.

I'll have links on here. But it'll be kind of sad because I don't think people really visit this blog.

26000

2011-03-19T23:19:00.000-04:00

Well, I said I wouldn't really do it, but I figure I might as well do it once in a while. There hasn't really been much news lately, aside from...all the crazy world news going on (massive earthquakes, devastation, mysterious disappearances/deaths of animals, wars/revolutions/unrest in the middle east, etc. ).

So...it's back to our little insignificant news that few people care about:

We've broken over 26,000 downloads on Free-Ebooks. As always, IT'S OVER 9,000!
We've got 3 more sales on our books, bringing us to a grand total of 53 books sold! That's almost 100(well, not really)! Thank you, thank you, thank you (3 for 3) for buying. I don't think I'll ever reach the top 100 best sellers on the kindle store at this rate, but it's nice to know you guys/gals care. :D

Oh, speaking of best sellers. Let's include those rankings here too!

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #56,402 Paid in Kindle Store --this is for The Judge.
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #179,060 Paid in Kindle Store --this is for Awake.

Surprising, isn't it? I mean, the difference in sales between these two books is probably like...5-10 books or something. Wow, so every book sale is like a 10,000 rank jump? Insane! But...still kind of depressing too. 56,000? I mean...that's a loooooooooong way from top 100. And if you aren't in the top 100...how the heck are people going to know you exist? I'm still hoping for some random super sudden surge of sales! Still hasn't come yet. But, hey, you never know. Crazy things can happen!

And yes, I'm still working on the Guardian(2nd book of Coranite). We are still alive.

<br><br>jk
But it's taking a lot longer than I expected. I've still got tons of things to work out. I want to make this book as good as it can be, and address some of the issues and concerns that some people complain about.

I've been pitching my other book around, but it looks like no takers. Oh well, just going to keep trying until every last one is complete.

The devastation continues...

2011-03-14T14:33:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought things would be over...it looks like Japan still has trouble ahead. After suffering a massive earthquake AND hundreds of powerful aftershocks AND a tsunami...now their nuclear reactors are acting up. On top of all those problems, people have lost homes, a lot more are still without power, people are still missing, and the economy (which was never that great to begin with) is going to suffer even more. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be living there right now. I hope they can recover from this.

8.9 Earthquake in Japan

2011-03-11T16:01:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it? 8.9! The images of it are quite horrific. Looks pretty much like a disaster movie, except real of course. I hope the people there are all right. It sounds like it'd be quite a tragedy.

First sale of the month!

2011-03-07T22:40:00.000-05:00

Another month has come and gone...and we finally have our first sales (two sales) of the month!
Hey, it's better than nothing. :)

That brings our grand total up to 48! I can't believe sales are still crawling along.
Another unbelievable fact? One of those sales was actually a PAPERBACK. In fact, it was the first ever paperback sold of Awake! Wow! To be honest, paperbacks really haven't sold...at all. So...whoever bought that book...you are very special (in a good way of course). That is just amazing. I don't even check the paperback sales anymore because no one buys them...but BAM--there it is! Our first paperback sale of Awake!

More Hong Kong Talk

2011-03-02T19:51:00.000-05:00

I've been down in the dumps lately (so bad you wouldn't believe) so I've decided to try to forget about my troubles, if only for a moment, by talking more about my trip to Hong Kong.

What did I do in Hong Kong besides walk endlessly through the streets in order to reach my destinations?

We did do a bit of sightseeing, but honestly, as I'm very weird, I'm not the type to care for sightseeing (I really don't care for traveling either). But since I was there I figured I might as well. That's what tourists do, right? Beyond seeing all the stores, restaurants and dark, dirty, damp, scary back alleys, we visited a few of the simple tourist traps.

We're here!

The first place we stopped by was the Avenue of Stars. It's basically like Hollywood's Walk of Fame, except it's by a harbor. You can see Hong Kong island from the place and I'm sure it's quite beautiful...when it's not rainy, cloudy, or foggy. Not much to do there. Very much the definition of sight see. You just see the sight. And that's it. There were a few stores readily available to take your money, but I certainly didn't feel like visiting them. It didn't look like anyone bothered to visit the stores, but I'm sure some (touristy type) people care about buying...that stuff. So yeah...walked around, looked at stars on the floor with the names of...stars, and gazed at some of their statues and monuments.


Look! That's Hong Kong island behind Bruce Lee--either that or a humpback whale.

All three of us forgot to turn off the stupid flash.

The other place we went to was the Museum of Science. I've been to the museum of natural history a long time ago (and don't remember anything) but I've very rarely visited museums in my life time. I thought it'd be interesting to see what a Hong Kong museum was like, but I was sorely disappointed. Okay, I did enjoy it a bit, but overall, I was expecting something more...grand. Perhaps I went to the wrong museum, or perhaps museums aren't HK's specialty, but whatever it was, it just seemed a little too basic for me. Also, I've noticed lots of schools doing field trips to the museum...so I guess it was designed to cater more toward school kids in their undying thirst for knowledge. It did seem like a fun place to take kids. The highlight of the experience would have to be the mirrors. I really liked the visual effects that they've made with the mirrors. It was really cool to see what can be done by just manipulating the positions of mirrors.

Are pictures allowed in here? Well...too late.

I'm not sure if we went to other places (my memory is a blur by now), but I'll dive into my next subject at a later time.

Just another post...

2011-02-27T16:42:00.000-05:00

I've been really depressed lately. Especially since I didn't pass the first round of the ABNA contest again. Yes...I got denied...again. :(

I'm convinced that the first round is really the most difficult round because it's all scored on the pitch...which is a very difficult thing to handle. So...is that the end of S3: A Smack in Time? I don't know. I'm going to pitch it to agents again and see if there's anyone who's interested in it. Until I can find an agent, I'm going to continue working on the sequel of the Judge.

S3 won't be free, but the Guardian will be. I've decided that I want everyone to have a chance to read the Coranite Chronicles.

I think I said this before, but I'll say (write) it again. I will finish the Guardian and make it freely available, but I probably won't finish the trilogy. This may be sad news to whoever cares about CC, but unless I can get published, it's really not feasible to continue working on this series. It's kinda sad that only two books will be released, but...who knows, maybe sometime in the future we'll be able to continue this journey. But until then...

Anyway, thanks for all your support guys. As you can see from the counter above, we've sold 46 books! WOOHOO! Thank you so much for buying my books! For every sale, my heart skips a beat.

I'm back.

2011-02-23T15:53:00.001-05:00

Yes, I'm back from a really long journey. I went to a faraway place known as...Hong Kong. Due to pressure from the higher ups, I must now talk about my trip. So I will. I'm going to break it down in several posts.

Pet your key card...NOW!

Hong Kong--an interesting place due to its circumstances. While mainly Chinese, it does have the remains of Western influences from when it was under British control. And because of that, it's very...tourist friendly. All the signs are translated into English and they primarily use the typical numbers (1-9) instead of the Chinese numbers. But the people do still speak mostly Cantonese, so it does feel awkward to speak English in the city. And, of course, the television programs are mostly Chinese as well, so it does help to know the language.


Asian people. Lots of them.

I felt that culture shock the moment I arrived. It's kind of scary to see such a different world than I'm used to. Where I come from (US of A), all Chinese people look alike. But when I went to Hong Kong, I felt the opposite. Suddenly, all white people began to look alike. I guess it's just a minority/majority thing. When you see the diversity of one race, another race becomes...very samey.

The sky is always white... :(

The weather was...odd. I've been told that it's warm in Hong Kong. During the whole week I was there...IT WAS COLD. At night, in the hotel I was staying, it was freezing! I couldn't even feel my feet. Even with layers I could still feel the cold. It must have been about 40 degrees (Fahrenheit). They don't have heaters because it's normally warm, and the blankets are thin too. While I was in Hong Kong, I never saw the sun. In fact, I've been told there is a mountain near Hong Kong island. But from where I was (Kowloon island), it was practically non-existent. There was so much fog...you couldn't see anything. I don't know what to believe anymore.

If it's a wide open space...no one will flock to it.

And the last thing to talk about before I wrap up this post. Hong Kong is a very...confined...and crowded place. I suppose it's only natural for a city to be...less than spacious. But it only served to make everything so complicated. I guess, to complain about something like that is kind of silly, but I might as well. Hotel rooms are basically just for sleeping. Shopping centers...are a battle zone. Ever see a horde of bugs scramble on top of each other? Just imagine that, but with hundreds of humans in a small tight corridor.

Updated Previews...

2011-02-10T15:41:00.000-05:00

I've noticed some people don't like to download stuff when reading previews. So I decided to create two previews.
Here's a shortened version of the excerpt (viewable on the web):
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1077841

And here's the long version (PDF file only):
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1077842

Disappearing Soon?

2011-02-09T13:46:00.000-05:00

Looks like I'm going to disappear next week. More secretive stuff that I won't divulge.
Anyway, I'll be gone so, in the meantime I hope you all will be enjoying life and what it offers.
Life is too short to grumble and complain.

I have a preview of my next book on the post below this one. However, I don't think I will be making S3 free.
It is my...actually, no, I won't say it. I can't say it.

Check out the preview if you liked my other books. I'll be taking it down in a couple of weeks...so, it's a time limited offer :P

If you like it, I hope you'll get a copy when it comes out.
If you hate it, then...oh well!

IT IS FINISHED

2011-02-07T00:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, I can no longer edit the submission. I am not satisfied with the submission. I feel like it could still use a lot of work. But there is not enough time in this world for me to work on it so...what can you do?

Now it is time for me to unveil the project....
The title (as I've said before) is called S3: A Smack in Time.

First, here is the link to the preview:
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1077618

It's the first four chapters...so you can get a good feel for the story. The book is 26 chapters long.

__________________________________________________________
Here is the description:

On the first day of high school, Stanley already expects nothing more than another typical year. All that changes, however, when two chance encounters cause him to question his understanding of reality.

He meets Karen, the girl of his dreams, who unfortunately is a paranoid nutcase claiming to be a test subject in a bizarre experiment to create child prodigies. Then there’s Jack, a self-proclaimed time traveler, who hops in through Stanley’s bedroom window, spouting nonsense about how the world has already ended over six thousand times without anyone noticing.

Stanley dismisses them both as lunatics. But when a brush with danger forces him to escape through a mysterious portal in his closet, he thinks he might be going crazy as well.

Stanley arrives in the land outside of time, where a band of kooks recruit him as their next secret agent. Though he is reluctant to join them in their plans to save the world from foreseen destruction, he is quickly on board when he discovers there are certain benefits to being a hero: a handsome salary, free food and, best of all, someone to do his homework for him.

But the life of a young time-traveling secret agent is no bed of roses. With Jack and Karen by his side, Stanley is thrust into a silly adventure involving bone-shattering thumb wars, sickle-wielding senior citizens full of vengeance, and Portal-Potties—the practical, yet disgusting way for fast travel.

Along his journey, Stanley starts to wonder whether he wants to save the world or destroy it, as he unveils the deep mystery behind a plot…that he unknowingly devised himself.

Packed with action and comedy, S3: A SMACK IN TIME is a science fiction adventure that pokes fun at how the world always needs to be saved.
__________________________________________________________

So yeah, there you have it. It's meant to be silly, a parody of sorts. Now no one will be able to take me seriously!

Today's the big day!

2011-02-06T14:04:00.000-05:00

Today is the final day for submissions on ABNA. While I did submit my stuff already, it is also the final day for edits. I'm going to be working on my manuscript until about 11pm EST. Then...I'll finally unveil the details of the project here. I've already put up a page on the side bar, but there's no info on it just yet.

I'm deciding how many chapters I'll let you guys preview. I'm thinking maybe about 4 chapters(which is about 20% of the story?). I'm also keeping a tally of how many people like/dislike it. So...please leave some feedback, either here or on the preview page.

To date, three people have read my manuscript and here are the results.

Current Tally:
Likes: 2
Dislikes: 1

EEK. That's a 66(.666666666666666)% approval rating!

Deck Building Games

2011-02-04T00:18:00.001-05:00

Now here's something I found interesting: Deck building games!
I had never heard of them before, but just recently found out about them on the web.

I like games. And without saying, that also includes board games and card games and whatever. So I became really intrigued when I discovered these deck building games.

I'm sure they sell these all over the place. So far, all I can really find are these three:
Dominion - supposedly the pioneer of this genre. came out in 2008? Family friendly. Boring setting. But still supposed to be really solid in its gameplay.

Thunderstone - has some similar mechanics, but more high fantasy/dungeon crawler/RPG themed. you can have heroes with different classes, they kill monsters, level up, etc. Looks to have some really awesome artwork.

Resident Evil: Deck Building Game - kind of like thunderstone, but with Resident Evil characters, enemies and stuff.

I'm sure there are probably more, but I can't really find any good source of info that explains everything and stuff (I keep saying "and stuff" because my head hurts and I don't want to think).

So what's so friggin' awesome about these games that make me really want to get one?
I guess I'll start with some back story.
*cue Flashback music
A loooooooooooong long...long long time ago, when I was just a wee little lad, I loved board games/card games (Okay, I essentially still do). What makes them so great? Well, they have that "feel." You can hold the pieces in your hand and everyone gathers around to have some fun. It's simple, easy to pick up and play...and you can usually watch a movie WHILE you're playing! You can't really do that with video games because of how fast paced they usually are. You can play a game, hang out with friends and watch a movie at the same time! AAAAAAAWESSOOME.
One thing I particularly liked was card games. Namely: stuff like tcgs. trading card games...where your goal is to build a cool deck and compete against other players. The problem? Well, when I was young I used to love Star Wars(still do). So I thought...if I wanted to get a TCG...Star Wars was the way to go! Unfortunately...the rules sucked (too complicated) and no one played it. I still have the decks stashed in my uh...stash. *SIGH*

And that's the end of the story. Depressing isn't it? Of course, the REAL issue lies with TCGs themselves.
1) To improve your deck you must BUY expansions. Even though you'll get some rare cards, card trading isn't exactly the BIGGEST thing in the world. Only certain enthusiasts care about TCGs. So...it's a pain in the butt to really do anything with it. And it's a...waste of money.
2) To play the game...you need friends WITH THE GAME. Not everyone's a fan of this stuff...so it's hard to actually play against people in your normal everyday life. Without competition...they're just a worthless deck of cards.
3) If it's not a popular tcg, it'll die down in popularity...and no one will care about it...and no one will sell it anymore. So you gotta just go with the winning side.

In other words....it's a pain to get people to care about it and a pain to get people to play it (unless you do tournaments and stuff but that's too bothersome for me).

So why are deck building games different?
Well, for one thing...they act more like a boardgame. When you buy the game...you get all the cards you need! While they do have expansions, they are COMPLETE expansions that are only needed to improve replay value. In other words...something nice...but not necessary. You get all the coolness of TCG in one sweet package of a game that a group of 2-4 can play.

Not only that...but some of these deck building games also offer...single player experiences. Of course it won't be as fun, but that's already better than having a deck of cards that you can only use in limited situations.

(ugh, my head and eyes really hurt. I'm going to end this quick).
And that's the reason why I probably won't ever play a deck building game.
The reason is...because it looks like it'd be hard to get a bunch of people together who'd be interested in playing this sort of thing. So while...I super love the concept and totally dig it. And would be dying to play this new wave of cardgame/board game things. I'll have to just be depressed that no one else I know will care.
*SIGH*

Poppin' in

2011-02-02T00:22:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to announce that we've broken 20,000 downloads on Free-Ebooks.net!
It's been a struggle to reach it, but we've finally done it! I think that's pretty much it. I mean, the downloads have slooooowed down so much, that it'll take forever to reach anything else. So that's probably the final update for that. It was a difficult goal, but we've made it, somehow.

Now I know you 51 (?) fans are eagerly awaiting the details on my submission to ABNA.
Just hold tight. The end is near. A few more days and this will be finally over!

Some of you might be a bit sad that the sequel to the Judge isn't out yet...but it'll be out eventually...I hope. I'm not sure how long it'll take, but I'll try to crank it out as fast as I can. I'm thinking it'll probably be free as well, with options to buy for those of you who like to support us indie authors.

And that's it. Thanks everyone...for supporting the cause!

Details on my submission...

2011-01-29T23:26:00.000-05:00

Right now, I'm still working on my submission. After I'm done and I've got everything solid and locked in. I think I'll probably put the details on this site. You know, like what the book's about and maybe a preview for you guys to check out.

All I'll say now is that it is somewhat different from my past works.
The title of the book is going to be S3: A Smack in Time.
It is not meant to be a part of a series.
It is designed to be more focused, simple, understandable and fun.

Coranite Chronicles was meant to be just some crazy fantasy with tons of characters, factions, wars, special powers/magic and stuff.

Awake was meant to be just like..well...almost like a dream.

The biggest change in S3 is the point of view. I decided to go for a first person perspective. The reason for this is because I wanted to focus on the main character. It's easier to get a grasp on how they view things if you're seeing things through their eyes.

The second biggest change is that I wanted to make this clear: my books are not really serious. I think some people misunderstand my stories. And that's perhaps I straddle the line too much. So in S3...I make things quite clear. This book is meant to be ridiculous, silly, and over-the-top. And that's how my books have always been, but I think people don't always understand that, so I wanted to make it clear this time.

Not quite over...

2011-01-26T10:24:00.000-05:00

A quick thanks to whoever bought my book. We're now up to 41 total sales!

And now...I'm still working on my ABNA submission. It never seems complete no matter how much I work on it, so I might as well put as much time as I can into it.

I don't know how much time I have to work on it. Apparently I can still edit my submission until either the 6th of February or until we hit 5000 submissions in my category. Now...the 6th is easy to understand, but for the 5000 limit...they don't even have a counter or anything! So...yeah, pretty much just gotta work at it and check the site until it's totally over.

IT'S 6AM

2011-01-24T06:11:00.000-05:00

It's 6AM...and no...I did not wake up early. In fact, I haven't slept yet! YAY!

Update time: my eyes hurt from staring at this stupid computer screen for over...18 hours?

Yeah...it's time to go to sleeeeep.

On a very related note. I have submitted my submission to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest! I was trying to submit it at 12 AM after working 12 hours on it. But then I realized I still had changes to make. Apparently SIX HOURS WORTH! And no, it's not done. I still have a lot I want to change. But I have submitted a decent copy just in case the submissions get filled up and closed. Now I'm SAFE! I'm definitely IN!

I know one of you (aka. Myself) is rooting for me. So thanks.
Yes. I'm talking to myself. Because it's 6Am.
And I've been writing and writing and writing...and...ow...my finger hurts.
And no, I do not rely on such methods as caffeine to stay awake.
SHEER WILL POWER!

Oh, my eyes! They buuuuurn!
Okay, I'm going to sleep for real this time. But for some reason I can't stop typing, but I can't really see either. Staring at the white screen of the word processor has made everything painful. Now I'm hearing...an alarm. Apparently I have an alarm that goes off at 6:10. But because I'm never usually awake at that time...I've never heard it before. Amazing.

Okay, I'm going to sleep for real again. Good morning.

Silence...

2011-01-23T13:41:00.000-05:00

I've not been posting recently because there just isn't as much time as I thought there'd be. Tomorrow's the day for the submission! Just thought I'd let the world know before I hop back into seclusion and seek the way to perfect the manuscript and pitch.
So yeah, that's what's happening.

See you all on the flip side.

Oh, the agony!

2011-01-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

I had forgotten how painful it is to write a pitch.
No matter how many times I read it...I just can't conclude the darn thing!
AAAAAAAAAH! It's driving me craaaaazy!
Darn it, why did the pitch have to be the first round?
Ugh. Only a few days left until the submission opens.
I'm really behind schedule. Nothing is going as planned.
THIS IS MADNESS!

Top 5 Songs that I randomly whistle from time to time

2011-01-19T01:07:00.000-05:00

I said I'd do another stupid top ten list and here it is!
Well, I'd do a top ten...but they take forever to write up. So...top 5 it is!
Top 5 songs that I randomly whistle from time to time! (Not gaming related ed.)
They're not really in order, so I could continue with this at another time.
If I do continue it, tomorrow, it'll probably be only game songs.

1) Somewhere Out There
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTc03M4lPXU

Now, I don't know anything about the origin of the song(who wrote it/sang it/whatever), but I first heard it in American Tail. To be honest, I never really watched this movie much. Probably only watched it once...a long, long time ago. I don't remember ANYTHING from the movie...except this song(stuck in my head for decades!). And it's either a testament to how great this song is...or how painful it is to me. Honestly, just listening to this song on youtube is killing me inside, like someone is stabbing me in the heart, furiously and repeatedly, with unicorns and rainbows! HAVE AT THEE COLD HEART OF THE MODERN ERA!
Though I can fight back the tears, I can't stop the UNGHing.
It brings to mind a simpler time...when everything was perfect.

2) The Bare Necessities
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ogQ0uge06o

Something something bare necessities, something something mother's natures recipes. I don't memorize words to songs. And the only way I'd ever sing it...is if I got the lyrics right in front of me. Thankfully, whistling a song is simple and easy. It's got a good rhythm. This movie I watched several times, but I forgot most of the plot by now. However, this song stuck with me...forever.

3) A spoonful of sugar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5IW9wK_HNg

Ah Mary poppins. I found bedknobs and broomsticks to be kinda scary when I was little. Aw, heck, I found Mary Poppins a bit insane (and some of the things were creepy, but not that much). But I also found it to be quite fun. The songs get stuck in your head and that's all you need to whistle. Did they whistle in the movie? I have a feeling they did. And it's that one-two punch that burns the melody in your head.

4) Hakuna Matata
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejEVczA8PLU

This song kind of reminds me of the bare necessities. It almost has that same concept to it. Maybe that is what is so enduring about these songs. When you listen to these songs (or maybe watch the video of it), your worries take a back seat. You start thinking, "Hey, maybe life ain't so bad!" HAKUNA MATATA! YEAH! No worries for the rest of your life! SWEEEEET! Life is great!
Then it hits you like a truck: even in the movie, poor simba had to get pulled out of his paradise to go fight skarfacedudelionthing. It's like a metaphor for: When this movie is over...you gotta get back to life too...suckah.

5) Somewhere over the Rainbow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HRa4X07jdE

Yet another movie that I've never really watched and still...the song resides within my mind. I'm not sure how it got there. Maybe people used it a lot in commercials or something because I sure as heck don't remember ever watching this movie. In fact, I don't even know the latter half of the song. I only whistle the beginning.

Public Bathroom Scares

2011-01-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

Quick News: Another sale! YESSS! One more week till ABNA submissions start! NOOO!

Stupid Topic? Public Bathroom Scares.

There is something I dread about public places. And that is...THE PUBLIC BATHROOM.
It's not about the cleanliness. First of all, I am a guy. And, though I have never seen the inside of the women's bathroom, I can assure you that a men's bathroom is MUCH WORSE.

Just yesterday, I was at the urinal (or also known as...the waterfall of great relief...) and lo and behold...as I walk up to it...I step in a puddle.

Now, sometimes, it can be quite ambiguous. And my fears can be softened due to the uncertainty. Perhaps the flush was SOOOO POWERFUL that water may have accidentally and magically flown out. Or perhaps the pipes were leaking...and a bit of unlucky dripping occurred. But the ambiguity can only be applied...when the liquid is CLEAR. When the liquid is...( I dare not specify) a certain color, I proceed to scrape the bottom of my shoe all over the floor with fury and disgust.

But...again...It's not about the stains on the walls or the puddles on the floor. It's not even about the crazy people who look and laugh at you while you're trying to do your number 1 in pee--er, peace.
No, my issue lies with something else entirely. It's kind of due to my imagination.

You see...whenever I'm at the urinal, I watch my back. I listen for people walking through and glance over the shoulder whenever someone comes around. Why? I always have this fear that someone is going to slam my head against the wall or something.

It's really because of movies. Movies always use the bathroom as a battleground. And rightfully so, I suppose. After all, the bathroom is not monitored by security cameras, has easy access to water so you can wash away blood from yourself or fingerprints on areas you've touched, and last(but not least) bathroom are usually used as an ambush area because it is a place people let their guard down.
It's hard to "go" when you're worried about everything. The bathroom is place you have to relax.

If a rough and tough cop has to force an answer outta someone, it's in the bathroom. If a bad guy wants to ambush a good guy, it's in the bathroom.
Oh public bathrooms...how you have become such a messy place!

So, yes, I blame movies. Every time I go into the bathroom my thoughts turn to bathroom brawls, where people smash opponents against plumbing, stuff them into toilets, and pipes burst, splashing water everywhere.

An 80s/90s Revival

2011-01-15T23:57:00.000-05:00

The 80's and 90's were interesting times. Okay, that was a pretty stupid statement. I suppose all time is interesting in their own ways.
But they were more interesting to me, I figure, because I lived through it(kinda, sorta).

And among those times came some amazing movies that were somewhat influential to my mind and life and whatever else.

Some of my favorite movies from those times are:
Back to the Future (Trilogy)
Matrix (1 mostly. I still can't remember what 2 and 3 were about.)
Independence Day
Jurassic Park
Terminator 2
Men in Black
Ghostbusters

And probably some others I can't remember.

I wouldn't consider these movies to be works of art, but they did fuel my love for that which is not real. And while these series/franchises/movies have had some breaths of life in the past. I've noticed recently that things have been coming back in the form of games. And really, I never would have ever in my life imagined that they would be making new games of such old movies(stories)!
Once again, nostalgia sells...especially after ten to twenty years.

Here's a quick look at some of the new games that have either come out or are coming out:

(no embeds cause it screws up when it's widescreen)
First, Ghostbusters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyVGSGynYpg

Came out two years ago (time sure flies). They got back the voices, got back to the basics and brought them back to life when we thought it was all over. Really, these things just come out of the blue. I guess it's the cycle thing, where they think they can just make a quick buck outta nostalgia (and they can...and they did). Still sweet though. Even just watching the trailer with that awesome music gives me the shiver-me-timbers.

Now you can do all that stuff you ever wanted to do in a real ghostbusters game! Like...cross streams! And...trap ghosts! And...listen to awesome "Who ya gonna call" music ALL THE TIME!

Next. Back to the Future! This one is done by telltale games, a company that specializes in point and click adventures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3blzGwd4xLg

Once again they just hook me with that music!
Doo, doo, doo doo...! "Tell me Docta, where are we going this time?"
UNGHHHH! ARRRGH! SO MUCH NOSTALGIA!

This one takes a more...cartoonish approach. However, they even did Marty's voice pretty well. Some of the characters can be hard to recognize due to the new look, but overall, it looks pretty fantastic! Now you can...time travel! And screw up time just like marty does all the time!

And finally. Jurassic Park!
This one's not actually a trailer. They haven't gotten around to it yet, but there are some screenshots here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOzH_9Ny6_M

This revival thingamabobie is really amazing. I know, I know...they kinda still do make Jurassic Park movies(so it's not really a revival)...but they just keep getting worse and worse! Here's hoping to a good game that does justice to the original!
Now you can...get...eaten...by...a...dinosaur? Hmm...well, that was the appeal of the movies wasn't it? To watch people get eaten by dinosaurs, I mean.
Doesn't sound pleasant. But...who knows? Maybe...you'll survive. (And then get eaten off screen).

Everything is slowing down...

2011-01-15T01:10:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd take a quick break from writing/editing to make a quick post.

I am not a big fan of fruit. That's not to say that I don't like fruit...because I do. Fruit's nice. It's healthy, packed with lots of vitamins and minerals. Nature's natural dessert (snack? treat?). And there's plenty of variety in fruit...that there's probably something for everyone.

Even so, I must admit that...unless I'm starving and fruit is the only option, I won't be eating it. Why is that? Well...I'm pretty sure it's the conditioning from the modern world. It's also the same reason I don't care much for water either.

Here's the main reason:
I'm lazy. I've always been told this strange tale where a man was sooooo lazy that he did not want to move or do anything at all. He did not even want to get up to get food. And so...he would only eat what people would give him. One day, his family went on a trip without him (naturally), and since they knew how lazy he was, they tied a large cake on his neck so that he would only have to bend down to eat the cake. When they came back from the trip...they found him dead...because he would only eat the top of the cake...but when it came down to the bottom...it was too far for him to reach for. Yeah...it doesn't make any sense. After all, he'd much sooner die of thirst than hunger with this arrangement. But that's not the moral of the story.

Anyway, I am sort of like that. To me...fruit is just something of a pain in the butt to eat. You either have fruit that you need to peel...fruit that has pits in it...fruit that you need to cut...fruit that is messy...or fruit that just isn't all that delicious. Or possibly even a combination of everything. They're such a hassle, which is why (not so coincidentally), some of my favorite fruits happen to be:
Apples and Bananas. Why?
Apples: you eat it and throw out the core. no mess.
Bananas: you peel off the sides, which are usually pretty easy, and eat the rest. throw out peel. no mess.
You don't have to get your hands sticky and you don't have to really work to get at the "meat."

And the other reason?
It's usually not that sweet. And this is what I mean when I talk about conditioning. The world has manufactured the treat. The only reason you enjoy a fruit is because it is a sweet treat with a natural sugar. But since I've eaten other man-made snacks all my life, it's hard not to pick one over the other at times.

There was a time in my life that I dreaded drinking water. I had to force myself to drink water! Why? Because I knew what awaited me when I drank...was something tasteless...and bland. I would look at a glass of water and long for juice or soda. After years of forcing myself to drink water, it's much easier to do it now.

Anyway...that's my pointless blog post for today. I'll get back to work now.

Aww...here it comes... (Super Long Multi Post?)

2011-01-14T01:22:00.000-05:00

Free-Ebooks.net now has a ranking system for their top 10 most popular books. And now...the sad part...The Judge is falling off the chart. Barely hanging on at the 10th spot. And we were so close to 18,000 too.... But I suppose all good things must come to an end (I feel like I've said this a million times).
________________________________________________________

Anyway, things have been pretty crazy with the snow. I mean...we only had ONE snow storm...and that caused the whole county (not country) to not have school for a week! That's crazy. I've never heard of skipping school for a week because of snow.
Everything got messed up. Postal service got held up for three days. Trash guys haven't even showed up at all.

A little snow and all society falls.
________________________________________________________

At the moment, I don't know how I feel. I don't want to think about it. I try to blot out all thoughts, feelings, worries and concerns from my mind.

Am I sad that Coranite Chronicles was not as good as I had hoped? Yeah.
I don't really care about Awake, so it has exceeded my expectations in that regard and I'm satisfied with it.
But Coranite Chronicles...was kind of like a child...my child...even if that sounds totally weird.

But with the fall of Coranite Chronicles...I feel...that I really must give it my all in order to, at least, make it to the final round of the ABNA contest.
_____________________________________________________________

With that said, I'm just going to move on. I don't want to go to bed full of worry.
I'll finish this SLMP with a talk about video games.

Let's see.... What should I talk about? Something recent? Something old? Something popular? Or perhaps something...lesser known?

Maybe I'll start with...my favorite game(s) of all time.

That's right. Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 are my favorites games of all time. Now, of course, that's a bit silly to say isn't, it? After all...Galaxy 2 only just came out last year in...May. But I stand by the "of all time" statement...because quite frankly, you just know these things.

Now...for some people...there shouldn't be a need to explain my choice. It's not some obscure hidden gem or anything. It's a popular game...widely known...a big seller (though not as big as the 2D mario titles). But for those who don't quite understand the appeal of these games...I shall start...from the...beginning.

I grew up...in the age of Mario (the age of NES really). Got my first NES (Nintendo Entertainment System for those of you...who really have no idea what I'm talking about) when I was about four or five. Splendid games they were, those Mario games. I mean...just look at all the other games in those times! Most of them...we're pretty much badly designed or super hard for no reason.

But not Mario. No. They were hard...but fair. And they worked to bring tons of creativity in a genre where people just slapped their hands together and said, "We made a game!"

Honestly, if you gave me a NES today (due to your supreme generosity), there are very few games I would even bother to play on it. Many licensed games, games based on movies or cartoons...they were absolutely HORRIBLE. They rarely, if ever, made any sense. And...they were usually just simple run-attack-die type of games. Pointlessly hard, completely ridiculous goals and objectives, impossible to find secrets...the list goes on and on. Even flash games today are probably more fun than most NES titles. (And just think...those NES games cost over $50! And that was in the 90's!)

But I'm not here to complain about the NES (even though I will at any given moment). I'm here to explain about Galaxy!

And before I continue, let me add that I had never played a 3D Mario platformer before Galaxy. That's right. I've never played Mario 64 and I've never played Sunshine. And quite frankly, I don't really have much of an urge to play them. I mean, I would play them--if you strapped me in a chair, tossed me a controller, threw me in front of a tv, and turned it on for me. SURE! I'd play it. But...at the moment, I'm already super satisfied by what Super Mario Galaxy has to offer me.

When I first heard that Super Mario Galaxy was coming out, I wasn't sure what to think. I had never played a 3D Mario game, but the concept seemed tempting. However, what really sold me on the game...was nostalgia. A pretty lame reason, for sure, but I can't deny it.
Nintendo really can sell you your childhood.

The reason I remotely cared about buying/playing Super Mario Galaxy was really due to the mario games of old. Hearing those wonderful tunes that had been stuck in my head for twenty years...in a glorious orchestral remix...is really an experience hard to describe. Candy to my ears? Pure bliss in my head? I don't know what to call it. All I know is...that it works.

Every time I turn on the game and hop into a level...the soundtrack gets in my head...and lets all the little fairies prance on my brain cells. It is delight. It is sweet. It is...obsessive. How can music be this good? Nostalgia. Sometimes I wonder...if I had never heard those songs over and over again when I was a child...would it have the same effect? I can never find out.

But aside from the music...the design of the game is quite amazing as well. There is an incredible amount of variety. There are levels where you clumsily ride a manta ray down a huge roller-coaster of water suspended in midair. Then there's a little segment with fire and ice. Spin Mario around...and he skates along the ice like he's a gold medalist. Spin Mario around...and he shoots fireballs from his BARE HANDS(I've never seen any plumber do that before). There are even levels where Mario rides a giant ball (yeah...I didn't want to write it either) and learning to steer with the motion control is half the fun! On top of that...you never really have to play the game any specific way. Through tricks, you can find secret areas and shortcuts. You can go to places you never even thought were part of the game. You can try to challenge yourself because of how flexible Mario can be (again...I feel like everything can be worded better).

There are a million things I can say about this game--from the gorgeous environments, to the delightfully cute designs of the characters.

But there can be no easier way to sum up my feelings than this:
I can never get bored of the games.
Super Mario Galaxy 1/2 are quite literally...
the only games in existence...
that I can never get bored of.

And that's it for today. I still don't get why I have a blog. But sometimes it feels...relieving (almost like...going to the bathroom) to just write thoughts on something. It's a bit of a break from writing a story.

Some Random Thoughts (aka. Blog Post)

2011-01-13T12:16:00.000-05:00

So here we are at another day in our writing/editing marathon.
I sold another book (Whoohoo!) and that brings the total up to 38!

I've been struggling with the editing for S3, as always.
I'm reading, editing and writing...and...everything is just a big blur.
It's like one of those things where you don't know where you came from or where you're going.

I got a comment on the Judge on that free-ebooks site that was a reminder of the biggest hurdle I face: grabbing the reader in the first few pages. If someone doesn't get hooked, BAM, you're screwed.

I got a similar comment for S3 a while back from a friend. I've been working at it...but...it will always nag me. I will never be sure if it's fixed.

I constantly read the first few pages and think...
How can I do this? Simple? Elegant? Extravagant? Do I throw the loop or do I play it safe? Do I hint at insanity...or bring it down-to-earth? Does this work? Or is it boring?

This book contest focuses on three things: a synopsis, an excerpt, and the full manuscript. Of course, I can't just throw myself on one. I need to make sure everything works. But...this isn't a test/an exam either. There are no right or wrong answers(except for the grammar portion, which, understandably is still an issue with me).

We've got eleven days left. I've reached chapter 8 in my editing (spree?). I still haven't prepared the synopsis...and I'm absolutely dreading that round. If you don't know...I got knocked out of the running by last year's synopsis. Even something like this synopsis is terribly important. But even then...it's 1/5 for the contestants. Only a thousand can pass the first round.

Oh boy...it almost feels like my stomach is twisting and turning at my thoughts.
Oh well...back to work. I was hoping this blog post would calm me down, but it's had the opposite effect. Figures. Maybe tonight I'll talk about gaming instead. That'll calm my nerves.

Another Sale

2011-01-11T10:39:00.001-05:00

We're up to 37 on the sales!
It has slowed down a lot, but...that makes it about...one a month? If we're lucky, we'll reach 50 by the end of the year ;)

Anywayz, another snow slow day. Those crazy kids are at it again, totally clogging up the streets with their sledding. Can't believe they haven't gone to school for TWO DAYS IN A ROW. Back in my day, you only had off for one...and then the next day, they'd DRAG YOU TO SCHOOL(figuratively).

It's got me kind of worried. It's really cloudy...which means even the sun has abandoned us, refusing to end our plight. The snow (or white and shiny ice, whatever it is) isn't melting at all! What if they still have no school tomorrow? I'll still hear those kids going KKKKKSSSSSSHHHHH! down the road every few minutes.

Oh well, too much humbugging. I guess I should be happy for them.
Or not.

There's only one good thing I can hope for in this frozen time. Maybe the evildoers will stay holed up in their houses.

I'm ending the Wlog. We need posts with more impact. Shameless/ful impact. I think those pointless, random, everybody's-time-wasted top ten lists were pretty impactful. Maybe I should stick with those.

First Real Snow of the Season

2011-01-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

Here in the south, we don't really get much snow. Most of the time it's really...just mushy rain or hard hail. However, just last night we've actually had some real snow. Probably not a big deal for most people, but it's been a while since I've last seen the whole landscape covered in a few inches of white snow.

For those of you absolutely buried in snow...you have my sympathy. While I'm excited to see such beautiful snow, I'm sure some of you are already quite sick of it.

It's 3AM

2011-01-08T03:11:00.000-05:00

It's 3AM. And it's the weekend! Which doesn't mean much for me. But, hey, maybe it means a lot for you guys out there! So enjoy your weekend. Have a good time.
Life is too short to have a...bad time(?).

Breaking away from the Wlog for the weekend. Gonna do my usual pointless posts instead.

Quick updates. It's dark and quiet out there. And cold too. Kinda scary at 3AM. My neighborhood doesn't have lights.
But that's not the update I wanted to talk about.

Um...let's see. Judge is gonna hit 17k on downloads real soon...but today the downloads slowed down quite a bit. Is that the extent of it? *shrugs*
Congratulations(myself)! It's not setting the world on fire, but it's had a good run.

I'm still preparing for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. I've read through the first few chapters over and over. I can't tell if this book is any good, but I can hope like heck that it is! I wish I could somehow scrub my mind clean of this book and read it with a fresh start...but I guess that's impossible when I'm the author.

The submission period begins on the 24th and I want to make sure my book is submitted as soon as possible. That means I've only got about two weeks left. Not looking good. I need a miracle.

I think there's supposed to be some sort of fine line between genius and insanity. I'm no genius, but I think I can aim for insanity. One is better than none.

Writer's Log Day 3

2011-01-06T22:13:00.000-05:00

Writer's Log, Earth Date 01.06.2011

It's been three days since I've begun this war...and already my hair has reached new heights--quite literally. I have taken an imaginary vow not to let my hair be cut during this month of struggle. And already the troubles have surfaced. It has become...an afro of sorts. It has always been something of an afro. It's nearly impossible to keep down. And now...my head feels twice as heavy and looks twice as big.

Even putting on my glasses has become a chore. I can no longer put the sides of the glasses over the hair, or else I threaten to bend the hinges of the frame in an unfriendly manner. I must insert the sidepieces through the hair, not over it.

This hair is no ordinary hair either. It twists, waves and curls around. They're like little feathers constantly poking the inside of my ear. When I go to sleep I feel like I'm sleeping on an extra pillow...a pillow of hair. It even gets in my eyes when I'm not looking. Just a turn of my head and I'm stabbed in the eye, betrayed by my own cells, by my own DNA.

The hair has gotten so out of control that many times I wonder...if something is living inside...without my knowledge.

Writer's Log Day 2

2011-01-06T13:15:00.000-05:00

Writer's Log, Earth Date 01.05.2011

I encountered a strange difficulty in writing in my log just yesterday. Problems never cease.

I've had trouble sleeping and waking lately. I've also been having weird dreams and nightmares. My schedule has been thrown off. Even the dog's biological clock seems to have gone haywire. The dog hasn't bothered me in my sleep in a long time. Ever since I've been preparing the project, however, the dog has been waking me up very early in the morning...trying to eat my face.

Nothing makes sense anymore. I saw a huge man cross the highway, dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. Even the world is bent on screwing with my mind. No man should ever dress as the Statue of Liberty. It's just plain...odd.

Writer's Log Day 1

2011-01-04T22:15:00.000-05:00

Writer's Log, Earth Date: 01.04.2011

Due to some terrible decisions during the holidays, I was very tired and hungry in the morning. I woke up late and starving. To fill the emptiness of my stomach, I sought out meal scraps from whatever I could scrounge up. I devoured some meat, bread and water quite quickly and then proceeded to lock myself up in the room.

I only have three weeks. What was I thinking starting so late? Three weeks to life or death. My desperation has caused me to worry. Will I finish in time? Will I make a worthy product? Only time will tell. I can only pray and hope for the best.

Getting back into writing was harder than I anticipated. I have waited too long to get back into it. My mind has decayed to the point of uselessness. The day has just gotten started...and yet it feels like it will never end. Why must I keep on writing? I must never forget...the passion. For the passion is my fuel. And with it...I shall live.

Baby steps. Little by little. Step by step. That's what I tell myself I need. To write...I must read. It is a painful process for one such as I. Read. Write. Live. Die. This is going to be one heck of a month.

My hands shake. My skin crawls. I have become too weak. Years of writing has caused my muscles to degenerate. I have begun training my strength in order to improve both physical and mental health. It is still too early to tell if such things will help me now. But I have no choice. I must do all that I can...for the mission.

The winter months still remain cold. When will spring come? Not soon enough.

Writer's Log

2011-01-04T16:59:00.000-05:00

Starting tonight, I'll probably do a little something simple for this blog. I shall make it a Wlog (a Writer's log) for this month. You know, like a captain's log in Star Trek...but not. Anyway, that'll be for tonight. Just a little heads up. It's nothing particularly special. Just kind of like a journal detailing my experiences as I prepare for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest.

So...look forward to that...or not.

Strange News?

2011-01-03T14:28:00.000-05:00

Mostly news is bad. Sometimes you get some good news. Most times you get bad news. And then...some days you get strange news...which can be bad too.

And today is one of those days.

In Arkansas thousands of birds fell from the sky...dead. That's a new one. I think in one movie(or perhaps several), I forget which, birds fall from the sky. But in those movies, they are alive...and smashing themselves to their deaths. In this real life story...they just fall dead?

They're still investigating the cause. I'm seeing stuff like new year fireworks forced the birds out of the trees and into some dangerous storm. But I don't think they have anything solid yet.

Anyway, I found that story pretty interesting. Real life is usually pretty mundane, but sometimes you get a weird event out of left field. But, however remarkable, it's also sad and scary. I suppose it's sad because birds are cute. If hundreds of scorpions fell dead from the sky...I don't think it'd be as sad. Maybe more scary.

All right. Time to move on from the strange news of today.
I've been reading reviews on the Judge and I've come to understand...that it has quite a few issues that I need to correct. Of course I can't fix the Judge now.... It's kind of pointless. But I do need to take these criticisms and think about how I can improve the sequel. But it's been hard. From what I can tell, the Judge suffered from too many characters, too little character development, and too many scene changes. I've been trying to work on fixing these issues but it seems almost impossible. Because all of the characters are indeed important in one way or another. *sigh* I hope I can work S3 through this as well.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T18:02:00.000-05:00

A year has come and gone. Hard to believe we're already at 2011. Just think, 2012 is around the corner. I don't believe the world will end in 2012. Something else might happen though. Perhaps a world-changing event will occur. A war? A great, devastating natural disaster? Who knows? Or maybe it'll all be just fine. (Maybe...)

We'll see. We've got one whole year before then. But years tend to pass quite quickly, don't they?

I hope you've all enjoyed your vacations (if you had any).

Not much to talk about. I'm almost cured of this cold. Just got a little cough left.

My battle has just begun. I have 3 weeks to transform S3 into the best I can make it for the contest. I know I'm not that great of a writer, so I must use all of my power, all of my strength to do it (and loooooooooooots of prayer).

With some luck, grace, destiny, and somewhat soft hard work, we just might pull it off.

And to finish off this blog post, I'll just comment on the current situation. We're actually almost up to 15700 downloads! Each day we still get hits! It's amazing! I don't know how it's happening, but I'm grateful that more people are giving the Judge a chance. It's not a bestseller and it may never be all that popular but it's the work that I enjoyed writing the most.

Even more surprising though is that this blog gets so many hits. Before all the hits...it just used to be me, just wandering the lonely electronic halls of this website. Maybe all this random posting gets me somewhere?

3 More Sales (+Sick tips...or Tips for the Sick?)

2010-12-30T15:19:00.000-05:00

Been in the holiday spirit? I got 3 sales! I haven't been keeping track as the past two weeks have been pretty crazy, but just checked it out now and--BOOM--sales!
That takes us up to 35 total! Thanks guys/gals! I still haven't made $10 from the royalties (you need $10 before they send you the money), but it's the thought that counts (or at least that's what I tell myself).

I've been trying to get back into the swing of things, but it's been difficult.
Still sick. And there are still events to attend and people to...uh...entertain.

Just a quick recap of the situation.
I've been working on the sequel to the Judge for the past month or so. However, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest is just around the corner, so I'm going to dedicate my time to that. I have until the end of January, so I need to make sure everything is perfect by then. If you don't know what that is, it's a competition of sorts for novels. You have to have a novel ready for them, then you just send it in. The novel is pit against thousands of other novels. And only a few emerge victorious with a grand prize of...getting PUBLISHED!
As no one wants to publish my books, this is really the only way to fight for it. So I'm going to try.

Anyway, since I've been sick, I thought I'd do a little piece called
SICK TIPS (TIPS FOR THE SICK!) Note: These are personal tips and since I'm not an expert at all in health, these are probably really stupid. So...don't rely on them!

1) Stay at home -- There's a story behind this one, and it starts off with...being sick...and going to a lock in(stuck somewhere with nothing healthy to eat and a bunch of people who do not go to sleep). Yeah. Home is the best place to be when you're sick. I went to a lock in when I was still okay, but perhaps due to the extreme cold of winter and lack of ventilation in areas with a bunch of people...things got worse...fast. Also, it didn't help that there were only two bathrooms and over twenty people...and when you drink lots of fluids because of a dry throat...you have to go to the bathroom...A LOT. There are probably lots of other stories to tell, but I won't go into detail. I'll just say I felt like I was dying. Best to stay at home and rest.

2) Medicine? -- I'm the type that believes that medicine should only be taken when needed. In general people say that medicine is a cure. But when it comes to basic sickness, like a cold, all the medicines do is remove symptoms. But...symptoms are often the bodies way of removing the sickness. So I think that medicines are best taken when needed, like if a fever gets too high or if you need to sleep but it feels impossible. And don't forget to sing: "Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" You don't even need the sugar. Just the song makes the medicine go down.

3) Hot shower/Bath -- Does this work? I don't know. Sometimes it makes me feel better. And I think the steam/humidity from a hot shower or bath makes my nose run better to clear out the congestion. Might just be my imagination. But it can get pretty disgusting in the shower when your nose starts dripping.

4) Natural Good Stuff -- I'm pretty sure this is obvious, but any sick fellow needs access to good nutrients. A hot bowl of soup/broth is great for this. Tea has some nice properties as well. Whenever I'm sick I have a nice hot bowl of ramen. And of course, drink plenty of fluids (because you lose plenty too).

5) Sore Throat Remedy -- My most hated part of any sickness is the sore throat. Congestion, stuffy/runny nose, cough is annoying. Fevers suck. Chills and aches are despicable. But, for my money, Sore Throat is the worst. Nothing hurts me more than a constant UGH feeling in my throat that makes me not want to talk, drink or eat. That's why I take all measures to nip it in the bud before it gets too dangerous. From what I understand, sore throats are caused by germs in the throat. Perhaps an infection or inflammation of sorts. So...to destroy the sore throat, you must destroy the germs. I go all out. Here is my method:
a) Gargle with salt water (put salt in water, stir it well)
b) Gargle with mouth wash (Should kill something...I think)
c) drink hot lemon, honey tea or have a spoonful of pei pa koa (this is for preparation of next step. If you don't know what pei pa koa is...check google)
c) eat/drink hot, spicy, salty foods/soups (it'll hurt like heck and you'll be sweating like fifty testosterone-overflowing men trapped in a sauna while running on treadmills...but...maybe it'll help. Make it extra spicy and extra salty. Don't go overboard...or you'll die. Maybe.)
d) wait a few hours, if problems persist, rinse and repeat. if you're suffering even more...stop.

cough sniff wheeze

2010-12-28T17:50:00.000-05:00

I think I caught something. Maybe a cold. Don't know what. But it's stuffing up my nose and giving me an annoying cough.
It's been a few days and my book is almost up to 15,000 downloads! Was that a goal? I don't remember. All I can think about is how messed up I feel because of this sickness. I can't think straight.

Christmas has come and gone. I'm glad and thankful that on Christmas I was okay. But the day after Christmas my whole body started acting up.

Did anyone else celebrate Christmas? Did anyone else enjoy their time?

I got a few presents. I don't usually ask for much. And I don't usually get much. But this year was an especially good haul. Very thankful that I got a lot of awesome gifts this year. There's just not enough time to enjoy everything.

Well, time to keep on celebrating! New Year's is just ahead. Maybe things will be normal by then. Until that time comes, I'm gonna try and recover.

Ah, Home Sweet Home

2010-12-23T16:19:00.000-05:00

After locking myself up in a closet for 6 days, I am now free!
It's been about a week and the Judge has been maintaining its pace.
We're at 13850! Almost 14000 and about a 1k jump from when I disappeared.
Time to get settled now.
I hope everyone has a great time with the holidays and vacations and things. It's a time of resting, relaxing, spending time with family, and spreading love and joy and peace. The best stuff on Earth.

Christmas is coming up real soon so...Merry Christmas!

Time To Vanish

2010-12-17T13:41:00.001-05:00

I'll be home for Christmas. Isn't there a song like that? Well, that's the deal.
I shall disappear now, but I shall return! However, before I head off into the unknown(or lock myself up in my own room for several days), I'd like to thank everyone who downloaded my book, who bought it, who read it, who gave me a review somewhere or told their friends about it. That's a mouthful.

We're up to 12,608 downloads for the Judge! Just think, I've had it out for a month and a half. It's been an amazing ride to see how fast it has spread. Our next goal is a lofty one. With over 12,000 votes, Judge is on page 2 based on hits. We'll need over 20,000 to be on page 1.
Yeah...that's...uh...ridiculous.

I'm going to go prepare for the trip now. See ya next week.

A Mixture

2010-12-15T22:48:00.003-05:00

Doing something different today...as I prefer to do everyday.
It will be a super short edition of posting. It's going to seem weird.
But here at CC...weird...is good.

First: @Free-ebooks.net. New milestone. Hit 12k on Judge. Great. Thank you.

Next: Humble Indie Bundle. Pay what you want, for limited time only. Get 5 cool indie games. Very sweet.
Here: http://www.humblebundle.com/
Braid--okay. Machinarium--awesome. Cortex Command--interesting. Osmos--good. Revenge of the Titans--fun.

Next: Final Informative Doggy Post.
Dogs eat a lot of stuff--even stuff they should not eat. Keep in mind. Be safe.
List of No-no foods: Bones(risky), mushrooms, avocado, onions, grapes, salt, sugar.
More obvious no-no foods: alcohol, drugs, hard objects(large fruit pits), rotten/spoiled/moldy.

Fleas are also a problem. To deal with fleas:
1. Vacuum rugs and spray flea killer on rugs--fleas hide and lay eggs there.
2. Wash dog, soak them good--fleas drown in water.
3. Flea collar/flea treatment--repels fleas.
4. Fleas have different cycles. You may kill most, but when new eggs hatch, more will come back.
So vacuum and wash dog once every two-three days to keep them under control.

And Finally: Youtube Video of the Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5AqJww06bw

Embed not working.
Wow. New Pirates movie!
There you have it.
Bye.

Going on...a...vacation?

2010-12-14T23:39:00.000-05:00

I'll be gone next week. I know, you'll probably miss me (no, you won't). But that's the deal. Where I'm going...I don't think I'll be able to access the Internet. What's life without Internet? Terrible. TERRIBLE.

What's that? You want to know where I'm going(no, you don't)?
It's a warm place(no, it's not a fire place). That's all I care about.
Sun. Waves. Uh...more sun...and more waves. Fantastic...but still terrible without Internet.

You know what'd be cool? A telepathic form of Internet that could be accessed anywhere in the world. Your mind's pretty much like a computer anyway. But it'd suck if you got hacked. Yeah...now that I think about it...it'd be a horrible idea. Like what happens in that movie...Inception. MIND HACK!

Anyway, I'll still be here for about two more days. Gotta get ready for the trip. I'll try to get some work done while I'm away. I was gonna finish up my doggy post. But it's getting late. Tomorrow maybe.

A New Post so Soon?

2010-12-14T11:12:00.000-05:00

This isn't the post for today. I do those later. This is a celebration post! Two more sales of my books on kindle!
Updated the total books up top. Just think, over a month ago we were only at about 20 books sold.
That's a 50% increase!
Ceeeeleebration time, come on!

All right, that's it! Time to get back.
Thanks again for buying my books guys! I hope today is just simply splendid for everyone!

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest

2010-12-13T23:26:00.000-05:00

Sunday was awesome. We actually had a bit of snow today here in the South. Not much. Just some flurries. But it was beautiful...and cold. I love watching snow drift to the ground. Snow and fire are really beautiful things of nature.

Before I get to the main topic, I thought I'd give a little update on the situation.
It is the beginning of (quite possibly) the end.

Have you ever heard of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award?
Basically, it's a book contest on Amazon, sponsored by a publisher--the Penguin Group.

Yours truly entered the 2010 contest with THE JUDGE!
I had high hopes...only to be shot down:
(BANG, BANG, BANG--"UGH! You got me!") :(
It wasn't a pretty sight. I was very depressed to know...that I didn't even get past the first round!
Yup, they cut me out of the contest based on just my--erm--description of the book.
*sigh* Water under the bridge at this point.
Dirty, yucky, muddy, infested, black, brown, gooey, barfy (not a word) water.
But still water under the bridge. (gotta hold back the tears...)

No, there is no time to weep! Because it is the time to enter again! 2011! The contest submission period begins Jan 24th...or so. I need to make sure my final product is ready by then. What I'm trying to say is that progress on the Guardian is going to slooow down. Why? Because I'm gonna need some time to fix up S3 for this contest.

S3...is my last hope. It is all I've got left. I still haven't been published once. (all my books are self-published)
The Judge failed. Awake failed. S3...is the final battle. *clenches fist*
We've got to fight...once more...with EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT!
And by we...I always mean me...unless you want me to include you...then...
YES, WE WILL ALL FIGHT ON TOGETHER AS ONE!

If I can just get published once...I could die...a happy man.
Even my skull, after my flesh has rotted away, will be smiling for all eternity.

Anyway, wonderful, beautiful denizens of the Internet...you're great people and all...but that's not going to help me out here. I don't know if there's any kind of voting thing that happens in this contest (because...I didn't get past the first part...so I have no idea what's really in store). But if there is any kind of voting...your support would be much appreciated.

Begging for votes?

But of course, I'd invite you to take a look at the preview of the book first... and if you like it, vote for it. As usual. Who knows? Maybe you'll like it.
This is...Akel...signing off.
For those of you at night:
Good night, sleep tight and don't mind getting up in the middle for an early morning bite.
For those of you in the day:
Have a most spectacular, awesome and wonderful day!

Dealing with Dogs Part 2

2010-12-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

Ah, yes, a beautiful Saturday! It's still cold, but perhaps that could be remedied by wearing a few more layers.
Guardian Progress: 25%

Anyway, let's continue our Dealing with Dogs segment.
Last time I talked about...stuff that I don't want to talk about ever again.
This time I'll talk about a few more things(so general and vague).

All right. Topic: Feeding your puppy/dog. How many times should you feed them? As a human, we eat three times a day. But dogs are not humans. Their digestive system is different...and pretty flexible. What this boils down to is convenience! There is no right answer for this(except for maybe the fact that you should probably feed them more than ZERO times a day).

How many times do you want to feed them? And how does your dog handle the feeding? Some people just fill up the bowl and let the dog eat however they want. There is a possibility that some dogs are overeaters and some are not. If you're worried about obesity(especially when you're busy and can't keep playing with your dog), it'd be best to manage their diet. Most people just feed their dog once a day. We feed her twice a day.

The more times you feed it, the more times it'll go do the number 2. Convenience. One time a day is easier to deal with. On the other hand, food will stay within a dog's stomach for about eight hours. By dividing the meals you'll make it more...pleasant for your dog. Of course, in the end, a dog is still a dog. It survives as it needs to in the wild...but now it is family. Perhaps keeping things pleasant will be good in the long run.

Dealing with Dogs Part 1 (D-D-D-D-Deworm!)

2010-12-09T22:38:00.000-05:00

Does everybody know what time it is? TOOL TIME! (ah, a good show back in the day)
Actually, no. It's random blog posting time!
Anyway, denizens of the Internet, I recently discovered something new at Free-Ebooks.net!
As you probably know (I feel like I've said this one million times), I've got my books up on that site. It used to be on the Featured Ebooks, right on the homepage...but those days are long gone (it's been about a week).
I was kind of bummed out about it since the number of downloads took a nose dive.
But now I've found out that they have a new category--Top 10 ebooks!
And guess what book is in the top 10 fiction? *cups hand over ear*
*crickets chirp* *mice squeak*
*cockroaches continue to be disgusting little vermin that needs to be stepped on, burned and vaporized*
You don't know? You don't want to guess? Fine, I'll just spoil it. THE JUDGE! THE JUDGE IS IN THE TOP TEN!
Dun, dun, duuuun!
Not impressed? Well, I thought it was cool. I'm not going to get into stats anymore (trying to quit. cutting the cold turkey.). But let's just say that the downloads have been going back up! Hooray!
_____________________________________________________________
Anyway, let's get down to business with a topic I'd like to call: Dealing with Dogs.
I've got a dog. She was just a little puppy last year. Now...she's a huge puppy. But that's beside the point.
For you people who consider getting a dog, I thought I'd give a few life lessons.

First of all, if your dog is a puppy...make sure you deworm (unworm?) it. This is not a pleasant topic. But it's a very real topic. Worms live inside the INTESTINES! Put your hands over your ears and say "lalalalala... I'm not listening" if you don't want to hear more(like that'll help). It doesn't matter where your puppy came from. It doesn't matter if the mommy dog has no worms. Your puppy can still have worms. WHY? Mother nature. apparently, even if your dog is dewormed, some eggs or something can still be living in there...only to show up during child--er--puppy birth. Disgusting? Vile? Putrid? Despicable? Say what you will. Doesn't change the facts. Some people are against over-the-uh-store de-wormers. But here at CC, we used one and it worked like a charm. Our puppy looked like it was pregnant even though it was like two weeks old. But now...ah...those pesky worms are gone. Those...things...that look like spaghetti...in doodoo.

AAAAH! THE IMAGERY! NOOOOOOOO!
For God's sake, do not google image those worms! DO NOT DO IT! PLEASE!

I'd continue talking about these tips. But...right now...I kind of want to throw up.
and perhaps go to the bathroom for some other things that nature calls my cellphone for.
Maybe next time I'll continue with some more...pleasant topics.
Until next time, denizens of the Internet.... Until next time...
*retches*

Updates? Best Free Indie Games

2010-12-08T23:49:00.000-05:00

Yay, another sale of Awake! I've decided to update the counter and include sales of Awake too. I'll just put sales of all my books there so I can have more to update...and that way it'll look more impressive (or really sad, depending on how you look at it)!

Anyway, today I'm going to make a laaaaazy post, because I'm laaaaazy(and it's late, and I'm tired/not feeling well, and it's been a loooong day).

Yesterday (or perhaps the day before that. can't remember) I made a post talking about PC gaming. I thought I'd expand upon it today and talk about Free Indie Games.
Yeah, I know, it's easy to pirate games (and thus make every single game in existence "free") but come on. People worked on this stuff, and just as you like to earn money for your work, they do too! However, just like indie me (Indie author me), some indie developers make their games free because they want everyone the chance to appreciate it (and feel good about not having to actually pirate it).
So let's celebrate indie gaming by showing off some of the best FREE indie games that I've enjoyed!
(hey, maybe it'll get me some new visitors to my blog...! Or...maybe I'm too hopeful)

Super Crate Box
http://www.supercratebox.com/
Let's start out with Super CRATE BOX! This is a fun little title that will waste your time. But then again, aren't all games a waste of time? So...this game is very much like an arcade game. You collect crates while dealing with constantly respawning enemies. But every time you collect a crate, you get a random weapon (some are awesome, some are very situational, and one in particular sucks like nobody's business). For every crate you collect, you get a point on your score. If get hit by an enemy, you die.... And if you die...well, YOU DIEEEE! And the game is over. The goal is to get as many crates as you can without dying. It's frantic, it's simple...and it's VERY FRUSTRATING (and maybe it's fun).
I give it a 3/5.

Cave Story
http://www.cavestory.org/
Next is a classic. Everyone should know Cave Story(Everyone who searches for free indie games). It's considered one of the best free indie games out there. And quite possibly for some...one of the best games...PERIOD. It's made by a single Japanese guy (pretty talented guy. handsome? I wouldn't know.) That's right. He did the graphics, music... gameplay... design... uh... game stuff... etc, etc, etc, all by himself. It may look like a DOS game (or an NES game), but doesn't matter what it looks like. It's still a great game. You play as some robot dude (I think he's a robot) that lost his memory (awwww). He runs around a dark cave, steals a gun(hey the game forced me to do it!), shoots cute monsters to death(it's either him or them), and defeats some crazy evil scientist guy.
5/5! NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. NO DOUBT.

Warning Forever
http://www18.big.or.jp/~hikoza/Prod/index_e.html
Here we go. Ever heard of SHMUPS? I didn't make that word up. But it's not a real word either. It's sort of an abbreviation. It stands for: Shoot THEM UP! Not very impressive, I know. But if you say shmups ten times fast...it sounds...stupid? Anyway, back to the point. Warning Forever is an interesting take on SHMUPING. It's all about boss fights. You've got a dinky ship with a pretty powerful gun, and you fight boss after boss after boss (after boss...). It's time based. You kill bosses fast, you get more time and points. You die...you lose time. And when you run out of time, GAME OVER MAN.
I give it a 3/5. (Deja vu? or Copy Pasta?)

Ben There Dan That

http://www.zombie-cow.com/?page_id=17
A point and click adventure in the vein of...uh...Lucasarts Adventure games of Christmas Past. The game looks like it was drawn by a five-year-old. But rest assured, I don't think the game was made by five-year-olds. But if it is...THEY ARE SOME DARN TALENTED AND INTELLIGENT FIVE-YEAR-OLDS(more intelligent than me, that's for sure, but not necessarily a big accomplishment). It has some issues. But overall, not bad. If I remember correctly, there's a bit of uh...foul language. Just a warning.
4/5.

Hedgewars
http://www.hedgewars.org/
Total, shameless, worms clone. What's there to say? It's a turn-based strategy game where you...move hedgehogs and use a variety of weapons to...um...eliminate...the enemy. Total rip off of a more well-known game. So for that...I give it a:
2/5. It's not bad. It's just...kind of wrong.

Spelunky
http://www.spelunkyworld.com/
Now here is a game that is very...interesting. Two words: AMAZING. Wait...that's one word.
How about: AMAZING GAME? And now it just sounds lame. Anyway...you're a spelunker. What's spelunking? It's cave exploring! What's that you say? I already went over a game called Cave Story? And now there's another cave game? And it's AMAZING(just like cave story)?
Apparently, caves are awesome and fun places to be!
This game is pretty...um...crazy. Graphics are kind of SNES like. You go down a cave, and the levels are all randomized, which means every level will always be different, even if you start over from the beginning. The goal is to survive while journeying deeper and deeper into the...uh...cave. But this isn't your ordinary cave! There are zombies, killer monkeys, piranhas, exploding frogs, crazed cavemen (cavemen in my caves?), hot (and very pixelated) damsels in distress, giant spiders, a really grumpy merchant with a shotgun, and TONS OF BOOBY TRAPS. Big ones. Really big ones. Lots of big, huge booby traps. (Will this get my blog more hits? It's a sad world...and what I'm doing is even sadder ;P )
There are some really weird aspects to it as well. But I don't want to talk about it.
Anyway, I'm going to sleep. 5/5.

REALLY ROUGH

2010-12-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, so here we are at another day. Guardian Progress: 24% (If you're wondering why it goes up a percent every now and then, it's because it's a REALLY ROUGH estimate. There's no easy way to calculate this.)

Ahh, what should I talk about today?
When I was little (maybe about 8 or 9), I used to get really paranoid around my family and friends, because I wondered if I was really human. I wondered if life was real or not, or if I was just sitting inside some simulation controlled by robots that pretended to be humans. I wondered if anything else outside of my own existence was actually happening. Perhaps, things only happened where I was. And everything else in the outside world, beyond my sight and presence, was merely fiction. (Yeah, I was a bit of a nut)

Another thing I used to think about was when you put two mirrors together. I wondered if every reflection constituted another world. Perhaps we are just part of a reflection and the other reflections are just as real as we are. If I wave to myself in the mirror, perhaps the "me" in the mirror was waving to me and I was merely the copy! (Yeah...it's doesn't make sense...or does it?)

And another thing I used to consider is the possibility that some things might exist even without our knowing. Just how far does everything go? If we look at cells (living organisms) we can tell that they are EXTREMELY ITSY BITSY TINY THINGS. You can't see them without a microscope. Yet, they are made up of tiny parts. Are those tiny parts made up even tinier parts? And those tinier parts made up of even tinier, tinier (you get the point) parts? But even our world is part of a system, the solar system. And our solar system is part of many of other systems, and part of a galaxy, which is part of many other galaxies....and all these galaxies make up our universe...yet we cannot even fathom just how many galaxies there are out there! Perhaps these galaxies are just building blocks for something else. Maybe our massive universe is just a tiny part of an even bigger universe!

Anyway...I stopped thinking about that silly stuff, because well, those are just the silly thoughts of a kid. When you're older you just think...life is just what it is. No point in worrying about anything else.

And so I shall shift topics!
TOPIC SHIFT

PC games used to be sort of a big thing (at least, as far as I could remember) a long time ago. I remember going to an electronics store with a huge selection of PC games. Even normal retail stores would have a huge aisle of PC games. But now, all that has changed due to, presumably, two factors: Piracy and PCs.
Piracy is particularly easy on the PC. All it takes is three easy steps. It definitely makes it less appealing to develop a game for PC when you know that everyone can just grab it for free. The other issue is that normal people don't really care about upgrading a PC. With consoles you can buy a console and know for sure that a game will work on it. But such is not the case with PC gaming. You need to make sure you got a good video card and a decent processor if you want to run intense applications like games.

HOWEVER, things have changed yet again. While PC gaming may have been somewhat dead a few years ago, it has taken a new life of its own. Digital distribution is now the way of PC gaming. While piracy still exists, PC games can still sell very well through DD. STEAM in particular has been reaping the benefits by providing solid working products, anti-hack measures on their major online games, a good selection of both major and indie titles, and TONS OF SALES.

http://store.steampowered.com/
On holidays, steam has big sales, taking off anywhere from 25% to 95% off!
They even have a very devious event going on right now. IF you complete objectives, you'll be entered for a chance to win any game of your choice. And of course, completing objectives require buying games on sale...it's a two fold attack!

Anyway, that's all for now.

A long day

2010-12-05T22:02:00.000-05:00

looks like there won't be any more stats.
We are dead in the water, like a sitting duck (or a dead duck).
There are a few downloads here and there, but...pretty much negligible at this point.
But rest assured, even without stats...I can still waste time with more blog posts!
I'll probably do a post tomorrow.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

2010-12-04T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today is a sad day. No, no, I will take no consolation. There is nothing that could lift my spirits today. For today, is the day that we have lost our place on the homepage of Free-Ebooks.net.

Yes, for about a few weeks now, Coranite Chronicles (Judge) has been on the Featured books section. It was a blessing to have it up there. But now...that time has passed. THE END HAS COME!

*sigh* Oh well(z), it was great while it lasted. Not much we can do now.
And because of what has happened, we have noticed a huge drop in activity.

STATS -
Judge 10058 - Broke 10,000...however it only went up about 200. It is dying! Noooo!
Awake 10401 - went up about 100. typical.

The fight must go on! But...I don't really know what to do now. What choice do I have?
Oh, the humanity!
How can we keep the hopes and dreams alive?

Oh well, we can rejoice tomorrow, I suppose. Nothing better than a sunny Sunday.

Current Situation -
Pitching S3 to agents.
Writing the Guardian(coranite chronicles sequel).
Preparing S3 to enter Amazon Breakthrough Novel.

I'll try to write something more uplifting tomorrow. But today...is a day of sorrow.
There is a time for rejoicing and a time for mourning.
Good night.

The Process Part 6 (FINAL)

2010-12-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

9857 - Judge (300...slowing down again)
10316 - Awake (100...better than yesterday)
Guardian Progress: 23%

So, I've been thinking, a lot of times people ask me: "Why do you have an afro?"
Actually...no one has asked me that. I tend not to unleash the afro unless absolutely necessary, because I have discovered that my afro is quite frightening.

I just needed a way to start this blog post and THERE IT IS!

Anyway, I thought I'd divulge some of my past experiences in the Final Part (PART 6) of the Epic Blog Post Series - THE PROCESS (Great title for a movie, eh? There probably is a movie called that).
We've had a long journey...coming to this part. These are pretty much pointless facts about my writing process.
So...without further ado.

1) When I first wrote the Judge, I had the story planned out in my head. However, I found that it was difficult to keep focus. Like...I'd get bored of writing the same chapter. And that made things slow. So what did I do? I decided to jump around. I would write the first few pages of a chapter and then move on. I wrote the first half of EVERY chapter. And then I went back to the beginning of the book to write the second half of every chapter.

2) When I was writing Awake...I wanted to confirm the difficulty of staying awake for long periods of time. So I tried not to sleep one night to see how well I could handle it. I caved in at about 7am. Pathetic. WEAK.

3) To get inspiration, I usually stay up late. By the time 2-3-4am rolls around, my mind goes totally crazy. No, I don't get hallucinations. My mind just gets filled up with a lot of random weird stuff. The Coranite Chronicles is the only series that I've written off the top of my head. The stories for my other books: Awake, Faerie Epoch and S3, all came to me during this phase of late night mind randomness.

4) I take hot showers when it's cold. And cold showers when it's hot....
Wait, this doesn't have anything to do with anything!

5) Planning for my books is best done all the time. I think about what I'm going to write when I'm doing menial tasks or when I'm just pacing around in a constant circle.

6) I'm really hungry and need to eat. Like right now.

ANOTHER SALE

2010-12-02T13:47:00.000-05:00

YES! YES,YES! Aaha! Another person just bought the Judge on kindle! Thank yooouuuu!
All right! I'm getting fired up! This is awesome! Nothing better than to start your day with a sale!

If you bought a book and think I missed it, just tell me through any way you can (comments, forum) so I can update the counter above. I pretty much only check kindle sales, and even then I only check them once a week or so.

Anyway, today is a beautiful, wonderful day! Have a great day, everybody!

Sci-fi? Fantasy?

2010-12-02T11:26:00.000-05:00

Hey guys and gals. How are you all doing today? Great? Great...(Just talking to myself)
Stats- Judge 9560 (a good 400 up) Awake 10209 (50?)
Guardian Progress: 22%

Okay, today I decided to talk about something that kind of bothers me a bit. That is--putting a genre to my books. As you probably know, I put my books Awake and Judge on Free-Ebooks.net (and some other sites too). I just write whatever I want to write. I don't put genre limits and restraints on it. And so...I found it really hard to put my books into a genre. You'd think it'd be easy...but really...the problem is that the Genre's usually have stereotypes. And when you get out of these stereotypes...you're left with something really confusing.

I guess I'll talk about the Judge first. I've heard someone say that it's kind of like Eragon. Eragon is most definitely Fantasy, because it fits within its trappings. In Eragon, you've got your dragons, your wizards, your elves and dwarves and the like. That's Fantasy, and that's usually what people think of when you think of Fantasy. Magic. Swords. Mystical, mythical creatures.

But the Judge isn't quite that simple is it? For starters, it's set in space/the galaxy, almost like Star Wars. You've got starships, space stations, lasers and missiles.
But you've also got something akin to magic--anti-law. But there are serpents and monsters.
*spoiler* there will also be dragons in the second book. *spoiler*
There are spirits called Guardians that rain down fire from the heavens. There are even swordsmen and archers...people with psychic powers...fairies...werewolves... It's set in space...but it's also set in a post-apocalyptic (and as a result, primitive) world. Is it Sci-fi? Or Fantasy? Or truly...a mix of both that shouldn't be?

And to be honest, I really don't want to call my books Sci-fi, because when I think of Sci-fi....Science-fiction... I think of science. Now, science-fiction may be all speculative, just like Fantasy, however, Science-fiction should REALLY have an element that says "SCIENCE!"
Right? Just because we talk about traveling through space...does it really turn it into science-fiction? In my books, I don't go into details because I'm not really a science person. The science is strictly for setting, because I love the concept of space, starships and the like. There is no science to it!

But then...do we just call it Fantasy then? I'd like to think so, but at the same time, even stuff like Star Wars is considered Sci-fi, even if that is also very...fantasyish (Jedi force powers and stuff like that isn't really science).

I have the same issue with Awake. It's modern Fantasy. But it's set in a city...so it's urban fantasy? but urban fantasy has more to do with vampires and werewolves. But then...the dream wave stuff...the Internet AI stuff...is that...Fantasy? Or Science-fiction? But...animals talking and transforming...dragons...spirits that govern the world (Mother Nature)...those are Fantasy...

And in the end...I can't narrow it down. There's no real specific genre for things that blend a little bit of both. From what I've researched, Fantasy is when something is purely of the imagination and Sci-fi has some possible grounds in Science. My books are purely of the imagination...and that's why I'm more inclined to call them Fantasy, even if it's in space...or with talking computers...or in starships...

Yes, yes, here am I rambling and rumbling once more. If you ask me what kind of books I write, I'll tell you FANTASY. But then...people are always like...
"Fantasy? Like Eragon? Like Lord of the Rings? Like Narnia?"
Nooo! Not quite like that...It's...more like...I DON'T KNOW!

And if you were wondering...yes, S3 also fits this bill as well. It's more sci-fi with Time Traveling...but... the time traveling is very fantasy like...so...I don't know what that is either.... Same goes for Faerie Epoch. Sci-fi-ish setting with a very Fairy-taleish setting as well.
And with that, I shall end this post on a very confused note.
Faerie Epoch has giant robots and a Utopian futuristic cybernetic world! But it also has centaurs, anti-law, ghostly creatures, etc.
What...do...I...call...these...things?
Fantasy...with some sci-fi stuff...with some utterly ridiculous stuff...

What do you think my books are? What kind of genre is this?
Leave some comments below if you've got an idea.

Congressional Progress

2010-12-01T14:03:00.000-05:00

Another day means more stats. Keeping it short.
Judge 9141 - 400-500? It's still really steady for some reason.
Awake 10147 - And there we have it! Our next goal? 12000! With 12000, Awake will be able to be on page 2 when the list is ordered by hits. We've come a long way over this past month and a half.

And what's more amazing is that the Judge is on track to surpass Awake! I think Awake had about a two week head start, and the difference now is only about a thousand.

I just want to take this time to thank everybody! People who've bought my books, who've read them, who've reviewed them, or even suggested them to other people. You've all been very helpful! Thank you!

Keep spreading the word any way you can: Twitter, Blog, word-of-mouth, etc.

We want victory!
Guardian Progress: 21%

OHHHHHHHHHH

2010-11-30T11:36:00.000-05:00

BREAKING NEWS:
Two more copies of the Judge has been sold on Amazon Kindle! YES! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!
Time to FREAK OUT! Aaaaaah! Another two copies have been sold! One in US and one in UK! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! AMAZING! AWESOME! SUPER! SPECTACULAR! UH--RANDOM ADJECTIVES OF VARYING CRAZY EXPLOSIVE EXCITEMENT!

*breathes heavily* Okay...okay...I think I'm okay now. Yeah, that's really all I wanted to get off my chest.
I had almost given up on sales entirely...and speaking of sales....

SALES TIME [Official Report Edition of this may never happen again]:
2 copies of the Judge has been sold - YEAH!

Stats time:
8679 Judge -about 400? pretty stable.
9948 Awake -sooooo close to 10,000

There we go. Guardian progress: 20%

Happy...Cyber...Monday? (And my ways of dealing with a Post Apocalyptic scenario)

2010-11-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

That website's working again. And I know how much you all missed the stats from yesterday(I know, I know, nobody cares :( )...so here we go:
Judge: 8257 - Aw, now we can't compare on a day by day basis. But between the two days, about 600 up. A slow drop again? Bummer.
Awake: 9799 - almost 10,000!

Anyway, now on the pointlessness. Today is Cyber Monday! To be honest, I've never heard of cyber monday. Nobody I know has ever told me, "Hey, Happy Cyber Monday!" But then again, nobody really celebrates Black Friday either...because they're not holidays to begin with! What exactly are they if they aren't holidays? Shopping days apparently. While people storm the stores in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday, sacrificing life and limb to get GREAT savings, people just sit at home...clicking away at their computers on Cyber Monday. Convenient. Deals are okay too. I mean, sure it doesn't go as low as Black Friday, but still you might get things 40-50% off. So there you have it, another day in the guise of a holiday...only to just be a SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY(as if we haven't spent enough over the weekend) day.
Depressing for the wallet (and whatever you hold money in), but perhaps good for the economy?

And now for the main event: My ways of dealing with a post-apocalyptic world. [BACHELOR EDITION]

Picture courtesy of Fall Out 3.

You've watched them in movies. You've played them in games (pretty popular theme as you can see above). But what would you do in a post-apocalyptic world? What if computers deemed humanity as a parasite to the Earth(Matrix, Terminator, I, Robot)? What if World War 3 starts and nukes are fired all over the Earth?

Today's topic: Food. Every post-apocalyptic bachelor knows that in order to survive in such a world...you need food(and you need food all the time)! Of course the tricky thing is not to eat food, but to acquire it. If you're smart (and perhaps a bit crazy) you'd already have stocked up on supplies regardless.

1) So...first of all: Preparation. Before the apocalypse happens (i.e. TODAY) What kind of goods would be good (...) to stock up on? We need stuff that lasts. And bachelors are the experts in this category.
a) Canned goods - spam, baked beans, soups, tuna, fruits, pasta. These are OUR food groups. You can get some pretty yummy stuff canned. Although canned vegetables are kind of...not that great. I see some good sources of protein here.
b) Cup-a-noodle, Ramen noodles - People rag on this stuff because it's mostly oil, salt and carbs. But while it may be considered kind of bad in everyday life, it's great food for surviving the p-a world. Combine it with some canned food, and you've got yourself an awesome meal! Plus, you don't even have to cook it if you're desperate and don't have time to make a fire. Just eat it raw (it tastes much better cooked).
c) Cat/Dog food - I've never eaten it myself. But I can't see how this wouldn't be fine. Some are canned, but you've got some nice dried versions as well. Hey, you've got to survive. And it can't be too bad. Besides. You're a bachelor. Cooking or no cooking, you'll survive on anything.
d) Grains - Cereal lasts. Assuming you can't get any milk (well, I guess you could try to start a farm, but not sure how well that would turn out), you can just eat it. And it'll taste better than dog food and dried ramen.
e) Sealed food - almost like canned...except not in a can!It comes in a plastic container. Just heat up (or not) and enjoy.
f) Jarred food - Pickles? Peanut Butter? Okay, so some of those things are more of spreads for foods. But due to their edible status, I'd say..go ahead and eat a jar of peanut butter if you've got nothing else.
g) Bagged food - Potato chips for a meal? Hey, it's like eating a potato...actually, it IS eating a potato.
h) Frozen food - Wait a minute! If we don't have electricity (and a possible nuclear winter might make solar power less effective), how are we going to keep our food frozen? Simple. Go live in either the north or south pole.

2) So you've got all that yummy dog food stocked up. Now what? Let's say the world ends tomorrow (no more stats?!). You want to save as much food as you can. The next step is to start practicing your hunting skills.
It's a dangerous world out there. Due to radiation, all creatures have become butt-ugly mutants that resemble pig fetuses. How can you tell what's good to eat? Do you go for the chicken with two heads? Or the cow with five butts? I'm assuming the laws of nature will still apply, regardless of how disfigured everything is. So here are some basic tips when hunting for food.
a) Always cook it! Be on the safe side.
b) Avoid bright colored and spotted and striped creatures
c) go more for herbivores. why? it's tradition. deers, rabbits, chickens, cows...what do they have in common? besides, if that goat is man-eating, you wouldn't want to take your chances.
d) Always test the food first - take a bite. wait a day. if you're feeling fine, that food is good to keep on hunting for.
e) keep a record of safe creatures to eat
f) make sure you have benadryl on hand. even if something isn't poisonous to eat, you never know if you'll get an allergic reaction.

Anyway, I've gone on long enough. Enjoy your Cyber Monday!

Nothing Saturday

2010-11-27T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Nothing Saturday, everyone! Or maybe just Happy Saturday, when the only thing to celebrate is another day of life.

Anyway, I'm sure you're all stuffed full of turkey...for days and days.
And you've probably spent all your money in hopes of saving it (that's what deals are all about!).
So while your stomachs are full and your wallets are empty, welcome back to the blog(and to the grind)!

The Holidays really haven't made much change in my downloads. Still about the same I suppose.
Judge 7620 - 400ish boost? Still good.
Awake 9464 -200ish boost? Its got legs, y'all! (Southern talk, which I'm terrible at)

We had a feast this year! 15 attended our annual Thanksgiving feast (including dogs and babies of course).
But that's bigger than normal.

To be honest I didn't get much writing done over the past two days. But I did do some story planning. The Guardian isn't exactly shaping up nicely, but I do hope, after some heavy revision, that the final product will be worth it.

Still debating whether to make the Guardian free, or just make it cheap.

The Blackest of Fridays

2010-11-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

So it's Black Friday today. Whoop-dee-doo. Okay, yeah it's not really a holiday, so I don't care much for it. Although there are some really good deals. People say it's Christmas shopping, but we all know they just want those deals for themselves :P

Anyway, my books are getting more downloads!
Judge 7227 - Over 7 thousand!
Awake 9229 - Wow, it was going so slowly before and now it broke 9000 overnight!

Still quiet though. Anyway, I hope you people enjoy your Black Friday (that's not really a holiday but I guess it kind of is?). Be sure to check out Amazon.com for some really awesome deals! I mostly shop amazon online, but I always check up on newegg as well (they've got some good computer parts and service).

And if you like my books, please don't forget to put up some reviews somewhere, either Amazon or Free-Ebooks.net. Thanks.

It's Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T12:40:00.001-05:00

No stats again. I guess it goes down in the morning from time to time. Oh well.
Today is Thanksgiving! It's an awesome day to just give thanks...because, well, thinking about the good things in life will lift your spirits.

Just a moment ago, I smelled smoke. Something was burning! I ran to the kitchen as fast as I could and saw smoke everywhere! But now I can be thankful that I caught it on time. Crisis averted! Although...my nose still smells smoke. I think there are smoke particles or something in my nose holes. I wonder if it helps with congestion. Probably not.
So there! There's one thing to be thankful about as I wait for the smoke to clear out of the windows.

There are all sorts of things to be thankful about!

When you're okay and just living a normal life...be thankful you don't have to endure strife!
If you're still alive and well, that's perfect and just swell!
Sure, you might not have the wealth, but who cares about that when you're in good health!
Bah, I hate rhyming.

Anyway...if you think about your troubles and your worries, you'll be grumpy and bitter.
That brings to mind Disney movies, doesn't it? Hakunamatata and the Bare necessities!

Sure, I might look at my situation and be depressed, thinking stuff like: my books will never be liked, or nobody cares even though I put all my heart and soul into these books, or I've only sold about 20something books, or why won't any agents help me get published, or why aren't there any people reviewing my books, or why are the downloads slowing down, or I can't even tell if people are even reading my books-- You get the point.

But at the same time...I look at how far I've gotten and think...who cares? I know at least like five people have read my books. And that's better than none! I've got nearly 9000 downloads on Awake! and I've only put it up a month ago! In terms of hits, it's already surpassed so many other books that came out before it! And the same goes for the Judge!

Slowly (very,very,very slowly) I'm getting exposure. A few people might actually be reading my books! So I gotta be thankful!

I'm not famous, I'm dirt poor, nobody buys my books--But who caaaaaaaaares?
It's been such a blessing to write these books. And I'll never regret doing it.
I may never hit it big time, but at least I know I gave it my all.
I'm going to do my best to finish the first trilogy of the Coranite Chronicles as fast as I can.
And then...unless some miracle happens and I get published for real...I guess I'll just move on.
And I will have finished...my greatest dream and passion in life....

EDIT: Numbers are in.

Judge 6758 - a nice boost!
Awake 8910 - yeah, this...ain't going anywhere.

More Time-wasting

2010-11-24T13:15:00.000-05:00

8811 on Awake! Will we break 9000 tomorrow? Probably not. I'd say chances are about 50/50.
And 6004 on the Judge! That's like 400 downloads.
Steadily slowing down? Or totally random?
You decide(I hate when people say that).

Thank you people for downloading my books. If you like them, please leave reviews and spread the word about them. While it's nice to get downloads, I often wonder if anyone is actually reading them.

Ugh. The sickness has returned and it's getting to me. You know the drill: sore throat, congestion. It's not too bad. Nothing a few hot showers and hot soup can't fix.
Anyway, keeping it short again today.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I don't know if I should bother taking a break or not. Probably not necessary. Breaks are useless. Must...keep...moving!

Guardian Progress: 18%
Going to slow down now. Here comes the hard part.

Maybe I'll do a little piece or something tomorrow. See ya then.

Lost Tales of the Judge

2010-11-23T13:40:00.001-05:00

8658 on awake...but...
We've hit 5600 on the Judge!
Not a bad jump if I do say so myself. Like a 500 jump in one day? And it's already been out for a while. Nice. I don't know how it happened, but who knows, maybe we're getting popular!

Anyway for today, like I said, I'd put up a bit more information on the Judge. I added a few characters to the character page and some character art. I just wish I had better art skills...or someone with art skills made their own designs, I wouldn't mind posting those up too. But most of all, today I decided to talk about what I had to cut and the changes I had to make to the Judge.

For those of you who've read the Judge, you probably know that it's a big book. It averages about 122,000 words. But at one time it was over 150,000! The only reason I cut out some parts was because it was not really necessary to the plot and I needed to keep it condensed for printing. (Plus, publishers don't like big books, so I thought I'd get a better chance of publishing it if I kept word count down. Too bad...it didn't help anything at all.)

So the first thing you'll probably notice is that I cut out the prologue. You can find the prologue on the sample chapters on the Coranite Chronicles page on the right. The prologue was the tale of the Judges, intended to set the mood for the story. It is canon, part of the main story as well. But it takes place thousands of years in the past. The first Judges were not assassins who hunted criminals. In those turbulent times, all the nations were at war. They were powerful warriors who fought to protect their small nation. This elite twelve could slay entire armies in order to keep their king safe.

The next thing I cut out was the first meeting between Darek, Azura, and Sorren. In their first meeting, Sorren and his companions, Windzer and Hortmel, actually found Darek and Azura in the abandoned city. Darek was still attacked by Thedes. However, when Thedes discovered Windzer approaching, they quickly retreated. This first meeting was not as simple as falling into a river. It was much crazier!
A giant storm passed overhead, causing a giant flood with waters that rose over thirty feet high! The group tried to hide in a house...until they realized just how bad the storm was, as it flooded straight through the windows, filling up the house. They were washed by the flood and ended up in a small empty village where Rathos took care of them until they needed to dive into a waterfall in order to reach the hidden cave where the Mansion was.

The other big thing I cut out was a small adventure that Darek and the others had when they in the desert. While they were in the desert, they stopped by a small oasis to freshen up and look for animals to ride upon. They waited in the sand, hiding themselves from view. But when Darek gets up to give Thedes a piece of his mind, he finds himself surrounded by large, upright lizard creatures. The lizards carry him away, taking him into some secret lair of an insane immortal who lives there. They throw Darek into a pit that he can't escape from. Sorren and the others go to help him. But Azura falls down there too. While Sorren goes to look for a piece of rope or any other solution, he comes upon a water reservoir and cracks it open, sending a surge of water across the lair, sweeping Darek and Azura out of the pit. Sorren also steals the map of the immortal so that they can traverse the desert by going from oasis to oasis.

I feel like I probably cut some other stuff out, but that's all I can remember for now.

Guardian progress: 15%

Have at thee, sickness! I spit in thine face!

2010-11-22T18:12:00.000-05:00

A late post today. Normally I try to just make a post in the morning, but today was a bit different because I felt a bit sick in the morning. But it's gone now, I think. I don't like to take medicine for sickness because I feel that medicine inhibits the body from doing its duty...and thus you'll be sick longer (that's what I think, but feel free to disagree). So I just gave it the full natural force of anti-sickness: herbs, hot tea, nap, hot (and spicy) soup, water, weird concoction of orange mush of only-God-knows-what, some prayer. And now I'm fine and it's back to business.

So...once again, just a few reminders. I was thinking of doing that contest thingy to promote my books. It's going to start in December and I'll make a full announcement of rules and everything then. Next, downloads:
Judge:5075!
Awake:8580!
So, we did it! We reached 5000! Woohoo! Yay! Yes! Yah! Yatta! Hurray! Wonderful! Spectacular! Awesome! Amazing! Super cool! Super everything!

The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles Sequel) Progress: 10%.

For those of you new here, check in everyday for more stats, updates, and everything. I might put up some more information on the Judge. But that'll be for another day. MAYBE TOMORROW.
And as always, if you've got any questions, comments, just put them on up. I'll try to reply to everything. Thanks for visiting and have another super awesome day!

Another Beautiful Sunday

2010-11-21T14:53:00.000-05:00

I'm taking it easy today, as every Sunday. In case you missed the announcement (THAT'S IN GIANT LETTERS BELOW THIS POST!) I'm MAKING THE SEQUEL TO THE JUDGE! I'll see how fast I can finish it. I'm going to full speed and hopefully it'll be done by January.

In the meantime, I was thinking of doing a little...contest thing? Maybe not really a contest. I don't know the word for it. Anyway, here is the situation: NOBODY(well, almost nobody...very close to nobody) KNOWS ABOUT MY BOOKS. And that's where you guys come in (if there are any of you out there. or maybe I'm just imagining things)). I need you guys to help spread the word. And what better way to do it with a little incentive?

So...I was thinking about this contest thing. Basically, I'm assuming you've read one or two of my books. If you have done so, I'm going to do this thing, where, if you help put a review of my book on amazon, OR add my book to something like Shelfari and make a comment about what you think of it, then I'll enter you in a drawing. And if you win, I'll send you a paperback copy of your choice of either Awake or The Judge. Of course this is only for US, because dealing with shipping elsewhere will be trouble.

So...what do you guys think of this idea? Sounds easy right? Simply just give me an honest review(you don't have to give it 5 stars...but I'm assuming that if you want a copy...you liked the book) on a public site like Amazon or Shelfari...and I'll enter you in. Anyone interested? If you're interested please leave a comment below. I'll only do it if we can get a total of 10 entries (one per household).

And before I close out: STATS!
No sales, as usual=SUPER SAD PANDA.

And...Downloads?

Judge: 4676 (getting closer to 5000!)

Awake: 8485 (10000 on the other hand...)

So yeah. Here's my super encouraging speech of the day:

Have a super awesome day, everyone! I hope today will be great for you and that you'll enjoy life more and more as time goes on. If you're in a bad time (and we all know those will come), I wish you the best and hope you cope with any struggles or difficulties you may come across. If you're feeling down, REJOICE, because life ain't over yet...and around every corner is a brand new start...just waiting for you to take the chance.

SO HAPPY SUNDAY, EVERYONE!

Why should only holidays be joyful and celebrated?

EVERY DAY SHOULD BE AWESOME DAY!!!

SEQUEL TO THE JUDGE

2010-11-20T12:13:00.001-05:00

[BAD NEWS]
You'll never guess what happened!
I was going to check Free-Ebooks today to see how the situation was...
And it's DOWN. The website doesn't load! It was working fine yesterday.
I never thought it could go down. But there we have it.
Maybe it's maintenance. Or maybe they had some bad natural disaster at the server.
Whatever it is...now we have no stats to check!
Well, this sucks.

Uh...so...today...I don't know what to do...
I mean...STATS were everything! And now...without STATS...uh...uh...

[NEWS?]
Today is Saturday, and, um, it's a not so beautiful day. It's okay.

You know what? I guess I'll make my BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

Before I do, some kind words for you people out there:
Thank you for checking out my blog, for downloading my books(perhaps reading them too), for reviewing or commenting on websites, and for those of you who bought my books--Thank you so much!

As you probably know, I don't really have any marketing push(requires MOOLA). And I'm not really sure how enjoyable my books are. But I do hope everyone is enjoying them and...just spread the word. I need all the exposure I can get.

[GOOD NEWS]
Right now, I decided to make a change of focus. I'm trying to get S3 published, but it's been difficult. And in the meantime, I decided to continue working on the sequel to the Judge.
That's Right! Lemme spell it out for those who skim through:

I'M WRITING THE SEQUEL TO THE JUDGE (CORANITE CHRONICLES)

I know I said that I would finish it if I got the sales, but now I figure I might as well get it over with.
The sequel to the Judge will not be free (sorry for those of you who only go for free stuff...but I would like to get paid for this work).

[BAD NEWS]
However, I know that my books were planned for 9. But since not many people really care about Coranite Chronicles...it's really not feasible to keep on writing. And so...this sequel to the Judge, which I call the Guardian,...will probably be the last book in the series(And sadly, it will end on a REALLY crazy cliff hanger. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.).

Unless there's suddenly a surge of interest over my books(and people start buying my books), I really don't think I have the motivation to continue writing. I guess...Coranite Chronicles...will be one of those bittersweet things. I was glad to be able to put it out for people to read. But it's kind of sad to see that even if it is free...there's just not much interest in it. Oh well...
While this may be bad news to some (mostly me), let's turn this Sorrow into JOY!

Keep a close watch on this blog as I desperately write like my life depends on it! I'll give updates on how I'm doing with the sequel and I might even throw in a few teaser chapters for those of you folks who really care! I'm also thinking of running a few contests. I have some old copies of the Judge that I need to get rid of (You're not taking my only copy of Awake though :P).

So now, here we go!
Current Progress on the Guardian: 6%
Partial Editing Phase.
Let's see how fast we can get through this!

Confessions of a Serial Spider Killer

2010-11-19T11:53:00.001-05:00

Good morning, everyone. Our current situation is...strange.
The Judge got one favorable review. However, downloads seem to be slowing down.
Yeah, it had to slow down sometime...but it's only been a day! And too many youtube videos takes a while to load. Maybe I'll keep those videos to a minimum.
Status (because we know you all love numbers):
Judge: 3549
Awake: 8319

I think Awake got more downloads because it was closer to Halloween(and somehow it seemed Hallo[WEENY]!). But it seems more people prefer The Judge, which should be right...I think...as Coranite Chronicles is my main series. Awake was more of an experiment.

Well...let's continue with the main event in a piece I'd like to call:
CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL SPIDER KILLER!

I hate bugs in general. There was the invasion of 2004...in which an army of ants stormed my room to escape a deadly flood. Perhaps retribution for all those years that I pretended to be their dictator (I was terrible at it. I punished them with the garden hose when they refused to obey me. And rewarded them with sugar when they were good.) At first ants were only minions to serve. But then they turned on me...and I'll never, NEVER look at an ant the same again. You don't know the TERROR of waking up...and all around...ANTS, ANTS, ANTS! Ants in your drawers! Ants in your pants! Ants on your bed! Ants on your window(well...maybe that's not really much of an issue)!

But I digress(don't we all?).

And then there was the infestation of 2005...in which a hungry horde of moths lived inside our cereals! YUCK! YUCK, YUCK, YUCK! And no matter how many you kill...THEY KEEP COMING BACK! The madness wouldn't end. Every morning I'd wake up...and see them...the little evil monsters that hung upon the ceiling, taunting and taunting...! They'd lay eggs in the cereal and let the larva hatch and eat and cocoonify (I don't think that's a word) and THEN SPROUT WINGS AND FLY TO THE HEAVENS WHERE I CAN WATCH IN HORROR AND PLOT THEIR DEMISE--

But I digress again(sorry about that).

Ugh...why I am talking about bugs? I don't know. I hate them so much. Just sitting here typing this makes my blood boil.

So perhaps there is regret...when in the end...I am also...A CEREA--SERIAL SPIDER KILLER! After all, don't they teach you when you're young to love spiders(is that true? I don't know.)? Spiders are your friends. They eat bugs. But...aren't they bugs themselves? Other things...perhaps cuter things...eat bugs too! Like bats(I think bats are cute). Or...well forget about that. Anyway, here's my random(very fake and crappy) speech:

"Ah, dost thou hear that? I do not. No, we hear not. For they are not to be heard."

"I see it, I see it. The blackest, vilest monster to roam the recesses of this great hall. The corner...it shelters them. The light...it unveils them! Shine your light, o' weary man--lest you fall prey to their threads of deceit and villainy!"

"O' vile creature...a thorn in my heart...why dost thou seek my hatred? why dost thou enrage my soul! O' my soul within me...it cannot bear the very image...of you...the dark ones who creep in the night, who make there homes to ensnare.

"O' blood sucker...a dagger in my own mad thoughts...why dost thou stir my wrath? I do not hate thee...vile creature, for the greatest hate is for thine image. Leave! Begone! O' despised one, Begone! And you shall live to see another fair, beautiful day. If thou remains...your guts...your blood...THEY SHALL BE SMITED!"

Well...that was weird.

Another Day...Another...Email?

2010-11-18T11:48:00.000-05:00

All right...uh...just a quick update on things. Free-Ebooks put my book on the newsletter email thingamabob. That's right! We can only hope that the effects are just as great.
Right now we're up to:
Judge: 2312 (Let's see if we can break 5000 in a couple of days!)
Awake:8396

Here's another ATTACK OF THE DRAWINGS!

Were you expecting something better? I'm not going to bother with a piece today. So I'll just give you random Youtube vids!

The Time Has Finally Come!

2010-11-17T12:56:00.001-05:00

Do do do do...oh that laser-blasted Keyboard Cat. It's been over a day and I still can't get that infernal song out of my head.

Anyway, hey, you lovely/handsome denizens of the Internet! How [are] you all doing today? You may be wondering why the title of today's blog post is: THE TIME HAS FINALLY COME (dun dun duuuuun)!
It's because Free-Ebooks.net has finally put my book in the spotlight. I've had my book out for how long? I don't know. I think it's been maybe a week or so. I thought they'd never get around to it. But here it is!

http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/Coranite-Chronicles-The-Judge

Now...if you were around during the ancient days of when Awake first went free (it was a couple of weeks ago)...Awake was sloooooooowly (slowly,slowly,slowly) getting downloads until one day they put Awake on the Halloween Edition of the newsletter... andwegotafrigginexplosionofdownloadsofepicproportions!!!
It went from like...a couple of hundred...to over FIVE THOUSAAAAND! It was crazy. Crazy, I tell ya.

Now...the Judge has been going very slowly....and well, the boost isn't much(I guess the newsletter is just more effective), but it's still good. So...yeah, it's time to begin the overly optimistic wishing. Rally yourselves as we wait for the results of boost. At the moment:
Judge:491
Awake:8041
Not bad, eh? Much better than SEVEN(first day results, no joke). I hope we don't get knocked out the spotlight soon.

And lastly, some news. As you can see I made a few more additions to the site. I changed my Facebook page into Coranite Chronicles because that's what I'm focusing on now. And I put a little "You-likey?" box on the side. If you want to help out with my plans for world domina--I mean, uh, just spread the word.
And as usual, if you have any questions or comments about anything, you can just leave it here on my blog/forum, I'll try to reply in a timely manner. I do check the other sites as well like feedbooks and Free-ebooks.net. However, free-ebooks.net doesn't really allow me to comment on other comments, so that's a bummer.

3 Ways to Brighten Your Day

2010-11-16T14:17:00.001-05:00

Here at CC, we (and by "we," I mean "I." But "we" sounds better.) understand that life isn't always that great. Some days are better than others. But at this blog, we try to keep things happy and fun! Because everything else in the world pretty much tries to get you down. So forget the world and enjoy your time here!
Here's a piece for all of you that are tired, depressed, and just not enjoying yourself.

1) Random Youtube Videos of ALL SMILES - The Cool Cat DUO. Piano Cat vs. Keyboard Cat

2) Nice News of the Day - Let's face it, people, news is mostly bad. So when we finally see something good for a change, let's HIGHLIGHT IT! So today it was announced that President Obama wrote a kid's book for his daughters...and is selling it for charity! Awww...isn't that sweet? Now I know what some of you are thinking: "WHAT IS THAT GUY DOING WITH HIS TIME AND OUR TAX DOLLARSSSSS?"
But rest assured, he wrote this book before stepping into office. And whatever your stance is on his presidency, just don't forget, he's human like the rest of us. You can hate how he's doing his job, but don't be hating on everything. Don't hate. Be happy.

3) And...for the grand finale...STATUS REPORT--just kidding (well, still gonna include it)
For real this time: Random Image from the Internet! There are lots of weird, funny pictures on the Internet. So let's just check one out today, shall we?

"GLOBAL WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARMING!"

And last and still least...Status Report:

No sales. *tears fall*

Downloads?

The Judge: 243! Moving up!

Awake: 7981! IT'S ALMOST OVER EIGHT THOUSAAAAAND!

Enjoy your day peeps, and don't forget: we're living for a better tomorrow!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

2010-11-15T20:03:00.000-05:00

In opposite world...the mirror doesn't reflect you...YOU REFLECT THE MIRROR (Opposite world's starting to sound a lot like Soviet Russia).

I figured it'd be easier to interpret a bad drawing through straight lines rather than mouse-scribble.

Anyway, forget opposite world. Today I will tell you all about a fantasy story I imagined while I was growing up in a segment I'd like to call: REJECTED STORY IDEAS!!!111!!!111!!!
So...when I was in middle school...I made up this really stupid story. Basically it starts off with this kid that falls into a hole at a construction site. It was a portal into another weird fantasy world. While he's there, some crazy woman, dressed as an office lady, turns out to be a powerful wizard(ess?) and tries to roast the poor soul with classic fire balls. Then some dude on a staff flies into the sky and, spinning the staff around like a fan, deflects the fire balls..and then disappears.

I'm not going to go into too much detail. But here we go with the super-fast-very-shortened edition!
So the kid (we'll call him Cole...'cause that's what everybody calls him)finds out he's the CHOSEN ONE(WHOA! SHOCKER!) and begins a quest to destroy the dark lord that terrorized the land. He meets a cute girl (WHOA! DOUBLE SHOCKER!) and starts looking for other companions to join him. He finds a lightning sword (WHOA! A REAL SHOC--never mind...it got old fast) and uses that to toast up all the monsters. Then, with all his companions, he flies into the castle in the sky and launches and all-out assault...in order to DESTROY EVIL!

He thinks all is fine and dandy, and so he goes back home after celebrating the victory. However, as he begins to readjust to normal life...monsters start arriving all over the world! A portal was opened from the fantasy world...and the master of the dark lord has come back to GET HIS REVENGE! The world is overwhelmed as monsters begin destroying everything...and even the armies of the world cannot win against the might of the horde. But Cole won't let this go down without a fight! Picking up his lightning sword once again, Cole rallies his friends from the other world and begins the next world-destroying war. He manages to save some armies from being destroyed and begins to build an army of his own. After rescuing a group of scientists from annihilation, Cole gets his hands on an experimental laser cannon and protective mechanized suit. He has his army mass produce this equipment and uses these super soldiers to clear the way to the master dark lord's lair. And then he...uh...beats him up.

To be continued! (Or not...)

In the Opposite World...

2010-11-15T01:18:00.005-05:00

As I go deeper and deeper into insanity, I shall create a new short segment, which I call: Opposite World.

You know how some people say, "It's opposite day!" just to tick you off by being totally unfair and screwing up all the natural laws and rules that we adhere to? Well...in opposite world...every day is opposite day!

In the Opposite World...
Men are women and women are men--wait...WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?

Sun of the Beach

2010-11-14T14:49:00.004-05:00

All right. Now this is getting awkward. What is going on here?
Just yesterday I was pretty sure no one was visiting this blog.
Now...I'm flabbergasted (do people really say that?).
Ah, who cares. I'll continue with my usual waste-of-time blog posts.
Current Sales status: No Change. :( :( :(
Current downloads: We've hit 100 on the Judge! WOW...sloooow.
Getting 7600 downloads on Awake now seems like a complete miracle.

I guess I'll do a personal top ten list for today.
(People like top ten lists...or so I've heard. Everybody's doing it.)
So here are my top ten common words that sound weird when I think about it:

10) Wow - Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way. But I imagine Wow to have an extra sound to it. Wow(ooo?) Not an "oh" sound but an "oo" sound...or maybe "uu"? Wowuu? Wowuu? Uh...Okay, time to move on.

9) Titular - People use this a lot, online. I'm just glad this word isn't all that common in everyday life.

8) Menial - Eeny, meeny, miney, mo? Catch the tiger--okay, that's enough of that. Menial sounds mean (Neal?).

7) Penalize (see 9 for related awkwardness) - Granted, there are two ways of saying this word. But I will always remember the way my teacher used to say it. "PEENALIZE! YOU'LL BE PEENALIZED!" God bless him.

6) Shampoo - There's perhaps a trend forming here. Soap's okay. Lotion's all right. Conditioner sounds a bit...mechanical, but he's fine too. Body wash is...simple. But shampoo? I really should look up the etymology for this one. Well...regardless, some days I'll just take a bottle of shampoo and stare at it. And then I think to myself...why...why shampoo? Sham...poo? Sham...poo? Shams are poo? Shamu? Does Shamu use Shampoo?

Speaking of killer whales: Hmm...they say dolphins and whales are mammals, right? Aside from the...er...mammas...is hair/fur a requirement for mammals too? Do dolphins have (tiny) hair? I need to google this. But at the same time...I don't care that much about it. I want to know...but I'm not dying to know(and I'm kinda lazy)...so maybe it's best to just leave it up to the wonderful world of imagination.

Oh gosh...maybe I should've just left this as a top 5 instead. This is killing me. Yeah. I think I'll just end it there.

Have a good Sunday everyone. And don't...don't bother saying Sun of the Beach out loud.

Whateverization: Open Windows

2010-11-13T15:14:00.009-05:00

For today I figured I'd do something different for a change...although I do do (oops?) something different every day.
And so...I shall call this new blog post: Whateverization! It used to be Whateverzitation...but I think Whateverization has a better ring to it.

It's Whateverization and it's [not] sweeping the nation!

Here at CC, we're always quick to make up words that make no sense.
And here's today's fake word of the day: Whateverization.
It's like Whateverizing...but with a tasty "zation."

*waits around in absolute silence*
A-hem...sometimes it feels like I'm talking to myself....

Anyway, for today's Whateverization: Open Windows.
Well, maybe not OPEN windows.
What's the word? Not blinded? Revealing? Scantily Clad?
You get the point. Windows let in light. It brightens your day. Ah, but there is a catch. For you see...Windows (Why am I capitalizing it?) are transparent...in TWO WAYS. You can look out...but others--*shudders*--can look in. You think you're peeking at random strangers through the privacy of your own home...but the same is also true!
So says the wise man of the east(coast)--
"Ah, what a predicament. Ah, what a problem. Whatever shall I do? How can I change in broad daylight? How can I pick my nose without the world and google maps knowing?"

Here are some tips to dealing with this conundrum:
1) Cover windows when you need to - Here's the most logical method. You can cover up your windows! Be it with trees, bushes or other vegetation...or perhaps a less organic way through the use of blankets, blinds, dresser/drawer, etc. However, this is really not all that practical. Unveil, cover, unveil, cover. It's a vicious cycle. Especially if you pick your nose often.

2) Stare back at people - Give them the ol' I'M-WATCHING-YOU-SO-STOP-WATCHING-ME stare. Make'em feel uncomfortable. Might work if your street is in an empty suburban/rural area. It's more effective one on one. Otherwise, you'll be stuck there for hours staring at people who could care less about you.

3) Ignore everyone - This is the laid back approach. You just...um...ignore them. You, like, don't do anything and just go about your day. I can't really explain this one as it's pretty self-explanatory. And yeah...not really a solution either.

And there we have it! I hope you (the only person who reads this blog) learned something today. Lemme put up a quick picture to illustrate my point. Blogs look nicer with pictures don't they? But it's too bad that I don't have a camera...so I'll just have to use MSPaint. Thank you for reading, and have a great day!

Here we go again...

2010-11-12T17:59:00.002-05:00

http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/Coranite-Chronicles-The-Judge

Here we go again...my other book is now up on Free-Ebooks.net

If you enjoyed Awake...I think you'll enjoy the Judge as well. Although they are different, my style remains. And...let's begin the slow countdown once AGAIN!
As of this VERY moment, we have 7 downloads! WOOHOO! YEAAAAAH!
We'll start with the same goal. 5000. What will happen when we reach 5000? Another book? Probably not. It's not that I don't want to keep throwing out these books...but it's more like I don't have any left...
Low sales, zero fanbase, low motivation...spells: no more books.
Oh man...must not get depressed!
What do we got? 7 DOWNLOAAAAAAADS! YEAAAAAAAAH!

THE PROCESS Part 4?

2010-11-12T15:34:00.003-05:00

7400 downloads on Awake. We're tiptoeing all the way now. I've decided to keep at S3, polishing it and revising the materials. So far...no favorable replies from the agents. I'm trying to stay optimistic...but *sigh*
Sometimes I wonder if maybe my stories just aren't interesting enough. Well, there is a LOT of competition out there. Even putting out my books for free doesn't seem to draw any attention. It's like pitting a little itty bitty ant against the biggest dinosaur that ever lived.

Bah hum buggy, buggy, buggy. :( :( :(

Oh Welch's grape juice (not a fan...).
And now...for the MAIN EVENT!

So...once again I've forgot where I last was. But that's okay. Right? I've probably beat that stuffed toy horse to death (keeping it clean) anyway.

When I first started drawing up the concept for the JUDGE, it wasn't for a novel. It was for a graphic novel. I wanted to DRAW the JUDGE and enter it into some tokyopop competition. For eight (EIGHT!) years I trained myself to draw. I was not born or gifted with any artistic talents. Still, I really, truly desired to create a story...and it was either books or comics. And I preferred visuals.

Day after day, night after night, class after class...training and training (I couldn't write legible notes in class anyway). I studied the world around me, I mimicked art styles...I cramped my hands...until I could finally draw something that I was...really not all that proud of....

And that was when I realized: I CAN'T DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW(or draw good at least)!

Desire...passion...all that fueled me...was extinguished when the grim reality of my predicament struck me down with its bare, bloody fists.

All I was left with...was a concept. THE JUDGE. The assassins of justice! People who could appear at any moment, silencing villains without anyone knowing, purging this universe of EVIL. But I had no way of bringing it to life...

*sigh* and *sigh again*

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen--oh forget it...I'm not breaking into a song.