Just another post...

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.

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...

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?

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

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!

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

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

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!