tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36335380539333550582024-02-19T06:50:59.433-08:00FrankensteinbeckYour fantasy tragedict's discreet and reliable dealerFrankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-24170473402977181432020-08-16T05:46:00.001-07:002020-08-16T05:46:51.804-07:00After Much Footling, I'll Go With Avery<p> It took a lot of thought and experimenting, but I think I've found what I'll write next. To my surprise, the story of Avery Special, teenage necromancer, is in Penny's world, although I doubt she herself will appear at all. I've run it through my alpha readers, and I'm pretty sure this is viable. As usual, <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/m2yb8wuibvbsk53/Avery%20ch%201.pdf?raw=1">here is the sample first chapter</a> if anyone wants to read and comment!<br /></p>Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-9614167391218421122020-07-05T16:33:00.001-07:002020-07-05T16:33:11.071-07:00COUGH WHEEZE WHAT WAS THAT OH YEAH I WAS WRITINGThe next Supervillain book is written! I need beta readers! If anyone sees this message under the six foot heap of dust that has accumulated on my blog, you can send an email to rrsupervillain at gmail.com and request to beta read! OH THE HUMANITY.<br />
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I don't know if I even said, because I got so busy writing the damn book and of course QUARANTINE DEPRESSING BLAARG, but it's about Penny's classmate Magenta and she gets an after school job as a supervillain's errand girl.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-69112276730042126822020-01-22T08:14:00.002-08:002020-01-22T08:14:18.403-08:00HOODSWoah. Check it, I have reached that level of fame where people give me copies of books and ask for reviews! Personally, I think he's crazy because I'm not that famous, but here is my review of Hoods by David Wilson!<br />
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Hoods is YA superheroes, of course. Why else ask for my opinion? It is way, way more serious than my Supervillain books. The fictional town these kids live in is a series of slums so riddled with crime that the only question is which gang owns your streets. Despite that, it's not too dark. There's tension, but while the threat is ever present, the book avoids blood and murder and torture and trauma and stuff like that.<br />
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But what you want to know is how good it is! Once I got past the wildly different tone, it was very good! Great descriptions, fantastic action scenes, good tension. It's definitely an action book, and pulls that off completely. I know nothing of real street gangs, but they felt plausible. The author set up a particularly cute system of super powers, where most of them are variations of a limited precognition brought on by specific superhuman analysis skills. The fighting power character is superhuman not from strength and speed, but because he instinctively understands what his opponents are about to do, and what he needs to do. The stealth girl isn't invisible, she just knows where to stand and how to move to not be noticed even if she's right next to you. That sort of thing.<br />
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If you like serious YA superheroes, I definitely recommend Hoods, and apparently David Wilson thinks my recommendation matters. Woo, I'm important!Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-31249470486315533432020-01-20T10:57:00.002-08:002020-01-20T10:57:45.843-08:00YAY IT IS OUTYou Can Be A Cyborg When You're Older is released! ALL HAIL THE BOOK. Anyone who got to beta read, pleeeeeeeeeeease put up a review, because they define how Amazon markets me!<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S2K68P" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S2K68P" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmaf_UfRAm8nDXGFsXTCTWD-B1YNtdyaK87tExM3Gz3p4BnAEmJ1gJvY5vU8mWDRAoou2-ayvz58l4SYcygHvBeIa0ARqE8RdxZwauxXCGrnWpkn4ahAF7ecQTq6YVYfLIJZvugh3N5Il_/s320/You+Can+Be+a+Cyborg+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-11957772056333769012020-01-15T14:52:00.001-08:002020-01-15T14:52:25.636-08:00The Proactivity TrapI have a problem with my books and writing style, one I'm increasingly aware of: As much as I do m best to start with entertainment, there is very little tension early on. The sense of threat and plot can take as long as halfway through the book to appear. I work on it, but I never seem to solve the problem.<br />
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And now I've figured out why. My characters are proactive. Think about it. That's rare. In most books, things happen to the main character and they struggle to get out. Monsters invade, a woman in a red dress shows up and hires them to investigate her own murder, some hairy guy breaks down the door and announces they're a wizard - the main character or the hairy guy, either way - and so on.<br />
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I like main characters with strong personalities, and aspirational characters. They go looking for trouble. They act. That means there has to be build up time, especially if I'm going to get a relatable teenager into exotic trouble like super powers or angry AIs.<br />
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For now, I think I'm stuck with this problem, but I'm trying to learn to compensate and introduce some early tension to keep things running until the real trouble begins. I'm happy with how I pulled that off with Vanity Rose, at least.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-1868192133644281772020-01-05T07:57:00.002-08:002020-01-05T07:57:22.889-08:00Poor MirabelleI have faced the dire and painful truth: Mirabelle's book was not working. I don't think it was a bad book, but it was too weird and difficult to get into for anyone who doesn't know the world intimately. It doesn't have the relatability of Penny's books. It doesn't have the same fun tone. For the book that branches out off of Penny to the rest of my supervillain world, I need the story to be as easy to get into as possible.<br />
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So I switched to Magenta's story. <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/h853c7yhlw8j71r/AlchemyCh1.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Here's chapter one of I'm Late For Alchemy Class</a>. Good luck.<br />
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Oh, and the paperbacks are already out for Vanity Rose!Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-76798378092510462082019-12-16T09:29:00.002-08:002019-12-16T09:29:36.200-08:00Oh, Yeah, And This HappenedSo we're in preorder, I guess? They said a month? It looks like it actually comes out January 20th. I guess some of you will want to read, so here's the Amazon link.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S2K68P" target="_blank"><img alt="Pre-order on Amazon, yay!" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijCbHq-eBq21UGOI8Pr3klgupNBc1fwUy6tItZyQtXTZUsGDhwRJNv_YLlBSTI75tP5DHk5mlzZqWZIbxVEZ25yEozNUidMCsl0CHgBbdasqHx6b_iNVGVg4hSA-YgbcqPs_hggTezqU_D/s320/You+Can+Be+a+Cyborg+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-2700470934325175652019-12-16T09:17:00.001-08:002019-12-16T17:12:20.897-08:00EntrapdakSHIPPING. That bwessed awangement.<br />
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I will assume everyone here knows what shipping is.<br />
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I am not a big shipper. I remember doing some shipping when I was a tiny lad, innocent and- okay, slightly more innocent. Relationships in media are terrible. Most ships are worse. Through most of my life big name creators have been dedicated to hooking up the coolest girl in the property with the most godawful loser, whether or not it makes any sense. From Fifi and Hampton (UGH) to Hermione and Ron (UGH) to...<br />
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Actually, I'm delighted to say horrible official ships have been slowly dying off.<br />
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I'm particularly happy because I only seem to get into canon ships, and at that the only ones that make me squee are when what looks like an insane, improbable pairing happens, and it works. It works emotionally. The characters have a real connection that binds them strongly.<br />
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The most recent is Entrapta X Hordak. I love She Ra. The show is great. I could go on about it, and maybe I should. And then this happened.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNgN2urSkEjKrrlsjbtHh89pe2kIQVg8rUcmNA_JOw8h16F3DhY0Ol0wDNryIFL7HCaozk6VK6slaXtJ_-gJVp673lFVQ-OmM8M6bE0T10fnUF-z2Acrnsd5eh0aO4MMHbBRD7B5dAZMT/s1600/Entrapdak1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNgN2urSkEjKrrlsjbtHh89pe2kIQVg8rUcmNA_JOw8h16F3DhY0Ol0wDNryIFL7HCaozk6VK6slaXtJ_-gJVp673lFVQ-OmM8M6bE0T10fnUF-z2Acrnsd5eh0aO4MMHbBRD7B5dAZMT/s1600/Entrapdak1.webp" /></a></div>
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AND IT WORKS. The dynamic fascinates me. These two are the last you would expect to ship with anyone. They are asexual in personality, and Hordak probably is physically. They are 0% romantic. What they are is amoral reject nerds. Entrapta does not understand people. She doesn't understand right and wrong. She doesn't understand the world. All she understands is her lab, her love of technology, and how the people immediately around her treat her. Everyone cares about things she doesn't get, and they use her for her skills and move on. It doesn't matter that other people really do care about her, they're not showing it in a way she grasps.<br />
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When they developed Hordak, it turns out he's only superficially a conquering megalomaniac. He's insecure, only really understands science, and is trying to impress someone else who doesn't value him. He doesn't get right and wrong. He doesn't understand other people. He doesn't really care about the world except as a bauble to give to his father figure, who used him and moved on.<br />
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Pushed together, they got each other. They made each other happy. They could share joys and goals in a way they can't with anyone else, because other people care so much more about stuff that makes no sense to either of them.<br />
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This. Stuff. FASCINATES. Me. Is it reflected in my books? I have no idea.<br />
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The other biggest ship I've gotten into? Padippica. Gravity Falls was fun. I was pretty 'eh' on the relationships in the show. Wendy's boyfriend was vile, Dipper's crush on her was an early teen's lust that feels world-shaking, and Mabel's boys had no real connection beyond Fun.<br />
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Then at the very end of the show, Pacifica revealed that she hates the cruel, empty doll she's been raised to be. I know someone who empathizes strongly with that, and went through similar experiences. That person was a heavy inspiration for Marcia's flip. It made utter sense. This is one of the ways people like Pacifica happen. Dipper rescues her, and becomes her icon of a life she doesn't have to feel guilty for. He's shallow and hungry for excitement and mystery. Pacifica is a force of nature. It worked... for exactly one episode, then the series ended before Dipper and Pacifica had a chance to interact again significantly. <br />
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I'm going to kill Hirsch.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-8222718022256596402019-09-10T09:10:00.001-07:002019-09-10T09:10:19.414-07:00Bookbub And Other NewsSo, Please Don't Tell My Parents I Have Henchmen should be out any time now. Like, could be on Amazon any minute, I'm guessing tomorrow 'any time now.' Nemesis is edited and hopefully we'll get that out fast. I desperately, desperately want to get the whole series back out. Among other things, it horrifies me how briefly Believe Her was out. There must be so many people who couldn't read it and got stuck on the cliffhanger. Ugh!<br />
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Do any of you have Bookbub accounts? My new publisher Crossroad is way more on top of advertising than Curiosity Quills was, and thank goodness. I'd like to have my career back and be able to focus solely on writing. If you do, apparently following <a href="https://www.bookbub.com/authors/richard-roberts" target="_blank">my Bookbub page</a> helps me get advertising from them, which is THE big thing.<br />
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Finally, reactions to Mirabelle are good. I will get to work on the outline for that book, and then get properly started. More Supervillain content, ho!Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-29806506264297729182019-09-02T18:09:00.002-07:002019-09-02T18:09:36.269-07:00Can I Get Opinions?It's time to write a new Supervillain book. Hooray! I plan on never making Penny the main character again. Boo!<br />
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This time, I'd like to write Mirabelle. I have a story in mind, but she's a challenging main character. So, I have written the first scene of the book, and I could super use feedback on whether it's fun like Penny's books are fun.<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/5o7823cgr2rzq1f/GlassRampageSample.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">The PDF version</a><br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/pns88zofcojvejg/GlassRampageSample.mobi?dl=0" target="_blank">The MOBI version</a><br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/ehkiupk8vft8oet/GlassRampageSample.epub?dl=0" target="_blank">The EPUB version</a><br />
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I can't guarantee the Mobi and Epub work right. I was getting weird line wrap issues. But maybe that was my ereader.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-6906608768142382892019-08-09T18:50:00.004-07:002019-08-09T18:50:48.110-07:00GASP WHEEZE FINISHEDYou Can Be A Cyborg When You're Older is written and compiled into a manuscript.<br />
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It is beta reader time.<br />
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Also I think the first two supervillain books are back on Amazon but the editing is slow so the other three may take awhile.<br />
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Beta readers, place your requests at rrsupervillain@gmail.com, an address I forgot I even had until now.<br />
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Now to watch my brain spiral and crash.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-51291035991090801672019-03-31T14:31:00.000-07:002019-03-31T14:43:04.026-07:00ORDER UUUUP! Paperbacks first!Okay, woah. This publisher releases paperbacks before ebooks! Isn't that weird? But it's a thing, which means the paperbacks for A Rag Doll's Guide To Here And There ARE OUT ALREADY. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950565882" target="_blank">Order that bad daddy</a>! Just click on the picture I'll post below!<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950565882" target="_blank"><img alt="BUY THIS PLZ" border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="1600" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7egyGWHKE9KKYBbfTw1razwyTJ2-hB4PxfF84fVJdbNCOfCfIPkyEkp96FP-lb2KSLQFcvQWRKXya5cdoBISU58Nvm4b1ANomkIG299Ez2dVHhrEFZe8WbsmXfp39D4musN-55MyZpn5a/s320/Rag+Doll+print+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And I'm begging you, leave a review!<br />
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EDIT - Oh, and the final word is 'April 16th' for the ebook release. Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-80303280076619104692019-03-24T06:46:00.004-07:002019-03-24T14:43:06.770-07:00FINALLYLook what's up for preorder!<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PZ2D3HZ" target="_blank"><img alt="BUY ME PLZ AUTHOR NEEDS MUNZ" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVIdOa9Z7WN2znZt7ME9KLCkFQQf2cF4er-qF6ZTX9C0yAYmaseI0zfR4RtwjPAYyr5LacM5xMIMTHEJ4GwDb7NT-Hasaqz-owsnAkgnko2iNQL4v_DRTt8iDNvR2tQDvbXW_zfChGqHLy/s320/Rag+Doll%2527s+Guide+cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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It has been a long and painful dry spell for me. Fighting with Curiosity Quills and then going back to being an unpublished author hurt. But now I have a book again!<br />
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Is it weird? Yeah, kinda. But it's fun and dark and adorable and I read Oz and went 'I can make a magical kids' world with WAY more childish wonder than THAT.'<br />
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Get your preorders, kids, because the full thing will be up soon. We're aiming at April 8th. If that changes, I'll keep you posted.<br />
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And Vanity Rose's book is coming along beautifully.<br />
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EDIT - THE PRINT COVER!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvJmjzNPmqosZLpg8L0BDvpGKsLsY6JDc8mXqAGr8t-MJyotzM8r-azu3DycfXpUZFQvOEEnSxFxhkaGVyeOh_cx1SLdCHB0xR1a6F-VcYMmc7PpuqlgvnAwnqIY2VUQRfGgxw_iZuZDmF/s1600/Rag+Doll+print+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1153" data-original-width="1600" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvJmjzNPmqosZLpg8L0BDvpGKsLsY6JDc8mXqAGr8t-MJyotzM8r-azu3DycfXpUZFQvOEEnSxFxhkaGVyeOh_cx1SLdCHB0xR1a6F-VcYMmc7PpuqlgvnAwnqIY2VUQRfGgxw_iZuZDmF/s320/Rag+Doll+print+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-40375706053084455642019-03-18T06:14:00.004-07:002019-03-18T06:15:09.544-07:00Alita Good, Egil BadI haven't seen Captain Marvel yet, and part of me was like 'Maybe I should wait', then I was like 'You dufus, you haven't posted in forever, stop lollygagging.'<br />
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So, a couple of quick reviews while I wait for preorders of A Rag Doll's Guide To Here And There to go up on Amazon.<br />
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Alita: Battle Angel, the movie. I loved it. Do you like robots? Do you like seeing three hundred year old teenage girls kick ass? Do you like seeing them kick a LOT of ass? Alita delivers these things by the truckload. It doesn't deliver much else, but it never claimed to. Not that the acting or characterizations are in any way bad, it's just unashamedly an action movie.<br />
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It did have some interesting details worth commenting on. In particular, I was struck by the nude scenes. Twice Alita wanders around naked, but there's nothing to see. Her cyborg bodies are less anatomically correct than a dress-up doll, only female in general outline. It's an interesting choice to desexualize her that way, particularly given that the comic does not shy away from fanservice. But those scenes are a different kind of fanservice, because the bodies are drop-dead gorgeous in a nonsexual sense. If you like humanoid robots as an aesthetic, the jointing and scrollwork on Alita's first body in that scene are worth it by themselves.<br />
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As a fan of the books, I strongly approve that the movie covers the first volume while clearly leaving a segue for the second. I'm not sure how I feel about the different role of Desty Nova or revealing Alita's identity early. They work, at least.<br />
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I wish she did more actual martial arts. Every time she did, I wanted to leap out of my seat cheering.<br />
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Okay, the other thing.<br />
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I like going back and reading old stuff, source material, that kind of thing.<br />
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I read Egil's Saga, one of the major Icelandic viking sagas. Very important. Very influential. Semi-historical.<br />
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I do not recommend it.<br />
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Man, where to even begin? It's not awful. The first 25% is tedious, because there's a huge build up section where you're walked through the preceding two or three generations of Egil's ancestors, and how they really don't get along with Harald, the King of Norway.<br />
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Then Egil is born, and Egil... is the damnedest story hero I have ever read. Egil is an awful person. Egil's hobby is murder. Not killing people in battle, although he sure does plenty of that and is good at it. At the age of seven, Egil loses a ball game and gets beaten up, goes and gets a halberd, and chops the bigger kid's head in half. This is a pattern for the rest of his life, where if Egil doesn't get what he wants, Egil murders (illegally) the person who refused him, and a varying amount of bystanders. Lose a law suit? Kill people. Lose another law suit? Kill people. Given bad beer Kill people. Steal from some folks? Not good enough without going back and killing people.<br />
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The biggest argument for reading Egil's Saga is if you like watching a train wreck unfold. Egil is terrible from beginning to end, so much so that it was my major source of entertainment reading.<br />
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The saga is also a gigantic advertisement for Iceland. Norway sucks, Iceland is wonderful, that's the consistent message. Everybody should move from Norway to Iceland and get rich. Long, elaborate descriptions of places to fish, hunt whales, gather eggs, gather berries, on and on and on, and free land! And no horrible King of Norway!<br />
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No discussion of any Viking literature is complete without checking how it treats women. Man, Viking literature is all OVER the place on that. It's like everything I read comes from a different culture, which might well be true. Whoever wrote the Saga of Egil liked women even less than Saxo Grammaticus. Women are objects in Egil's Saga. They are treated pretty much like boats, mentioned mostly when one is especially beautiful and traded between men. Only two women get speaking roles. One is a random earl's daughter whose role in the story is to be the girl Egil loses his virginity with. Her speaking part consists of objecting to being paired up with a 13 year old boy at a wild party, then being really impressed by how many people he's murdered.<br />
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The second woman with a speaking role is Gunnhildr, known in other sagas as the Mother of Queens. She is played as the villain in this book, over and over trying to convince her husband (Or more accurately 'owner', since she's a captive, not a wife) King Eric to kill Egil. This struck me as hilarious, because Egil is so awful a person. She's obviously, 100% right. He is trouble on the hoof and is going to keep on murdering people until he's gotten rid of. The saga players her as the villain, but in a real sense she's the heroine and the smartest person around.<br />
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Okay, I'm done now.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-19339649982650382912019-02-18T17:57:00.002-08:002019-02-18T17:57:42.974-08:00A Huge QuestionI got my book rights back! My plan is to first begin shopping Supervillain to agents in the hopes of getting them into bookstores with a major publisher.<br />
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But it raises a major question. This Vanity Rose book is pretty early on. I could scrap it and recycle some of Vanity's personality into a new Supervillain world book. I only started her book because I felt like I needed a replacement property.<br />
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Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-13379012627248248522019-01-23T19:20:00.000-08:002019-01-23T19:20:17.784-08:00Still In LimboI'm... well, it would be unprofessional to say exactly what's going on, but my publisher hasn't given me my rights back. I want to try and get the Supervillain books a new publisher as fast as possible, definitely. I'm not 100% sure who would want to pick up a book series that had a previous publisher, but on the other hand it's a proven seller.<br />
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While I fight with that, do you guys want <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/jqg6qoryn9xnj6h/Vanitych4.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">chapter four</a>? It needs a lot of clean-up, but if I don't post while I'm thinking about it, I never post.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-53291692208795927462018-12-29T07:08:00.002-08:002018-12-29T07:08:45.272-08:00Somebody Asked For More<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/69q05gsc3pidks2/Vanitych2.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Chapter Two</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/swhq782c1ollhyg/Vanitych3.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Chapter Three</a><br />
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I think I've settled on 'Vanity Rose' as her final name.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-7250061833221939932018-12-18T11:54:00.001-08:002018-12-18T11:54:27.717-08:00End Of An EraSubtitled: I Hope You Downloaded In Time<br />
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My books have all been taken off Amazon. I'll leave this as the top post for at least a day or two, since people need to see it. This is part of my canceling my contracts with Curiosity Quills for not paying me royalties owed. When the official releases arrive, I will begin seeking new representation for my books. So far, no luck on the Rag Doll book, but it's so exotic I figured it would be a hard sell.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-87489464089644460182018-12-01T09:39:00.001-08:002018-12-01T09:39:27.446-08:00Three Strange Serieses I LikeI have been introduced to a new genre that I am seriously digging. Mostly, I dig them because they're weird and each one unique and require a lot of thought. They are not conventional entertainment. But hey, maybe my fans don't want conventional entertainment! So I will share them with you.<br />
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The genre are stories told by YouTube animated videos. Usually they're shorts a few minutes long, but some serieses have much longer episodes. The format allows for a freedom of creation you can't get in television shows, and effects you can't get in books. The animation is inevitably basic, and instead the creators focus on exploiting the potential of those basic formats. So, the three I've gotten into so far...<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ratboygenius/videos" target="_blank">Ratboy Genius</a>. This is a series of heavily music focused videos in the 3-5 minute range by 'Ratboy Genius.' Ratboy Genius is not a visual artist. His 3D art skills improve as the show goes on, but he's going for a weird 'children's scribble' flavor anyway. It's all one story, but presented in miniserieses that follow different main characters and subplots. It's all pretty surreal. I started with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzRKyaniuAo&list=PLR3wdsnn8E6kRNZzR5yIddfXf4QW0P6u4" target="_blank">the Little King John miniseries</a>, and I love that arrogant mostly beneficent god-creator of his own little Minecraft world.<br />
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The big thing with Ratboy Genius is the music. I don't have enough of a background to describe why it is good, but the creator is, well, a genius at electronically produced music. If you're inclined to that, throw yourself at Ratboy Genius immediately.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZKQv0ZFHpeIUkOtNjtq4KA/videos" target="_blank">Petscop</a>. This is a fake game Let's Play, telling a story by having a YouTuber play a supposedly rare, forgotten Playstation game and recording it for some unknown friend. There is no actual Petscop game, and the most brilliant part of the series is how flawlessly it looks like he's recording a game, instead of animating videos. It's meant to be creepy (I don't creep out, so I don't know if it is) and a puzzle for the audience to figure out. So much so that there are whole (dysfunctional, of course) online communities dedicated to doing so, and meta commentary on how the YouTube page is structured and possibly outside websites. There are YouTube serieses just about analyzing Petscop.<br />
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Important: Petscop has obvious symbolic themes of child abuse, and contains references to real life cases of fatal child abuse, if you put together the pieces. It's all presented that way rather than blatant actions, but knowing that theme can help decide if a viewer will love it or hate it.<br />
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It is much slower than the other two shows I'm discussing today. Episode length is mostly 10-30 minutes. Unlike the other two, Petscop is ongoing, but releases at a tremendously slow rate, sometimes months between episodes.<br />
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Finally, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0hvt-fGfsM&list=PL3O1zZghI4i6Ts-1n13OX9kH4SmuYQuZ2" target="_blank">Kuroi_Channel</a>! Man, what a head trip this series is. 27 episodes, most less than two minutes. Are you aware of the 'virtual YouTuber' phenomenon, where voice and sometimes video sync animation programs substitute a cartoon/anime character for the YouTuber? Well, this is about one of those. Or three of those. Except they're not substituting for anybody, they're nearly incoherent artificial beings who've had their third dimension destroyed in a war and are trying to learn 3D modeling to get it back.<br />
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I... think. Kuroi_Channel is nonstop glitch aesthetics, one of the purest and most brilliantly evolving portrayals of that aesthetic ever. If you particularly liked Portal because of how obviously broken GlaDoS was, Kuroi will be the thing for you.<br />
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Unlike the other two, Kuroi_Channel does not have a big fanbase. It is tiny and relatively unknown. If I can point a few people towards that freaky armless glitch cat and her two sisters Homebody and Thumbnail Witch, I'll have done a good deed.<br />
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That's it for today! I'm trying to get back to using this blog, because what stopped me was mostly stressing over my publisher. Maybe in the next day or two I'll review She Ra.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-36024672765796669002018-11-17T19:26:00.005-08:002018-11-19T09:30:44.473-08:00The Real SampleOkay, folks. Here is the test. I have written what I intend to be the first chapter of the currently untitled new cyberpunk book. A dropbox link to a pdf is the best I can give you. If anyone wants to read it, I would appreciate knowing if I have a Property, something that people will want to read if I write a full book or books.<br />
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<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wfgpeg2pzcgjc6/SerenityRoseSamplechapter.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Serenity Rose, Chapter One</a><br />
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EDIT - DANG it. I knew Serenity Rose sounded familiar. It's the name of the heroine from Heart Shaped Skull. I like that comic, and I'm absolutely not going to copy the character name. Oh, well, I'll come up with another. Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-32118569811519065242018-11-14T10:10:00.001-08:002018-11-14T10:24:06.500-08:00Exploring The Cyberpunk Writing ToneThis guy really wanted you to know how tough and experienced he was. Everything he wore was scratched and frayed at the ends from use, but still intact and completely functional. His dull orange pants were just loose enough to tuck into the tops of his combat boots, and dusted with sand despite the pouring rain outside. Metal armor plates protected his thighs, letting you know he was the kind of guy never completely comfortable without armor, and I guess also that he really valued his thighs.<br />
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His faded maroon shirt didn't match his pants, because hardened, cynical soldiers don't worry if their clothes clash. Don't worry, you couldn't see much of it beneath the empty bandoliers and the leather jacket. Thick leather, of course. A man with his past might face a knife in the back or being thrown against a car at any moment. Same with the black gloves. You never know when you'll have to settle things with your fists.<br />
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Shoulder guards attached to the jacket? Of course. The ancient scarf around his neck was a good touch, no doubt hiding ugly scars from a dramatic combat while reminding him of a woman who died in his arms. Mysterious pouches on his belt and bulges in his jacket assured you he was armed, and you could take it for granted he had a knife in his boot. Streaks of grey at his temples marked not-quite-black hair. You know, because he was old enough to have seen decades of combat but young enough to be strong. Finally, a couple of patches on his jacket had faded into unidentified landscapes and illegible logos, letting you cleverly figure out that he'd been everywhere and seen everything, which always resulted in shooting people.<br />
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The first words out of his mouth would include a reference to his days as a mech pilot, so you'd know he had the skills to battle against the teenage girls with direct nervous interfaces who normally piloted mechs.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-44748721214961171442018-11-11T13:27:00.002-08:002018-11-11T13:27:35.840-08:00You Knew I Was Writing, Right?I have just finished writing what I am tentatively calling A Rag Doll's Guide To Enchantment And Murder. I'm going to be badly frazzled for the next few days, but one of the many things I need to do as soon as I'm coherent is send it out to beta readers. I lost the email address I used last time to collect addresses to mail to, but basically it's time to start volunteering and I'll work out a system very soon.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-69891556576453246502018-11-05T11:51:00.000-08:002018-11-05T11:51:09.961-08:00Teaser And ExplorationCyberpunk is winning in my head because there's so much fun goofy stuff to mine. Here is potentially the first two paragraphs of such a book:<br />
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“Get up. Shower. Brush teeth. Spike my hair with oil and lean it over to
one side. Dust below my eyes for the ‘punched in the face’ look. Apply a
very small amount of green lipstick, one shade darker than my hair.
Begin putting on spiked leather bands. Continue putting on spiked
leather bands. Add some pre-torn clothing somewhere during that process.
Check mirror to confirm I look like death. It takes a lot of time and
effort to not be pretty<br />
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No piercings. Too retro. I couldn’t afford a cybernetic arm, even with
trade-in on the original. I found a metal skin-web once, but Mimi stole
it from my trunk and Cosmos stole it from her mattress and Ajax beat
Cosmos up and took it and Chaos blew up Ajax’s trunk to give the web
back to me because he’s sweet and Liriel put a glamour on him and took
it and buried it in the yard so it wouldn’t corrupt our auras or
whatever and Fidget watched her do it, dug the web up, and sold it for
an AR Monster before anyone else could steal it. Death Rooster is wicked
cool and I can’t be mad.”Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-21928506163322544202018-10-24T08:38:00.001-07:002018-10-24T08:38:48.415-07:00Whence Forth?And now, the positive side!<br />
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If not Supervillain, then what?????<br />
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I ain't short on ideas. I ain't ever short on ideas, kids.<br />
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The biggest problem is that my ideas are so often weird. 'Metal, Candy, Flesh' weird. I mean, even A Rag Doll's Guide To Here And There is pretty weird. I have been informed, and I agree, that human protagonists that a teen can empathize with are important for a popular series. I hate Everymans, but like Penny, that just means I give the main character a lot of personality.<br />
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It will be a girl between 12 and 15 with a tendency to be the bad guy. Sorry, I just love that kind of thing. I just hate the implication it will replace the Supervillain world.<br />
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Okay, so, I have two ideas and this is where you guys come in. I could use your opinions on which is better.<br />
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First idea: Space Western. I actually even have an experimental title for the first book, 'You Must Be This Tall To Steal A Spaceship.' The main character is Pixie, or as she puts it “With a name like Pixie, most people assume I’m an annoyingly
hyperactive optimist with a compulsive attraction to trouble, and they are correct.” I have rigged up a physics explanation that means the galaxy is very frontier, with all FTL travel and communications centering around small ships. Piracy, scavenging, exotic ports of call, treasure planets, sarcastic teammates, weird aliens, and spaceships crewed by cowboys, ninjas, pirates, clowns, and any other cliche I can think of. Pixie and her crew are already well defined to me, and stealing spaceships and scavenging precursor technology sounds like a hoot.<br />
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Problem: I don't think a space setting is very relatable. Pixie has almost no regular kid problems.<br />
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Second idea: Cyberpunk. I don't think anybody has done early teen cyberpunk. There is a whole lot of potential there. A giant, endless city under a smoke-choked sky. I get to use my "All We Wanted Was To Make You Happy" crazy robot idea. Weird people, weird crimes, and most importantly, goofy 80s and 90s futurism weird, which is hilarious and fun. Cyberspace. Fake magic. You know the saying 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic?' The Embraced have taken advantage of that to make themselves feel like wizards and witches and elves and all that. I get to put Emma Dark in an orphanage, which while not the standard child experience should give her enough connection points. While Pixie craves adventure, Emma is driven by curiosity and rebellion.<br />
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Problem: The world itself is literally fairly dark, even if Emma's adventures will mostly be fun, and it's a damn shame wasting Pixie and her well-developed characters that friends are telling me they like.<br />
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So. Your thoughts and preferences? Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3633538053933355058.post-54386279061766136022018-10-24T07:34:00.002-07:002018-10-24T07:34:30.751-07:00The Reason WhyAlright.<br />
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I guess there's not much point in keeping this a secret anymore.<br />
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The odds of there being another Supervillain book any time soon are low. I am learning more and more what a miracle it is that the series got to finish.<br />
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It's not my willingness to write, and it's not the fan reception. You people are beautiful, and you buy every book with gluttonous fervor as if you understand me for the writing god I truly am. I love that world, and there are plenty of characters to write in it, even if I'd like to space things out with the kind of exotic weirdness that is my first love.<br />
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My publisher is a mess. 'Stealing my money' a mess. I cannot be sure they're going to ever pay me again, I'm going to be consulting a lawyer when I get Heartfelt's book finished and have that emotional room, and I'm never going to send them another book. The problem is, I've talked to agents and no publisher is going to touch a book that Curiosity Quills can make even the most laughable legal claim on. That is any book in the Supervillain world. Until my publisher closes down, and hoo boy are they obviously on their deathbed, I can't write more of those.<br />
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Has this year and a half process of my publisher disintegrating, getting no support for them and having to fight again and again for my royalties been stressful, depressing, and interfered with writing and my whole author schtick? Why, yes. Yes, it has. I resisted telling the public because I felt at first that it was unprofessional to air my publisher's dirty laundry, and then because it would interfere with getting the thousands of dollars they still owe me. I've run out of patience on both of those.<br />
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I don't know who my next publisher will be. I've been told there's no point in shopping for an agent until I have a new book ready to go. I'm writing the second to last chapter of A Rag Doll's Guide To Here And There, so that will be soon. Celestia only knows where things go from there. <br />
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So, that's what's been happening. I was going to ask a very important question of you folks, but I think I'll put that in a separate post so we can put this behind us and focus on the positive!<br />
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PS - Yes, I'll need beta readers in a few weeks, but wait for it. A cross country trip is going to slow things down a bit.Frankensteinbeckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06626952456497490187noreply@blogger.com11