Angry Robot Accepting Submissions!

The adult sci-fi/fantasy publisher, Angry Robot, is accepting unsolicited manuscripts through the end of the year! I haven't been able to read anything from them yet, though I have a copy of Paul S. Kemp's The Hammer and Blade sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. I would love to be able to get something done for them, but I'm not so sure I'd be able to make the deadline, since they only accept manuscripts with a minimum of 75,000 words and I'm nowhere near that right now.

Still! If anyone has a manuscript to send their way, here's the link!

http://angryrobotbooks.com/opendoor

[An Aside] Fantasy Confessions

I haven't been reading as many of the recent fantasy essentials as I should. I admit this freely and without fear. I've read a number of the classics! Some of Howard's Conan and Solomon Kane short stories, Elric of Melnibone, and I'm about to finish my first Amber novel - to name a few. But as for recent? I'm very slow to pick them up. I get worried about the investment time-wise, because I am a pathetically slow reader, and fantasy reads tend to take me even longer because I really just savor the imagery.

So, I usually trend towards the classics, because many are either one-off stories or much more brief. These epic Robert Jordan-ian tomes intimidate the hell out of me. How my friend is able to read the Wheel of Time on an annual basis is still shocking/awe-inspiring/a mystery to me.

But one of those series that I haven't been able to dive into - but sincerely wish I could - is the Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series. Basically, I have a review copy of The Republic of Thieves coming to me soon, and I haven't read the other two. I have both books on hand, but they've only recently come back to me after making the rounds through all my friends, all of whom loved them. I've also been interested because Lynch is a fan of Matthew Stover, and I hear nothing but praise for the series coming from Stover himself. (Red Seas Under Red Skies is also dedicated to the guy.)

Long story short, I've resolved to read the Gentlemen Bastards series after I've finished with my recent reading pile, which presently includes The Fellowship of the Ring, Anything Goes, and a reread of The Great Gatsby. Also, whatever random school reads happen to fall onto the path.

But, yeah! Excited to get started on that!

CreateSpace! (And "Book 2" Update!)

Within the next few weeks, I'm going to be trying to get a version of The Outcasts of Vampire Flats up and running through Amazon's physical self-publishing imprint, CreateSpace. I have even less experience with this site than I do with KDP, but the process hasn't been all that bad so far.

Thankfully, a lot of this stuff is automated. The only real modification I had to make on my end was the table of contents I had set up for the ebook. Obviously, the hyperlinks won't work on a physical copy, so it was just a matter of making sure the pages synced up. No biggie!

CreateSpace has a lot of different options for authors who really want to make some creative flourishes with their novels, and a lot of those options are pretty expensive. Like... damn expensive. Luckily, for my purposes, I won't need to make use of any of those options. The site allows for a nice novel format without having to spend a dime.

The only real roadblock right now is that my sister's cover won't be enough. You need a PDF that includes a cover, space for a labelled spine, and the back of the book. Which means I'm going to have to call upon my sister once more when things aren't so busy. We both have midterms on lately, so that might not be such an easy thing to do right now. This'll actually give me more time to do some more research on the site.

I'll keep this blog up to date as I make my way through that.

--

Progress on the sequel to Outcasts has been pretty steady lately. I have some rough maps drawn of the city (yay, civilization!) and the general region, which I'll hand off to my sister later on after we get some idea of how to properly implement them into the document.

The outline is also much more concrete these days, and I have another chapter or so knocked out in the actual document. I'm spending a little more time with the characters here, letting them ramble on and discuss the current events a bit. I'm having a lot of fun with this so far, to the point that it might be safe to say this story will be a bit longer than the last outing - but we'll see!

[Shiloft at a Glance] Mythrin Forest

Things are not always what they seem, and that is most certainly the case for one of Shiloft's darker peculiarities. Mythrin Forest sits just a day's ride north of Vellonae, nestled against the Falstaff Mountains and stretches very nearly to the Backbone. From a distance, it appears as though the nearby mountain range is casting an unnaturally dark shadow over the land... though even up close, things don't change all that much, I suppose.

The forest pines are of an unnatural color, and taking not three steps into their realm invites a kind of uncomfortable weight upon your shoulders, a subtle feeling of dread, and an icy chill that seems to have no right to be there—and it is certainly there throughout all seasons.

On that, you can trust me. I was fairly bored one year.

Scattered about the forest are abandoned towns and homesteads that have been overtaken by the ravenous wood. Homes are still filled with various odds and ends; there are still pictures hanging on some of the walls, child's toys tipped over on the floors, barrels of dust that were once filled with grain and rice. In some of these towns, it appears as though their denizens simply dropped whatever it was they were doing and walked away. Even amidst all the decay, these places impart the feeling that they've been relatively untouched by man. Preserved, with all their treasures still safe out in the open.

Moving from west to east through the forest, travel is difficult. Hills and rocky gullies are a constant, and any path you might hope to make towards your destination will be positively choked off by the trees and rabid overgrowth. Making camp anywhere in Mythrin will be an inconvenience, as even ground is painfully sparse.

You will have back pain the following morning, and you will hobble along through the rest of your journey, cursing at the wildlife and occasionally taking out your aggression on the nearest tree.

On that, you can trust me.

Two days on foot will bring you to the ravaged banks of the River Wild, which neatly parts the forest in two from north to south. Crossing it is nearly impossible without some kind of construct, as the waters spilling out of the Backbone of the World are far more aggressive here than anywhere else on their run to Lake Terim.

There are a few places here and there where one might be able to navigate a fallen tree or an outcropping of rocks to get to the opposite bank but, overall, I do not recommend any of these options. I very much recommend that anyone looking to cross the River Wild should make the hike further north to the last standing bridge over the raging waters, the name of which I have yet to ascertain. Much of the bridge has eroded away since its construction, and I hesitate to think it'll still yet stand in another few decades, but it is there, and it will carry you safely across to the other side.

I must lament that I only discovered this bridge after thrice attempting to cross a fallen tree, and thrice being carried away by the currents into very sharp rocks. I simply must lament.

Further east, the forest will grow darker and darker until even at high noon, it will feel as though the sun had set hours ago. The trees take on a twisted form here. The overgrowth remains, but most of it is dead and fragile to the touch. Animals bay and howl, and even I am unsure what creatures exist that could possibly make those noises. They are terrible to hear. I often conjure them in my nightmares and they never fail to rip me from a previously peaceful slumber.

It's here that one is able to glean the evil magics that run through the roots of Mythrin Forest, and that in itself is a suitable explanation for why so many towns tried to establish themselves in this region, and why none remain. It is the only explanation we have.

But to say that nothing good exists would not be true... It would almost be true, but not quite.

There exists a city within this blighted area of the Realm, which few outside its own citizens have explored. The Commonwealth of Mythrin Flats is densely populated by creatures who were once members of the race of man, but have now become something else entirely.

They are immortals, but before you even begin to find elation in that notion, know that their existence is a troubled one. They are immortal only in the sense that they must feed on the meat and blood of living creatures. Raw meat cut from a freshly slain beast is their preferred mode of sustenance these days, but this wasn't always so.

The vampires, as they are called, descend from the cursed bloodline of Nalina Vamperi: the First, the Fallen One, the Betrayer, the Oathbreaker—and other various titles which shouldn't be printed verbatim. It is enough to say the vampires of the present have no fondness for the First. Their curse is such a potent one that the very image of Nalina causes a physical reaction within a vampire.

Any who are afflicted with the curse have it forced upon them through malicious means, and vampire mutates in such a way that he or she can imbibe the blood of a human at an alarming rate, a matter of minutes if some reports are to be believed. Being unable to reproduce, conversion is the only way to increase their numbers. A victim has to be almost completely drained of their blood before they are afflicted by the curse and converted.

Up until thirty years ago [T.Y. 193], conversions were at an all time high. In Kanter, the Order was already beginning to formulate plans to escalate offensive measures against the vampires. This was until a cursed one calling himself Baron Arhen Tanreus was able to rein in the out-of-control creatures, taking them all into the darkened deeps of Mythrin Forest. It's unclear whether this was done forcibly, if there was any resistance, or if the transition was peaceful, but since then, not one vampire has been seen outside of the forest.

Though, rumors certainly exist that the cursed ones have broken the borders, they are unsubstantiated and likely the onset of an emerging urban myth.

Since then, the vampires have lived without incident in a reclaimed city that was abandoned by the Order at the turn of Antamur's Cycle [T.Y. 1]. They've stayed out of Shiloft's way, and regained control of their bloodlust.

Who can tell how they were able to accomplish this? Not me, for I resolved to give the city a wide berth. This is one instance where I felt not the least bit comfortable with continuing on for the sake of this journal. One instance; maybe not the first. I am an on-again, off-again coward, it must be said.

Mythrin Flats must remain undiscovered country for now, but perhaps there will be a group of braver adventurers—less prone to falling into rivers, mind you—who would be willing to break those borders and discover just how the Baron was able to bring order to an orderless species.

Perhapses and maybes. But I have a good feeling about the matter.

On that, you can trust me...

~Falren the Wanderer

P.S. - You can trust me because I have a divining orb. If I came off as sounding mysterious, I apologize.

Shiloft at a Glance

In the coming days, I'm gonna be playing around with a concept I had recently. As part of my goal to flesh out the Realm of Shiloft for current and future readers, I thought I'd start doing occasional "travelogues" that would introduce/expand upon various locations throughout the land. I'd like to cover major landmarks, local history, the big players, and maybe show how the adventurers had an effect on them.

I'd also like to get some sketches involved, but that would depend entirely upon the artist's timetable. We're both still in the college trenches, fighting off midterms, so it's only a possibility at this point.

But this could be fun! Figured I'd give it a try. Hopefully I'll be able to get one up within the next week or so.

Later!

Short Stories!

Since my last entry in the Writers of the Future contest didn't make the cut, I've posted it over on my Tumblr in its entirety. It's called "Termination Shock", and it's about two women trying to save their strained relationship in a place where the sun (strangely enough) hasn't risen in over a week.

Also, to be more on topic, I have another short story available that acts as a pseudo-prequel to The Outcasts of Vampire Flats. I say "pseudo" because a few little details don't sync up so perfectly with the novel, but it's still by-and-large the basis for Outcasts. It's where I jokingly made up a place called Vampire Flats just to show how inept these three can be on occasion, and decided to run with it when the idea of a novel started to come about. If you're interested, it's called "The Lords of Reluctance."

Anyway, here's the link to the short stories RIGHT HERE.

Enjoy!

[An Aside] Gravity!

Went to go see a movie in IMAX 3D for the first time ever, and thank the gods it was Gravity.

If you haven't seen it yet, this film completely justifies the use of 3D. Completely. If you're on the fence about it, or were burned by another film adding in 3D at the last minute, I'd highly recommend giving it one more shot. Cuaron was heavily inspired by the IMAX documentary, Hubble 3D, so the space shots are some of the best I've ever seen. To be able to feel that depth between you, the characters, and Earth below was amazing.

Also, when the action ramps up, it's a pretty stressful experience. If you were blown away by the extended action scenes Cuaron shot for Children of Men, you're gonna love to see what he's worked up for his follow-up. There's also a lot of fascinating themes flying around in the background if you keep an eye out.

I don't know. I loved it.

Loved it!

If you haven't heard of it yet, HERE'S THE TRAILER!

Berkeley Fiction Review

This week, I'm going to be entering a short story into the Berkeley Fiction Review, so I figured I'd post up the details if any writers out there are interested. There's no cash prize or anything, but they accept all kinds of fiction, and if you're selected your story ends up in an anthology printed on campus at UC Berkeley and distributed throughout the country.

Pretty nice, huh?

It's open to everyone, so if you think you have (or will have) something to send their way, here's a link to the SUBMISSION DETAILS.

Good luck!