You guys probably thought I had gotten lost!  It’s been so long since I did an update I don’t blame you.  

I took a bit of a break. I took a step back to see what I wanted to do and where I want to go. There was a lot of self evaluation and book evaluation going on during this time. I’ve had to think about where I want my characters to go and what I want them to do. 

I also had to rethink my audience and how I want them to feel and support me. Let’s face it, we can write as many books as we want, if no one will read them the stories will remain just where they are, in my head and on my computer. So, after re-looking at things, I’ve decided I’m going to go through with publishing Dangerous Beauty. 

I refuse to give up on my first baby to make way for the rest of my books. Dangerous Beauty will be going through a major edit and then will go up on Create Space. HOWEVER, I have three more projects I’d love to put through Inkshares after I get them a bit more organized. 

Thank you all for sticking with me so long and reading. There are still quite a few chapters up for you to read and review. I’d love to hear all of your feedback as I rework this story. After all, I can’t make it perfect without help from reviews!  

I’m about to upload and prettify the last two sections of Chapter 6, but before I did I thought I would share some of what my plans for the slightly modified layout of Exile, Magus are.  First off though I’ll note that none of these changes will be coming as quickly as I’d like.  I just finished the first of 4 consecutive work weeks in which I will only have Sundays off, and when you add in a long work day and commute which eat up just under 12 hours each day it means the time I have left to work on getting this book to the point I really want it.  Bright side:  lotsa overtime pay means I may actually be able to make enough money to fund all the artwork I want to put into this thing.

One of the more major changes is that I plan to put in a short prologue to introduce readers to Pentaz right off the bat.  It will most certainly be a short flash forward scene since Pentaz’ life prior to the start of Exile, Magus is kinda boring.  The life of a semi-shut-in loner isn’t that exciting, trust me on this.  I had thought to flash forward to a moment near the end of his life, but considering he’s a dwarf with their long lifespan and all that would be around 300 years and his personality would be almost unrecognizable compared to the somewhat pampered and definitely sheltered youth of around 60 years that he is at the start of Exile, Magus.  It just felt too disconnected from this book.  What I’ve settled on is a flash forward which will expand upon just what is going on internally with Pentaz during Part 1’s most pivotal scene, which is something I would have loved to do in that scene itself but it was apparent to me that doing so would derail the narrative at that point.  Now I can give the insight into his character right off the bat and make it apparent that he is the main character before I send you into the odd courtly politics of Thierdenvolgenlund.

I also plan to restructure the books Parts a bit.  I had been calling them Chapters with numbered Sections within, but once the change is done it will be Parts 0-13, with each part containing 1 or more Chapters which will be numbered consecutively.  I’ll just give an example comparison layout below, starting with the current(old) way.

Chapter 1 - Exile, sections 1-6;  Chapter 2 - Warrior, sections 1-10;  Chapter 3 - LLanchland;  Chapter 4 - Cruise;  Chapter 5 - Academy;  Chapter 6 - Graduation;  Chapter 7 - Hunter;  Chapter 8 - Proposal;  Chapter 9 - Rescue;  Chapter 10 - Ansvari;  Chapter 11 - Reunion;  Chapter 12 - Ascension.

The new ordering will be mostly a cosmetic one, and will be as follows:

Part 0 - Magus, prologue;  Part 1 - Thierdenvolgenlund, chapters 1-4(previously sections 1-4 of Exile above);  Part 2 - Exile, chapters 5-9(previously sections 4-6 of Exile above and 1-3 of Warrior above);  Part 3 - Warrior, chapters 10-16(previously sections 4-10 of Warrior above);  Part 4 - Llanchland;  Part 5 - Cruise;  and so on with the names and divisions of each part after Part 3 - Warrior being the same as current with the part number moved up by 1.

I also plan to add quick one sentence descriptions of each Part for a table of contents which I will post when completed.  I’m leaning towards the sentences all having a basic format of "Wherein X meets/learns/confronts/etc Y."

That’s enough of my prattling on for now though.  The conclusion to Graduation will be up shortly, after which I’ll take a quick break to get some groceries and start some laundry before settling in to get my Sunday reviews/recommendations ready for you all before the night is over(I am an evening shifter though, so my idea of night may run a few hours into the AM if I don’t read and type fast enough).

Thank you all for your time and continued interest.  Rest assured I will be moving forward with Exile, Magus, I just intend to get it looking purty as can be before I do so and that will still take a bit longer.  Enjoy what’s left of your weekend, and keep reading!

Happy Friday, Animals.

Are you in between reading stuff? I refer, of course, to that sliver of space-time in which you’ve just finished one book and are considering checking out a new one. If you’d like something to fill that void this weekend, having perhaps two hours to spare… Well, I wrote a screenplay a while back.

Hotline Miami was released in 2012. Made by two very talented indie game developers, it came close to stealing Game of the Year accolades from the likes of triple-A contenders like Halo 5, Xcom, and more. Yet a simple-minded gamer named gamer named Joe Asphahani never paid it much mind until mid-2015. Once he did, however, it blew his godamn mind, fueled his creativity, and inspired him to write a feature-length screenplay as a form of fan service. (There are more details on my portfolio page if you’re into that kind of thing.)

I started writing this screenplay in May, 2015. After several manic bursts of writing, punctuated by some debilitating stretches of writer’s block, I finally finished it in mid-November the day before I got on a plane to Japan for a family trip. ...and as soon as I landed back home in early December, my friend was like, “Hey! Enter your Animal in Man thingie in this Inkshares Sword and Laser thingie!” Now that the contest is all over and I’m dedicating literally every free moment to writing The Animal in Man, I decided to post my Hotline Miami script-homage up on the internet because… why not. What else am I going to do with it? Let the people enjoy!

So, like I said, give it a read if you have time. Please keep in mind I never got the chance to go back and revise it like I’d intended. (It’s what they call in the professional writing industry a “sh***y first draft.”)

Also, it’s ultra violent. Like the video game from which it derives its title, to which it pays mad respect. If you’re not into human shields, neon and hot pink, bullets, Russian mobsters, drills, the 80s, being set on fire, animal masks [yes, maybe I write about what frightens me], katanas, having your testic….. well, you get the picture, maybe. It’s all in there. If you’re not into that, this might not be for you.

Enjoy! Click HERE to read the script.

And by all means, try the game HERE.

I’m back to work on The Animal in Man now.