Baby Freya is now 2 months old! Jeez! The past few months has been a whirlwind of love, excitement, family, and sleep deprivation!
(Full post can be read on my blog HERE to see future posts sign up to my newsletter HERE)
Despite the newfound groggy-eyed joys of fatherhood, I have still been hard at work not only on RUNE’s sequel (Oath of the Apprentice), but also on an exciting new Indie Video Game project called Shadow of the Moon (which takes place chronologically between The Rune Chronicles books 1 and 2). I’m so excited to tell you about this game I’m shaking... Or is that the coffee which is currently keeping me awake?! The world may never know...
Many of you might remember Shadow of the Moon from the collaborative Inkshares video game anthology I was a part of called Too Many Controllers. Yes, that same book which "won" the Nerdist and Inkshares Video Game Publishing Contest. (And yes, thanks for asking, I am still sore about the book being canned.) Well, some friends and I were talking about how TMC being canceled shouldn’t be the death of such a great story. We were sad, however, because Shadow of the Moon was written with video game mechanics at its core, and therefore, did not really read well (make sense) as a stand alone literary work.
I kept on trying to figure out a way around this because Shadow of the Moon’s female protagonist, Zera, is featured heavily as a main character in The Rune Chronicles Book 2: Oath of the Apprentice. I could not get over how cool Zera’s background and unique motivations were and desperately wanted readers to have a chance, if they were interested, to know more about her and why she was such a bad ass. Sadly, try as I might, I could not find a good fix to the logistical story problems and was stumped for months!
Well, during the days following Freya’s birth I came to the crazy conclusion that if I could not "write" a solution for the story dilemma, the only "logical" course of action was to actually turn Shadow of the Moon into a full fledged indie video game! GG EZ Fix!
I must have been profoundly sleep deprived because changing mediums would add a huge, exponential multiplier to the amount of work required. Like, There are no words which can adequately describe how much more effort making a video game, even an indie, will be. But I have been working on this project for two months now, and trust me folks, Zera’s story is, hot damn, well worth it! Truly.
Seen above is Zera, the protagonist of Shadow of the Moon, and I have so much more I’m dying to share with you all! We have art, game design mechanics, real to life martial arts, and even code for our custom SDL game engine (which should run a playable demo soon.) Its crazy awesome how much cool shit will be in this game! And the story, oh how the story has grown and evolved!
All of this is thanks to our amazingly talented team. Despite my sleepless nights, I have been able to gather a super dedicated group over at Apotheosis Studios to help me transform my novella into a Rogue-like Action-Adventure, 2D Top Down, RPG Video Game of epic, pixelated proportions! (Think Hyper Light Drifter meets Darkest Dungeon meets Bastion. Yes, you heard me right--we are not fucking around. This game is the real deal.)
I am leading this fearless indie dev team as Creative Director/Writer and so far we have 2 other writers/designers, 1 programmer, 1 editor/marketer, 2 "interns", a wolf, and a viking baby! What could possibly go wrong?!?! If you want to join our ranks, hit me up at @StoneJamison (Currently we are looking for a pixel and/or sprite artist, and music composer, btw!)
I’m also super excited to say that I will documenting our game progress on my blog HERE with an Apotheosis Studios Indie Game Dev Blog Series! I have so much more to share (and some really killer art) but will save those additional details about the game for the "official" blog series, so stay tuned! And yes, I will be doing all of this with a new baby. Many believe I have lost my mind, which if true, should make this game and RUNE’s sequel pretty freaking awesome, haha!
All jokes aside, buckle up Masters and Apprentices and get ready for many more blog posts to come. I am so excited to not only share developments and updates on Shadow of the Moon game development, but also how my wife and I raise our Viking Ninja baby girl.
And in case you are wondering how one raises a little Viking Ninja baby girl in 2017... Well, I’m not really sure, but I figure age and gender appropriate toys (swords, obviously!); good role models (bad ass active duty Army musician mommy and Zera of Shadow of the Moon!); and a loving, strong, and supportive daddy (I’m still growing out my "Ragnar Viking haircut") is a good place to start!
Stay tuned via my news letter HERE and I’ll let you know how it all goes!
Oh, and P.S. if you have not yet posted a review for Rune of the Apprentice on Amazon Dear god, please do so! We currently have 66 reviews, but need 100+! It really helps! Seriously! Thank you!
Hello horror fans!
There’s so much I want to talk about today, but for simplicity’s sake, I’ll keep it to two thing and both of them are a plea for help.
Please, if you can, review A God in the Shed on Amazon and Goodreads. There’s a long list of reasons why you should do this. Some are marketing, some have to do with the television option, but mostly, you want to win the leather bound copy I’m raffling off when we reach 100 reviews on Amazon.
Wow... for a second year in a row, one of my books is nominated for a Dragon Award. That’s right, A God in the Shed is nominated in the horror category. You can turn this nomination into an actual victory. Just head over to the voting page and fill out the form and when the voting ballot comes in please vote for A God in the Shed.
NOTE: If you don’t know how to fill out the rest of the ballot, here are some suggestions!
Thank you again for your support. I fail as a writer because I can’t conjure the proper words to tell you how much your help has meant.
JF
Dear friends and followers,
It’s been a very long time since my last update. My apologies for that. On the book front, we’re now in developmental edits ... basically arguing with an editor over just how much of the novel needs to be rewritten from the ground up. A couple of chapters are going to be juggled around, but I should probably not say too much beyond that. We’re at a point where Change is an unchanging fact of life.
For most of the past year as well, I’ve been buried neck-deep in writing something else: "The Hero Unmasked!", a CYOA-style game for Choice Of Games.
It’s a superhero story, as you might have guessed, and very different from "Murder at the Veterans’ Club". The game was just released on Steam, Apple, and Android last Thursday, and I’ve pretty much spent the past couple of days grinning madly as the reviews roll in.
Is there anything else of note? Yes.
Landon Crutcher, author of "Monkey Business", has begun his campaign for "Black Cloud". I remember enjoying "Monkey Business", and I expect "Black Cloud" to be an even better outing. Crutcher’s writing this time about something he knows intimately from his work, and that always adds a certain special something. Like James Herriot writing about veterinary practice.
Ryan Smith has decided to publish his novel, "Goodbye, Angel", via Amazon instead. I’ve purchased it and read it, and I’ve found it an engrossing and enjoyable read, especially if you love the "hard-boiled" detective genre. I’ve recommended this before, and I continue to say ... Highly Recommended.
Until next time, being aware that "next time" could be A Long Time Off ... have fun, and keep reading.
Another art update!
Here’s the next stage of the Dax painting, sent by the artist Jessica R. Van Hulle. (theladyjessica.com)
First color layer is down. Per Jessica, this is following the technique of Boris Vallejo, classic fantasy artist and creator of such epic movie posters as Barbarella and National Lampoon’s Vacation. Ahhh it’s looking so good!
More to come!
-Tony
Hey there readers!
Well, I said I’d have some updates coming for you soon. So guess what? I got updates. :)
If you haven’t already spotted me plastering these all over social media today, here are some progress photos of the artwork for the book!
These come courtesy of the artist, Jessica R. Van Hulle, who is in fact creating AN ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING for the book cover! Why? A) Because she is fantastic, and B) Because I am a crazy person and decided "go big or go home". She is without a doubt creating something that truly captures the old-school fanciful sci-fi spirit that I hoped for with Dax. Can’t wait to see the final piece! You can check out more of Jessica’s work at theladyjessica.com.
Also, while we still do not have an exact publishing date for the book, the editing team says we may likely be looking at sometime in October. I will keep you all posted as soon as I have more to share.
Until next time!
-Tony
Glorious news! The Walls are Closing In has begun developmental edits.
I received a thorough twelve-page document with insights, as well as several notes within the body of my manuscript, from the Head of Story Development at Inkshares, Matt Harry.
I was so pleased to read Matt’s feedback and suggestions, as he certainly seems to understand what I am striving to accomplish with this novel. I know that he and the rest of the team at Inkshares will guide me in strengthening the story, ensuring that all of you receive the best version possible.
Matt has worked on Tal Klein’s Punch Escrow, which recently signed a deal with Lion’s Gate, and JF Dubeau’s recently released A God in the Shed, optioned by Skydance. Matt’s own book, Sorcery for Beginners, will be out in October.
Check out a recent video with Matt Harry, discussing the development of A God in the Shed.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/224256631
Over the next several weeks I will be hard at work incorporating Matt’s suggestions, and then I will send the revised manuscript to him for round two. It also sounds like Inkshares has started kicking around some ideas for the cover. I will keep you posted on all fronts.
Until next time,
Jacqui
