Blog - Page 30 of 30 - Gary David Gillen

Confluence 2016 Conference

The Confluence 2016 Conference.

I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference.

Introduction

The Confluence 2016 Conference was held on from July 29 to July 31, 2016, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The conference is run by the Parsec organization of Pittsburgh. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I was focused on attending as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday and Sunday. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Saturday: July 30, 2016

Ancient Wonders Panel

Ancient Wonders was a talk about the earliest science fiction and fantasy writings.

Communicating with Aliens Panel

Communicating with Aliens was a talk about how communicating with aliens can be written about in science fiction. The nature of determining intelligence is not always clear. How the author describes the communication is determined by if humans have gone to find the intelligent life or the intelligent life has found humans on earth.

The Basics of Ancient Warfare Lecture

Next, Timons Esaias gave an interesting lecture on The Basics of Ancient Warfare. He began talking about local soldiers using their locally available weapons. Professional armies were a threat to the local king, so wars were fought by mercenaries, who were paid and then dismissed after the war was over. This did not change until the development of the heavy infantry of the Greeks, which was called the phalanx. There are three types of warriors; on foot, on animals, and on a ship. Other topics in the talk were the Welsh longbow, Roman artillery, and the Huns and Visigoths use of horses to defeat the Romans.

The How (Not) to Sabotage Your Writing Panel

How (Not) to Sabotage Your Writing was a panel where the panelists gave their unique advice on how they persevered in becoming writers. That advice included; be okay with criticism, collaborate with your editor, engage your audience, know your tools as a writer, and take the time to learn to be a better writer.

Alien Worlds and Races Panel

In the Alien Worlds and Races panel, the panelists talked about they designed alien lifeforms. The P.E.R.S.I.A. acronym for determining a race’s culture was discussed. It stands for political, economic, religious, social, intellectual, and artistic institutions.

What the U.S. Navy Taught me About Starfleet Lecture

Christopher Weuve gave a lecture on What the U.S. Navy Taught Me About Starfleet. He started with giving three points about the U.S. Navy. First point, the history of the U.S. Navy starts with battleships. The torpedo and then the airplane drastically changed naval warfare. Second point, a surface ship uses hiding to avoid enemies. Third point, hydrodynamics affects the ship’s maximum speed. The, he gave three points about Starfleet. First, Starfleet is really not like the navy. It is more like the coast guard because it has multiple missions including law enforcement. Second, Starfleet has a really hard problem. Space is really big. The ships do not have shore support and there is no international law in space. Third, Starfleet has it easy because no one is incompetent and stuff doesn’t break. A final observation was that rank is not a job description.

Promoting Your Writing Panel

The next panel explored how you should be Promoting Your Writing. The panel advises starting promoting a book at least six months before it comes out. The rule of thumb is to spend 80% of your time writing and 20% on marketing. The work does not end when you turn in the manuscript. You are your brand. Plan to attend cons, do readings at bookstores and libraries, participate in anthologies, and also use targeted Facebook and Twitter ads. Create publicity by having a newsletter, an author’s website, a mailing list, a blog, make guest posts on other blogs, and create podcasts.

Mapping the Fantastic Panel

Mapping the Fantastic was about how authors invent worlds that make spatial sense. A map is a perception. Geography dictates much about the plot of a story.

U.S.S Improvise Sketch Comedy Show

The only event at this time was held in the ballroom, where many conference goers arrived to see the sketch comedy show called U.S.S Improvise. I thought that the cast was engaging and funny. Most of their riffs were from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a welcome change to hearing seven panels and lectures.

Writing Alternative History Panel

The next panel described how they were Writing Alternate History. It’s important to do the research. There are many pivotal historical events, when changed for fiction lead to interesting stories.

Game of Thrones Panel

The last panel I went to on Saturday was on Game of Thrones. The moderator was unable to attend, so the audience became the panel. We debated different topics on the books and the HBO show. I was exhausted at the end of the day, so I went home after the abbreviated discussion.

Sunday: July 31, 2016

The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 lecture

The first lecture on Sunday was on The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 presented by Timons Esaias. The Industrial Revolution led to Iron, Steel, the Steam Engine, and the Railroad Engine. In 1851, an exhibition was planned to showcase the technology of the times. Joseph Paxton designed a huge modular greenhouse to hold the exhibit in Hyde Park in London, England. It was called the Crystal Palace. The event brought people, technology, and ideas from all over the world. In effect, the exhibition was the first World’s Fair.

Indistinguishable from Magic Panel

The next panel asked when do advanced technologies become Indistinguishable From Magic? This panel takes its premise from Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law, which states that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In other words it was suggested that magic is technology that we do not understand yet.

Near Term Technology Panel

The panelists described what Near Term Technology is available.

Getting There Panel

The next topic was on the technology of space propulsion called Getting There. In non-manned flight laser propelled sails are being researched. The biggest change in manned flight has been the beginning of commercial means of getting to space. In the NASA approach, failure must be avoided because failure leads to review boards. Commercial flight companies are willing to fail because eventual success will pay off well. Nuclear rockets are needed now, electro propulsion should be seen in the near term, and wormhole technology is a long term option.

The Economics of Self-Publishing Panel

The last scheduled panel was on The Economics of Self-Publishing. All four of the panelists have self-published and related their experiences to the audience. Authors who self-publish must design, edit, publish, and market their work. They suggest that it is vital that the author spends money on a professional editor. Book covers sell the product, so money spent on a cover designer is necessary to promote the book. Purchase multiple ISBN codes, one for each format used such as hardcover, paperback, e-book, and audiobook.

Self-publishing is easier now because of print on demand. Self-published authors no longer must pay for a print run of books and then sell them one by one. There are two main print-on-demand formats, Ingram-spark and Createspace (An Amazon Company). I was inspired so much by the panel that I purchased a book from the panel’s moderator, Chris Kennedy. The book is called Self-Publishing for Profit. He details how he became a best-selling self-publishing author.

Wrap-up

I had a great time at the Confluence 2016 Conference. It the first conference that I have ever attended. I learned many things and was glad that I made the time to take the trip. I plan to go to the next Confluence. It is scheduled for August 4 to August 6, 2017.

Links

A similar Conference to the Confluence 2016 Conference was the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016. Winter Fiction Fest is sponsored by Literary Cleveland while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

This is my recap for the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

October 2016 Writing Progress Report

October 2016 Writing Progress.

This is my October 2016 Writing Progress Report.

Introduction

This is my October 2016 writing progress report. Normally I would state my work completed from September, events from September, my planned work for October, and planned events for October. Since this is my first report, I will also include information prior to September 2016.

June, July, and August 2012

On June 10 2012, I purchased Blake Snyder’s book Save the Cat. I had written a screenplay in 2007 and had studied screenwriting over the years. I was inspired by Snyder’s book to take the lessons of screenwriting and apply them to writing short prose fiction. Screenplays are typically about 24000 words long and I figured that I could tighten my narrative to 6000 word short stories. In a manic brainstorming session, I came up with the basic framework for six short stories.

The first story I planned to write was The Prisoner of Tarnal. It was an easy choice since it was a prequel story to the three Gahrn series stories that I had written in 1993, 1994, and 1995. I had the background and an ending which set up some things I paid off in the other stories. I worked on that story and finished the first draft on August 5, 2012. Since I felt good about completing the story I started the second story. Its working title was Dystopia. I progressed on it but life intervened in October and I stopped writing halfway through.

December 2012

I typed up what I had for Dystopia. By then, I had renamed it C. A. T. because of an idea I had in a dream and put into the story. C. A. T. was 3767 words but only half finished. I stopped writing. C. A. T. and the other four stories remained unfinished.

November and December 2015

I returned to the unfinished C. A. T. story and finished it on December 12, 2015. It was three years later, but I had finally finished the first draft.

January 2016

My 2016 new year’s resolution was to write the four unfinished stories from 2012. The next story I planned to write was the story I had called Time Bomb. I made the story sheets this month and came up with eight scenes for the story. The story had a new name, it was now called 4 Humours. On a plane ride to Orlando for the Harry Potter Celebration at Universal Orlando, which was held on January 29 to 31, 2016, I started writing the first scene.

February and March 2016

I felt like I was ready to knock it out, but by the end of February, I had only completed the first scene. On March 25^th, Good Friday, I wrote the second scene.

April 2016

I started the third scene on April 1^st, April Fool’s Day. At that point I was frustrated. I had not put writing at the top of my list of things to accomplish, so I didn’t write much. My plan was to write one story every three months to get the four done by the end of the year. I had to come up with a way to get that done. It must have been my upcoming birthday that motivated me. I had to find a way to get a reliable number of words written each week.

What was a reasonable amount to write each week? I had to find a minimum amount that I could achieve. It takes about four hours for me to write the first draft of a scene. The scenes are about 800 words long. It came down to deciding that it was worth taking four hours a week to write. So I planned to write scenes three to eight in the next six weeks. I thought that I could do that if I made it my highest priority. I finished scene three and part of scene four in April. That was much better progress.

May and June 2016

I finished 4 Humors on June 5, 2016. One scene was harder to write so it took seven weeks to write six scenes. I felt very successful compared to taking sixteen weeks for two scenes. I could do this. The fourth of the six stories was originally called L5. I would retitle it Space Station Sunyata. Wrote the story sheets, scene one and half of scene two in June. I also typed up two of eight scenes for 4 Humours. In nine of ten weeks, I wrote what was planned.

July 2016

On Space Station Sunyata I wrote the rest of scene two, scene three, and part of scene four.

I also typed rest of 4 Humours

In 11 of 15 weeks I wrote what I planned.

I attended Ohio Readers and Writers Expo held by OhioExpos.com on July 23, 2016. Wrote a separate post on it on 09-28-16.

Attended Confluence in Pittsburgh on 07-29-16 through 07-31-16. I will write a separate post covering the convention.

August 2016

I wrote scenes five, six, seven, and eight of Space Station Sunyata. It was completed.

I also prepared the story sheets for A Simple Request.

In 15 of 19 weeks I wrote what I planned.

Writing Progress from September 2016

I wrote six blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my Welcome to my Website post linked below.

Welcome to my Website

For A Simple Request I decided to change my format. I had planned 12 scenes at 500 words each. The plan was to write two scenes per week, which would increase my output from 800 up to 1000 words per week. My future plan is to up my output in 2017 to 2000 words per week.

I took a week off from work and finished the first eight scenes of A Simple Request. I finished scenes nine, ten, eleven, and twelve in the next two weeks. A Simple Request was complete. From start to finish, it took 23 days.

I typed all eight scenes of Space Station Sunyata.

In 19 of 23 weeks I wrote what I planned.

Events from September 2016

I attended the Western Reserve Writers Conference on 9-24. The Cuyahoga County Public Library. sponsored the conference. I wrote a separate post on it on 10-16-16.

https://cuyahogalibrary.org/

Wrote the amount that I intended 22 out of 26 weeks between 04-18-16 and 10-16-16. I think the plan I created in April was a success.

Created a website called garydavidgillen.com by using Bluehost for my web hosting and writing it in WordPress.

Goals for October 2016

I came up with another plan for a format change. I wanted to write shorter stories that could be used in different markets than the five stories that I had completed. The stories are The Prisoner of Tarnal, Kay-Eye (The new name for C. A. T.), 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, and A Simple Request. The plan was to write two stories with four 500 word scenes, which makes the story lengths 2000 words.

Complete the story sheets for Dogman and Time Bomb (this story follows the original idea I had for Time Bomb, not the rewrite I used for 4 Humours).

Write all four scenes for Time Bomb.

Events for October 2016

Attend Capclave 10-7 to 10-9.

http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capclave16/

Go live with my website. The content on my website involves my writing journey, book reviews, convention recaps, and monthly progress reports. Make one post per week, rotating on the four topics. Read two novels per month and write a post on each. Post the monthly progress report once a month. So, the fourth post will be about conventions or my writing journey.

October 2016 Writing Progress

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Introduction

The Western Reserve Writers Conference was held on September 24, 2016, at Lyndhurst, Ohio

I attended the 33^rd annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a key note speaker, three breakout sessions and one Q & A panel.

The conference is sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

https://cuyahogalibrary.org/

Summary – Keynote Speaker

The day began at the large meeting room which contained chairs for over 100 attendees and the tables for the presenters’ book sale. We were first welcomed by Laurie Kincer, the librarian for the writer’s center, and Deanna R. Adams, the conference coordinator. They detailed how the conference would proceed. The conference was previously located at Lakeland Community College located in Kirtland, Ohio. This is the first year that the conference has been held at this location. The keynote speaker, John Ettorre, was introduced. He spoke about his relationship with writer and editor William Zinsser. Zinsser was a mentor of his who had passed away last year. He described how Zinsser had encouraged him and many others in the craft of writing. Zinsser’s most famous book is On Writing Well.

Summary – Organizing Your Novel

At the first breakout session, I chose to listen to Julie Anne Lindsey who commented on organizing your novel. She writes young adult novels and cozy mysteries. She said that she finds that what helps in her writing is to create outlines. That way she knows that every writing day she has one chapter to write and what that chapter will contain. I thought that it was interesting that she mentioned Stephen King’s On Writing as a great resource since he advocates writing as you feel. George R. R. Martin comments on his Not a Blog that writers are either gardeners or architects. King and Martin are certainly gardeners while I would put Lindsey as an architect. Both are valid ways to write. Every writer has their own process and it was an invaluable insight to learn Lindsey’s process.

Summary – Query Letter

I listened to Deanna R. Adams at the second breakout session. Her presentation was about how to draft a winning query letter. She showed us examples straight from her book, The Writer’s GPS. In fiction writing, the author must finish and edit the work before sending out a query letter. The query letter goes to agents and not to publishers. The agent will submit the work to publishers. The query letter is a business letter, double spaced with four sections. Those sections are the lead (a hook), the body (a synopsis), the author’s credentials, and a short conclusion. Her information was clear and to the point.

Summary – Q and A

Next was a Q & A panel with three panelists. Steve FitzGerald handed out a list of upcoming Ohio writers retreats. His meet-up group is called Island Writers club found at http://www.meetup.com/Ohio-Writers-Retreats/ Deanna R. Adams talked about perfecting your first pages. Lastly, Diane Taylor talked about the benefits of belonging to a writers group.

Summary – Les Roberts

In the last breakout session, I chose to attend Les Roberts’s talk about “Using Red Herrings in Mystery Writing.” His thesis was that every character must be a suspect. All must be in some way corrupt. The reader must be surprised on every page. The writer needs to shock the reader. He advises writers to write what they want to write since he writes the books that he wants to read. He also believes that the most important writing that a writer does is the re-write. His latest novel is Speaking of Murder, the 19^th novel in his Milan Jacovich series. His session was fun with his anecdotes and informative on his thoughts about being a writer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I was very much impressed with the content and variety that was found at this conference. I will be sure to attend next year.

Links

The Confluence 2016 Conference was a writing conference similar to the Western Reserve Writers Conference. I attended the Confluence 2016 Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016. I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to the conference that was located at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the conference. It is a literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. I attended as many panels as I possibly could on Saturday and Sunday. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.

Confluence 2016 Conference

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series.

Introduction

This book starts with one of the most iconic first lines from any novel. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” The protagonist is in pursuit of the antagonist which promises action. The words gun and desert suggest a western. The word black suggests something sinister. All these images appear from just twelve words.

Summary

The gunslinger walks the desert coming upon a homesteader Brown and his raven Zoltan. He stays for the night and remembers what happened to him in the town of Tull. The gunslinger meets Alice and later Jake in his pursuit of the man in black. He follows the man in black, searching for revenge which may end up destroying his own humanity.

In the first chapter, the gunslinger meets Alice. She has a sad and doomed arc that felt right. I am not sure what I should think about Roland, the gunslinger. He debates good and evil in his head but doesn’t seem sympathetic to me. I suppose that is the way that King wants me to feel about him.

I read the 2003 rewritten version of the novel. That is the cover inserted above the introduction. I compared it to the earlier 1982 version through this website https://web.archive.org/web/20071225081733/http://www.thedarktower.net/gunslinger/, but found the changes to be minimal.

Recommendation

For me, the book seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. I liked the stories about Alice and Jake. I found Roland’s backstory in the third chapter to be interesting. The fourth chapter was a dull travelogue, but then we get to the last chapter. I wanted a thematic close to the story, but that did not happen. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending. What a disappointment. I see from King’s afterward that he used this story to set up the novels that follow and I get that, but I was hoping for a good ending that would make me want to read the next book. I don’t feel that way.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Gunslinger by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43615.The_Gunslinger

My review of Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan a book like The Gunslinger. They are both fantasy novels focusing on the protagonist’s use of guns. Adamat, Tamas, and Taniel fight gods and men in this gunpowder fantasy.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Ohio Readers and Writers Expo

Introduction

I attended Ohio Readers and Writers Expo on July 23, 2016, presented by Ohio Expos

This was the first year that this one-day event was held. There was a book fair and panel presentations at the Holiday Inn in Fairlawn, Ohio. I am a part of a writing group meet up sponsored by Cleveland Writers Press. Amy Joy and Marie, who are two of the organizers of this event, presented what they hoped to accomplish at this conference to our group. They were interested in creating an event where North East Ohio literary writers could showcase their work and point of view. There are not many opportunities in this area for writers to accomplish this, so they have found a good niche to develop by having this conference.

Over forty writers were available for book sales and signings. The reader’s room held eight talks and panels discussing different genres. The writer’s room held six talks and panels about different aspects of writing. There were also presentations in the writer’s room by Project Learn of Summit County, Cuyahoga County Public Library, and the Cleveland Writers Press. I spent the whole day in the writer’s room, so I will comment on what I learned there.

Summary One

The first panel was “Risk-Taking in Writing and Publishing.” What was interesting about this panel was that it featured four authors from different backgrounds. Their books were a memoir, a recipe book, poetry, and contemporary fiction.

Summary Two

Next was a presentation about “Overcoming Roadblocks to Writing Success.” The presenter had all of us in the audience introduce ourselves to each other and say one specific line. We all said, “I am a successful writer.” That exercise was great for me because it got me to think. I am a writer. Just because I have not published yet doesn’t mean that I am not a writer. If you write, you are a writer. The main thing I got out of her workshop was that it is important to set goals. Think about what your goals are and set mini-deadlines so that you can tell if you are progressing in your overall goals. She advocated the S.M.A.R.T goal setting. Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.

Summary Three

There was a lecture on “From Mind to Market: Five Steps to Bringing Your Book to Life.” He stated that everyone has a book inside of them. To do that you should set a goal, choose your topic, set a schedule, gain distribution, and market your book. Very informative.

Summary Four

“After the First Draft” was the next presentation. They handed out a nice folder titled “What’s Next” with a copy of their workshop paperwork. They did a media presentation as well. After your first draft, let the book rest and do the things you need to do to make the book successful. They suggest building your writer’s platform, build a following through social media, and create a marketing plan. Then you should edit your book and use beta readers to improve it. The best thing about the presentation was a link to writerswrite This is a writer’s blog with a large amount of useful content that I highly recommend.

Summary Five

A librarian from the Cuyahoga County Public Library introduced the new William N. Skirball Writer’s Center located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch. I have registered for three events because of this presentation. The center holds a monthly self-publishing roundtable. There are fiction writing workshops held at the center. The center will host the 33^rd annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 24^th. I will write another post about this conference.

Link to the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

https://cuyahogalibrary.org/

Summary Six

There were four panelists for “Writing & Publishing: Risks & Rewards.” They detailed their experiences with small press and self-publishing.

Summary Seven

The final panel was on Crime and Mystery Writing. The best quote from the panel was that a writer needs four things to write in the genre: mystery, surprise, suspense, and romance.

Summary Eight

The last talk was by the Cleveland Writers Press, the group that I am a member.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, I was pleasantly surprised by this event. All the panels were informative and the location was excellent. I hope that the organizers will hold a second Expo next year. If they do, I will certainly attend it.

Links

The Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 was a writing conference like the Ohio Readers and Writers Expo Conference linked below.

I attended the 33^rd annual Western Reserve Writers Conference on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Murder at the Kinnen Hotel by Brian McClellan

This is a prequel novella in the Powder Mage series.

Introduction

Murder at the Kinnen Hotel is a prequel novella. The novella occurs 22 years before the novel Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan. It is not necessary to read the novel first to understand this story. Knowing the character of Adamat from the novel enhances the themes explored in that novel.

Summary

I enjoyed this novella almost as much as the novel. I felt that the lack of action and the odd use of Constable White kept the story from being great. The powder mage series includes magic derived from the use of gunpowder, the magic of the Privileged who are used by the monarchy, and a minor caste of magicians called the Knacked. Adamat is a Knacked. His talent is having a photographic memory. Adamat is a special detective constable for the Adopest police department.

His talent makes his deductive reasoning seem similar to Sherlock Holmes’s process, but his humble background and marriage keep him grounded. Adamat investigates two seemingly unconnected murders. The complication is that his friend Richard is accused of committing the second murder. He must negotiate between the dockland gangs, the corrupt police commissioner, and a powerful noble family to save his friend from execution by the guillotine. Adamat attempts to solve the crimes with the help of Constable White.

Recommendation

I wanted more action and suspense scenes in this story. Most scenes were either described or happened off-screen. I felt that Constable White should have been introduced sooner because she is crucial to the plot. I think this novella is an important addition to the powder mage series and well worth the time invested to read it.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Murder at the Kinnen Hotel by Brian McClellan.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23597688-murder-at-the-kinnen-hotel

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, Book # 1 of the Powder Mage Series. My review of Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan. Adamat, Tamas, and Taniel fight gods and men in this gunpowder fantasy.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, Book # 1 of the Powder Mage Series.

Introduction

Promise of Blood is a gunpowder fantasy by Brian McClellan. It is somewhat a retelling of the French Revolution. I enjoyed the magical background and well-developed characters. It is the first book in a series.

Summary

There are three main characters. The book opens with the story of Adamat. He is a retired detective. His magical gift is a perfect memory. His deductive reasoning reminds me of Agatha Christie ‘s Hercule Poirot. The royal class in the country of Adro in the city of Adopest has been overthrown by a group headed by Field Marshal Tamas. Adamat meets with Tamas, who sends him on a quest. Tamas is the second main character, a wise leader of men. He is a powder mage, a person that can use gunpowder as magical dust to heal oneself or to manipulate bullets. The third main character is Tamas’s son Taniel.

Taniel is a powerful powder mage, the action hero of the story. He uses gunpowder as a narcotic. His reaction to snorting gunpowder is a cross between snuff and cocaine. I wonder if he will have an accounting with his addiction in further novels. This novel’s strongest asset is in the connections between the main characters and the secondary characters. Tamas is haunted by the execution death of his wife. His assistant Olem has romantic chemistry with the laundress Nila. I want to see where that leads.

Taniel had a broken engagement with another powder mage, Vlora. She is undeveloped in this novel, but I am sure that she has a part to play. There is interesting romantic chemistry between Taniel and his barbarian assistant Ka-poel. I look forward to seeing examined. Taniel’s friend Bo and Bo’s women are interesting. The mysterious Gavril and the chef Mihali seem to have important parts to play as well.

Recommendation

Adamat is my favorite character. I am glad that I signed up for the author’s email list because I received the novella Murder at the Kinnen Hotel which is about Adamat’s back story. The next novel in the series is The Crimson Campaign and I have put it on my to-read list.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15790883-promise-of-blood

My review of Murder at the Kinnen Hotel, a prequel novella. The novella is set 22 years before the novel Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan. It is not necessary to read the novel first to understand this story. Knowing the character of Adamat from the novel enhances the themes explored in that novel.

Murder at the Kinnen Hotel by Brian McClellan

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey.

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey, Book #1 of The Expanse Series.

Introduction

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey is the first book in The Expanse series. It is a space opera set entirely within the solar system. I liked the non-stop action and the execution of the police procedural plot.

Summary

Each chapter is titled and narrated by the viewpoint character. The prologue introduces Julie Mao, who starts the plot rolling. Each subsequent chapter, except for the epilogue, is told by the two protagonists. First is Jim Holden the executive officer of the water hauler the Canterbury. He is sort of a jerk. His command philosophy tends to be wishy-washy. The author could have written him as a type-A hero, but I appreciate that the author chose a different path for him.

The real star of this novel is Detective Miller. He feels like a direct descendant of Philip Marlowe, first written by Raymond Chandler in The Big Sleep. He is the ultimate film noir detective but based on the asteroid of Ceres. Miller wears a pork-pie hat to prove it. His case is to find Julie Mao and how he grows as a character is what drives this story. I started to read this novel as a companion to watching the SyFy series called The Expanse.

Recommendation

The novel is great. The show starts slowly but delivers toward the end. The first season of the show ends just before the climax of the novel Leviathan Wakes. I am looking forward to seeing how the showrunners depict the end of the novel and continue the story. Caliban’s War is the name of the second novel. I plan on reading the novel in conjunction with watching season two of The Expanse, airing in January 2017.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8855321-leviathan-wakes

My review of Caliban’s War by James S.A. Corey Book #2 of The Expanse Series. They send Jim Holden to Ganymede to investigate. We meet new characters and learn about what happened to Julie Mao.

Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey

The Atlantis Gene by A. G. Riddle

The Atlantis Gene by A G Riddle

The Atlantis Gene by A G Riddle, Book #1 of The Origin Mystery.

The Atlantis Gene: A Thriller (The Origin Mystery, Book 1) by [Riddle, A.G.]

Introduction

The Atlantis Gene by A G Riddle is the first book of The Origin Mystery trilogy. I enjoyed this book for the big idea main topic and the narrative forward movement. It read almost like a movie because of the short chapters, with the negative being that there was no time to develop the characters.

Summary

I see three main influences in this novel. It is a techno-thriller in the vein of Michael Crichton, it has some of the puzzle breaking and conspiracy theory as found in Dan Brown‘s books, and it uses the alien influence that Graham Hancock writes about. Our heroes are an ex-CIA agent and a doctor that works with autistic children. Their plot plays too much like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and not more like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Recommendation

I thought the best part of the novel was the journal of Patrick Pierce. It felt like a version of The English Patient. The next book in the trilogy is The Atlantis Plague and I put it on my too read shelf. I want to find out what happens next.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Atlantis Gene by A G Riddle.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25843420-the-atlantis-gene

My review of Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, book #1 of The Expanse Leviathan Wakes is a book like The Atlantis Gene using near-future science fiction. Leviathan Wakes is a space opera set in the near future when the solar system is settled. Jim Holden becomes the captain of the Rocinante, and Detective Miller is on a missing person case. Their paths cross and the fate of the solar system lies in their hands. This is a link to my review.

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Welcome to my Website

Welcome to my Website post

Introduction

This is my first post on my blog for my new website. You might ask why you should read this blog or visit my new website. Well, I’ll tell you. I have something to say as a reader and as a writer.

Summary

I have been a reader for as long as I can remember. It started as I read the World Book Encyclopedia as a child. There was no internet back then in the dark ages and the library was far away for a young kid, so I read the encyclopedia and I learned.

When I was ten, I read The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs and that changed how I thought about reading. The world opened up and I read as much fiction as I could. I will create another post about my influences, but the short version is that I was inspired by Science Fiction and Fantasy. Shortly afterward I started to write about the stories that were swirling in my mind.

Link to Goodreads page of The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13552142-the-land-that-time-forgot

That’s what this blog and website is about. I need to get those stories out of my mind and onto the page. I hope that you will follow me on my journey because reading and writing is what I was meant to do. Here’s the thing. I am a great procrastinator. I have found that I need to make a plan, write it down, and hold myself accountable. This is my statement to myself. I will do it. It has taken me many years to get to the point where writing is at a high enough priority that I can start to complete that tasks I have set down for myself.

New Year’s Resolution

It started with this year’s, 2016’s, new year’s resolution to progress in my writing career and set out a series of tasks at that time. It took until April to come up with a plan that worked. Since then, I have achieved what I have set out to do.

My next task is this one. Start a website and a blog. You are reading that accomplishment. It has taken me a while to realize that I cannot compare my accomplishments to anyone else. My journey is unique to me and it will progress at the pace that I choose and can maintain. I will do it and here is my plan for the rest of the year.

Posts

My posts will consist of book reviews, aspects of my writing journey, and thoughts on conferences that I have attended. I plan to make a least one post per week. I will re-post three book reviews from my Goodreads page. Since I read about two books a month, I will add at least eight more posts by the end of the year.

On the other hand, I will start with giving my observations of attending the conventions of Ohio Expos 2016 and Confluence 2016. My regular next eight posts for 2016 are proposed to be:

Read, Write, Listen, and Watch
The Land That Time Forgot and Other Influences
How Goodreads changed my reading life
What websites do I visit every day?
The Background for the Gahrn Series
The Background to the Future Space Series
Observations of the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016
Observations of Capclave 2016

Conclusion

Thank you for being with me at the start of my journey.

Sincerely,

Gary David Gillen

September 7, 2016

Links

Welcome to my Website

My first writing progress report is linked below.

My writing progress report for October 2016. Worked on a short story. Plan to attend Capclave from 10-7 to 10-9 in Washington, D.C. Plan to take Website live.

October 2016 Writing Progress Report