I'm Recruiting Too

Alright. I spoke to a recruiter about putting me in touch with one of his poolies to talk about his decision to join the Corps. Unfortunately, he couldn't give me any names, but he promised to let his recruits know about my interest and see if any of them were willing to talk. Since I'm a guy that likes to hedge his bets, I thought I'd ask you for help. If you're planning on joining the Marines or know someone who is, come talk to me (or email, or private message). I really believe that getting the recruits perspective on the Marine Corps is just as important as every other perspective.

While I'm begging you for help with no promise of pay, I might as well ask if any of you are interested in helping me create a few new trailers for the Bloid News novel. I have a few scripts so if any of you are interested in videoing yourselves talking about random things to help me sell my book, let me know.

Now speaking of the Bloid News novel, for those of you who don't know (and I can't imagine anyone not knowing) the book is based on the website to which I regularly contribute. Owned, operated and edited by Rick Giernoth, Bloid News is satire news at its finest. The new edition will be out in a few days, so if you want to read our St. Patrick's day issue, now is your chance. Check out Bloid News now. We cover the news they're afraid of and it's free.

Time for a Commercial?

Above, you will see a trailer for my new book, Bloid News: Super Novel Edition. It's hastily made and my voice over makes me sound like a drag queen (no offense to female impersonators is intended). Even with the shoddy production of the video, I had so much fun making it that I decided to do a few commercials (interpretation: putting my family and friends up to making short videos so I can plaster my book on everyone's facebook.)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not planning to make these videos in the same hasty manner as the video above. Instead I have scripts for my actors (family and friends) to read, which they can record in a way that suits them. I will then provide an appropriate voice over, in which I will still sound like a water buffalo with throat cancer. The way I have the videos pictured will be fun to make and hopefully will be entertaining enough to draw in more people to buy the book.

Now that you mention books, I was thinking last night that since I am now blogging somewhat regularly, why not take the time to help other indie authors promote their books. Normally, I would ask permission before doing so, but in the case of my first few authors, I think I know them well enough to assume they have no problems with me mentioning their books.

The first two I want to mention are C.M. Adams and Kurrie Hoyt. C.M. has a series out called Version 2.0 It's a great series about a group of immortals who have taken to hiding and in a small way imprisoning themselves on an island off the coast of South Carolina. The stories follow former DEA agent Amber "Birdie" Farron as she passes from this life into eternal life. Once Birdie learns that she has a hard time dying, she discovers her new life is choc full of real surprises. Right now, the first story is on sale for 99 cents for the Kindle version. You can find all of C.M.'s books on her author profile page at http://www.amazon.com/C.M.-Adams/e/B00DGBP8DE/.

Next, Kurrie Hoyt is in the process of bringing us her Hunter Trilogy. Starting with Seriene and continuing through Caelestes, Kurrie follows the adventures of Frank Donaldson as he learns that the monsters he has been chasing most of his adult life may not be the monsters he thought they were. But then again, he may learn that some of them are even worse. Frank and his new partner, Danny, are Hunters, a group of men and women dedicated to hunting and eradicating an enemy just as deadly as vampires, but far more dangerous. How can you survive a blood sucker who can sing to you a song that makes you walk happily to your death? Seriene, Caelestes and more of Kurrie's work can be found on her author profile page at http://www.amazon.com/Kurrie-Hoyt/e/B00FEJGWHC/.

That's all I have for you right now. Until next time, have fun and happy reading.

Can't escape FanFiction

I've seen t dozens of times with my fellow fanfiction writers who have turned pro. Two of my closest friends, both fanfic writers who became independently published authors have repeatedly dipped their proverbial quills back into the wells of their fanfiction origins and turned out stories that are better than ever. I have also written a couple of one offs since publishing my first couple of books. What is it about fanfiction that keeps us writing them?

For me, fanfiction is a way of expanding my favorite storylines or fixing plot lines that I was never quite fond of. I really enjoy mixing my worlds. You know, combining normally non-compatible worlds within one story. Most recently, I combined a children's show with science fiction. It was funny how it happened. I was trying to catch up with Dr. Who while my granddaughter was watching Handy Manny on her Kindle right beside me. As any fanfiction writer will tell you, incidents like that can create some interesting stories.

I think I've always written fanfiction, even before I knew there was such a thing. When I was a kid, I was always writing stuff down while watching my favorite TV shows. Whenever something happened on The Rockford Files or later Hill Street Blues, I would grab a pen and paper and write down what I thought should have happened. Some times if they showed the characters doing one thing and then in the next scene show them in a completely different place, doing something else, I would write a scene showing what happened in between the scenes.

It seems like TV is my favorite source of fanfiction material. Right now, I'm watching NCIS and the backdoor pilot for NCIS: New Orleans. It's too soon to tell, but since NCIS is one of my favorite worlds to write about, I'm pretty sure I'll end up putting King and Gibbs into another story some time in the future.

But that's enough about me and why I love fanfiction. What do you think? Do you read fanfiction? What do you look for when you do?

Updates

I just finished figuring out how far my St. Patrick's Day Giveaway reached. As I stated on my Facebook page, we gave away 1275 copies of Animus for Kindle last week all around the world. Now on one hand it makes me sick that it means that I gave away what amounts to $3,800 worth of material, but on the bright side, that's 1,000 people around the world who will tell their friends about the book. That's also 1,000 people around the world who will see my other books and say "Hey, the last one was pretty good. Let's check this one out." Or at least, that's what I hope.

Now that the giveaway is over, I'm gonna focus on promoting Bloid News. I had a lot of fun making the little trailer for it, which can be found here, that I decided to do a couple of commercials for it. Now how does a broke as a joke starving artist (writer) make a commercial? Simple. I beg my friends to read scripts that I write while videoing themselves from their webcams. Will this work? Who knows. But at least we're gonna have some fun trying it.

Speaking of having fun. I've been doing some research on the Marines for my next book, Always a Marine. Did you know that R. Lee Ermey, better known as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket is the only Marine to ever receive a promotion after retiring? I've been doing a lot of research for this book, and I have to tell you, the more I learn, the more I respect the men and women who make up this most honored branch of the military.

Now, a side note: In about a week and a half, autism organizations around the world will be hosting an event called Light It Up Blue. This event calls for everyone to show their support for autism awareness by shining a blue light on the night of April 2. Since my granddaughter was diagnosed with autism a few years ago, our house has lit a blue light every year. This year will be no different. However, I'm also going to have all of my avatars across all of my social network pages (google+, twitter, facebook, etc.) as well as my author's profile on Amazon displaying a blue autism puzzle piece for the entire month of April. If you or someone you love lives with any of the disorders on the autism spectrum, I encourage you to light it up blue in honor of them.

That's all for now folks. Until next time, happy reading.

Contributors to Always a Marine

So far, I have three of my contributors to Always a Marine lined up. I don't want to release their names yet until I lock down the particulars and make sure everything is legal and all, but I still need one more individual. If anyone out there knows someone interested in joining the Marines, regardless of whether  they're just thinking about it or already taking steps to join, let me know. If any Marine Corps recruiters out there think one of their recruits would be interested in contributing to the book, let me know as well.

All of that aside, I'm getting more excited about this project every day. I'm hoping that this book will give us a good look at what it takes to be a Marine. Are Marines destined to serve from the moment they're born? Is there really any such thing as a "former Marine"? Maybe when we're finished, we might actually find there's some kind of EGA gene that compels men and women to serve in this particular branch of service. Additionally, I've decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book to the Wounded Warrior Project.

The Wounded Warrior Project works to raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members, helps injured service members aid and assist each other and provides unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members. When this book is released, your purchase will help support the brave men and women injured in the line of duty.

In addition to the excitement over Always a Marine, I wanted to also take a moment to thank everyone who has been taking advantage of my St. Patrick's Day Giveaway. So far, I've had 500 downloads of Animus. This book was so much fun to write and I can't tell you how many times I laughed when my wife looked at my search history and asked me "What's wrong with you? Do I need to get a restraining order?"

If you've downloaded a copy of Animus, please stop by Amazon and give it a quick review. As much as I enjoy having all of you reading my book, getting people to buy it would be awesome. Word of mouth can do wonders for my book sales. :) While you're at it take a look at my most recent book, Bloid News. Getting mixed up with Rick Giernoth and the Bloid News team was one of the best things to happen to me, so check out this book and see the fun we have.

Now to round out my self serving advertising, I want to mention my Hannah books. These children's stories are designed for young readers to show them that children with autism are just like them. Like Always a Marine, half the proceeds from the sales of the Hannah books go to a worthy charity. In this case, I'm giving a portion of the sales to Autism speaks.

Now, it's back to work. Until next time, happy reading.

New Project to Get Excited Over

A few weeks ago, I got an idea for a project I've been wanting to do for a while. You see, from the first moment that I published my first book I have wanted to write something that honored the heroes in my life. I was watching TV a day or two after I published my last book, Bloid News, and I saw a commercial for the new American Heroes Channel. Something clicked. I thought about my heroes and I wondered what made them heroes. Well, to find out, let me introduce you to my heroes.

My heroes are the people who risk everything to make sure that I and my overinflated sense of self worth are safe, secure and healthy. Now I could count those who cater to me specifically, but that's just... weird. No, I'm talking about the men and women of law enforcement, EMTs and paramedics, firefighters and military personnel.

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to focus on the military. And, of course the more I thought about the military, the more I wanted to focus on the Marine Corps. That settled it. So what exactly was I going to write about? Guts and Glory? Special Ops? Nope. I wanted to let people know why someone would join the Marines. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to harass some of the best Marines I know and get their perspectives for the book.

So that's it. Until I actually publish the book, I'll be posting on here, at least every other day, some of the cool stuff I learn along the way of bringing you "Always a Marine: The Story of Those Who are Truly Always Faithful".

Until next time, happy reading.