Month: December 2018

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Max Misc , ,

You know, I wasn’t going to post anything for a few more days, just so no one missed the Christmas story I put up … But I’m gonna link that right here and say “Hey, you should check that out.”

So hey, you should check that out.

Now, why am I posting? Because I just came back from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and … Yeah, I enjoyed it a lot.

I mean, you should probably see this one for the visuals alone. It’s incredible. If someone at Pixar isn’t going “Why didn’t we think of that!?” for some of these visuals, it’s only because they haven’t seen it. I’m not even sure how to describe some of it (though I’m sure a film student would have a better shot). Suffice to say, there’s a whole team of brilliant animators over at Sony pictures who deserve accolades for some of the incredible visuals they pulled off. It feels like a comic that’s coming to life in front of your eyes. Again, I can’t explain it in technical terms, but the visual treats the trailers show off? They’re not even scratching the surface.

Continue reading →

The Last Call of Christmas Eve

Max Books!, Writing Samples , , , , ,

Merry Christmas readers! It’s Christmas Eve here, which is the traditional time in my family to start opening gifts from friends and family. So, as some of you already know, I thought this year I’d give you all a gift in the form of a Christmas story.

A Jacob Rocke Christmas story. That’s right: set in the Unusuals Universe.

Is it weird? Of course it is. And it’s also a bit rough about the edges (it hasn’t seen any formal editing yet, but give me a break, I only finished it Friday). But hey, it’s a free Jacob Rocke story, and that’s a pretty sweet.

Later this’ll make it to More Unusual Events, but for now? Merry Christmas, guys. Enjoy.

Continue reading →

“The Last Call of Christmas Eve” on Patreon!

Max Misc , ,

Heads up, readers! Quick question: Are you a supporter of the site on Patreon? If so, rejoice, for the Jacob Rocke Christmas tale The Last Call of Christmas Eve has just gone up for you to read!

It’s odd. It’s strange (plus pre-Alpha, so you’ll probably find some typos). And it’s a Christmas story. I won’t spoil it for you, but you can find it over on Patreon if you’re a supporter of $1 or more a month!

Those of you who are not Patreon supporters will just have to wait until Christmas Eve. Or for the eventual release of More Unusual Events. Which is going to happen, but not anytime soon (there are several books in front of it in the queue).

Oh, and we’re at eight to go in nine days on Goodreads! So close!

Merry Christmas folks! I hope you’re having a good one!

Ten for Nine

Max Misc , , ,

Hey readers! I did say I’d be posting things here during my break, though not quite as often. So, a few things to note.

First, if you’re looking for a last-minute gift (we are getting down to the wire here) or just something fun to read over the break, consider heading on over to my Books page and picking a title or two up. Not only do they make great gifts, buying one helps me out too.

All right, enough shilling, though if you enjoy my works, you’re going to like this next bit of news. Right now, there’s a word document open on my desktop. The title? The Last Call of Christmas Eve. I got a little bit of work done on it this week, and now I’m finishing it today.

It’s a Jacob Rocke Christmas story, readers. And it’ll be up to read for Patreon Supporters tomorrow. And here on my site in time for Christmas Eve.

That’s right: Merry Christmas. You’re getting a new Jacob Rocke short. What’s it about? Hah! No telling. You’ll have to make your guesses based on the title.

Now, this short will show up in print later (It’ll end up in More Unusual Events), and since I am getting this ready last minute, don’t expect too much in the way of editing. But hey, my drafts tend to be pretty clean, so it’ll be readable regardless. Also, free Christmas story involving one of my first characters.

One more bit of news, then I’m off to keep working on it: I am nine ratings away from my end-year goal of 100 on Goodreads. NINE (EDIT: It’s now eight, but I’m not updating the title). So. Close. And with ten days to the New Year, that’s the cause for the title of this post. If you have a Goodreads account and have not yet, please head over and leave your rating on my books! More Goodreads ratings (as well as higher numbers of reviews on Amazon) mean more new readers willing to take a fresh look, and that’s always good!

Anyway, I get to go write about Jacob Rocke and … well, I can’t tell you that. But I get to go do that right now. Merry Christmas to all, and I’ll see you (figuratively) real soon!

Christmas Break Begins!

Max Misc ,

I started it later this year, readers. But yes, I am officially on my Christmas break. What does that mean? Well, does it mean I’ll stop working on Hunter/Hunted?

No. I still want to work on that. And I will. Does it mean that there will be no posts here? Well … again, no. But it does mean that I’ll be taking a break from Being a Better Writer for a few weeks, starting today.

Simply put, readers, I am tired. These last two weeks I’ve been pulling 14 hour days easy, between keeping up with writing and all my extra shifts at my part-time job. Plain and simple I’m just tired. Not like “why am I doing this?” tired. No, not that. Just “I’m exhausted and need a break to recharge” tired.

I mean, I do this every year. And don’t worry, I’ll throw some stuff up here (sales, comments, etc) so that it’s not dead. I just need some time to recharge. Crud, I’m so burned out I’m making errors in almost every sentence I type. That’s pretty tired for me.

So yeah, I’ve still got a few work shifts left, and I’ll be writing, but here, Christmas Break has begun.

Oh, and if you missed it, don’t forget to read the Christmas Post I put up last week.

Anyway, Being a Better Writer will return around New Years, so if that’s your favorite feature of the site, that’s what you’ve got to look forward to!

Merry Christmas!

Max Misc ,

Merry Christmas readers!

Sands and Storms, it really has been a whole year, hasn’t it? It almost doesn’t feel like it, but another one has passed. Somewhere between the hours poking away at a keyboard, it all added up, and once more we’ve arrived at the finale of the year.

Christmas.

Okay, some might count New Years, but dang it, that’s next year. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. The last holiday of the year, the one that matters most to me, is Christmas.

A lot of reflection goes into this season. Which it should, don’t get me wrong. This is a holiday dedicated to remembering the birth of the Savior and all that comes with it. Ideally, self-reflection should be involved. It’s a holiday where we can sit back and think about things for a little while. Look at where our lives have been. And where they’re headed.

This, by the way, isn’t at all what I expected to post when I started writing this, but then again that’s sometimes how these things go. I’m just rolling with it.

Continue reading →

Your Year in Books

Max Misc , , ,

Okay guys, this is cool. Yesterday I was alerted via Reddit to a feature of Goodreads I was not aware of: The “Your Year in Books” feature.

What is it? Well, the name is pretty self explanatory, but basically it’s a shareable page that summarizes all your reported reading so far that year. The number of pages you’ve read across however many books, the most popular book you read, the least popular book you read, your average review rating, the highest-rated book you read, and so on and so forth. Basically, it summarizes whatever you’ve put into their site into a really neat little infographic you can look over and see. It’s your year of books at a glance.

So, that’s pretty cool. If you’re a Goodreads user, at least. And while I’m not a heavy user by any means, I have been using it to simply leave a rating for each book I read, and even that’s enough for it to make a neat little page on it.

But they also made these pages shareable. That’s right, each one’s got a link you can share so you can swap pages on books read with people you know. And well … yeah, why not? After all, it’s kind of fun to see what people read.

Anyway, here’s mine. Everything’s there save the book I’m reading right now, which in all honesty isn’t getting a great rating anyway. Take a look, and while you’re at it, if you feel like it, share yours in the comments. I’ll keep a close eye on the filter so that they don’t get filed under spam.

Is there something deep behind this? Not really. It’s just fun. I like looking at stats for things, and this is a neat one. Plus, it’s cool to see all my readings in one place and kind of laid out with some additional info. I definitely can see a few series I binged on here, as well as some random pickups from my library, some of which were good, and others which were … not so good.

Just fun, end of the year, holiday stuff. So, what’d you read?

Being a Better Writer: Keeping Details in Line

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Afternoon readers!

It’ll be a short one today (in addition to being late). Why? Christmas season at my part-time. We’re doing lots of holiday parties and the like, and we’re doing them every day. Which means … late nights, lots of them, flipping rooms. On the one hand, extra cash and hours … on the other, extra hours that are late. You know, 4 AM late.

Tired? Why yes I am now that you mention it.

Long story short, it means I’m a bit tired, and so got up later than normal. Today’s post will also be a bit shorter than normal.

But that doesn’t make it by any means a topic that’s less important. In fact, today’s topic is a basic one that is absolutely vital but can still be overlooked, as I’ll demonstrate here in a moment. Today, I want to talk about keeping details in line with one another. Or in other words …

Continuity.

Continue reading →

Why You Should Read … The Robots of Gotham

Max Books! , , ,

Been a while since we’ve seen one of these posts! In fact, this is only the second one.

Okay, what is Why You Should Read …? Well, it’s a rare recommendation post. One of the things that I’ve constantly espoused on this site is the idea that writers should read. It’s a vital, important part of being a good writer. You expose yourself to other styles, other authors’ solutions or approaches. It broadens your writing horizons and gives you new insights into all aspects of the craft. Reading the writing of others (aside from being relaxing and fun) is a great way to see new tricks or at the very least identify approaches other authors have taken to similar events, stories, or ideas.

Since I do take my own advice here and try to do a lot of reading, occasionally I’ll find something that I believe is worth sharing for one reason or another. And, as before, don’t worry, I divide these by spoiler free and spoiler-filled, so you’ll be able to see which is which.

With that said, a minor disclaimer before we get started.I’m not receiving any sort of compensation for you reading this book, or for me talking about it. This is a title I found on my own, read on my own, and in turn decided to pass on. I get no compensation whatsoever for recommending this book.

Unless that is, you decide to head over to my books page and pick up one of my own works. But then that’s you buying one of my books, not this book. Whether or not you go hunt this book down, I get nothing from it. But buying one of my books, for obvious reasons, is very beneficial to me. Why would I say this?

Well, because of a certain something about today’s recommendation. So let’s get this underway and talk about why you should read The Robots of Gotham.

Continue reading →

The Non-Trad Christmas Gift Suggestion List (With Optional Trad)

Max Books! , ,

Right, so this is pretty spontaneous. This morning, I woke to news on my feed of John Scalzi putting up a “Non-Trad Published Gift List” on his website. Curious, I clicked over.

Unfortunately, it was a little disappointing. It wasn’t actually a Gift List. What I had expected, especially titled such, was that Scalzi had actually read some Non-Trad books and was promoting a few of his favorites. But it wasn’t. Instead what the post turned out to be was Scalzi saying “Hey, non-trad writers, please use my comments to plug your books today.”

Predictably, the result is basically a lot like the “Self-Published Satuday” grab-bags on Reddit. Hordes of books from all over the spectrum, presented with no rhyme or reason.

So I immediately thought “Why not try that for real? Rather than create a self-advertising space, why not throw out one of my favorite non-trad pub books I read this year, and encourage others to do the same? Something not by me, but by someone else?”

Which, in turn, is where this post popped up from. Why not? After all, it’s my site. Why not use it for some real Christmas promotion?

So here’s the challenge. Look back on books you’ve read in the last, oh, two years. Pick out at least one that must be non-trad pub. An indie of some kind. If you’ve got a second that’s a lesser-known trad, then it can go up second, but the first must be indie. EDIT: Oh, and please no erotica or extreme content. This is a friendly site, but not that kind of friendly.

Then post about it! Tell us why you liked it, who you think the book might be a good gift for, and where we can find it! Then, if you’ve got a lesser-known trad-pub book you’d like to talk about, throw that one up too!

I’ll start us off! Here’s my two picks!

Continue reading →