Month: February 2019

Answers on the Arm

Max Misc ,

Hey hey! Guess who’s back at their computer?

Sort of. I’ve got a massive brace on my right forearm that doesn’t make typing easy. I’d say I’m at less than half-speed right now. Maybe a quarter.

But … that’s better than nothing, and better than a phone. So what’s the story with the arm and what’s going on?

Well, the injury if from my part time job. If you’ve ever been at a college or a convention center, odds are you’ve seen air-wall. Those large, mobile wall pieces used to divide rooms in half?

Well, in our building’s largest room, we have two of them. The ceiling in this room is fifty feet up. That bit is important. As well is that these air-walls are pretty … old and badly maintained.

Yeah, there’s no other way to put that. This was the third incident of falling metal from the air-wall railings. And the first instance of it hitting someone. The air-wall came to a stop, we tried to start it moving again, and …

A six-foot, 15 pound or so piece tore free and dropped right at me. Unfortunately, this happened at the junction where the air-wall moves into its storage. Which meant that I was backed into said storage and really didn’t have options for moving out of the way easily. So I ducked my head, put my arm up in a block (I did martial arts for several years in high school and I’m glad that muscle memory held up), and took this long bit of metal right on the back of my arm, wrist, and shoulder.

Continue reading →

So the Update…

Max Misc

So first of all, this has been written from my phone, since I can do that one-handed. But most of you probably saw that notification on Monday’s Bring a Better Writer post.

My right arm is a little unusable at the moment.

What happened? An accident at my part-time job happened. A six-foot long piece of metal weighing just under twenty pounds came free of an air-wall railing fifty feet up and fell on me. Luckily, I kept it from hitting my head with my arm. My right arm and wrist.

Which is now incredibly swollen and necessitated an immediate trip to the ER where I received seven stiches and may still go back for x-rays (there could be a fracture/fractures).

So yeah, I’ve been one-handed since Saturday night. Doctor told me not to use my right thumb or fingers to avoid tearing my stiches.

So that’s why I’ve been quiet. My arm is aching, swollen, and a variety of colors. Recovering, but it’s a good thing I already reached my word quota this month.

Anyway, I’ll be back to at least editing soon (that’s at least less writing) but right now even using a computer mouse is dicey.

Being a Better Writer: The Mysterious Character

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Emergency update: Got my right arm smashed at work Saturday night. Seven stitches. All is recovering well, but can’t type well and am restricted from hand use until at least Wednesday. Further updates will come when I can give them.

 

Welcome back readers! Today’s post was written in advance since I’ve got a shift at my part-time this morning (when I would normally be writing the post). So I’m sacrificing my Saturday—or chunks of it anyway—to bring you this post!

With that said, there’s not much news out there to bring up save the slow climb of the reviews and ratings left on my books. The end-goal by year’s end is 400 ratings and reviews between Amazon and Goodreads, and as of writing this everything is sitting at 193! Only seven more to go to the halfway mark, and it’s only February!

That is literally the only news I have for you all this Monday. Or at least it was at the time of writing. Only future-me knows for sure. But since I lack the capacity for time-travel on that scale, let’s dive right into today’s topic: the mysterious character.

Continue reading →

OP-ED: Disney’s Star Wars Doesn’t Understand Strong Female Characters

Max Misc , , , , , , , , ,

Hoo boy. I know this topic is getting tagged with “Controversial” without even having finished it. Crud, it’s controversial just from the title. Discuss anything to do with female characters, strong or otherwise, and you’re painting a gigantic target on yourself.

Which is why I’d like to point out, for those sharpening their pitchforks before they were even finished reading the title, that I’ve had some experience with strong female characters of a wide variety. Yeah, it sucks that I have to lead with a disclaimer, but people are just that trigger happy these days. But I’ve written some very well-received female protagonists who are strong and capable, whether they be Meelo Karn, the Imperial Inquisitor of Shadow of an Empire, with her quick, deductive mind and talent for investigation, or Samantha, a young journalist determined to be the first to interview her city’s elusive superhero.

Crud, I’ve written Being a Better Writer articles on here before about gender in stories, and in those admitted that I have a fun habit of flipping a coin for secondary characters just to keep things fresh and fun. I don’t have a problem with strong female characters. The world needs strong women and strong men. Neither should be excluded.

Which, in a way, is where Disney is getting things wrong. And with that, we get to the point.

Disney’s Star Wars, as well as the company itself, has come under fire as of late. Once maligned for being a house proposing (generally) only a singular type of female character, Disney has in recent years worked to round themselves out, giving us characters like Moana or Rapunzel that are more varied than their female protagonists of the past.

Unfortunately, some aspects of Disney have shown they don’t quite understand what this approach entails, and have simply flipped everything as far the other direction as they can manage. The result is, well … bad. And I don’t just mean cringeworthy, but flat-out showing that the folks making the decisions don’t understand A) What a strong female character is and B) How to make one.

Still puzzled as to what could have made me write this post? No, it wasn’t The Last Jedi, though that movie falls into many pitfalls that are only expanded on what you’re about to see. And yes, I do understand that this now means there needs to be a BaBW post on strong female characters. It’s now on the list.

But that’s for a Monday in the future. For the here and now, I want to talk about Disney’s new Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures.

Continue reading →

Just Some Cleaning

Max Misc

Just a heads up, but I’m going to be cleaning the site up over the next few days. Some bits, like the About page, were a bit out of date, while other areas I can just tidy up, tighten up, expand on, or just in general clean a little.

So yeah, small changes, but if you’re curious, they’re happening. About was today, tomorrow will be the Links page.

Also, I’m thinking of maybe turning the About page into a F.A.Q. We’ll see. I’m kind of reaching the point with everything going on that some stuff needs to be expanded on, though.

Also, there will be a post tomorrow. An … interesting one. More then, when it arrives.

Being a Better Writer: Micro-Blast #7 – The Anti-Story, Sleep, Knowledge, Capitalism

Max Being a Better Writer , , , , , , ,

Welcome back readers! And welcome to the new readers! Life, The Universe, and Everything is over, but I can already see from the stats page that we have some newcomers! Welcome! Whether you’re here to look at my books, or here for some weekly Being a Better Writer, welcome all the same!

So then, let’s get down to business with this week’s post, which is … a Micro-blast. Number seven, to be exact. What’s a Micro-blast? Well, it’s what happens when I near the end of a list of writing topics I’ve made for BaBW, and some of them just aren’t quite worth a full post, but are still worth discussing. Micro-blasts are a good way to bridge the gap, combining several shorter topics into one post so that there’s still a decent amount of material covered. Readers get a variety of subjects, and I get to clear some shorter topics and concepts off of my list.

Sound pretty straightforward? Good! Then let’s go!

Continue reading →

The LTUE Report: Day Three and Finale!

Max Misc ,

Oh man readers, I am bushed. Stuffed. Sapped. Exhausted. Wrung out. Conventions can take it out of you.

But it was so worth it.

Still, I’m just flat-out bedraggled. So there may be some typos in this post? Probably? I’m riding a bit of a sugar buzz at the moment, but I am also really tired. Like I-can-feel-this-pressing-at-the-back-of-my-eyes tired.

But the report must be done! While the memories are freshest! That said, by the end of the last day you could tell it was the end of the con. I wasn’t the only one in the audience that was clearly pushing the limit. But we all soldiered on, because it’s LTUE!

So, hit the jump for the last day report. Panels await!

Continue reading →

The LTUE Report: Day Two!

Max Misc ,

Whew! If I thought I was tired after day one of LTUE (by the way, after I finished yesterday’s report, I fell asleep on the floor of my living room), day two has seen me even more tired.

But what a day! And as tired as I am, there’s no way I’m not putting up the day two report, letting those of you who couldn’t make it what was going on and what it was like.

A Dragon and Her Girl - Cover

Oh, by the way, do you like the featured image? That is the cover art for A Dragon and Her Girl, the second LTUE benefit anthology coming out in February 2020, which A Game of Stakes will feature in! Looks great, doesn’t it?

So, what adventures did day two of LTUE bring? Well, let’s dive right in. Day two for me kicked off with a panel that was the counterpart of the first one I attended on day one. Naturally, this meant that rather than being on the evolution of Science-Fiction, it was on the evolution of  … Fantasy!

Continue reading →

The LTUE 2019 Report: Day One!

Max Misc ,

Good evening readers! Welcome to the LTUE Report for Day One!

First things first: For the last few weeks, I’ve been keeping something secret. Something that, after the official book launch for Trace the Stars, LTUE’s first benefit anthology of short stories, I can finally talk about, since it was announced at the launch.

Remember a few months back when I was excited about a short story I’d written called A Game of Stakes? One that I submitted to an anthology collection? Well, that anthology collection was next year’s LTUE anthology, titled A Dragon and Her Girl, and my story?

It’s going to be in it. That’s right: A Game of Stakes will be published in A Dragon and Her Girl, launching at 2020’s LTUE.

And I’m pumped. I mean, look at the names of some of the folks published in these collections. Kevin J. Anderson. David Farland. Brad R. Torgerson.

That’s pretty cool. I’m geeking out a little here to be included in a collection set that has names like that under its belt.

Trace the StarsBut speaking of the collection, you can take a look at the first release, Trace the Stars here on Amazon and order a copy if you can’t make it to the convention to grab it. It’s a benefit anthology, which means that no one gets any profit from your purchase. Instead, the money supports the LTUE convention, specifically the $5 ticket price for all students.

That’s right, attending LTUE is $5 if you’re a student, and sales of this book help fund the convention to keep it that way. That’s an absolute bargain for students of grade schools and colleges alike, and LTUE would love to keep it that way!

So yeah, check out Trace the Stars, then get ready for next year’s A Dragon and Her Girl! I’m in it!

Yeah, still happy about this. And relieved to finally be able to tell everyone!

Okay, I’m gonna stop geeking now. As awesome as that was, it wasn’t all that happened at LTUE. We’ve still got a recap of the day’s events (as seen through my eyes) and panels! Hit the jump!

Continue reading →

The LTUE Schedule!

Max Misc , ,

That’s right folks. Life, The Universe, and Everything, the best writing convention there is for Sci-Fi and Fantasy is almost upon us! In two days the doors will be open, the con will start, and the knowledge and geekery will reach critical levels of awesome.

Of course I’ll be there. And I hope you will be as well, because LTUE is hands-down one of the best places a budding young writer can go to get insight, knowledge, tips—well pretty much every bit of knowledge on writing they’d want, from dozens of talented authors. Panels, workshops, discussions … it’s all there.

The MugOh, including myself! I’ll be wandering the halls of the convention as well. If you’re going to be there and want to strike up a conversation, from talking about writing advice to trying to mine for secrets from the upcoming Jungle, say hi! Believe me, I’ve missed panels before simply by being caught in a ball of authors and fans in the halls, all talking about writing tricks or cool books we’ve been reading, etc.

Oh, and if it helps, I’ve attached a shot of my rugged mug to the right there. I know I’ve got that picture on the about page, but it is, if we’re honest, an old picture. This one’s just a quick selfie, but it shows off the current look I’m sporting, for easy identification. Walk up and say hello! I don’t bite! And don’t worry about getting my name right either. If you yell “Viking,” my long-time nickname of over a decade and my online handle, you’ll get my attention.

Oh, and I’ll be wearing a shirt that says “Ask me about my book.” It was a gift that fits this kind of con perfectly.

So, now that you can pick me out of a crowd, how about that LTUE schedule? You can access the whole thing here, but I’ve gone through today and put together a small list of panels that look or sound interesting. Some I’ll attend, some I’ve just highlighted for usefulness that you all may be interested in, and some just plain sound fun.

Oh, there is one I’ll draw special attention to, and I will be there, so you should be too! At 3 PM there is a Launch Event for the LTUE Benefits Anthrology Trace the Stars, which is a collection of short stories by a lot of great (and famous) authors written to support the convention (all proceeds from books sales fun LTUE!).

Anyway, hit the jump for a day-by-day list of panels that have caught my attention. The “—” denotes that there are two interesting panels in that time that caught my eye.

Continue reading →