Book Promotion

 

 

Usually what catches my eye:

• How often do you spam promotions? If its every other post on your feed I eventually tune out. Make your social media a variety. Try to put recommendations on there that are closest to the type of wheelhouse you want to promote.
• If its romance primary: IE The MAIN DRAW WILL BE THE COUPLE IN AND OF ITSELF! Put "A Romantic Space Adventure" or "Romance then X genre." It will set the overall tone and tell me even if I want to pick it up. Its how I avoid most smutmance choices. You will get less readers who want to trash that wheelhouse if you do.

Because to be frank: Most romance isn't just the courtship or how they work as a couple. Its bed hopping and how many lovers in a port of call. It's why I gravitate towards older pulps. The endgame aspect had the main protag get together with the main romance interest. There wasn't Anita Blake X-rated BS going on.  

Clean Romances: 

Flying Sparks:  Here /// The Stars Wait Not: Here

My overall preferences:

Hero gets the happy ending, gets the mission done, gets the girl. That sorta thing. (Because the market is flooded with downer endings and "well that wasn't worth it!" adventures)

• I massively prefer upbeat endings. Even in Craptastic Worlds. 
• More sapient dogs/uplifted animals.
• The Science doesn't have to make actual sense. (IE Our World's Physics.)  It just has to be consistent with whatever systems you've made to the setting. 
• Likeable > Relatable because in this day and age relatable often means "Sad Sack Woke ID politics" protag to follow. Take Claire from CP 2077, she's trans, mentions it in passing during a mission, but she's likable. Not a walking billboard for whatever trans "issues of current year" I could give two shits about. I really don't want sermons from people in games or books or media. Make escapism happen. With whatever characters you like. Want representation that doesn't feel empty or forced? Aeon 14: Here 
• Heck, most of CP 2077s cast fits that bill. They are likable > relatable.

Guys are allowed to write women via visual description. Women do that to men in the fracking smutmances all the time. Male writers are just more honest about it. Help us readers find our wheelhouses or enough overlapping themes we enjoy. Love GRRM? Add his influence to your blurb. 

Want to attract readers like me? 

Mention Paragons of Virtue. Or OPTIMISTIC STORIES OF OLD! Or Superversive. Or "Do you hate sad sack protagonists? Navel gazing? MY book is the opposite of that!" Be very blunt. My kingdom for more Bright Futures and Genuine escapism!  

When you compare things to Firefly: Mention in what way. Are the characters cobbled together against an overwhelming foe? Is it a space western? Does it have the overall themes of Babylon 5: Ancient mysteries and old civilizations guiding the younger through ingrained manipulation? Is it a mix of that settings politics with face paced pew pew? 

How craptastic is your world? Mention the contrast. Does it have a paragon at the wheel trying to light the way to a better tomorrow? I have to get better with that in my own reviews. How is this related to X Y or Z for me. 

Galaxy Ascendant has characters built like B5s: Some have much brighter outcomes. They face insurmountable odds against a universe filled with ancient mysteries. The politics of the setting muck up everything. Go buy it: LIKABLE CHARACTERS EVERYWHERE! Here

 

.

Why is she compaining?

 This lady makes 13k a month on patreon. Whaaaaaaat? 

Why the long speech on twitters? 

This part:

Where the heck does she live where 13k x 12= 156,000 a year isn't good enough? In Fl that would be massively awesome level of money. I'd be able to help so many with that level of funds.

The follow up:

Dude, she makes more in a month then what I make in about 2/3rds of a year. IE: A really good year will get me around 15-17.5k. 

No wonder Con Inc and the Woke Brigade cash in on the Mundane Manifesto, Victim Status Grifting and Complaining. That's where the money is for the moment.

Plus a short vid on a twitter thread that will probably get nuked but I am glad I am not in college or school anymore. With profs like this guy who would learn anything but hate and despair? 

 

Its happening. He's getting ratioed and meme'd already.

Writing: Be an Amusement Park

 

 

Is your wheelhouse starving? MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN!

We can't just sit here and bemoan things. You want more uplifted X Y or Z? Make it.

You want more happy corny couples. Make it.

You want more Superversive Stuff? Make it.

You don't have to go Traditional Routes. You can make it if your desire is strong enough. 

Sheer Wrath is what kick started my Uplift Protocol Journey because I hated what was happening to Superman. I wanted more of myself catered to. Not as a woman or as a conservative. I just wanted my preferences with stories, likeable characters and hope catered to. 1000000%

Its easy to find a sea of GOT, The Boys and Watchmen type stuff: Here

So lets roll up our creative sleeves and offer something else. 

Star Warden: Here

Heroic Fiction: Here

Dark Titan Entertainment: Here

Babylon 5 is a good example of bringing up political matters in a series but not hitting the viewer over the head. Let your readers decide. You can put symbolism and other things in writing without it being a blatant soapbox.  

Book Growth and Social Media Growth

 

I figured why not. Taking a short break in the midst of writing to just put out general observations. 

Gab and Minds: Both are anemic when it comes to books. Where Booktube concentrates more on the Brandon Sandersons or Sara J Maas setups, where does that leave readers?? Well we have to step up to the plate and create things away from the lime light. Or what is considered status quo to get more clicks.

Most genres/settings get buried under the all-encompassing "Romance" main category. Let's try our best to lift others beyond that bulwark. 

What we need is more readers to cultivate and promote stuff they enjoy. Not just what gets clicks.

• Focusing on what we hate takes up 90% of the discourse because that gets more outrage clicks.
• We need to balance that more with what we love instead. 
• Starve the rage.
• Offer more than what is "Trending." 

I imagine a fair amount of readers just want options and not the same recommendations over and over.  

I want things to replace Dead  IPs. Let's get out there and find them.

The Writer: A Mindset.

 

If you had asked me in high school what I'd be doing in my 30s, 18 year old me would have said: Maybe I'd be a teacher. Or a 5 star general! Along with "I want to have 50 German Shepherds." 

What I didn't even realize is I'd have a book done. Along with part of a 2nd. As I get older I realize the simpler things do make me happier. Cooking a Good Meal. Reading things I enjoy. There's only so many rants I can do about the state of amazon book searches and Anita Blake. I find talking about stuff I enjoy relaxes me more. Even if its much slower growth but that's ok. 

I keep thinking if the Desert of the Real wants to tear me down, Ill make an Oasis out of everything that keeps my wheelhouses turning.  

The Key Pillars To Me as a Writer:

• You need drive
• You need Passion
• Dont worry about typoeseses. Laugh at them. 
• Don't worry about writing to market. Get in the habit of loving to write first.
• Just Write. 
• Don't get stuck in endless worldbuilding.
• TO KEEP GOING! YOU ARE YOUR PRIMARY AUDIENCE. If the writer isnt engaged the reader won't be either.
  

I want the fantastical.

• the pew pew
• the protag gets the girl or guy depending on combo. Yes, here's a teaser: Eddie is gonna get to meet his own space princess. Heh.
• exploring derelict ships, stations, new worlds, ect.
• Magic, both known and unfathomable. 
• Uplifted Animals in general. *yes, there will also be uplifted cats. They will feature more prominently in the bardaxian short story series later.
• Family drama that brings people closer together rather than apart. Unlike Anna.
  
• Lazers! 
• The Superversive!
• Genuine Good vs Dastardly Evil
  

Here is some cosmic music for some listening fun: 

 

I want popcorn fun. It doesn't have to change the world. It just has to bring a smile to my face.

Stay tuned, my alternate to #Booktube channel will continue to grow.

My Booktube Channel: Here

Still need to review X-Seed but here's the books: Fun Mech Action.

• Book 1-3: https://amzn.to/35KlvN2
  
• Book 4: https://amzn.to/3kNLmKp

Databases/Spotlight Links:

Cyberpunk Source Code – an online cyberpunk media resource.

https://www.indiegen.xyz/

IndieGen.XYZ – Shining a Light on Independently Generated Entertainment

• https://heroicadventurefiction.com/
• http://martianlit.com/books/11/martian-comics/
• https://silverempire.org/product-category/books/superheroes/
• https://superhero-fiction.com/



What the Book/Media Landscape Looks Like

The Desert of the Real World

 

To this reader at least. I'm in the minority on some areas when it comes to how Superman should be portrayed. To me, "You've seen one EVIL Superman Stand-in, you've seen them all." That's all there is to it for me. 

I don't care how well or poorly written it is. I hate Man of Steel. 

I don't care what the motivation is: I hate Homelander.

I don't care what kind of slightly sympathetic background it is, I hate Injustice Superman. Because its a dime a dozen. No matter what people tell me, that core belief will not change within me. Aspirational Heroism or bust. 

The Brightburns of the world can just get the fuck away from me. Again, I'm glad that some find it fun or entertaining but I want my piece of cake also. So here it is. The Landscape of Trad Publishing to me:

 

There's some bright spots to The Trad Pub Islands but that's about it. Main Land: Its all Dystopia, YA and ID politics. 

With comics, people are stuck on Watchmen, DC and Marvel. Again, this entertainment avenue is a ghost of its former self. 

Watchmen and its Ilk dominate everything. TO the point where there isn't a difference between the Dead Two anymore. Esp. in the modern age. Comic Shops are on the outside, an Island ready to either sink or swim depending on the business savvy of their owners. Bigger Youtube channels wont talk about indie stuff outside a handful. Because complaining about the "Big Two" gets more clicks. 

Indie Publishing has its own hurdles. Besides which KS or Indiegogo to go after. Or even what kind of Self Pub do you want to go for. Its a pyramid.

If you are logged in to Amazon, your picks and habits corner you into a specific same 200 hits Ghetto. Sponsored stuff is either right on the money or completely out of left field because its sponsored. Independent Blogs and Search Bases help but like we see here: CON INC doesn't help.

 

How can we make Aspirational Heroes a top tier trend once more? So I can have more good water to find. The Desert eats away at this reader. Its why I keep going back to old favorites or a handful of Oasis filled Optimistic Series.

I wonder if starting an Optimistic Series tag on twitter would help. At this juncture I'd try anything. The pendulum has to shift back towards hope and optimism. Just how much more "real world ridiculous grit"can people stomach at this point?

Representation Doesn't Matter: Zombie IPs wont change.

Don't hope for course correction. These corporations will have to encounter a very hard reset before they get back to storytelling. 

No wonder they are salty about the Reeves KS:

 

 

Berserk, Babylon 5, Star Gate, OG Star Trek and more have done better than current year as far as hitting that "representation card" because they cared more about story even back in the 80s and before. Now its just endless cardboard cutouts of TDS and Current Year Check Marks the Spot. I know one thing for sure: 10 more years from now people will still remember Casca and Doctor Stephen Franklin alongside Teal'c. Will anyone remember any of these quota characters?  

Even Dark Angel still sticks with me. Because it cared about telling a story with characters rather than: Oh that one is the cripple in the wheelchair ect. Elisa from Gargoyles. Here's the rest of my semi constructive Rant.

Readership

 SO how can we bring in new readers to SFF? By telling adventures. By making stories. Likable protagonists. Stuff that captures the minds of young boys. Because a good amount of stuff is auto-tuned to women and girls already. 

I feel like men are the lost reader base when it comes to Science Fiction and Fantasy. 

Most kids find more in common with manga and light novels than western comics and fiction. Because those stories still remember to not subvert the wheel but rather build on it.

• Pulp Era Writing Tips
• Capt. Hawklin 
• Doyles Law
• Warlock 
• Footprints in the Stars
  

Love Triangles, Erotica and Actual Romance

I gotta disagree: Healthy loving relationships are under fed. So is True Love. Too many "subvert" this stuff that its become the normal within most promoted books and trends.

So Ill give my 2 cents. IN another longer form. Let's dive in.

Some of the Books mentioned worth your time:

• The Cinder Spires
• Decan Finn
• PS: Sorry for Messing Up names. My nose is running right now. :P Along with the overuse of the word: AGAIN! XD
• Planetary Anthology
• Fushigi Yugi
• Henry Vogel

Flying Sparks has a relationship I find interesting because the sap in me says that tru love will win out: Flying Sparks Vol 1-4

Plus get more space opera fun: The Aryshan War  

Because genuine bonds will win!

To get past the pile up of Dystopias and the like: We need to promote Heroism! Genuine Self Sacrifice, even Dragonlance had this with Brightblade. I wont let nihilism win. Not ever. I wont give up. Just like Galaxy Quest. Time to fight harder for the aspirational.

A good comparison is the Incredibles vs Incredibles 2.  The Old Hope vs The Deconstruction.

What I mean By: Current Year

I don't mind parodies: When they use the style of something like this for example.

These images trash series/trope I detest. Basically deconstruction and Watchmen. Sure, does it appeal to my political bias? Yep. Thing is, its not plastered in WATCHMEN itself. Which is a major difference. Its a mockery yes but it doesn't pull you out of the source material.

Current Year is basically: Ultra Progressive TDS. They can't help but put their absolute hatred of him in everything! To the DETERMENT of story and characters. That is the key difference. When storytellers want to tell a story, its just that. If there is any poltics in it then most decent storytellers will have it fit because 2 or 3+ sides are at war. Again, read Honor Harrington if you want to see different political backgrounds working for the story rather than against it.

A simple formula on characters

When I am reading stuff, what elements I care about:

• The Story
• The Characters
• The Actions they Deliver

I don't care who they sleep with. That's not important to the story.

(Unless its a Primary Romance book. IE: The main hook or plot.)

Make me care about them through actions. Through virtues, through motivations. Do they want to protect their families? Their homes? Their countries? Their planets?

My secret to enjoyment? They don't have to be just like me. They just have to have traits that I can admire.

Do they have uplifting moments or arcs? DO they eventually redeem themselves through actions? Don't just promote fuck up flaws. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. More aspirational and heroic characters please.

More Stargate SG-1 types. The noble warrior. The honorable leader. The intrepid scientist. The sheer wonder of exploration.

How to extend Reach!

It feels like this is an uphill battle.

Indies are a viable way around converged crap.

Trying to get NOTABLE/POPULOUS "Conservative" platforms to cover media that wants to genuinely entertain is like pulling blood from a stone. Just holy fuck. You can offer people the moon but that doesn't make them pay attention to it.

Star Wars/OLD BELOVED FRANCHISE X is fucking dead people. Let it burn out completely. Same with all the other IPs converged by nonsense. Once the ashes are thrown away. Once mediums are reset, then maybe later creatives can redeem these IPs but don't feed them right now. Starve the fucking zombies. They just see you as paypigs.

If you still have some love for the old shit, buy it pre-owned. Then actively seek out things giving you that hit of entertainment you need.

I guess its like pulling a junkie out of a habit. It takes willpower to look at various converged entertainment sectors and go: FUCK OFF with your BS. Ill not take one more bone you throw my way to shut me up. Every time I mention something like this on the twitters Ill loose a few people. But at this point I am at my wits end.

I get it, money and time invested. But they don't deserve it anymore. Convert your energy, time and money to things more worthwhile. That give you that sense of adventure. That want to entertain you. Not berate you.

Read these:

• Dont Give Money to People Who Hate You
• Corporate Cancer

Ill keep saying this until I am past blue in the Face:

Corporate IPs are using our nostalgia against us. Cut them off. Promote other things, compare them to old IPs if you have to but get readers on another track. DC comics is throwing old established fans minuscule bones. LOOK SEE?! They want you to stay a good little paypig while they rip the rest of their universe to shreds.

OH! We will bring back a character people miss (Stephanie Brown) but don't pay attention to Bendis buttfucking Superman Family over a barrel with his testicle shaped head. (I am glad they are sinking as a company. Please erase DC and Marvel Comics, they made me actively hate "modern" cape and cowl comics. They had a key with Rebirth but crashed into a wall with that. Rebirth had brought me back into comics after about a decade away.)

Lots of these comics companies have multiverses. Use that to bring in/test bed new audiences. Bleeding off your actual audience for "imaginary not there/to be invested" audiences will end up being detrimental to a company.

Comic book stores as they were will not exist much longer. Most of my hobby shops within a 30-40 min radius sell much more beyond just comics now. They have to inorder to break even. Even to the point where they sell videogames, 40k, minis, dvds/blurays, figurines ect all in the same place. TTRPGS. The list goes on.

Conservative INC is impotent. They don't want to engage in entertainment. Thinking that the bigger culture war is somewhere else. No, the very foundation of it is in what we view, read, write, put on the small screen, the big screen. Even if Uplift Protocol is a drop in the ocean, it's still a drop that means everything to me. With enough drops, we can change entertainment. That's why this bit in Cloud Atlas stays with me.

 Entertainment has so many drops in their side's ocean that its down-pouring over everything. So here's my drops: Lets make it rain.

Offer limitless heroism!

Let the capes unfurl and make reading heroic again!

Is Slice of Life Mundane really that popular?

Or do some want us to believe this? That 1000s upon 1000s enjoy talking heads around a table.

There is a significant review drop off. Like ballot stuffing was this a flash in a pan or something that is getting its publisher actual money.

The 4th book for this boring adventure feels like its that scene from Spaceballs but not fun or amusing and padded out over a whole book.

Ill look into this later but I don't see much difference between TOR, Macmillian, Harpercollins, Peguin, Simon and Schulster. IE: Overall Content. They all blend into a Mundane Manifesto bore fest.

DAW still gives me some interesting stories. 

What caused me to think on this?

Declan Finn's Post

Sheer numbers drive that amazon bot. TO find books, to promote them, to have them rise to the surface.

I've left reviews of books I am only part way through:

That book 1 is over 1000 pages btw. :P


So while trad publishing might hate amazon's platform, it needs it too, along with up and coming indies. When leaving reviews Ill be pretty up front about biases, preferences, did I abandon the book part way through. Even DNF reviews have merit. What one person hates with the fury of 1000 suns might be what another is looking for.

Maybe that means Boring Planet series caters to the lonely? Because it looks like it really struck a cord with certain sectors.

2016 really was a year of awakenings for me.

Plus I'm not even reading the Expanse anymore. It got too "current year" human vs human dystopia issues for me.

Back in 2014 or so, I started reading whatever same sex couple stuff I could find. Mostly to show the internet fervor at the time a right wing person like myself could read stuff no matter the content. I realized that most with same sex characters went the misery route. What about the Campy Xena route? Something that could bring a smile. It happened with indies in most cases.

That series is Megamind with a same sex couple. But what if Megamind was dating a Supergirl standin instead. This thing is corny as hell. Which suits me just fine. Stop hitting people over the head with misery fiction. I imagine, if they really dug deep down, they don't want misery or mundane fiction either. But like that Babyon Bee Inforgraphic, they have to fight against "old school" fun/absurdity.

https://twitter.com/DeclanFinnBooks/status/1295735823636279296?s=20
https://twitter.com/DeclanFinnBooks/status/1295735823636279296?s=20

Awards

At this point awards for anything don't mean much to me anymore. Especially when it turns into a big block for one publisher or another. *cough* TOR, Orbit, Macmillan ect. Of those, even Baen, I wouldn't want them to dominate everything.

Otherwise stuff gets shuffled deeper. Which is the problem amazon is having.

The usual Kicking has arrived.

This is from part of her article. Somehow they don't want to mention me. Yes madam commentator, that one book feels like Romance from its cover and blurb! I guess they want to erase women like me because we have too much wrongthink.

Or that I'm just a useful idiot or internalized -ISMs.


Take a look at it, what does this say to you?

Flowers on the cover.
In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

Purple prose out the ass.


I didn't even look at the sample. Because the whole package screams Romance and I don't want it. As a side dish maybe but not as the main course. This book is coded poorly.

Shit, you want some fun romance?

Parasol Protectorate.

That series has something for everyone. Of the romance variety. Its actually funny. Likable characters, has some racier things If you are so inclined and has a fun story. The men and women work as a team. Hot damn! She's one of the few romance people I will read. Its a very short list. Gini Koch is also on that list.

Henry Vogel is on that list because he makes adorkable couples too. But without the more R-rated material. A regular beam of sunshine.

Read more fun things 2020!



These people don't deserve readers time or money. They have no idea how to write legit happy protagonists or likeable characters to root for so all Ill do is laugh at samples and keep going. I might make a "FL woman on 2 or more Long Island Ice Tea recordings/readings."

No, its the critical darlings that are out of touch with people in general. You see in it Hollowwood. Remakes upon remakes upon reboots. That get less and less returns each time.

Here's the rest of her stuff. Its almost word for word what File770 was saying.

Twitter is their bubble. Regular readers like me only went there to find friends that already had accounts. I havent read an actual Hugo winner in a while because they are boring mundane manifesto crap fiction about our craptastic world with craptastic protagonists that are as shitty as the average news broadcast nowadays. Making a point to drag books and entertainment into the Muck with the  rest of the "lets embrace our FLAWS and not work to a better tomorrow" mindset.

If anything, the constant barrage of "GREY IS THE BESTEST EVAR" for writing characters, has made me even more stubborn and unwilling to look at these "modern" darlings. They want people to think that my relic tastes are extremely unpopular but that's not true. Most people aren't reading books anymore. They are reading manga or light novels to get their fix of adventure.

So that's why I am going to be even more determined to recommend stuff I find fun. Even if it hardly gets any grief clicks. 

Why is this popular?

Present tense whatnot. Ill take this and try to write alittle in Uplift Protocol setup just to see how awkward it is.

There is a Keeper in the lower decks.
(The Keeper is a metaphor for darkness and inhuman pitiless eyes!)
(The Lower deck could rightly be considered a prison!)
The Keeper was placed here for numerous acts of hideous experiments against sentient creatures.


One of the Typherian guards said throw away the key but it rests on the grav lock near the prison doors.

Yea, just shoot me now. Its like they are writing how people talk. It's very jarring if its outside of dialog.

I use brackets to indicate different kinds of talk <<Word>> for coms and Bardaxian. ///Message/// for text talk, ((Word)) for Horus and some other AI talk. But you have to set that up within a pattern.

Dynamics

When I approach a book, here's some tropes or setups I really latch onto. Since most modern "realism" drek has polluted things.

• A main protagonist duo of men and women. Since so many books have everyone at each other's throats. IE: Those evil Bastard mens! Those Thot/Bitchy Womens. Otherwise known as Wheel of Time taken to Hellscape 11 with gender relations. Men and women bring different stuff to the table, so I like seeing that setup in a more positive light.
• IF its gritty, please have hope infused somewhere to offset the craptastic world.
• What most "literary" fart huffers think is boring: Good vs Evil
• Have fun! Pulp Rev remembers fun! 
• Escapism! Pure simple joys of adventure.

I do wonder if that's why most readership levels have declined over the years. If the buffet is only offering x, y or z since corporations or editors see it as the most commercially viable, it would also explain the feeling of "cookie cutter popular" hitting everything. So here's a spreadsheet of books that are constantly pulling me back into reading.

Which also slow me down in reading other things because I keep going back to these books. Like a well worn cup of coffee on a cold day.

At the heart of all these books, traditional good vs evil. All my favorite shows had this as well. The external forces were such that men and women had to work together to survive. The evil has no care for the character's physicality. IT wanted to break their spirits. So most books that have this. Have the characters go through and act heroic in-spite of evil. That is what ultimately grabs me.

Trad Pub

As far as trad sources go, here's my recent series that I've read over the past few years. Yes, years.

TOR, the only thing I get from them is Weber's Safehold Series.

I am genuinely shocked that I'm not blocked by most of Regressive SFF "trad" peeps. Hayden and the current TOR editing group have done more damage to Sci Fi and Fantasy by promoting Mundane Manifesto Boredom + "OMG THE POV HAS TO BE 100% NOT WHITE/EURO but especially NOT HETEROSEXUAL!".

PS: BURN WARD!

Let's see, the trad stuff I have enjoyed: To get back on topic.

Going through Hyperion via Audible. It has some interesting ideas but I find myself not as interested in the multiple pages of details. Again, this is personal preferences. I find myself wanting to get to plot faster.

It's why I have a tendency with my own writing to set up basics for issues:

• Have some sort of mystery or action (Internal or external)
• Resolve an immediate problem within that issue or set it up for a run on thread in the main series.
• Character moments that occur within a page or two, spaced out in-between some mystery or action.  
• Minimal description, usually setting up some idea of what the area is via time/location fonts. With a bit of added setup when needed. IE: The team traveled down the corridor. The walls lined with various locked doors. That sorta thing. I think I do this in a snappier way because I've read so much sci fi and fantasy that I don't really need much prompting on what stuff looks like or feels like. It all comes down to preferences. 

That's why the only writing advice I can really give: Put stuff to paper, that's the only way you will develop a style or habit or selection. You can use other things to get ideas but don't get hung up on it. Just do it.

I have Safehold. Waited til the brick and mortar of B&N had it on clearance. Or Books-A-Millon. I enjoy Mr. David's work. Mostly through Baen but I don't want to give TOR any decent credit, so I waited til stuff was on deep sales.

I still enjoy Weber's stuff and the whole sci fi meets old style renaissance tech is fun. But he is very long in the tooth. Still good but if you compare to his team ups or older work, he def. needs to trim things. (To me at least.)

Some of the books below, I am going through on Audible. Like mentioned above + Age of Myth. I find it easier to listen to stories that go on description tangents when it has a multi narration bent or someone just speaking. When reading on my own, I like to have something that moves faster nowadays.

When I was younger I think, oddly enough, I had more patience for stuff that took a while to gain momentum.

Beginnings

The first most important thing to me, as far as reading and writing goes, have a wham bam opening. Doesn't have to be pure action but it has to have an element of mystery to hook the reader. As far as my preferences go. Don't just have characters talking, like this: Even if its critically praised I found Jade City's opening extremely boring.

 

Go look at the whole sample. It doesn't have much mystery for me to latch onto or something to get invested in. Its just providing an environmental setup for the characters to talk in. I guess that's also why I don't spend too much time in describing the area around my characters. I want to get to the point faster and have conversations with the characters when it makes sense.

I guess its cause I've also read enough sci fi and fantasy to where I don't really need too much prompting in word to form an idea of the environment. If its a futuristic city and I mention a library. Most will picture something sleek and high tech. I made it a point to mention leather-bound books in one of my issues to indicate that particular library had old style stuff for a K2 level area of Earth.

I guess its also gotten to the point where some of my tastes have changed because I don't have as much time to go on overtly lyrical adventures. I am listening to Hyperion in Audible format because right now, when I try to read it, the over abundance of description slows me down when reading. It works better as an audiobook in my opinion.

Back to beginnings:

They need a hook. Something that will drive the reader to continue. Action or mystery or even an engaging prologue to suck us in. Don't start with just character conversation. Because we arent invested in them yet.

I found that I moved certain stories in the prologue book to other sections because readers need to become engaged with the setting first. Heck, the opening for book 1 has a bit more of the mystery added in. Then it goes to our protagonists in chapt/issue 1 for that story.

I find most woke books open with mundane stuff because that's what they were taught. If that Manifesto is anything to go by. Since some SFF history has been obfuscated most readers think these kind of cookie cutter openings are just fine.

This post has all sorts of fun books you can start reading today. Find adventure!

Superversive Fun!