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B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part IV
If you haven’t been following the story–long story short, the crap has hit the fan for Humanity. Angry aliens are coming to basically turn Earth into one big butcher shop. You can pick up the first part of the story here. This Part begins Chapter 2. So, without further ado… Chapter 2: Recriminations and Reckonings…
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B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part III
Part III continues. If you’ve just started following this blog, Part I can be found here. Weather Mountain, VA 0800 Local (0700 Central) “Sir, they’re all here,” Star-Colonel Sir Conrad Bradstock, Knight of the Bath to Queen Elizabeth I, said quietly. The Englishman was massive, especially when one considered the average height of men in…
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B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part II
Continuing on with Chapter 1… Fort Riley, Kansas 0625 Local (0725 Eastern) “Jack, what the fuck is going on?” Captain Jason Mitchell, CO of A/2-70th Armored Battalion (FCS), West Point Class of ’03, asked worriedly. The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation when Jack had suddenly stopped and focused…
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Writing Tips–Some Research
As I mentioned in my writing tips, sometimes research can be a substitute for experience. Going even further, the best research in the world is that done by someone else. One quick way to save oneself a lot of diving and sorting of what sources work the best for you is to find a historiographical…
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Writing Tips: Lines and Characters
I got asked to do a guest blog by Cedar Sanderson for her website. After reading it, she decided to promote this to The Mad Genius Club, where it is now crossposted. So, without further ado: Lines of Departure This blog post actually got started in a conversation about wasp spray. Yes, that’s right,…
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B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part I
It was 2003. For two years, I had been working on this great idea for a story where aliens come to Earth, seeking humanity’s help in dealing with a rabid, angry race of cat-lizards that enjoyed eating intelligent species’ flesh and soul. Having been at peace for thousands of years, the friendly aliens had no…
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We Interrupt This Program
Hello readers! With the semester underway, I’ve decided I need to throttle down on this freak show a bit. Ergo, Warship Wednesday and Metal Monday will now alternate weeks effective this Monday. Still expect 1-3 posts a week, however–but not 2-4. 😀 We now return you to your Friday night.
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Castle Takes Wayne
My muses are annoying. They like to do things like wait until I’m sleeping, then prod me: “Hey! Hey! We know you want to go to sleep, but we just came up with this neat idea!” “Freakin” Muses! What?!” “What if Batman and Punisher suddenly ended up switching places through some crazy cross continuum magic…
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"I Can't Believe I Wrote That…"–James Channels Sir John Hackett and Tom Clancy (The Vladivostok Thing Part I)
So back in the dark ages, when the Bear roamed the Earth and the world stood on the brink of nuclear annihilation, Tom Clancy came out with a book called Red Storm Rising. I’m not ashamed to say, I read the (hard)covers off that thing. Tanks, fighters, bombers, anti-ship missiles…this was like a dream for…
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Young's Ten Tips
Susanne Lambdin and I do a regular panel we call “Strategy and Tactics of Novel Writing.” Inevitably we figure some poor sods come in thinking we’re going to talk military stuff. For you folks, we are sorry. For everyone else, don’t be fooled–we really do talk about how to write a novel. We usually start…
