And that's November!

Boy, this has been an odd one. First I get roped into NaNoWriMo (I should have hit my goal of 75,000 words by tonight of early tomorrow), then there is some personal brouhaha, and that's not even going into world events. Not the most easily digestible month in memory.

But at least I finally got started on a project I wanted to and I put out a short story as unedited and raw as it is. Getting something done is better than saying you're going to get something done. Oh, and Advent started, which was something that certainly lifted my spirits. So, despite a lot of weirdness, at least it evened out in a way.

I also played a pen and paper RPG called Fiasco for the first time with a friend this weekend. We were just trying it out, but it was a lot of fun. I certainly hope to play it again. I'm not a fan of the Coen Brothers' style of storytelling, but the core structure of the game is really fun. That's the part I want to play around more with.

All in all, time to bid farewell to November after such a strange run. Here's hoping for the rest of Advent and December to pick it up!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to bid farewell to this year. Hopefully December can carry out the rest of the year with some holiday cheer and joy. I think we could all use more of both.

Delivered Promise!

Remember when I said I would have a surprise out this month? Well, here it is. I wrote a short story called "Someone is Aiming at You" about a superhero with a very odd power. Unlike my novella, this was written pretty fast, which of course means it isn't professionally edited, but I'm very pleased with how the story turned out.

It's been a long month with some tragedies, some bad events in my life, and a lot of writing for NaNoWriMo (I'm near the end, I think! I'm over 65,000 words, so I hope so!) but it's finally nearing the end.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story. It was rather fun to write.

You can read it here:

Someone is Aiming at You

Sorry

I just don't have much to say this week, it's been a pretty lousy one. Especially since my last post.

I hope I have more to say next week, and hopefully the world will still be there when I do. Until then, I hope and pray you have a good one.

A Moment of Pause for the Veterans

This post is for them.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks still bravely singing fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved: and now we lie

In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe

To you, from failing hands, we throw

The torch: be yours to hold it high

If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Self-Publishing Beatitudes

When reading random articles on the internet, one of my favorites was by author Brian Niemeier on his Self-Publishing Beatitudes. I highly suggest reading it if you have any ambition of being a writer or are just curious about self-publishing.

Of course, I didn't really follow any of this advice when I published my first novella but that was mostly me just flailing around with what little knowledge I had. While I still don't have much knowledge, what little I've learned since then has mirrored his article nearly completely. Check out his other articles if you have the time, too. They're all really well written.

To sum it up, writing takes time and effort. You're probably going to have to give something up to do it, something you enjoy doing in order to improve and grow as a writer. Whether it's a hobby you like doing in your spare time, napping, or maybe even working extra hours, something has to give. There are only so many hours in the day. You can't be a better writer if you don't dedicate any time to writing.

You need to read as well as write to not only keep being inspired but to improve your own writing through the example of others. For instance, being a rather ignorant kid, I've never read Louis L'Amour before. I don't write westerns, but I have since read one novel and a short story collection and what he wrote really inspired me to sharpen my writing and work on several character-writing weaknesses I'm prone to doing. Keep reading, especially good books, it's only going to help you.

You need to know your strengths and weaknesses and realize you can't do everything. I'm not a very technical person, for instance. I probably won't end up writing Science Fiction. This isn't because I can't learn processes and theories and incorporate them into my work, but that I probably never will. I can only write what interests me as a storyteller, and as much as I like to read the genre, as a writer it is not something that interests me. I have more of a Fantasy bent, which means that is the genre I should be paying the most attention to in order to sharpen my strengths. It doesn't mean I won't ever write something in my weaker genre area, but if I'm busy trying to improve my weaknesses all the time, my strengths will suffer. Something has to go on the back-burner, and it should not be the aspects of writing I'm better at.

Anyway, there's more here. Give it a read, it's quite fascinating.

In other news, my NaNoWriMo project is going pretty well. I've written 10,000 words so far and am quite enjoying the project. If you're wondering why I wrote so much it is because this story is going to be longer than my other ones and I need to write more to compensate for the time limit. Don't worry, I find this fun.

Even if I don't hit the limit in time, I will have written a giant chunk of it which is good enough for me. Hopefully I can get it written down by the end of the year and then go into heavy editing and polishing mode like I did last year.

So that's my update! Have a great week and I'll see you next time!

Happy Halloween and an Update!

I know this post is up a day early, but that's because I wanted to tie that into this week's post and the upcoming month.

As everyone (well, online) knows, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. If you're wondering if I'm doing it, the answer is yes. I have a story I want to get on ASAP, and this is the perfect opportunity to get into it.

I actually did it last year and the project ended up pushing me to write two additional novels after it of which are still in the editing can. Sooner or later I hope to find an editor for them, though that has so far proven to be rather difficult. Inspired by old juveniles, anime, old school adventure stories, and everything in my childhood, it's not a style of book too many editors would be interested in looking over without dismissing outright.

But I'm getting off topic.

As for this year, I will be writing the fourth book in the series which will probably be much longer than the other three (which center at between 70,000 and 80,000 words) and the end of the arc I'm currently writing. I wanted to save it for this year since I started this last year and I wanted to close out the year since starting it with a big bang.

This of course means I shouldn't have many posts up in November, but that probably isn't true. Look out for a surprise on the way that is a long time coming from me.

And Happy Halloween! Watch some old Christopher Lee movies, gorge on some candy, and have a lot of fun!

I'll see you in November!

What I'm Watching: Blood Blockade Battlefront

It stands to reason that I'm a fan of manga artist, Yasuhiro Nightow. His Trigun manga is excellent, and his second series, Blood Blockade Battlefront, is a lot of fun as well. But where his material always shines the brightest is in the anime medium.

The Trigun anime is my all time favorite TV show, featuring high class action as well as moral and spiritual world that is surprisingly deep and powerful. The writer, Yousuke Kuroda (Gungrave, Honey & Clover, Gundam Build Fighters), and the director, Satoshi Nishimura (Hajime no Ippo, Trigun: Badland Rumble, Ushio & Tora), and their staff took Nightow's original manga, pumped up the themes and drama, and delivered the best adaption of a manga into the anime medium there ever was.

But other than the original Gungrave anime that Nightow created (and Kuroda co-wrote) which is the flipside of Trigun and quite an underrated series, and the Trigun movie (Trigun: Badlands Rumble) that Nishimura directed and co-wrote with Nightow, Nightow hasn't had much presence in the anime world despite his popularity both here and in Japan.

This changed during the spring anime season when Rei Matsumoto (Kyousogiga, Pretty Cure franchise) took the reins for an adaption of Nightow's breezy manga series of fun adventures. It ran for 12 episodes instead of the 26 his past series have run, but what Matsumoto did was absolutely stuff every episode with themes deeply tied to Nightow's own and enhancing them in the process. The anime may only be 12 episodes, but it has an extra recap episode which is quite hilarious, and the final episode is twice the length of a normal episode, and in the process of the story, she created an original storyline not in the original manga but manages to tie in deeply with Nightow's original adventures as well as themes he's been exploring since he started Trigun.

So what's it about?

Blood Blockade Battlefront is about a boy named Leonardo Watch and his adventures in the mystical city of Hellsalem's Lot (Jerusalem's Lot in the original), formerly New York City. You see, one day a portal to the "Beyond" formed over New York, swallowing it whole and attracting a melting pot of aliens, spirits, and monsters of all shapes and sizes. Oh yeah, and demons. In the city is a secret organization called "Libra" lead by a man named Klaus V. Reinhurz who keep the innocent safe from the darkness that waits to consume them all. One day the barrier that keeps Hellsalem safe from the outside world will fall, but it is up to Libra to keep it safe until then. BBB is about Leonardo's adventures after joining Libra and how he uses it to atone for his past.

On top of this story are the abilities that Libra members posses to fight the darkness in their city. Leonardo's eyes are actually All-Seeing Eyes which can see anything hidden to the normal man or monster including the real names of those that prefer to be nameless and the hidden secrets of those that those that wish to remain secret. It goes without saying that his power is very useful. But the other interesting ability is that of Klaus V. Reinhurz, the leader of Libra, and several other members. As the title of the series suggests, they can manipulate their blood in different ways to fight their enemies as a direct parallel to the inspiring words of Klaus who frequently goes on about battling for the light and never losing focus from it.

The anime has an original plot that weaves Nightow's original episodic adventures together centering on the brother and sister pair of Black (William MacBeth) and White (Mary MacBeth) who have a strange past related to the mess that almost destroyed the world from Hellsalem several years ago. And yes, their real names are parallels to exactly who you think they are, Mary's name becoming very relevant by series end as well as the villain's relationship with her. What Matsumoto does here to contrast Nightow's constant usage of red (Vash the Stampede's coat in Trigun, Klaus in general for BBB) for heroes marked by blood and villains with despairing blue (Legato Bluesummers in Trigun, and the villain in BBB) is add in the concept of black and white morality and how they can intertwine with each other and influence the very world around them which they will continue to do until the end of time.

It's a surprising weight added to an otherwise well-written adventure show about good against evil, and it's a highly welcome one. Blood Blockade Battlefront is one of the best new anime in many years and should be sought out by anyone with even a passing interest in the medium. You won't be disappointed.

I'm not really much of a reviewer because I kind of want people to experience the subject in question instead of just taking my word for it, but I know Blood Blockade Battlefront can be overwhelming for those who have never really understood anime. The best way to view it would be the dub on Funimation's website or wait for the eventual DVD/Blu-Ray release, but if you can manage a lot of subtitle descriptions as well as the dialogue at the same time, you should be fine. Believe me, the series is worth it.

Right now you can catch the subtitled anime for free on Funimation's website here or pay a subscription to watch the English dub at the same location. I don't know when a home release will be available, but you can bet that I'll be first in line when it does.

As long as you continue to step toward the light, nothing can ever truly defeat you.

You can watch the opening to the series here and the ending theme here.

Oh boy

Sorry for the lateness, I've been having issues with Google all week. I haven't been able to access the blog or even my G-Mail account in a while. How anyone can put their trust in Google when they're so frustrating to deal with is beyond me.

Anyway, I'm sorry. It's going to be a bit long to my next real post, unfortunately.