TV Devil Box

Talking With the Devil Box

A common criticism leveled at Baby Boomers by members of younger generations is that trying to change Boomers' minds with dialectical reason is like hitting your head against the wall. This intellectual stubbornness is summed up in the meme "When you're arguing with a Boomer, you're really arguing with the…
August 28, 20249 Comments
Lof Campaign Card

The Lord of Fate Kickstarter Is Live

This is your chance to get the book before launch & claim awesome rewards! The thrilling sequel to dark fantasy adventure The Burned Book is now on Kickstarter! A holy warrior plagued by doubt …  A cloistered mystic yoked with rulership …  A fated prophet seeking the powers of life and…
August 27, 20242 Comments
Geek Gab

Lord of Fate Comes to Geek Gab

My gracious colleagues Daddy Warpig and Dorrinal invited me back on the venerable Geek Gab live stream last night. We talked cyberpunk and the Crow remake. And I gave viewers an early look at the imminent campaign for Arkwright Cycle Book II: Lord of Fate. Watch the replay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSRIutFvkrw…
August 26, 2024
cavalry 1

The Cavalry Ain’t Coming

Success in any contest, whether it's athletic, cultural, or spiritual, requires an understanding of the situation grounded in reality. That also means adhering to the time-tested maxim "Know thyself." The enemy in the current battle for Christendom's soul spent the past century on a long march through the institutions and…
August 23, 2024
Newpub Talk Chaos

The Book Industry in Chaos

It's been obvious for a while now to anyone who's not chasing unicorns that the book industry is in chaos. The sworn testimony given by editors, authors, and agents in the Penguin Random House-Simon and Schuster merger trial revealed that only 10 percent of oldpub titles move more than 2,000…
August 22, 20244 Comments
Conveyor Belt rapid release

The Pros and Cons of Rapid Release

Because many of my valued neopatrons are newpub or newpub adjacent, my deep dive indie publishing tips usually get reserved for them. But every so often, I part the veil to give regular readers a glimpse of my patrons-only material. Today's post originated from a patron request to lay out…
August 21, 20241 Comment
Kevin Murphy

MST3K’s Kevin Murphy Notices Movie Ground Zero

Hollywood product has degraded to the point that hardly a day goes by without someone noticing Cultural Ground Zero. Valued neopatron, DJ, and fellow ex-movie theater employee Scott Waddell brings up this book, wherein MST3K's Kevin Murphy notices movie ground zero. Dial around your radio and you’ll sometimes hear a…
August 20, 202411 Comments
Book Shelf

Why Authors Need Wide and Varied Influences

A big temptation for new authors is to immerse yourself in a narrow selection of books, often within the genre you're writing. You may feel that keeping exclusive focus on your genre will give you the best chance of mastering its conventions and satisfying your readers. But limiting your reading…
August 19, 20246 Comments
LoF Trailer Thumbnail

Unveiling the Lord of Fate Book Trailer

It's become an open secret that thje book industry is undergoing major destabilization. It's been something of a meme for a while now that bookselling strategies everybody used to swear buy are yielding diminishing returns. The good news is that the neopatronage model is going strong. Plenty of newpub authors…
August 16, 2024

Why New Authors Should Master Genre Conventions Before Breaking Them

One of my cherished neopatrons called my attention to this post by The Brothers Krynn, which itself is a response to another piece by author JD Cowan. After spending some time retreading the "Are fantasy and sci fi separate genres?" debate, it brings up an issue that's running rampant among…
August 15, 20245 Comments