Oculus

The Cosmic Laire of Science Fiction and Fantasy (for the record, I never noticed that "laire" could be spelled that way) tagged me with a meme. It's called "Be Inspired" and has this plain "Google-esque" (that's a word, right?) badge here. The rules are simple. Answer the questions in the meme and pass them on to five other authors. Also give thanks to the person who awarded you with the meme as well as linking back to them. Thanks David and GO VISIT HIS BLOG HERE!

1. What is the name of your book? Oculus.
2. Where did the idea for your book come from? It's a sequel to my first book, Slipstream. It came from the characters doing stuff.
3. In what genre would you classify your book? Speculative Fiction/Dark Fantasy
4. Who would you pick to play your characters in a movie adaptation? No idea at this point. Someone young, hot, and blond with like 5% body fat and sparkling blue eyes.
5. Give us a one sentence synopsis of your book? A boy with NHL dreams must kill demons slaughtering hundreds of cops in the streets of New York City following the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
6. Is your book already published? Nope. I'm finishing up with my edits soon. I had the best editor I've ever worked with help me with my manuscript. She really was frickin' awesome.
7. How long did it take you to write this book? I started it in May 2010. So that's 2.5 years. Geez, I'm slow. In my defense, Oculus is an incredibly intricate and complex book. I think readers who liked Slipstream will see that this book definitely raises the bar. Plus I feel that my climax is really awesome, and all my beta readers seem to be blown away by it too. That makes me feel confident, because I think endings are difficult to write.
8. What other books in your genre would you compare it to? I have no idea. I'm not trying to be obtuse, because I'm well read. But I honestly have no idea. One beta-reader said it had a Harry Potter-esque feel to it because of the Cornell University setting and the sport element. But it's an adult book, darker than Slipstream, with graphic sex, extreme violence, murder, gore, and terrifying demons. I'm going to say, it would be a cross between Harry Potter and Hellraiser, if you can even imagine that.
9. Which authors inspired you to write this book? Oh, all that I've read. Seriously, every book I finish is an inspiration to pen my own story.
10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book. I did a ton of research to make the places in New York featured in Oculus leap off the page. The book loops continuously on itself, referring back to earlier events, which is some of the things that I really enjoy about great books I've read. There are many, "Oh that was mentioned two chapters earlier and now it's important" moments. It's been cut and rewritten to the point that every character is necessary (and I have a lot of characters). Each one has a role to play. Each person pulls their own weight. It's gone through beta reads and two professional level edits even before sending it to the publisher. There are no unnecessary characters and events at this point. Jordan and Kathy's powers grow in unexpected and strange ways that I think will have people marveling at my unique "magic" system. I honestly think it's pretty clever, but I wrote it.

Five people I would like to tag with this meme:
Huntress
Mina Lobo
P.T. Dilloway
Alex J. Cavanaugh
M.J. Fifield

Bonus Person: Elise Fallson 'cause I must know what she's writing and you should too.

Second Bonus Person: Matthew MacNish because I beta-read Warrior Monks, and I want him to talk about it.

Since I'm talking about my writing projects in this post, I wanted to thank all the supportive people who have purchased my book. I got my royalty statement from Double Dragon Publishing for sales thru June 30th, and it was much bigger than I ever expected (DDP by the way is really professional in case you are looking for a publisher). Then following that, I got a couple of amazing emails from readers who aren't bloggers (like actual readers who aren't authors and that's all that they want to be) who raved about my book to me. That just felt good. It made all the work that I put in seem worthwhile. I guess what I'm saying is that fan mail is really frickin' awesome. Plus, I had a person request a review copy of my book. That has never happened. I've always had to pester people "Can you review my book, pretty please with sugar on top?" This person just found me and asked for it. Maybe that's how real authors feel? I dunno. But maybe they don't have to go begging at doors asking people to post reviews of their book. Anyway, it just made me feel good for a brief moment in my day, and I hope that you get that feeling all the time with your own publishing endeavors.

Have a great Thursday. I will be featuring author J.L. Campbell as part of the Distraction Tour on Friday. I will resume blogging on Tuesday (I'm taking Labor Day off, as should you).

Jim Carrey Is The Next Internet Meme

So in the celebrity-addled culture worship of the United States, the latest casualty appears to be Jim Carrey.  Does this kind of make me sad? A little bit. I admit that I enjoyed Jim Carrey's rise as funnyman Fire Marshall Bill during "In Living Color" which had me rolling on the floor laughing my ass off more than once.  I liked the original Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and I also liked Liar, Liar and Me, Myself, and Irene.  Every other movie though that he's made since then, has been complete and utter crap.  Without exception, Mr. Popper's Penguins is the latest in a string of duds in a career that might as well be over.

Jenny McCarthy

But who cares, right?  I mean the guy is a mega-millionaire. I would have thought he was happy, especially with Jenny McCarthy as his girlfriend, right?  Well she left him...and I guess he's in an epic mid-life crisis.

Why does the mid-life crisis even exist for men? Well I think it has a lot to do with men having egos that are too big for the super-dome and they simply have these egos because, well, they have testosterone (Munk is the lone exception to this).  My co-worker put it especially poignant when we walked to 7-Eleven to get our morning coffee and to share half of an apple fritter from Crispy Creme (YES I KNOW I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO EAT THEM BUT THEY ARE DELICIOUS! F/U CRISPY CREME /shakes fist at the sky). Anyway, my co-worker said, "The severity of the mid-life crisis depends on the vanity of the man."  I believe this.  If you are really vain...oh boy is fifty (or age for that matter) gonna hit you like a ton of bricks.

Emma Stone

So here's the YouTube video of Carrey destroying his career.  He says it's a joke.  Well the joke is on him.  It's a fifty-year-old washed-up actor and comedian with a saggy body getting a hard-on for a voluptuous 22-year-old Emma Stone.  Jim Carrey...welcome to the next huge internet meme as you are made fun of by EVERYONE in the world.

Pretty creepy, right?

How would you feel if you were a 22-year-old girl and a 50-year-old man made a YouTube for you like this?  He should have read my review of American Gods and realized, yes you are rich. No, this does not make you an American God.  I doubt he reads anyway.  Stupid is as stupid does.