Project Fiona is the new SEXY

Mild disclaimer => I own a Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard and a Razer mouse and they do a great job. What you are looking at on the screen of amazing device below is Firefall, a full-fledged online first-person shooter for the PC. Razer (the company that makes some of the coolest gaming gear) says Firefall, and other PC games, will run on its Project Fiona tablet in Windows 8 (time to say adieu to Windows 7).

Yes, I'm a geek, nerd...or whatever you want to call it. THIS does excite me. I know Patrick is probably rolling his eyes. In one sentence...this is not the tablet for you if all you want to do is play Angry Birds.

Here's the skinny:

1) Under $1,000. That's important because it competes with the iPad and is obviously going for the same market.

2) Intel Core i7 CPU--WOW! Quad core baby (all i7 processors are quad core in case you didn't know).

3) SSD memory. This is tech speak for Solid State Drive. You know those flash drives that you use to store your manuscripts on so you don't lose them when your computer chokes? Picture that only larger, roomier, with no moving parts and instantaneous retrieval and upload of information. My gaming p.c. has had solid state drives for two years. They're incredible.

4) Dolby Home Theater Audio on a Windows 8 interface. Damn. Plus you can play most p.c. games for Windows on this tablet using Ivy Bridge.

5) Dual stick controllers and feedback.  If you are shooting a machine gun, you'll feel it vibrate.

Are you excited yet? Watch the video below and you'll see how the keyboard and mouse hook up to it to create a full transformational tablet to p.c. experience.

Have a great Thursday. Tomorrow I'm playing host to author Ciara Knight because I begged her for an  interview. :)

Authors and publishers are treating the Nook like it is the red-headed stepchild of ereaders

I just finished an excellent book written by an author that I will choose at this point not to name. I read the book in three days. The publisher is an independent press. First some background.

I own two kinds of e-readers. The first is an iPad and the second is a Barnes and Noble Nook Color.

I buy a lot of books on the Nook because I cash in my Discover Card rewards for gift certificates to Barnes and Noble. Plus, with one of their stores just right across the street from where I live, and the demise of Borders, I felt that I should do something to keep Amazon from destroying the last big brick and mortar bookstore chain in America. Every little bit helps.

So...I buy Barnes and Noble ebooks. I buy quite a few of them.

Chances are, if you're an author with access to your own sales and you mysteriously see one Nook sale next to the hundred kindle sales you have...that one customer is me. Again, I get gift certificates for just using my Discover Card so in a sense, they're free to me and FREE IS GOOD.

However, even though I represent only 1% of your sales, it does NOT give you a license to shit all over the end product. I'm getting sick of it.

In this book put out by independent publisher above that I finished just tonight, a page ended mid-sentence with the word "the". I turned the page to continue to read and it was a whole new paragraph. What the hell? I can only assume by the context of what was going on that either an entire paragraph was omitted, or an entire page was left out. Okay...big deal, right? It gets better. I'm reading along and then pages start repeating over and over and over. I have to drag the bar to advance past them and then backpedal to where I was to continue the story because there are so many of the same page inserted in the Nook formatting.

But it isn't just them. Another independent publisher had a book that had the author's name inserted mid-sentence at the bottom of a page (this isn't a spelling problem but a formatting one). And I've come across foreign letters only represented by empty squares.  I have to infer from the context of the sentence what word was used.  Also, I've bought self-pubbed books who have the screwiest indents (either omitted or glaringly huge) in the Nook but their kindle editions apparently are just fine. And when I say screwy...I mean REALLY F'IN SCREWY so that the book is damn near unreadable. I don't care that the author goes back and corrects it. I'm not going to buy the book twice to download it. Burn me once, shame on you.

You know who hasn't messed up on Nook formatting? Anything done by the BIG SIX.

All of their books are fine. Gee...I wonder why that is? Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 looks pristine. R.A. Salvatore's book that I'm reading has no repeated pages. George R.R. Martin's books look great.  Even old school books like Isaac Asimov's Foundation look passable (and they probably don't make money formatting his books for the Nook anyway). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the reason their books don't suck on Nook is because they choose not to make them suck.

I think I know why this is happening. It's called "Apathy". Small publishers and self-pubbed authors are like, "Amazon is the only thing that matters. Kindle formatting is the only thing that makes us money." Well screw you. I'm a consumer, and I own a Nook, and I would like a little respect. Either do it well or don't even make your book available on the Nook...period. But I have five friends that own Nooks as well, and if you don't make your book available to me...that's five friends that will never hear about it (and one of 'em is part of a small book club).

Can you help me with a blog tour?

I am planning a blog tour for my book that is coming out this May. Only, I have no idea how much is enough or too little. As it is, I've scheduled eleven days. But when I look at Ciara Knight who is going on tour later this month for the fabulous Curse of Gremdon (I can say this because I read it), she has got a lot of time blocked out (I think the entire month).

So, I'm asking you knowledgeable writers out there...what is the perfect amount of days to use for a blog tour? Do they need to be spaced apart or can they be Monday thru Friday? Are you expected to give out something like an Amazon gift card or a book or is it okay not to give out anything?

I'm also looking for three more people who would like to host me to fill out the schedule I have (unless it ends up not being enough or too much). If you would be willing to help me with a blog tour, please say so in the comments :)

You can check the schedule I have at this link or by clicking the tab above.

Have a great Tuesday.

How to write good

That just about explains it all, now doesn't it?

:) Have a great Monday.

Believe In Yourself

"I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you’ll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind." 

                          --Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods

Let's own 2012 together. Have a great weekend. :)

Advanced Reader Copy Update and a Blogfest with incredible prizes

I want to remind those that are interested that the drawing for the paperback Advanced Reader Copy of my book, SLIPSTREAM is still open. Please go to my Christmas post here if you have not done so already and leave a comment that says "I would like an ARC".  I have a few interested folks and want to thank every one of you that already commented for your wonderful support. I will keep the contest open for another week and will draw a winner on Friday, January 13th (13 has always been a lucky number for me since I was born on that day). My giveaway is of course, international.

In the month of February, there's going to be a cool blogfest that is hosted by:

1) Live to write...Edit when necessary.
2) Cassie Mae over at Reading, Writing, and Lovin' it.

Why is this blogfest cool? Because I get to talk about my characters and you can too if you join in!

Here are the details:
Monday, February 6th--Characters on the couch:

Have one of your characters answer the following questions (to make this work to your benefit, choose a character who is the hardest for you to write :) Max 250 words (Not including the questions—only the answers).

1. What is your biggest vulnerability? Do others know this or is it a secret?
2. What do people believe about you that is false?
3. What would your best friend say is your fatal flaw? Why?
4. What would the same friend say is your one redeeming quality? Why?
5. What do you want most? What will you do to get it? 

Wednesday, February 8th--Dialogue Introduction:

Have two characters introduce each other using only dialogue—no backstory, no internalization, just dialogue between the two. Max 250 words.

Friday, February 10th -- Emotion Flash Fiction:

Emotion is the engine of a story. Pick an emotion and in a flash fiction piece of 250 words MAKE us feel it! We want to connect with your character. This will be a challenge in 250 words.

Prizes include two books, two query critiques, and two FULL MANUSCRIPT critiques. Like seriously...these hosts are going to read 80,000 plus words per person for the winner. That is an AWESOME prize. It's so hard to get feedback...so hard to find someone that will actually set aside the time to look seriously at your work-in-progress.

Have a great Thursday and go sign-up for the blogfest! It seriously looks fun.

Insecure Writer's Support Group 2012

Today is yet another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. This blogfest is one that never ends. It is the brainchild of self-titled "super ninja captain" Alex J. Cavanaugh, friend to everyone that writes, and the man that happens to be just about everywhere online. The rules are simple, post your insecurity on the first Wednesday of every new month. If you are a writer, I encourage you to join by visiting his blog here.

My insecurity this time around is cover art. Deron Douglas is the C.E.O. of Double Dragon Publishing, but he's also the one and only cover artist.  I tend to like "most" of his cover art. But some of it doesn't turn out all that great. And it's been my experience that whenever anything bad happens, it always happens to me. If there was a 1 in a 1000 chance that someone could get the plague from drinking water, I would be the one that got the plague, etc.

He's going to begin doing my cover design in February, and I'm a little nervous. I guess if I hate it I can just talk to him about it, but I signed an agreement that said that I essentially have no say in the cover. So if I don't like the result...tough cookie.

Ah well, it's what's inside that matters, right?

Thanks for listening to my insecurity and have a wonderful Wednesday :)