So based on the recommendation of my friend, Joe Vasicek, I had downloaded a copy of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri from a handy little place called GOG.com. I was a rabid fan of the Civilization series by the same publisher, and my childhood is marked by periods of extreme obsession with Settlers, Railroads, and Wonders of the World. I'm still convinced that I learned more about the process of technological advancement and historical monuments from that game than I did from most of my history classes, but that may just say more about me than it does about my teachers. :)
Anyway, for those of you who have never played a 4x strategy game like Civilization or Alpha Centauri, let me give you a picture of how the thing works. You're basically given a civilization where you have to build cities, develop technology and create military units as your people expand over the course of a few millenium/centuries. You get involved in the diplomacy side of things once you run into the borders of another civilization. Given the nature of the game, things typically either degenerate to a point where all those military units come in quite handy, or the other civilization, cowed by your awesomeness, petition to become your allies. The level of difficulty chosen at the start of the game can often determine how decidedly unfriendly these other competitors are, as well as how quickly they develop, grow, and fight.
There are a variety of ways to win, whether by convincing your various competitors to choose you as their leader through diplomacy, completing a particular construction project, or even by simply wiping out all the other civilizations on the globe. The term '4x' is kind of derived from that fact--you're supposed to compete with the other players on several levels, the four main ones being how much you've explored, how much your civilization has expanded, how well your economy can exploit the available resources in your territory, and, of course, how effectively your military can eliminate your competition. This type of game is typically a very long term, involved process which can take days just to finish one simple game. You think that RPGs are bad for being near-abusive time sinks? You've never tried one of these babies.
Basically, I should have known what I was getting into when I bought this game, but I'm stupid enough to get a game like this when it is cheap and cool. (See Dwarf Fortress and Spelunky for a comparison.) Alpha Centauri does not disappoint. You basically are a portion of a colonisation crew sent to Alpha Centauri. The crew gets broken up into factions due to a disaster in orbit, so you're competing against six other groups right off the bat. You can chose the different factions, which each have their own benefits, from the militant Spartans to the enviromentally sound Gaians to the diplomatic Peacekeepers. Each one has their own playing style and feel to it, and it was fun trying them all out.
I had to say that the game was definitely a great experience. There were some low points; the global warming mechanic seemed to kick in at precisely the wrong times no matter what I tried, the scientific progression seemed a bit hard to understand, and some of the military progression just seemed to be a bit uninventive. At the same time, the improvement in the barbarian/alien mind worm challenge was awesome, the chance to customize your own units only made things better, and I loved the flexibility that floating cities gave me to expand. Definitely a worthwhile buy, though I'm sure I would have been a bit more productive if I hadn't been playing it... See you around!
Showing posts with label Joe V.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe V.. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2012
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
On Being Published+Guest Post with Joe
Well, it is finally dawning on me that I have a book up where people can buy and read it. It is a weird feeling.
I guess part of it is the fact that I've worked so hard on that novel, and now there is nothing left to do. It's done, all over but the formatting. By the end of the week we hope to have the paperback and hardcover versions more or less adjusted and squared away, and after that point I will never have to edit Wolfhound ever again. That alone is a strange, unfamiliar feeling.
That's not even including the social aspect of the thing. I occasionally mention the book to my coworkers, half of whom don't seem to have remembered or realized what I was doing with the whole writing thing. Their reactions range from surprised to indifferent, but at the very least they tend to wonder what in the world I am doing with my life. When I try to explain about how pubishing has changed these days and what my writing plan is for the next few months, I get a few polite nods and maybe a glazed look. I think actually publishing something has forced me to realize exactly how much technical jargon I've absorbed over the past year of working on this thing.
Perhaps the strangest thing is that I actually know what I'm doing for the next year. Kingsley will probably be out by February, if everything goes to plan, and Iron Angels won't be too much longer after that. Good crappity, Badger is planned as coming out in six to eight months unless I totally drop the ball. And after that I have other books planned out stretching out all the way to December 2013; the main question about the whole thing is how I will find enough time to revise everything.
So yeah, I suddenly have a career outside of the emergency room. And it's awesome and strange and I'm not quite used to it yet. But thanks to everyone who has already bought the book (and thanks for the patience of the people waiting for the hardcover!), and I hope I don't let you all down, despite my failings. Also, go check out the guest post I did on Joe's blog! It talks about space pirates. Can't go wrong there! See you around!
I guess part of it is the fact that I've worked so hard on that novel, and now there is nothing left to do. It's done, all over but the formatting. By the end of the week we hope to have the paperback and hardcover versions more or less adjusted and squared away, and after that point I will never have to edit Wolfhound ever again. That alone is a strange, unfamiliar feeling.
That's not even including the social aspect of the thing. I occasionally mention the book to my coworkers, half of whom don't seem to have remembered or realized what I was doing with the whole writing thing. Their reactions range from surprised to indifferent, but at the very least they tend to wonder what in the world I am doing with my life. When I try to explain about how pubishing has changed these days and what my writing plan is for the next few months, I get a few polite nods and maybe a glazed look. I think actually publishing something has forced me to realize exactly how much technical jargon I've absorbed over the past year of working on this thing.
Perhaps the strangest thing is that I actually know what I'm doing for the next year. Kingsley will probably be out by February, if everything goes to plan, and Iron Angels won't be too much longer after that. Good crappity, Badger is planned as coming out in six to eight months unless I totally drop the ball. And after that I have other books planned out stretching out all the way to December 2013; the main question about the whole thing is how I will find enough time to revise everything.
So yeah, I suddenly have a career outside of the emergency room. And it's awesome and strange and I'm not quite used to it yet. But thanks to everyone who has already bought the book (and thanks for the patience of the people waiting for the hardcover!), and I hope I don't let you all down, despite my failings. Also, go check out the guest post I did on Joe's blog! It talks about space pirates. Can't go wrong there! See you around!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Guest Post by Joe Vasicek: On Music and Writing
So today we have a guest post by Joe Vasicek, an independent writer who happens to be a friend of mine. His books are already up on Amazon, along with several of his short stories that he has graciously allowed you to obtain for free. Go check them out!
And without further introduction, here's Joe!
I have a mild case of ADHD, which means that I alternate between being hyperfocused on an activity to being distracted by anything and everything. As a writer, this can make things difficult, especially when I’m slogging through the middle of a draft where everything seems to suck. But when I get on a roll, the writing comes much easier, provided I can train myself to focus.
Music has tremendous power to cut through the distractions and focus my thoughts on the story I'm trying to write. For that reason, I usually put together a soundtrack for each of my books, and listen to it repeatedly while writing them. Over time, I gradually come to associate certain tracks with certain characters or scenes, so that all I have to do is hit play and let my mind take off with the story.
The trick is finding the right music. For any given soundtrack, there will usually be only two or three songs that really trigger that state of hyperfocus for me, while the rest just help keep me from getting distracted. It's partially about finding the song that evokes the right emotion, but it's also a matter of personal association and things that might have very little to do with the music itself.
For example, when I was writing an early draft of Bringing Stella Home, I saw this clip from Il Mercenario. The scene struck me powerfully, because it features a downtrodden, defeated rebel who is given a second chance and uses it to face his demons like a man.
In a broad sense, that's very similar to James McCoy's struggle from my book: his older brother and sister have been captured by spacefaring barbarians, and all he wants is a chance to prove himself and get them back. Just like the rebel from the movie, James gets knocked down repeatedly--and always gets back up.
As soon as I'd made that connection, I knew that song would have to be in the soundtrack for my novel. For the next two or three drafts, it became the first track I'd listen to--the one that triggered me to start writing.
This song from the Halo 2 soundtrack makes me think of the mercenary team from the novel, who take James in and give him that chance he's been looking for. I remember listening to this on the Washington DC Metro while I was at my K Street internship, thinking of all the things I would put into the story as I worked on the third draft. Music can be great for focusing my thoughts in the prewriting stage, which is often just as important as the writing itself.
Another major song was this remix of a track from Shinobi III, featured on overclocked remix. I had my mp3 player on shuffle and this track came on just as I finished the last chapter of one of the early drafts of the novel. The bittersweet emotion evoked by the music paralled the emotion of the book's ending so perfectly, I can't listen to this song anymore without thinking about Bringing Stella Home.
A lot of these connections are so personal they probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to someone just listening to the music, but that's okay--these homemade soundtracks aren't for the reader so much as they are for the writer. In that sense, finding and listening to the right music can be a great writing technique.
In college, I got most of my music from Overcocked Remix. The site features over two thousand fan-made remixes and arrangements of video game music, and not only is it all free, but the quality is amazing. My favorite remixers are Zircon, bLiNd, and Phr4cture; they've also produced some independent stuff that is quite good, Zircon in particular. Well worth checking out.
Nowadays, I get my music from a variety of places. I've recently taken a liking to trance and progressive, with artists such as Armin Van Buuren, Tenishia, Protoculture, tyDi, Jaren, and others. Trance is all about emotion, and so is fiction--that's why we have genre categories like "romance," "thriller," and "fantasy" which revolve around the emotion the stories are supposed to evoke.
But really, it all depends. Every project is different, as the wide variety of the music in my homemade soundtracks attests. When everything clicks and the story just flows, it's pure magic.
To kick off the release of my novel Bringing Stella Home, I'd like to give away a free copy of the companion novella, Sholpan. When the spacefaring Hameji barbarians capture Stella McCoy and make her a concubine to their chief overlord, it seems as if she is powerless to resist. But by refusing to compromise her values, she finds friends in unexpected places, even as the dangerous world of harem politics threatens to destroy her.
To download a free copy, select your preferred format from the story's Smashwords page and input the following coupon code: SN58S (not caps sensitive). The offer expires in a week, however, so be sure to pick it up before the 13th.
Joe's blog is at www.onelowerlight.com. He has all sorts of interesting posts over there, so check that out as well. In any case, your regularly scheduled nerd stuff will be back on Saturday. See you then!
And without further introduction, here's Joe!
I have a mild case of ADHD, which means that I alternate between being hyperfocused on an activity to being distracted by anything and everything. As a writer, this can make things difficult, especially when I’m slogging through the middle of a draft where everything seems to suck. But when I get on a roll, the writing comes much easier, provided I can train myself to focus.
Music has tremendous power to cut through the distractions and focus my thoughts on the story I'm trying to write. For that reason, I usually put together a soundtrack for each of my books, and listen to it repeatedly while writing them. Over time, I gradually come to associate certain tracks with certain characters or scenes, so that all I have to do is hit play and let my mind take off with the story.
The trick is finding the right music. For any given soundtrack, there will usually be only two or three songs that really trigger that state of hyperfocus for me, while the rest just help keep me from getting distracted. It's partially about finding the song that evokes the right emotion, but it's also a matter of personal association and things that might have very little to do with the music itself.
For example, when I was writing an early draft of Bringing Stella Home, I saw this clip from Il Mercenario. The scene struck me powerfully, because it features a downtrodden, defeated rebel who is given a second chance and uses it to face his demons like a man.
In a broad sense, that's very similar to James McCoy's struggle from my book: his older brother and sister have been captured by spacefaring barbarians, and all he wants is a chance to prove himself and get them back. Just like the rebel from the movie, James gets knocked down repeatedly--and always gets back up.
As soon as I'd made that connection, I knew that song would have to be in the soundtrack for my novel. For the next two or three drafts, it became the first track I'd listen to--the one that triggered me to start writing.
This song from the Halo 2 soundtrack makes me think of the mercenary team from the novel, who take James in and give him that chance he's been looking for. I remember listening to this on the Washington DC Metro while I was at my K Street internship, thinking of all the things I would put into the story as I worked on the third draft. Music can be great for focusing my thoughts in the prewriting stage, which is often just as important as the writing itself.
Another major song was this remix of a track from Shinobi III, featured on overclocked remix. I had my mp3 player on shuffle and this track came on just as I finished the last chapter of one of the early drafts of the novel. The bittersweet emotion evoked by the music paralled the emotion of the book's ending so perfectly, I can't listen to this song anymore without thinking about Bringing Stella Home.
A lot of these connections are so personal they probably wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to someone just listening to the music, but that's okay--these homemade soundtracks aren't for the reader so much as they are for the writer. In that sense, finding and listening to the right music can be a great writing technique.
In college, I got most of my music from Overcocked Remix. The site features over two thousand fan-made remixes and arrangements of video game music, and not only is it all free, but the quality is amazing. My favorite remixers are Zircon, bLiNd, and Phr4cture; they've also produced some independent stuff that is quite good, Zircon in particular. Well worth checking out.
Nowadays, I get my music from a variety of places. I've recently taken a liking to trance and progressive, with artists such as Armin Van Buuren, Tenishia, Protoculture, tyDi, Jaren, and others. Trance is all about emotion, and so is fiction--that's why we have genre categories like "romance," "thriller," and "fantasy" which revolve around the emotion the stories are supposed to evoke.
But really, it all depends. Every project is different, as the wide variety of the music in my homemade soundtracks attests. When everything clicks and the story just flows, it's pure magic.
To kick off the release of my novel Bringing Stella Home, I'd like to give away a free copy of the companion novella, Sholpan. When the spacefaring Hameji barbarians capture Stella McCoy and make her a concubine to their chief overlord, it seems as if she is powerless to resist. But by refusing to compromise her values, she finds friends in unexpected places, even as the dangerous world of harem politics threatens to destroy her.
To download a free copy, select your preferred format from the story's Smashwords page and input the following coupon code: SN58S (not caps sensitive). The offer expires in a week, however, so be sure to pick it up before the 13th.
Joe's blog is at www.onelowerlight.com. He has all sorts of interesting posts over there, so check that out as well. In any case, your regularly scheduled nerd stuff will be back on Saturday. See you then!
Monday, June 6, 2011
On Returning Favors
So Joe tagged me in one of these social networking things, so I suppose it would only be fair to do it as well. Here goes nothing...
1. Do you think you are hot?
Well, this went somewhere creepy fast... I'll settle for 'hot enough for your mom.' Next question.
2. What is your desktop paper?
Nothing impressive. Just a canyon view that came with the machine, actually. Though I wouldn't mind changing it. Now that you mention it, I should probably get on that...
3. When was the last time you ate chicken?
Yesterday. With your mom. Man, I'm mature.
4. What are you thinking as you're doing this?
I am wondering what I am thinking as I am doing this. It goes into one of those recursive things, and eventually either Captain Kirk or Captain Tagon have to get me out of it.
5. Do you have nicknames?
Yeah...Quite a few actually. For some reason I seem to collect them as I go, for no apparent reason. I went by the name Paul in one class during softmore year in college. It took them a while to figure out that that was nowhere near my real name. Next question!
6. Tag eight blogger friends.
Since I suck at embedding links, I will just put the names. All eight are over there on the sidebar anyways. #laziness #randomtwitterreference #didIdothatright
Gamlia's Review
One Thousand and One Parsecs
46 Dogs
Life of a Story Engineer
M.K. Hutchins
Xister's Cutting Board
Come to the Pink Side We Have Cookies!
Kyler and Jeanette
7. Who's listed as number one?
My wife's book review blog, who is much more consistent and popular than me on the interwebs. Kind of a good first choice, dontcha think?
8. Say something about number five?
Hmmm. Megan's a good writer, and I've been glad to have her join our little writing group. Just read her latest draft of Contractural Gods, and I am looking forward to seeing it published somewhere so that I can buy a finished copy. Believe me, it's ready for it.
9. How did you get to know number three?
A lack of other options, really. :) Drek (or Ben as some might call him) is an old friend from the writing meeting back in Quark. He is one of the many who patiently told me Jakeson's character sucked as I resubmitted the first five chapters over and over and over again. Between that experience and the rest, we've gotten to know each other pretty well--at least well enough for casual death threats.
10. How about number four?
Funny story, I actually met Andy while I was on a blind double date that my roommate had set up for me. Later, she showed up at the writing group in Quark, and we've been friends since then.
11. Leave a message for number six.
Pat, I still haven't forgotten the revenge I owe you for setting me up on a blind double date. You will burn for it, burn I tell you!
12. Leave a lovey-dovey message for number two.
Ummm. I probably should have remembered better which of these things went to which person. I think I will spare Joe and me the discomfort here and say he's a great guy! With stories and a novel! Up on Amazon! Go buy them. That is all.
13. Do number seven and eight have any similarities?
Hmm. Aneeka, and Kyler and Jeanette. Well, Aneeka writes a webcomic about a MMORPG where her characters earn money to live etc, and Kyler likes World of Warcraft, which Chinese prisoners work in to make a living for their guards. Then Jeanette and Kyler both live in Utah, and so does Aneeka! Oh, and Kyler is from Canada, and Aneeka is from St. George, which are both strange, foreign lands that no one wants to return to. That's all I got.
And there we go! I think I failed at it, but oh well. Such is life...
PS Lambson, I did not forget about you. You sir, are simply not updating your blog. I need to know about dinosaurs now!
1. Do you think you are hot?
Well, this went somewhere creepy fast... I'll settle for 'hot enough for your mom.' Next question.
2. What is your desktop paper?
Nothing impressive. Just a canyon view that came with the machine, actually. Though I wouldn't mind changing it. Now that you mention it, I should probably get on that...
3. When was the last time you ate chicken?
Yesterday. With your mom. Man, I'm mature.
4. What are you thinking as you're doing this?
I am wondering what I am thinking as I am doing this. It goes into one of those recursive things, and eventually either Captain Kirk or Captain Tagon have to get me out of it.
5. Do you have nicknames?
Yeah...Quite a few actually. For some reason I seem to collect them as I go, for no apparent reason. I went by the name Paul in one class during softmore year in college. It took them a while to figure out that that was nowhere near my real name. Next question!
6. Tag eight blogger friends.
Since I suck at embedding links, I will just put the names. All eight are over there on the sidebar anyways. #laziness #randomtwitterreference #didIdothatright
Gamlia's Review
One Thousand and One Parsecs
46 Dogs
Life of a Story Engineer
M.K. Hutchins
Xister's Cutting Board
Come to the Pink Side We Have Cookies!
Kyler and Jeanette
7. Who's listed as number one?
My wife's book review blog, who is much more consistent and popular than me on the interwebs. Kind of a good first choice, dontcha think?
8. Say something about number five?
Hmmm. Megan's a good writer, and I've been glad to have her join our little writing group. Just read her latest draft of Contractural Gods, and I am looking forward to seeing it published somewhere so that I can buy a finished copy. Believe me, it's ready for it.
9. How did you get to know number three?
A lack of other options, really. :) Drek (or Ben as some might call him) is an old friend from the writing meeting back in Quark. He is one of the many who patiently told me Jakeson's character sucked as I resubmitted the first five chapters over and over and over again. Between that experience and the rest, we've gotten to know each other pretty well--at least well enough for casual death threats.
10. How about number four?
Funny story, I actually met Andy while I was on a blind double date that my roommate had set up for me. Later, she showed up at the writing group in Quark, and we've been friends since then.
11. Leave a message for number six.
Pat, I still haven't forgotten the revenge I owe you for setting me up on a blind double date. You will burn for it, burn I tell you!
12. Leave a lovey-dovey message for number two.
Ummm. I probably should have remembered better which of these things went to which person. I think I will spare Joe and me the discomfort here and say he's a great guy! With stories and a novel! Up on Amazon! Go buy them. That is all.
13. Do number seven and eight have any similarities?
Hmm. Aneeka, and Kyler and Jeanette. Well, Aneeka writes a webcomic about a MMORPG where her characters earn money to live etc, and Kyler likes World of Warcraft, which Chinese prisoners work in to make a living for their guards. Then Jeanette and Kyler both live in Utah, and so does Aneeka! Oh, and Kyler is from Canada, and Aneeka is from St. George, which are both strange, foreign lands that no one wants to return to. That's all I got.
And there we go! I think I failed at it, but oh well. Such is life...
PS Lambson, I did not forget about you. You sir, are simply not updating your blog. I need to know about dinosaurs now!
Monday, May 16, 2011
On E-publishing Killer
So I actually have a story up on Amazon now, sold through their Kindle Store. It's only 99 cents, which means only about 35 cents goes to me each time anyone buys it, but still, it's up for purchase!
I have to credit Joe Vasicek as an example in what I'm doing, since he got his stuff up long before I did. He has three up on Amazon, From the Ice Incarnate, Decision LZ1527, and Memoirs of a Snowflake. For those of you who somehow read this blog and don't know or read Joe's stuff, go buy his short stories. Decision LZ1527 is one of my favorite works of his, and all three are only 99 cents.
In any case, Killer is a short story I wrote a long time ago. It's based on an anecdote I heard in an immunology course at BYU, where a disgruntled researcher spiked her coworkers' donuts with a bacteria called Shigella. Shigella, if you are curious, has the effect of causing symptoms so bad they probably make the person wish they had explosive diarrhea instead. So naturally I took that story, turned it quite a bit darker and more disturbing, and wrote it up. The resulting story actually got Honorable Mention in the Mayhew Short Story contest, and is one of the more interesting projects I had during college. Formatting it to put it online was pretty good practice for both me and my loving, ever-patient wife, and may serve as a basis for the novels I'm writing now. We'll just have to see how things go.
In any case, it's awesome. So go buy it! Pretty, pretty please... :)
Edit: As ordered Drek.
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-ebook/dp/B0050O7R8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1305560895&sr=8-1
I have to credit Joe Vasicek as an example in what I'm doing, since he got his stuff up long before I did. He has three up on Amazon, From the Ice Incarnate, Decision LZ1527, and Memoirs of a Snowflake. For those of you who somehow read this blog and don't know or read Joe's stuff, go buy his short stories. Decision LZ1527 is one of my favorite works of his, and all three are only 99 cents.
In any case, Killer is a short story I wrote a long time ago. It's based on an anecdote I heard in an immunology course at BYU, where a disgruntled researcher spiked her coworkers' donuts with a bacteria called Shigella. Shigella, if you are curious, has the effect of causing symptoms so bad they probably make the person wish they had explosive diarrhea instead. So naturally I took that story, turned it quite a bit darker and more disturbing, and wrote it up. The resulting story actually got Honorable Mention in the Mayhew Short Story contest, and is one of the more interesting projects I had during college. Formatting it to put it online was pretty good practice for both me and my loving, ever-patient wife, and may serve as a basis for the novels I'm writing now. We'll just have to see how things go.
In any case, it's awesome. So go buy it! Pretty, pretty please... :)
Edit: As ordered Drek.
http://www.amazon.com/Killer-ebook/dp/B0050O7R8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1305560895&sr=8-1
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