“Awesome”
Faces familiar,
or not, but all are friends here,
a mutual bond.
Steve D
Tag: Steve D
Awesome Con is Here!
The day of reckoning has finally arrived. In just a few minutes, I’ll be heading down to DC for Awesome Con!
I have parking spots reserved for each of the next three days, and I got my books on time! These are the boxes I have to haul down there.
And here’s my actual merch, my newly printed matte-finish books and bookmarks!
I think the matte finish came out really well, even though it’s not as dark as the bookmarks–that was sort of the idea.
I have 35 books with me, which is probably way too many, but I wanted to have some extra anyway for whatever my next chance to meet readers will be.
I forewent buying flyers for “The Grand Mythos” or a banner, due to budget and time constraints (a.k.a., I’m unemployed, and I did not give myself enough time to prepare), so I printed some promo text on the back of these bookmarks.
I included a blurb for Aston and Jaed, a promo for “The Grand Mythos”, and some info on where people can find me. It’s not fancy, but it was easy to do and it gets the point across.
I’ll be posting pictures from the convention on my Imgur account: WardeOfEverfeld.
And I’m sure I’ll have tons to recap after the event. Today is an 8+ hour day, so I might be a wee bit tired. We’ll see.
Okay, no more delaying! I’m nervous and excited as hell. To Awesome Con!
Steve D
“The Grand Mythos” Chapter 4 has Arrived
Chapter four of my short fantasy series, “The Grand Mythos of Úr’Dan” is now available on Wattpad.
“Gó’Dan’s Form and Aeth’Ún’s Formlessness” is a short but sweet story about one of the Vaia choosing to help another out of love.
Genre: fantasy, high fantasy, mythic fantasy
Chapter Blurb: Now that the First Four Vai’ad understand a little more about each other’s power, they must work together to survive. This short chapter describes how one Vaia’s choice to help another created a key feature of the world of Úr’Dan.
Series Blurb:
Every world has its folktales, but even folktales carry a part of the truth. Follow the first beings in the universe as they try to bring order and life to their home. Witness the creation of the vibrant world of Úr’Dan, and the fantastic creatures who live there. Based on the unique fantasy universe of the novel, The Warden of Everfeld: Memento.
Go to Wattpad to read it for free: https://www.wattpad.com/story/163684352-the-grand-mythos-of-%C3%BAr%27dan-volume-one
Steve D
Awesome Con 2019 Prep!
Well, this week came up a lot faster than I had anticipated. We were off on our first road trip with Nugget for the last 10 days, visiting family in Michigan and Milwaukee. We had a great time, but now we’re back in the swing of normal life
Awesome Con begins on Friday, and I still have some logistics to work out. The countdown begins! Continue reading “Awesome Con 2019 Prep!”
Traveler’s Haiku – Shore
“Shore”
Spring opens chilly,
but the beer garden is filled,
folks drinking the view.
Steve D
Traveler’s Haiku – Milwaukee
“Milwaukee”
Wind streams downriver,
meeting empty salt pads, washed
away clean of the lake.
Steve D
Thoughts from the Game of Thrones Premier
If you can’t tell from the glut of content flooding every website, Game of Thrones is back. But I can’t just stay out of the fray during the biggest television series finale ever.
I have reactions too! For now, I’m just going to get my own notes on the season 8 premier on proverbial paper.
Beware… Here be spoilers!
Continue reading “Thoughts from the Game of Thrones Premier”
Traveler’s Haiku – Road
“Road”
We plan our pit stops
with logic and certainty.
Nugget disagrees.
Steve D
#AmConsuming: Super Heroes are Super Distracting
April has been a weird month so far, hence me posting this almost halfway into it. I’ve been binge-watching Supergirl on Netflix the last few weeks, and I really can’t get enough of this show.
It’s basically taken over my life, and with Avengers: Endgame coming out in a couple weeks, the super hero hype train is real.
#AmFinished
The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future, Joseph E. Stiglitz, (audiobook)
I reviewed this here.
A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
I ended up really enjoying this book, the seventh in The Wheel of Time series. Despite the sometimes sluggishness of the plot, there were some truly surprising and exciting moments, especially near the end.
Parador, Peter A. Dixon
Yes, I finally finished this book on Wattpad. Overall, it’s good.
#AmReading
The Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
I jumped right into the next book in this series for the first time since… I started reading it. I’m not really far enough into it to comment yet.
Everything Trump Touches Dies, Rick Wilson (Audible)
This book is more cathartic than informative. Wilson is a GOP strategist and one of the founding members of the Never Trump movement. His rants against the president and his cohorts are unforgiving, and he manages to provide a lot of intriguing insight into how political strategists think and operate.
Although his audience is definitely other opponents of Trump (including those on the left), this book is not for the faint of heart. He has more than a few sharp words for Democratic leaders who have failed to evolve their campaign strategy in over a decade and effectively lost their base. (I basically agree with him on that point, but that’s for another time.)
Something on Wattpad
I haven’t chosen my next Wattpad book, but I have a handful of interesting fantasy and sci-fi stories on my reading list.
#AmWatching
Supergirl, Netflix
I’m on season three of the CW’s Supergirl show, and I love it. Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood are charming, and their on-screen chemistry is entirely authentic (which makes sense, because the two actors are now engaged).
This show has a great cast with compelling character arcs. Most of the villain showdowns are a little predictable, but those usually tend to be beside the point. Thanks to some crossover events with other DC hero shows, I’ve gotten glimpses of Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow.
The portrayal of Green Arrow comes off as flat to me, and I couldn’t really get past the first couple episodes when I tried to watch it. But Flash seems like an engaging, likable character. That may just be my next show. I don’t really know anything about the Legends of Tomorrow, and their minor appearance in Supergirl didn’t really sway me one way or the other.
The point is, Supergirl is fun, funny, emotionally poignant without being cheesy, and extremely well acted from top to bottom.
Short List
That should give you a good idea of what I’ve been up to recently. With a new round of job applications going out this week, I’ve been otherwise occupied, mentally. Supergirl and my readings have provided some much needed escapes.
Speaking of escapes, we’re visiting some family coming up, so I’ll be posting more traveler’s haiku from the road, with pictures!
Steve D
Poorly Written Headlines #1
Yesterday, I discussed how a bad press release headline can kill your book promotion efforts before they’ve begun. But I’d like to provide some actual examples of what headlines do right, and what they do wrong.
So here’s the first in what will be an ongoing series:
What this headline does right:
- Gives the genre: science fiction adventure
- Gives the intended audience: young readers
- Tells us that this is a series of books, so either the author already has books published, or they intend to publish more, i.e., we should all keep paying attention to them
- It’s concise, just 67 characters, meaning most of it will appear in search engine results pages
What this headline does wrong:
- Describing the book as fabulous
What makes a book fabulous? What makes this specific book fabulous? Is it fabulously well-written? Is there fabulous characterization, or fabulous world-building? Is the plot fabulously paced?
Flowery adjectives can make a headline pop, but by leaving the description vague, this headline is effectively meaningless.
The first ten words tell me a lot about the What, which is great. But the final two give me no hint of Why I should care. Young adult sci-fi books are a dime a dozen right now, and this headline fails to stand out from the crowd.
That’s it for now. I’d be happy to hear anyone else’s thoughts on this headline or my critique. I’ll try to do one or two of these each month.
Steve D
