Jaunt Discounted at Lulu.com!

Just dropping a note that I discounted Jaunt the trade paperback 30% over at Lulu.com, an exclusive discount you can't get anywhere else! Now at $13.27, Jaunt is over $5 cheaper than ever before (and much cheaper than Amazon or Barnes & Noble). Go and grab yourself a bound copy for your scifi shelf.

And when you're done with Jaunt, remember that Ether is only $.99, a bargain of an ebook! Thanks and good reading.

A Renewal, Of Sorts

I have been thinking for a couple of years, pretty much since I released Ether, that Jaunt required a fresh coat of paint, to spruce up that dusty face I created six long years ago. To put the two JauntWorld books together within a more unified front, I have redesigned the ebook cover, and a tentative wraparound cover for a potential print book, if I so decide (economics playing a bigger part, of course). It was quite an ambitious project six years ago when I first published Jaunt with Lulu; with a more practiced and experienced eye now, that first book looks very much like a rookie endeavor, more flaws than successes. I'm quite proud of it, and I've received many words of kindness and support about it, but a renewed Jaunt for a new season seems well past time. Eventually I suppose I will reformat the text inside—for now, the cover is the lone new element, and a new header here at JauntWorld to reflect the renewed brand.

Hope you enjoy it, I sure do!

Don't Call It a Comeback...

...Just a working vacation. Okay, so I've been ignoring JauntWorld and boy is it peeved. But, over on IPTP Agent Maya, I have a good excuse. So click over there and read why I've been absent.

Back now? JauntWorld's been quiet as I haven't been writing in there for a while. I'll get to Cloak someday, but duty to my other mistress in outer space demands my fullest attention. I'll try to do my original blog some justice and post more often. Thanks for reading!

Ether Has Arrived! New For 2012

That's right, the second, and long-promised, novel in the JauntWorld series, Ether, is finally here! After much deliberation, I decided to publish Ether as an exclusive ebook for the time being. Financial considerations what they are, it's just more feasible to go strictly epub. Should I figure out a good way to print a trade edition, the formatting and interior layout are complete, allowing me to do so easily. I'll also look into a way to create a downloadable PDF in the future for those interested in a more traditional, one-off print "book".

I have recently joined Scribd (find me under jauntworld) where a three-chapter sample of Ether is currently available there, as is a full, FREE, download of that chestnut, 2 Shorts (+1). I will periodically upload new content to Scribd as it is available. Please look for me there and don't forget to download Ether! Oh, and Jaunt is still available, too!

Where've the past two months gone? Anyway, I've been upgrading my slightly older computers, maxing out memory and hard-drive space for my future graphic endeavors. With luck I'll have some ideas to earn a little and save up to bankroll my publishing imprint. Plus, it's just been plain fun hacking my Macs for the first time ever.

Happy Halloween!

Late Summer

My reading list the last few months has consisted of new (old) comics and I'm quite enjoying the yellow old newsprint and funky comic smell. This keeps me in a good state of mind for my own comic project, which I've finally finished writing. Having begun designs for characters, I'll soon start roughing out the 135-page total for the entire seven-issue series. It's certainly a far cry from the olden days of drawing on folded notebook paper and then stapling them!

On The Third Beginning

The first rough chapter of Cloak ends up being better for Chapter 2, so it's back to the outline for some tweaks. Of course this seems to be a bit of a tradition for me as both Jaunt and Ether have neither of their original first chapters. It's interesting going back to the well once more with these characters for the final time, so I'm doubly certain to have to craft a fitting ending for JauntWorld as a series. The challenge lies in writing in originality and editing out anything that strikes as a retread of the other books. I'm setting myself up for a big payoff which I hope I can accomplish!

My other comic endeavor is going well—six scripts down, one to go. Then the real work begins.

And Now, More Free Stuff

I've had this kicking around my reference folder for awhile, having meant to post it for well over a year. It's the JauntWorld Political Map (Ether Global Edition).

Maybe I'll do a more detailed map some year....

Reduced Ebook Prices and Et Cetera

I've brought 'em down to 99 cents, less than a buck! The way the trends are going in ebook sales, the lower, the better. Maya continues to trickle a few sales on Amazon, while Jaunt was zilch—to say the least—so I decided to take what pennies I could. And don't forget, 2 Shorts (+1) is free—don't say I never did anything for ya!

I've read recently of the million-ebook sales club on Amazon consisting of the biggest names in publishing right now, and with that name recognition, they can charge more than the price point of a standard mass market. Well, we little guys cannot match that so we have to compete where we can, and that's in these lesser prices. Personally any price point over five dollars is just overreaching it, to be honest. Multimillion-dollar contracted authors really don't require $15 ebooks.

Okay, enough about that. I've been working on comics plots for the better part of two years, with a story arc running for a seven-issue series. I'm enormously private about works in progress, as I have minimal confidence in myself as the work is taking shape, but I can't help but post that I am indeed actually writing, just not in my usual manner and in the familiar sandbox of JauntWorld. Doing this comic work involves an extra degree of confidence that I'm not just fooling myself! I love comics, have since I was old enough to read, and they're my first literary love. But I just don't have anything I'm ready to show for my efforts—yet. When I do, this blog—even though its primary focus is on JauntWorld—will display it, and I hope everyone will see it as the labor of love (and love letter to comics) that it is.

Ebook Update

Here we are again, another late post! Well, I have some Jaunt ebook goodness to share. If you own a Nook, click here:
Jaunt
And for you Kindle readers:
Jaunt

Head on over there! Thanks.

New Year, New Book (Soon)

Sorry to be gone so long, personal issues and such. But I finally have a proof copy of Ether ready, reworking it based on the sample I ordered a while back. Designing the interior text body, exterior cover and ordering my ISBN are time-consuming tasks, but the work is worth it. I'm getting closer to a finished product with some proof corrections to come and I couldn't be happier. Ether was delayed for the better part of 2009 and I've had some catching up to do, but the entire creation and finishing process the second time around (after Jaunt) is still rewarding.

Here's to a productive and creative 2011! 

Merry Christmas

...And a Happy New Year! Currently reviewing the sample booklet of Ether I ordered two weeks ago. Thoroughly dissecting the cover design, page layout and other odds and ends for the actual print hopefully some time in the next eight months!

Late-Season Rambling

It's that time of year once more, day is the same as evening is the same as day. Inspiration is hard to come by so I work on gathering my research and plotting out my future tales. The holidays are tough to navigate, as the day job sucks the energy from me and the cold darkness depresses imagination. I have started the first glimmers of an outline for Cloak a bit early as I have found some intriguing research to fuel the trials our protagonists will be put through. And I continue plotting out the comic I have in mind to actually draw one of these years.

I watch and read the precarious situation across the Korean Peninsula with concern and anticipation, or is that anxiety? I can only hope the Kims get what's coming to them, either via more sanctions or their masters in China furtively pulling on that unraveling leash.... Oh and that piece of Wikileaks theater.

It's more and more apparent ebooks are the independent's new modus operandi, so I must get into the mindset for digital content and begin shifting my focus towards them. The Mrs has acquired a NookColor (in addition to her original Nook) and the avenues open to furthering ebook content on the device are astounding. Merging text and visual media will soon be commonplace, leaving big-time publishers in the dust if they don't get on the bandwagon and stop charging ludicrous price points for simple epubs while pooh-poohing multimedia e-reader content.

And one more year piles up under JauntWorld's belt here at Blogger!

First off, Happy Halloween! You may notice the reformatted JauntWorld blog. I needed to freshen it up a bit, as even I was getting tired of the same design. So, a little redecoration project after three years.

Next up, as of August, I've rebranded EJK Publications into jaunt publications! Along with a nifty new logo, jaunt publications identifies JauntWorld as the flagship series in my CV, as well as other titles and series I will be publishing in the future. When I self-published Jaunt with Lulu back in 2007, I was a novice at this, and didn't foresee the potential stigma associating my publishing company name with my own given name. Now this rectifies the issue, allowing me to brand everything under an umbrella as well as associating with other authors in the future, directly or indirectly. 

What other projects are in the works under jaunt publications? Well, for starters, I've had a long love of comics, and have a small stable of characters I created, starting back in 1985, at my disposal to populate a comic title. I've been designing this universe and when the time's right, you'll see art, old and new, for this project.

Of course Maya and her cohorts are still in my sights, I just don't know when I'll zip over to that Solar System anytime soon.

I have been gathering reference for Cloak, maybe starting an outline sometime next year. I have several set pieces I'd like to include and the best ways to put my heroes and villains through the wringer. Should be fun.

Ether Third Quarter 2010 Update

All right, everyone, sorry for being gone for so long. Summer's flown by fast—I finished the first draft of Ether almost two months ago! So, while the missus has been reading the first bits as my official First Reader (when I can pull her away from her Nook) I've been finetuning the Ether book package, all the presentation details and such. It's work of course—I'm my own worst critic and nothing satisfies me for long. But I labor with love and purpose, nonetheless.

Meanwhile, I'm putting together an ebook companion to Ether that'll star Doctor Richard de Lis himself in a little side adventure that takes place towards the end of Ether, while our heroes are otherwise occupied. It'll be a bridge between Ether and the last book in the JauntWorld trilogy, called (for now) Cloak. A second ebook starring Agent Greg Mason before the action of Ether is also in the works, when I'm not busy writing a dozen other things.

Here's a little picture of the cover (again, for now) to whet your appetite:

Enjoy.

Ether Second Quarter 2010 Update: Coming Into Focus

The rough draft is coming along nicely, with the final sequential scene finished. However, it's not done yet, as I still have a gap or two to fill, scenes to rewrite, edit or beef-up and a few minor, minor details to put into place. But the entirety of the book is set: beginning, almost all the middle and the ending. The toughest part is putting on my editor's cap and reading with a jaded eye, cutting out the bits that don't quite work or just go nowhere.

Having a complete rough draft is exciting and the next best thing to actually holding the finished product in my hands. I think creating a book must be akin to filming a movie; write a screenplay, film the scenes, edit the best bits in and throw out the chaff.

At the end of a long road, it's good to see the destination coming up over the next hill.

A Decade Ago (This Past May)...

I began the first draft of Jaunt. Extrapolating from the (sadly, misplaced or lost) handwritten teleplay "Temporal Retrieve" I scrawled out in 1995, I recreated the first dozen pages of the half-baked idea, fleshing them out into what would become Chapters 1 through 5 of Jaunt. Mixing in dashes of The X-Files for inspiration, I chucked out all the Trek fanfic tendencies I'd picked up and unlocked a new avenue for my writing. Not technically the first novel I've written (I have one and-a-half complete Trek trunk novels hanging around here), it was the first wholly original long-form work of mine. I owe it all to the Pocket Books' Star Trek editors' FAQ, which, in paraphrase, said, "Don't bother submitting a first-time work."

And what would become my own playground, JauntWorld, was born.

Now, an Ether update. Two months later, and I'm nearly done with the first draft. My biggest obstacle is just pulling all the strands together to make the story end right. Ether certainly isn't as unwieldy as Jaunt's first draft, which tipped the scales at 160,000 words, and I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 70,000 to 80,000. But I'm still under the hood tinkering with the mechanics.

I'm definitely eager to get this book in the bag!

Ether First Quarter 2010 Update

Work on the first draft of Ether has been coming along slowly as of late, as I'm delving into the preliminary stages of a potential project (one of many, of course!) I have in mind for the next five years. Mid-to-late 2011 is the publishing date I'm shooting for for Ether, so I have no time to be idle. The last few chapters are coming into focus, so I must plunge ahead regardless.

Ether will have a much wider canvas than Jaunt, encompassing more corners of the world and characters than ever before. The difficulties with that are, I have more to keep track of! Jaunt, despite its many plotlines, was fairly linear, requiring fewer research resources than I have had up to this point with Ether. Half the fun of writing fiction is the research, and Ether's bibliography and sources are a long list, much longer than Jaunt's.

I admit I've struggled to include here various bits of research and inspiration for Jaunt, as the research I did was just so long ago (more on that in my next post!) that nothing of my notes remains. Ether, once the pipeline towards publication picks up, will have a veritable flood of sources and links to put up on this blog. I can't wait, really, as I believe Ether is my best work of writing yet.

Oh, okay, here's a little blurb:

"The explosive next chapter of the JauntWorld series begins now! Special Agent Greg Mason must probe the clandestine mystery that is Project Ether, a dark energy superweapons program rooted in the forbidden research of a rogue Iranian physicist, seemingly in the employ of the Russian-led Confederation of Independent States.

But all is not as it appears. With Mason and his team of IIA agents tracking the clues of Project Ether’s origins—from the remnants of North Korea, the deserts of Iran, the decks of a fast-attack submarine to the wastelands of Antarctica—a shocking disaster leads them to the inescapable truth: the Confederation is already armed with this superweapon, and the countdown to war has begun…."

Jaunt and New 2 Shorts (+1) on Smashwords

JauntWorld has joined the burgeoning ranks of Smashwords, a new site for a multitude of ebook formats (ten, at last count). The technology is still in its infancy, and while I'm not quite satisfied with the formating issues I've faced presenting Jaunt and 2 Shorts on Smashwords, embracing the new and getting exposure is the way to go. And as an added incentive, 2 Shorts has an exclusive new weird short added to it, "Neptune Diamond," so I've retitled this collection 2 Shorts (+1) to distinguish it from its Lulu original. Price is whatever you care to pay, so check them out!

Fantasy Debut

The first chapter of Jaunt is currently being featured on the Fantasy Debut blog's Discovery Showcase for first-time and self-published authors! While not a strictly fantasy blog, it gives those of us with genre fiction titles a chance to be read, and potentially, to have the word spread of our efforts. Check it out!

And thanks to Tia for showcasing Jaunt!