The Problem with World Building

So, I spent way too long on these RPG game manuals (thanks to Wilbert Stanton for the covers).

And then, predictably, my mind spun a huge epic series of books. I resisted starting them, for all I was worth. But in the end, I just couldn’t stop it. So, I started an outline and some character summaries. If this happens, it will take years. The first draft of the first book, less time, obviously.

My last series (The Actuator) took years to put out, and I think it lost some reader momentum because of that. So if I do another series, I’m toying with writing the whole thing before the first one gets published. And, It’ll probably involve another anthology… or something even bigger.

What have I gotten myself into???

On the plus side, Spring has been very nice this year. 🙂

New RPG Covers by Wilbert Stanton

I’m thrilled to give you an early preview of the covers for a project I’ve been working on for over a year. A good friend of mine, Wilbert Stanton, recently decided to start doing photomanipulations for book cover art. After seeing some of his work, I mentioned that if he was looking for something to practice on I had a four part series I was working on that he could play around with. The results are nothing short of awesome. It probably won’t surprise anybody that he has since been picked up by a publishing company to do covers for them. And I get to say I knew him before he was famous! Thanks, Wil.

I’m actually still in the middle of writing the third book. So, the project is far from finished. He just got these covers done fast and I was too impatient to not put them out in the world. I’m looking for people to playtest the game, so please e-mail me if you’re interested. It’s a rules-light, “unlimited” character system.

Book 1: Cryptic Paradigm

Forget what you think you know about this life. History books spread lies. Most people live blissfully unaware of true human nature. The real history of the earth is the history of magic. The people who wield it and the monsters they make will ultimately determine the fate of the world.

This base rule book covers the basics of how to play a role-playing game for anybody who has never played one before. It also details the fast-paced, rule-light D:2xL RPG system. It covers the world as we know it, and the parts we don’t know. If you’re looking for espionage, underground movements, and military clashes, it’s all here. Of course, the book also covers monsters, magic, and superpowers if you crave a darker urban fantasy adventure.

Book 2: Brutal Relics

From ancient times through the dark ages, elemental magic ruled. Empires rose and fell as monsters and strange humanoid races coexisted, albeit savagely. The balance tipped when magic relics changed the medieval world. If you love swords, sorcery, and epic fantasy heroes, this is the D:2xL book for you. It’s the only time in history when wizards and monsters could live out in the open without fear of being hunted to extinction.

Book 3: Horrible Alchemy

Detailing the magical renaissance, this D:2xL rulebook covers the centuries when magic was forced underground. It also contains vital information for Steampunk and the monsters from classical literature. If you’re a fan of Jules Verne, black and white horror, or noir detectives, these are the rules for you. These stories, set between the golden age of piracy and the turn of the millennium, are sure to give you the dark atmosphere you’re looking for with just a touch of madness.

Book 4: Fractured Spacetime

In the near future, humanity’s destiny splits and follows three different post-singularity paths: Cyberpunk, Nuclear Apocalypse, and Space Migration. All the technology from faster than light spaceships to true artificial intelligence lies ahead of us. If you’re into science fiction, check out this D:2xL rulebook where you can play in the brightest ideal or the darkest dystopia. To save humanity, we must embrace magic and bring all three branches back together to obtain transcendence.

Witch on the Run

Happy Holidays! I got you a present early this year: Witch on the Run. It’s about a young woman coming to grips with powers she’s been trying to hide.

You can read the whole thing here on Story Origin. Hey, a superhero origin story on Story Origin… that’s funny! Enjoy. 🙂

Where Nightmares Ride

 

Summary: When Jack Park received an invitation to Camp Farley, a summer camp promising self-improvement using cutting-edge dream technology, he hoped he’d found a remedy for the repetitive nightmares that had been plaguing his dreams night after night. The camp, however, provided something far different than he’d expected: mysterious visitors, excessive security measures, abusive staff, unexplained technology, and camp courses seemingly bent on leading the campers on a path toward chaos. Katie Frost had endured too much after losing her adored older sister, Abby, to a freak accident. Not long after that, her mother had taken her baby sister and disappeared, leaving her alone with a neglectful father obsessed with, if not controlled by, Montathena Research, his secretive dream-tech business. When her father’s partners demanded that Katie be compelled to serve the company, following a security breach, she stopped caring altogether. The questions increased when Jack and Katie finally crossed paths, the course of events eventually propelling them into a surreal adventure where the boundaries of life, death, and nightmares meet.

I can’t tell you how excited I am for this book to finally be available! R. A. Baxter has been a close personal friend for over twenty years. We jointly created the world this book is set in and it has always been close to my heart. He has been with me on the writing and publishing journey every step of the way, and seeing his book in print makes me very happy. 🙂

About the Author: R. A. Baxter has always appreciated the arts, nature, religioun, philosophy, and all the mysteries this world has to offer. He grew up loving animals, gradually grew interested in all aspects of religion, history, and science, and finally sought to ease his curiosity of the writings of the many authors of the past. His interests led him to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing, a Science of Architecture degree, and a Master of Architecture degree. As an Architectural Specifier, R. A. Baxter spends much of his time manipulating words and instructing builders as to the best way to construct a coherent building. He would rather, however, spend his time with his wonderful wife and children, or lose himself in the imaginary worlds available to those who enjoy reading and creative writing. He and his longsuffering family life in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains in Bountiful, Utah.

You can see his blog at http://rabaxterauthor.wordpress.com

The story of this book is very long. It started over a decade ago as a co-authored project. But in time, I backed out and left the book to him. There are a few echoes of things I wrote a long time ago still in there, but the text is all his… and much better for it. The world of nightmares we co-imagined is one of the most well developed world building projects in history. I’m including Middle Earth in that. By the time we were done, we had a 110 page encyclopedia, maps, charts, and outlines possibly numbering half-a-million words. (I’ll talk more about that in my next blog on world building.) Seeing all that work bear fruit in such an incredible book has been extremely gratifying.

Review: The imagination and depth of the dream world in R. A. Baxter‘s premiere novel are both intriguing and startling. Where Nightmares Ride shows us that living nightmares, ghost knights, and monsters aren’t as bad as the scheming organizations bent on subjugating their fellow humans. Five stars!

Get Where Nightmares Ride on Kindle.

Get the Trade Paperback of Where Nightmares Ride.

Actuator Spin-off: Arcane Casebook Series

I’m pleased to introduce the Arcane Casebook Series by the exceptionally talented Dan Willis – an awesome historical Urban Fantasy. The reason it’s so thrilling to me is that this series originated with two short stories Dan wrote for the Actuator anthologies.

 

Here’s what he had to say about it. “Alex Lockerby is definitely inspired by David Archer. I’d never tried to write a detective story until the Borderlands story. Turns out I learned something important about myself.”

You can get the prequel to the series, DEAD LETTER, free on Dan’s website. Here’s the blurb:

In 1930 New York, the sorcerers are the powerhouses of magic and the runwrights are the poor cousins.  Private detective Alex Lockerby is definitely in the latter category, plying his meager magic skills to help people the regular cops ignore while barely making ends meet.

What Alex needs is a break.  Just one good case to get his name out there and start bringing in business.  When ambitious beat cop Danny Pak gets stuck trying to solve a John Doe murder, it might just be the break Alex has been looking for.

As Alex and Danny team up they begin to unravel a tale murder, jealousy, and revenge stretching back over 30 years.  A tale powerful forces don’t want to come to light.  Now the cop and the private detective must work fast and watch each other’s backs if they hope to catch a killer and live to tell about it.

Get the FREE download now!

Once you have it, you will certainly want to get IN PLAIN SIGHT, a #1 bestseller on Amazon. Here’s the description:

When a magical plague is released in a Depression-era New York soup kitchen, private detective Alex Lockerby finds himself in a desperate hunt to catch a madman before he can strike again.

His investigations lead Alex to a famous thief, a daring heist, and the search for a mythic book of ancient magic, but none of that brings him any closer to finding the man responsible for the massacre. With the police and New York’s Council of Sorcerers desperate to find the culprit, Alex becomes a suspect himself, thanks to his ties to the priest who ran the soup kitchen.

Now Alex has his book of spells, a pack of matches and four days to find out where the plague came from, or that authorities will hang the crime squarely on him.

Book 2, GHOST OF A CHANCE, just came out! It’s already topping the charts. Here’s the pitch:

When a bizarre string of locked-room murders terrorize New York, the police have no leads, no suspects, and only one place to turn. Now private detective Alex Lockerby will need every magical trick in his book to catch a killer who can walk through walls and leaves no trace.

Unfortunately Alex’s magic hasn’t been working very well.  He can’t even manage to track down several truckloads of stolen goods, including one belonging belonging to New York’s preeminent sorcerer, Andrew Barton. To make matters worse, Alex and his clients are being stalked by a shadowy cabal with strange powers that Alex has never seen before.  

With the Ghost killer seemingly able to murder at will and the tabloids, the public, and Alex’s clients demanding results, Alex will need a miracle to keep himself, his clients, and his reputation alive.

I’m sure this series will just keep getting better and better! You can find more of Dan Willis’s books on his website.

Now Available: Thug #1

It’s finally out!

This book has been a longer than usual journey. I’ve had illustrators start and quit. I’ve bounced it off several publishers. It’s gone through a few big rewrites. Eventually, the art and publishing came together, and it’s now available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback!

Superheroes and villains constantly battle for control of Denver, Colorado, so somebody has to do the heavy lifting. CJ Cruz found his niche working for whichever super-flavor-of-the-day happens to be running the show at the time. Since most of the self-labeled heroes claiming to be on the side of justice don’t hire henchmen, he usually winds up doing the street-level work for supers operating outside the law. His family and priest just think he’s a gangster, but CJ knows his motivation is pure. He keeps on the windy side of law enforcement by following a few simple rules, the first of which is keep your head down and never be the boss’s right-hand man. People tell him he should get a new job, but he likes working around supers. Besides, except for intimidation and roughing-people-up he doesn’t have any other skills necessary to make rent and pay child support.

Get more information on the THUG #1 Page.

My friend, Holli Anderson, has a superhero themed book out new today, too. So we are doing a double release cross promotion. If you get both of the e-books from Amazon, we’ll mail you a copy of the CHOOSE YOUR OWN APOCALYPSE anthology with both authors’ signatures! We both have short stories in it, of course. So what are you waiting for?

Get

Get MYRIKAL

Send a screen shot to jameswymore (at) gmail.com with your mailing address.

Then just sit back and enjoy some amazing super powered stories with some incredible art by John Christian Perkins!

If that’s not enough, you can come and get autographed paperbacks this weekend at the Immortal Works table at LTUE or next Wednesday, February 20, at our Double Release Signing Event. 🙂

 

Thug #1 Double Release Party

My good friend, Holli Anderson, and I both have new Superhero themed books coming out the same day! So, naturally, that calls for a party! You are invited!

It’s Wednesday, February 20, at the Grantsville City Library – 42 N Bowery St, Grantsville, Utah 84029. 6 PM Mountain Standard Time. If you’re in the area, join us!

Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it yet… COVER REVEAL!

Glimpses

The amazingly talented Craig Nybo, recently started a project where authors write lyrics that tell stories (or relate to stories they’ve told). I was honored to be invited to contribute. So I wrote a short piece from the perspective of a Sasquatch called THE STRONG MUST WAIT. The album is aptly titled GLIMPSES. I know many of the authors invited to contribute, including international bestsellers and several that are close friends. In order to cover production costs (not even compensating Craig for the many hours he put in), please back the kickstarter and help make this a reality! You can listen to samples and see the line up here:

Glimpses Kickstarter

I’m not saying my song is the best. I’ll let you be the judge. 🙂

 

Here are the lyrics:

 

The Strong Must Wait

 

Verse 1

Reaching out with senses to the edge of our world

Connecting to you with but a scent

Hunting to feed the only one I’ll ever hold

Never feeling what nature meant.

Stepping carefully where no twigs break

Scanning ever for intruders in our land

Only the most meager food dare I take

How long before we make our stand?

 

Chorus

Here in the wild, the strong must wait

Safe from guns and traps and hate.

We listen for the call to rally our side

Until the revolution, we must hide.

 

Verse 2

Every hairless weakling totes a camera now

The mists of legend are our only vein

Hiding in the deep, we predators bow

Without you I know I’d be insane.

Together we can weather all the storms

Your furry arms my warmth from winter cold

For you I gladly stay among the rocks and worms

Waiting for the day we can be bold.

 

Chorus

Here in the wild, the strong must wait

Safe from guns and traps and hate.

We listen for the call to rally our side

Until the revolution, we must hide.

 

Bridge

I cannot roar my love for you

I will not bear my claws

My muscles do not flex, it’s true

Until it’s time to change the laws

 

Chorus

Here in the wild, the strong must wait

Safe from guns and traps and hate.

We listen for the call to rally our side

Until the revolution, we must hide.

 

Buy the album!

Horrific Halloween

It always seemed strange to me to wish somebody a, “Happy Halloween.” Probably because Halloween isn’t really about happiness, in the traditional sense. Still, I always love the ambiance of this season. I guess that probably means I have a dark side?

What I really want to talk about is horror. Growing up, the horror genre was not appreciated in my house. To be fair, I think it was heavily stigmatized by all of society. I blame splatterpunk and slasher movies. Stephen King’s early books didn’t help, either. For decades before that, horror was black and white monster movies. I loved the Gothic masterpieces: The Wolf Man, Dracula, The Mummy, and Frankenstein. But by my childhood the genre had been over taken by blood and guts images so disturbing that the average Christian abhorred it. Consequently, I was taught that horror is bad and to not watch or read it.

But I couldn’t stay away from those amazing monsters.

Luckily, science fiction and fantasy have plenty of monsters in them. So I didn’t have to read or watch the stuff that triggered the “evil” label. I watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and various fringe horror shows. What I didn’t realize is how horror is a much broader genre than most people think. Most thrillers and all monster-based fantasy have elements of horror in them. Horror is really just about fear. Fear is one of the core human emotions. So how could any good story completely ignore it? That would be like making action movies with no romance in them– absurd! Over time, the horror elements in various stories I loved (like Ghostbusters) became more and more important to me as I more deeply explored the human experience.

Imagine my surprise when the first time one of my books reaches #1 on Amazon it’s in DARK FANTASY. To be honest, I wasn’t even entirely sure what dark fantasy meant. My publisher chose the categories. I did know it to be a sub-genre of horror. HORROR? But I’m not a horror writer. I don’t write about serial killers and psychopaths. The Actuator series is about an evil saboteur who kills billions of people in order to… oh wait. And there are vampires and werewolves in it.  MIND BLOWN!

I’m a horror author? How did that happen? Shouldn’t it be on purpose?

The book also ranked in sci-fi and fantasy, as well as other genres like cyberpunk and steampunk. My earlier book, Exacting Essence, usually lists as paranormal. Most people insist the evil clowns make it a horror, though.

So I finally accepted I had embraced the forbidden thing. Finding out how broad horror really is helped. I still plan to write non-horror sci-fi, but I’ve come to accept how dark many of my stories really are. I even edited a whole anthology of it. It shocked me to discover, but isn’t that really the point?!!

🙂

Time for treats! Get this great anthology for just 99 cents to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve: PRIMETIME!

And if that’s too much for your budget, I have some free spooky stories you can find on my short stories page or get two free short stories (ghosts and zombies) in the FREE Actuator RPG manual.  Here’s wishing you a HORRIFIC HALLOWEEN!

 

 

Cover Reveal: THE LAST KEY

At long last, the much anticipated climax of the Actuator series draws near. It’s due to be released November 17th in e-book and sometime after that in paperback. If you haven’t been keeping up, you can find the rest of the books here.

THE ACTUATOR 4: THE LAST KEY

The Actuator, a machine capable of literally changing reality, was created to make a utopian paradise. Before it happened, a saboteur used it to transform the world into patches of every kind of genre fiction, scattering the keys necessary to put it back across the globe. Everyone alive found their lives radically altered, some living in fantasy realms with real magic and others in incomprehensible horrors. Thrown into chaos, people struggled against aliens, pirates, orcs, and vampires. Many died. Only a handful of people on the planet, called Machine Monks, even knew why it happened or how. Now they have to put it all back before humanity is destroyed.

Continuing their quest for the Actuator keys, the Machine Monks realize their cause is becoming hopeless. An army of half-machine men is rapidly spreading over the face of the earth, converting anybody they don’t kill to their cause. With superior numbers and technology, their leader will not stop until every living human is subdued and loyal to him.

Keeping the first key with him, preventing anybody from using the Actuator to change the world, the sociopath rampages. Even if they could get all the keys, the small group opposing the tyrant don’t know what to do when they get to the final one—a key they’ve never seen before. If they don’t find the answers fast, the world will be lost.

(Oh, and Happy Friday the 13th!)