tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18659326894933935472024-03-12T16:34:13.859-07:00A Riot of WritingUseless thoughts on writing since last Thursday.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-66740598699723588652015-11-19T17:31:00.000-08:002015-11-19T17:31:30.946-08:00TwitchyIt's been a while but it's time to blow the dust off the old blog and post to it. I would apologize for my absence, but hey, let's not pretend either one of us are regulars around here, okay?<br />
<br />
I've been writing on Twitch for a while now. Early-on, I think I was being naughty, so I tried to hide nonchalantly in the Music channel, and I played music to CMA. At that time, Twitch's TOS said that all streams should be gaming-related, and sure, while games get written all the time, I'm streaming a fantasy novel. The best argument for which I could hope was that the novel had the potential to be turned into a game, and maybe in 10 or 20 years Twitch streamers would stream games set in a world created on Twitch. Meta-poetically, it works, but it's a pretty shaky argument against a TOS should Twitch want to be by-their-book. However, nobody ever told me to go away, so I kept hiding in the Music channel, poking away at my book.<br />
<br />
Twitch's response to me (well, people like me, I'm not deluded enough to think it was really me) was to give me a <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Creative" target="_blank">Creative</a> channel. It's quite a fascinating place.<br />
<br />
You can watch people engage in their creative side and broadcast your own. You can join a fanbase or build one! You can't always call it art, but it's assuredly always entertaining.<br />
<br />
Best of all, a community of writers has been building there, both who stream and do not stream, and with the addition of the NaNoWriMo streamers this month, there is quite a lot of writing happening right now on Twitch.<br />
<br />
Getting you into the business end of streaming is beyond the scope of this, but overall, streaming is pretty easy and well-documented on Twitch. You'll need some software (like <a href="https://obsproject.com/" target="_blank">OBS</a> or <a href="https://www.xsplit.com/" target="_blank">Xsplit</a>). A microphone and web cam are handy but not required. Getting some of the "bells and whistles" like follower announcements or social bots can be a little intimidating to the uninitiated, but after a few pokes of trial and error, I was able to get them up and running without too much hassle.<br />
<br />
Specifically, check out <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/judydawn" target="_blank">JudyDawn</a> and <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/silentwillow" target="_blank">SilentWillow</a>, both of whom have writing talent exploding from their word processors. If you follow them, you can set Twitch to notify you by email when they go live.<br />
<br />
Come join us.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-80772606964140183552014-08-20T20:10:00.000-07:002014-08-20T20:11:27.125-07:00Release: Ignite<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRAxuNNpOrzPLd4su4EOg1WIk8ONB63Bbmw1q6177o2cx_TjOO1ly-EGcHHpWWWhO-PEtdAScPVCWkcZJKvDtrbjkhkZxP3iUhgmIsjP2HgqnlviMmLVnOBjc0rvx2qxH91wem5L4jHdx/s1600/ignite-little.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQRAxuNNpOrzPLd4su4EOg1WIk8ONB63Bbmw1q6177o2cx_TjOO1ly-EGcHHpWWWhO-PEtdAScPVCWkcZJKvDtrbjkhkZxP3iUhgmIsjP2HgqnlviMmLVnOBjc0rvx2qxH91wem5L4jHdx/s1600/ignite-little.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
I've just released <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/469025" target="_blank">Ignite</a>, a free short story that mixes the genre of political thriller with a dash of romance. It's about a tragic love affair that was never meant to be, set against a violent vortex of social unrest. 10,000 words. Here's the blurb:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
An unlikely couple finds love in the vortex of violent social upheaval.
Can their relationship survive their differing political stances? A
terse political thriller, infused with an uncompromising romance.</blockquote>
Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-53387822003872059972014-08-09T14:28:00.001-07:002014-08-09T14:31:20.632-07:00Point Blank IdiocyEvery time a writer uses the phrase "point blank range" to mean "extremely close range", God clubs a baby seal to death with a physics book. Just because most of the English-speaking media uses the phrase incorrectly does not imply that you must, too. <br />
<br />
In ballistics, it is the distance at which a projectile will hit the ground if you perfectly level a gun and fire it, which can be over 300 yards for high powered rifles. That's three football fields, which is obviously the opposite of "extremely close range". And if it's a handgun and its PBR is only three feet, then your gun sucks, because the PBR on even the most piece-of-crap squirt guns is about 2 yards.<br />
<br />
<br />
If you must use the phrase and the victim is indeed at very close range, use the qualifier "within". Within point blank range is perfectly acceptable, because the victim's range falls inside the range of PBR, but by saying "at point blank range" implies the victim was shot at the gun's maximum PBR.<br />
<br />
<br />
Think of the goddamned baby seals next time, won't you?Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-12747075904405445252014-05-23T01:10:00.000-07:002014-05-23T22:23:10.192-07:00Procedural Language GeneratorAs of late, I've been spending far more time tinkering with
linguistics for my tastes. For instance, I took a three day diversion
from a paragraph to figure out the linguistic rules set just to
establish a two word phrase. The language is from a far-off country called Eshet, whose
citizens wear a particular style of ankle-length toga. The fashionable
people of Anchorest love the style, but in order to continue to sound fashionable
they kept the name straight from the Eshan language, which is <i>lor nobre</i> in Eshan, and never mind that in their own language it just means 'the long cut'.<br />
<br />
Granted,
that far-off land is pretty important and the language will end up
being used a lot more than those two words that it initially spawned, so the
time isn't necessarily wasted. It could just be better-spent doing some
actual writing.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
So, I'm programming a procedural language generator, to be able to create random, serviceable languages almost whole-cloth. I've already done some preliminary building on it, and it's going to be able to handle some complicated randomness, as well as fine-tuning from the operator.<br />
<br />
Each phoneme is getting a guttural/sibilance value assigned to it, so you can make the language aspirated or deep in the throat (from Elvish to Orcish, with English being in the middle). There is also as a 'Foreign Index' value. While all the starting phonemes will have a Foreign Index of 0 (in relation to English), ultimately I want to include non-English phonemes, so I can make a generated language sound a little off from English, or totally and completely alien and near-unpronounceable by the human tongue. It'll pick randomly from the list of available phonemes based on the criteria, or if there aren't a lot of phonemes available due to your criteria, it'll use them all.<br />
<br />
Conjugations can take many forms, due to time, gender, action, intensity, and much more, and conjugations can happen to verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, whatever. If these are not configured by the user, they will be randomly chosen. My conjugation routines will end up being the most complex part of the system, I imagine.<br />
<br />
Words can have structural rules sets (the way -ir and -er verbs work for Spanish, for instance), and these will be randomly picked if not configured by hand. These rules sets can apply to any type of word.<br />
<br />
The English dictionary will have 'tech level' associated to the word. If the word is primordial in origin, it's a 0, and if it's a word regarding technology that transcends magic, it's a 9, with about a 6 being 'modern day'. That way I'll be able to build instant dictionaries for any time period, and won't have to weed out words like 'telephone' from my Anchorest dictionaries.<br />
<br />
When it is building the dictionary, it will take into account syllable length of the source word. The idea here is that word length can identify several factors about that word. Words of shorter length were either created in the primordial time (fire, dog, tree, leg) or if they are short words introduced in a recent time, they have cultural importance (carriage to car, or telephone to phone) or are discussed so much as to warrant foreshortening in speech (linguistic economy). So when the generator spits out 'mom' as an English word, it won't try to build 'burfarginsplag' as the corresponding new word - the primordial time suggests that this is going to be a relatively short word.<br />
<br />
Eventually, a language will be able to be weathered and aged as it drifts away from the source language. I'd also like to be able to incorporate multiple sources, producing an amalgam that still retains fingerprints of its original sources.<br />
<br />
In terms of the back-end, initially I was going to write this using the program <a href="http://mythosa.net/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.TableSmith" target="_blank">Tablesmith</a>, where I have a lot of other Anchorest procedural stuff built. Though Tablesmith can do some amazing things, there are some things it's just not going to be convenient to perform within that framework. I decided to go with an object-oriented database scripting language from the old MUSH days. Ultimately, this program isn't for any kind of distribution to the public, it's for my own linguistic sanity, so the platform it runs on isn't terribly important.<br />
<br />
When it spits out the results, I'll then go over it with my discerning eye (it's the one on the right) and weed out any problems. The results will be saved, so any changes I make will update. Once I'm satisfied with it visually I'll write out a test paragraph or two using the rules set and see if anything else needs tweaking.<br />
<br />
There are probably other solutions out there to randomizing languages. Anyone know of any? The key here is 'serviceable'. Any program can spit out random phonemes with random syllable lengths, but it takes some serious effort to make the language serviceable.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-63472197585849876032013-10-21T20:39:00.000-07:002013-10-21T20:39:00.665-07:00Decimate the Lightning Bugs“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” <i>Mark Twain</i><br /><br />Let's talk about the word <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_%28Roman_army%29" target="_blank"><b>decimate</b></a>. It's a lightning word when used correctly, but more often than not it's used as a lightning bug.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />Through
poor usage, decimate has come to mean 'kill, destroy, or remove a large
percentage or part of'. However, for those who know the historical
origins of the word, the usage of the word to describe something being
destroyed or nearly-destroyed makes them squirm.<br /><br />It was a form of
Roman legionary punishment, meted out by the military commanders to
enforce discipline. A cohort was broken up into groups of ten, and lots
were drawn. One unlucky soldier in the group would draw the bad lot, and
then was killed by the nine remaining soldiers in the group, usually by
clubbing him to death. Strictly speaking, decimate means 'to reduce by
ten percent' (the root word is decimus, here, which means 'tenth', and
eventually evolved into our English word decimal in the 17th century).<br /><br />Whenever I hear 'the troops were decimated in the battle', I think: <i>Ten percent casualties, during war? Acceptable losses! The remaining ninety percent can go on fighting!</i><br /><br />Yes,
language evolves and changes, and word meanings are constantly in flux.
For those in the know, however, the lightning bug usage of <i>decimate</i> is an abomination.<br />Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-15311434368020836642013-10-10T14:04:00.001-07:002013-10-10T14:07:04.307-07:00Goodreads and the "Community"<a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/10/09/goodreads_where_readers_and_authors_battle_it_out_in_an_online_lord_of_the_flies/" target="_blank">Here</a> is an interesting perspective on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> and the "community" that it has created. <br />
<br />
First, I have to say that I really like Goodreads for all of the reasons stated in the article. It gives a place where authors can engage readers and vice versa. It gives a good "landing place" for your novel. It also connects to your blog, so that what I'm typing here will show up there eventually. Goodreads is a great site for authors and readers.<br />
<br />
Dealing
with negative reviews is tough, however. As authors, we spend so much time with
our work that it is easy to be sensitive about it. The books we write
are like our children, and nobody wants to have their little snowflakes
criticized. That being said, though, once we bring our work to the table
and release it, it's up to the public to judge it, even if we might
think that judgment is unfair, incorrect, or even spiteful in origin.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Introducing
the social aspect between author and reader also brought along
unintended side effects. There have always been trolls. There have always been haters. There have always been
bullies. Neither the internet nor Goodreads created these things. Whether it stems from professional jealousy, boredom, or the joy
of making others' lives more difficult, these social dynamics are not
new, what's new is that there is no longer any "buffer" between the
trolls/haters/bullies and the authors. A site like Goodreads merely gives a place to concentrate
the vitriol like never before.<br />
<br />
<br />
I've been involved in several "communities" online on various subjects, and no matter the rules, or what efforts you go through to make a better place, there are going to be people who thrive on destroying it. The fact that sites have popped up to defend the two camps outside of the Goodreads moderation speaks volumes about the players involved. It's nothing new, but it is indeed poisonous to any idea of "community". Those sites are akin to the high school clique word-of-mouth smear campaigns that Suzy is a dirty little whore, and she should no longer be considered as one of the Popular Ones.<br />
<br />
One of my short stories, a freebie
I released on a lark, mostly, got a pretty scathing review from a
Goodreads reader. It did not say so directly, but the undercurrent of
the review was that I should give up writing. My first instinct was to
defend myself.<br />
<br />
I thought about responses I could make. "Sorry you didn't like it. Would you like a refund?" was the front runner, since it was a free book, after all. In second place was something about his questionable parentage that I won't deign to repeat here.<br />
<br />
However strong the impulse was to sally forth the defenses, I decided to take the professional route
and say nothing. If he didn't like it, or didn't understand the book? Whatever. His loss.<br />
<br />
Will I stop writing because he didn't like it?<br />
<b><br />Fuck no.</b><br />
<br />
To stop writing because someone didn't like my work would be to give away the power of my voice. Nobody has that kind of power over me <i>except me</i> and I'm not going to relinquish it without a fight to the death. <br />
<br />
I did address getting the negative review in my Google Plus stream, but it was a post about taking it all in stride, and neither pointed toward the reviewer nor his review. It was a sort of Google Plus shrug. After all, I had been posting on G+ when I got good reviews, I thought it was only fair that I should post when I got negative ones, too.<br />
<br />
Overall, I think I chose the more professional route.<br />
<br />
As an author in this Brave New World, you should, too. Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-30332232815152626852013-10-09T20:40:00.003-07:002013-10-09T20:43:46.506-07:00Risan Bracelet Design<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xpPCQudybicTnFINwNjq8OLujRG5yc_uhDYoDDp3evBSE-KsmJmKvc49oagKM2_gqIKkd7_srzn0zDS0NK-Qa3YoA_otoPsA34bexlYengm7-dvILTvtChbXM9dLQCBcwP-fdx2IrVv3/s1600/Snake+Bracelet.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0xpPCQudybicTnFINwNjq8OLujRG5yc_uhDYoDDp3evBSE-KsmJmKvc49oagKM2_gqIKkd7_srzn0zDS0NK-Qa3YoA_otoPsA34bexlYengm7-dvILTvtChbXM9dLQCBcwP-fdx2IrVv3/s320/Snake+Bracelet.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
This is a preliminary design of the "entwined, opposed serpents" that appears in my upcoming novel, <i>Fallen Rise</i>. The symbol is used in several places, such as the design of a pledge bracelet, the cross-guard of a sword, and a banner. It figured heavily enough that I wanted to see it visually, so I built it using a CAD program called <a href="http://www.profantasy.com/" target="_blank">Campaign Cartographer 2</a>, followed by a pass in Photoshop. The snake heads are stylized and do not represent a specific serpent,though they are closer in design to the heads of venomous vipers. I'm also considering making a more iconographic version for a chapter header flourish.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-64632807322336380132013-09-20T00:12:00.001-07:002013-09-20T00:12:07.404-07:00Fallen Rise: Book I statistics<br />
<i>Fallen Rise</i> is the first novel in the the gritty, epic fantasy series that I have been writing. It is the story of a noble woman who has fallen into disrepute, and her search for redemption in the eyes of her people. <a href="http://patrick-riot.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-preview-of-fallen-rise.html" target="_blank">Here</a> is Chapter Two, the introduction of one of the main protagonists.<br />
<br />
The novel is broken into two books, and the first draft of Book I is pretty much complete. I've said that before, however I wasn't entirely satisfied with the notes on which it ended, so I added another chapter, which serves to both ratchet up the tension and clarify the stakes. With a little bit more work, it could potentially be published independently, if it weren't for the fact that there are no resolutions to any of the problems, as Book I ends with all the protagonists in crisis.<br />
<br />
<br />
I've yet to decide how I'm going to proceed when it is all finished, whether I'll try to shop it traditionally or whether I'll try to self-publish again. Offering the first half of the novel for free might be a way to sell the series.<br />
<br />
Here are the first draft statistics for Book I:<br />
<br />
Chapters: 24<br />
Words: 63,133<br />
Cut Words: 24,528<br />
Average Words Per Chapter: 2630.5<br />
Book I Estimated Words: 60,000<br />
Total Estimated Words: 120,000<br />
Project Status: 52.6% complete<br />
<br />
Characters: 345,979<br />
Average Word Length: 5.48<br />POVs: 7<br />
<br />
Deceased/Named Characters: 10/42<br />
<br />
I'm 2.6% over budget in regards to my word count, but I'm not terribly concerned by that. I hit close enough to the mid-point that I'm satisfied, and there is yet some editing to do, besides. Everything seems on track to end at about the 120k word mark, and overall I think I'm in a pretty good position in regards to the story arc and overall pace. Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-11030732716357102922013-09-18T21:59:00.000-07:002013-10-20T00:23:06.611-07:00A Preview of Fallen RiseHere is Chapter Two from <i><b>Fallen Rise</b></i>, the low-fantasy novel on which I'm presently working.
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<blockquote>
<center>
<b>Chapter Two</b></center>
<center>
<b>Hali</b></center>
Hali, as she was known here, lay on the sweat-stained bed, staring up at the cracked plaster ceiling. She wished a breeze would blow in and wash away the stench of him beside her, reeking of sweat and stale ale as he was. He was passed out, thankfully.
<br />
She sat up and rolled her legs off the bed, the thin sheet falling from her. She dug around in the man's clothes and pulled out the small leather belt pouch that most men of his station carried. She tried to judge the value by hefting it in her hand, and it made a satisfying enough jingle. She got up off the bed and stalked her way toward her vanity, the piece in a condition resembling nothing like its former glory, with its pots of perfume and gilt of gold.
<br />
The mahogany vanity's once-delicate lines were now marred and scarred. Eight months ago, she had dug out the gold inlay with her dagger so that she could sell it to a goldsmith. The bastard had only given her twenty silver donas though it was worth thrice that, and it had taken her almost three days of nonstop work to get all of the accursed stuff out. At the time, it had seemed worth it, but now as she looked at the mangled vanity in the soft, blue glow of the sisters she was having second, nay, third thoughts. It was the last of the furniture she had brought with her on her trip north across the sea, a gift from her mother at her coming of age, and she had been loathe to part with it, though in her desperation vandalism had not been out of the question. The inlay had been worth just as much as the furniture piece itself, so she had sold the gold and kept the vanity, staving off collection for another two weeks.
<br />
She still had the dagger.
<br />
There on the vanity, amid the empty wine bottles, pots of stage pancake and powders, several vases held fresh flowers given to her after today's performance by some of the theater's patrons. She had been using these in a vain attempt to try and cover the stink that her customers left behind. The patrons were not her customers, not in the same sense as the snoring form presently on her bed, but rather they were more noble-minded theater-goers who didn't know that, for an extra coin or two thrown to Kalino, they, too, could have their way with her. They were usually lowborn, boys with notions more romantic than realistic, their blood running fire for her and it more noble than they suspected her own to be. She led a few of them on when they visited her, playing the role of chastity for them, of courtship and interest. In return, they showered her with gifts of candy and flowers, comparing her to the high Haelee, unknowing that her real name was in part an ancient derivative of the same, ignorantly remarking how close her name was to that of the goddess of beauty and lust. The little dramas she played with these men made her feel good about herself, at least for a short time, but even she recognized that in their own way, these men were also paying her for her company. After a while she would grow angry, bored or depressed with the games or the players, and she would eventually send them away, heartbroken.
<br />
The candies, Kalino confiscated. The flowers were the one extravagance that he allowed her, saying that they gave the place class, and always with his sarcasm dripping, desperately trying to dig under her skin. She wouldn't lower herself to be baited by him, but that one word always burned bitterly on her mind. <i>Class.</i>
<br />
She pulled some flowers out of their vase and laid them aside before emptying the coins from the pouch, dropping all but two of them into the ceramic vessel with watery plunks. She thought about taking them all--maybe she could buy some proper perfume and keep it hidden from Kalino--but she thought better of it. Best that this man believe that he had spent the money in a drunken stupor rather than that she had stolen it. She then replaced the flowers and preened over them in an attempt to make them as pretty, and innocuous, as possible in the half-light.
<br />
The man rolled over. Hali straightened up and hid the pouch behind her, running the other hand up into her straight, raven hair as a visual distraction, for she knew a little about sleight of hand from working with Anabren the Magician downstairs on Norcene's stage.
<br />
<i>Occupy their eyes and you can commit murder,</i> Anabren had told her, <i>and they'll even applaud you for it</i>. Hali's problems had never lain in occupying the eyes of men.
<br />
When she saw that he had only stirred and hadn't waked, she stalked back to his pile of clothes and replaced the pouch where she had found it. She then stooped down and picked up the pewter mug of ale that he had left beside the bed, and she downed the hot dregs that remained there--holding the cup up for almost thirty seconds for those last few precious drops--before setting it down again. She glanced over at the vanity, but she knew the bottles there were empty because she had checked them earlier. The alcohol helped to dull the experiences of being an independent woman, and she was stone sober in comparison to the man on her bed. She hoped the next customer would bring a bottle of wine.
<br />
<i>I should insist upon it from the regulars,</i> she thought distantly, almost too casually.
<br />
With a near-silent sigh, she made her way to the windows, one of the few remaining sober pleasures of Hali's short life. Her room was on the southwest corner of the theater, on the third floor, and the corner windows offered her pleasant vistas from both directions, but tonight was foggy and grim. To the south, Sapphire Road ran up along the cliffs, but she could barely see the Coliseum through the mist. To the west, across the rooftops of a few low buildings and the city's seawall, the vista was of the mouth of the river where it met the sea, and sometimes she could see the masts of ships docked along the river wharf, but tonight she could barely see past the building across the street.
<br />
She spread the thin wool curtains of the west window and looked out over what she could see of Anchorest, leaning against the sill and crossing her arms over her breasts. She closed her eyes and listened to the din coming from the inn next door, imagining the happy faces of the customers as they drank, sang songs, and spun stories by the river. She had passed many a night there at the Portly Peacock, spending money that she didn't have.
<br />
It's where she had first sought out Kalino. On her second day in the city, she had bumped into a man in the Bazaar of Fehras, and they struck up a conversation. He told her where the local thespians ate and drank, and he had directed her to the Peacock and specifically to Kalino by name.
<i>
He runs a theater for my cousin, Norcene,</i> the man had said. <i>Kalino is a right upstanding fellow, and 'tis my oath.</i>
<br />
"Oath," Hali now echoed in whisper as she lighted upon the memory.
<br />
Kalino had been kinder, then. He had bought her many dinners and even more drinks over that week, flattering her, while she played the part of the young coquette, reluctant to get involved in the theater. And it was only a part. Her only passion lie in acting, in the make-believe, and fantastic. A career as an actress had brought her here from hundreds of leagues to the south. She had manipulated Kalino for the job, or at least that is what she had believed at the time. Now, she wasn't so sure that she hadn't been the one that had been manipulated.
<br />
By the end of the week, the part of coquette called for her to relent and she had accepted his offer of a job on his stage. She has since come to regret that decision, but then her cup was now overflowing with regret.
<br />
Kalino had helped set her up in a nice apartment on Merchant Road, an open, airy space with balconies that offered resplendent views of the city rising before her. She had allowed Kalino into her bed and into her life, and he allowed her into his deep pockets. He sponsored expensive acting and singing lessons. He had also helped her out of a bind with two Coliseum bookmakers. She had made large bets that she could not cover, and he had stepped in and paid them off. It was then that she had told him who she really was, or rather who she had been, and that was when Kalino underwent a significant personality change. He produced a ledger with every expense listed within, and the grand sum staggered her. It was more than she had, and more than she would see in six years as an actress. She was devastated, but she had no choice but to push forward.
<br />
In an effort to reduce her living expenses, she left the beautiful apartment and accepted a room at the small, run-down theater. Kalino was charging a high rent, and soon Hali had found her debt steadily escalating instead of trickling away.
<br />
Every day he pounded her door, demanding a payment she did not possess. At first she staved him off by pawning jewelry, selling all of the furniture of her birthright save the vanity, selling her formal clothing, and in a final act of desperation, digging the gold out of her last piece of furniture which was now as battered and worthless as she felt. No, vandalizing the vanity was not her final act of desperation. That was now a nightly mass, performed for the masses, a curtain call for her soul.
<br />
Her carriage and bearing made her exceedingly popular among the patrons and customers, and it didn't help her present plight that Norcene's specialized in the most lowbrow of productions. She was performing in silent slave roles, which required her to be half exposed, for the slaves in Anchorest wore bracers on the wrists and a long, unisex skirt that fell to the top of the foot called a <i>samal</i>, and nothing more. It was a further degradation by Kalino, and it doubled as his method of allowing potential customers to get a glimpse of what they were paying for, or at least that is what she had come to believe.
<br />
Shame and pride kept her from turning to her House for help out of her current problems, even though they could have made those problems instantly disappear. She couldn't face the other nobles, for she was now a sullied woman, and it would have thrilled her mother to no end to know that Hali had been an abject failure at her independence. She wouldn't give her mother the satisfaction of being right.
<br />
Hali took a deep breath of the salty, damp air and it helped to blow away the dust of her memories. She had hoped that the view would cheer her, but the fog only served to remind her of the trap she was presently in.
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She heard a laugh and saw two men passing under her window, arms slung about each other in staggering support, as they left the Peacock and headed south on Sapphire. She watched them disappear into the gloom.
<br />
Not for the first time, Hali wondered if she would survive a fall from this height, though she didn't think the third floor would be sufficient to carry out such a noble deed. She wasn't frightened by the leap. Stepping out onto the edge like Inyanere, chastely turning to her captors in defiance, closing her eyes, stepping back, falling... All of that was easy, and she had entertained surreal fantasies of it almost nightly. The fifth act ended in tragedy and not a dry eye in the house!
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<i>I shall have to be higher,</i> she thought to herself.
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Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-32881559612496965682013-05-17T19:34:00.002-07:002013-05-17T19:34:38.392-07:00QuietudeI've been quiet as of late, it would seem. However, my pen has yet been flowing, as I've been working on a full-length, gritty, low fantasy novel called <i>Fallen Rise</i>. Plot-wise, it's about a young woman of high birth who has fallen into disrepute, and she must redeem herself in order to claim what is rightfully hers. There's romance, high adventure, murder, magic, plague, demonic infestation, addiction, betrayal and brotherhood, just to name a few thematic elements.
I'm about halfway finished with it, having hit the 55k word mark this week. Ultimately, it'll be about 100k-120k words. I've had a few alpha readers along the way, and feedback has been very positive. I've been flitting back and forth between writing, editing, and world-building, and on the days the proverbial pen hits the paper, I've been knocking out about 1000-1500 words per session. It's the largest project I've ever worked on, encompassing thousands of hours of work (world-building has gone on for 7 years). All the preparation has allowed the words to flow with relative ease, and I'm hoping it will evolve into a series of books. It should be ready come summer.
That's when the agent shopping-fun begins.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-19851907196882209202012-10-07T00:24:00.003-07:002012-10-07T00:32:43.399-07:00Review of Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1002542.Midnight_in_the_Garden_of_Good_and_Evil" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327185444m/1002542.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1002542.Midnight_in_the_Garden_of_Good_and_Evil">Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4952.John_Berendt">John Berendt</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/310926799">4 of 5 riots</a><br />
<br />
Though I took a few extended breaks while reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It accurately paints a portrait of a town as insular and isolated as Savannah, and while much criticism has been thrown its way regarding the "grotesque" characters, I did not find them objectionable or out of the realm of possibility. I usually regard first-person narrative as indicative of writers that have not found a voice of their own, however Berendt pulls off this perspective with aplomb; it is the very model of how first-person narratives should be constructed. The narrator is relegated almost solely to the role of observer. He is in a unique position among his subjects, that of Savannah outsider but defense counsel insider, and this generates much-needed tension in what would otherwise be a flat plot. Berendt expertly draws us along the events like the drawl from the loveliest of Savannah's Southern Belles. If you like the genre of true crime, then you will assuredly be as entertained as I was.
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<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8347418-patrick-riot">View all my reviews</a>
Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-77282202798482874202012-09-11T06:04:00.004-07:002012-09-11T06:04:48.918-07:00Free Foo FooTo celebrate 11 years of American Proto-Fascism, I'm giving away my ebook <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92757" target="_blank">Foo Foo</a> for free over the next 24 hours.<br />
<br />
Use coupon code <b>MT92H </b>for a 100%<b> </b>discount off of Foo Foo!<br />
<br />
If you pay full price, then the terrorists win. <br />
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<br />Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-30583327118832770932012-08-09T20:26:00.004-07:002012-08-10T08:15:02.010-07:00Microfiction: Chang Ming<i>...He's alive...</i><br />
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The crowd pulsed through the narrow cacophonous alleys of the county carnival like blood in a vein, pumping in a furious circle, desperate to live in the chilly night. Thin, steel knives of clouds stabbed into the harvest moon as it hung oppressive, bloody, lifeless.<br />
<br />
Shadows licked from between the carnie booths like fingers beckoning the locals, closer, closer, play the games and win the prize, guess your weight, win a prize, it's easy to win a prize. Sirens go off and the customers, like so many sheep, gawk in that direction. Their anxiousness is quickly overcome by boredom when they realize it's just a strong-man hammer game. The staccato click-rumble of dispensing skeet-ball machines compete with the rolling thunder of the balls as the players roll them back again, forming an organic white-noise rhythm of the unconscious.<br />
<br />
<i>...He's real...</i><br />
<br />
Guns popped at the shooting gallery, and a jaunty, raucous tune filled that corner of the midway as someone hit the target over the piano, and the crude animatronic player, dressed in his red pin-stripe shirt, went through his jerky motions all over again.<br />
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A miasma of piquant odors lurked amongst the people like the masque of the red cholesterol death, a mélange of cotton candy, greasy hamburgers, fried Twinkies, hot dogs and cow patties straight from the livestock show.<br />
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<i>...He's Chang Ming...</i><br />
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A motorcycle rumbled in dizzying donuts through its spherical cage, and the rider was hunched over the handlebars, wearing a grin that bespoke of the sheer madness that filled his heart. He defied gravity, but he defied the carnies, too, for he alone among them did not seem steeped in blasé boredom.<br />
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The yellow and red folk-art busking for Chang Ming had been carefully painted by an artist who had obviously never been to neither Paris nor China. Lines of elephants flanked Chang Ming, and the beast had been adorned in the armor of an ancient Chinese emperor, and it breathed fire onto terrified onlookers.<br />
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<i>...The Elephant-Skinned Dog...</i><br />
<br />
The fire-breathing elephant-skinned dog's real name was Patches. He suffered from the worst cases of halitosis and psoriasis that any canine should ever have to endure. He had come to the carnies six months ago, begging for scraps. They had teased the thing, both horrible to regard and smell, before recognizing one of their own and by the second night, Patches had a new home with the carnival. They carnies named him Patches because he still had a few swatches of hair. Last month he'd lost the rest of his hair and they put him on display.<br />
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"That dog's right ugly," one of the carnies had said.<br />
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Now his nights were a steel cage, with barely enough room in which to turn. People passed him in his dungeon, disgusted and jeering as they went, and to each he would give the same silent, desperate plea: take me home, take me home, take me home. Will you take me home?<br />
<br />
The carnie on the mic echoed his own mantra, drawing customers, over and over and over to lure the suckers out of their curiosity dollar.<br />
<br />
<i>...He's alive...</i><br />
<i><br />...He's real...</i><br />
<i><br />...He's Chang Ming...</i><br />
<i><br />...The Elephant-Skinned Dog...</i><br />
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<b>Copyright (c) 2012 Patrick Riot</b><br />
<br />Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-53325576169707560802012-07-12T22:59:00.000-07:002012-08-09T20:48:46.524-07:00Ghost of Cabin 664I just published <i><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/204366" target="_blank">The Ghost of Cabin 664</a></i> at Smashwords. It's a (FREE) short story, inspired by Chinese ghost tales.<br />
<br />
Chinese ghost tales are different than in the West. Usually, the ghost is traveling rather than haunting a specific place. More often than not, the ghost is seeking revenge for some injustice done to them in life, and only through obtaining that revenge can the spirit be put to rest. I used these themes within <i>Ghost</i>, setting the tale on a cruise ship with a ghost that is looking to correct an injustice.<br />
<br />
Publishing this go-round was a lot easier than when I published Foo Foo, mostly because I had a template document already set up and waiting. Foo Foo took at least 8 hours to prepare for publication, and this round only took about 4 hours. I had one extraneous tab in the file and Smashwords spit it back out at me, but that was corrected easily enough and off it went into the Premium Catalog queue. We'll see how that goes, but I don't anticipate any problems.<br />
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<i>Ghost </i>has already garnered one four-star review, wholly unsolicited. It's an awesome review:<br />
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There are some interesting things going on in this author's mind. All
you have to do is read his profile and the author's notes to see that.
It's great that some of those interesting things are making it onto the
page. This story was enjoyable and well written.</blockquote>
I giggled incessantly. Interesting things, indeed! If you people only knew! <br />
<br />
Life has been crazy. I broke up with my girlfriend for being a lying bint. Frailty, thy name is woman. Oh well, her loss. I'm better for it. I feel better about myself than I have in a long time; I feel liberated. I'd rather be single than be lied to, yaknowhatImean?<br />
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Besides, I've still got my right hand, and it doesn't fucking complain if we skip the foreplay.<br />
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My mom has breast cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. She had a double mastectomy in April. This has put a damper on my creativity, but it has improved our relationship a lot. We're able to talk without snapping at each other, which is a plus. It's a shame that it took forty years and some fucked-up cellular divisions to make it happen, but I'm glad for it nonetheless. I've been cooking a lot of dinners for my parents and enjoying the time I've been spending with them.<br />
<br />
My muse has been off crack-whoring in strange ports of call, but I think I've wrangled her ass back, and I'm hoping to produce some more words on paper very soon.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-10020805119348391872012-04-13T22:12:00.000-07:002012-04-13T22:12:11.638-07:00Cover, Me MateyI've been working on a cover for a pirate-setting erotica book called <i>Beneath the Jolly Roger</i> by Andrea Trask and Blake Sinclair. It's been pretty neat working with the authors via Google Plus. G+ actually makes for a really nice collaboration environment, and we were able to settle on a basic design quicker than if we were bouncing emails around.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-50040949268688160132012-04-06T16:21:00.000-07:002012-04-06T16:21:32.686-07:00Foo Foo, Smashwords Adventure Part IIA few months ago I published Foo Foo on <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/" target="_blank">Smashwords</a>. It took a month of waiting, but it ended up on the Smashwords "Premium Catalog". While this did not generate any extra sales, the extra potential purchase avenues are ones you want to be in.<br />
<br />
Since, I have updated <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92757" target="_blank">Foo Foo</a> three times, correcting errors, and niggling the details as Tolkien would say. The updating process, provided your document conforms to the Smashwords publishing guide, is absolutely painless. While I haven't sold enough books to warrant receipt of a check from Smashwords (yet!), their online store is pretty awesome. It has a coupon manager you can use to provide discounts, which is really useful for promoting your work.<br />
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Smashwords also provides ISBN numbers for your books. That service alone is really awesome, and it doesn't cost you a dime.<br />
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Overall, as an author, I've been really impressed with Smashwords.<br />
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5 RiotsPatrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-45266721058454054682011-12-05T00:17:00.000-08:002011-12-05T00:17:32.296-08:00FreeMind - Software for the WriterI've been working on an idea for a low-fantasy epic for several years now, but as of yet I've had zero success at actually spinning the idea into a story worthy of telling. I know it has to do with prostitutes, rat demons and redemption, but that's the big picture. The little picture has plagued me. The sheer volume of information that I've been collecting over these past four years have morphed in scope to become more epic than any yarn I could weave. I've had this problem with stories in the past, stories which have been tossed by the wayside because I couldn't figure out how to tell them effectively. It's like knowing that you want to drive from New York to LA, but you have no idea what roads you want to take, and therefore it's safe to say you'll be stuck in the Big Apple for the rest of your life.<br />
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Recently, I dug up my epic in an effort to revive my work on it. I beat my head on it for several days before realizing that what I needed was a mind map that would diagram all of my ideas in one centralized location.<br />
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For those who live under rocks, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map">Mind Map</a> is a graphical representation of various ideas centered around a main idea. The ultimate objective for using a mind map is to hack a statue of David out of a block of intellectual marble.<br />
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I've used a variety of tools to create mind maps. Mind maps can get sloppy very quickly, and thus I've found pen and paper (and their white board equivalents) too limiting. I'm constantly erasing as I'm refining the ideas, or crossing out huge blocks of text. Note cards are satisfactory, but they do not suit the purpose of the early stages of idea construction, and the cards eventually hit a ceiling of unwieldiness. Software, therefore seems the best solution. Relatively infinite space, no unwieldy cards, easy editing.<br />
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I looked around at several software solutions, and the best I found, by far, is <a href="http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page">FreeMind</a>. Within seconds of installing it, I had created the basic outline of my epic. By the end of the second night, I had compiled almost all of my notes into the map, and had become rather adept at using the software. I'd even taken the time to generate a nice story structure mind map, containing the 3-act, 5-act, and Monomythic story models and another map regarding my notes on mythology. All three maps are enormous, now, with text, images, links, etc.<br />
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The software is very easy to use. Creating a new sibling node in the map is as easy as hitting Enter, and inserting a child is as easy as hitting Insert. The arrow keys move you about in the map. Space bar collapses and expands nodes, allowing you to hide portions of the map that you don't want to see. You can use clouds to help organize ideas into visual clusters. You can hotlink nodes, or have them expand to sub-maps, draw arrows between nodes... It has all sorts of wonderful bells and whistles. For the writer organizing his ideas, the software is invaluable.<br />
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The very best thing about FreeMind, however, is that it is free.<br />
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It's not perfect, however. In my own mind maps, I will sometimes draw relationship arrows and note the relationship on the arrow itself. I can't find this capability in FreeMind if it exists, but thus far it hasn't hindered me overmuch. There's also some weird node-jumping by the cursor when you swap to a different program and back again, causing you to have to arrow around a bit to get back to the node you were working on.<br />
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Overall, I'd highly suggest FreeMind to, well, everyone. It's really helping me find that statue of David that I've been looking for, and I think it can help you, too.<br />
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Five Riots, indeed.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-5107690455676874232011-10-02T12:38:00.000-07:002011-10-02T12:38:50.558-07:00Free Foo FooUntil midnight tonight you can download a free copy of <i>Foo Foo</i> using the coupon code UK82D. <br />
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<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92757">Get it here.</a><br />
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I've also dropped the price to the lowest possible: $.99.<br />
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I suppose the next step is to give steaks away to people who read it.*<br />
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*(No steaks are included with the ebook, yet.)Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-53935558147768038592011-09-29T21:03:00.000-07:002011-09-29T21:03:45.345-07:00The Smashwords AdventureI've taken Foo Foo down from LuLu and put it up on Smashwords, instead. Smashwords seems to have a wider distribution model, including stores for Sony, Amazon, and some that I've never even heard of. Eventually, I'll return to LuLu for some hardback copies, but that's down the road a bit - there are a few more illustrations to be done before Foo Foo is ready for hardback.<br />
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<a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92757">Foo Foo at Smashwords</a><br />
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Smashwords has been an adventure, to be sure. Their formatting document is the War and Peace of style guides, and it took me about a week to make sure the Word copy of Foo Foo met their standards. It was worth it, though, because the book looks so much better than the LuLu version, and while the Style Guide is hefty, it is very easy to use and understand. In the end, I only had one problem from the AutoVetter (the program that scans your document for formatting errors), and that was one of my fonts was 2pts too large. Fixed and resubmitted in minutes, and it's now eligible for their premium catalog. I'm not sure how elite of a club that actually is, but I'd settle for even just a tiny bit of elite right now.<br />
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I had to redesign the cover, unfortunately, since I really liked the old cover with the dead rat. Smashwords doesn't allow the depiction of violence on their covers, and while the old cover ranks up there with Itchy and Scratchy in terms of horror content, I didn't want to risk being off the premium catalog because of it, so I just went ahead and did a little redesign.<br />
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The Smashwords site appeared to be a little slower than LuLu's, which isn't good since LuLu's site is already pretty slow. Thus far, though, the overall experience at Smashwords has been easier than LuLu's, formatting aside.<br />
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I've already made 6 revisions to the text (you can sort of get away with it if nobody has read your book), but I think that the Smashwords edition will be the standing edition for a while, at least. One of my writer friends suggested that the allegory was a little heavy-handed, so I took the effort to tone it down, some. I think it adds to the experience, personally.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-37789896136670698012011-09-18T08:26:00.000-07:002011-09-18T08:27:30.456-07:00Buttons and Tricks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZ24C8WCkT7mYgLUHcrMSFj-lQdgZsYhg4DBNKecVa6COBZdogK2QCD0pt0HpsausHlFcxQYBA0BsqzIJfR6AucBrDmpZ0zPKQGScuBiBuFAqh094snfpreMrHsbiAN5xEhT9v6xQJ-eq/s1600/buttons-sm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZ24C8WCkT7mYgLUHcrMSFj-lQdgZsYhg4DBNKecVa6COBZdogK2QCD0pt0HpsausHlFcxQYBA0BsqzIJfR6AucBrDmpZ0zPKQGScuBiBuFAqh094snfpreMrHsbiAN5xEhT9v6xQJ-eq/s1600/buttons-sm.png" /></a></div>Here are two illustrations from the upcoming hard and softback editions of Foo Foo.<br />
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The mouse with the flag is Buttons, an otherwise intelligent mouse that ends up getting sucked into the fervor of nationalism in the face of an invisible enemy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0EzRk1d3fb7Ad-OFqhbfMrKRTJinXksJJDvW_wOwR8nfQlkO8wCtDca5mGlFhlKXOEnh_uFxGJ_97YbISZlQQTVfmdMK7Dvbc3UFcghkoFFwkd_at_ZpGFso5KGuQeQiO3zRq99Ri6m9r/s1600/tricks-sm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0EzRk1d3fb7Ad-OFqhbfMrKRTJinXksJJDvW_wOwR8nfQlkO8wCtDca5mGlFhlKXOEnh_uFxGJ_97YbISZlQQTVfmdMK7Dvbc3UFcghkoFFwkd_at_ZpGFso5KGuQeQiO3zRq99Ri6m9r/s1600/tricks-sm.png" /></a>The dark mouse is named Tricks, and he is armed with a blood-soaked hammer.<br />
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These were created using CAD software, then exported into Photoshop and the gray tones added. They are in black and white because the color printing process is so much more expensive.<br />
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I've got about 4 or 5 more to do.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-88333480604023396402011-09-16T23:05:00.000-07:002011-09-16T23:05:00.130-07:00IllustrationsI've been working on some illustrations for the hard and softcover editions of <i>Foo Foo</i>. Unfortunately, I don't have much to share right now, but stay tuned.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-7660975164316710442011-09-15T12:44:00.001-07:002011-09-15T12:51:07.096-07:00Foo Foo, by MeI've just self-published my first eBook, entitled Foo Foo. It is a young-adult parable about fear in the face of an invisible enemy as told from the perspective of mice. From idea to the first draft that hit LuLu, it took 60 hours. I've since made a few little tweaks to it based on reader feedback.<br />
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"The mice of the United Squeaks have been attacked by the rabbits that live under the chicken coop. Can Milton keep his neighbors from going crazy with fear?"<br />
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<a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/foo-foo/17153297">Foo Foo, by Patrick Riot</a><br />
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I hope you enjoy it, or Little Bunny Foo Foo will get you.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lulu.com/commerce/index.php?fBuyContent=11190356"><img src="http://static.lulu.com/images/services/buy_now_buttons/us/gray.gif?20110908141923" border="0" alt="Support independent publishing: Buy this e-book on Lulu."></a>Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-72987046042943953202011-05-13T11:41:00.000-07:002011-05-13T12:13:35.136-07:00Soul Identity, by Dennis Batchelder<h3 class="post-title entry-title"><a href="http://patrick-riot.blogspot.com/2011/04/cleopatra-by-henry-rider-haggard.html"></a> </h3><div class="post-header"></div><b>Title: </b>Soul Identity<br />
<b>Author: </b><a href="http://www.dennisbatchelder.com/">Dennis Batchelder</a><br />
<b>Rating:</b> 3/5 Riots <br />
<b>Format:</b><b> </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Identity-ebook/dp/B000ZHD9VU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1305307869&sr=1-2">Kindle</a><b><br />
</b> <b>Price: </b>Free<b><br />
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<b>Plot Blurb: </b>You can't take it with you...but what if you could?<br />
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Most people believe their souls outlive their bodies. Most people would find an organization that tracks their souls into the future and passes on their banked money and memories compelling.<br />
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Scott Waverly isn't like most people. He spends his days finding and fixing computer security holes. And Scott is skeptical of his new client's claim that they have been calculating and tracking soul identities for almost twenty-six hundred years.<br />
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Are they running a freaky cult? Or a sophisticated con job?<br />
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Scott needs to save Soul Identity from an insider attack. Along the way, he discovers the importance of the bridges connecting people's lives. <br />
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<b>Review: </b>This was one of the first works that I picked up from Amazon, most notably because it was one of the few freebies of modern fiction that I could find at the time. For the price, I have to admit to not being disappointed by <i>Soul Identity</i>, however as a whole it's just... Meh. <br />
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For the most part the protagonist (Scott Waverly) moves through the story like a greased-up technophilic superman. He has no flaws. Many chapters end with his getting his Input/Output on with a hot-nerd Russian programmer named Val. He's always one or two steps ahead of the villain. Scott smacks of Mary-Sue because of these things. The only thing he doesn't seem to know about is the 2600-year-old conspiracy that everyone else seems to know about.<br />
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Some of the characters, beyond the protagonist, seem a tad cardboard. We do not meet the villain until the end so he seems rather one-dimensional. He's cool and collected when we first meet him, but he quickly turns into Snidely Whiplash by the end. Another character that is totally unbelievable is Bob, a Soul Identity errand boy. He switches his entire world-view in under two days, using the excuse that he's "grown" a lot during that time. Bullshit. World-views tend to be set pretty solid without some sort of soul-shattering event that makes one question that world-view.<br />
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The plot does not feel organic; it feels scripted, almost too convenient. We move from event to event without any real feeling of complication. Obstacles that are put before the protagonists are torn down like paper. For example, toward the end Scott and Val are thrown off of the Soul Identity campus and ordered not to return, however, Scott socially engineers his way back in via the <i>guy who threw them out in the first place</i>. Too convenient... Too scripted. Thus, reading <i>Soul Identity</i> feels like reading source code instead of a book:<br />
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<blockquote>10 print "Here is a supposed complication."<br />
20 x = plot_complication_solution<br />
30 if scott = x then print "Scott wins!"; goto 10<br />
40 if val = x then print "Val Wins!"; goto 10<br />
50 print "*** Error *** We should never reach line 50."</blockquote><br />
Beyond these issues, the book was "fun" and mildly entertaining, and even humorous in some spots. I would encourage Batchelder to continue writing and honing his craft, but I doubt that I'm personally going to shell out 3 bucks for the sequel to this novel. You might feel differently, so give it a shot, at least.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-55431411639175985902011-04-04T22:52:00.000-07:002011-04-04T23:04:14.748-07:00Cleopatra, by Henry Rider Haggard<b>Title: </b>Cleopatra<b> </b><br />
<b>Author: </b>Henry Rider Haggard<br />
<b>Rating:</b> 4/5 Riots <br />
<b>Format: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cleopatra-ebook/dp/B000JQU8P2">Kindle</a><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>Price: </b>Free<b><br />
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<b> </b><br />
<b>Plot Blurb: </b>Originally published in 1889, <i>Cleopatra</i> is the story of Harmachis, a Pharaoh of Egyptian lineage secretly conspiring against the manipulative, petulant and beautiful Cleopatra, the last of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The priests prepare Harmachis for his destiny: assassinate the Greek pretender Cleopatra and seize the throne for the glory of Egypt, but can Harmachis resist the seductive machinations of his enemy?<br />
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<b>Review:</b> This is a thoroughly entertaining romp through the dusk of Ancient Egypt as seen through the eyes of Harmachis, the real Pharaoh in a Kingdom that is being drained of her riches by the extravagant Cleopatra. The plot is a solid one, and it is an interesting twist on the well-known Mark Antony and Cleopatra love story. <br />
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Haggard is quite good at his craft. The emotion is well-conveyed and Harmachis is a wholly sympathetic character. When he falls in love with Cleopatra, we do as well. When she betrays him, that knife cuts us just as deep.<br />
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Where Haggard really shows his literary chops, however, is in the style of the language: the story is written as if it were translated from hieroglyphics that were pulled from a dusty papyrus scroll. This gives the story a feeling of authenticity that I found enjoyable, but I will readily admit that this might not be everyone's cup of cesium. Here's an excerpt:<br />
<blockquote>I, Harmachis, who cast aside the opening flower of our hope, who turned from the glorious path, who forgot the voice of God in hearkening to the voice of woman.</blockquote>Reminiscent of Budge! <br />
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As for formatting issues, the text seems a little crowded during chapter and section transitions as there are no blank lines, but it's nothing that can't be easily ignored. The rest of the formatting is pretty solid.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1865932689493393547.post-82795142471859250952011-03-30T21:46:00.000-07:002011-03-30T21:46:49.433-07:00Welcome*tap tap*<br />
<br />
Is this thing on?<br />
<br />
Yeah, it's on.<br />
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Well, I suppose there's a few things to put in order, first.<br />
<br />
I'm Pat, and I'll be your guide as we wend through the virtual book stacks of Amazon's Kindle. We're going to excavate for the best in self-published books, the gems of freebie classics, and the shrewdest of Kindle deals. So follow the light of the lantern as we delve deep into the digital archive.<br />
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My credentials, you ask? I can shot-put a puppy at least 30m, and a dead one at least 40m.<br />
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Does that count?<br />
<br />
No?<br />
<br />
Crap...<br />
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Oh well. Come along, anyway.<br />
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Remember, if we get separated, don't panic. I'm probably just as lost as you.Patrick Riothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07848877939056850263noreply@blogger.com0