Monday, September 29, 2008

Spinward Fringe Triton: Now Editing!

This is the largest Spinward Fringe book in the series so far. It goes into more detail with a few of the characters and takes you much further into the developing plot.

At the same time this answers a lot of questions people have been asking themselves about the First Light Chronicles and the Spinward Fringe series.

Editing isn't normally fun. It's not my favorite thing to do, I'll be honest. The good news is that I'm actually enjoying the job this time. Triton is an enjoyable read to me, I'm happy with what I've done with the characters, the chances I've taken and I hope everyone hooked into this story likes what's between the covers as well.

We're still a week or two away from E-Releasing this puppy though. Like I said, I'm still editing and my Editor, who is eager to dig in, still has to do her pass. Then there's another, hopefully final edit if I've done my job well. If I haven't done my job well there will be another partial or full draft. Let's not think negatively though. I think my Editor will give me the thumbs up on this one.

So hang tight, do the survey, make a comment, and you'll see this on your shelf, pda, PC, palm, cell phone or Control and Command Unit before you know it.

RL

Brown liquid anyone?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Call To Fans

First of all, thank you very much for purchasing my books and supporting me. I don't do this for the money, but sadly I require currency to buy food and such. Real annoying.

That's why, after Lulu.com reporting that I've had no sales (eBook or in Print) to customers through their service, I'm asking everyone who may have purchased something through them in the last 3 months to send me an email.

I'll really appreciate it, since I'm double checking their reporting accuracy. Compared to other distribution services, where I've sold a few hundred books over a time span of less than 3 months, Lulu.com saying I haven't sold a single one is, well, interesting.

Thank you for taking the time, please email me at randylalonde@gmail.com

RL

First Light Chronicles Omnibus: Price Drop


In celebration of this book's number one spot on MobiPocket.com I've reduced the price on this collection of the three First Light Chronicles Books (Freeground, Limbo and Starfree Port).

Since the minimum shipping cost from Lulu.com is approximately $5.00 in Canada and the US (It's cheaper in the US, fyi), the total cost of this book is now in line with trade paperbacks you'd pick up in the bookstore. The average trade paperback (measuring 6" x 9"), costs $26.99 Canadian right now without any shipping or taxes.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone who purchased this online, I hope you're enjoying it and the following books.

Work on Triton, the third book in the Spinward Fringe Series is going exceptionally well, I expect to have it in the hands of my editor by Monday. I'll also be rolling over into writing the fourth book right away, since Triton wraps up a lot of plotlines from the First Light as well as the Spinward Fringe Series' I'm looking forward to telling a different story in this wonderful universe I've created.

I hope the reduced price helps everyone who wanted a printed copy of this book but couldn't justify $31.00 after shipping get their hands on one. If not, there's always the eBook version. It's only $7.95, for more information and pricing look to the right. That list of books leads to a couple of online bookstores that offer samples and a synopsis of each one.

Cheers!

RL

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Smallville: Love The Actors, Hate The Writers, Directors and Makeup People

After watching the Smallville season 8 premiere I was in complete shock. Actress Cassidy Freeman is now cast as the Lex Luthor stand in, the regular villain. Not bad, she's a lovely woman and a decent actress.

What had me in utter shock was the abysmal makup job the crew did with her! Maybe the lighting was bad for as well, because for the first time in my entire life I exclaimed; "HOLY SHIT SHE'S UGLY!" It was out loud, I'm sure neighbors heard me. The makeup and lighting people must hate her. I hope her agent is looking for an out clause in her contract and a better job.

I understand the concept of taking a lovely, talented actress then using makeup and lighting to make her look freakish. It's an old, cliche, tired visual device that belongs in films that can actually pull it off like Monster, for example. In this situation the worn out quality of "uglying up" your actress shows in spades, turning this actress into just another example of cheesy visuals. The more brilliant turn in a villain, to me, was taking something absolutely beautiful and demonstrating that the character at the core of that visual presentation is absolutely rotten. Why not challenge and surprise your audience? Smallville has done that in the past and the ratings were fantastic.

These new producers, writers and costume designers fail in such a painful fashion that the premere of this season's Smallville is very near a good example of what not to do with a long running series. Sad costumes, terrible lines for the Justice League folks, and yet another power for Chloe. On top of it all the directing style was like a cross between 24 and Xena Warrior Princess. I love Smallville, I think there is a lot of talent working on the show as well. I hope with the departure of the original show runners this thing doesn't tank.

I expect this will be the last season for Smallville. They should have let the original show runners write and execute the ending. This is turning into a bad ripoff of Lois and Clark (the Superman TV series that came before).

RL

Sunday, September 21, 2008

First Light Chronicles Omnibus Hits Number 1!

The collection of the First Light Chronicles books (Freeground, Limbo and Starfree Port) has hit number one on the Science Fiction sales charts on MobiPocket.com. For anyone not familiar with that site, it's an eBook retail outlet online that's based out of France. They're owned by Amazon, and have a good number of loyal customers who use the mobi format for their eBook mobile devices.

This is a big deal. It doesn't mean that I'm selling thousands of copies, but every day new people are discovering this series, and the follow up book (Spinward Fringe Resurrection), is starting to sell as well. It all helps me work towards my goal of writing full time on a permanent basis. I'm no where near that yet, but I'm getting closer every day thanks to the people who enjoy my work.

I can only hope that everyone enjoys the Spinward Fringe (the continuing science fiction series) and Fate Cycle (fantasy) series' as well. If I've done my job right the plot, characterization and overall feel of the books will get better as people read on.

I'm known for liking my own work. That's why I have a good editor, she keeps me grounded. With that in mind, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this Omnibus has made it to number one, but I am. Frankly I love what I did with the three short books within it's covers, but I have to say in all honesty; you ain't seen nothin' yet. The story continues from this book into the Spinward Fringe Series, and I truly believe Resurrection, Awakening and the upcoming Triton books are a vast improvement over the novels in the First Light Chronicles. So if you're enjoying the Omnibus right now, rest assured the story gets even better and I try even harder to entertain my audience. It's what I live for, after all.

Thank you for your support, as an independent writer you people decide how well or how badly my career goes. I hope you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoyed writing it.

RL

Friday, September 19, 2008

Announcing: Spinward Fringe Triton

This is the third volume in the Spinward Fringe series. I'll tell you a few things about this book while sparing the spoilers.

Triton is a longer book with more attention paid to a few characters you've seen but have remained out of the spotlight until now. As the third book in this new series it ties up a lot of loose ends from all the other books, including the First Light Chronicles.

Here there be answers! The First Light Chronicles and especially the Spinward Fringe series are written as a serialized television show in prose. The very nature of that kind of writing demands loose ends but that doesn't mean that I don't get to give you a set of satisfying endings. I'm happy with how these plotlines wrap up, and I'm working to make the entire book as entertaining and gripping as possible so when you're finished you want more. Not because there are a half dozen unanswered questions, but because the universe between the covers is so enjoyable you need more.

Here's the really important bit, the information I want everyone to carry away once you're finished reading this post: - Spinward Fringe is an unlimited series. - There will be more, in fact as I'm writing Triton I'm writing notes on Spinward Fringe Book IV and Spinward Fringe Book V. Like I said, think of this like a television series and the only people who can cancel it are the readers.

Every day more people are buying the First Light Chronicles Omnibus (That includes the Freeground, Limbo and Starfree Port books). A lot of those same people are buying Spinward Fringe Resurrection and Awakening. That tells me that people need the third book, that they're entertained and that's where I get my buzz. There's nothing like knowing that someone's glued to your pages, especially when the story you're writing is such a pleasure to pen.

I'm enjoying writing Triton, I can't write the scenes fast enough and I've never been so invested in a story or the characters who are playing it out.

More on Triton coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy what's already available!

RL

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Permanent Price Drop On eBooks With Lulu.com

People like DRM Free content. If you don't know what that means, I'll tell you. That means that after you download your .pdf eBook you can transfer the file between different computers, devices and whatever else you want to stick your file into, even a printer.

So, by using the store links to the right, you not only save $2.00 or more per eBook, but you can transfer the file to whatever you're reading it on or print it out for yourself.

What's prompted the price drop you ask? More people are buying the books! People are reading my work on their laptops, cellular phones, pda's and in print.

I thank you, if things keep picking up I'll be able to do this full time indefinitely. That's my dream, not to be rich, not to be famous, and certainly not to be massively published by some TOR or Bantam or ACE or whatever. I dream of making enough money to write full time, take care of myself and my family and maintain control of my work so no one can stop me from penning the stories I want to tell. I love entertaining you, but I want to do it my way.

So again; I thank you.

RL

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Sci Fi Channel: Selling Out and Wasting Our Time, Again!

As time passes the NBC/Universal owned American SciFi channel has been disappointing me more and more. They've recently managed to waste a lot of people's time and energy producing a full season of Flash Gordon, which was just embarrassing in every respect. It was like watching a terrible B-Movie every week written by a bunch of geek wannabe's in grade 9.

At the same time they play host to ECW Wrestling, which is really just a soap opera of 10 year olds and the people who can't seem to grow out of their 'muscle men in tights' phase. I laugh inside whenever I hear a 25+ person raving on about what happened last night in wrestling. It's like listening to someone talk about their favorite soap opera only without the sweaty near nude men flying through the air. Oh, and you'll never catch an actor from Young and the Restless saying; "Nono, it's all real man. This is a real sport here." I'm not saying that everyone should grow up and tune out, but I am saying that ECW does NOT in any universe have anything to do with Science Fiction. Don't try to argue with me on this one, I'll just ignore you.

Moving on to the current day: The Sci Fi channel announced today that they are launching Cha$e, a reality television show where people run away from hunters and earn cash for every second of evasion. They're also launching Panic, which puts contestants into a mansion with money and other nasty surprises hidden all over the place. There will also be formulaic challenges scattered around.

Reality television isn't science fiction. They're wasting everyone's time and setting their credibility on fire. The real sad thing is the people who work for the SciFi network might actually see this, the people who make the big decisions above them won't. They're part of the network television corporate structure like everything else on television these days, and these crap shows are just another way to snag more advertising dollars.

I have an idea though, it could actually get some advertisers and have fanboys (and fan girls, hi Liz!), glued. Imagine, you get a few brilliant but untested writers together. Give them a big empty studio with good digital gear and an endless supply of green screen. Hire a bunch of recent film school grads to operate said equipment. Then have them and other fans who have at least a little acting talent play out the content aforementioned writers put together (one shot episodes or mini series). Their friends are allowed to help them make costumes, props and they have a limited budget and a couple of young professionals to polish that and makeup a little. Now, I think this idea could be the cause of a lot of laughs, perhaps some good drama, an exposure point for new ideas, and a chance for these less experienced people to add something to their resumes. As for the fanboys (and girls), they get to play a character in a brand new (if low budget), science fiction episode and have a chance at coming back if the staff there and the fans online (you know forum traffic would be insane for something like this), liked them enough.

Just imagine, one minute you're on your sofa, then you see this fanboy (and girl), call to arms for a new teevee show you can star in if you send your picture and a video tape in to! Start breaking out the spandex and tin foil boys and girls! You're gonna be on teevee! Or not. NBC and Universal would never go for it because it would be too labour intensive and potentially misuse fresh intellectual property they'd rather stack in their script room. Wait, they don't have a script room, they have a great big shredder now, it's used for submissions to their network that don't go through an agent.

Me bitter? Not at all, I think I'll go make a tin foil hat and a cardboard ray gun. Then I'll go storm their headquarters...

RL

Monday, September 15, 2008

Spinward Fringe Awakening: Released!


That's right, the second book in the Spinward Fringe series is now available through a few eBook retailers (Mobipocket and Amazon Kindle shortly thereafter), and Lulu.com in print as well as in non-DRM PDF.
Here's the synopsis:

The crew of the Samson are caught up in the problems of their Captain as his past starts to catch up with him. Just as new allies start to fall in line old enemies come creeping out of the shadows, putting everyone at risk.

While the crew struggles to deal with their own problems, Regent Galactic begins putting a plan in motion that could bring about the fourth fall of man and position their Corporation as the sole savior of the civilized outer fringe of space. Their ambition and greed spell disaster for the bulk of mankind.

The threads of Jake Valance's past start to come together in this, the second part of the Spinward Fringe series. He's at the same time to be the benefactor and victim of a personal history he knows nothing about.
---

I try my damndest to top myself with every novel and novella. I believe that if my latest isn't better than the one before it it's either not finished or not worth releasing to the public. I'm fiercely proud of how Spinward Fringe is coming together and of this book in particular. I think the characters really start speaking, you start learning where some of them come from and the plot gets bigger. The momentum will carry you right to the end, and I promise you won't be disappointed when you get there.

I'm working on the next book in this series right now, but I'm so happy to tell you that Awakening takes you somewhere. It's somewhere (plot wise), that I don't think anyone's ever taken you before on television, in movies, or in a book. Enjoy this, I know I did.

RL

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Spinward Fringe Awakening: Approved!

It's official! My editor has finished her work on Spinward Fringe Awakening and it has met her approval. After a pass by yours truly it will be released with the cover to the left.

I've been holding my breath with this book because of several very, very large risks I took with the story, and after hearing her opinion on the journey taken by the reader I'm fully confident that this is the story that must be told in this book.

The kind of plot that I lay out for my readers with this book is central to an overall story that surpasses anything I've ever written. In all honesty I couldn't be more proud.

I hope you all enjoy what is to come, the book will be available for purchase through eBook retailers such as MobiPocket, Books On Board and several others as well as Lulu.com. I prefer people purchase the book through Lulu.com since they offer the non-DRM pdf version and they also offer the printed version.

Thank you for waiting patiently for this book. I'm sure you'll agree it was well worth it.

More questions are answered, the adventure grows and the characters begin to sing as a choir building to a ground shaking crescendo.

RL

PS
The cover features the logo for Regent Galactic, a Corporation that has something to do with the story overall.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

First Light Chronicles Omnibus Makes The Top 10!

About a month and a half ago I released my science fiction and fantasy books on Mobipocket and about 20 other eBook retailers around the world. Mobipocket is one of the largest, with a lot of selling power for the eBook market since that's all they sell and they're well known in many parts of Europe.

Sales have been fairly steady, and the comments regarding the First Light Chronicles Omnibus have been nothing short of generous. Recently I checked the sites reports to find sales had spiked drastically, something had changed.

I looked into it and found that not only was First Light Chronicles Omnibus featured right beside a new Star Trek Novel in the MobiPocket newsletter, but it had risen to number seven in the 'Best Of Science Fiction' category on their site! It's also the third most highly rated Science Fiction novel in their catalog.

The First Light Chronicles Omnibus is a collection of the three books in the First Light Chronicles: Freeground, Limbo and Starfree Port. It takes place before the Spinward Fringe Series and focuses on a group of people from Freeground station who have been given the task of going into the galaxy to discover and bring back new technology. The real focus of the story is actually about the relationships some of these characters have and how they learn to cope with their unique situation. It's a character driven Space Opera that runs on a very quick pace since it was written like a 6 part television miniseries in first person prose.

It's fantastic to have this kind of validation, to see the beginning of this kind of success. Even if it doesn't last it's great encouragement to an independent writer such as myself. I write full time, and if sales continue to grow I'll be able to afford to do that for much longer. That's really all money means to me at this point. Good sales would allow me to do what I love for a living and continue to entertain people.

Right now I entertain a few dozen people. I hope that turns into hundreds then thousands so I can keep writing these and other books on a television production schedule like I am now. I finish a new novella or full blown novel every two to six weeks depending on how complex the story is and how much research is involved. I love doing it, all other forms of entertainment pale in comparison to the time I spend writing out the film running in my brain.

I'm very happy more people are experiencing the stories I'm telling, and I hope as time goes by I get the opportunity to entertain a far greater number.

Now I'm off to continue working on Spinward Fringe Book III as my editor works her magic on the second book in that series. All I can tell you about the second and third books in the Spinward Fringe series is that I'm penning a story that has me so excited that I'm having trouble typing in a seated position.

RL

I love you guys. Without you I'd be writing, yes, but not nearly as often and possibly not as well.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Fringe: CW Network Screws Up Big!

Fringe is a new science fiction television show created by J.J. Abrams that has been compared to the X-Files by pretty much everyone. I like it, it's a quality show with a diverse set of characters and built in conflicts that could stretch those interesting relationships for years while they delve into the strange, wonderful, terrifying and sometimes gooey realm of science fiction.

I think it's worth watching and they should give it a year.

There's a problem, however. The Nielson ratings system (which is a pointless, outdated, overpriced, bloated, service the television world worships as gospel), reported that fewer than ten million people tuned in for the premiere. This is a problem because J.J. Abrams is also one of the creators of Lost, which posted over eighteen million viewers for it's premiere and has done amazingly well every year since, even when the show had "lost it's way" according to most viewers it posted premiere numbers well above Fringe. (That was season three for everyone who isn't hooked into the Lost phenomenon).

Fringe had some serious obstacles to overcome on its premiere night and it's important to take them into account, though I doubt the networks will. Here's a few of them.

The full pilot episode was "leaked" on the Internet almost two months ago. I saw a clip of it and it was in high defenition, perfect sound and picture. You honestly couldn't do better on the quality. Piracy of this premere was so pervasive that it made it to the Russian DVD market, where thousands of copies were sold marked as; "created by the director of Star Trek". Even though the upcoming Trek film isn't out, it must have worked. Bootleggers made a fortune, there are even subs in a dozen or so languages available online. So perhaps the right phrase here is: "The pilot episode was projectile vomited across the globe" instead of "leaked."

The advertising sucked. I knew exactly what this show was about since I had read up on it but after watching the first television ads I couldn't imagine anyone on earth understanding the premise behind the show. The 30 second long ad was also very irritating. It told you nothing, looked like a badly edited clip show and there was almost no dialogue. Even I was turned off and I already liked the idea behind the show. Advertising following that terrible mess included more dialogue, more descriptive narration but still didn't tell anyone what the premise of the show was in a clear way that the common IQ 85 viewer could understand. That's your audience advertisers! Those are the only people left on the sofa when the advertising comes on, because anyone with an IQ over 85 is smart enough to have something else to do while your ads are rolling or they used their TiVo and don't watch the commercials.

Here's another problem: The audience most interested in this type of programming are also most likely to use their DVR (Digital Video Recorder, for those of you still living in the 80s), and those figures don't count in the Neilson Ratings system. They're lightly considered after the fact.

The critics generally didn't like this show. Considering most of them are out of date and no longer in touch with the general audience themselves, I don't respect their opinions much. The sad fact is that people see these bad reviews and are too lazy to tune in and find out for themselves whether or not the show is good for them. Three's Company got terrible reviews back in the day, but it had massive ratings. Eventually the critics gave it good reviews just so they could save face a little.

Anyway, hopefully the CW Network (what a terrible name), gives Fringe a season to show it's stuff. I'm sure J.J. will gladly give it his best shot and it'll be the best oddity show on television for a while. I will be surprised if they do give it a chance, however, since the CW Network is already in big trouble and they're sorely disappointed with Fringe's performance. Since the whole network is run by corporate hacks who don't care if it's a good show, only that advertisers are interested, I expect to maybe see 6-13 episodes of Fringe before they flush it.

I'm starting to think if I ever get an opportunity to produce my own intellectual property in a visual medium I might just want to do it on a straight to Internet and DVD basis. Sure, the advertising budget has to be pretty high, but hell, at least I won't have to deal with Corporate heads who would rather sit around and watch the commercials.

RL

Friday, September 5, 2008

SomaCow Dedicates An Episode To Randolph?

That's right, they actually dedicated the episode wherein the third installment of the First Light Chronicles, Starfree Port, is reviewed by Geoff. He also reviews his producer's and one co-host's ability to review a book.

I have to take a minute to thank the folks at SomaCow, they've treated me very well, been honest about their reviews and given a lot of air time to my work. More than I could have asked for. For everyone who has already read the First Light Chronicles series, you'll be happy to know that Geoff got it. He enjoyed and caught the full point of the mind blowing ending. He also had a few other things to say about it without spoiling anything, so it's certainly worth checking the episode (and other episodes), out. http://somacow.com/?p=1045

You really should check out their other shows as well by visiting: http://www.somacow.net/ I particularly like Say...Anything, and wish I had time to listen in more often.

I'll be in the chat room this Saturday between 1pm and 4pm at somacow, watching and listening to the guys live like I do every Saturday. I suggest you stop in and check out the show. You never know what you'll get live!

Oh, and fyi: Spinward Fringe Resurrection is finished and Spinward Fringe Awakening is currently with my editor. The work on the third book has begun, and soon I'll be announcing it's name on www.spinwardfringe.com. Soon Geoff and the guys will have more to review if they're up for it. I wonder what would happen if I sent them only one copy of the next book? Would we have a big ol' wrestlin' match on our hands to see who reads it first? I'll bet on Mickey, he looks quick and wiley!

RL

Re-Sizer: The Biggest Photoshop Plugin Scam

The other day I was going through the Fate Cycle Series image back catalog. There are a ton of drawings from Marc Froment in there, and I had colourized a few myself. Sadly, some of the working copies of the colourized versions were damaged, so I was looking for an image resizer kit to help me get some of the work done faster and produce a better image. I thought I had found it.

I was wrong. I purchased Re-Sizer at http://www.re-sizer.com/ and not only did I find that I had to wait at least 5 days to download the "software" because they use Paypal only, but it took an extra two days on top of that.

When I was allowed to download it I set it up with Photoshop CS2. The instructions and general documentation that came with this "software" were minimalist to the extreme. Anyone who didn't know photoshop very well would have an impossible time understanding what they were supposed to do. I got past that, no problem for me, I've been using photoshop since the fifth version, possibly earlier.

It turned out that this "software" is actually an automation set. That is, it's a script that uses several commands already built into Photoshop to alter a photo so it might look okay after it's resized. You're not buying anything new here, just an automated tool that really can't do any better than you can if you just do a little reading on the best way to resize photos in Photoshop.

Here's an example of what this tool can do using the best conditions. I took a copy of the Re-Sizer logo straight from their website, set the automation to increase it's size by 200%, and let the "magic" happen. Here's the result:







Not terrible, but if I had to use this for publicity documents or any kind of professional work I simply couldn't. The edges are too fuzzy, it looks resized. Here's a quote from their site; "Enhancing photos and images from low to high quality;Enlarging the size of photos up to 600% without loss of quality;" Keep in mind the image above was only resized 200% and if you click on it you'll see the mess it made.

They do say it works best with stock images, but I have news for you; anyone can have really good luck with stock photos. They're made to look good, even the smallest stock photos are offered at a decent starting resolution so you can see what you're getting if you buy the larger version.

In short; don't waste your time or money. Re-Sizer is a pointless money grab of a product that does nothing you can't do yourself, you can even create your own automation to do it better. Avoid this little scam, trust me, these greedy little bastards don't deserve your $10.00.

If you want to save some time while resizing learn a few things from the masters on photoshop forums, they'll have some really good advice there and give you a few short cuts.

RL

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Randolph the Writer: My Big Thrill

As a writer who is far more obsessed with what he's writing rather than why he's writing it, I don't actually think about what motivates me too often. The laws of mystery, love and that which we should not define tells me that's a good thing. As many mystics and wise men have said; to explain a thing is to dispel its magic, or its special power over us.

As a romantic and a writer, I don't want to over analyze anything, as I'm prone to do on occasion, but a notion occurred to me today that I thought I would share with you.

I had just finished planning out the main plot line for the third book in the Spinward Fringe series (that's my sixth science fiction book this year, for those of you following along), and was rewarding myself with a third glass of scotch when a thought occurred to me: I love torturing you people.

The thought of a reader standing up, throwing one of my books down and screaming at because of some twist or emotional height between the covers elates me to heights that, if properly described, would be obscene. It thrills me even more when you reach down and pick it back up and continue reading, that's true fulfillment right there. I wouldn't mind being called the "king of cliffhangers" but I have good news to all of you who like endings.

In the third book of the Spinward Fringe series there are real endings. As planned the major plot lines all have conclusions. Some are happy, some are sad, others are not at all what you'd expect.

In conclusion, I truly do write to entertain, and the height of that entertainment is evoking a true emotional response from my reader. I'm a big meanie; I want to make you cry, strive to make you scream, and endeavor to make you hunger for more. Sounds like the habits of a good lover as well, except for the crying part under most conditions...

Well, there's a fourth belt of scotch calling my name, so I'm off. No more drinking and blogging for me. At least not tonight.

Cheers!

RL

Monday, September 1, 2008

Digg Is Dead To Me: The absence of a literature section is a problem!

Something has been bothering me at digg.com ever since I joined. There's no printed/eBook literature section. Not for Fiction, non-fiction, technical, nothing anywhere I've seen.

So I had to ask myself: Why am I here? I'm an independent writer with a measure of success and part of that happened by being social on line, public about what I do and as much as I like digg, printed literature and eBooks are a huge part of my life. I want to read about literature, and I want a place to post about literature, but it's not here at all.

Imagine working in television, hearing or seeing something really cool you just want to share with the community only to find that your favorite community news site doesn't have a TV category!

Think I'm exaggerating? Consider my position then. This year I've written seven novellas and novels, released five and all five of them are selling on over thirty eBook retailer sites and in print. That's drop dead cool to me! I'd like to properly share this with digg users, and I try but jamming an annoucement about a novel in the Television section (for example), doesn't earn me any diggs. I mean, the users know a post about a novel is just in the wrong section, so why would they digg it even if they liked the story?

Anyway, another thing is, and this is more important. A lot of us still read whole books. Like a couple hundred pages jammed between a cover OR we read eBooks on our cell phones, eBook readers, or even our computers (mostly laptops). Imagine that? Whole fricken books with no pictures! Not one!

Well, I'm not digging until they put a novelized fiction section in the ENTERTAINMENT section, or give us book worms (there are a few hundred million of us at least), a Literature section. We're not a loud bunch, it'll be to your benefit, really.

RL

It's too bad, digg really is one of my all time favorite sites, I even watch Digg Nation as often as possible.
PLEASE DIGG THIS!

Spinward Fringe: Awakening

Spinward Fringe Awakening is the second book in the unlimited science fiction series I'm writing. It continues where Resurrection left off and I have to say I've never written anything more fast paced, fun or challenging in my life.

I worked it like it was three hundred pages only the ideas, scenes and dialog fit in about two hundred. Reduced down to a smaller font size to save paper, it comes out to about one hundred forty pages, and after doing my last editorial sweep on it I have to say even I had a lot of fun reading it.

Now it's with my Editor, whose critical eye and a nose that can smell bad cheese like a fart in a car will not spare me if anything is out of line or a little hokey. It's this kind of safety net that most authors can't live without, and I'm greatful. I honestly don't think she'll find any problems with this book, however, and after the final edit, it looks like this book will be out before September seventh.

Talk about a quick roll out. I started the first science fiction novel, Freeground, on January 1, 2008, and here we are almost nine months later with four novels ready to read and a fifth due out in just another couple of weeks. I have to say I'm pleased with the stories I'm telling, with the reception I'm getting and with the tales that have not yet been told.

Thanks to everyone for their support, there's so much more to come.

RL