Guess what just came out today?

Guess what just came out today?



https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MZCNXFD

Dead Authors

This is something that's been stuck in the craw for a looooong time now. It has to deal with people who, for whatever reason, decide that they're going to write a dead author's works. Now few have the gall to re-write a dead author's work to 'improve on it', and I'm quite sure that there is a special place in hell for those people. It's the real reason that I have a strong dislike and disregard for a particular third-rate author out there, beyond his inability to ever come up with something original on his own.

Next you have the people who wish to write stories in the existing universe of a dead author. These people I'm fine with actually. As long as they stay true to the universe, that's about all I'd want to see. But regardless of whether or not they do, they're at least trying to do something original and hopefully they got whatever permissions needed and again, hopefully, they're trying to pay some respects to an author that they enjoyed.

The last group are those who try to pick up a dead author's characters and write new stories with them, and that's what I want to talk about today.

Now, before I start, how many albums did Jimi Hendrix release after he died? Dozens if not hundreds. You may ask how that came to be, that a famous musician released more albums after his death and the answer is simple: They took all of his studio recordings, the stuff that he felt was shit and not good enough to release, and they released it. (Yes, I have listened to people who knew Jimi Hendrix and they're the ones that talked about this - they were not pleased).

I bring this up not to cast dispersions on those who would try to continue a dead author's works, but to make the point that we authors have a lot of shit lying around that we will NEVER publish. Because we don't think it's good enough. We may use it for inspiration at some later date for a new book (I'm actually thinking about that right now) but I think I'm gonna put in my will that my unpublished works are to remain just that - unpublished - after I die.

Now what brought this on was reading that they're going to release ANOTHER Karres book. 'Witches of Karres' is one of my all time favorite books. It has had an impact on my writing, if you're a fan of mine and you should read it, you may even see some of it. James H. Schmitz was, and is, one of my favorite authors. Yes, his stuff is very dated, but you have to remember the times when it was written and the themes remain very much intact today. The Telzey Amberdon stories are also among my favorites. I've read just about everything the man wrote and there are times I'm sorry I didn't try to meet him (I didn't live all that far from him for a number of years and met one of his good friends once), but I'm not the type to search out 'famous' people. I figure they're already busy enough without me bothering them.

But I digress.

When I heard that this group of authors had written a sequel to 'Witches of Karres', I was excited. The three authors were all people with experience and established names. So when I got the chance I picked it up.

I couldn't get past the first chapter. It sucked. Now, I don't know if it was a matter of 'too many cooks' or what, but honestly, these people just didn't know Schmitz, they didn't know his bones. They didn't 'get' him.

First of all, Schmitz was a short story writer. He wasn't a writer of novels. He only wrote six novels in his entire career and if I recall correctly two of those were collections. His main forte was writing short stories. He wasn't really a novelist, and while most don't understand it, there is a significant difference in the two forms of writing.

A brief aside here: I started out as a novelist. My first real writing was a novel which thanks to bit rot is lost to all time (which is fine, it sucked) my second attempt was 'Children of Steel'. I wrote another novel (Danger Money) and as I couldn't find an outlet for that work (pre-web days) I stopped writing. I then discovered an outlet, but I could only submit short stories. My first attempts weren't very good, but with the help of Gerald Perkins and more than a few things that I read, I figured it out. Then I wrote nothing but short stories for years. Dialene is actually three different short stories stuck together to make a novella.

So switching back to writing novels was not an easy task, but I did (obviously) figure it out and got back into it. So I have a lot of experience with writing each and I understand the very basic differences between the two styles. Schmitz wrote his novels as a collection of short stories. My book 'Shadow' (written as Jan Stryvant) was a collection of short stories. They weren't even written in the order that they appear in the book, (also I never intended to publish them, but that's another story). When it was suggested to me that I publish them, I reworked them into the correct chronological order, then tied them together so that they flowed.

When I look at Agent of Vega or Witches of Karres or The Universe Against her, it's obvious that Schmitz was still writing them as short stories and then stitching them together. It's like the difference between an album that's just a bunch of songs and a theme album. Yes, it's one story, but the 'breaks' are still there.

So when I picked up the sequel and the first thing I see is the story is picking up exactly where Schmitz left off in Witches, I knew they didn't get him.

First off, Schmitz had more than enough time to write a sequel to the book, yet he never did. Oh, he may have considered it, may have even made some notes about it, but the fact is: he didn't do it. So any notes or unfinished work he may have left lying around, was left lying around for a reason: He didn't think it would work.

Second off, if you're going to write a sequel, you need the damn break! You cannot pick up an hour or a day later. You cannot pick up with the humorous denouement of the story and run with it! It's the damn denouement, it wasn't meant to be picked up on! If you're going to carry forward with anything about the 'baby' vatch in the next book, the only way to really do it would be as a series of 'remembered' lessons, or snide comments made by Goth. That is very much a tell don't show, like when Captain Pausert discusses how he got rid of all that junk cargo.

I can't comment more on the book, because I didn't want my childhood memories destroyed. I don't know why they picked the authors that they did to write the sequel(s). I don't know if an editor said 'I think these will do well at it' or if they asked for volunteers. Whichever it was, they failed miserably on the hook, and the hook is the most important part of the story. If you can't get that right, well, there's no way you got the rest of it right.

James H. Schmitz was one of the three authors whose writings had the biggest impact on my style. Robert H. Heinlein and Roger Zelazny were the other two. Yes, I would love to see another Karres book about Pausert, Goth, and The Leewit. I daresay I know how to write one. But I won't, not even for myself (and trust me, it was something I thought about many times years ago when I was starting out) because James H. Schmitz has died, and I don't want to be the one digging up his grave. Let him and his characters rest in peace.

Demon Days, the new Valens Legacy book is now live on Amazon

Book #12 is now up for sale!




Link: Demon Days

Edit:
For some reason the image isn't always downloading on the Amazon link, so here's the cover picture:

I have pushed the button!

Okay, my editor did a hell of a job and got the manuscript back to me tonight and I just finished going over it and uploading everything on Amazon. The book is now in review, so I'd say in about 4 to 8 hours from now (11pm Central Daylight Savings time or 5AM UTC) it should go live.

Remember to tell all your friends :-)

Now on to the next Wives Tales.

Audio books, when are the next ones?

Okay, on the next POI audio book, Dusty is working on the next one and while I haven't gotten a concrete date from him yet, I'm hoping it will be before the end of January.

On the next Valens Legacy publisher's pack, it's looking like March.

The next Valens book should be before the end of this month. It was meant to be a lot sooner than that, but life and a back injury got in the way.

The next POI book will probably be February or March.

I'll be in NY tomorrow

Flying to NY for a few days to visit family and some old friends. I'll be hanging around parts of Huntington, Commack, and Lake Ronkonoma for a few days before flying back. I'm in the middle of the next Valens book, #12 - Demon Days and hope to have it out not long after I get back.

For those who have expressed an interest in buy the pack of picture I commission of each of the girls (Roxy, Jolene, Daelyn, Roberta, Peg, and Cali) they're $40 a set and that includes shipping in the USA (outside, email me first so I can find out how much shipping will cost). You can pay me via paypal, just remember to add your shipping address.

I also have a store on Red Bubble now, selling the montage of all the pictures, as well as the individual poses (without background) on all the different things Red Bubble. The link to that is over on the right side of the page under the 'T-shirts and Posters' link ==>

The Valens Legacy series is starting to near its conclusion, which means there will be another POI book soon after that. There are some other works I'm looking at doing next and talking with a few folks about somethings as well. I also need to write the next Wives Tales collection, and see about something for Shadow as well. It's going to be a busy year.

Liftmaster CSL24UL Installation Problems

Okay, yeah, this isn't a writing post. But it's one of those things that there is NOTHING on the internet about, and if there had been, I could have fixed this sooner and not had to wait for Monday to call the company and spend half an hour going over everything. They didn't solve all of the issues for me, but they gave me enough info to solve it myself.

So, you've installed the Liftmaster CSL24UL automatic gate yourself, because you didn't feeling like paying almost five grand to a tech to do it. And now, well, it's not working.

Here is where I was at: No errors on the diagnostics, two sensors installed (I was told two was minimum, but not why. If you hold the open or closed button down, it will move after five seconds, but it will scream at you the entire time. All three input lights on the main board are blinking yellow (and maybe on the accessory board as well).

Well first off, if you have the accessory board, you have to hook your sensors up there. That's why the main board blinks sensor lights blink, because it isn't doing that job anymore.

Secondly you must have one sensor for the gate opening and one for it closing (that's why you need TWO minimum). You won't find this in the instructions.

Third is the edge (get the wireless kit for it, it makes life so much easier). Now the little pictogram instructions with the edge are annoying. Because they don't tell you damn near anything and following them won't often work. The edge has two wires inside. When they touch, it's a short. When they don't touch, well the cap at the far end has a resistor in it. So the unit sees that resistor and knows it's working. An open circuit won't work.

So before you put the edge together, find the two wires embedded in the bumper at either end of the rubber bumper strip (the length of the strip is immaterial btw). The end caps? The way they send them to you isn't the way they work. Take them apart BEFORE you put them in the edge, not AFTER. Why? Because those probes you see in the small cap with the wire? Those have to line up with the wire in the rubber bumper. So you may have to turn it a little. The non-wired cap that goes on the other end has them too, and they have to line up as well. Because that cap has the 8.3K ohm resister in it.

So get an understanding of how you have to put that cap in, before you put it all together. Also, don't put the locking clips on the ends on until you've checked the resistance with an ohm meter, like the little pictures tell you. The edge is supposed to be an opening detector, not a closing one. So another FYI there, it goes on the edge that's leading when the gate opens.

Most everything else is in the instructions, but for some reason, that information was not. And I wasted half a day because of it.

And now for something a little different

I have a friend who lives down in the Bay who likes to write YA (Young Adult) and Steampunk. Now I realize that this is quite a bit different from what I tend to write, but this story (trilogy actually) is really quite good and everyone I've had ask me about a YA story or a Steampunk story that I've pointed to it, has enjoyed it, and told me so.

It's not overly 'Young Adult' for all that it is a YA story, and it's definitely a fun romp. So if you're looking for something a little different, or want a good Steampunk type story, go give it a look. Remember, previews are free!

For Steam and Country: Book One, the Adventures of Baron Von Monocle

Red Skies is now live on Amazon!

Character pictures from Valens Legacy are now up on RedBubble.

I put up each of the wives' pictures (the ones without a colored background) as well as the large graphic of all six on redbubble for those interested in merchandise.
Will probably add the ones with a colored background tomorrow.

So if you have a particular favorite you can go check it out.
The six packs of prints will still be going up for sale, probably a few days after I get them.

Redbubble Link

Shadow is now available as an Audiobook

Here's the  link: Shadow, by Jan Stryvant

Valens #11, Red Skies, almost done

It's a couple of hundred words from being completed. Then I'll spend a day or two on the re-write and send it off to the editor. Cover art is being worked on as we speak. So with any luck it should be released by next Friday.

Then it's on to the next one!