New Release: CONQUEST (STAR FORCE SERIES #4)

Merry Christmas! Available at Amazon and BN

CONQUEST is the next chapter  in the great interstellar war between all living creatures and the machines. Star Force must stop the machine invaders once again--but how?

In the fourth book of the Star Force series, Kyle Riggs has freed Earth from the chains of the Macros--but at what cost? The Macros no longer trust him. He is a mad dog that must be put down--and all Star Force must be stamped out with him. The war expands in this story, and mankind is once again faced with annhilation.

CONQUEST is a military science fiction novel, the fourth book in the Star Force Series.

Another author friend of mine is Ty Johnston. He's a fantasy author and his novels include City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb and More than Kin, all of which are available for the Kindle, the Nook and online at Smashwords. His latest novel, Ghosts of the Asylum, will be available for e-books on November 21. To find out more, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

Here's an article on Fantasy World-Building by Ty:

World building is of utmost importance to fantasy authors. Whether taking readers into unknown lands or to a world only a step away from our own, those readers will be able to tell when a world rings true or false.

To make a world come alive, writers have to be able to answer a lot of questions. Those questions are not always the same, depending upon the type of fantasy being written and the particulars of the world being created, but they still loom over the writer, the creator.

What type of questions? Some basics cover politics, religion and technology. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Particular to the fantasy genres, the writer must know how magic works within his or her world. What are the rules of magic? Can anyone cast a spell? Or is magic use limited to certain creatures or types of people? What fuels magic? What kind of spells have to be used for magic to work? Do spells have to be utilized at all?

The questions can be endless, but the creator of a fantasy world must be able to answer them.

For fantasy authors, hopefully most of those questions are answered before pen is put to paper or before fingers touch the keyboard. Knowledge of those answers can help a writer bring life to a fantasy world.

Obviously not every single question that could come to mind can be answered. But the writer should know enough about his or her world to be able to come up with an answer without too much effort.

A half dozen years ago when I set out to create a world for my epic fantasy writing, I asked myself what kind of stories I wanted to tell. I started out with one character, my Kron Darkbow character, and slowly spread out from there.

I wanted Kron to be someone with many different skills, sort of like Batman in a pseudo-historical world, but I did not want magic as one of those tools. I wanted a protagonist who could exist in a world of magic without using magic. To that end, I decided I did not want a high magic world, one in which dragons and other races existed alongside mankind, and in which magic was in everyday use. If powerful magics were being tossed around nilly-willy, my Darkbow character would face odds almost impossible to overcome.

So, I settled for a world with relatively little magic use. Then I had to decide why this was so. Why was magic not all that common? I wanted the use of magic to be available to nearly anyyone, but at the same time to be limited in the scope of that use.

I eventually decided upon societal pressures against magic, with historical and religious reasons why this would be so. As I reached back for that history, my story continued to grow beyond Kron and his particular time period. I began to envision in my mind a sweeping epic of a tale across thousands of years, with the focus eventually being upon one particular era, Kron’s.

But then it occurred to me, why am I going so easy on my protagonist? Why not throw him into a world with high levels of magic? In the end, I came to a compromise. I placed Kron in a time period in which the use of magic was beginning to grow. Before Kron’s time, magic had been quite uncommon. But during his lifetime, magic was not only slowly becoming commonplace, but powerful magics were on the rise.

Why all of this should be so is the back story, actually multiple back stories, all of which I’m not going to reveal here because I’ll do so eventually in novel form. And, of course, I’m selfish in that I want to keep some secrets to myself.

If I ever finish all of my epic fantasy tales, what I think of as my Ursia Chronicles, I’ll probably have between 40 and 50 novels, along with a handful of novellas and an untold number of short stories. Most of the tale will take place over about 2,000 years, with the majority of the events taking place within Kron’s own lifetime. During that 2,000 years, there are many different eras, each which affected my created world in different ways. And that’s mostly on one continent. My world has at least two other continents, which I’ll touch upon eventually; and there will be important events outside of that 2,000-year span.

And if you ask me a question pertaining to any of those time periods or continents, I’m pretty sure I can answer. If not, I’ll fake it. I’m a writer, after all. We do that sometimes.

Another friend of mine and fellow author of Military SF is Vaughn Heppner

Here's an article by him concerning the origins of story ideas:

Generating Story Ideas

How do you get your ideas? That’s a common question. Another is, once you have your idea, how do you spin it into a novel?

Personally, I think good ideas are gifts that bubble out of your subconscious. If you want to write good SF, read tons of SF. Eventually a cool idea will bubble up from your seething unconscious, one that tickles your fancy enough that you want to write about it. The trick is in capturing the idea, knowing that you have something good. Sometimes the ideas don’t even bubble up. You read them in a story. I recall reading a book where the author casually tossed off the idea of slinging asteroids around Jupiter and raining them at Earth. The idea fascinated me, and the author hardly touched upon it other than for a few paragraphs.

I took that idea of attacking with asteroids and wrote Planet Wrecker, and it sold well enough to pay my family’s groceries for a year.

The secret is in finding something that tickles you and then playing with it for a while and see what you see.

I have a new novel out called: The Darkling. As I kid, I used to work for my dad on Saturdays. I remember having to tear a door out of really long grass. This door had chicken wire and the grass had grown through it. I can still hear that ripping grass. And I remember how hard it was to yank up. One day I thought about a knight lying in grass like that, with the blades growing up through his chainmail. I realized the knight would have had to be lying there a long time. It was so long, he’d have to be dead. So why does he sit up? That got me to thinking, and that thinking turned into my latest novel.

Another time during a long car ride, I thought about a person named Grumble Snoot. The only bubbling I received this time was his name. What kind of person would be named Grumble Snoot? After some careful thought, I realized it would be a grumpy leprechaun-type person who loved pilfering from big people. I wrote a short story called “Grumble Snoot” that sold to Sword & Sorceress long ago and later made it into my e-book Stronium-90.

Ideas are everywhere, in life, in books, in movies, even in the Bible. My Lost Civilization Series came from there. The Tree of Life in Eden with a cherub guarding it with a flaming sword…. What if bad guys tried to storm past the angel so they could eat from the tree and live forever? Whoa, wait a minute. The early chapters of Genesis tell of Nephilim, who seemed to be half angel and half human. They would have the power to try something like that and the inclination. In such a way the series was born.

I think asking “what if?” helps. Sometimes combining what ifs can produce an interesting idea. I thought about a time traveler wanting to speak with Socrates. For some reason, I also thought about a gorilla with cybernetic implants trying to assassinate a man. I put the two ideas together and my time traveling gorilla with cybernetic implants is trying to understand the nature of man. He’s working for robots after a future disaster that has wiped out humanity. The gorilla ends up speaking with Socrates. For two days before writing the piece, I read the Dialogues of Socrates as written by Plato. I wanted to try to capture Socrates’ voice. The story was called “The Dialogue of Kong and Socrates.” It won a Writers of the Future contest and later made it into my short story collection.

That wasn’t bad for a few days musing. Some people call such musing daydreaming. It turned out that daydreaming was far more practical than my teachers tried to make me believe. Talk about sweet revenge, but that’s another matter.

One of the most wonderful things with the E-Book Revolution is that you can literally write whatever you want, and then you can put it up. There are no more publishing house gatekeepers. Find out what you love to write, and write it. Jot down ideas that strike your fancy. Think about them and then try writing about what you think. I have, and it has changed my life. Maybe it can change yours, too.

News: B. V. Larson Featured author of Amazon's new SF imprint (October, 2011)

I've been sworn to secrecy by Amazon on this one for a long time. For months, they've been telling me the announcement was only a week or two off, but the day has finally come. Amazon has launched a major SF/Fantasy/Horror imprint called 47North. They've signed 8 authors and I'm proud to be one of them. The Urban Fantasy series is called "Unspeakable Things" and the first book TECHNOMANCER can already be preordered. An article on Publisher's Weekly outlines the imprint HERE.

Yes, my fiction is finally in print under a major publisher, I'll be in bookstores, etc.

-BVL

Wayne Wightman, a long time friend of mine and my original creative writing professor, has had great success with his bestselling science fiction post-apocalypse adventure SELECTION EVENT.

I asked Wayne to write an essay on the topic of writing, and here it is:

E-Z Quik Novel Writing

            Writing a novel is an intimidating job. It's hours and hours of living inside your head, keeping track of 600 details, and trying to be interesting to strangers. Anything to make it easier is good. Consider this option: I have a friend who writes novels in this interesting non-standard way. He writes a screenplay, sends it to his agent to market, and in the meantime turns the screenplay into a novel.

            Several years ago, I was going to become wealthy by writing screenplays. That was a bit of foolishness I had almost forgotten until I thought about my friend's screenplay-to-novel method. I pulled out Metamind, gave it a re-read, and realized this might not be such an overwhelming job. It wasn't. Thus Metamind came into existence.

            A screenplay gives the simplest indications of setting [Forest.] and action [They fight.]. The rest of it, 98%, is dialogue.

            So Metamind already had the story and all the dialogue. What remained was to insert the settings and actions, smooth and adjust. It was far less than half the work that writing the whole thing would have been. Now, I know people usually don't have miscellaneous screenplays lying around, but you can try the next best thing:

            In the sequel, Metamorph, the first draft is essentially a screenplay—it's 80% dialogue with only bare-bones description and action. Doing it this way gets the plot nailed down, establishes character movement, all the character psychology, etc. Then the first, second, third, and n^th revisions, I'll layer in the necessary pieces.

            By splitting up the work this way, after the “screenplay” first draft is laid out, you can better see the whole thing for the first time (in part because it's a lot shorter) and make whatever adjustments need to be made without having to rewrite all the accompanying description and action. If, say, you want to shift a scene from a city sidewalk to the edge of a volcano, with this method, you don't have to toss out and rewrite three pages here and two pages there; you insert it on the first revision and all the dialogue stays more or less the same.

            At the very least, if you just think “Minimize action and description,” you can get the first draft laid out much more quickly—and a functioning first draft, as we all know, is the Biggest Prize.

            Give it a shot. See if it works for you.

Thanks for the advice, Wayne, I have two SF screenplays by chance on my hard drive...maybe they will become novels someday soon!

-BVL

Update: SWARM goes Audible! Available NOW (October, 2011)

Audible.com has published the Star Force Series in audiobook format.  The voice-acting (Unabridged by Mark Boyett) is done for the first two books (SWARM and EXTINCTION)! They've extended the contract to include REBELLION, which should be out soon!

-BVL

New: REBELLION (STAR FORCE SERIES #3)

Released: August, 2011 at Amazon and BN

Note to concerned readers: I thank you for suggested edits, but one I'm getting mail about is not an error... "attitude jet" is the correct aeronautical term. Google it! -BVL

REBELLION is the turning point in the great interstellar war between all living creatures and the machines. Star Force is on the side of the machines—but for how long?

In the third book of the Star Force series, Kyle Riggs learns just what kind of war Earth is caught up in. At the mercy of the Macros, his marines fight against new alien races, big and small. They battle the innocent and the vile alike, until their situation becomes grim.

REBELLION is a military science fiction novel, the third book in the Star Force Series.

News: Borders Announces Liquidatation, and will close all remaining stores. (July 18, 2011)

Big news in the Traditional Print book world, which seems to be collapsing even faster than anticipated. Borders could not find a buyer and has filed for liquidation.

Op Ed piece by B. V. Larson:

What does it mean for Indies? I would expect a short term sales drop, as bargain hunters (our bread and butter customers) head to local Borders stores and spend their reading dollar on books in liquidation sales. I saw this dip in spring when they closed several hundred stores. After this dip, I would expect a rebound and a surge in sales due to the removal of competition in some areas. People faced with long drives will be more likely to buy an ereader, and thus speed up the bulldozer.

-BVL

(March, 2011)

My Guest Post on Joe Konrath's Blog is up!

(Below is the text of my Post, my "EBook Story")

The Past:
My ebook odyssey began in April 2010, when I rediscovered Joe’s blog (thanks again, Joe) and read about how well he was doing on Amazon. I decided to give it a try after many years of firing blindly at New York.

I’d been successful in non-fiction (have a textbook series), but I’d never managed more than a few pro short story sales in fiction. I’ve actually had three agents and many “rewrite this” and “almosts” with editors.

When I started ebooking I’d never laid eyes on a Kindle, but by the end of May I had two books up and 7 big sales. Things grew rapidly from there, and over the last six months I've had over 100,000 PAID ebook sales, including 26,000 in December and 38,000 in January. Most of these sales were for $2.99.

I did it all without a fan-base or a web-presence. I had nothing going for me other than determination, a pile of unsold manuscripts and a willingness to adapt.

My point is: Indies can succeed.

The Present:
In January, Amazon made me their first "Featured Author" in the new DTP newsletter. I've had a few calls from publishers and the like, but I've stayed completely independent thus far. I’m not philosophically opposed to working with traditional publishing. I take a business-like view: if someone can convince me that signing a deal with them is worthwhile, I’ll sign it. This is best done mathematically, however, not with slogans and promises of glory.

On the personal side, no one is more stunned by my success than I am. In truth, I’m feeling my way through this new universe. I feel like it’s 1993 and I just figured out how to make a website. The world is wide open at this point.

The Future:
Things are very likely to become dramatic in this industry. I seriously see the current publishing structure as unsupportable. Tech has a way of doing that (look it up in an econ book, it’s called “creative destruction”). There is bound to be a period of turmoil when new business methods are applied. Hardest hit will be those who can’t adapt, like silent movie stars trying to find work in “talkies”. Or like radio stars trying to make the transition to TV. Writers and actors were once paid a salary by movie studios. Things change.

By 2020, I would be very surprised if printed materials weren’t the exception, rather than the rule. If you don’t believe me, take a look at that MP3 player in your pocket and ask yourself how many CDs, cassette tapes or 8-tracks you’ve bought lately.

Logically, the most indispensable individual is the creator of the content in any industry. Authors are the factories, and therefore we are the one thing that can’t be eliminated. Who was that publisher who famously said: “This would be a great business if it weren’t for the authors”? Such attitudes must be rethought.

The two things you have to have in this business are the author and the reader, so the real stress will fall on the packagers and distributors in between us. My goal is to stay calm and focus on my work. I’m only concerned about my readers. If I keep them happy, they will keep me happy.

Advice:
There are a thousand useful pieces of advice right here on this website. I won’t repeat them. But I will tell you my guiding light: writing is all about the reader. I never sit down and start out thinking about “what I’d like to write.” I start out with what I’d like to read. I’m even more interested in what others would like to read. I think about the reader all the time—where they are in their minds, where they want to go next—then I write until they get there. Writing is not about me. It’s about my readers.

Contact Me Directly:

BVLarson@BVLarson.com

Images from Book Expo America 2011:

NEWS: Thanks to my hosts from Amazon, I had an excellent learning experience out at Book Expo America in New York in May. I was happy to meet some of my readers out there, and I've posted a few pictures of the event above.

-BVL

STAR FORCE SERIES: Amazon and BN

Earth arms marines with alien technology and builds its first battle fleet!

Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there....

SWARM is the story of Earth’s annexation by an alien empire. Long considered a primitive people on a backwater planet, humanity finds itself in the middle of a war, and faced with extinction. SWARM is a full length novel of Military Science Fiction, and gives one man's view of an ever-growing interstellar war.

The Haven Series