Hey Space Cadets, how’re you doing today? I’m sucking wind, trying not to self-destruct from a Daylight Savings Time gone horribly wrong. Tell me again why this is necessary? Sigh, back to other more pleasant things. I’ve finished the developmental edits of No Marine Left Behind with my editor, Corey. Now the piece of literary excellence is off to Thomas and his Red Pen of Doom for a final copy edit. I hope to have more information about that one to you soon. My editing team’s also deep into their edits for Operation Breakout, and I should be publishing it next month. More updates and publishing news to come soon.
You can still get the prequel novella, The Demons of Kor-Lir, by signing up for my newsletter. Also, Boss Man has a new short story coming out for free if you sign up for his newsletter and I recommend it! I’ll be sending out a newsletter soon with more information, but until then let’s move on to today’s Marine Monday. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the journey!
Today I was leaked, by our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source, the official vehicle stats of the Stork Class Shuttle. Enjoy the read, but please remember to destroy this message after reading it so the anonymous source can live long enough to continually feed us excellent intelligence! Without further ado, here is the leaked document!
Stork Class Shuttle
Stork Configurations
Hopefully you enjoyed this sneak peek into one of the most prolific classes of shuttles in the Human Legion. If you did, stay tuned for next week as we anxiously wait for the latest documents smuggled our way!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how are you doing today? Things are good here, the interview with The Dead Robots Society Podcast went well. As soon as I know when it’s going to go live, I’ll spread the word. I tried not to sound like too much of an idiot, but you’ll have to be the judge of that. And on the writing front, I’m half way done with my short story for the Four Horsemen Anthology. I’ve also started the outline process for book four, which we’re tentatively titling Maternal Vengeance. I don’t know the date book three, Operation Breakout, will go live but I’ll keep everyone posted.
Now, on to today’s World Builder Wednesday! Today we talk about cover designs! I’m no expert, and I’m actually colorblind, so this is a hard one for me. My friends Corey and MLS Weech are actually much better at this part, so you should check them out if you want an expert opinion on the topic! To my way of thinking, there are several steps you have in picking the cover for your next best seller, and I’m sure I’m missing a few. So rather than tell you this is the way, let me just say that this was my way. That’s right, the Burger King of cover designs.
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The first step in picking out a cover was to figure out my genre, since I know each genre and subgenre have their own idiosyncrasies. Once I knew where my book would fall in the pantheon of fictional greatness, it was a simple matter of looking at other well received covers in that genre. I found out what expectations they created, trying to get a general feel for my own design. This step is the most dangerous, as you could spend hours drooling over art and lose yourself so completely that your wife and kids send out the hounds and form a search party. Be warned, never browse covers alone! Seriously, that’s my PSA for the day!! Don’t do it, you’ve been warned!
Once I knew what I wanted, overall, I started to figure out designs for my own book. How could I come up with a cover for my own book that fit within this niche? You want to do two things; show your reader what type of book they’re getting, and not create false expectations of your own book. You don’t want pictures of spaceships on your novel if they’re planet bound. Nor would your cover have some half naked beefcake if you’re writing lesbian erotica. The cover HAS to show the potential reader what they’re likely to find inside. For me, this meant considering the overall theme of the book and scenes from within it. How you choose to go about it is largely dependent on the book you write, but you have to have a starting point for any potential artist you hire.
After you pick the general idea you want for this masterpiece, you begin the second most dangerous part; browsing the portfolios of cover artists. This is another phase that can suck you in, and still your soul. You could lose days, weeks, maybe even years rousing the artistic awesomeness of the various cover designers out there. Don’t be that guy, be disciplined and direct. After all, you have to get this done an expedited manner so you can write the next great American novel there’s always more books to write, so you can’t afford to get sucked into the outer trappings. I was lucky for this stage, I had another author, Chris Kennedy, lend me his cover designer. He made it easy by serving as the middleman, but I know this will always be the case and don’t need to learn to stand on my own. My advice, at least for finding good cover artists, is to start searching now so when you’re ready you just have to reach out. And find several you like, as you never know when they’ll be available.
Just to show you an example of my process for my pending short story, “No Marine Left Behind.” This story tells Sashala’s journey during Phase Guinshrike of Tim C. Taylor’s Renegade Legion, into Lance’s world in Fortress Beta City. For this story, I told the artist to give me space Marine’s in bad assed power armor. I wanted them to be in some burning woods after a shuttle dropped them off, and I wanted the dying Beta City in the background. This is the progression of the art in question. Hopefully this helps clear up my muddy explanation of the process! If not, least you get pretty pictures!!
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Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how’re you doing today? I’m doing good, coming down from my editing high. Corey and I just spent four hours reading through the first 14 chapters of Operation Breakout, with another longer session planned for tomorrow to get through to chapter 30. Tomorrow I also have an interview with The Listeners of the Dead Robot Society, one of my favorite podcasts! I’ll share before it goes live, though I won’t know the exact date right away. And I’ll try not to look too much like an idiot, I promise!! Finally, I’ve made good progress on my submission for the Four Horsemen Anthology.
Now, on to today’s Marine Monday! For today’s chat let’s talk about what was leaked to me by our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source! We have the official bio of Field Marshal Tirunesh Nhlappo. Now the important parts! Remember, destroy this message after reading it so the anonymous source can live long enough to continually feed us excellent intelligence! Without further ado, here is the leaked document!
Hopefully you enjoyed this sneak peek into our favorite bad assess official dossier. If you did, stay tuned for next week as we anxiously wait for the latest documents smuggled our way! And if you wanna drop a little into the LegionLeaks tip jar, they wouldn’t mind one bit!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing today? I’m doing amazing, yesterday I had to rewrite some chapters in Operation Breakout because the developmental editor caught a glaring error. Yeah, I had one character in two places at once! Oops!! But, I think the resulting chapter was even better than it was before which is always the goal. I’m 1k words into the “Luck of the Draw” short story for the Four Horsemen Anthology which has been fun to play with. It’s a tale of a bounty hunter, think Judge Dredd meets Barney Fife with a touch of Don Quixote mixed in for good measure and you’ll get a hint of the shenanigans to come!
Now, let’s get right to the point of my latest blog posting! Yes, I’ve gotten bit by the interview bug! I’ve started the Warrior Weekend Series, the Family Friday Series, and now the ‘SciFy Shenanigans’ series that only serves to talk with other authors of science fiction! If they write in any of the science fiction subgenres, then I’ll interview them, so here goes nothing!
The plan here is to create a template to talk to authors about their latest books and their process. They’ll be able to pitch the other stuff too, of course, but when authors have deep back catalogues it’s hard to get into the weeds with them. Those weeds have grown too high, so I took a weed whacker to the mess. Here’s the final results! Now grab your popcorn and enjoy the ride! Today, we have science fiction author Felix R. Savage under the big top!
Just a taste of his prolific portfolio!
He keeps some mighty fine company!
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages,……
First, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Hello JR, it’s great to be here! I cannot reveal too much about myself as it might compromise my operational security. See here. However, my fiction is more of a reaction to my background than a reflection of it. Example, I majored in history and now I write about the future! Go figure.
What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I enjoy roller-skating.
I’ll go out on a limb and assume that if you write books you also enjoy reading them. What other genres do you enjoy reading, and how have they affected your writing?
Everything I read feeds into my writing and I’m omnibibliovoracious. I made that word up just now. I read every genre under the sun with the exception of romance (sorry). In the last week I have read two thrillers (by Gregg Hurwitz and Cate Holahan), a new economics book (Tyler Cowen’s The Complacent Class), and a time travel sci-fi book (Extracted, which was a Kindle First selection and one of the only GOOD Kindle Firsts I’ve found yet).
Who are your biggest writing influences?
Other authors. I read something great and think “I want MORE of this,” but there isn’t more to be had, so I have to write it myself, and in the process it turns into something completely different. But still moreish, one hopes.
Who are your favorite authors and books?
How long can this blog post be? Kidding. Some of my all-time favorite authors are Iain M. Banks, Tolkien (of course), C.S. Lewis (of course), Peter F. Hamilton, Robert Harris, George Macdonald Fraser, Douglas Adams, Evelyn Waugh … Hmm there is a pattern here. All Brits and nearly all dead. Peter, stay healthy and keep writing!! Oh and my favorite NEW author is Gavin G. Smith (another Brit), whose space opera series you should go and pick up RIGHT NOW.
What is your preferred writing style?
All day every day. Sadly I have a 9 to 5 job so this is a dream rather than the reality at present.
How did that lead you deep into the weeds of the writing life?
You mean there’s any other way to live? *tries to see out of weeds* Nah. I’m happy right here!
When did you get serious about your writing?
At the age of 11.
What is your current novel? Tell us a little bit about the premise?
I just wrapped Shiplord, Book 3 in the Earth’s Last Gambit Quartet. This series starts out in the present day and involves a first contact scenario like nothing you’ve ever read before. I call it “techno-realistic science fiction.” Nearly all the technology in the series either really exists, or could be developed based on stuff we have. There are a few bits of armwavium here and there. See if you can spot them!
Shiplord is obviously a series, where can we expect it to go?
Book 4 will be entitled Killshot. It will involve a stupendously thrilling battle for the future of Earth!!!
As I mentioned above, I often get inspired by other authors. In this case it was John Sandford. He co-wrote a sci-fi book called Saturn Run. I really liked the concept, but I thought the execution left something to be desired, and the less said about the ending the better. So I decided to do the same sort of thing but do it right. You judge whether I succeeded or not!
Your characters from Shiplord are sent into a gladiatorial death match. Who wins?
My money’s on Jack. There is a reason his nickname is Killer, and it isn’t entirely ironic!
What do you listen to while you write? Or do you prefer silence?
Unfortunately I have no choice in the matter. I either write to a soundtrack of my co-workers nattering, or (on weekends) kiddie shows on the iPad or noisy children’s let’s-pretend games.
What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve looked up in the name of research – or what do you think the government has maybe flagged you for?
You’re trying to catch me out here, aren’t you? *adjusts tinfoil hat*
I enjoy ALL of it except research. Thankfully I have help with that? Bill Patterson, my science consultant, is a paragon of patience and answers all my scientific questions without laughing in my face. You’re a rock star, Bill.
Which actor/actress would you like to see playing your main characters from Shiplord?
If I ever got a film deal, I wouldn’t mind if they were played by clay animation models.
Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?
Since I have a day job, every bit of free time is writing time.
Do you aim for a set number of words/pages per day?
As many as possible.
When you develop your characters, do you already have an idea of who they are before you write or do you let them develop as you go?
I start out with a clear idea of them which always turns out to be wrong.
How did writing your current novel differ from your writing your previous novels?
This one was tough. It is the story of a space voyage. The voyage takes two years. How do you write an interesting story about people cooped up aboard a spaceship for two years? It’s kind of like a country house mystery except the country house is a bunch of tin cans attached to a nuclear reactor.
Shiplord is full of many amazingly talented characters and I imagine it was really fun to create some of them, but which one was your favorite and why?
I try not to play favorites. It’s not fair to the others.
What advice do you have for writers who are just starting out?
Put your head down and write as much as you humanly can, because you will probably need to write a LOT before you start to get the hang of it. Improvement is a never-ending journey. And read a LOT, too. That is just as important as writing.
I hope you enjoy this little conversation, and if you want to find out more about Felix R. Savage then follow the rabbit trail to their warren in the internet! If they don’t like it, beat ‘em with a carrot and keep on truckin’! And watch out for those lizard people, I hear they bite!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen shots taken by JR Handley and used under the Fair Use Doctrine.
–> Some of these interview questions were inspired by my good friend TeacherofYA, and are used with her permission. If you have kids who love to read, she’s the girl who’ll make the literary introductions! You should check her out, after a lifetime of reading, your kids will thank you.
Hey Space Cadets, for today’s post I wanted to do some general house cleaning.My third novel, Operation Breakout, is with my editing team.I’m 11k words into a short story, chronicling Sashala Kraevoi’s journey between The Human Legion series and my own.She has been a lot of fun to write, and I think you’ll get a kick out of it.Boss Man is releasing the rights to publish it so we can practice the process, preparing us for life after my current contract.I appreciate this, but I don’t know the specifics as my minions are handling those details so I can keep writing.
So, let’s elaborate my plans for life after The Sleeping Legion Series.I have one short story, “Civil Unrest,” which was submitted to an open call for an anthology with Tickety Boo Press.I was also invited to write in an anthology being organized by Chris Kennedy.It’s set in the Four Horsemen Universe, which currently has a four-book series written by Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy.It has been a lot of fun to prepare for, and I’ve already laid out the story, as Corey Truax wrote about here.Then we have two universes we have started outlining, with the potential for our anthology to turn into a series as well.I know, I know, everything I’ve written seems to scream SERIES to me.When I die in 100 years, I’ll likely still have stories I want to tell.
So, how did this collaboration happen?It started with a short story I wrote to practice my craft.It was for an anthology, but I missed the deadline and couldn’t get it under the 5k word cap.My editor, Corey Truax, had so much fun editing it he crossed the line from developmental editor to co-author.He rung me up, and said we could go one of two ways.The traditional editing process, or… we could play in the same sandbox and see what happens.Well, with the hive mind the genesis of my story was more exciting and dynamic.It went from MY story, to OUR story in no time flat.Our main character, Alexis Monroe, was more 3 dimensional and compelling.Our wives demanded we give them this story, one where the female lead was a real person who just HAPPENED to be female.I didn’t think that was as big of a deal, I mean I try to do that with all of my stories but when your wife orders, the smart husband obeys.Hey, I like Corey and all but I wouldn’t wanna bunk up with him cause our wives kicked us out!
What can you expect going forward?Great stories, and hopefully a continually engaging blog.As we develop this process of co-writing, ironing out the wrinkles, we will blog about our process.Some of this will be posted under the World Building Wednesday blogs.Let’s face it, most of my process has already be written so I will only add to those posts if it is something new and exciting to read.I will maintain a blog schedule of at LEAST every other day, and use the leeway to write more stories, and troll more blogs.Because we are self-publishing Sashala’s story, I will have my wife/mother team write a few posts about that side of things to keep everyone abreast of the comings and goings in the Handley Trenches.This includes choosing cover art and all the other minutia that both scares and excites me!
Now that I’ve bored you to tears, I’m proud to say that the next round of beers is on Corey!Honest, would I lie?I mean, I am SURE he would LOVE to buy everyone beers!!Cold beers, just as the gods intended.Sorry Boss Man, but someday I WILL convert you!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how is everyone today? I’m great, I have my wife and mother just finished making their final pass through Operation Breakout before I send it out to my editors, Corey and Thomas. I’m VERY excited to get that to market and see what readers think of the book. I’m currently 6k words into a short story, which I’ve tentatively titled “No Marine Left Behind” and I’m very excited about it. It was my first attempt at a purposely written short story, and my writing progress has improved because of it. It’s been through one developmental editing pass, and if you need to know more about that you can read about it from my editor by clicking here.
After I finish, I’ll be co-writing another short story for an anthology with best-selling author Chris Kennedy. My new co-author will be Corey Truax, my current editor and fellow Mesopotamian Veteran. Yes, you are right to imagine the shenanigans which will follow! I’ll tell you more about it as we get closer but I will be finishing my Sleeping Legion Series before I jump into anything after my current two short stories. When I need a break from Maternal Vengeance, I’ll hop over onto a few short stories, but then I want to charge full bore towards the Sleeping Legion Finish Line!
Okay, so on to our regularly scheduled Marine Monday! Today I was leaked, by our friendly neighborhood LegionLeak source, the official bio of Marine Sashala Kraevoi. I’m currently working on a short story about her journey into The Sleeping Legion. It’s been hard for her, but you’ll appreciate her appearance in Fortress Beta City and later in Operation Breakout even more after this. Now the important parts! Remember, destroy this message after reading it so the anonymous source can live long enough to continually feed us excellent intelligence! Without further ado, here is the leaked document!
Hopefully you enjoyed this sneak peek into our favorite Marines official record. If you did, stay tuned for next week as we anxiously wait for the latest documents smuggled our way!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are screen grabs taken by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing today?I’m good, I will finish Operation Breakout today and I’m super excited about it.I’m already working on where book four will go, and I’ve some fun ideas.We’ve tentatively titled book four Maternal Vengeance. For those of you who’ve read The Human Legion Series, you’ll see the culmination of a plot thread started by author Tim C. Taylor.I’ve also submitted a short story to an anthology, as I’ve previously mentioned, and was invited to another anthology. I’ll tell you more about that as the details emerge, but I promise it’ll be soon.
Now, on to today’s World Building Wednesday topic, prioritizing your writing.What do I mean by this?Well, as creative people it’s easy to get distracted by the bright shiny idea. That next story, the next series can all pull you away from your work in progress and leave you starting millions of projects without finishing anything. I try to resist this temptation, power through it, roll over it like it was the Maginot Line in the 1930’s!Why?Because I can’t send ideas and half-finished manuscripts to my editor and I certainly can’t publish them.
My solution, stolen from other authors who I’ve chatted with and writing podcasts I’ve listened too is simple.Use your motivation for the next shiny thing to push you to finish your current work in progress.Let the boredom with the current idea motivate you to be innovate and come up with ways to reinvigorate the story for your readers.If it bores you, maybe it would bore them and you don’t want to lose your readers.
What about the rest of you out there in the Handley Trenches?How do you prioritize your works in progress?Do you write one project at a time, or are you one of those special souls who can write multiple projects simultaneously?I would love to hear from you in the comments below, so don’t be afraid to sound off!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how are you today? I’m great, and only have four chapters left in Operation Breakout.I finished my short story submission to the Roswell Anthology, which after a quick edit will be submitted to Tickety Boo Press, Ltd. tomorrow.I was invited to another anthology, which will be written with a co-author, and outlined it as well!It’s top secret for now, and we will tell you about it at some point in the future.Anyway, life is good!
Now, onto today’s topic! Today’s Marine Monday is a continuation of last week’s discussion about combat tactics in an interstellar universe. If you missed it, read about the Compass Point Formation here. You really missed out, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, but if you do…maybe that’s the universe telling you to check in on my blog more regularly!
So, the tactics of void combat! Such tactics require fighting men and women to consider things in this spherical manner instead of on a plane. It’s not just what is above you and around you, now it’s what’s below you and around you as well. This obviously means that future warriors will have to be even more alert than their modern counterparts. Further, the cost for making mistakes escalates when you are discussing combat in the vacuum of space. The Void is a harsh and unforgiving place where only the strong survive, which necessitates the creation of new and constantly evolving tactics for the battlefield. What works today, might not work tomorrow.
How do we know all of this? Well, today we have another excerpt from one of the manuals purloined by our LegionLeaks hero! Take a peak, before they come for us and it disappears forever!
One of the afore mentioned tactics is the Half Compass Point Formation. Interested in knowing more? Well, read the excerpt from their manual, and give it a quick look over!
Hopefully this will whet your appetite for me, and if so you should pop on back next week where we look at another combat formation!
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, today I wanted to bring you some awesome little science fiction films.They’re indie productions, but still worth the watch!I plan on posting one every Sunday to entertain you while I’m buried deep in my bunker working on Operation Breakout.
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section or are videos used by JR Handley for use under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Hey Space Cadets, how’s everyone doing today?I’m doing great, making progress towards finishing Operation Breakout this week and getting into the production cue for my editorial team.When I know when we have a release date, you can bet I’ll let you know so let’s move on to more exciting topics.Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of The Dead Robots Society Podcast because it has been very helpful for me.The proprietors of that fine establishment are willing to bend over backwards to help, all you’ve gotta do is ask.Preferably in the Facebook Forum! Why do I mention this?Because it gave me the topic for today’s post.
Okay, so for today’s World Building Wednesday we are talking about pulp writing.My goal when I started writing was to write genre fiction. I have no allusions that my work is high literature, or that it will ever be taught in a classroom setting. I am an unknown unashamed pulp writer, and all I want to do is tell entertaining stories. As quickly as I can, as often as I can.
Author, and one of our generations current pulp writers, Dean Wesley Smith defines pulp writers through several criteria.You have to writes at least 1 million words a year, those words are words which are published. Obviously, if you run your own social media or blog you will write way more. But the only million words to count are ones that’re stories you sell. Another criterion of his was you have to write every day, for the entire year. I tend to like and agree with his approach.
But how does somebody do that?Write so quick, published so much?I know the first thing you have to do is adopt the Michael Anderle model.You have what he calls a minimally viable product, which you get to market as quickly as you can.What is a minimally viable product?For me, or at least as I apply it on my own work, this means that I accept that the story is King.I can’t obsess over every word, every sentence, or every paragraph.At the end of the day, the stories keying in the rest is just details.This means that when I finish a book, while I love the characters and the setting, I have to put it out of my mind and move on to the next story.Because let’s face it, there’s always another story, another adventure waiting to happen.
Is this approach for everyone? No, probably not, but writing, like life, is an individual journey.I’ll save you the sappiness, and acknowledge that we walk that journey with friends and family, but in the end, we stand alone.We are responsible for our actions, and ours alone. It’s a harsh reality that I learned in the Army, one that has followed me into my civilian life.I think it was the sort of mentality which allowed our ancestors to face the unknown and wander into the sunset.Maybe I’m wrong, only time will tell.What about you, are you a pulp writer too?
Until next time, stay frosty and don’t forget to keep your powder dry!
JR
–> As usual, all images came from the Google’s “labeled for reuse” section.
J.R. Handley's Blog 