No Excuses, But Here Are the Excuses.

Its been over a month since my last post. I've been busy with so many things that I've neglected to follow up with any new posts. Life's been extremely busy as of late. It is the summer season, and schedules are a little tighter. I can give all the excuses that I want, but the bottom line is that I haven't been very responsible in regards to keeping up with my posts. My new plan is to just post when I have an interesting topic to discuss.  That's my intention. It is summer, I do have other obligations, and things can change.

Until next time...

Current Projects

I'm currently working my first fantasy novel entitled 'Manx.' Background: It involves orcs, humans, and dwarves, but not in the typical context. The orcs in my world are not necessarily the good guys, but are the dominant race/species.Where as the humans are vile, barbaric, and bent on revenge. The humans will use subterfuge, sorcery, and guile to tear apart the civilized orc kingdom internally and will eventually carry out a frontal assault from their borders in an attempt to take back the lands they feel were rightfully theirs.

My story begins with a simple orc servant girl named 'Manx' and the dark adventure she will soon embark upon in this cruel, despotic, and dire world...

My other work is a collection of short stories based in Manx's world. They will be side stories, but I hope to flesh out Manx's world (locations and minor characters) through the telling of the shorter tales and have some fun along the way. They will be fast paced and action filled. Some of the stories will lean more towards dark comedy while others will be more sinister. 

That as of now is my current plan. I do have about five more projects in the works, but I'm primarily focusing on 'Manx' and the short story collection at this time.

That's all for now.

Grind Pulp Podcast

Just wanted to say a couple of things about GrindPulp podcast. This is something I am involved with and will mention periodically. The podcast was conceived not only by Andrew Crevier, but also by Jeronimo Brown and myself. In it we discuss what pulp fiction is today with a stress on grind pulp. In this episode we review  three short stories and three movies and discuss how they fit into the pulp and grind pulp genre. Its an interesting and fun time. I hope you will check it out.

We just recorded our first session this weekend. You can find it on http://grindpulppodcast.blogspot.com website and you can find it on Facebook.

Until next time...

Fantasy - Epic Sword and Sorcery

      I was around 8 years old when I developed a keen interest in the fantasy genre. Inspiring films included:  Conan (the Barbarian and the Destroyer), DeathStalker, Beastmaster, Dragon Slayer, Clash of the Titans - the original, Legend, Red Sonya, and Highlander to only name a few. I know Clash is based on Greek mythology, but I felt it fit in well with that era's line of fantasy films. I found those films inspiring and craved more. My brother and I watched many of those on the big screen. When VCRs and movie rental stores exploded we haunted every mom and pop video store in search of all of the fantasy films we could find. Yes, I've seen an ample amount of fantasy genre films: the good, bad, terrible, and worse than terrible. It was good fun.
       In middle school and high school I discovered many books and authors that hooked me. One of the first books was of course, The Hobbit. Then the first Shanarra trilogy by Terry Brooks, then I tackled The Lord of the Rings for the first time. It transformed my whole view on the genre. LOTR made me look at fantasy in a whole new light. I guess this was the period in my life I developed a love for the written epic fantasy. That's not to say that I didn't familiarized myself with a little sword and sorcery. I did stumble upon Moorecock and Leibert, but unfortunately didn't spend much time reading their works at that point in my life. Although I later, in my college years found Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman and it piqued my interest once again in the Sword and Sorcery realms. To make a long story short, I've bounced between both forms of the genre throughout the years. I've always been more drawn to the epic fantasy, but still I crave the fast action adventure of sword and sorcery.  Hence, I came up with the title of this blog. Epic for epic fantasy, and Sword for sword and sorcery. I love them both. To be continued...

Stop Talking and Just Write Your Ass Off.

A couple of years ago I decided to take the plunge and begin to write. I'm a late bloomer to the art, but it's something I've wanted to do for many years. Why not earlier? Fear of rejection and the fear of failure. Simple as that. Has the work been easy? I will admit you have good days and bad days but it's like having another job. Then one day you say to yourself...'it is my other job.' Have I enjoyed it? HELL YES. I love it. Am I busier these days? Absolutely. Do I intend to be published within the next year? That's the goal.

I'm going to keep this simple...get off your ass and write if that's what you really want to do. There are no half measures. You either will write or you won't. You have to make time everyday to write. Yes, I know from experience that life interferes and some-days you can't write. I still have my bad days. But you should wake up in the morning with the mindset to write at some point during day (or night) even if it is for five minutes or five hours.

So pull up an uncomfortable chair and find a dark closet, your home office, the bus station, an old dingy cabin in the woods, a meat locker, or any other freakin place on this earth where you can find the solace to write.

Commit, close your eyes, and jump off the cliff. There's no turning back. Stop talking, sit down and write your ass off.

That's my two cents on the subject. I'm sure I'll add more later but that's for another day.