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This is more disgusting than anything I saw in 2016.

Anything election related, anyway.

Four residents of Chicago kidnapped and tortured a special-needs man, broadcasting it live on Facebook while ranting against President Trump.

This is worse than the gang that pulled the Trump supporter out of his car and beat him in the middle of the street. It’s worse than the abusive mother who pretended to kick out her own son because he voted Trump in the mock elections at his elementary school.

This is barbarism. I don’t care what side of the aisle you fall on. It is barbarism, pure and simple. Civilization cannot exist unless people like this are exiled, executed, or locked behind bars.

Happily, all four of the alleged kidnappers and torturers have been arrested by the police, and the victim has been treated for his wounds and is now with family. So at the very least, this story ends happily.

I cannot express how furious this makes me. To keep this post from turning into a barely coherent rant, I’ll forbear.

It’s also very tempting to analyze this from a political angle: to see it as either vindicating or condemning certain political views. I could go for a long while about how we as a country got to this point, and who is to blame for it. Such a post would rally the people who agree with me politically and alienate the people who don’t.

But the truth is that this is so much larger than just politics. Fascism thrives when society enables the worst elements of human nature, which exist on both the Left and the Right. We can see those elements here. The problem is not the other side, whether that’s blacks, whites, Progressives, Conservatives, Liberals, Republicans, or whatever. The problem is the cycle itself, which feeds the worst in all of us.

We really need to move beyond this madness. But unless we come together, this nation will never heal. I hope we can all come together in condemning this for what it is: a heinous act of barbarism.

January’s Book Recommendations

Hello! It’s a new year, and I’ve got a whole bunch of awesome plans for it, including a new release every month! For all the latest, be sure to sign up for my email list if you haven’t already. But first, I want to start off the year by sharing some books by other authors. If you enjoy my books, I think you’ll like these as well.

Nothing Found

I read Skye Object 3270a back in 2011, when I was just getting started with indie publishing. I think it showed up on my Amazon also boughts or something. Bought it, read it, loved it! It’s basically the story of a 14 year old girl who fell from the sky, and her journey to find out where she came from. Written for a younger audience, it’s a fun sci-fi adventure.

Nothing Found

I discovered On My Way To Paradise on the now defunct Mechmuse podcast, and picked up a tattered, dog-eared copy at Pioneer Book. I still have it on my shelf—I must have read it two or three times, and the ebook version at least once. It’s one of the greatest works of science fiction that I’ve ever read.

I can’t tell you how much it’s influenced my own writing. David Farland is truly a master. The depth and emotion in this book is incredible, and the story still haunts me even today. This is the kind of book that changes the way you see the world.

A word of warning, though: this book is not for the light-hearted. It is the most violent piece of fiction that I have ever consumed. It’s basically about a seventy year-old doctor trying to keep his humanity after being drafted as a grunt in an army fighting a war of mass genocide. He trains in a simulator device reminiscent of Inception and the Matrix, where he’s brutally killed over and over and over. To top it all off, he suspects that someone has tampered with his brain, and he doesn’t know how.

It’s a magnificent book. The short story that the novel is based on won the 1987 Writers of the Future award and launched David Farland’s career. If you want to try out the short story first (basically the first three chapters), you can find it on Amazon here. It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited.

Nothing Found

The last book this month is the one that introduced me to Miles Vorkosigan, one of the most beloved characters in all of science fiction. If you haven’t discovered Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga, you are in for a real treat. This is classic sci-fi, and The Warrior’s Apprentice is probably the best entry point into the series.

The ebook cover is absolutely atrocious, probably because it’s published by Bujold’s literary agency (the heck?). Seriously, it’s like the cover of a 1970s college textbook for a psychology class. And the rest of the series? It’s like someone forgot to tell the cover artist that these books are science fiction, not high-brow literary whatever. The print editions are published by Baen, though, and you can find them just about anywhere, including your local used bookstore or library.

That pretty much does it for this month’s book recommendations. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

A letter from my 2017 self

Dear Joe,

Did you think 2016 was crazy? Get ready, because 2017 will be even crazier. It’s going to be awesome.

Fortunately, things here in the States are going to get better before they get worse. And Utah is generally better off to begin with, so things aren’t going to get really bad until… well, let’s just say that when it comes, you’ll see it coming.

Keep building your writing career. Work hard at it. It’s not going to take off until you do. Cultivate the discipline to write consistently, even (or especially) when you don’t feel like it. You have so many stories in your head, and that’s the only way to make sure that they all get written down.

Don’t be afraid to branch out into other genres. Read widely, and you’ll have some ideas that will take you in a surprising direction. But don’t use that as an excuse to abandon your current WIPs. An important part of self-discipline is finishing what you start. Learn how to manage your excitement, and this won’t be a problem.

It’s important to cultivate discipline in every aspect of your life. We always start out with the best of intentions, but that’s rarely enough to see us through. At the same time, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Take frequent personal inventories to revisit your long-term goals, and you’ll find come December that the year was not wasted.

There’s more that I could tell you, but I think this is enough. Don’t let the craziness happening in the world distract you from your writing. You’ll have plenty of time and warning, so there’s no need to make a hobby of watching the world burn.

Work hard, stay the course, and I’ll see you on the other side.

Joe

A letter to my 2015 self

Dear Joe,

Well, it’s been another year. Fasten your seatbelt and hold on tight, because you’re in for a twelve-month rollercoaster.

A lot of crazy events are going to happen in 2016. The things you’ve been predicting for years are going to start to come true, in ways that are going to surprise you. Don’t worry too much about the world falling apart, though. You’re on the right course, so keep working on your personal preparedness and self-reliance, and things will work out all right.

A lot of people are going to be dismayed with the major world events this year. Don’t be one of them. There’s a temptation to listen to the pessimists, to everyone shouting that the world is coming to an end. On a long enough timeline, they’re usually right, but the timing and order of events still matters. So don’t be dismayed. The world will still be here at the end of 2016.

Enough about current events; let’s talk about yourself. You’ve set some fantastic resolutions for 2016, and you’re going to actually achieve some of them. No, I’m not going to tell you which ones. I will say, though, that the biggest changes to your life this year will come as a result of pursuing them. Take courage and pursue them with enthusiasm.

If there is one piece of advice that I could give you, it is this: don’t be an obstacle to the blessings you hope to receive. If we could see ourselves from a higher perspective, we would realize that there are floods of blessings ready to be poured upon us, except for the obstacles that we throw up to stop them. Take care not to become your own greatest obstacle. Be good to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up for past mistakes, but see each day as an opportunity to become a better man.

Keep up your journal writing. That’s important. Also take time to review your journal. There are important things you wrote down in there that you shouldn’t soon forget.

You will experience many triumphs as well as setbacks. Don’t let the setbacks become permanent. You have a lot more control over the things in your life than you realize. Don’t be dismayed by the chaos in the world, because at the end of the day, the things that happen in far-off places don’t impact you nearly as much as your own day-to-day choices.

You’re going to make some really stupid publishing decisions, and if you don’t correct them quickly, it’s going to bite you hard. Gather as much data as you can, and update your charts and tables as often as new data comes in. Only trust your gut after you’ve thoroughly studied the data.

You’re on the right path. Just keep following it. If you stop midway and don’t follow it to the end, it makes no difference whether it’s right or wrong. Don’t quit.

That pretty much does it for this year. Hold on tight, and I’ll see you on the other side.

Joe

Thoughts on Star Wars: Rogue One

The Star Wars franchise is in good hands.

The Force Awakens was a great movie to bring the kids to. Rogue One is probably one you should watch by yourself. It’s a little bit darker, a lot more violent, and jam packed with nostalgia that would go over their little heads anyway.

Rogue one is to the Star Wars franchise what Halo: Reach is to the Halo franchise. The first Halo games were all about the plucky hero saving the galaxy from destruction, much like Star Wars (we won’t talk about the prequels). Halo: Reach was more about the people behind the scenes who set the stage for the main story, much like Rogue One.

I’m not sure if Rogue One has the same depth as Halo: Reach. I’d have to watch it again to decide. But the stories feel very similar.

One thing that Star Wars tends to screw up is the comedic relief, and here Rogue One happily breaks the trend. Some of the best lines in the movie were from K-2SO, the character equivalent in Rogue One for C-3PO and R2D2. Quite a few laugh out loud moments, and his particular style of dark humor fit the rest of the movie perfectly.

As much as I’m using the word “dark” to describe this movie, it’s actually not that dark. If you’re looking for Game of Thrones in space, you’ll have to look elsewhere. This is definitely still Star Wars, and while it might be a bit darker than Empire Strikes Back, I’m sure there are plenty of fans who would debate me on that.

I really like the way that this movie develops Tarkin, which is to say that I hate him even more at the end of it. In A New Hope, Tarkin was always overshadowed by Darth Vader. Not so in this one.

Darth Vader doesn’t get much screen time in Rogue One, but the time that he gets is put to excellent use. His last scene reminded me a lot of the 2003 animated Clone Wars series (the one that isn’t canon).

All in all, Rogue One was an excellent movie. It didn’t quite rise to the level of the classics, but that wasn’t what it was meant to do. As far as paying homage to the original trilogy goes, this may be the best of the new Star Wars movies yet. I definitely plan to include it in my next Star Wars marathon, and that’s saying a lot.

Yes, the Star Wars franchise is in good hands.

Winter update

This year, I’m spending Christmas with my family in Iowa. Even though I don’t leave until Thursday, I mentally checked out on Monday morning. Haven’t gotten hardly any writing or publishing work done since.

Have I blogged about my thoughts on Christmas before? Looks like I haven’t. There’s a lot of things that I really love about Christmas, but there’s also a lot that I can’t hardly stand.

Things that I hate:

  • The movie Elf. Every single aspect of it.
  • About 80% of the Christmas music played in retail stores.
  • The crass commercialism. BUY BUY BUY!
  • The neverending war between “Happy Holidays and “Merry Christmas.”
  • Pretty much everything about the Santa Claus myth, especially the emphasis on convincing small children that it’s real.

Things that I love:

  • Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.
  • Handel’s Messiah.
  • Nativities and creche displays.
  • Christmas caroling in general.
  • Christmas trees.
  • Secret Santa gift exchanges.
  • Spending time with family.

To be honest, every December 26th, I let out a small sigh of relief. The holiday season is a minefield.

New Year’s is a much more enjoyable holiday. I’m one of the few people who actually enjoys setting New Year’s resolutions, and while I don’t always keep them, there have been some amazing times when I have.

There’s a sense of rebirth that I really like with New Year’s. It’s a time when we all decide to put away the things of last year and focus on the possibilities ahead of us. That’s what resolutions are all about, and why I love setting them.

Then there’s Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year (in the northern hemisphere anyways). It’s always insane how short the days get in winter. Even in Utah, which is not that far north, the lack of sunlight can really get to you. So it’s always nice to know that the shortest day is here and from now, they will only get longer.

So yeah, that’s pretty much the holidays. I probably won’t write much between now and January 1st, though I do hope to finish a short story. I figure that’s a small enough goal that I can actually get it done. As for blogging, I’ll at least do a New Year’s post, after I figure out my 2017 resolutions. Can’t promise anything other than that, but you’re probably all busy doing holiday things yourselves too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’s! I’ll see you on the other side of the holiday minefield.

Some crazy ideas for 2017

So it’s the end of another year. I’ve spent the last week or so taking stock of my writing career, figuring out what I did in 2016 that worked and what really didn’t.

Writing is a career where you have to periodically reinvent yourself. My goal from the beginning has been to make a living telling stories that I love, and until 2015, I was doing pretty well. I tried out a lot of new things in 2016, but it was still a tough year, so there’s still a lot left to do.

Here are some of the things I tried out in 2016:

  • Dropping perma-free for a free-pulsing strategy: This actually worked out fairly well. From a pure numbers point of view, I managed to give out more free books by free pulsing in 2016 than I did with my old perma-free books in 2015.
  • Unpublishing my novellas in favor of more novel-length works: This was really stupid. It made my free books less effective, and seriously undermined my earnngs. The goal was to give more prominent placement to my novel-length works, but sales didn’t increase accordingly.
    Moral of the story: so long as a book is selling, don’t unpublish it.
  • Submitting short stories to traditional markets: Worked pretty well. I got a handful of semi-pro sales and made a little north of $120. Not a huge boost, but not insubstantial either. And most of those were reprint sales.
  • Proactively building my mailing list: Probably the best thing I did all year. Instead of waiting for people to organically sign up, I started using InstaFreebie to get my name out. Now, I have a list that is just shy of 2,700 subscribers. It’s not enough to push a new release up to the top of the charts, but it is enough to noticeably boost sales and reviews.
  • Using my mailing list for more than just new releases: I was a bit worried about this at first, but it’s worked out quite well. So long as I’ve got something of value like an author cross-promotion, a free book, or book recommendations, the response has been quite positive.
  • Publish more short story singles: The jury’s still out on this one. Short stories definitely arent money-makers, and the response from free-pulsing has been rather tepid, but I have been able to use them effectively as incentives to subscribe to my mailing list. I will probably keep the ones that still sell after six months and unpublish the rest, opting instead to publish them in bundles.

Which brings me to my crazy ideas for 2017:

Release a new title each month

I went through all my WIPs and short story submission logs, and it looks like this is something I can actually do. Right now, the schedule consists of five short story bundles, four short story singles, one novella and two novels. Everything except the novella and two of the short stories are already written.

This would be fantastic. They say that nothing is better for book sales than publishing a new release, so this would really put that to the test.

Release a series in Kindle Unlimited

I’ve made it very clear that I’m against exclusivity, something that the Kindle Unlimited program requires. However, not having any of your books in Kindle Unlimited is also kind of exclusive, just in the opposite direction. Probably the craziest thing I’m considering right now is putting a series in Kindle Unlimited, just to see how it does.

However, unless I can try this with a new series, I probably won’t do it. At first, I considered putting Sons of the Starfarers in KU, but then I realized that this wouldn’t be fair to my non-Amazon readers who are waiting for the last four books.

Then there’s all the reporting anomalies with KU that numerous readers are reporting. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Combine that with the low payouts and the relatively high probability that KU readers won’t try out my non-KU books, and I’m loathe to do this.

But enough readers pester me about it enough, I may give KU a try.

Raise book prices

By far, the biggest mistake I made in 2015 was underpricing my Star Wanderers books. Now, I’m starting to wonder if all my other books are underpriced.

There are a couple of ways to figure this out. One of them is to jack up all my book prices as high as I’m willing to price them (in this case, $9.99), then gradually lower them over the course of several weeks to see where sales reach an equilibrium. My gut tells me that this is a bad idea, though, at least for now.

The other way is to run a survey, which is what I’m doing below. There are only two questions. If you could, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Republish all single Star Wanderers novellas

This one goes back to what was probably my biggest mistake in 2016: unpublishing all the individual Star Wanderers novellas. It’s great to have them available in the omnibus editions, but the singles were still selling, and unpublishing them really didn’t accomplish anything useful. So you can expect them to make a comeback soon.

What I will probably do is price all the novellas at $2.99 and the omnibuses at $6.99. I’m also toying with the idea of free-pulsing them all over the course of the next year. But that would be really crazy.

Be a more active blogger

I’ve really neglected this blog, especially over the last few months. I’ve also been really bad about connecting with other bloggers, checking them out, leaving comments, and sending readers their way. So in 2017, I’d really like to be better about that.

That’s just about all for now. I’m not quite sure how many of these ideas I’m going to run with, but if you’ve any thoughts of your own, I’d like to hear them. Thanks!

December’s book recommendations

I really enjoyed the experiment last month with the book recommendations. It seemed to go over fairly well, so now that it’s December let’s do it again!

Nothing Found

Don’t be fooled by the painfully self-published cover on this one. Captain Cosette is a light, clean, and really fun book. Imagine if Cinderella got a blaster rifle instead of a glass slipper, and became an ace starship pilot instead of going to the ball. I picked this one up a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, and I think my readers will too!

Nothing Found

Michael Bunker is a really fascinating guy. He lives off-grid, writes off-grid, grows most of his own food, and is prepared for pretty much any apocalypse scenario you can think of. Not surprisingly, that’s also what he writes about. As a student of Russian history and literature, though, he puts a great deal of thoughtfulness into everything he writes. His stories are great, but I read him just as much for his insights into humanity, society, and the unsustainability of modern life.

Wick is an alternate history, where Hurricane Sandy in 2012 set off a series of cascading events leading up to the big SHTF. Just as Anatoliy Golitsyn and Yuri Bezmenov warned us, the global communist movement did not die in 1989, and Sandy is exactly the sort of crisis that the Soviet sleeper cells within the United States have been waiting for. The modern world as we know it is gone, and something truly terrifying is rising to take its place.

Nothing Found

“Redoubt” takes place in the same universe as Wick, but out in the Rockies. Three ex-special forces guys and an artist get holed up in a summer home high in the mountains when the big SHTF happens, and have to fight for their lives. Again, the thing about this story that really shines is Michael Bunker’s insights into modern society and how people deal (or fail to deal) with the end of the world.

Nothing Found

Eric James Stone is a friend of mine, and his novelette “That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made” is my favorite work of his that I’ve read. It’s about an alien race of intelligent beings that live in the sun, and the human colonist who serves as the ecclesiastical leader to a small group of them who have converted to Mormonism. Theological hilarity ensues. It’s a fascinating story, and one of the most well-done treatments of religion in science fiction that I’ve ever read. I can see why it won a Nebula.

That pretty much does it for this month. Take care, and until next time, thanks for reading!