Author Archives: Bob Evans

No rest for the writer

someecards.com - And I thought I understood what I was doing...

Yesterday I held the feedback luncheon for the beta readers of my novel “Command & Control.” It was, in my opinion, the most successful beta reader feedback session I have hosted. Everyone contributed with their ideas of what worked and what did not work for them in the novel. While a there was a great spread of many issues, at least two issues seemed to generate near uniformity.
First – the opening two thirds of the novel did not mesh with the final third. It was generally agreed that the last third felt tonally like a wholly different story and that it did not integrate directly with tone that preceded it.
Second – that the villain of the final third of the book, was a powerful and well realized character who the readers thought deserved a novel dedicated entirely to his story and interaction with my hero Seth Jackson. (It was incredibly flattering to have people compare him to Khan from Star Trek.)
Most importantly about these two points is that I agree with them. When I wrote the book I was fearful that the final section was far too separate from the rest in term of plot, conflict, and tone. I struggled to find a proper bridge between the disparate aspects of what I had conceived as a single plot and it would seem that I failed. That leaves with me two options to fix the piece, and one option to send it out as it.
I shall not send it out. It is flawed and I can see it, I agree with it. It is better that I fix it.
So the two fixes.
One – split the book into two, treating the disparate tones as separate stories and give each the room to be their own tale. This means a lot more work, but if done well will produce the best results.
Two – find a way to reconcile the front and back of the books, making the entire book feel like a single whole. That probably cannot be done with the plot as it is currently constructed. During the luncheon I had the epiphany that the first two-thirds of the book was real a conflict between charter A and Character B, while the final third was a conflict between Character A and Character C, whom did not appear at all in the previous portions. That is tonally very much two stories and not one. To fix that I would need either to make C’s plot part of the opening, or make B’s plot the overall controlling interest of the C’s events, and that would destroy the character that everyone really liked.
So there, I’ve talked myself into a lot more work and I have expanded my list of Seth Jackson books. What started as a single novella now looks to stretch across five or six books.

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well, this was different

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-11
Constitution-10
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-13
Charisma-14

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

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The ups and downs of job searching

So I haven’t posted much in the last few weeks. Instead of having all the time in the world to write what I have had is a mad search for job openings, lots of forms to fill out, and a dearth of any actual inspiration.

This week is looking promising. I have an interview tomorrow and another on Friday. This Sunday I will host a feedback luncheon for the beta readers of my novel ‘Command & Control.’ There have been positive and negative reviews so far it will interesting to see what happen at the group discussion.

 

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Not the best week ever, but then agin not the worst

So on Thursday I became one of the unemployed. This is course a stressful time for and my sweetie-wife. However I look around at the finances and I do not see any disaster on the horizon.

I have already filed for unemployment, updated my resume and performed a basic job search. I See plenty of possibilities and currently I remained in a guarded optimistic state.

This does kill plans for worldcon this year as even if I find a new job quickly it will be highly unlikely that I would have the paid time off for the convention.

To console myself I submitted two short stories to markets on Friday and monday, in addition to resumes, I plan to start sending query letter for my novel to agents and editors.

 

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A New Perspective

Sunday after a pleasant breakfast and a game of Dominion with my sweetie-wife, I departed San Diego for Hollywood California. Sadly the drive North was frustrating, there were a minimum of  three auto accidents (luckily none looked to have seriously injured anyone) that backed up the freeways and extended my driving time to Universal Studios by 50%.

The sky was overcast and the clouds occasionally spritized on the fairly large crowds attending the park on Easter Sunday. I rode the tram and attended a few shows. (I made a point of seeing the special effects show, because I wanted see how a switch I missed on my last trip had been effected. I did spot it, very nicely done.) After the abbreviated visit, I kingkong112710left the park for my real reason for the day out, to see the 1933 classic King Kong on the big screen.

I parked at the Hollywood and Highland shopping center, had a dinner of pizza, and then walked to the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood boulevard. The Egyptian was the site of the very first movie premier and is a Hollywood landmark. It is now owned by a 501(c) organization that shows classic films to preserve the history of the medium.

I have been fortunate enough to see a number of classic films, both genre and mainstream, projected in actual theaters, but never King Kong. Even though the drive to and from took a total of five hours, and I was quite happy with the experience. There is nothing like watching this film on a big screen. And no, your 55” LCD does not count.

The projection was crystal clear and the special effects stood up quite well for a film that this year is 80 years old. Of course you can always spot stop-motion animation, the lack of motion blue is a dead give-away, but that takes nothing away from the monumental achievement this film represents.

King Kong truly was the Star Wars of 1933. I’ve seen this film many times, but on the big screen I became aware of just how effects packed it truly is. I watched the sides and corners of the screen as artist Willis O’Brien created a reality that was immersive and credible. The frame was packed with information and story, these filmmakers had a true eye for detail and how those details combine to created story. If you ever get the chance to see this in a real theater, do so.

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‘by RKO’

The other day my sister and I were having a discussion via instant messaging  and she mentioned that she wanted to make sure her grandkids see all the films referenced in the song (Science-Fiction Double Feature from The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and I commented that ironically none of the films in the song were produced by RKO, despite the songs explicit reference to that studio.

She tossed up a couple of the films referenced and I pointed out that they were not RKO.

However there was one film reference that was an RKO production and it skipped my mind.

King Kong

Which you know is kind of fitting considering what happens to Rocky and Frank at the end of the movie.

 

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A Dungeons & Dragons Rant

I’ve been playing role-paying games for quite a few years. My best friend in boot-camp introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons back in 1979. (To be precise it was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.) I was hooked from the first game, and I still play to this day.

The game has changed a lot over the years, AD&D, gave way to 2nd Edition AD&D, then 3rd edition D&D, then that got patched by 3.5 D&D (What I currently play), that got superseded for some by 4th edition D&D, setting of the nuclear war of edition wars, and soon we’ll see yet another iteration.

For sometime I have been pondering how the changes in the rules have change how we, or at least how I play the game. I’m not speaking of the mechanics, what dice you roll and how you determine success or failure in the game, but rather how the worlds and adventures are constructed and from that what the feel of the games become. Continue reading →

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In Praise of Senator Warren:

Last week I praised conservative/libertarian Senator Rand Paul for his filibuster over this administrations stand on the use of armed drones on American soil. Today I am praising liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren for her stand on the HSBC scandal. (Mega-Bank HSBC has admitted to laundering nearly a billion dollars for Mexican Drug lords, and helping American enemies such as Iran and Cuba evade international sanctions.)

Senator Warren is outranged that not one person involved has been charged with a criminal action, or been personally sanctioned for this blatant law breaking. HSBC itself was fined 1.9 billion, but works out to about a month’s profits, a hit but hardly something that really smarts.

It undermines out system of government with being rich and powerful means you can flaunt the law. A person buying a personal amount of those illegal drugs would faces years, many years, in prison but the men who helped our enemies evade our sanctions are left untouched. It is a travesty, ‘laws must bind high and low alike or they are not laws at all’.This cozy relationship between regulators, and officials must be end.

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