Whitney Finalist: Bloodborne by Gregg Luke

I've been shoulder deep in Whitney Awards since the first of the year, and I've used that as an excuse not to blog. That was plain stupid because I've been reading some really awesome books, and I should be sharing.

So the blog drought is over, and I couldn't be more pleased with my first Whitney spotlight.

Bloodborne by Gregg Luke

My wife met Gregg several years ago at the Whitney Gala, and we've been friends ever since. He's one of the nicest guys you'll meet, which is surprising because, man, can he write a tense story with some of  the most despicable bad guys you've ever met.

He's made it to the finals several times before. And this book is good too. I had a hard time putting it down.

I asked Gregg what made this book special to him.

"I love taking actual facts and weaving them into an adventure. All of the medical details and geographic references in Bloodborne are accurate--except for the Armageddon virus. But I made that up using characteristics from existing viruses, so its existence is plausible"

Did I mention that Gregg is a pharmacist? He knows his medical details.

"One thing many people are surprised to find is real are all the facts about the island of Ni'ihau. It really is part of the Hawaiian archipelago, and it really does have the largest lakes in the island chain." 

I'd never heard of that island before. If you have, let me know in the comments. Sorry for interrupting again, Gregg, please continue.

"Over all, I think the thing I liked most about the story was the relationship between Erin Cross and Sean Flannery (aka John Ferguson), how they combined their respective talents to stop the bad guys from wiping out the entire population of Ni'ihau, and how Erin helped Sean uncover his mysterious past."

I want to thank Gregg for answering my questions and for his friendship. Before we go, I want to let the book speak for itself. Here are the first few lines:

Erin Cross's phone plinged and vibrated, indicating the receipt of a text message. The incoming number was a string of zeros; no name was attached. She pressed View.

You are about to die.

What to read more? I know you do? Go here to learn how to get your own copy.

The Whitney Awards and Me

Several years back, Robison Wells asked me to serve on the committee for the Whitney Awards. I was both flattered and perplexed. I wasn't an author and wasn't a publishing insider. Maybe that's why he chose me. I don't know, and I didn't ask.

I wasn't a complete newb. I had started my own company and founded a non-profit, so I knew how that side of it worked. I also knew technology.

But I was a newb in so many ways. By-laws--I could handle. Analyzing and improving processes--good there. But one of my responsibilities was to judge a category.

Over the course of a year, anyone can nominate novels for consideration. At the end of the year, a select group of judges reads nominees and votes to narrow each category to the five best novels.

It was hard. I agonized over each book. Thinking of their strengths and weaknesses. Thinking of the hundreds of hours each author spent on the work. I would narrow things down and re-read scenes and sections until I finally came to a decision.

The great thing about the Whitney Awards, is that it's not just about a select group of judges. Once each category is narrowed down to five finalists, they are sent out to a much larger group, called the Academy, made up of booksellers, publishers, authors, and other publishing professionals. This large group casts their votes, which determine the winners.

To be a part of this process sparked something for me, but it wasn't until I went to my first gala that I really saw what the Awards were about. I met many authors and editors. I saw people moved to tears of happiness and sadness. The conflicting emotions of people cheering on their friends who won, while hiding their own ache of losing (Consolation Chocolate Cake anyone?). I saw, not a group of competitors, but comrades in arms.

I know I'm waxing a bit poetic, but it really struck me how cool everyone was about it. And how many friends I made.

Then the next year came. I saw authors roll up their sleeves to do better. Maybe this year was their year to win. I heard people talking about the Awards with anticipation.

It's awesome to be a part of something that can inspire my friends, but the awards do more than that. They help readers find great books. They bring writers together. They add some excitement to our little corner of publishing.

I'm grateful for Rob. I still don't know what he was thinking, but whatever it was, it worked. I've been involved with the Awards ever since. I'm not on the committee anymore, but I try to help in whatever ways I can.

I encourage everyone to go read one of the past winners or finalists. They are great stories, told by great people.

And to all my friends competing this year, Good Luck.

Becoming a Writer

Most software projects have testers. These are the people who get paid to break my code and report problems for me to fix. Without them, my work is a lot harder.

Over the years, I've worked with many people who made the transition from tester to programmer. It seems like a good fit: both of us work with software, we speak the same "language", and we're both detail oriented and have technical expertise.

But it isn't an easy transition. There's one hurdle that I see many people struggle with. You see, testers and programmers have a different view of software.

A tester knows what the program is supposed to do, and they know lots of ways to break it. They know what they are looking for, then perform tests to verify there's nothing wrong.

Programming is different. No longer are there right and wrong answers. There are often many right answers--many different ways to make the software work. Answers that all appear correct to the user, but they each come with a different set of limitations. In fact, there are even wrong answers that will still appear to work correctly for now, but will come back to bite you later.

It's no longer a black-and-white world. It's not whether something passes or fails. It's about more than that.

What's interesting is that I see a similar transition when my friends who are readers become writers. As a reader, we get into the story, the characters, the setting, the writing. We can spot when an author makes mistakes like plot holes or confusing story lines or bad grammar. A well-written story feels like it is inevitable. "Of course he'd make that decision," we say to ourselves even though the decision surprised us.

But as a writer, there isn't anything inevitable about a story even though many beginning writers think so. I used to think so, too. You feel like the story is driving you. Once you are done, you bristle when someone gives you negative feedback. You struggle with how to tweak your story without ruining it.

Well, let me tell you. There are no right answers anymore. There are many ways to tell your story once you get to the heart of it. You an cut out whole characters, change locations, have people make different choices, introduce any conflict you want at any time or take it out again. And you can still have your story.

Once I realized this, I wasn't just telling a story, I was crafting a story. I could experiment. If the changes didn't work, I'd put it back the way it was. I started looking at other stories, not just for entertainment, but so I could see how the masters crafted their scenes, flowed their dialog, and built their settings.

It's a different way to look at story, but for a writer it's much more useful.

Here's an experiment for you. In your current story, go back to a previous scene and change something major. Have a character get hurt so they can't have that conversation or can't accomplish their goal right then. Or put a different character into the scene and watch what happens. For me, the story re-flows around the change all the way to the end. I can then decide which path to take.

Have fun. Experiment. And keep writing.

* I went searching for a picture that would show that "there's more than one path you can take." I think Mike Fleming captured it with this one. I like it. If you like it too, you can check out his work on Flickr.

The Great Barren Blog

I know. I haven't posted in a long time. I thought about regaling you with all the crazy things that happened in December and January, but then I read this comic.

So, no horror stories today.

(Now, for those who are worried about me, don't be. Nothing was terminal or so bad that it hasn't been completely solved by now. Just events in life ganging up on us for awhile.)

It wasn't all bad though. I read some awesome books. I learned the importance of market research. I had a friend hit #2 in her category on Amazon and then signed with an agent. I had a birthday. Plus, I've been asked a few technical questions I need to answer.

I may touch on some of these things in upcoming posts.

It's good to see you all again.

* xkcd is geeky comic that is funny, insightful, and quite often so profound it keeps me pondering for hours and sometimes days. Every once in a while a comic uses strong language, just in case you don't want to see that.

Tales of the Arabian Nights (Board Game)

Each year whooshes by faster and faster. The last few months have been a whirlwind and the next couple don't look much better, but I did take some time off to hang out with my family.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and got to spend time with those you care about. 

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a cool board game called Tales of the Arabian Nights. When I first hefted the gift, I thought it was filled with bricks, but it wasn't. It was full of pages and pages of game material. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure on steroids.

Unlike most board games, this one is about the story and less about the winning. If you're the kind of person who MUST.WIN.GAME. then you might not enjoy this. To be honest, I'm fairly competitive but I'm able to turn that off for this game. It's really fun to see all the crazy things that happen. Sometimes the fates are on your side, sometimes they're not. 

I enjoy creating a story as I go along. Here's how it works. Everyone starts the game with a random quest. You can ignore this quest if you want, but I like to build my whole character around it. Last night I discovered my father was the King of Thieves and I had to steal some awesome loot in order to take over as his heir.

I traveled through the desert and mountains to Constantinople. The first person I tried to rob enslaved me, then I had to go searching for money to buy my freedom. After many turns, I escaped slavery and obtained one of the quest relics. Huzzah! On my way across the sea to India I aided a prince and successfully escaped a merman attack. The next person I robbed threw me in jail where I rotted for many turns. But it turned out to be a good thing because I met a jailer who taught me some skills that I used to get the last relic and claimed my title.

I didn't win the game, but I had a blast trying to fit the crazy encounters into a cohesive story.

If you like stories and board games, and have a couple hours to play. You might enjoy this game. I know I do. And my older kids do too.

* The image of the cover of the game belongs to Z-Man games.

Bound by C.K. Bryant (Book Review)

I know I promised shorter posts, but I had a hard time cutting this one down.

Bound by C. K. Bryant is like a YA Paranormal with romance, tension, action, and suspense. It also adds elements of magic, alchemy, and pseudo-science fiction to create a unique backdrop that shows off strong characters and compelling scenes.

The story starts with Kira—your typical high school girl—and her best friend Lydia, then continues to grow in scope all the way through to the end.

As a debut novel, Christine delivers a good story. She has strong scenes and does an excellent job evoking emotion. For me, the story slowed down in the middle, but it picked up at the end in a big way. Christine writes strong, complex characters with internal motivations and feelings.

If you're not into indie published books because of the low quality, you don't have to worry about this one. The whole book from cover, to layout, to editing was clean and very professional.

(Warning: A few minor spoilers ahead.)

There was one aspect of the story that bothered me so much, I almost didn't write this review. Octavion, the male lead in the story, has several weaknesses. One of them is physical aggression. This is not new to the YA Paranormal genre, but in this story it crossed the line to physical abuse.

I've known several women who have lived through abuse, and I guess that makes me especially sensitive. It is devastating. The women I know still feel its effects many, many years later.

I'm not telling you these things to scare you away from this book, but I need to tell you a few more things.

During the story Octavion shoves Kira several times, slams her against a tree, chokes her, holds her bodily against a car while she tries to escape, drugs her, kidnaps her, takes her to a place he knows is dangerous and she ends up breaking her arm, etc. After each of these episodes, he is extremely apologetic and even ashamed. Which is pretty typical in an abusive relationship.

With all this in mind, I was surprised to read the following reviews:

"Octavion . . . gives opportunities for swooning if you're the swooning type." - Mere Motherhood

"Believe me, Octavion will make you swoon." - Writing 4 Me

"Favorite moments involve a waterfall and a shirtless hottie named Octavian, . . . and some great kissing scenes that leave Kira—the main character—and the reader breathless." - Randomish

"Octavion . . . is a total hottie." - Rachelle's Writing Spot

"Octavion from Bound is one of my favorite new heroes, and I have to say, I'm a happily married woman, but he did make my heart go pitty-pat at least a couple of times." - Tristi Pinkston

"Octavian is a hot bundle of man that I'd love to meet one day." - Cindy M. Hogan

Then I realized something. Christine got it right.

There is something in the psyche of a woman that is drawn to the dangerous man. Just like there is something in the male psyche drawn to the mean girl. It's not an admirable part of us, but it's there. And Christine captured it in her story.

The real world is not a perfect place, and neither is Bound. I know Octavion can find redemption someday, but I hope it's with someone else and after he spends a couple years in prison because Kira deserves so much better.

It's not often that a fiction story (and a YA Paranormal at that) makes me think about a topic this deeply. I've wrestled my thoughts and emotions for weeks. I feel I have a better understanding why women stay in these dangerous relationships. So, I encourage you to go out and read the book, then let me know what you think in the comments.

After Dynamic Views (Technical Tuesday)

Life after NaNoWriMo is finally getting back to some kind of normal. I'll be posting a few of my thoughts on NaNo later, but for this Technical Tuesday I'm going to report on my other grand experiment: Dynamic Views.

I switched my blog over a few months ago. During that time I tried most of the different views. In the end, I decided to go back to my previous template. Here's why.

Stats

From the moment I switched to Dynamic Views my page count skyrocketed. I expected this.

Take a look at a normal template. When you visit the main page it shows the latest 10 posts all at once. This counts as 1 page view. You see, Blogger doesn't know if you read one post or all 10. It just knows you loaded the page.

Dynmic Views are different. They only load what they need to. As the user scrolls down, it loads more and more posts. Each of these count as a page view. This means that if the person scrolled down through your first 7 posts, Blogger would count 7 page views.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble if you thought your blog became 10x more popular after switching to Dynamic Views. It probably didn't.

The real problem for me was the stats for individual posts didn't work the same. In other words, Blogger was counting how many total page views, but not which ones belonged to which post. This was annoying because I like to see which of my posts are most popular, but I couldn't figure out a way to do that.

For example, I had several thousand page views in October, but my most popular post was visited only 85 times. Really? Compound that with the fact that I had less than 40 posts published and you begin to see the problem. Where were all those "total page views" going?

Sidebar

I'm not a big fan of sidebars, but they do serve a purpose.

It may surprise you, but I don't blog just to see myself write. (Okay, maybe that wasn't a big surprise.) I want to build a platform I can use for other pursuits. I use the sidebar for that. My sidebar has an overview of the blog and information about me.

Also, my sidebar is used to spotlight posts and other places I think deserve a little extra attention. I have a place for my most popular posts, my friends and followers. In the future, I plan on featuring books and articles I've written.

The Dynamic Views didn't have any of this. They allowed my posts to be front-and-center, but they didn't allow for much else.

Confusion

The Dynamic Views didn't look enough like a blog. Sure they looked cool, but they were different enough that some people had a hard time figuring out what they could click on and what they couldn't. 

Sometimes readers had to click to read the entire post. A lot of people didn't do that. I know, that's mostly my fault. I could write posts better to have a hook "above the fold", but I didn't.

Conclusion

There you have my biggest concerns with the Dynamic Views.

From a technology perspective, I thought they were pretty cool. I like the dynamic loading, and if the stats issue could be resolved that would be a great thing. I think I could live without the sidebar if there were more ways to customize the layout and the look.

All in all, I enjoyed this little experiment and I hope to try more things like this in the future.

* I can see why this castle is in ruins. Who knew it was built on such a slope? Babak Fakhamzadeh did a great job of "framing" it though. You can find this and other photos with frames on Flickr.