Ready, Player One

Ready, Player One is a science fiction novel by Ernest Cline that follows Parzival in an economically collapsed future as he tries to win the fortune of the eccentric billionaire James Halliday through a scavenger hunt/puzzle in the virtual reality world known as OASIS (good name).  I was alerted to this book by some of my co-workers who noted some of the similarities with my own novel. Aside from the nightclub scene (we both conceived of nightclubs in the shape of a sphere where everyone dances on the inside surface of the sphere with the DJ in the middle – eerily similar but it appears to have happened in parallel. I wrote that scene long before Cline’s 2011 publication date. I guess that great minds think alike), the plots and world are fortunately completely different. The story isn’t complicated but it is really well done and it’s extremely fun. I was continually pulled forward to see what would happen. It’s a lot of fun and a great read. Highly recommended.

Life of Pi

Wow. All I can say is wow. I got interested in finally reading the book after watching Ang Lee’s amazing movie. The book has been well-known for a while but I never had the time. I now wish that I had made the time. The book is stunning. It’s unique, it’s unconventional, it uses a number of interesting techniques like unreliable narrator and multiple perspectives to really pull together something that is special. It’s an amazing book that forces us to consider our relationship to god and what it means. Outstanding and highly recommended.

 The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy was somewhat of a disappointment. The story of a father guiding his son along the eponymous road in post-apocalyptic U.S., The Road was highly celebrated, highlighted by the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. After working my way through it, I really think that it was overhyped. It is a good novel but it’s vastly inferior to McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. It does have some great moments of poetry and other moments of horror but it lacks the broader narrative that keeps pulling the reader forward. I would recommend something else instead.

Run, Rabbit

Run, Rabbit by John Updike was a novel I just couldn’t get into and ultimately abandoned. It’s about a former star high school basketball player who has a mid-life crisis at age 27. Perhaps it was an important novel for its era (1960) but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about a character who is so passive and reactive to the problems in his life. I got through about 60 pages and then I lost interest. Not recommended.

That’s it for the quick reviews. I’m working myself through Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridan at the moment. It’s better than The Road  but still is a little too episodic and the protagonist is too blank for my taste but I’m still reading. I’ll let everyone know more when I’m finished.

The stage has been set.

The moment has come. BOOOK LAAUNCH!

Yesterday. I held the official book launch for my first novel, Evermore: Call of the Nocturne, at Black Squirrel Books in Centretown. It was a blast. We started off with about eight people and spent the first 30 to 40 minutes eating fancy cheeses, drinking tasty beverages and chatting amongst ourselves.

Then, I gave a short speech in which I thanked everyone who had helped me during the book’s long production cycle. I followed this up with a short reading from the book. I choose Chapter Three as it was fairly short and gave everyone a pretty good introduction into the story and the main character, Blue. However, no sooner had I finished did another group of eight people enter the store. If only I had waited another 15-20 minutes. Some people asked me to read another section but I figured that one chapter would be enough. Anymore than that and it would have been too much. At least the latecomers got to eat cake.

Getting my hair into the cake.

Oh yes the cake! I had it specially made by the good folks at the Nutty Greek Bakery on Rochester. It was peanut butter and chocolate. They even made an edible copy of my book cover to adorn the top. Mmmm, delicious! I can still taste it.

Then, we milled about and chatted some more. Lots of great friends bought books and got me to sign them. Nothing else could make an author happier than someone asking him to sign their book. Oh yeah, the cake got demolished.

Yum. We love cake!

And then it was over. People went home. I helped the owners clean up. I returned the chairs the next day and that was it. I still haven’t got rid of all the cheese. At least now I get a moment to relax and reflect and a wonderful experience.

I would to thank everyone for coming. You guys are the best. I would like to thank those who bought books. You’re awesome. I would also like to thank the owners, Vaughn and Stephen, of Black Squirrel Books for being such gracious and supportive hosts. I will be back.

It was an experience of a lifetime and I was fortunate to share it with some of my best friends. Until next time.

Now available for sale! In a real bookstore!

Poster for Book Launch.

Yes. We have posters now.

Quick reminder that the book launch for my novel, Evermore: Call of the Nocturne, will be happening in less than two weeks time. On Tuesday, February 12th, please join me at 7 PM to help me celebrate the occasion. There will be snacks, drinks, a reading. Paperback copies of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne are now available for sale. More details below.

Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Book Launch
Where: Black Squirrel Books, 508 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON
When: Tuesday, February 12th at 7 PM

Snacks and beverages will be served.
By invitation only so please RSVP by dropping me a comment below!

Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Book Launch
Where: Black Squirrel Books, 508 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON
When: Tuesday, February 12th at 7 PM

Snacks and beverages will be served.
By invitation only so please RSVP by dropping me a comment below!

Location on Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Get it for free on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Only on the Kindle Store.

As part of the KDP Select program on Amazon, I am given five days every three months where I can promote the Kindle Edition of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne by giving it away for free. I am proud to announce that the next three promotional days will all be in a row.  On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day,  Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Kindle Edition will be available for download free of charge from the Kindle Store. If you get an e-reader or tablet for Christmas, what better way to enjoy it then by reading a free copy of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne?. Did I mention that it’s free? Merry Christmas.

The Christmas promotion will start on Monday, December 24th at Midnight Pacific Standard Time and continue until Wednesday, December 26th at 11:50 PM Pacific Standard Time. You can find Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Kindle Edition on the Kindle Store.

Paperback Edition Now Available!

After years of writing, years of editing and months of self-publishing tribulation, I am proud to announce that Evermore: Call of the Nocturne is now available for purchase as a paperback. Finally! After buying Adobe Acrobat Professional and recreating the pdf files, I was finally able to create a paperback edition that didn’t have any strange errors. The book is finally done. You can purchase it online at the Lulu Store.

Please buy my book.

I can’t describe the elation that I feel right. It’s like a great weight has lifted itself off of my skull. It took a long time but it is finally done. Thank you to everyone who followed me in this long and arduous process. I really hope that all of you enjoy the novel.

My next step is to make it available on the Amazon book store and then to organize my official book launch. I’ll be posting the details here soon. I hope that all of you can make it. Thank you once again for your support on this long journey. Now, I going to go grab myself a beer.

WOOHOO!

:)

National Novel Writing Month Coat of Arms

Hi everyone. Sorry for the lack of posts this month but I have been deeply embedded in this years National Novel Writing Month (#nanowrimo). I’m 47,000 words in with three days so unless something goes wrong (fingers crossed), I’m going to be a winner! (50,000 words in 30 days). To celebrate NaNoWriMo, I’m going to offer Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Kindle Edition for free on Saturday, December 1st for all of the contestants or any others that want a free e-book.

Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Kindle Edition is available now for purchase on the Amazon Store.

National Novel Writing Month Coat of Arms

Sorry for going dark for a month. Things have been quite busy. The paperback version of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne has hit a little bit of a snag. Apparently, creating pdf manuscripts using Apple’s Pages software is terribly bad idea. Apparently, it creates errors in the pdf document that don’t show up until the paperback is printed! Sigh. Thankfully, the nice folks at Lulu support have graciously converted my manuscript and allowed me to upload it again. Once I get an updated cover from Jordan (there was a slight spacing issue that caused the title to get almost cut off on the original print run), we’ll be good to go to finally publish the paperback. Once that’s done, I’ll be free to organize my book launch party.

In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of National Novel Writing Month to get a quick start to my next project. Entitled Other than I, my goal is to get the first 50,000 words of it down by the end of November. That’s about 1600 words a day. Typically, my goal has been to write 1000 words a day and I’ve always found that excruciating. Thus far, it’s been going well. After the first 10 days, I have written 16,750 words, making me ahead of schedule. It’s a wonderful challenge and a great excuse to get off your butt and finally start that project you’ve always been thinking about.

Well, wish me luck. This novel is going to write itself.

As you can see on the right, the book comes in a nice rectangular box. Cute.

Cue the images below to see what was inside.

The front cover in plastic

The title page

The start of a random chapter

The back cover

And finally the spine

After a short review, I must say I’m impressed. It looks great. It feels great. It looks and feels like a real book! I’ll need to do a more thorough review before I make it available for the public. That said, WOW! This completely makes the thousands of hours that I poured into this project worth it. Now it’s time to start another one.

…

Maybe tomorrow. :)

Get it for free on Thursday, October 4th. Only on the Kindle Store.

As part of the KDP Select program on Amazon, I am given five days in the next three months where I can promote the Kindle Edition of

Evermore: Call of the Nocturne by giving it away for free. I am proud to announce that the first promotional day will be Thursday, October 4th. Get a free copy of Evermore: Call of the Nocturne to pass the time this long weekend. Whether you’re relaxing on the porch watching the leaves fall or inside waiting for the turkey to cook, there’s never been a better time to read an e-book, especially if it’s free.

The promotion will start on Thursday at midnight Pacific Standard Time and will end at midnight on Friday, again on Pacific Standard Time. You can find Evermore: Call of the Nocturne Kindle Edition on the Kindle Store.