My Life As A Writer: "The Shadowcast #11-The Red Menace", or "Gibson Finds His Footing"

The Excellence of Elocution, Razorfist, comes back with another episode of The Shadowcast.

Razor continues his historical contextualization of both the writer--Walter B. Gibson--and the publishing world of the day, and in so doing he reveals that much of the literary and storycrafting elements are the same today as they were then.

The big takeaway that studying Gibson and The Shadow gives you is how to properly approach writing popular fiction as both a business and as a craft. This is the early days, but here is where Gibson finds the template by which he would write stories about this character going forward- a template that Bob Kane would shamelessly rip off when creating Batman years later, along with everything else he stole to make his copy, and then proceed to goat-fuck into the dirt.

Remember that Gibson wrote two 40,000 word manuscripts--proper novels--per month. He wasn't just writing to market, he wrote as light-speed. He had to approach this as if it were any other job. Having a template to work from made this a lot easier, since the Outline stage of the process started pre-written at core points; all he had to do was flesh out the spaces he left for individuation.

He also had to make use of not only every magician's trick he knew to create mystery, capture attention, direct it where he wanted, and give it the catharsis he promised. He did this with an efficiency of word choice and use that many today cannot approach due to OldPub pushing literary obesity so their fat tomes push competitors off the shelves. This is so commonplace an issue that later writers write the character slow, as Razorfist points out with the Dynamic Comics segment.

The ability to write that fast and consistently is an acquired one, so anyone can do this and more than Gibson has done just that successfully- just look at Ian Fleming. That means we can do this too, but it means abandoning this Torturned Author bullshit and coming at this as the job it really is- proper Working Joe Can-Do Professionalism and not Soyboy Snowflake faggotry.

Fortunately there's a pair of books to get you going on this. I recommend both; they're short, no-nonsense read-in-an-afternoon books so you can read and apply between Lunch and Dinner.

The Business: The Business of Writing Talks Crowdfunding w/ Michael J. Sullivan

This one's for my fellow writers working that hustle. Joe here is someone you might want to consider talking to about your experiences if you're a veteran, and for new folks it's worth watching to see how this worked for them.

This is good to watch for everyone looking to see where crowdfunding goes once you're past "Do the campaign to pay production costs", because that's where Sullivan is at and he openly compares his state to Cole & Anspach doing Galaxy's Edge in terms of how they changed how they approach the business once they found their footing in this wild NewPub world. Jon del Arroz, of all the folks I know, might find it most worthwhile to give Joe some time to talk business like this.

Signal Boost: "Deus Vult" by Jon del Arroz LIVE on Indiegogo

The Leading Hispanic Voice in Science Fiction, best-seller and award-winner Jon del Arroz is back with another fantastic comic project.

DEUS VULT!

A crusade into another realm...

...leads to the deadliest of evils.

Sir Domingo, Spanish Knight and Holy Crusader, is blessed with a vision on his return from his triumphant conquest in the Holy Land. The Holy Grail appears in the sky, leading him on an adventure to another realm where demons and monstrosities lay waste to all of creation.

He discovers a strange race of people called the Kityin, who seem more kin to Earth's cats than they do humanity. He alone can lead them to salvation and away from the tyrannical rule of The Demon King.

Should he fail, not only the Kityin but all the people of all the realms will be destroyed!

DEUS VULT is a 66-page crusader fantasy graphic novel which will bring back memories of great comics like CONAN THE BARBARIAN and THE MIGHTY THOR.

The story is written by #1 Bestselling and award-winning Sci-Fi author, Jon Del Arroz, artist Jesse White, and colorist Matt Crotts with a special variant cover by our good friend Miss Sashi!

Jon's gotten very good at this sort of thing. He's all ready to go; this campaign is to finance actual production and distribution, since the writing is already done and you can see below that some of the artwork is also. When he said he's going for that classic Savage Sword of Conan look he means it, because that's what immediately leapt to mind when I saw these samples below.

While not as low as the novel campaigns I boost, you can still get in rather cheap. $12 gets you a digital copy, and $25 a physical one; this is one you want on your shelves, so I advise going for the hard copy. The bigger backer benefits include original art, being drawn into the book, complete sets of Jon's comics to date, and a Napa wine tour with the man himself. Yes, that last Perk is pricy; if you take it, bring the spouse with you.

This is the sort of thing we who are dissatified with what Establishment entertainment insultingly offers to us should support. We must find our own creatives, encourage them to create works that actually entertain us, and patronize them when they do. Now's the time.

You can find the campaign here at Indiegogo.

The Business: Hugofags Scream "VALIDATE ME!"

Below is a nice summary of what Jon del Arroz, the leading Hispanic voice in Science Fiction, has been doing against the Death Cultists trying so hard to wreck it.

To no one's surprise, the Hugofag crowd learned nothing from the Sad and Rabid Puppies. All they did was take off their masks and openly state their alleigence to the Death Cult, punish their enemies as best they could, and double-down yet again on their fanatical Death Cult heresy.

This extends to the present, where they went after the OldPub version of the Washington Generals that is Baen and its core stable of talent- both editorial and authorial. When Jon intervened to protest this treatment, of course the cucking happened immediately.

This is not what you do when your enemies attack you. You shut up, make common cause, focus on the enemy attacking you, and get the job done. Larry dun goofed here, as has everyone else that went after Jon.

No, I don't care that Jon's also using this to promote himself. He's in the same business these should-be allies are, so of course he's going to do that. You're fucking retarded if you don't, OldPub or New, so that dog don't hunt here. Jon's in the right here, and that's all that matters.

Jon doesn't leave you hanging. Here's his suggestions of Baen authors worth your time and money.

This Mean Girl bullshit is only going to get worse as the collapse of OldPub accelerates and more people are trying to get theirs from a shrinking pie. Baen's in a position to survive if they can continue their transition to being wholly independent of the OldPub business model and its twin boat anchors of the Big Paper business and the Big Retail end that is the corporate chain bookstore.

I care not so much because I care about OldPub--OldPub is totally converged to serve the Death Cult, so it deserves to be purged in holy fire--but because "Fandom" (as they put it) is entrenched in the fan con scene the sooner WorldCon and its scene collapses the sooner their fellow travelers running most of these cons can be rolled up and run out- and the cons finally turned back into well-run family-friendly events rather than the freakshows they routinely are now.

And if destroying one means the con scene dies, so be it. There are sacrifices I am willing to make; fan cons are one of them.

Signal Boost: "Combat Frame XSeed: SS" Coming Soon!

Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier has a new installment of Combat Frame XSeed coming soon. Here's the teaser.

SPACE IS A GRAVEYARD

They came to destroy us. Now they're humanity's only hope.

The Guardian Angels race home to confront a traitor. Instead, disaster forces them into a savage battle with an invincible enemy bent on Earth's annihilation.

Can Jehu Red lead his team to victory over a power even greater than their XSeeds? Or will humanity burn on the funeral pyre of history?

If you like Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Mobile Suit Gundam, you’ll love this continuation of #1 best seller Brian Niemeier’s Combat Frame XSeed saga!

And if you haven't gotten into this so far, you can find the series to date at Amazon.

Signal Boost: "Forgotten Ruin" Limited Time Event

Nick Cole & Jason Anspach took time away from the dumpster fire of a galaxy that is Galaxy's Edge to do their own take on "Contemporary military takes on fantasy Dark Lord army." Since they're better at selling it than I am, allow me to quote them:

Tolkien meets Shock and Awe

Orcs. Trolls. Wraith riders. Dark wizards. Together, they form an unstoppable force. Or so they thought.

Dark Army… meet the U.S. Army Rangers.

When a Joint Task Force of elite Rangers are transported to a strange and fantastic future where science and evolution have incarnated the evils of myth and legend, they find themselves surrounded, pinned down, and in a desperate fight for their very survival—against nightmares of flesh and blood made real. Which means only one thing.

It’s time to Ranger Up and stack bodies.

The forces of evil have no idea how dangerous a Ranger has been trained to be, and once the action starts, it won’t let up in this no-holds-barred, full-auto, epic battle for survival in the Forgotten Ruin.

From the creators of Galaxy’s Edge…

Buy in, and jock up for this thrilling WarGate adventure. A battle unlike any other is calling.

That sounds fantastic, and I guarantee that it will be better done than the most well-known pop culture example most folks reading this will recall: GATE, out of Japan, where the JSDF takes on (and curbstomps) a fantasy army. Guys with actual combat experience, and a small army of other combat vets to consult with, will produce a better Mil-SF narrative than a former JSDF soldier that never saw combat.

Click on the image below to go to the sales page and get yourself a copy.

The Business: Cirsova Kickstarter Scrapped, Goes Straight To Pre-Orders

Quoting from the source:

I’ve decided that rather than flog the Kickstarter for another week and a day, I would redirect all of my efforts towards ensuring that all versions of the Spring issue are available and up to snuff and getting all of my other projects lined up.

Right now, only the eBook version is available for pre-order, but as soon as all of the files process, we’ll be sure to let everyone know where and how to get your hands on the Spring issue.

It wasn't going to make it, so rather than throw good after bad Cirsova cut the lines and moved on with the process. As quoted, the issue in question is available for pre-order; click on the image below to get to the Amazon sales page.

Signal Boost: The 2020 Reissue of the Junior Classics

It took longer than expected, in part due to the Coof, but finally Castalia House has made available the first three volumes of the Junior Classics once again. You can buy directly from Castalia here. For those that prefer Amazon, here's the links to each volume's sales page:

• Vol. I Fairy Tales & Fables
• Vol. II Myths & Legends
• Vol. III Tales of Greece & Rome

This is, as the publisher notes, an ideal resource for homeschooling and these are meant to be heirloom-quality pieces meant to last for generations with proper care- yes, even the general editions now available. These are not digital disposables. These are books you buy in print, put into good shelving in good conditions, and use gently as you would your Bible.

Please leave all comments with the publisher.