The Five Points Ripper, out now FREE on Audible

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The 3rd episode of my Lost Planet Homicide series is out today on Audible.com. If you’ve not tried this series yet, it is awesome. Think gritty cop show in space. I love writing these. I pitched the series as Space Bosch.

Best part is the entire series is FREE for Audible plus members. Here’s the new one-

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Five-Points-Ripper-Audiobook/B0D2SCYGGW?qid=1726754715&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=Z5Z0BM3G7DJB3FRKSTAB&pageLoadId=jWfWKwPI13CZRZ9D&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1

Episode 1: Lost Planet Homicide

https://www.audible.com/pd/Lost-Planet-Homicide-Audiobook/B098FGWLHJ?eac_link=0iBBT2oKKdxX&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=B098FGWLHJ&qid=OedVneWaWJ&eac_id=141-2664323-0847900_OedVneWaWJ&sr=1-1

Episode 2: Ghosts of Zenith

https://www.audible.com/pd/Ghosts-of-Zenith-Audiobook/B0BL84CBLZ?qid=1726754804&sr=1-3&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=3BHDYMRZTZ6NXAG496FN&pageLoadId=9QyFWV88gWTRBiFy&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_3

And for the FAQ, this series will eventually be in print but I don’t know when. For now they are an Audible exclusive.

Jealousy in the Writing Business

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-Jack here. If you aren’t following Larry on X (@MonsterHunter45), you really should. He’s having a delightful time not being constantly censored. This is from one of his posts over there that we thought should be preserved.

Yo @SteveDiamond80… I think we need to talk about this defeatist horseshit on the show (the WriterDojo). (many of the comments deserve The Voice) What a self-defeating and totally ass backwards take on the business of writing. Guys, I know writing is a challenging business, but the successful mega star of the day making a dollar is not stealing a dollar from you.

When I was starting out the author jealous petty people whined about was JK Rowling, because she was the one making piles of money. They acted like if only the absolute sales juggernaut of Harry Potter didn’t exist, then all those millions of Harry Potter fans would go to them instead. What utter fucking bullshit. If Harry Potter didn’t exist, then odds are they still wouldn’t buy your book, because why would they? They’d buy something else they’d actually heard of, or for many of them, they wouldn’t read anything at all. In reality, all those kids who bought Harry Potter and stayed reading, continued buying books from lots of different people for the next couple decades, expanding in taste and genre. I’ve sold tons of books that are nothing like HP to people who started out reading HP.

So now it is Brandon who is making theme park money. Good for him. Same principle applies. If he didn’t exist then odds are his fans still haven’t heard of you, and you’ve presented no reason for them to have heard of you, or care. His fans who are only into him wouldn’t be reading anyone else, and his fans who read other authors would read other authors they’d actually heard of or had some reason to give a shit about. But is so UNFAIR. Life is unfair. But other authors who you think are more talented aren’t appreciated! Yep. Welcome to the wonderful world of art and entertainment, where quality is only one small part of the overall equation. Brandon also has a work ethic that would kill most of you, and a mercenary business savvy that’s rather impressive. (though I have demonstrated I can defeat Brandon easily in an battle axe fight)

If you want to be successful, take that whole jealousy based concept of fairness and throw it in the trash, because it is defeatist garbage that will only weigh you down. Every single author in the world can name another author who they think is talentless garbage, but who makes far more money than we do. “Ugh. Why does it have to be that idiot and not me?” we whine, and nobody cares. That’s pretty normal for artists, regardless of art form. History is full of artists dunking on other artists they thought they were better than. So what? Get better. Work harder. Switch up your marketing. Figure out new ways to grow your fan base. Improve your craft. Get more product out there. Whining about some other creator because you think it’s unfair they won the lottery and you didn’t, don’t accomplish shit.

As the great scholar Sean Connery taught us in his last performance as James Bond, losers talk about doing their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. (And yes, I know that’s from the Rock, but he is totally James Bond in it.) But anyways, so it is “disheartening” to see someone else be wildly successful? Then that’s on you. I think George Martin is a lazy dork. I think he’s a one trick pony (nihilistic shocking character death) who writes bloated meandering bullshit who wouldn’t recognize heroism if it bit him on the ass, and since he only works when he’s hungry, and HBO has made sure he’ll never be hungry again, he’s gonna squander his legacy and an opportunity that other writers would kill for. But am I “disheartened” that lazy George got HBO money and I haven’t? Fuck no. It makes me ask what can I do to position myself to get something like that! 😀

Meanwhile, Brandon, whether you’re into his stuff or not, works his ass off and does everything in his power to give his fans exactly what they want. And they reward him for this accordingly. When he was given a Winning The Lottery opportunity (finishing WoT) he seized that moment like a friggin’ Eminem song. Yes, “the money IS THERE” but you certainly aren’t entitled to any of it. Why should those people give you money for your stuff? That’s what you need to figure out.