All posts by correia45

Some Reactions to Sad Puppies 2: Rainbow Puppy Lighthouse The Huggening

January 23, 2014 correia45 93 Comments

There have been a few blog posts pop up relating to my noble endeavor to end Puppy Related Sadness by going directly to my fans and asking for them to nominate me for a Hugo. As usual they’re written by humorless finger shakers or people who just don’t get it. But that’s okay, because I’m here to help!

Here is one that linked back to my blog today: http://file770.com/?p=15783 This is a pretty good one that brings up some interesting points, so it’ll serve to clarify a few things. The original post is in italics. I’m in bold.

Larry Correia’s Vulgar Blog Post – His Word

Actually, no. Somebody used that word to insult my shameless self-promotion, so I took it and made it my own, which is sort of what I do when people try to insult me. (as a result Monster Hunter Nation is now the #1 Google result for Cismale Gendernormative Fascism!)

Adam Roberts, meet Larry Correia!

Okay. Nice to meet you, Adam (okay, I’ve got absolutely no idea who that is, but we’ll run with it).

Last week Larry Correia served up a whole hot fudge sundae of self-promotion, victimhood, and smof-stomping in “Sad Puppies 2: The Illustrated Edition” at Monster Hunter Nation.

Self-promotion. Check. Victimhood? That implies that I’m sitting around rather than doing something, but hey, to left wingers “victim” is like an achievement, and since I’m normally just a filthy heartless capitalist 1%er on the internet, ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! Smof-stomping? Sounds awesome.

Then he quotes me.

Some people rejoice in sad puppies. They say that having one tiny group of fans always vote for their favorites is “tradition.” They call popular authors’ attempts to stir up their non-WorldCon attending fanbase to vote in their little popularity contest as “vulgar.” By being vulgar and super non-traditional Larry Correia’s Sad Puppies 1 campaign only missed the Best Novel cutoff by a few votes, and those brave souls who supported him last year can do so again for FREE this year. But he needs more help… Larry Correia fans are far more likely to spend $40 on ammo, or snacks for the while they watch the new season of Justified than to join WorldCon, and if they actually attended a WorldCon they would probably be very, very bored.

But if somebody like Larry Correia would be nominated for a Hugo, then puppies everywhere would rejoice.

Indeed. And if you’ve watched the video you’re imagining Voice Over Guy and even the proper background music as you read that.

It really gravels him, as many fans as he has, that last year he lost what everyone admits is a popularity contest. Correia’s Monster Hunter Legion missed the 2013 Hugo ballot by 17 votes.

Ah, but here the obfuscation starts. First off, I was unaware that gravels was a word. Sweet. Second, Everyone admits it is a popularity contest? Really? That’s fascinating, because outside of a tiny insular group of folks that attend WorldCons, most people aren’t aware of that. In fact, me coming out and saying that it was just a popularity contest certainly managed to cause a lot of twisted panties. And most of that tiny insular group (smof, if you will) sure don’t like to come out and publicly admit that it is just a popularity contest. You see, the Hugo is SUPER PRESTIGIOUS and they’d love to keep it that way.

His strategy for avoiding the same fate in 2014 involves the rhetorical sleight-of-hand of convincing his fans that voting for their favorite (him) is a virtuous act of nonconformist rebellion, while the identical behavior directed by other fans towards their favorites (not him) is hideous elitism.

WHOOOSH. That is the sound of the Point flying past somebody totally oblivious.

Okay, let’s break this down for the utterly clueless. There’s not really any “rhetorical sleight-of-hand” involved with me going directly to my fans and asking them to pony up cash to vote for me. (I do like how it is implied that you guys are so easily bamboozled though).

If anything, compared to most self-promoting writers, I’m at least honest about it. The part that seems to get me in trouble is that I’m asking my readers instead of the proper gate keepers.

As for the nonconformist rebellion bit, he must have missed the last few years of internet arguments, literati trolling, and assorted BS my regular readers have watched transpire on this blog, Facebook, or Twitter, but that can’t possibly be why a bunch of you who don’t give a crap about going to WorldCon kicked in money to vote last year. I guess I’m just that good at stirring up nonconformist rebellion. Shrug.

Shouldn’t that work?

Considering how unpopular I am with the typical WorldCon attendee, and the fact that I missed last year’s short list by a handful of votes with a total that would’ve put me 2^nd or 3^rd in any prior year, and my entire suggested slate of nominees made the short list in every single other category, yep. Pretty much.

Along the way, Correia called on people to nominate his editor at Baen, Toni Weisskopf. Now that’s something I can agree with – Toni Weisskopf should be competing for a Hugo. She’s a terrific developer of talent.

So there’s hope for this guy yet!

Beneath a photo of Toni’s dog, Daphne, Correia continued –

Daphne is sad because most of her owner’s authors are despised and ridiculed by the traditional WorldCon voting crowd and the snooty literati. She knows that her owner deserves a Hugo for Best Editor because of her impressive career editing hundreds of popular works of sci-fi and fantasy and for discovering dozens of new authors who went on to be big sellers…

Yep. Now let me point something out for. You realize Toni is worthy, and you are apparently aware of her many remarkable achievements, but did you realize that the only Hugo nomination Toni has ever received was because of my campaign last year? Well, huh… Go figure.

But since we’re on this topic of this biased little popularity contest and how worthy figures like Toni have gotten completely hosed by this cliquish little group, were you aware that Stan Schmidt had been nominated over THIRTY times before he final won, and he actually had to retire in order to get that? If you want to talk about an editor developing new talent, you’d think the guy who edited Analog the entire time most of us have been alive, Schmidt should have won his Hugo long ago. But nope. He had a enough fans to get the nom, but since he wasn’t a WorldCon favorite, Stan was ignored.

And that’s in a category that at least has some different people win once in a while. Locus has won THIRTY Hugos. 30. Three zero. If you want a glimpse into the type of people who vote for the Hugos, they read Locus, and the only time I’ve ever showed up in Locus is on their bestseller list.

Hmmm… Maybe a little shake up might do this super prestigious award a little good!

For all that the Hugos are a popularity contest, fans are aware a writer can sell an enormous amount of sf — stuff they like! — without moving them to give him an award. One of my personal favorites, Mack Reynolds, sold hundreds of stories in his career, only one of which garnered a Hugo nomination.

Wait… So you’re saying that Mack Reynolds was really really good, but got mostly ignored because he wasn’t a fan favorite of one tiny splinter faction of all sci-fi readers, yet I’m the bad guy?

It sounds absurd to argue that Toni Weisskopf has rendered service to the field while pretending her authors – which is to say Baen-published authors – are generally despised and ridiculed.

You must not know very many Baen authors… We are the black sheep of sci-fi/fantasy, but the thing that really pisses off the groupthinkers is that we’re so damned proud of that.

And for the record, we’re only despised and ridiculed by the literati message fic types. Find some politically correct SMOFers (which is most of them), bring up Tom Kratman and watch them burst into flames. That’s really it for the ridicule though, since out in the real world we actually sell books by the ton and sleep on large piles of money.

Begin with Larry Correia himself. Worldcon members nominated Correia for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2011. They sure didn’t despise him that year.

Well, I can see that somebody totally doesn’t know the origin story of Sad Puppies!

Let me help you out. I got the Campbell nomination because one small contingent of WorldCon voters is made up of Baen Barflies, and I was the new writer that they all got behind that year, and that in and of itself was a miracle, since getting all the Barflies to vote together is like herding cats. Just ask them. But my first book had made a big splash with Baen readers, so they nominated me. Most of WorldCon didn’t despise me then because at that point they hadn’t heard of me yet.

Then my name showed up on the shortlist so they looked me up… Hoo boy. It was the end of the freaking world. Most of them didn’t actually read my book to know they needed to vote against me. They found out I was an outspoken, right wing political blogger, and gun rights activist. Critics came out of the woodwork. Smofers actively campaigned against me. If you voted for Larry Correia, you were a bad person. I was accused of misogyny, racism, hatey-hate-mongery, and why wouldn’t I keep my Jesus out of their uterus! My favorite post however was from a British blogger who said that “if Larry Correia wins the Campbell it will end literature forever”.

So about a week after I got the nomination, and estimating the number of Barflies going to Reno, I figured I would come in last. Bingo. Not that I mind, since the guy who won hasn’t published a book since and my 11^th is coming out this summer, so I’ve managed to squeak by (and personally, of the five of us, I thought Dan Wells was the most talented writer).

Watching people brag about how they hadn’t read me, and never would, but were super proud to vote against me because of my having the wrong politics was enlightening. But that’s only part of it. Actually attending that WorldCon was very eye opening. It is an extremely political environment. If you want to win, you suck up to the right crowd. If you don’t say the right thing to that crowd, buh-bye.

Now, talent and sucking up to the right crowd are not mutually exclusive. There have been some extremely talented nominees, but the only way to be a nominee is if you’re popular with the right people. But if you are popular enough, then the actual quality is irrelevant. You make it sound like everyone admits this, when in fact, very few do.

And this isn’t even getting into the many allegations of fraud and complaints of missing nominations I heard, which aren’t my stories to tell, but I’m a retired auditor, so let’s just say that the public part of Sad Puppies is only half the fun for me! Somebody really cynical might think I’m just doing all this as a way to collect data for analysis, but that’s just crazy talk. 🙂

So I decided in Reno that if this thing was just a popularity contest, since I was popular outside of this tiny group, why not just go directly to my fans, tell them about how it works, and then ask them to go vote?

When I left that WorldCon I had a long conversation with another author who I will not name. I won’t out this particular person because he is decently popular with the WorldCon voters clique and has won a Hugo. I told him what I was thinking of doing. His comment to me was that he was normally against my crazy desires to break everything (hey, former auditor, can’t help it), but in this case, the system sucked and needed it.

Of course, that was years ago. Since then my fans have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of literati twatwaffles coming around, picking fights, calling us names, and explaining how I’m not a *real* writer and my fans are dumb. So if you want to know how I got 100 people to kick in $60 last year to do this, it certainly isn’t because of my crafty sleight of hand, but rather because they’ve personally seen the snooty morons up close, and like me, rejoice in anything that pisses those people off.

Lois McMaster Bujold is a 12-time Hugo nominee, 5-time winner – and 3 of her Hugo-winning novels were published by Baen.

You’ll note that in the prior posts of mine you went through, I always say most Baen authors, as in all but one. Lois is our one anomaly because there is a big group of WorldCon voters who love her. The Barflies are a small group, and there is some crossover between them and the Bujold fans, but there are more Bujold fans at WorldCon than there are Barflies. If Lois writes a Vorksogian novel, she is going to get nominated that year. The rest of us are fully aware of this. She’s had an entrenched fan base at WorldCon since 1989.

Once again, popularity contest, and she’s popular with that group. And I really like Lois! I think she’s an extremely good author. The main difference between Lois and the rest of us however, is that the average Correia/Ringo/Kratman/Hoyt/Williamson fan would rather set themselves on fire than sit through a WorldCon, especially when it is competing with DragonCon (i.e. Nerd Mardi Gras).

Other current Baen authors have history with the Hugo/Campbell awards from when they were with other publishers. Timothy Zahn won a Hugo and received two other nominations for short fiction in Analog.

Wait… So your evidence that the WorldCon voters aren’t biased against Baen is one of my publishing house’s authors won a Hugo in 1984? I was in 4^th grade. Many of my readers hadn’t been born yet. And judging by the general cardiovascular fitness of most WorldCon attendees, I’d hazard a guess that most of the people who voted in 1984 are dead now.

Wen Spencer won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer when she was with Roc.

So one of our authors won an award before she was published by us. Wow. That sure is some compelling evidence that the WorldCon clique isn’t predisposed to dislike stuff from Baen!

It is a little surprising that two leading alternate history authors, Robert Conroy and S. M. Stirling, who are up for the Sidewise Award almost every year, have never made the Hugo ballot. (Stirling’s Nantucket trilogy came out when he was at NAL/Roc, so as I’m suggesting, the pattern probably has nothing to do with Baen.)

Conroy and Stirling are both accomplished authors. Full agreement… Wait… So are you agreeing with me now that this popularity contest is stagnant and needs a good kick in the nuts?

You want to know why those guys win Sidewise Awards but not Hugos? (same reason I’ve won some Audies). It is a juried award where a handful of specialist experts read a bunch of submissions and weigh their relative merits, instead of a popularity contest decided by warring cliques of fandom. Sadly, which award has more name recognition to regular readers? Yep. The popularity contest.

However, I never said it was just about Baen (especially since this bias extends into categories other than best novel or best editor). This applies to anybody who isn’t popular with the in crowd in any category.

And there are some more Baen authors — Michael Z. Williamson, Eric Flint, David Weber, and Mercedes Lackey – who have provided so much entertainment over the course of their careers it’d be great to see them nominated someday.

Interesting. I’m friends with some of those people and have had long conversations with a few of them about this very topic… Want to guess which one of us they agree with? And if you think I’m militant about the bias in this business, Mike makes me look like a hippy with a Give Peace a Chance sticker on my Prius.

I too would like to see some of those authors nominated someday, but they won’t ever be nominated unless they do the same sort of thing I’m doing right now that you find so very distasteful. The only reason I can do this and have a chance of sneaking in is because I have a bigger online presence than the other people you mentioned, and my fans are hard core. If I thought I could pull this off with somebody else the literati found as uncouth as me, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

And the sad thing is if Flint or Lackey were to get a nomination nowadays, at least their politics would keep them from getting character assassinated the whole time.

In fact, the part I’m really excited about is if I do pull this off, I will have demonstrated once and for all that it is just a popularity contest, and then I can’t wait to see what authors way more popular than me do with this most prestigious award EVAR. I don’t know how many blog posts I saw lamenting some amazing favorite book of theirs not making the list. Good. Now you know what you need to do in order to get your favorite author on there for next time.

See, I suspect when you say self-promotion, you’re using it as something derogatory. Popularity contests are always about self-promotion. In the past, the Hugo was about self-promotion, only it was promoting yourself to the WorldCon crowd. After the reception I got from WorldCon, I figured what the hell, I’ll just go around them. Of course, the people most offended by this sort of barbarity are the people currently getting their way.

You mentioned Hideous Elitism earlier, as if I didn’t approve when other authors engaged in self-promotion. Quite the contrary. I think it is fantastic. Now you’re putting words in my mouth.

You’ll note that in all of these silly campaigning posts I’ve done, I’ve never bashed any other author’s promotion of their work. Take Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant for example. She promotes herself and is popular with the WorldCon crowd and has won some stuff. Good. I like her writing. I’ve VOTED for her. An author who doesn’t self-promote is a sucker. Look at last year’s best novel winner, John Scalzi. I am the political polar opposite of Scalzi. I disagree with Scalzi on about just about everything, but as a capitalist I’ll give him points for being such a shameless self-promoter, and the typical WorldCon voter loves him.

I think if an author wants to actually make a living at this stuff, they’d better be a self-promoting machine. My problem isn’t with the authors and other creative types promoting their work, since that is sort of our job. But some of us will never be liked by the average WorldCon voter. Period. My problem is with one tiny group of gate keepers declaring themselves the deciders of all that is good.

So we can either put up with the gate keepers, or we can go around them. I don’t know how you define “victim” but I’m guessing we have very different definitions of the word. 🙂

And since I’m on a roll, the comments to this blog post are good too.

1. Reed Andrus on January 22, 2014 at 3:47 pm said:

Larry Correia seems to be in the small-but-very-visible class of genre authors whose work is extremely good while (his in this case) personality sucks. There are a few others I could name, but probably won’t in the interest of fair play. Nice write-up on this particular innocuous kerfuffle.

My personality sucks. That is remarkably nice compared to most of the things I’ve been called on the internet. At least this guy was honest enough to admit that I can actually write. Most of the time they just call me names and haven’t actually read my stuff, so I call this a huge step in the right direction.

Luckily, the award is for Best, not Nicest. Though in all honestly I’d be curious as to what the criteria for “nice” would be to somebody like Mr. Andrus. I’m betting for the people on my side of the aisle that probably means not arguing back whenever somebody tells us how stupid we are.

1. J. C. Salomon on January 22, 2014 at 5:10 pm said:

There’s no “rhetorical sleight-of-hand” here. Larry is openly acknowledging the Hugo Awards as a popularity contest and he’s asking for votes. And anyone asking for votes while being less honest about this is fair game to be—rather gently—mocked.

“You can beat any system. All you do is turn the handle the way it goes, only more so.”

Now this guy gets it. And that is also a really good quote.

EDIT: Wait just a second… This post was from a website called File 770… That sounded strangely familiar for some reason. Oh, will you look at that. Thanks, Wikipedia. File 770 has won SIX Hugos for Best Fanzine and been nominated another TWENTY TWO times. Well, shucks. I can’t imagine why they’d think shameless self-promotion by a WorldCon outsider would be such a terrible thing!

And on that note, my nomination for best Fanzine will be going to http://elitistbookreviews.blogspot.com/, who Sad Puppies 1 got a Hugo Nomination for last year. 🙂

But since I’m surfing around the interwebs tonight, let’s see what other fun ad Puppies related stuff I can find in the track backs. From http://chris-gerrib.livejournal.com/

Okay, that is a very fair post, but the poster is missing one big part of the puzzle (and he did vote for me for the Campbell, so we’re cool) 🙂 He read MHI and didn’t think it was Hugo worthy. Fair enough, except that was my 1^st novel. I’m promoting Warbound, which is the 10^th novel I’ve written. You know what they say about practice. And speaking of the Campbell, like I said, I wanted Dan to win.

He said MHI is just basic Let’s Go Kill Some Monsters fiction. Okay, but Warbound is the last book of a trilogy which is a totally different series, and as far as originality goes, I don’t know, it is a pretty standard diesel punk, 1930s alternative history, super heroes with sci-fi based extraterrestrial magic, noir-pulp, epic fantasy, Tesla weapons, gangster, zeppelin, great depression, samurai power armor novel…

(though my favorite negative review is, and always will be, the guy who said the Grimnoir trilogy was just ripping off the X-Men when I had FDR try to round up over a hundred thousand people who were considered scary to put them in concentration camps. Holy crap.)

My Grimnoir trilogy has already been nominated for a bunch of other awards, including the Hugo equivalent of other countries, and won a couple of juried awards like two Audies for best audiobook, so it isn’t like I’m just chucking crap at the wall to see what will stick. This is actually a good book, not that very many WorldCon voters would ever look at it otherwise. 🙂

Quick Reminder, SAD PUPPIES 2 only available until the end of the month

January 21, 2014 correia45 17 Comments

Watch this video and feel the infinite sadness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzGKlOkQsxY

That’s right. The clock is ticking. What have you done to end Puppy Related Sadness today? If you don’t register as a WorldCon voter before the end of January then it will be too late, and puppies will be sad. FOREVER.

For only $40 you can become a member and nominate books, stories, and related works that are actually entertaining for the Hugo awards. (Like Warbound) Go here to combat PRS: http://www.loncon3.org/memberships/

Some people rejoice in sad puppies. They say that having one tiny group of fans always vote for their favorites is “tradition”. They call popular author’s attempts to stir up their non-WorldCon attending fanbase to vote in their little popularity contest as “vulgar”. By being vulgar and super non-traditional Larry Correia’s Sad Puppies 1 campaign only missed the Best Novel cutoff by a few votes, and those brave souls who supported him last year can do so again for FREE this year. But he needs more help… Larry Correia fans are far more likely to spend $40 on ammo, or snacks for while they watch the new season of Justified than to join WorldCon, and if they actually attended a WorldCon they would probably be very, very bored.

But if somebody like Larry Correia could be nominated for a Hugo, then puppies everywhere would rejoice.

This puppy belongs to Baen’s publisher. We will call her Toni. No. The publisher. We will call the puppy Daphne… Daphne is sad because most of her owner’s authors are despised and ridiculed by the traditional WorldCon voting crowd and the snooty literati. She knows that her owner deserves a Hugo for Best Editor because of her impressive career editing hundreds of popular works of sci-fi and fantasy and for discovering dozens of new authors who went on to become big sellers, but Daphne’s sadness swells when she finds out that because Toni doesn’t like to throw away large sums of money promoting boring ass message fic about dying polar bears and is one of the only publishers brave enough to actually publish right wingers or militant libertarians like Ringo, Kratman, Williamson, Hoyt, or Correia, then her owner will be ignored by the literati, UNLESS YOU HELP… (Daphne is also sad because she just got spayed, but today we are concentrating on the whole Hugo thing).

PRS isn’t limited to just puppies. The Hugos have become so snooty and pretentious that even this baby… Er… Hell, I don’t know what that thing is… But look at that sadness.

Damn, that’s cute.

So won’t you help the poor whatever the hell that is? Only you can stop Puppy Related Sadness.

My schedule for LTUE

January 20, 2014 correia45 6 Comments

Life The Universe and Everything is Utah’s big writing symposium. It is excellent. If you are an aspiring writer, and you can get to Provo, you need to go. Compared to other events of this type it is super cheap for participants. I want to say it is like $30. This isn’t a fluffy fan event with people in costumes, it is all writing, business, nuts and bolts, how to get stuff done, professional advice all the time.

EDIT: BUT FIRST YOU NEED TO ASK YOURSELF, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO END PUPPY RELATED SADNESS TODAY?!

Okay, now here is the schedule:

LTUE SCHEDULE

Thursday, February 13, 2014

9:00 AM:

– The Writer’s Workspace

M Angie Lofthouse

Clint Johnson

Dene Low

Robison Wells

Shirley Bahlmann

Tristi Pinkston

– Keep It Sigil Simple: Creating a high quality eBook.

Jared Barneck

Push Button Technology

Brook West

Scott R. Parkin

Brett T.M. Peterson

M Emily Younker

Kevin H. Evans

– Disease and Epidemics

Diann Thornley Read

Johnny Worthen

M Daniel Coleman

– Agent or No Agent?

M Bree Despain

Christopher Loke

David Baxter

Kasie West

Mette Ivie Harrison

Natalie Whipple

10:00 AM:

– From Start to Finish: Prewriting

M Eric James Stone

Holli Anderson

Johnny Worthen

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

Michaelbrent Collings

– Write What You Don’t Know

Bill Housley

C. Michelle Jefferies

Julia H. West

Nathan Shumate

M Stacy Whitman

– Is Beauty Skin Deep … and Is That Enough? Minimalism vs. Complexity in Societies and World Building

Bruce H. Allred and E. A. Younker

– Monsters You’ve Never Heard Of

Robison Wells

M Andrea Pearson

Mikey Brooks

Shirley Bahlmann

Larry Correia

Renee Collins

– Writing and Personal Health

Jaleta Clegg

Jessica Day George

Karen C. Evans

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

M Mette Ivie Harrison

Paul Genesse

– Getting Wikipedia to Work for You

Joe Monson

11:00 AM:

– Editing

Berin Stephens

Christopher Loke

M Laryssa Waldron

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

Natalie Whipple

Pen Names

Andrea Pearson

Dave Butler

Heather Moore

M Mikey Brooks

Stan Crowe

– Joss Whedon is My Master Now

Bree Despain

Michael Young

Peggy Eddleman

Robert J Defendi

Chersti Nieveen

– “A Ferromaritime People”: Collective Amnesia, Cultural Identity, and Personal Freedom in China Miéville’s Railsea

Kristy Stewart

– The Hero’s Journey and the Virgin’s Promise: Patterns and Archetypes for Better Characters

Deren Hansen

Why Economics Matters

Orson Scott Card

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

M David Ferro

Eric Swedin

Robison Wells

Sandra Tayler

12:00 PM:

– Writing Natural Dialogue

Candace J Thomas

D.T. Read

David Powers King

Derrick Duncan

M Karen C. Evans

Heather Moore

– High Art and High Craft: the Short Fiction of Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov

Charlie Pulsipher

M David Ferro

Roger White

Orson Scott Card

Peter Orullian

– How to use a sketchbook

M Jessica Douglas

Bryan Beus

Justin Kunz

Jess Smart Smiley

Robison Wells

– Building Professional Relationships in the Publishing World

Donna Milakovic

– Slower Than Light Travel

J. David Baxter

Ami Chopine

M Brad R. Torgersen

Emily Martha Sorensen

Costuming

Anna Dye

Sarah Seiter

M Heather Monson

Kjirstin Youngberg

1:00 PM:

– Writing Children

M Aaron Johnston

J Scott Savage

K.L. Morgan

Lehua Parker

Sandra Tayler

Tristi Pinkston

– Writing From an Outline

Dave Butler

Karen E. Hoover

Laryssa Waldron

Robison Wells

S. M. Anderson

M Shallee McArthur

– H.G. Wells and the Origin of Hostile Aliens

We’ve never forgiven Mars

Deren Hansen

Eric Swedin

Helge Moulding

Shirley Bahlmann

Effective book covers

Jess Smiley

M Isaac Stewart

Nancy Fulda

Mikey Brooks

James Owen

– Reading of James Arrington’s play YOUtahneeks.

James Arrington

– How to Make Up Martial Arts

Michaelbrent Collings

Adam Meyers

Valerie Mechling Holley

2:00 PM

– New Adult Novels

M Adrienne Monson

EA Younker

Jen Greyson

S. A. Butler

Stan Crowe

– Naming Your Characters

David Powers King

Julia H. West

M K.L. Morgan

Marinne Carter

Paul Genesse

Teri Harman

– Modern Fantasy and its Relation to Folklore: Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, and J. K. Rowling:

Adam Meyers

Dave Butler

Dene Low

Mikey Brooks

Stacy Whitman

– All About Armor

M Michael Kupari

Kevin H. Evans

Dan Willis

Scott Bascom

Heather Moore

– Narrative Drive

Megan Hutchins

– Why Write Poetry?

Michael R. Collings

Steven C. Peck

Michael Young

M Charlene C. Harmon

3:00 PM

– Genre Mashups

Angie Lofthouse

Julie Frost

M L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (moderator)

Lisa Mangum

Stephen Miller

Steven Diamond

– The Inklings and their Disciple: Lewis, Rowling, Tolkien

Exploring the ties between Narnia, Hogwarts, and Middle-Earth

Candace Thomas

Dave Butler

M Dene Low

Michael R. Collings

– Queries

C. Michelle Jefferies

Christopher Loke

M Jaclyn M. Hawkes

Peggy Eddleman

Shallee McArthur

Jenni James

– Gamer Girls: Why you should have one in every campaign

M Janci Patterson

Natalie Whipple

Adam Meyers

Stan Crowe

J.R. Johansson

– Motives and Writing for Youth

J Scott Savage

– Apocalypses Throughout History

Eric Swedin

Aneeka Richins

David Ferro

M Johnny Worthen

Deren Hansen

Bill Housley

4:00 PM

– Humor

Berin Stephens

Randy Tayler

M Robert J Defendi

Stan Crowe

Jenni James

– How to Submit Your Writing

Anne Sowards

Brad R. Torgersen

Christopher Loke

Michael Young

Sara B. Larson

M Shallee McArthur

– Small Press Publishing

C. Michelle Jefferies

Candace J Thomas

M Chas Hathaway

S. M. Anderson

Scott William Taylor

Charlene C. Harmon

– The Importance of Internal Consistency in Story Telling

Roger Bourke White Jr.

– Making Old Ideas New

Daniel Coleman

Being a Foreign Speaker

M Heather B. Monson

Anna del C Dye

Helga Moulding

Karen C. Evans

Charlie Pulsipher

Joe Vasicek

5:00 PM

– How to Write a Villain

Aaron Johnston

Charlie Pulsipher

Heather Ostler

M Helge Moulding

Robert J Defendi

– Writing, Literacy, and Culture

Orson Scott Card

M Clint Johnson

Megan Hutchins

Laryssa Waldron

Johnny Worthen

Ami Chopine

– Beyond the Brothers Grimm

Cinderella tales on an international scale

Jenniffer Wardell

Dene Low

Stacy Whitman

– A Look at Salt Lake ComicCon

M Blake Casselman

Dan Farr

Bryan Brandenburg

Jannette Newton

Randall Lloyd

Ryan Call

– How To Write Page-Turning Action

Larry Correia

– Jack Vance and Patricia McKillip

Painting worlds with words

Bryan Beus

Mikki Kells

6:00 PM:

– Scene or Summary

Clint Johnson

Heather Frost

M Nancy Fulda

Scott R. Parkin

Annie Oswald

Jenni James

Publishing in Today’s Market

Anne Sowards

Christopher Loke

M J.R. Johansson

Laryssa Waldron

Lisa Mangum

Peggy Eddleman

– Digital media/drawing

Andrea Hatch

M Carolyn Nicita

Ami Chopine

Travis Walton

JJ Harrison

Steve Keele

Kevin Keele

– Stealing from History

Orson Scott Card

Peter Orullian (m)

L. E. Modesitt, Jr. (m)

Mette Ivie Harrison (m)

Michael R. Collings

– Planet Building

Brook West

David Powers King

Eric James Stone

M Jaleta Clegg

Joe Vasicek

David Farland

7:00 PM

– Reclaiming the Vampire

Adrienne Monson

Andrea Pearson

Janci Patterson

M Jess Smart Smiley

S. A. Butler

Sarah E. Seeley

– : Time Travel, Technology, Social Impact, to Say Nothing of the Dog

How can fiction this fun also be this deep? And what about Montmorency the dog? Come learn why Connie Willis has racked up more of SF’s major awards (the Hugo and Nebula) than ANY other author.

Ami Chopine

Angie Lofthouse

Jessica Day George

Dene Low

Mette Ivie Harrison

– Gaming: What’s the point?

M Robert J Defendi

Brett T M Peterson

David Whitaker

Charlene C. Harmon

Dan Willis

– Henchmen Don’t Have to Suck

Leigh Averett Owens

– The Culture of Immortality

Paul Genesse

M Clint Johnson

Jen Greyson

Adam Sidwell

Stephen Miller

8:00 PM

– Revision Processes

Dr. Michael R. Collings

Jason A. Anderson

M Kasie West

Peggy Eddleman

Renee Collins

Michelle Witte

– Promoting Your Work on the Internet

David Baxter

M David Farland

Heather Ostler

J.R. Johansson

Marinne Carter

Larry Correia

– Plot a Novel in One Hour

Robert J Defendi

– Magic, the Gathering Celebrity Tournament (4-6 hours)

– Filking (until it stops)

– Marketing Games

M Craig Nybo

Adam Meyers

Scott Bascom

J D Raisor

===*===

LTUE SCHEDULE

Friday, February 14, 2014

9:00 AM:

– The Rules of the Genre

M Brad R. Torgersen

Eric Swedin

Michaelbrent Collings

Stephen Miller

Anne Sowards

Elana Johnson

– Graphic Novels

Aneeka Richins

M Blake Casselman

Brian C. Hailes

Jess Smart Smiley

– Signing a Contract

Bill Housley

Brett T.M. Peterson

M Jaclyn M. Hawkes

Kevin H. Evans

Lisa Mangum

S. M. Anderson

– Michael Moorcock: The Fantastic Worlds of the Champion Eternal

Swords-and-sorcery adventure (with an underlying edge)

Berin Stephens

Helge Moulding

Pendragon Inman

— Revising Beyond the 3rd Draft

Rachelle Christensen

– FTL and Time Travel

Jen Greyson

Kjirstin Youngberg

Liesel Hill

M Mette Ivie Harrison

James Wymore

10:00 AM:

– From Start to Finish: Drafting the Manuscript

Eric James Stone

Holli Anderson

Johnny Worthen

M Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

Michaelbrent Collings

– Recharging Your Creative Battery

M Donna Milakovic

Jason A. Anderson

Kasie West

Laryssa Waldron

Shirley Bahlmann

Teri Harman

– Classic Juvenile Fantasy

L. Frank Baum, Edith Nesbit, C. S. Lewis, Diana Wynne Jones

Emily Martha Sorensen

Karen E. Hoover

Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury

– Book Trailers

Shauna E. Black

– Cryptography 101

Eric Swedin

J. Dan Raisor

Steven Davis

Scott Bascom

M Helge Moulding

– Writing The First Few Pages

J Scott Savage

Janci Patterson

Laura Bingham

Natalie Whipple

M Suzanne Vincent

Anne Sowards

11:00 AM:

– Your own EPUB and MOBI Documents

Kristy Stewart

– Short Stories in a Nutshell

Megan Hutchins

– Building a Community Among Your Readers

Sandra Tayler

Religion in Disguise and in the Open: Tolkien the Catholic, Lewis the Anglican, (Card the Mormon)

Orson Scott Card

Dr. Michael R. Collings

M Aaron Johnston

– The Future is Already Here

Brett T.M. Peterson

Emily Younker

Rachel Ann Nunes

C. Michelle Jefferies

M Stephen Miller

Brandon Gillespie

– How To Make A Graphic Novel

Jess Smart Smiley

12:00 PM:

– Writing Romance

Anna del C. Dye

Jen Greyson

Jenniffer Wardell

Joe Vasicek

Rachel Ann Nunes / Teyla Branton

M Stan Crowe

– Prologues and Epilogues

Brandon Sanderson

David Powers King

Anne Sowards

Marinne Carter

M Michael Young

Paul Genesse

– Roger Zelazny: Amber, Lord of Light, and So Much More

Golden Age heroes with New Wave literary chops

Helge Moulding

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Dene Low

Scott R. Parkin

– How to do backgrounds

M Brian Hailes

Jessica Douglas

Bryan Beus

Sarah Seiter

Justin Kunz

Mikey Brooks

– Psychology of a Serial Killer: Keith Jesperson

Al Carlisle

– The Curse of the Jungle/Ice/Desert Planet

Brook West

M Eric James Stone

Nancy Fulda

Aleta Clegg

Sarah Seeley

Roger White

1:00 PM:

– Young Adult Writing Panel

Anna del C. Dye

Berin Stephens

Dan Willis

Heather Ostler

M Janci Patterson

Jessica Day George

– This is Your Life

Aneeka Richins

Bree Despain

Chas Hathaway

M K.L. Morgan

Lehua Parker

S. A. Butler

– Selling Your Short Story

Brad R. Torgersen

Emily Martha Sorensen

Eric James Stone

M Jaclyn M. Hawkes

Megan Hutchins

Suzanne Vincent

– How to Create (and play) the Perfect Character

M Adam Meyers

J D Raisor*

Tom Carr

Charlene C. Harmon

Douglas Whitakker

– Finding and using references in your art

M Bobbie Wilcox

Justin Kunz

Cliff Green

Travis Walton

Constructed Languages: When Apostrophes Just Don’t Cut It

Orson Scott Card

Dirk Elzinga

M Michael Young

Stacy Whitman

Ami Chopine

– Film Festival

2:00 PM

– Writing Drama

C.K. Edwards

Clint Johnson

Daniel Coleman

M Laura Bingham

Shallee McArthur

Larry Correia

– Drawing Upon Folklore

M Brook West

Mikki Kells

S. A. Butler

Stacy Whitman

David Farland

– Jules Verne

The first successful sf author, and a lodestar for today’s steampunk writers

Brett T.M. Peterson

Dave Butler

Deren Hansen

Karen Anne Webb (possibly)

– The Great Chain of Evil

Dr. Michael R. Collings

– Artists collaborating with each other and with writers

Brian Hailes

Mikey Brooks

Jessica Douglas

M Blake Casselman

Isaac Stewart

James Owen

– Applied Biotechnology

Ami Chopine

Charlie Pulsipher

M Scott Bascom

Sarah Anderson

– Film Festival: Pinkerton’s (episode and Q&A)

Tom Carr

Stephen M. Harmon

3:00 PM

– Writing for Boys

Jaleta Clegg

Karen E. Hoover

M Robison Wells

Stephen Miller

Larry Correia

J. D. Raisor

– Characters that Live and Breathe

C.K. Edwards

Candace J Thomas

M D.T. Read

Heather Frost

Mikki Kells

Peter Orullian

– Playtesting: Why, How, and with whom

M Craig Nybo

Robert J Defendi

Derrick Duncan

Karen Anne Webb

– Xenobiology 101

Steven C. Peck

M Nathan Shumate

Eric James Stone

Daniel Coleman

Roger White

– Don’t Fill Your Plot Holes with Sand–The Power of Outlining

Rachelle Christensen

– Adam Sidwell Presentation

– Film Festival

4:00 PM

– Action Sequences

Aaron Johnston

Adrienne Monson

M Dan Willis

J.R. Johansson

S. A. Butler

Valerie Mechling Holley

– Short Vs. Long Fiction

M Angie Lofthouse

David Farland

James
Wymore

Julie Frost

Lehua Parker

Nancy Fulda

– Marketing Yourself as an Author

Annie Oswald

Bill Housley

M Chas Hathaway

Heather Ostler

Shawna Fillmore

Teri Harman

– Writing Fantasy: Using Words to Build Worlds

Douglas Whittaker

– Writing and Your Brain: Making the Most of Your Writing Time

Derrick Duncan

Two papers (25 minutes each):

The Speculative Turn: Why Imagination is at the Heart of Thinking

Adam Wilson

The Human Behind the Pixels: Avatars and Self Identity in Video Games

Kristine McLain

– Film Festival

–

5:00 PM

– The Screenwriting Process

Craig Nybo

Fiona Ostler

M Nathan Shumate

Scott William Taylor

Michaelbrent Collings

– Edgar Allan Poe

The master of mystery and fantastical horror

Adrienne Monson

Heather B. Monson

Karen E. Hoover

Liesel Hill

Michael R. Collings

Scott Bascom

– Rules for Writing Magic

Al Carlisle

Brandon Sanderson

M Emily Martha Sorensen

John Brown

Natalie Whipple

Teri Harman

– A Writer Needs Space

Angie Lofthouse

– Two Papers (25 minutes each)

Electric Lady: Janelle Monae, Afrofuturism and the Android

Marina Tijerino-Abe

Facing Our Demons: The Deconstruction of Self & Other in Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Jeffrey Pannekoek

– Geology For Writers

Cliff Green

Jaleta Clegg

M Isaac Stewart

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Tom Carr

Brook West

6:00 PM

– How to Write a Hero

Julie Wright

Peter Orullian

Sara B. Larson

Larry Correia

– Originality

Daniel Coleman

Dave Butler

M Nathan Shumate

Roger White

Stacy Whitman

– Breaking and Fixing Games

M Craig Nybo

Scott Bascom

J D Raisor

– Drawing textures

Carolyn Nicita

Brian Hailes

M Jessica Douglas

Bryan Beus

Justin Kunz

A Serious Look at Comedy

Berin Stephens

– Writer’s Groups 101

Anna del C. Dye

Donna Milakovic

Julia H. West

Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury

Liesel Hill

M Scott R. Parkin

7:00 PM

– Co-Authoring: Dos and Don’ts

Julie Wright

Karen C. Evans

Mike Kupari

Steven Diamond

M Valerie Mechling Holley

– Learning from Failure

Brad R. Torgersen

M Brandon Sanderson

Daniel Coleman

Jenniffer Wardell

Sara B. Larson

James Owen

– How to lay out comic panels

Andrea Hatch

Brian Hailes

Travis Walton

M Jess Smart Smiley

– Vivid and Clear

John Brown

– A Day in the Life of a Medieval Peasant

David Farland

Jacklyn M. Hatch

K. L. Morgan

Shirley Bahlmann

M Dan Willis

Robert J Defendi

8:00 PM

– Mass Autograph Signing

9:00 PM

– Mass Autograph Signing

– Filking (goes until everyone goes to bed)

===*===

LTUE SCHEDULE

Saturday, February 15, 2014

9:00 AM:

– Writers on Writing

Elana Johnson

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Mette Ivie Harrison

Nancy Fulda

M Sara B. Larson

Shallee McArthur

– Character Development

Brad R. Torgersen

Candace J Thomas

Jaclyn M. Hawkes

Jenniffer Wardell

Julie Wright

Peter Orullian

– Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein: The Grand Masters

Their best work, and what you can probably skip

Brett T.M. Peterson

Eric James Stone

Dene Low

M Scott R. Parkin

– Self-Publishing Pros and Cons

Aneeka Richins

Fiona Ostler

M Jaleta Clegg

Pendragon Inman

Sandra Tayler

James Owen

– Story Turns

John Brown

10:00 AM:

– From Start to Finish: Selling the Novel

Holli Anderson

Johnny Worthen

Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

M Michaelbrent Collings

Larry Correia

Michelle Witte

– History Matters

Craig Nybo

Deren Hansen

Eric Swedin

J. D. Raisor

Kevin H. Evans

M Suzanne Vincent

– Writing Religion

M Brandon Sanderson

Dr. Michael R. Collings

K.L. Morgan

Laryssa Waldron

Mette Ivie Harrison

Stephen Miller

– The Rhetoric of Superheroes: How the Heroes Can Be Brought into the College Writing Classroom through William Perry’s Developmental Theories & Civil War: A Marvel Comics Event

Holly Katherine Guile

– Writing Solid Dialogue

Angie Lofthouse

– The Engines of Exploration

J. David Baxter

Brett T.M. Peterson

Dan Willis

Sarah Seeley

M Younker, EA

11:00 AM:
– Keynote Speaker: Orson Scott Card

12:00 PM:

— Writing Hard Science

Eric James Stone

M Helge Moulding

James Wymore

Nancy Fulda

Roger White

Scott R. Parkin

– ePublishing Short Stories

M Bill Housley

EA Younker

Elana Johnson

Joe Vasicek

Paul Genesse

Scott William Taylor

– Classic Juvenile SF

Robert Heinlein, Madeleine L’Engle, Andre Norton, John Christopher (and a few modern takes)

Jaleta Clegg

Emily Martha Sorensen

Kjirstin Youngberg

– A Scratching at the Window: Revisiting Croglin Grange and the Hidden Lore of the British Vampire

Jeff Bond

Art for art’s sake

M Bobbie Wilcox

Jessica Douglas

Brian Hailes

Sarah Seiter

Justin Kunz

Steve Keele

Kevin Keele

James Owen

– Write Like Your Brain Works

Dene Low

1:00 PM:

– Death and its Consequenses

Al Carlisle

Dan Willis

Heather Frost

M Jason A. Anderson

Julie Frost

Sarah E. Seeley

– Writing Without an Outline

Berin Stephens

C. Michelle Jefferies

James Wymore

Jenniffer Wardell

Kasie West

M Marinne Carter

– Ender’s Books: The Author, the Adapter, and the Analyzer

Orson Scott Card wrote them originally. Jake Black adapted them to other media. And Michael Collings tells us what it all means.

Orson Scott Card

Michael Collings

M Aaron Johnston

– Using Games in the Classroom

M Karen Anne Webb

Sandra Tayler

Jaleta Clegg

Heather B Monson

– Unusual Art forms

Carolyn Nicita

M Nathan Shumate

Sarah Seiter

Cliff Green

– Presentations and Personal Likeability

Donna Milakovic

2:00 PM

– Who Influenced Me as a Writer

M Eric Swedin

Holli Anderson

Jessica Day George

L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Tom Carr

Peter Orullian

– Writing for Comics

M Aaron Johnston

Blake Casselman

C.K. Edwards

David Baxter

Bill Galivan

– The Future of Writing

Chas Hathaway

M David Farland

Michaelbrent Collings

Mikki Kells

Rachel Ann Nunes / Teyla Branton

Larry Correia

– Time management for artists

M Brian Hailes

Mikey Brooks

Cliff Green

Travis Walton

Jess Smart Smiley

– Plots to Die For—How to create suspense and mystery for a page-turning novel

Rachelle Christensen

– The Best Books for Children and YA

Pat Castelli

3:00 PM

– Writing Horror

Andrea Pearson

Dr. Michael R. Collings

Johnny Worthen

Lisa Mangum

M Michaelbrent Collings

Dr. Steven Peck

– Wrapping Things Up

Bree Despain

Chad Morris

Janci Patterson

Megan Hutchins

Michael Young

– The Dramatic Downside of Modern Technology

Diann Thornley Read

Laura Bingham

C. K. Edwards

Natalie Whipple

M James Wymore

– Shut Up and Sit Down

Skype call with Paul and Quins

– Lovable Bad Boys

S. M. Anderson

– Learning Advanced Writing Techniques From Joss Whedon: A writer’s in-depth look at the stories of Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse, Avengers, and beyond.

Chersti Nieveen

4:00 PM

– Writing Children’s Books

Chad Morris

M J Scott Savage

Mikey Brooks

Sandra Tayler

Stacy Whitman

Tiffini Knight

– Horror on the Edge: How Far is Too Far?

Andrea Pearson

M C.K. Edwards

Dr. Michael R. Collings

Jason A. Anderson

Sarah E. Seeley

Steven Diamond

– Holy Gothic Archetypes, Batman!:  Batman as Superhero Gothic

Robert Marchetti

– Why you should write short fiction and how it can help launch you as a novelist

Brad R. Torgersen

– 1000 Ideas in an Hour session and structure discussion (registration limited to 50)

– Orson Scott Car

– Designing Campaigns

Scott Bascom

Robert J Defendi

M Derrick Duncan

Adam Meyers

Douglas Whitaker

J. D. Raisor

5:00 PM

– Description in Writing

Diann Thornley Read

David Powers King

M Mikki Kells

Sarah E. Seeley

J.R. Johansson

– ePublishing: How to Start

Dene Low

Jaclyn M. Hawkes

M Nathan Shumate

Robert J Defend

– Writing for Film

M Blake Casselman

David Farland

Fiona Ostler

Michaelbrent Collings

Scott William Taylor

Tom Carr

– Q&A: art in industry

M Jess Smiley

Sarah Seiter

Cliff Green

JJ Harrison

Steve Keele

Kevin Keele

James Owen

– Verisimilitude: How Illusions, Confidence Games, and Skillful Lying Can Improve Your Fiction

Deren Hansen

– 1000 Ideas in an Hour session and structure discussion (registration limited to 50)

Orson Scott Card

6:00 PM:

– Creating Subplots

David Farland

Jaclyn M. Hawkes

M Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury

Megan Hutchins

– Starting the Next Project

M Donna Milakovic

Emily Martha Sorensen

Joe Vasicek

Julia H. West

Julie Frost

Michelle Witte

– The Funny Men: Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett

Humor, especially broad humor, in speculative fiction

Jaleta Clegg

Brandon Sanderson

Daniel Coleman

Karen Anne Webb

Jenniffer Wardell

– How to Format Your eBook

Derrick Duncan

– Worldbuilding 101

Amber Argyle

Steven Davis

M Blake Casselman

Julie Frost

Isaac Stewart

7:00 PM

– Banquet ($30, prepaid)

Toastmaster: Brandon Sanderson

– Filking

8:00 PM

– Banquet, cont.

– Filking, cont.

The Drowning Empire, Episode 43: Once Upon a Time in the Ivory Kingdoms

January 17, 2014 correia45 2 Comments

The Drowning Empire is a weekly serial based on the events which occured during the Writer Nerd Game Night monthly Legend of the Five Rings game. It is a tale of samurai adventure set in the magical world of Rokugan.

If you would like to read all of these in one convenient place, along with a bunch of additional game related stuff, behind the scenes info, and detailed session recaps, I’ve been posting everything to one thread on the L5R forum, http://www.alderac.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=295&t=101206

This week’s episode was written by Zach Hill, who is playing our honorable but clueless farmer samurai Suzume Shintaro. Yuki is an NPC peasant girl who was hired to be the party’s cook.

Continued from: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/the-drowning-empire-episode-42-history-does-not-remember-the-quiet/
Once Upon a time in the Ivory Kingdoms

Yuki couldn’t believe the heat of this place. She had her kimono’s sleeves cut off and the hem shortened to above her knees and still that wasn’t enough. The very air felt just a half step away from becoming water. The entire land was one enormous, bug covered steam bath.

Broken Wave city had been hot, especially summer around noon, but there had always been the cool breeze from the ocean. In this dense jungle there was no cool breeze or breeze of any kind. It was just stifling, like being smothered by a mountain of blankets.

Shintaro was her chance to rise up above where she had been born but now she was starting to doubt whether it was worth it. How long were these samurai going to be here? If it was a day more then it was too long. She hadn’t known what heat was until she came to this cursed place.

She walked along beside the pack horse while drinking from her water bottle. She hoped they carried enough water because she felt like drinking it all. She had never sweated so much in her life and she was no stranger to work: honest or otherwise.

Up ahead the samurai rode together as they talked. Shintaro and Uso were taking turns telling stories. The difference was when Shintaro laughed, it was because he thought something was funny. When Uso laughed, it was because he thought he should laugh because that was what human beings did. They were all blind to what that man was.

Shintaro. For a samurai he was strangely kind and he treated her like an equal. When Uso talked to her it was just because the part he was playing demanded he do so.

She had to warn Shintaro about the predator. But he would never believe her and would probably cut off her head for dishonoring a samurai.

No, she had to think of something else. She had to get Shintaro to see the world for what it was, not the perfect – Bushido – heaven he thought it was. She wanted to yell at him and scream in his ear that people were rotten, dishonest and selfish.

If she just had one day to show him around the docks she had grown up around, he would see the truth of the world.

Suddenly the samurai all grabbed their weapons and the caravan came to a halt.

Subotai and Oki rode out ahead of everyone, bows in hand. Her hand instinctively went to her knife, not that it would do a lot of good when surrounded by samurai.

An earsplitting roar shook her teeth and she ducked down while looking all over. The sound came from up ahead. She had long ago learned that staying out of sight was often the best thing to do. Whatever was making that horrible sound wasn’t something her “meat tenderizer” could handle.

Whatever it was, she wasn’t scared of it. It was an animal or some terrible monster. Either way, all it could do was kill her. Sure, it would be painful, but there were far worse things out there than dying.

Men like Uso knew all about those things.

A blur of orange and black burst from the jungle. Whatever it was, was huge and crashed right into Subotai. The Unicorn was knocked off his horse and Oki whirled around to loose an arrow. The arrow sunk into the creature’s shoulder and it let out a piercing roar that was more out of anger than pain.

It looked like a tiger but stood up on its hind feet like a man. Its arm muscles were massive and the creature glowed with death.

The other samurai moved in, slicing at it with their katanas.

Then she saw Shintaro charge in. He always wore his armor and for once she was glad. She was about to call out to him to be careful when he struck.

His giant bisento named “Swamp Dragon” swung in an awesome overhead swing that came down right between its shoulder and neck. The heavy blade cut down through the creature’s chest sending a geyser of blood in every direction. The thing was practically chopped in half with one swing.

Shintaro then kicked the monster to release his bisento.

The tiger monster slumped to the ground with life rapidly draining from its face. Its yellow eyes rolled up into its head and it crashed into the dirt with another spray of blood.

She had never seen such power from a single man before. The man was as naïve and gullable as a newborn babe, but he could certainly fight. That was why he was there, he was their strong arm.

She no longer felt so afraid of being in a strange jungle full of tiger monsters. If Shintaro was there then she knew she’d be safe.

That wasn’t a feeling she experienced often. At most she had felt “at least I’m not starving” or “at least I’m not being beaten by a thug.” But safe? No, that was new to her.

So, Shintaro was powerful, he just didn’t know how to use that power. As someone who had spent her entire life without power, she had a few ideas of what he could do.

Three days later she was walking with Shintaro in the market place of Journey’s End Keep. Not even the docks of Broken Wave City had she seen anything like this. There were merchants from places she had only heard rumors about. Brightly colored tents filled with trinkets from far off places surrounded her.

Each stall made her want to stop and stare, but she had work to do. If she was going to attach her future to this samurai, then she needed to get him educated in a hurry.

“I don’t know why you insisted on coming with me. I believe I can protect myself,” Shintaro said.

“Against swords and tiger monsters, yes, I don’t doubt that.”

Not at all. She had never seen anyone fight like him. He could keep her safe and she wanted that very much. But before he could protect her, he needed to learn a few things.

“Then what? You fear a shugenja will attack me?” He said followed by a deep laugh. “I’m not important enough for a shugenja to waste their talents on.”

“You’re wrong about that Shintaro-sama. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to show you real people in the real world.”

“I’m not an isolated Imperial courtier. I traveled the Empire guarding Imperial Heralds. I believe I’ve seen the world.”

“Seen, maybe. But you did not understand it.”

Shintaro stopped and turned his head toward her.

“What, by the Kami, are you talking about?”

“Just watch, Shintaro-sama. You’ve seen the world through the eyes of a samurai of honor. Not everyone is honorable. Now, be still and watch.”

She pulled him into the shadows of an alley and watched the people of the market. The place was filled with strange people and even stranger gaijin, but humans were all the same. She could be in the palace of the Emperor himself and see the same things going on as she had on the docks of Broken Wave City.

It was a few minutes before she saw something.

“Look!” She pointed to rich man in gaijin robes walking through the market. “Now look behind him.” Shintaro followed her pointed finger to three men whose eyes didn’t leave the rich looking man. “They’re planning on robbing him.”

“Then we have to stop them,” Shintaro said.

“No, that’s not why you’re here. Just watch.”

As the three moved up, two town guards moved in and placed themselves in front of them.

“Ah, see? Justice is on the watch,” Shintaro said.

She held her tongue and kept watching.

One of the guards held out his hand and the three men passed him a few coins. Then the guards stepped aside and the three men continued after their prey.

“Why didn’t the guards stop them?”

“The thieves paid them off, Shintaro. That’s what happens.”

“How do they get away with this? Someone has to know that is going on.”

“Everyone knows.”

Next she pointed out a husband beating his wife because she had come to help him home after drinking all day. After that she pointed out a fake cripple begging for money and then a fake shugenja selling useless potions of “vigor.”

“Why show me all of this. I know the world isn’t a perfect place.”

“I’m trying to show you that humans are the same everywhere you go. Even samurai.”

“Nonsense. That is why we have the code of Busido.”

“Can you honestly tell me that every samurai lives up to the code every minute of every day? You’ve never seen a samurai lie or steal?”

That got a reaction from him. His brows furrowed and he began to think. She recognized his thinking face because he shut out all outside disturbances.

“I have,” he finally said.

“Do you think other samurai also do the same?”

He nodded.

“Shintaro, every samurai is capable of doing bad things, maybe even someone close to you.”

“Are you implying that one of my friends…”

His muscles tightened and he could see his hands clinch into fists. Her eyes shot to “Swamp Dragon” that was across his back.

“No! Not at all. I’m sure they are all honorable and true samurai.” She waved her hands as if to banish the idea that his friends were anything but honorable. “What I am suggesting is that you start thinking things through. Don’t accept a situation at first glance. Look for what’s real. Next time you go to a Lord’s castle or meet someone new, don’t trust what you see. Look and see what’s really there.”

She then motioned to the market and he looked out to see the truth.

It was a good half hour before he actually said anything.

“That money changer’s scales are off. He adjusts them every time the local thugs walk by.”

“He doesn’t want them to know he’s working in their territory.”

“That woman over there is a prostitute and that man snatches purses.”

“Is it obvious?”

“Not at first.”

“It is for me, but I’ve lived among these people all my life.”

“Why show me this?”

He turned to look at her and folded his massive arms. If he wanted to, he could break her with no effort. Normally that would have her looking for a place to hide, but for once those powerful arms were going to be working to protect her.

“So you can start being your own man and not a follower,” she said.

“I’m in the company of my superiors.”

“No, you’re not. You’re a samurai just the same as them. It’s up to you to show them that.”

She had placed a hand on his arm but withdrew it as soon as she realized it.

“The world can’t be as dishonorable as you say. The market bring in the worst of society.”

He then began to walk back toward the keep. She hurried after him and struggled to maintain his pace. His legs were longer and he could move like a horse.

“Consider everything you saw today,” she said.

Shintaro didn’t answer.

This wasn’t going to be easy. If she was going to teach this stubborn samurai, she had to accept that it was going to take a long time.

Every day she followed him wherever he went. She watched as he talked to his friends and the local Unicorn samurai.

She could see that his usual ease and smiles were replaced by restraint and thinking.

That was a good sign, but it was only a start. As it was, he was considering the situations but still coming to the same conclusions. She had to train his eye and it would take time.

One way or another she would break out of the societal prison mother left for her.

Yuki walked into the kitchen, following the scent of something divine. She had a good nose and one that helped her with her cooking. Now she was trying to find the source of that heavenly smell.

Other servants were running about, preparing platters of food for the party. She watched an entire bowl of fried squid rush by her and her hand shot out and grabbed one. No one noticed and she stuffed the fried squid in her mouth and continued to look around to see what else she could swipe.

Everyone was too busy to notice her. She walked through the kitchen unseen. She had never seen so much food in her life. She also didn’t recognize most of it. She was going to have to get the recipies for some of what she saw. Especially one platter that had thin slices of crispy meat of some kind. She had never had red meat or anything like it, but whatever this meat was overpowered the deliciousness of everything else.

Laughter filtered in from down the hall. That was the party where Shintaro and his friends were.

The courtyard was filled with local merchants and lesser nobility trying to get in. She knew that was one place she’d never be able to enter. She was a peasant and peasants didn’t go into places like that.

That’s all she would ever be, a peasant. Even if Shintaro did take her as his official mistress, she would always be a peasant. She’d be a very comfortable peasant though.

She snatched some of the thin, crispy meat and shoveled it in her mouth before anyone noticed.

It actually tasted better than what it smelled like.

“What’s this called?” She asked the nearest cook with the crispy meat still in her mouth.

“The gaijin called it bacon,” the cook said without looking at her.

Bacon.

Yes, she would need to prepare this for Shintaro. He would crave it and she would refuse to tell him what it was. That way he would have to come to Yuki to get more.

Down the hall a panel to the party slid open and the sounds of talking and laughter grew stronger. She swiped another piece of bacon and went to the kitchen door to see who had left the party.

The shadowed form was instantly recognizable.

Shintaro.

She hurried out into the hall and approached him. He had his thinking expression on again and didn’t notice her approach.

“Shintaro-sama?”

He looked up and smiled, but it was a half felt smile. She had never seen that expression on him before.

“What’s wrong, Shintaro-sama?”

“A great deal, I’m afraid.”

She reached up and placed her hand on his arm.

“I haven’t told you the story of my father, have I?”

She shook her head.

“My father taught me everything I know about being a samurai. My bisento was a gift from him. He taught me how to fight with it. Then he left to fight in a war and never returned.”

“I’m sorry.”

He held up his hand to stop her from saying anything else. “Hear me. I’ve recently learned that my father was never of the Sparrow Clan. He was a Spider. He was sent to infiltrate the Sparrow.”

A Spider! She had never met one and hoped to never have to. If Uso wasn’t a Lion she would have guessed he was a Spider. Stories were told at night at the docks about bodies turning up without their heads and hands, victims of the Spider.

Shintaro was half Spider by blood?

“That’s impossible,” she said.

“It’s not and it’s true. That’s part of the reason I’m here. I’m hunting him. When I find him I will clean his stain from the honor of the Sparrow Clan.”

With anyone else she would think they were blustering and only wanted revenge for something else. But when Shintaro spoke of honor, she knew he meant it.

“Is that why Shintaro-sama’s heart has been so heavy lately?”

He nodded.

“That is part of it. Also, your words in the market also weigh heavily on me,” he said.

“Please do not listen to the rambling words of a peasant.”

“You’re anything but rambling, Yuki. Perhaps you are right. Perhaps people are untrustworthy.”

“Not everyone,” she said. “You can trust your friends…most of them. You can trust me.”

He raised a hand toward her face but stopped himself. He looked at it as if he didn’t know what to do with it.

“It’s alright, Shintaro-sama.”

She took his hand and completed its path for him. His large, callused hand rested on her cheek. It was warm and it was powerful.

“I don’t know what to do, Yuki. An emissary from the Spider has invited me to see them. If I go there it will be dangerous.”

“Just remember what I taught you. Look at the situation for what it really is.”

“That might not be enough. I’ve always counted on my skill with the bisento and my honor to see me through, but too often they have failed.”

“Don’t think about this tonight, noble samurai.”

For the first time she actually meant it.

“My father is a traitor. A woman working for the Empire steals and lies. Men betrayed Oki into breaking the law. The entire Empire is tearing itself apart from the inside.”

She didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but if whatever it was opened his eyes then that was a good thing.

“Yuki, the world isn’t an honorable place.”

“No, Shintaro-san.”

“Have I been a fool?”

“Sometimes, but that is not a bad thing. You chose to see the good in the world.”

She’d never seen the honor and goodness in the world that he did, but she wanted to. She wanted to believe that people could be good and honorable for no other reason than it was the right thing to do.

“Let’s take your mind off of this,” she said.

She grabbed his hand and began leading him back to his room.

“Yuki?”

“There are a few more things I need to teach you.”

She led him to his room and closed the screen behind her.

Yuki lay in Shintaro’s arms and grabbed another piece of bacon from the platter. She fed it to Shintaro who had a grin that covered his entire face.

It had been different this time. Very different. Shintaro actually cared about her comfort. He was surprisingly gentle and loving. She had never held anyone like that.

This night had turned out very different than she had imagined.

“Maybe the world isn’t as noble as I thought it was, but there are some things in it worth protecting,” he said.

“Are you talking about me or the bacon?”

“You, but the bacon is second place.”

She lay there with her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat. He was a good, honorable, powerful man and he was hers.

Yuki had forgotten all about using him to advance her own station. For the past hour or so, she only thought of having him.

Where had her mind gone? Yes, this was pleasant and….very, very pleasant, but she had to think of her future as well. She needed to eat. She needed to live. Things samurai didn’t have to worry about.

But in doing this, was she following in the path of her mother?

No, she had done this of her own will, not to get something. She had wanted to help Shintaro.

“Yuki?”

“Hmm?”

“I just wanted to…”

He didn’t get to finish his thought. Suddenly dozens of voices ran through the hall, shouting something about a murder.

Shintaro jumped up and began putting his kimono on. She grabbed his armor and helped him strap it on. She put on his breastplate and tightened it into position. Next she pulled his gauntlets on followed by his grieves.

As she worked to get him ready, she wondered if this was what a samurai’s wife did. Was this as close as she’d ever get to that dream?

And as soon as he was fully armored he charged out the door.

Just like that, he was gone.

Then his face reappeared in the doorway. He made as if to say something but his face broke out into another smile.

He hadn’t forgotten about her. Every other man forgot about her as soon as they had left her bed.

“Just go, Shintaro! They may need you!”

He nodded and ran off down the hall.

She slipped her shortened kimono back on and hurried to the open door to the main hall. The room was full of samurai. Apparently someone had been murdered. The witnesses claimed it had been a one armed man.

All eyes were on Toranaka.

That was impossible. Toranaka was the kind of samurai that wouldn’t lose sleep over letting a peasant village starve, but he would never attack someone in the back like a coward. For all its good and bad, Toranaka was Bushido to his core.

Of course, they wouldn’t listen to a peasant girl.

Shintaro and his companions were hurried into another room that was guarded by men with spears.

That was one conversation she wasn’t going to be able to listen in on.

An hour later the companions emerged from the room, still alive. She followed them and heard them talking to a scary man in full armor about finding the real killer.

Good for them. Toranaka was no killer.

She followed them through the streets, sticking to the shadows and staying out of sight. They found a wig under a cart and a paper with a symbol of some kind on it. She didn’t know what all that meant but the way they treated the objects told her they were important somehow.

Then they came to a sake brewery. She crouched down behind a barrel with a good view of the inside.

Suddenly a man leapt out of the shadows and ran out of the brewery. Isao used some kind of spell that made a painful burst of light in front of the fleeing man and then Tornonaka tackled him and somehow twisted him into a knot with one arm. His speed was amazing.

But the man looked like a peasant…and he had two arms.

She turned back to the brewery in time to see someone hit Oki in the back of the head. Oki tumbled out of the window, landing on the ground with a thud she heard from her hiding place.

Shintaro and Isao stood there, facing the man that pulled out his katana in a slow way that showed he wasn’t scared of them.

She wanted to shout out to Shintaro to be careful. If that man could take Oki out like that, then there was no telling what he was capable of. She hated watching but couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

If something happened to Shintaro…

Shintaro leveled Swamp Dragon at the man and challenged him. The man laughed and charged.

Shintaro stepped back while swinging his bisento in a wide circle. The heavy blade crashed down onto the man, cutting through his sword and slicing through his armor: completely shredding it and sending pieces of it flying in every direction.

The man stumbled back with blood pouring down the diagonal cut in his chest. Then Isao made a fist and punched it out toward the bleeding man. Rocks from the ground shot out, striking the man in his exposed chest. He flew through the air, smashing through a vat of sake and through the wall. Sake poured out everyone in a great flood.

That was her man right there! He had challenged that man and blasted him apart like a tsunami!

Yes, she was safe with Shintaro. As safe as anyone could be.

She had no illusions that this meant she had nothing to fear.

To be continued next week: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/5670/

If you want to check out some of Zach’s other works, here is his post apocolyptic thriller which I’ve not read yet: http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00H7HXOPM

Another new audiobook from me: Into the Storm

January 16, 2014 correia45 14 Comments

Coming in February:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Into-the-Storm-Audiobook/B00HS1WT4Y/ref=a_search_c4_1_8_srTtl?qid=1389889930&sr=1-8

You don’t need to be familiar with the game to enjoy this book. Think of it as a sort of heroic fantasy/steampunk mashup, and my story is a Dirty Dozen/Band of Brothers of knights armed with mad science lightning swords and giant steam powered battle robots.

If you’ve not read it yet, you can get it here: http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00EUSMLLE

So all of my Privateer Press stuff will be available in Audiobook form as well. This is the other if you missed it, Instruments of War:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Instruments-of-War-Audiobook/B00H88DNRY/ref=a_search_c4_1_9_srTtl?qid=1389889930&sr=1-9

Once again, you don’t need to know the game world to enjoy this novella. I wrote it so that anybody could jump in. This one is about a race known as the Skorne, who make Klingons look like peace loving hippies. Their society is built on war and their magic is based on torture. I’d say they’re not evil, they’re just misunderstood, but naw, they’re totally evil, and awesome to write. 🙂

And the book is here: http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00C77NL0A

And I’ve not even listened to either of these yet! The narrators asked me a ton of questions and went through how I imagined various characters sounding, so I’m pretty excited.

And stay tuned for more exciting Audible related news in the near future. 🙂

EDIT! Almost forgot, since I’ve been on a Sad Puppies 2 kick all month, and I’m talking about the stuff I wrote for Privateer Press, check this out too:

http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B00DHS08Z4

Seriously, you’ll thank me. It is about a character who is a complete hulking psychopath. And who better to write about psychopaths than Dan Wells? It is getting my nomination for best novella for the Hugo. It is the best novella sized thing I read all year. Also, it will make the literati explode because it is GAME TIE IN FICTION! (plus, I bet a complete stranger on the internet $5 that I could get this nominated for a Hugo) 🙂