A SCRIBE FOR ALL SEASONS

Kickoff!!!!!

Published on August 23, 2019August 20, 2019 by scribesshadeLeave a comment

I usually hate it when someone asks me which of my books or short stories is my favorite. It’s like asking me to pick my favorite child. Can’t be done.

But there is one book that I take the most pride in having written and published. From The Fields. It tells of the history of high school football played over the first 95 years in my hometown of Turlock, California. I spent many years researching it, interviewing as many former players as I could find from the older teams, putting together the stats and rosters and then releasing it.

It was well received and even led to my writing the proclamation from the City of Turlock to honor the 1957 State Championship team. Now, that was a thrill.

I’m planning on releasing a second edition next year as this season will be the 100th season of football played in Turlock. The next edition will cover the first full century with updated stats and information I’ve gathered since the first edition was released.

Nearly all of my research notes and copies of game stories and boxscores was donated to the Turlock Museum in case anyone wanted to rummage through some of that material. I kept one or two items that had a special connection. One item that I did not donate or keep was the original photo frame from the Topps trading card company for Buffalo Bills lineman Jeff Winans. To my knowledge, this photo was never used for a card.

He graduated from Turlock High, went on to play for USC and then in the NFL. He died shortly before I began researching the book. The interview with his widow was one of the most emotionally rough interviews I have ever done. There is an entire chapter devoted to his story in this book.

After the book was released, I mailed that one-of-a-kind photo – basically a large Kodachrome slide (I scanned it so I’d have a digital copy – (at left)) – to her so that she and Jeff’s son could have it. Being able to find that item and get it to where it belonged might have been the best thing connected to that book.

When I set out to write the book, I did so because properly chronicling the history of the game connected to Turlock’s schools was the one thing I could do for my hometown. There were many of Turlock’s sons that had been forgotten so many decades after they had played. Now, what they did both on and off the field has been preserved.

Tonight, the 100th season kicks off in Turlock with the Bulldogs playing at home. I won’t be there in person. But I will be there in spirit, along with all of the young men who wore the Bulldogs’ Blue and Gold, The Pride’s Green and Silver and the Eagles’ Red, White and Blue.

So, You Want To Learn How To Write?

Published on August 22, 2019August 20, 2019 by scribesshade3 Comments

I was asked how is the best way for a new writer to learn how to write? A novel, a book, a short story, whatever.

The easy answer is this: Sit down and write. No one is expecting you to produce the literary equivalent of the Mona Lisa on your first go. And the old adage, practice makes perfect, is a very good one. Write. Write some more. Then write some more.

But if you are looking at tips and instructions on how to go about the craft, the best advice I can give you is to do this one thing:

Read.

Find everything written by your favorite author or several examples of whatever the genre that you intend to write in. Read them once for the pure pleasure of it. Then, go back and read them again, paying attention to how the author(s) paces the stories. Where they break the chapters up. How they introduce characters, describe them, how they ease in information the reader needs to know without making it a data dump. How do they develop relationships between the characters. How they describe the scene, set the mood and make you care for the imaginary people you are reading about.

You will learn more about writing there than you will anywhere else. Trust me, I’m aware of one person out there billing herself as a teacher of writing based solely on her once-position of authority over a writer’s guild. Remember your old adages here. One of them is this:

“Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach.”

I think that covers all you need to know about this particular personage.

So here’s my advice. Save your money.

Don’t go running off to some author’s seminar or online school. That money is better spent on an editor, book covers and marketing. Join local writing groups. Find writing groups online. Facebook and MeWe are loaded with them. Find beta readers who will read and critique your writing.

If your favorite author is going to be in town for an event, attend it. Go up and talk to them. Don’t expect them to immediately drop what they are doing and read your manuscript. But ask them what advice they might have for a new author just starting his or her journey.

Most authors won’t bite your head off. Any that do aren’t worth your time anyway. Be open and receptive to any comments and suggestions, even those you do not decide to follow (and no, you don’t have to do everything everyone tells you to do. Not everything works the same for every author.)

I think you’ll soon find that the words will flow onto the page and you’ll get your stories read. There are lots of readers hungry for new voices. The trick is finding them, but first, you need to have something to feed them with.

So, put the money back in the wallet, fire up the word processor (or grab that pen and paper) and get to writing.

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Now, about the aforementioned “teacher” there’s another reason why I’d recommend against going that route. Some teachers are less about teaching the craft as opposed to indoctrination.

If you want to become a limited writer who sells to a dying breed of zealots who want to preach to and indoctrinate the unwashed heathens, then by all means, go be with your people.

Just one thing, you’ll likely end up sounding much like this person. She had just received the John W. Campbell Award, given out to the “Best” New Writer (I put Best in quotations because that seems somewhat questionable at this moment).

Now, you’ve just won what some (I don’t personally as I don’t believe the award in any of its categories represents the best of science fiction and fantasy. That distinction belongs to the Dragon Awards) still consider to be a prestigious award. You weren’t expecting to win (her own claim) and, when you are announced as the winner you are so happy and honored by this recognition you walk up to the podium and deliver these words (and this is a word-for-word quote):

“John W. Campbell, for whom this award was named, was a fascist. Through his editorial control of Amazing Stories, he is responsible for setting a tone of science fiction that still haunts the genre to this day. Sterile. Male. White. Exalting in the ambitions of imperialists and colonisers, settlers and industrialists.”

If you’ve read this blog or my social media posts you know what I think of dragging real-world politics, and SJW virtue signaling, into SF/F. If this is your first introduction to my blog, let’s just say that this BS doesn’t fly here. BTW, you will notice neither the Award nor the winner of this particular category is named here? Neither deserves the recognition.

First, have a little grace and humility when being honored. Second, if the person whom the award is named after is so offensive to you, why did you allow your name to remain in the running? You could have withdrawn and maybe your virtue-signaling might have had some meaning.

But what was done here was basically having your cake and eating it too. She gets the spike in sales from the win and the nods of approval from all the *rightthinkers* in the room for striking a blow against the evil white man.

Ok, if that is your goal, go for it. You might enjoy some celebrity and some money from book sales. And the instant you are no longer useful to the inner sanctum, your ass will be out in the cold. Only, there won’t be any other readers to turn to. Because the majority of readers in nearly every genre are getting sick and tired of these shenanigans and taking their book-buying money to authors whose only goal is to create entertaining stories.

There is a sub-set of alleged authors that feel “all art is political” and that political screeds must be hammered into every book written. These people are nothing more than a cancerous growth on the entire literary world. Be sure to keep your body of work free of it.

So, if you want a lot of people to read your work, keep that in mind. Make your story as good and as entertaining as you can. Leave the unneeded silliness with the clique of people who never grew out of junior high. Find authors who do this, learn from them and then go about having an incredible writing journey.

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One last thing, the people in those hate-filled cliques? Find out who is in their circle and avoid them as well. They run websites billed as “the fanzine of “X” fandom”. You’ll notice most of them are glorified Google searches. You’ll also see the venom they spew. Like the teacher above they are incapable of doing. They can only tear down, instead of create. Stay far away from it and don’t let it poison your writing soul.

Also, if you encounter a critic who attacks you and others while hiding behind a fake screen name. Ignore them. If they lack the courage to put their real name behind their words when critiquing another author, they are not a critic. They’re just a piece of shit.

Now then, the wisen scribe has spoken and you have dutifully listened to his counsel. So what are doing still sitting here staring at the screen.

GO GET STARTED WRITING!!!!!

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Voting for the 2019 Dragon Awards are now open. Be sure and go to the website and register to vote (Larry’s up for Best Fantasy novel, what do you say we send ChinaMike a special message this year?) and cast your votes for any and/or all of the categories. It’s absolutely free and the more that participate the better:

Dragon Award Voting signup

My three full-length sci-fi novels are on sale for just $2.99 and my first two novellas of the Timeless series are just $0.99 on several e-book platforms thru the end of DragonCon. Be sure and download your copies today.

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Don’t forget to check every Saturday morning for the next chapter of my 1k Weekly Serials here on the blog. Absolutely free to read. Legacy of Death is currently running. The Invited is up next once Legacy’s 10th and final chapter drops.

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Like what you’ve read so far? Be sure and sign up for Richard’s newsletter, “Postcards From Infinity“, and if you’d like to become a patron you can do so right here. Any amount you choose will be appreciated and will help keep this blog, these weekly serials and Richard’s podcast, “A Scribe’s Journey” up and running. Thank you for reading and for your support.

ASJ: Show 30 The Case of the Missing Guest

Published on August 21, 2019August 20, 2019 by scribesshadeLeave a comment

My scheduled guest on A Scribe’s Journey this week, Adrianna Gavazzoni, had a last-minute emergency that called her away. We’ll try to get her on sometime in October.

It was the perfect complement to this month. As we started off with the Google issue that has impacted how we record the show and then this week’s loss of the guest. And it comes one day I had to reschedule my appearance on a show back east due to technical difficulties on the show’s end. Happily, I’ll be on next week for that show as well as my own.

So, this week I talked a little about who’s up next and some advice for new authors on how to avoid the darker side of Social Media. You can listen to my sage advice on iTunes and on iHeartRadio when the show goes live on those platforms a little later today.

VIDEO: Show 30

AUDIO: Show 30

Upcoming Guests on A Scribe’s Journey

Published on August 20, 2019August 18, 2019 by scribesshadeLeave a comment

Taking a break from the Krasnovia-Pineland Wars to get back into the studio and start recording new episodes of “A Scribe’s Journey.” And we have some pretty neat guests coming up.

I’ll be interviewing Brazillian author Adrianna Gavazzoni later today and that show will go live tomorrow at Noon (EDT). Next week we have baseball author J. David Hermann, who has written a neat book, Almost Yankees, about a single season of baseball played by the Columbus Clippers.

September’s lineup features Christie Stratos, Dan Humphreys, who has a very interesting zombie anthology coming out soon through Silver Empire, Marcy O’Rourke and Benedict Jones. We even have our first guest of October scheduled, Leo Champion.

Last night I was on the SciFi Saturday Night show for a second time. As soon as I have a link to that show I will share it with you. It is always fun to talk with Dome and the gang about all things sci-fi.

You can catch this week’s episode of A Scribe’s Journey or watch past episodes right here.

Or, listen to the podcast’s audio-only version on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play or right here on iHeartRadio.

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Dragon Award Voting signup

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A Word From The Hero Of Krasnovia

Published on August 19, 2019August 19, 2019 by scribesshadeLeave a comment

The Krasnovian Ministry of Truth, Sandviches and Waffles encourages you all to watch this video from the unjustly imprisoned by Facebook, Hero of Krasnovia.

Then please go buy the books linked below and support two incredible authors.

Thank you!! And long live Waffles and Sandviches!!!!

(Oh, poor Facebook, you have no idea what you have unleashed…)

Escalation (Maelstrom Rising) by Peter Nealen

Rimworld- Militia Up by J.L. Curtis

Judgment Day?

Published on August 19, 2019August 18, 2019 by scribesshade4 Comments

So, sometime today Larry Correia, the Hero of Krasnovia, should be released from Facebook Jail for the second time in four days. What will be of great interest to many is how long his freedom will last this time around.

Last Thursday, he was tossed into stir for 24 hours for a ludicrous reason. He was released Friday morning and within what seemed an hour or two at most was struck with a 3-day jail term and this one with no reason given at all.

So now we will wait and see if Facebook hits Larry with the next suspension – this one a 7-day stint – and follows it up with a 30-day and finally a permanent ban. That’s the order of suspensions when Facebook has declared you “Excommunicato” after all.

And if these bans fall in rapid succession we will then know this has been an organized campaign to run Larry off of Facebook by the type of sewer-sucking slime that inhabits places like the House of 770 Vile Aromas and other websites of ill-repute. I suspect this was an attempt to suppress any effort to drum up support for Larry’s nomination for a Dragon Award on Labor Day weekend in addition to running him off Facebook.

This is, after all, the M.O. of folks like that. Deplatforming, doxxing, and any other number of harassment techniques that they favor. What is amusing though, if you were to state that you were considering responding in kind, these same people that have no problem using these tactics on others, will squeal “foul!” when those same tactics are used on them.

Unfortunately for these people, if trying to deny him votes for the Dragon Awards was the primary goal, it hasn’t worked. On this website alone, I have seen a huge increase in traffic as well as many of those new visitors clicking the link to register to vote for the Dragon Awards that I’ve run at the bottom of every blog post here.

Remember Obi Wan’s words to Vader at the end of their duel on the Death Star? “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Yeah, that is all you are accomplishing here with Larry, myself and all of the other creators you have spent the last few years unjustly attacking.

You cannot defeat us. You will never silence us. There are far too many other options out there when it comes to social media. MeWe, Gab, and many others that are out there and gaining traction with people who will not be ThoughtPoliced by the ZuckBots and the TwitterStapo.

So we will wait, and watch. If you continue to attack, we will only grow stronger. As for you, well, you know how things ended for the Emperor and his minions, right?

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Dragon Award Voting signup

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Perchance to Meme…

Published on August 18, 2019August 18, 2019 by scribesshade2 Comments

One of the simple pleasures of social media – aside from easily being able to stay in touch with family and friends – is memes. Finding new memes, sharing them and using them in different ways in response to posts online.

Even more enjoyable is creating new ones. Its something I’ve been playing around with, especially during the 2016 Presidential campaign. Its more of a creative hobby than anything else. There are certainly more talented and more productive memesters out there than me.

But, every once in awhile I manage to hit on a meme that is almost pure gold.

With last week’s Krasnovian-Pinelandian, Larry Correia-related kerfluffle breaking out, there were many memes created and shared. I came up with a couple of my own and put them out into the mix.

I can tell you right now, it’s quite the nice feeling to see a meme you created take off and get shared and reposted not only across the original platform you dropped it onto, but spread to other platforms too. Here’s the meme in question:

If you have been privy to the whole Krasnovia-Pineland party that’s been going on in the Monster Hunter International group on Facebook, this meme makes perfect sense. For those not in the group, basically we’ve had fun splitting into two sides and poking fun at the other side over sandviches, waffles and whose side can kick butt better.

Here’s another one I did, that hasn’t been as popular, but still getting some likes and shares:

And then I called in some old school cool:

At any rate, this is the whole point of memeing: To have some good fun and maybe make the world seem a little less dull and gray. Have you made any memes like that? If so, please feel free to share links to them. We could all do with some more smiling, don’t you think?

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Dragon Award Voting signup

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