Here we go, the cover for My Abstract Life. I'm going to sleep on this as it is, and see if I feel like it needs adjusting tomorrow, but overall I'm pretty happy with it so far. Once I have this nailed, it's eBook creation time, and then Amazon!
Jonathan Strickland knows a thing or two about how stuff works, so when he turns his knowledgeable eye toward how mundane, behind-the-scenes matters work in fiction, I pay attention. That's exactly what he has in mind with META, or Mildly Exciting Tales of Astonishment.
He wants to peel back the veil that usually lies between us and and the mundane reality of superheroes' lives. How do you interview to become a henchman? How do super-moms find affordable daycare? What sort of superpower do you need to easily master the complexities of branding?
Strickland's META Kickstarter project aims at answering these questions and more in 16 web-series episodes, but there's a problem; he's only got 16 hours to go, as of the time of this writing. If your mind is burning to know why it's a bad idea to build your secret lair under the subway system, I urge you to check out the Kickstarter, watch the video below, and help make his dream a reality!
It recently came to my attention (via Webmaster Tools, not any complaints) that I've got quite a few 404 situations cropping up. If you've been affected by this, my apologies! It's going to take a while to get it completely ironed out, but I'm working on it.
Instead of carrying on with The Price of Entanglement today, I decided I needed a change of pace and worked on an idea I've had for a while now. The result is An Improbable Reference, a story that changed an awful lot more in the writing than I'd expected.
I expected SOME changes, but it took off in a totally different direction. Originally I'd intended it to be more of a physical transformation or relocation of the character, rather than ... well, than what actually ended up happening. I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it.
It's a pretty short story, coming in at just over 1,100 words or so, so a tiny bit longer than Determination. I'm going to have to do more short fiction like this, it's good for clearing the mind out and staying out of ruts.
Oh the fun I have. The other night when I published the latest update to The Price of Entanglement, I described a minor character, Midori, as being Japanese.
This is the sort of thing that happens when I write really, really late at night (or in the morning, as the case may be,) and am very tired and not paying enough attention.
All of the Prices stories take place in a fictional world that bears some close resemblances to our own, but they're developmental and cultural similarities, not geographical or political similarities. There is no Japan in this world. Midori is supposed to evoke someone of Asian origin, but she can't actually be from Japan, unless I start going all alternate-dimensional. (I don't plan to do this. At least not with these stories.)
I noticed this while writing today's delayed update to the story. When I next collect chapters, the correction will have been made.
This is what makes writing in other worlds both fun and challenging. I have total freedom to create whatever I want, but then I become responsible for not only maintaining the consistency of the world, but also of ensuring I don't start accidentally blending worlds together, be it a fictional world with the real world, or two fictional worlds that aren't supposed to touch.
Onward with the story!
