Where's Sleepers 3? Blame ... CM Punk.

Against the advice of my son, I am going to explain what is going on with Sleepers 3. The question I get asked all the time. My son, though, tells me that while my friends, family and closest readers understand my insanity, others may not.

But to the devoted Sleepers readers, I give you my explanation of its delay.

Warning, it’s twisted. I also promise to mark ‘spoilers’ when needed.

Many of you may know this, some may not, but I cast my books. I find actors, sports figures, wrestlers, musicians, and I craft my characters by what I think they portray or are like. Many times, my characters are nothing like those they are modeled after.

When I first embarked on Sleepers, the character of Alex Sans blasted on the pages and immediately took over, as if I had no say so at all in the writing. The character of Alex Sans was inspired by pro wrestler, CM Punk. Man, every Monday, every chance, I listened to CM talk, walk, act. Soon, within weeks, my kids were yelling at me because I was calling CM “Alex”. That’s ok, it helps my dementia.

Then came Sleepers 2. I flew through that one. Again, Alex ruled. CM Punk was WWE champion and man, I was able to really utilize the inspiration.

Hence Sleepers 3. Something happened. CM Punk turned into well … a punk. A bad guy and he wasn’t even a good bad guy, he was a tool. A cardboard bad guy that irritated me to watch. Honestly, someone needs to send CM Punk to wrestling persona school.

All the sudden, with the switch of CM Punk, I couldn't breed Alex the way I wanted. Middle of Sleepers 3, I had to stop. I tried, I really tried, I even wrote around him. It has been suggested, to watch ‘old’ videos of Punk. But the problem is, the good guy to bad guy stint (For me) was stealth and I didn't see it coming until he flipped such a bad switch, I was like, ‘oh God, no!” He cut his hair, just ….UH! He’s not my Alex!

I have used wrestling bad guys before as good guy characters in my books, but CM Punk’s bad guy is so badly done, it makes my stomach twist.

Now ...I wanna kill off Alex. But it’s not because of Alex, it’s because I don’t like CM Punk’s persona anymore. I can’t make him gay, I did that to Henry in Beginnings, because of the actor that inspired him. SLEEPERS 2 SPOILER ALERT: In Sleepers 2, it was a literal flip of coin to see who died, seriously I flipped coin, Alex or Beck. Beck lost. He died. Now I wish it were Alex. Because the inspiration behind Alex is gone.

Maybe … I’ll make him into a bad guy in Sleepers 3. But how, I love Alex. And what if I manage to successfully make him bad and CM Punk returns to being a good guy, then I’d have the task of redeeming Alex and that’s not easy. Then again, how many times did I redeem Frank?

I know this, Sleepers 3: Rise of Keller is nearly complete, but is on pause. I promise to have it out no later than May 1st. April 1^st if I’m lucky. I’ll post a peek in a couple weeks. Until then, this is where it’s at. Suggestions?

Would Blake Shelton Survive in an Apocalyptic World?

Life is a series of paths. At least for me. I can be on Youtube looking up an music video and end up watching alien autopsy videos, I haven’t a clue how I got there, I just did. Same thing happened tonight. Not gonna say the path, but it started with a taco salad and ended up with fictitious conversation between Blake Shelton and one of my sci fi characters.

Then I got to thinking, after, of course, wondering if Blake had a nose job, I wondered (Because you know I’m always in the apocalypse mindset) How would Blake do in the apocalypse? Fiction or real? How would any celebrity do? Aside from Charlton Heston who would rock the apocalypse. What would Blake’s survivor chances be?

Taking a look at Blake, remove the guitar and the glitz of The Voice, he seems pretty much a regular guy. A country boy. Give him a natural catastrophic event, a plague, that would be his best chance of survival scenario. I foresee him with a boat load of weaponry, hunting his own food, after he hit up the Jack Daniels distillery for a life time supply. He’d be locked on self sufficient property and be quite content on his own.  Then again, if it were nuclear war, I don’t see him doing that well. He’s not a stock and supply sort of guy, more of a live for the moment. This puts him at a disadvantage because he wouldn’t comprehend the invisible horrors.

So in my opinion Natural disaster, plague (if he beats the germ) Blake lives. Nuclear war … he might be toast.

But what about the dreaded zombie apocalypse. Blake Shelton running amuck with the living dead. I think his biggest obstacle would be believing it were real. After that, he’d live a Herschel life. Herschel. What if Blake, ‘the actual Blake’ showed up on the Walking Dead? Not talking cast on the show, I mean reality crosses into fiction. I think he’d get along great with Herschel, they have that drinking thing in common. He’d tease the hell out of Carl, get annoyed with Glen, fool around with Andrea (Doesn’t everyone) and tell Rick, “Dude, really, lighten the hell up.’. In the end the Macho and hotness clash would be too much between him and Darryl and eventually, because he likes to bathe, Blake would hang out with the governor. He would survive in the fictional Walking Dead world.

In one of my novels, I’d think he’d do well in my fictional worlds, they’re mostly plague. He’s whacked out enough to fit in Beginnings, and as far as my other books, my people are pretty much small town country, my characters love to drink and listen to country music.

But put him in a Craig Dilouie world, I don’t think he’d do all that well. Hell, no one would do well in Craig DiLouie Post Apocalypse world. Craig creates some harsh obstacles in some screwed up, scary worlds. Stay away Craig’s apocalypse, Blake and you’ll do just fine.

Hmm. Wonder what celebrity I can imagine next in an apocalypse..

Sneak Peak of Sealed In

Thought I'd give you a special sneak peak. This is a small section taken from my next release, Sealed In. A fictional pandemic story dealing with the accidental release of the soviet biological weapon, Ebolapox.  Just a tease. This is the story I had written before the History Channel special and I supplied them with information from the book for their segment on Ebolapox. Enjoy ...

<><><><>

FLASH FORWARD

Ground Zero – 4

December 23^rd

Hartworth, Montana

            For the first time in his career, Edward had to pause to throw up and then he downed a drink. His examination of Vivian Morris went about as far as it could go before he got sick. It wasn't just the sight and smell of her, it was the thought of what had occurred.

            “I need a investigative team,” Edward told Dr. Lange, head of the Centers for Disease control in his first telephone conversation back to headquarters. “Body removal and another team of virologist. We have to trace this thing. We need to find out exactly what it is.”

            “ You've only been there three hours, Ed. What in the hell …”

            “Over eight hundred bodies. One just thawed enough for me to examine … my God, Bill.” Edward grabbed his flask. “This woman … these people … this … thing. I’m scared to death.”

            At first his soft laugh carried over the line, then Dr. Bill Lange, breathed outward. “You’re very serious.”

            “Yes. Yes, I am. Bill.” Edward paused to take a sip. “I don’t even know if I’ll end up with it, for as much precaution as I’ve taken. This thing is like nothing I have ever seen. Nothing. And it’s fast, my God, is it fast. Last phone call out of this town was placed a few days ago, that’s when I guess the town died.”

            “When did it hit there? Any guesses?”

            “No more than a week.”

            “Jesus.”

            “Tell me about it,” Edward said. “I just did my first examination and I got sick. Sick, Bill, Underneath what was left of her skin … and I say what was left because the victim either scratched her skin away or it tore from within. And what was beneath it … it was like tar, looked like tar and smelled like bile. Everything inside was desecrated. Internal organs barely recognizable. They were mush. If there was any blood left in the victim’s body, it was too thick to pass through the veins, and just seeped through any bodily orifice it could find.”

            “Where … where did it start?” Dr. Lange asked. “Any idea.”

            “I’d be guessing,” Edward replied. “But I’d say it was inhaled. Maybe it started as a respiratory ailment, who knows, but it hit the digestive system and ate through it like acid.”

            “Septicemia?”

            Edward laughed. “We need a new word for it. Trust me. Septicemia is a walk in a park compared to this. And you know what the worst part is?”

            “There’s worse?” Dr. Lange asked.

            “Oh, yeah. The brain. Barely touched. That tells me the victim knew every single thing that was happening to them. This woman, felt every single ounce of pain and sickness and my guess is she went through an agony that was inhumane.”

            “I’m disbursing as many units as I can to you. They’ll be there by the end of the day,” Dr. Lange said. “Have you tried the neighboring communities?”

            “I am keeping the State police at bay and out of those towns just in case. I’m scared. There’s a town thirty miles north of here, one forty miles east. The last phone call went to Lincoln. Those are small towns. But Billings … it’s only seventy miles away.”

            “This hit fast, do you think it broke boundaries?” Dr. Lange asked.

            “It should have under normal circumstances,” Edward said. “But these aren’t normal. You have every day folks, dead cowboys in pickup trucks with shotguns on every single road leading in and out of town. This makes me wonder if there is a BSL-4 lab around here. Maybe a resident here brought in the germ, knew it was released and they shut down and sealed in the town. Set up an aid station, prepared for it. Kept it down until everyone died.”

            “Someone knew it was this bad?”

            “Without a doubt. My only hope is they shut down this town fast enough.” At that instant, Edward’s eye lifted to the opening of the lab door. “My team just returned. Let me call you back.”

            Dr. Lange told him he was assembling more teams and the conversation ended.

            Using the intercom, Edward told Harold to double disinfect, then waited for him to walk into the office portion.

            He knew by the look on Harold’s face, he had more information.

            “We found a whole bunch of bodies,” Harold said. “Maybe a hundred or more.”

            “There’s eight hundred plus people in this town, of …”

            “No.” Harold stopped him. “Let me finish. We found a bunch of bodies. Apparently infected  … but they didn’t die of our sickness. They were shot.”

            Edward as barreled over by the news. “It can’t be.”

            “Single shot to the head. Men, women, children.”

            “Someone finished off the town.”

            Harold shook his head. “Nope.. Someone killed the people who weren’t going to die from the illness.”

            Edward ran his hand down his face with a hard sigh. “What the hell? Why?”

            With his question came a ‘thump’ on his desk. Harold tossed a sealed bag, and in it, what looked like a journal.”

            “What is it?” Edward asked.

            “You’re answers,” Harold replied. “Someone documented everything. I only skimmed through, but I’m pretty certain,” He pointed to the journal. “That right there, solves the mystery of what happened to this town.”

No worries, the world could still end in 2013

I’m still stuck on the 2012 end of the world prediction thing. While 2012 has come and gone, I can’t help but think of all those preppers who adamantly insisted and prepped for the end of the world. They invested everything into the one date.

While I haven’t invested my every dollar, I have had stock on hand since 1998 and rotated it for freshness. In 1998, the company I worked for started testing for Y2K and everything failed. Since then it has just been a habit and a hobby.

The 2012 predictions was based on theory and the Mayan calendar. It picked up momentum out of obsession and commercialization. It was not fact based like Y2K. But have no fear, if you have invested in the Apocalypse or felt let down that nothing happened, no worries, the world could still end in 2013 and by some fact based events.

To make your day, I've compiled a short list.

Solar Flare

It is a well known fact that scientists at NASA have been predicting a solar flare of record size to hit earth between January and March of 2013. Not that it will scorch us into oblivion but according to Nasa ..

 it could damage everything from aircraft and ground controls, emergency services’ systems, emergency hospital equipment, banks and traffic controls, through to everyday items that we all take for granted such as home computers, tvs and the driver’s friend – the Sat Nav. Power grids could overheat and bring counties to their knees whilst electronic items, navigation devices and even satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power sometime in 2013. The effect of such a ‘storm’ could be felt for days, weeks or even months as we try to bring the World back on line with electricity, communications and vital services.

So in an essence, total society breakdown because the sun burps.

100 meter Asteroid DA14

Yep, we can go the way of the dinosaurs … sort of.

The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.

There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Russia’s University of Electronics and Mathematics.

Yellowstone Caldera or … Siberian traps

Oh, yeah, these ‘Super Volcanoes’ are ready to blow. Increased seismic activity, if one of these two bad boys blow, we are looking at the next ice age. Man’s extinction. These two calderas are often ignored, but they are scary facts of life. They are like puberty pimples. They can swell up at any time, erupt and make our lives miserable.

EV-71 – The New Hand Foot and Mouth disease.

How freaking scary is this one? Ever heard of it? Sure you heard of HFM disease, a very common child hood ailment, but EV-71 is a lethal strain. Get a fever, cold symptoms, cold sore … die. It is an antibiotic resistant strain that has a fatality rate of 90%. No kidding, look it up. In Cambodia. 59 children were infect, 52 died.

Incidentally …. 1990’s, Russian was working on a deadly strain of hand foot and mouth disease.  Specially in a weapons plant located near the China border. When the bio weapons project was banned in 1992. This particular strain went missing. Also, photos show that the plant, near China, is till operational.

While I have scratched off Mayan Apocalypse from my list, these remain. Thought I'd feed your apocalypse visions some more, I know you missed it.

To Resolve or not to Resolve?

It’s that time of the year again, the ‘end of the year’ blog.

Impressively, I blogged a lot more in 2012  than I did in 2011, but I want to keep on blogging. I will eventually get better at it.

So looking back on my last year’s resolution, I did pretty good. One of them was to get 7 books out and have 2 of them be non PA … check.

Actually, 2012 wasn't a bad year at all.  I welcomed my granddaughter Amelia in a whirlwind birthing experience. I didn't get married again. And for the second year in a row, I made it through without any utilities being shut off.

I made it beyond my 48^th birthday as well. Have to tell you, for years I worried that I was going to die the same age as my father. My older brother had the same fear too, and when he beat the mark he passed the torch to me. It was a neurotic torch to carry. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, so I passed it to my brother Mike.

Every year for ten years I have posted my New Year’s resolutions. I do this so I can go back at the end of the year and see how well I did. Here they are.

In 2013 …

Write 7 books.

Finish off my trilogies (America Demise, Sleepers, Last Mile) and Zombie Battle. Hmm, that’s four.  It would probably not surprise most of you to know some of these are pretty much written, they need to be finished.

Finish the audio parts for Sleepers 2 by March 1^st.

Dedicate one hour a day to Promoting and being out there.

Get a job at Walmart portrait studios. Seriously, I want to be that person that takes family and baby pictures and sell the packages. I can meet so many new and interesting people that way. Imagine the new characters that emerge.

Become a Pescatarian. This is a vegetarian that eats fish. Why? I don’t know, it sounds cool, and if doesn't work for me, I’ll become a flexitarian (Real word) and that’s a person who is a vegetarian but sometimes isn't.

Update my website more often

Build the coolest app ever for my Beginnings series.

Forgive one person from my past and let it go. Typically, I don’t hold on to anything, but there are a few …. No, it won’t be frozen meat woman, I almost forgave her but she reignited that with them burgers.

Demand respect in my house. I realize I have a big home but it’s not the Comfort Inn, hell if it was, people would pay to sleep here. I am not a church organization or homeless shelter, you don’t get free room and board here. Time to be Thor and drop the hammer

Notice how there isn’t yet anything about relationships and love here. There won’t be.

Be more realistically based. I live off royalties and those are basically sales. Like other sales jobs there are ups and downs and I need to learn to deal with those. Not mope when things are bad, not want to quit, but find a way to make it better.

And finally …. Have something I write or do, bring about world peace and that garnishes me the Nobel Peace Prize …. Okay, I can be ambitious.

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

OK ... What Now Post Apocalypse Authors?

The world didn't end, not many of us were surprised, but I am left to wonder if the obsession with the apocalypse has reached its climax and fast makes its way down the hill of lost fads.

Now, I suppose there will still be the diehards out there. Me being one of them. But I also feel the success of the apocalypse media was due mainly to the failed Mayan prediction. The hype of years worth of build up.

I didn't start writing Post Apocalypse and ‘End of the World’ fiction out of some Mayan frenzy. Hell, my first short story was Disaster in the Liberty Tubes (At the age of ten), and full length novel was called, ‘They will Destroy Us’, and I wrote it at the age of 15. It was about aliens. Those of you who know how old I am, know that was long before Y2k and even the 2012 thing.

As the year 2012 crept up, thousands of writers jumped the bandwagon and penned PA fiction (Post Apocalypse). They never wrote one before and probably won’t again.  There are those of us who have a passion for writing it and those who write it for the hype. The positive thing is a lot of those novelist lost their incentive and probably will never pen another PA book, while those of us who live in that world will continue to write it. The market, this time next year, won’t be as flooded with new material.

Problem is, will people still buy it?

Years ago, no one would publish PA fiction. Unless of course it had a happy ending or miraculously, a deadly outbreak with a 99.9 percent fatality and communicability rate is suddenly stopped by a hero in a chopper (Outbreak). Hollywood, New York, they wanted those dismal world ending stories kept to a minimum.

They said, ‘The reader/viewership was minimum and the market too small’, but that changed as the Mayan prediction closed in. Suddenly the market grew, movies, zombies, you name it. I have a ton of rejections to prove that.

Again, I am left to wonder if the market will still be there? Sure, there are people like me that are glad there are plenty of PA book to choose from now. Years ago, I couldn’t get my hands on one.

As a writer who writes primarily PA fiction, I see a positive and a negative to the flopped 2012 doomsday.

On a positive, within six months, the new PA material won’t be as plentiful, competition won’t be as fierce. Those one hit wonders driven to capitalize on the fear of the masses won’t be putting out PA books for free or 99 cents burying the good ones and/or forcing many of us to mark down our own books so we make only 30 cents a copy.

We, the professional PA/Zombie book writers will still be here.

On the down side, I don’t think the market will be there like it was.  People won’t be flocking to download kindle editions that tell of the world’s demise.

I hope I’m wrong. Someone tell me I am wrong.

There are many, many writers out there that only write PA/Zombie style fiction and always have before it was cool to write it. I hope for their sake, the market stays.

I’m fortunate, because I write other things besides PA/Zombie. I'm not stuck in a writing rut. I have romance, horror, comedy, religious fiction, mystery, YA … I have them all out there for sale. Maybe now, they’ll get noticed. People/readers don't realize, I have 20 titles out  there that are not Apocalypse. 20. I know people don't know this because no one really buys them. However, I think I may be in a better position than a lot of PA writers who rely heavily on a world's end obsession. 

Actually, from my own sales stats, my non PA books have picked up some. In fact, my non PA books dribbled in sales before this and this month alone, the month of the failed apocalypse, I seen a near 400% increase in non PA book sales. While my PA books took a sharp turn down. Now don’t get excited. 400% increase against near nothing is still  low, but still the low number was the norm. This was my best Non PA book month to date.

Again, I hope I am wrong. I will continue to write PA fiction. I'm finishing up a dozy now.  But I think it may be time to concentrate on my non PA works just as much.

What say you?

            

The Next Big Thing - Pam?

So, David Dunwoody approached me with this new ‘Tag you’re it’ thing for authors. A viral way for us to all get our stuff out there. For us to try to get those who follow us or subscribe to see the work of other writers. We’re all in this together so let’s help each other out.

The way it works is you answer the ten questions, then tag other authors, challenging them to do the same. They answer the questions and tag others. They also tag and credit the person that roped them into it. Okay, so allow me to say, if you do not do this, it’s ok, it’s not a chain letter. But if you do it, think of the dozens of new people that can see your work.

So here are my answers to the questions. I chose my book, Pam. Not that it’s anywhere near the next big thing, but I can dream.

What is your working title of your book?

Pam

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Out of nowhere to be honest and with the help of a fellow authors, Kirk and Sonia, it formed.

What genre does your book fall under?

Murder/Mystery or psychological thriller.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Charlize Theron as Pam.  Cameron Diaz as Sharon and Tim Daly (Wings) as Desmond Andrews

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A psychiatrist battles his sex addiction while helping his patient solve the murder of her children.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Self published

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

12 days.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Fifty Shades of Gray meets Helter Skelter

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

All the bad reviews that said I write gay porn and erotica over one implied scene in a pandemic novel.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It’s like nothing else I have ever written. It has sex in it, real sex, well fiction sex. But no implied sex. No beating around the bush in the book (No pun intended) That way if someone wants to review it and say I write erotica, they won’t be far off this mark.

And that’s it.

I hereby tag

Lorrieann Russell (NewRelease My Brother’s Keeper)

Katelyn Rushe

TR Nowry

Jesse Coffey

Kirk Allman