Author: Brian

I studied and lived in Japan, got a Master's Degree in Sociology from the University of Oxford and an MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Now I write SFF novels about cerebral people suffering post-modern angst who cope by drinking lots of wine. And misusing magic.

5 Chapters, 100 Ponies

Well! Last week was jammed full of work, editing, work, editing, and not-so-much sleeping. The weekend was nonexistent, though I did manage to implement the changes suggested by my copy-editor up through chapter five of Librarian. I formatted and printed it so it would look like an actual book, and it gave me a feeling of exuberance and the drive to push forward. ROAR!

On another happy note, I crossed the 100 pony mark. Please do not calculate how much this has cost me monetarily, because I would probably cause myself great bodily harm. Expect a photo shoot of my centurions soon!

No Typos, Please! Lenna’s Home

Excitement! Trepidation! Forceful disuse of a double-space after a period!

Tomorrow at 9 am, I’ll be snatching up some proof previews containing the first two edited chapters of Librarian. I’ve called it “Lenna’s Home,” and it’s going to be bound and pretty and hot. I feel like my literary water’s just broken and heavy labor is setting in.

If you’re interested in a bound, printed copy of “Lenna’s Home” for review, please let me know.

35000 Feet, 30 Minutes, Cheap Wine

I’m off to SF to see my Meow.  It’s been too long, and I’ve been running around too much lately so I need a good weekend off.  A lot of people have commented that transcontinental flights are long for just a weekend, but it’s actually (for me) a really good way to detach from the clutter of life.

I mean, really… how much can you get done while being several miles in the sky and in possession of a Virgin credit card?  1200 GOOD WORDS IN 30 MINUTES, BABY.  Apprentice is in full swing.

Winequill Flies
Production levels increase with cheap wine and sunshine in the window.

Banana Bliss Goes on Holiday

Once again, a big shout out to the kind people on Reddit who’ve provided valuable feedback and even offered to beta-read.  It’s really amazing to see such goodness in the community.

Insanely busy week here — I’m actually in the finance business when not writing — and with it being tax time and all, and taking the time after work to grow my social presence, the second part of Lenna’s arc is still in chapter three.

HOWEVER!  I’m in for a mini-vacation: heading to sunny Cali for the weekend, which means 6 hours on a plane with Lenna, a Bloody Mary (or two), and some of my new ponies.

Banana Bliss

The Nicest Scariest Place on the Internet

I am the first to admit that I don’t understand Reddit.  It confuses me.  It frightens me.  My Meow once linked me to a NSFW My Little Pony subreddit, and subsequently my Xanax dosage doubled.

That being said, in order to get news about the book out into the internets, people said I needed to promote on Reddit.  With a lot of help, I posted, and, oh my goodness, people were nice.  I didn’t know nice people existed on the internet.

So thank you, people of Reddit, for all your nice comments and support of Librarian!

The Doctor Dies

I have not had an empty weekend in a couple months, which makes my level of personal cray-cray shoot through the roof.  My ears get hot.  I itch.  My leg twitches.

Tomorrow is another busy Saturday: I am putting out to pasture my beloved car, Doctor David Fritz Shirley Baker.  He’s served me well for eleven years (sort of; I was out of the country for a lot of his life).  Lately, though, keeping him in tip-top shape is proving to be more costly than he’s worth (sorry, dear).

And so, tomorrow, Doctor David will be left alone and cold in the driveway as I head out to pick up my new car.  This will be my fourth, and probably the least startling of the lot (does this mean I’m becoming an adult?).  But he/she will need a name.

Any suggestions?

No Longer Hobbit I

I chopped off my hair!  I know in all the pictures I’ve self-indulgently posted on this site, the hair has been short, but in honor of The Hobbit‘s release this past December I had been growing out my hair.  It was the melancholy what made me to do it.

Brian Gets His Hair Cut
Squeeeee!

After the trim, I popped by a pub and wanted to write something — but what?  Continue book two?  Instead, I realized I wanted to take up poetry again, so I wrote an Elizabethan sonnet.  Originally, I had intended to wax romantic on the rainy afternoon, but the poem had other intentions.  I’m not even sure I can post it online.

Does anyone else ever start a piece of writing, or a picture, or even a dinner, with one thing in mind, and just ever let it go in the direction ‘it’ wants?  I didn’t know I had it in me.  If I get the courage, one day, I’ll post it.