As readers of this blog know, when it comes to news, I often bash the Times. They put their slant on everything, just like the Wall Street Journal, but the Times v. WSJ story isn’t as bad as the MSNBC v. Fox News one (if anyone’s interested, I ignore both Hannity’s and Madow’s rants and listen to Jake on CNN).  One can argue that any media outlet will have a slant–in this polarized political state, that’s become the new norm.  However, it’s the Times’ book biases that bother me.

Newspapers are fast becoming irrelevant compared to TV and streaming video, of course. But my foray into political op-eds is on hold for the time being as I dedicate more time to my storytelling, so in this article  I’ll focus on what the Times has to say about books. They work hand-in-hand with and are sycophants of the Big Five—after all, they’re a major publisher too. In this blog, I’ve complained about them as much as I have about Amazon (it often seems that Bezos wants to take over the commercial world more than Trump wants to become the despot of the political one).

Here is a black list of recent items that have upset me about the Times’ coverage of books and the publishing industry:

The Times is out-of-date. Because of their pandering to the Big Five, it’s understandable that the Times mostly ignores indie authors and indie publishers (small presses). Most “official mouthpieces” and sycophants of the Big Five do so—that includes major newspapers, websites, agents, and editors, of course. But sometimes that goes a bit too deep into the weeds.  The Big Five, for example, lives in the past with its emphasis on print books over ebooks and charge as much for the latter as the former, when that’s absurd.  When the Times acts as their mouthpiece, that’s prejudicial to readers and also many good writers.

But the Times actions get worse and more insidious. In the Times’ interviews featured in their Book Review Sunday supplement, they ask, “What books are on your nightstand?” Many modern readers have converted to ebooks, so the only thing on their nightstands is a Kindle or some other e-reader! (iPad or smartphone? Horrors!)  In other words, the Times has become the cheerleader for retrograde Big Five dinosaurs.

They feature the old stallions and mares in the Big Five stables. Again, this really goes down into the undergrowth of the Times’s weed patch because they run only Big Five ads. Sure, they allow non-Big Five ads if indie authors and indie publishers are willing to pay Big Five prices. That’s the greed factor.  Even worse, though, they run absurd Big Five ads where some horses in the Big Five stables endorse another horse’s books (to add –ass would be a double animalistic metaphor that PETA might protest, although the metaphor is appropriate in many cases).

Lee Child and Michael Connelly did this favor for James Patterson recently for his new and formulaic Alex Cross book (Patterson doesn’t need any endorsements, of course, although maybe his fandom is slipping), and a larger list of authors destined for the glue factory also did so in a full page ad in the Times. We’re seeing the actions of an exclusive club promoting only its members, a club of literary one-percenters.  Sorry.  I didn’t see one author in this list I’ve read recently!

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Happy Holidays to everyone! Take this time to enjoy being with family and friends.  Forget those New Year’s resolutions, but plan what you’d like to accomplish in the New Year and how you’d like to change in your life.

The last is segue to informing you about a change in this blog.

First, I’ll not be posting again until January.  Second, I’m changing both the frequency and content of what I’ll post.  Many of my posts are very time consuming and need a lot of investigative journalism; I’d like to spend more time on fiction writing.  To this end, starting in January, I’ll only make one post per week, something related to reading or writing—maybe a short story, book or movie review, my online newsletter, and so forth.

For loyal followers of this blog, this post might be sad news.  Please understand that I just want to spend more time storytelling.  Maybe it seems like I have a lot of books, but I have a lot more in me.  Remember my muses are really banshees with Tasers…and they’re always after me to get the stories written!

To fill those days when I no longer post, I’d ask readers and writers to consider contributing a post.  Interviews are easy—I can send you a list of questions from which you can make selections, or you can add your own.  If you have something to say about reading, writing, or the writing business, please consider being a guest blogger—just keep it clean.  Your post can even be a short story.  While some of my own short stories have adult themes and language, this website is generally PG-13, so be careful with your short story submissions too.

I’ll be at my laptop most of the time during this festive holiday season—it’s a good time to write when not celebrating—and you can always email me using my contact page.  So, until January, good reading!  And be warm and safe….

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The entire “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is on sale now at Smashwords until December 24. The NYPD homicide detectives’ cases usually start out in New York City but expand to national and international crises as they fight all sorts of criminals—gun runners, sex traffickers, evil hedge fund owners, drug smugglers, terrorists, and more. The crime-fighting duo also have their own personal battles to fight. These seven ebooks make excellent holiday gifts for the reader on your gift list—maybe that’s you? Use the coupon code when you checkout at Smashwords to receive a fantastic sale price and hours of reading entertainment! And don’t forget The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection, a bundle of sci-fi novels that’s ideal as a holiday gift.

In libris libertas!

If you’re a reader, do you peruse what’s at the end of a book? Many authors only include a short bio, especially those reliable mares and stallions in the Big Five publishers’ stables, but as a reader, you might like a wee bit more, right? What can authors for you beyond that ubiquitous bio, especially authors of indie books and those writing for indie publishers (small presses)? Consider it a bit of dessert after that full meal corresponding to the book you have just read that tells you more about your favorite authors.

I’ll go through the back material I’d like to see as a reader.  For the first page:

A thank you to the reader.  Here’s an example: “Thank you for reading my novel, The Vienna Gig. There are so many good authors and good books, I’m honored you chose mine.” Most of the old mares and stallions don’t bother with this.  The advantage of such a message beyond showing a wee bit of humility, even for them, is that it’s the perfect place to continue on to ask for a review on Amazon: “If you have the time, please write a short review on Amazon—other readers and I would find such a review beneficial.”  Readers who have finished your book and arrived at this message, probably liked the book, so it’s also likely the review would be positive.  This message is also a good lead-in to…

A list of the author’s similar books.  The writer can start this list with something like “If you enjoyed this book, you might also enjoy:”  If the current book is in genre X and the author also writes in genre Y, I’d just list the genre-X books, but that’s up to the author.  Many authors put the list of their other books in front. I’d do one or the other, but not both, and something like “Other books by John Q. Author:” sounds a wee bit cold at the start of the book, although it’s typical of Big Five authors.

The author’s website.  I’d end this first page of back material with “For more information, visit my website: http://JohnQAuthor.com.

Let me say here that any omission of these points by a Big Five author might not be the old mare or stallion’s fault—Big Five publishers generally dictate the book formatting, often to the author’s chagrin.  These publishers aren’t known for a lot of TLC for either readers or writers and will support their authors only until they think they’re ready for the glue factory AKA “you’re fired!”

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I’m going to commit blasphemy by disagreeing with newly famous sci-fi writer Hugh Howey. I can’t remember the source of the article, but in it he stated: “The hardest part of getting a book published is the actual writing.” Maybe the creator of Wool is on such a pedestal now (he’s a self-publishing success story), no one should dare question any pronouncement he makes, but I will do so. Maybe how he published Wool (like episodes from a soap opera) was easy for him, but I don’t recommend serialization…and moreover claim there is a lot of hard work needed after writing a manuscript that he seems to be ignoring.

Let’s assume the author has the best possible MS (trade acronym for “manuscript”) s/he can produce. Maybe s/he’s already paid for some editing and feels ready to send it out. First, if s/he wants to traditionally publish, s/he’ll send it out to agents and publishers (many indie publishers AKA small presses will consider un-agented MSs). That’s hard work but more time consuming than actual financial investment. That choice is mostly justified by the fact that a traditional publisher will front the publishing costs—editing, formatting, cover art, and maybe some initial marketing. If s/he wants to self-publish, which is more efficient, s/he’ll need to spend money as well as time finding people who will do all those things and do them well. Either way, the author’s post-MS life won’t be easy.

I’ll be brutally honest here: While Howey’s plot was a good one, it didn’t seem original because it reminded me of an old short story where the main character is trapped in a missile silo after a nuclear attack (the first person who can tell me the title will receive a free ebook from my oeuvre of her or his choice). It also reminded me of S. G. Redling’s Flowertown, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and Brian Aldiss’s Starship (a real favorite of mine). If you’ve read these books and Howey’s, you’ll understand why I say this. Of course, none of that really matters, because Wool is still a great story. Its main weakness can be found in the ashes of serialization, which made it easy for Howey to publish Wool, but should never be rectified by just sticking disconnected parts together to make a novel.

There is a whole spectrum of publishing now, from 100% DIY indie (not recommended) at one end and a Big Five publishing contract at the other (also not recommended for the author who wants or needs some personal TLC—that’s only given to the reliable old mares and stallions in the Big Five publisher’s stable). Anywhere along that linear continuum, the author will find post-MS life is difficult.

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Although I’m encouraged by all the young readers and writers I meet on Goodreads (“young” is a relative term, of course), fiction writers shouldn’t ignore baby boomers and older readers.  People are living longer, and older people are more likely to be avid readers because they’re less likely to be distracted by streaming video, social media, video games, and so forth. Normal seventy-year-olds aren’t fanatical Twitter users either in general, with certain infamous exceptions.

I’ve already written a few books where aging is a subtheme. The first, The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan, is where DHS agent Ashley Scott worries about retirement and being alone, and uncovers, among other things, a government conspiracy that “solves the problem” of aging agents and scientists who might blab Top Secret information in their senility. Scott is Detective Castilblanco’s friend.  He too has thought about retirement as his wife and he adopt a relative’s children (see Family Affairs and Gaia and the Goliaths—the entire detective series is on sale now at Smashwords until December 24).

Rembrandt’s Angel is my main fictional bow to themes involving aging. Scotland Yard Inspector Esther Brookstone kicks some butt even as she ponders retirement; she becomes obsessed with recovering a Rembrandt painting stolen by the Nazis in World War Two.  Esther is in her sixties; her paramour is in his forties.  She proves sixty is the new forty in this torrid love affair which heats up the novel.

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Let’s remember Pearl Harbor today–for the brave who perished on that day, as well as a reminder to all of us about the horrors of war.  As sabers rattle again in the world, peace is more in danger than ever.  And now we’re in danger of destroying our world.

[Readers often ask me questions, and I try to respond as quickly as possible, but some things are asked more than others, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a FAQs post. Of course, you won’t find answers here to embarrassing or private questions, but you might find answers to questions you were dying to ask—if not, contact me via email. While you’re at it, you can sign up for my email newsletter!]

Why do you have so many books? Not really, but if you want some reasons, here are a few: (1) I love to write; (2) I have many stories to tell; and (3) I started slow, trying for that elusive traditional publishing contract, but made up for loss time with the help of Carrick Publishing run by my friend Donna Carrick in Canada—not exactly 100% DIY on my part, but a very efficient operation with smart women doing what I’m incapable of doing.

Why write mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi and not more popular genres like horror and romance? (1) I don’t read much horror and romance; (2) I can’t write horror and romance, although there might be some elements from those genres in my fiction; and (3) horror and romance seem to downplay interesting and troubling themes I’m concerned about.

Do you write only fiction? Except for blog posts (even some of those are short stories), everything I write now is fiction. I’ve been doing it for more than ten years.

Do you read only fiction? Nope. I read a lot of non-fiction. My webpage “Steve’s Bookshelf” has many non-fiction books listed. And there are fiction genres I’ve never read.

Are you an indie author? Never 100% DIY and a mongrel now with Rembrandt’s Angel (Penmore Press, an indie publisher), but always indie in spirit. This allows me to maintain my own voice and not write as someone thinks I should write. That’s a freedom not even the reliable mares and stallions in the Big Five’s stables can have!

What motivates you to write? Telling a good story that will entertain readers.

Do you model characters after real people? No, but they might be composites of people I’ve observed. I’m a people-observer, so over the years I’ve developed many character sketches. You might recognize some of your own character traits, but I’m careful about including real people. The one major exception is in Aristocrats and Assassins, a novel in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” where the royals in the book are indeed real, but they perform admirably in the novel.

Where do you get your ideas? Similar answer: over the years, even before I started publishing, I’ve collected what-ifs, plot ideas, sketches of characters and settings, themes, dialogue snippets, and so forth. As a result, I don’t know what writer’s block is.

Why not audiobooks? Cost—you need to hire a good reader, and I can’t afford that. Most indie publishers (small presses) can’t either.

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Carlos Obregon, medical officer on the starship Brendan, stars in various short stories of mine. You can find them in the collections Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape and Fantastic Encores! Dr. Carlos is Sherlock Holmes at times, while his intern Julie Chen often plays the role of Dr. Watson. But are these short stories mysteries or sci-fi? They’re both, of course, for the most part—always sci-fi, but many also mysteries. This isn’t new in sci-fi. Old master Isaac Asimov created the sci-fi mystery, in particular with The Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun, two novels where Earth cop Elijah Bailey teams up with android Daneel Olivaw. Most sci-fi stories have some mystery elements, of course, but putting a traditional crime story in a futuristic context seems to bring out the best of both genres.

One of the best recent sci-fi mysteries I’ve read is Adam Troy Castro’s Emissaries of the Dead. It combines many conventional sci-fi elements into a crime story—weird ETs, strange settings, and an interstellar conspiracy that broadens the scope of merely solving a murder case. Clarke’s 2001 and 2010 are sci-fi mysteries; so is his Rama series until the Rama engineers are outed. My young adult novel The Secret Lab is also a sci-fi mystery. Readers can probably think of many more examples.

Dr. Carlos is an amateur sleuth, of course, and he also takes care of the medical challenges, his main job. The Brendan is in the Space Exploration Bureau’s fleet; the SEB is an agency of the Interstellar Trade Union of Independent Planets (ITUIP), a federation comprised of many near-Earth planets. The evolution of ITUIP starts in the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” (now available as a bundle) and continues with Rogue Planet. Dr. Carlos lives at the end of this timeline, far in the future. My goal is to include Dr. Carlos in a future novel as an homage to Dr. Asimov, but the reader can get to know him in the short stories.

Dr. Carlos is something of a rascal who often creates his own problems. He’s knowledgeable about Human and ET history, not a mean feat when considering the lengthy future history of near-Earth space I’ve imagined. He might also be considered an expert on trivia. He drives the Brendan’s captain crazy sometimes, and doesn’t always follow SEB rules. In the long run, though, he creates order out of chaos in the short stories describing his adventures.

While some short stories merit expansion into a novel (the short story, “Marcello and Me,” found in the Pasodobles collection, will become an example), I probably need a more complex plot if I’m going to do honor to Dr. Asimov. Hopefully that’s not a problem—I have many ideas for crime stories, and giving them a future setting should be possible. So Dr. Carlos will probably get his own novel.

I love this character. In some sense, he’s an alter-ego who can have adventures that I can never hope to have. But maybe that’s a characteristic of all sci-fi writers?

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Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape and Fantastic Encores! have new reviews—see my webpage “Books & Short Stories.” These speculative fiction collections are excellent ways to try out my sci-fi for any reader on your gift list—that might be you? Many hours of varied reading entertainment illustrating my belief that short fiction isn’t dead in the publishing world.

In libris libertas!

Do you name your cars?  We do. We called our dark green Camry Katie—she was an Irish lass, you see.  We call our dark red Accord Mr. Rose—that’s a pun connecting the color with Axel Rose of Guns and Roses fame.  An old Tercel was called Charlie Red—he was supposed to be copper-colored (Charlie  Brown), but the dealer couldn’t get that color in stick shift.  All our cars have personalities because naming people or things is related to their personality.

Characters names in books have to be chosen carefully for the same reason.  I often do several iterations because, as I’m writing, I say to myself, “X wouldn’t do that!” (Or, at the risk of appearing schizoid, the character might tell me I have it wrong.)  I could change what X does, but it’s often better to find a replacement name that feels right to me (and the character).  As a consequence, I don’t suffer from writer’s block, I suffer from name block.  I find it hard to continue until I find just the right name.

Let’s consider Bastiann van Coevorden, a main character in Rembrandt’s Angel (he also had several cameos in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” on sale now at Smashwords). He’s an Interpol Agent and Scotland Yard Inspector Esther Brookstone’s paramour.  I describe the character as looking like David Suchet’s Hercule Poirot, who was Belgian. Poirot is a French-sounding surname, of course, so why didn’t I make Bastiann Belgian or French instead of Dutch? My main excuse is that the Dutch king was involved in Aristocrats and Assassins, where Bastiann first appeared, so I made him Dutch. His mother was French, though, as you’ll discover if you read Rembrandt’s Angel. After all these verbal acrobatics, my choice of name still matches the character’s personality. Maybe “matches” isn’t the best word.  In a sense his name defines his personality, and vice versa. He’s the Hercule Poirot half of the romantic pair; Esther is the Miss Marple half.

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To my U.S. readers…Happy Thanksgiving! This holiday involves both looking back and looking ahead. Be thankful for the good things in your life and your abilities to fight the good fights, and help those in the world who are downtrodden and exploited and have neither. Celebrate the good things in your past and forge your better future.

Readers, do you want your favorite writers to get on to that next book? Writers, do you rest on your laurels, or do you push on to that next book? Some writers in the past only had one good book in them. Harper Lee and her friend Truman Capote are examples; although the former published a rejected version of To Kill a Mockingbird that became its sequel, and the latter had other works besides In Cold Blood, they are known only for those two books. This happens a lot for authors whose books are placed in that catch-all category “literary fiction.” Some writers write many books, and, for genre fiction, publishers as well as readers want them just to get on to that next book.

I push myself to write the next book. I jokingly describe this as my muses getting after me; they’re really banshees with Tasers, who know I have many good stories in me (I’ve never had writer’s block). But I’m really talking about pushing myself. Actually, not pushing—writing is so much fun that I want to tell the next story to the world (but the muses should learn that takes some time!). So I rarely look back to the books I’ve written and get on to that next book. Yeah, it’s a bit like an addiction. I consider it a healthy one.

It consequently cost me some angst to look back at the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” in order to make the bundle I call Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection.  Why do I call it angst?

First, preparing the bundle required editing, lots of it, the only other thing in my writing life more tedious than PR and marketing my books. I’m good at editing and bad at PR and marketing, but both are tedious, and I’d rather be writing—that causes angst.

Second, the bundle is an experiment. I’ve never published one before. I’ve seen and heard mixed reports about how effective bundles are. Some of the ones I’ve tried as a reader didn’t satisfy and were instead like buying an LP for a few good songs, because the unrelated novels contained in the bundles were by different authors and just didn’t hold my interest. If you don’t know what an LP is, think of a CD collection of oldies where you only like one or two songs. Or a Baskins & Robbins ice cream store with only one or two flavors you like. I’ve had better luck when the bundled novels are all by the same author, though, so that mitigated my fears a wee bit.

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[Sometimes I interview my characters. I know it sounds a wee bit schizoid, but they often spur me on when I’m writing their stories. I often feel I don’t give them enough credit. Here’s one of them who’s an old friend.]

Steve: Brent, you appear in all the novels in the Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection. You must be pleased that your many adventures during many centuries are now found in just one ebook.

Brent: Yes, thanks to you. Both Jenny and I are happy with how that came about. Maybe more readers will get to know us.

Steve: Speaking of Jenny, did you ever think you’d find her after all those years? When she disappeared in that ET ship entombed on Saturn’s moon Helene, it must have been quite a blow to you.

Brent: That can’t begin to describe it. And losing Rita was a second blow. It’s hard to get beyond losses like that.

Steve: Were you jealous that Jenny was with Henry Posada all that time in the ET ship?

Brent: I got beyond that. First, I found Jenny. Second, Jenny and Henry were just computer memories stored in that ship’s AI along with those ETs. Besides, Jenny and Henry were good friends when they worked for Isha Bai at the U. N. Space Agency.

Steve: Did losing Jenny lead to your becoming a Guide to the Way?

Brent: Yes. That helped me get through that ordeal. But losing Rita at the Battle of Sanctuary fractured my belief that I could help anyone find the Way. If I lost it myself, how could I lead anyone to it?

Steve: And you participated in many more space battles. If you’ll forgive me for changing the subject, what was it like to have those ETs who were with Jenny and Henry on the ship in your own head?

Brent: Weird. Jenny helped me through that. I think she felt a little guilty about it. It was a side effect of finding her, after all, but I never blamed her. That event sort of got lost in the shuffle because we became very busy, first saving Swarm from going crazy and then outwitting Negrini, that mad merchant. Near-Earth space was a lot more peaceful after that.

Steve: Do you regret that stopping that mad merchant ended all possibility for interstellar communication that is faster than that achieved by starships carrying messages, reminiscent of the old Pony Express? (more…)