Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Sharpandpointies]

Nuts.

Well, the first novel's editing process was a mess from the start. I mean, the guy in charge of it got his mom (a high school English teacher) to do the first edits, nearly all of which I threw out/refused.

Aw. Still, that's farther than most get.

Was a little crushing. Apparently it got all the way to 'senior editors sitting around table discussing the final choices'. Ugh. Very sad.

I was going to say, yeah, self-published e-books really seem to be the way to go if trad pub just isn't going anywhere.

Going to try it, because I'm currently in the vicious circle of 'most publishers won't even LOOK at manuscripts that don't have an agent, most agents won't take stuff from unpublished (and niche-market novellas don't count) authors'.

Good luck with it all!

Thanks!

I had a bad time getting anything done throughout 2020, and I've been trying to claw my way back through out this year, with spotty success. Finally back on a longer work recently myself, so we'll see how that goes.

2020 was a bit of a ****-show for motivation for anything. Hilarious how it started off with 'Now you can work on all the things you planned to work on, but never had time for!' with the lockdowns (in Canada and other places), totally ignoring the fact of 'Global pandemic, massive stress about everything in life' being, I don't know, demotivating?

I think the biggest issue is that the companies with a vested interest in not losing business and profits, are in charge of researching how to lose business and profits.

Nailed it. It's like the drug companies doing their own research into their drugs then presenting whatever findings they want to the FDA (this is how it works essentially).

Also, oil companies are following tobacco's playbook to the letter when it comes to climate change/oil.

[Sharpandpointies]

Cass appears to be back in the Batgirl suit full-time now. Too bad she's only used for cameos and as a supporter, never her own stories.

Batgirl.jpg

[Sharpandpointies]

For those with any vague interest in Batman - more about his family than him, like myself - Batman: Urban Legends is the only Bat-book I read at the moment. Features all kinds of stories about the people surrounding Batman. Haven't seen a Cass story so far, but there was a Shiva one that was half-decent, aside from her slipping out of character occasionally.

[The Dog]

Today I learned that, in a trilogy of American animated porn bootlegs involving Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, the third movie was a parody of Star Wars and unintentionally predicted Disney's takeover of LucasFilms (thus gaining the rights of Star Wars) over a decade later.

[Sharkerbob]

Well, the first novel's editing process was a mess from the start. I mean, the guy in charge of it got his mom (a high school English teacher) to do the first edits, nearly all of which I threw out/refused.

Oof. Weird.

Was a little crushing. Apparently it got all the way to 'senior editors sitting around table discussing the final choices'. Ugh. Very sad.

Damn.

Going to try it, because I'm currently in the vicious circle of 'most publishers won't even LOOK at manuscripts that don't have an agent, most agents won't take stuff from unpublished (and niche-market novellas don't count) authors'.

Ah, the good old "this entry level job for beginners requires at least three years of experience" trick. Guess they have to weed out the tidal wave of entries somehow, but it's rough when you can't even get a foot in the door.

2020 was a bit of a ****-show for motivation for anything. Hilarious how it started off with 'Now you can work on all the things you planned to work on, but never had time for!' with the lockdowns (in Canada and other places), totally ignoring the fact of 'Global pandemic, massive stress about everything in life' being, I don't know, demotivating?

The thing is, I started off the year in a really shitty place mentally, before the lockdowns even started. January is usually my bounce back month; after the slog of the holiday season consuming my time and energy in Nov and Dec, Jan is when I can start getting some energy back with lighter workloads and less hours. Instead, I ended up with carpal tunnel, and that compounded with my other problems, I dunno, it really fucked with my head. I've largely managed to mitigate the symptoms since (barring occasional flare ups), but I was in a bad way for the first two months of 2020 already. Then, right as I start kinda of shaking it, COVID hit, the lockdowns started, and I think the bad vibes all around just didn't let me get better. By March, I just said **** it, and took the rest of the year off worrying about projects. I did do a little bit of stuff, in fact, I did a weekly podcast with web serial folks for three months before returning to work crashed it, but otherwise, productivity just sucked.

But yeah, I wasn't alone in that regard, a lot of people had a bad time creatively... except, like, a whole cluster of my peers in a certain field, who just powered right along, knocking **** out of the park while I floundered, so that wasn't a great feeling either when I got back to the keyboard. Like, you know, happy for them, but just made it all the more easy to be self-disparaging, which is a bad trap to fall into when trying to rev back up into the action.

[Sharkerbob]

Today I learned that, in a trilogy of American animated porn bootlegs involving Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z, the third movie was a parody of Star Wars and unintentionally predicted Disney's takeover of LucasFilms (thus gaining the rights of Star Wars) over a decade later.

Hey, I've seen the Star Ballz! A long, long time ago, in a college dorm far away...

Forgot that prediction. :V

I didn't know that was part of a trilogy, though, thought it was just a sequel to Sailor.

[The Dog]

Hey, I've seen the Star Ballz! A long, long time ago, in a college dorm far away...

Forgot that prediction. :V

I didn't know that was part of a trilogy, though, thought it was just a sequel to Sailor.

Well, I think it's a sequel, but I'm not entirely sure. According to IMDb (yes, they have an IMDb page), they were all directed by the same person (David Penava).

[Sharpandpointies]

Oof. Weird.

That summed up my reaction.

Ah, the good old "this entry level job for beginners requires at least three years of experience" trick. Guess they have to weed out the tidal wave of entries somehow, but it's rough when you can't even get a foot in the door.

It is a bit of thing these days in publishing companies.

The thing is, I started off the year in a really shitty place mentally, before the lockdowns even started. January is usually my bounce back month; after the slog of the holiday season consuming my time and energy in Nov and Dec, Jan is when I can start getting some energy back with lighter workloads and less hours. Instead, I ended up with carpal tunnel, and that compounded with my other problems, I dunno, it really fucked with my head. I've largely managed to mitigate the symptoms since (barring occasional flare ups), but I was in a bad way for the first two months of 2020 already. Then, right as I start kinda of shaking it, COVID hit, the lockdowns started, and I think the bad vibes all around just didn't let me get better. By March, I just said **** it, and took the rest of the year off worrying about projects. I did do a little bit of stuff, in fact, I did a weekly podcast with web serial folks for three months before returning to work crashed it, but otherwise, productivity just sucked.

But yeah, I wasn't alone in that regard, a lot of people had a bad time creatively... except, like, a whole cluster of my peers in a certain field, who just powered right along, knocking **** out of the park while I floundered, so that wasn't a great feeling either when I got back to the keyboard. Like, you know, happy for them, but just made it all the more easy to be self-disparaging, which is a bad trap to fall into when trying to rev back up into the action.

Ouch. That's just painful. I know it can also be hard when comparing oneself to others. As you say, a bad trap. Sorry to hear about all the woes.

But the only race worth running is one against yourself. ^_^

[Siriel]

Going to try it, because I'm currently in the vicious circle of 'most publishers won't even LOOK at manuscripts that don't have an agent, most agents won't take stuff from unpublished (and niche-market novellas don't count) authors'.

I'd suggest looking at Amazon's kindle. While I'm not a huge fan of the company, they have by far the biggest reader base and their rates are actually fairly generous by ebook standards.

[Sharkerbob]

I use Smashwords for the most part, but can confirm, Amazon is still the number one place to be by an order of magnitude if you want to maximize exposure.

Smash gives you a generous cut at any price range, while I believe Amazon makes you do it within a set range (although it's within the recommended pricing anyway). One good thing about Smash, though, is it will also shotgun your work to a bunch of other retailers for a slightly extra cut, and that includes Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple Store, a few foreign shops. It also allows direct downloads and conversions to multiple file types.

That said, it lacks an app like the Kindle App, or it's own specialty device for a dedicated shop, and if you're going to publish there, you'll have to do all your own advertising. Amazon does let you buy ad space, though how effective that is is up for debate. Likewise, the Kindle Unlimited program is supposedly great to be on (though accounts vary on actual financial success, it at least has a higher chance of getting eyeballs I think), and of course, most things on Amazon are DRM-locked to limited devices, if you're worried about piracy.

Oh, and Amazon also has print-on-demand for a higher cost, but people who want a physical copy can get it that way if you enable it.

[Yun Lao]

So after boiling in the sun for a week, I decided to treat myself and see The Green Knight...

... and it was certainly something. I was curious if they were going to be faithful to the original tale, which was one of my favorite Arthurian stories, and, in the end, they did... yet didn't? Definitely one of those movies where repeated viewings will net you a few nuggets of information if my hindsight is correct.

The only thing I'm bummed about is...
spoilers:

... that in the original Arthurian legend, Gawain follows through with Bertilak's bargain and kisses him each time the lady does. I always wanted to see that scene play out considering how awkward it must be.

end of spoilers

Ultimately, I enjoyed it, but some might find it too pretentious or Gawain a bit too flawed. As Sharp usually says, your mileage may vary.

[Sharkerbob]

Ouch. That's just painful. I know it can also be hard when comparing oneself to others. As you say, a bad trap. Sorry to hear about all the woes.

Thanks.

But the only race worth running is one against yourself. ^_^

Very true, but I'm still trying to catch up to 2018 and 2019 Sharker. :V

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Sharpandpointies]

I'd suggest looking at Amazon's kindle. While I'm not a huge fan of the company, they have by far the biggest reader base and their rates are actually fairly generous by ebook standards.

I use Smashwords for the most part, but can confirm, Amazon is still the number one place to be by an order of magnitude if you want to maximize exposure.

Smash gives you a generous cut at any price range, while I believe Amazon makes you do it within a set range (although it's within the recommended pricing anyway). One good thing about Smash, though, is it will also shotgun your work to a bunch of other retailers for a slightly extra cut, and that includes Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple Store, a few foreign shops. It also allows direct downloads and conversions to multiple file types.

That said, it lacks an app like the Kindle App, or it's own specialty device for a dedicated shop, and if you're going to publish there, you'll have to do all your own advertising. Amazon does let you buy ad space, though how effective that is is up for debate. Likewise, the Kindle Unlimited program is supposedly great to be on (though accounts vary on actual financial success, it at least has a higher chance of getting eyeballs I think), and of course, most things on Amazon are DRM-locked to limited devices, if you're worried about piracy.

Oh, and Amazon also has print-on-demand for a higher cost, but people who want a physical copy can get it that way if you enable it.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate the info!

So after boiling in the sun for a week, I decided to treat myself and see The Green Knight...

... and it was certainly something. I was curious if they were going to be faithful to the original tale, which was one of my favorite Arthurian stories, and, in the end, they did... yet didn't? Definitely one of those movies where repeated viewings will net you a few nuggets of information if my hindsight is correct.

The only thing I'm bummed about is...
spoilers:

... that in the original Arthurian legend, Gawain follows through with Bertilak's bargain and kisses him each time the lady does. I always wanted to see that scene play out considering how awkward it must be.

end of spoilers

Ultimately, I enjoyed it, but some might find it too pretentious or Gawain a bit too flawed. As Sharp usually says, your mileage may vary.

I will catch this when it comes out on Netflix or something.

Very true, but I'm still trying to catch up to 2018 and 2019 Sharker. :V

There is always that!

[Hiromi]

Well first episode of What If was kinda forgettable, we'll see if later episodes are better, also was that spoilers:

Shuma Gorath

end of spoilers? I don't remember them explicitly saying it was but damned if that wasn't the first thing that came to mind.