More on Batman reimagined and Essa's pricing

First up, Essa.  iTunes has it at its new price, but kobo and B&N have it for free, so does Amazon.  It will take a few days for the price change to work its way through the internet and Amazon's price-matching software.

Now to the new and improved Batman of my imagination.  I originally toyed with the idea of making Bruce's uncle rich.  Out of guilt for throwing the kid into foster care after Bruce's parents died, he gives his fortune to Bruce, who splits it with Alfred and the two of them decide on a vigilante life.  But that defeats the fun of keeping them...if not poor...at least not rich.

The fun of not being rich?  Sure!  Think of all the complications if Batman doesn't have his rich-boy toys, if he had to make everything himself, repair everything himself.  I'm inspired in this by the Spider-Man of the late sixties through the eighties.  He had to make everything himself, sew up his costume, make his web shooters, the goo for the shooters - he was the ultimate in self-sufficient superheroes.  Hard to work up sympathy for Bats when he needs a new toy.  By making Bruce poor, and maybe a bit of a shady character - Catwoman is his girlfriend, after all - it increases interest in the character, the fun of Batman.

Another benefit to this, Batman's devices break, we expect them to break.  He has to rely on his wits and his friends more, which means more interactions.  They're always short on money, too.  This leads to some nice criminal fun, wherein Bruce, Selina, and Alfred teach us just what they will do and what they won't.  They're still heroes, of course, just the kind who let the rich and the criminals finance their war on crime.  Also maybe a little Robin Hood mixed in.

All of this is of course merely an intellectual exercise, since no way would DC let me anywhere near the Batman franchise in real life.


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R. P. Bird: Professional writer since 1989. Author of the IN THE REALM OF THE GODS series and the SUZIE crime novels. Crazy, but highly reliable. Can fix about anything.

Links:
http://www.rpbird.com/
https://twitter.com/rpbirdwriter
http://www.amazon.com/R-P-Bird/e/B00EDSESDK
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Realm-Gods-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00GC0X6AS
http://www.amazon.com/Essa-In-Realm-Gods-novel-ebook/dp/B00CHAPSKS

Essa now has a price: $1.99

After giving away about 2,500 copies of Essa, I decided that now is the time to start charging.  Other price and availability changes are in the works for the new year, but for now, $1.99, available everywhere.

In the new year, I'll raise the price to $2.99 and make Essa a kindle exclusive.  Why?  Of those 2,500 free copies, 2,000 of them were from Amazon.com.  That's where the readers are.  I can do them favors with Kindle Select books that I can't with widely distributed books.  For one, I can offer routine bargains and even free book days.  Can't do that elsewhere.  Yeah, I'll lose the three reviews I have at smashwords and the one review I have at B&N, but I have 24 reviews at Amazon, with a average 5-star rating.  That's where the readers want me, that's where I'll be.

More later today, maybe.

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R. P. Bird: Professional writer since 1989. Author of the IN THE REALM OF THE GODS series and the SUZIE crime novels. Crazy, but highly reliable. Can fix about anything.

Links:
http://www.rpbird.com/
https://twitter.com/rpbirdwriter
http://www.amazon.com/R-P-Bird/e/B00EDSESDK
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Realm-Gods-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00GC0X6AS
http://www.amazon.com/Essa-In-Realm-Gods-novel-ebook/dp/B00CHAPSKS

Musings on Thanksgiving eve - Batman reimagined

I'd love to put some real edge back into the Batman storyline, especially Bruce Wayne's back story.  I can't be the only one bored to death with the poor-little-rich-kid meme at the heart of Wayne's saga.  Why does he have to be rich?  Why does Alfred have to be his butler?  Why does Alfred have to be old?

Keep the tragedy.  Wayne loses his parents, shot during a hold-up of their little mom-and-pop convenience store.  Young Bruce is sent off to a hell of foster care, until he escapes by joining the U.S. Army - little known fact, you can join at seventeen.

But he needs Alfred.  He meets Alfred in Afghanistan, when a member of an elite SAS unit saves the young soldier's life.  They form a strong friendship.  After his tour is up, Bruce ends up in Alfred's flat in London, where they carouse at bars and generally get into fights for no apparent reason.

Haven't worked out just why Alfred and Bruce end up back in Gotham, but I do know a little bit of their life after they arrive.  One, somebody asks Alfred what his job is, he replies, "See that young gentleman over there, I'm his butler."  Said as a joke, but it sticks.  Two, Selina Kyle is Bruce's girlfriend.  That's right, in my version, Batman and Catwoman hook up.  She lives with him, sharing a bedroom in the apartment he rents with Alfred.  Three, they do good things, fight street crime, bust the heads of "supervillains," but they are definitely NOT good guys.  For one, they're thieves, preying on the rich and the criminal class.

That has edge.  I don't expect anyone to ever dare to do something this transformative with the Batman mythos, but it would be nice.  A guy can dream.

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R. P. Bird: Professional writer since 1989. Author of the IN THE REALM OF THE GODS series and the SUZIE crime novels. Crazy, but highly reliable. Can fix about anything.

Links:
http://www.rpbird.com/
https://twitter.com/rpbirdwriter
http://www.amazon.com/R-P-Bird/e/B00EDSESDK
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Realm-Gods-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00GC0X6AS
http://www.amazon.com/Essa-In-Realm-Gods-novel-ebook/dp/B00CHAPSKS

After Contravallation, then what?

I'm at a bit of a loss about which project to pursue next.  Here's a list of probables.

Rewire.  This is a novel I wrote a couple years ago.  It's in need of serious revision. Rewire could be described as a "near-future science fiction love story crime novel."  There are no gun battles or fire fights, there's a lot of neuroscience included, and when I say "love story" I mean "love story."

Suzie's Technical Support.  This is a straight-up crime novel, with aspects of hardboiled fiction, featuring my favorite crazy woman with a gun, Suzie.  The rough draft has been written, just needs a few weeks worth of revisions.

Polya.  This is a fantasy novel, with somewhat the same texture as Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories. That is, a dark, mean-spirited world in which a slave girl named Polya finds a way to game the system to achieve her freedom.

A Pawn's Life. This is another fantasy novel, involving a boy who becomes a pawn in the supernatural battles between magicians.  It's about as far from Tolkien as one could get.

The Anmang.  This is a science fiction novel featuring the struggles of the last of the Anmang clan, outlawed, on the run throughout the solar system in the distant future.

I'll probably - maybe! - finish up with Suzie and Rewire, then write Polya.  I might write another crime novel.  Haven't made up my mind.  If my In the Realm of the Gods books have some success, I'll write Rust.  If not, who knows at this point?

......................................................................
R. P. Bird: Professional writer since 1989. Author of the IN THE REALM OF THE GODS series and the SUZIE crime novels. Crazy, but highly reliable. Can fix about anything.

Links:
http://www.rpbird.com/
https://twitter.com/rpbirdwriter
http://www.amazon.com/R-P-Bird/e/B00EDSESDK
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Realm-Gods-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00GC0X6AS
http://www.amazon.com/Essa-In-Realm-Gods-novel-ebook/dp/B00CHAPSKS

The fun of revision, part 2

Yet more snippets from Contravallation.  If I seem obsessed with this work...well...I get that way during the final revision process.

       "Touma's almost here," Makvosh told Inabat.  They had stopped on the next level down to peer into the a endless set of corridors.  Makvosh was uncomfortable leaving the ramp.  What they could see from the light of their flashlights was enough to take his breath away.  It was heaven, or maybe hell depending on the interpretation, heaven for a miltech junkie like Makvosh.  Endless lines of combat exoarmor suits stood ready for soldiers who would never come, they faded back into darkness.
       "Someone was preparing for war."
       "I wonder who the dead god wanted to fight."  Inabat turned to greet the big dark-skinned man.  "Hello, Touma.  What is all this?" he asked the big man.
       Touma pointed out bent-back-legged exoarmor shells that did not seem to have room for a human body.  "Those are hoplite power armors, combat cyborg bodies."
       The further down they went, the more worrisome things became.  Dense, hardened power-armor suits stood in long rows....they were not of godly manufacture.  Makvosh called up a weapons database on his datacuff and ran the search images through his database.  A chill went through his body.  "Be careful here, Touma.  These are Humanality weapons.  I have no knowledge of them."  Makvosh reached out a hand to grasp Inabat by the arm.  He prevented the boy from following after Touma.
       Touma could not help his feet, they moved him down turning stone corridors lined with the terrible weapons of the ancient nonbelievers.  Devices, guns, launchers, rifles of unknown capability -  they were on shelves, stacked in protective polymer bags, lined up in endless rows, seemingly ready to be picked up at any moment, ready to be used.  Multi-armed power-armor shells, deactivated killing machines of uncountable barrels like hedgehogs made of cannons, combat robots with guns for heads, clear-sided canisters holding spherical spiked attack drones, long rifles with metal legs, and more guns than he had ever seen before - pistols, rifles, shoulder-fired manpack weapons of unknown function, finned things, rifles with lenses instead of barrels, and deeply black shapes that absorbed all the light his flashlight put on them....the tools of those so talented at the art of war, they defeated gods.


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R. P. Bird: Professional writer since 1989. Author of the IN THE REALM OF THE GODS series and the SUZIE crime novels. Crazy, but highly reliable. Can fix about anything.

Links:
http://www.rpbird.com/
https://twitter.com/rpbirdwriter
http://www.amazon.com/R-P-Bird/e/B00EDSESDK
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Realm-Gods-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00GC0X6AS
http://www.amazon.com/Essa-In-Realm-Gods-novel-ebook/dp/B00CHAPSKS

The fun of revision, part 1

It really is fun, especially for a very large novel.  I finished it months ago, so in reading parts of it I have embarked on a voyage of discovery.  I kinda forgot exactly what was in the thing.

Here's a little snippet from chapter twelve.

       "We're after snowcones," Nineteen said.  This time Wan shoved him for interrupting Tensile.
       "What's a snowcone?"  The skinny one asked.
       [[You started this, you explain,]] Tensile 'phoned Nineteen.
       "Literally?"  Nineteen replied.  "It's a sweet winter treat, a food.  But I was using it as a metaphor for the - "
       "What kinda treat?" the big one asked.  "You got any?"
       "Ah, no," Lesech said.  The big one did eat a lot, the contents of two food packets so far.  "It's - "
       "Is it something from Urbesh?"
       "Who knows?"  Nineteen said.  "I'll tell you what it is if you shut your mouth for a second."
       "What's a 'metaphor'?" the skinny one asked.
       [[-=sigh=-]] Nineteen 'phoned the pictogram for exasperation to the rest of the Hana present.  "First things first.  A snowcone is literally a treat made from snow, which is formed into a ball and sprinkled with sugar or flavored syrup."
       "What's 'snow'?"
       Tensile was sick of it.  "It's a type of frozen water that falls from the sky in cold weather.  You don't have it around here.  And snowcones aren't usually made from snow, but shaved ice."
       "What's 'ice'?" the tall one asked.
       The skinny one turned around to look at his buddy.  "You know ice, from before.  Frozen water.  Didn't you ever have iced drinks when you were a kid?"
       The tall one shook his head.  "I was too young when I was taken.  I can't remember it."
       The skinny leader smiled at his friend.  "It's not important."  He turned around to look at Nineteen.  "What's a 'metaphor'?"
       "It's where you imply one thing by using another word for it.  I was referring to preserved corpses.  We have briefing reports on this planet from people who were here long ago.  The best stuff's always lying around those frozen corpses.  Also, medlabs on developed worlds will pay for ancient corpses, especially the ones in those clear capsules."
       "Don't let the Urbeshi catch you with any, you'll go to their prison.  They forbid the trade in corpses."
       "Yeah, we know that.  We figured guys with a severed head on their APC wouldn't be as particular."
       The scavengers all laughed.  The one further back in the shadow of the ancient overpass heard the laughter.  "What's so funny?"  He shouted at them.  "What'd I miss?"

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R. P. Bird: Professional writer since 1989. Author of the IN THE REALM OF THE GODS series and the SUZIE crime novels. Crazy, but highly reliable. Can fix about anything.

Links:
http://www.rpbird.com/
https://twitter.com/rpbirdwriter
http://www.amazon.com/R-P-Bird/e/B00EDSESDK
http://www.amazon.com/Causality-Realm-Gods-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00GC0X6AS
http://www.amazon.com/Essa-In-Realm-Gods-novel-ebook/dp/B00CHAPSKS

At least they're online now

Magazines mostly take online submissions...correct that...some of them do.  Each magazine's site has different rules.  Gotta upload it as a rtf file, a doc file, a pdf file, or as a text file.  No standards.  In the old days, there were simple rules for producing a manuscript that everyone respected.  Editors online will even require one font over another, or ask the writer to convert the work into an e-reader format.

Gotta put up with it.  I make it sound like a great burden when it's only a mild annoyance.  After the first few times, it becomes easy to do.

One thing I miss from the old days - I say old days, I mean fifteen years ago - they always told you if they rejected your story.  Now, silence.  A few will send a canned email response.

But a few things stay the same.  The short story is still a dying art form.  You'll be paid by the magazines at the same rate Harlan Ellison was paid in the 1960s.  So it's a joke.  Write short stories for yourself, for fun, not for any commercial purpose.