Sketches

I write a lot, and if I'm being honest, not all of it goes anywhere.  The Sketch in My Notebook series is therefore the experimental part of this blog, the part where history, fiction, and mad science come together.  I can't promise that the projects here are necessarily going anywhere, but if you decide to try to jump into a story mid-stream, hopefully this section will make it a little easier to find the chapters that came before and figure out what's going on.


Worth Reading

This section archives posts that *I* think are worth reading that aren't archived elsewhere.  They're mostly personal favorites not all-time leaders in terms of readers or overall traffic.

How to Make a Casa Cabeza App
Blog in Review: Top Posts of 2017
A few Thoughts on Indie Publishing
Blog in Review: Top 10 Posts of 2016
What is up with all the fake boobs?
5 Things on a Friday: Rise of the "Know Nothings"
Writing Update: In Defense of Unrequited Love
The Lawyer's Answer
Yoga Trapeze at Russian Beach


Summer Reading List

Sketch in My Notebook
The Summer Reading List Project officially started in 2016 by way of formalizing a series I'd been doing intermittently since this blog started.  I read a lot of science fiction and especially fantasy fiction, and it can get a little repetitive.  I therefore asked some friends to help me expand my horizons.  They did so with gusto, and the resultant reading list is excellent.

The sequel, "West Point and its Graduates" was born a week later following a conversation on Twitter.  This time somebody else reached out looking for reading advice, and I--and others--answered.  I decided to expand this new list as a kind of blogging project, a few of my friends again got interested, and again the result was another highly serviceable reading list.

Star Trek: Deconstructing Voyager
The Last Jedi
Justice League
Wonder Woman & Spider-Man vs. the Man of Steel
Arrow Season 5 Finale: Where Do We Go From Here?
13 Reasons Why
Thinking about Iron Fist
Primer
Netflix's Voltron (Season Two)
This Is What Perfect Looks Like
Netflix & Chill TV Reviews
 -- Trollhunters
 -- ARQ
 -- The OA
 -- Travelers (Season 1)
 -- Voltron: Legendary Defender (Season 2)
Marvel Masterworks Ms. Marvel (Vol. 1)
Batman vs. Superman
5 Shows We've Been Watching
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Lords of the Sith
Jessica Jones
Supergirl v. Jessica Jones
Comics on TV
The Punisher (MAX)
 -- Frozen
 -- Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters
 -- Ghostbusters
 -- The Blacklist
 -- Alias (aka Jessica Jones by Brian M. Bendis)
 -- The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug
 -- Marvel's Infinity Event
 -- Count Zero
 -- The Hammer & the Blade
 -- Thor: The Dark World
 -- Ender's Game (movie)
Fox TV's Sleepy Hollow
Polygamy, USA
Iron Man 3
The Surprising Red She-Hulk
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Stuff I've Been Reading
 -- The Way of Shadows
 -- Avenging Spider-Man
Comics, TV, and the TMNT
Charon's Claw
Lately I've Been Reading...
 -- The Founding
 -- Brian Wood's The Massive
 -- The Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick
Whore from Zenescope Entertainment
Saga #s 1 through 6
The Dark Knight Exits, Stage Left (The Dark Knight Rises)
The Hypernaturals, Issues 1 & 2
The Defenders (Vol. 4), Issues 1 to 7
The New Avengers, Volume 1
A Guy's Guide to Fifty Shades of Grey
The Alloy of Law (A Mistborn Novel)
Real Steel
Avengers: The Initiative, Volume 1
Moon Knight and Other Things
 -- Avengers Forever
 -- Crisis on Infinite Earths
 -- Bendis's Moon Knight
 -- Ultimate Spider-Man (Vol. 1)
Cry of the Ghost Wolf by Mark Sehestedt
Invasion 2: Dungeons and Dragons #1
DC Comics’ Trinity, Volume 1
L.E. Modesitt’s Scholar


Short Fiction

Heroes

"Heroes" is a short story about Sneax set maybe ten years after Sneakatara Boatman and the Priest of Loki.  There aren't any spoilers.  I merely got an idea for a story and decided to set in Wanderhaven.


This is Hannah's story using the Monomyth structure.  It's totally amazing.  I don't want to ruin it by describing it, but it's totally worth a read.


This was a one-shot comic project I wrote with a friend for a contest.  It's a gangland shoot-'em-up about the search for A.M.P., aka Amphetamine Methyl-Phencyclidine.  We didn't win.  But I really liked the way this story came out, and I've reused the concept of AMP a few times in a few different stories.  It's fully illustrated and greyscaled.  The file itself is a PDF.

The opening panel of "Russians".
This work-in-progress is a collection of poetry and a few very short pieces of fiction.  I've lost loads of my older writing, but what I have, I'd like to keep.  I'm therefore collecting it--here--and if you're interested, you  can check it out.  I won't guarantee that it's any good, but I figure that if I start now, maybe the girls can give copies away at my funeral.


Centurion Six

In the near future, tailored genetic mutations become the new weapons of mass destruction.  Easier to hide, cheaper to control, and with far less long-term clean-up costs than so-called “dirty” bombs, non-persistent chemical agents, or even conventional munitions, soon every tin-pot dictator, cult-leader, and nefarious non-state actor on the planet is developing some kind of “ultra-human” capability to push its agenda or just keep its people in line.  Against this, the United States initially deploys small numbers of home-grown uniformed ultra-human soldiers, augmented by an array of costumed vigilante “superheroes” with whom it has a close but unofficial working relationship.  Unfortunately, the mid-21st Century is a litigious place, and in time, this unofficial relationship becomes untenable.  Costumed ultra-human battles create massive property damage as well as frequent civilian injuries or even losses of life.  Moreover, vigilante superheroes are themselves little better than non-state actors once they become involved in international affairs. 

All concerned soon realize that a better strategy is needed.

The Enhanced Forces Division (E.F.D.) is a pilot program that seeks to answer America’s ultra-human security needs.  In exchange for scholarships in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), a handful of the country’s best and brightest ultra-humans—many the sons and daughters of the well-known costumed superheroes of yesteryear—are recruited into the New York State National Guard where they are trained, commissioned, and placed on assignment in New York City. These young officers represent America’s first, best line of defense against the genetic monstrosities the outside world now has on offer.

 For the officers themselves, he E.F.D. is more than just their job.  It's their family.  This is their story.

Centurion Six: Chapter 1
Centurion Six: Chapter 2
Centurion Six: Chapter 3
Centurion Six: Chapter 4
Centurion Six: Chapter 5
Centurion Six: Chapter 6
Centurion Six: Chapter 7
Centurion Six: Issue #1 Finale!
Centurion Six: Inspirations and Background


The Return of Dr. Necropolis

"The Return of Dr. Necropolis" started out as an idea for a bit of smut in the style of Fifty Shades of Grey.  But then I started writing, and the first scene came together quite a bit differently on paper than it had looked in my fever-soaked brain.

Anyway, instead of porn, this is a story of frustration and revenge.  There might be some S&M eventually, if I ever get far enough along, but it's on the back-burner for now, so who knows?  For now, take it for what it is and by all means, let me know what you think.

Chapter 1: Remembering Jaynie
Chapter 2: Titania
Chapter 3: The Owl
Chapter 4: I Know What You Did That Summer
Chapter 5: The Ice Queen
Chapter 5 (Part 2): The New Centurion
Chapter 6: Escape!
Chapter 7: September 4th, 1998
Chapter 8: The Bank in Brooklyn (Part 1)
Chapter 8: That Bank in Brooklyn (Part 2)
Chapter 9: Lost in New York (Part 1)
Chapter 9: Lost in New York (Part 2)
Chapter 10: The Other Shoe
Chapter 11: Safehouse (Part 1)
Chapter 11: Safehouse (Part 2)
Chapter 11: Safehouse (Part 3)
Chapter 12: Getting Away with It (Part 1)
Chapter 12: Getting Away with It (Part 2)
Chapter 13: Chasing Ghosts (Part 1)
Chapter 13: Chasing Ghosts (Part 2)
Chapter 13: Chasing Ghosts (Part 3)
Chapter 14: October 10, 2003
Chapter 15: Patterns of Behavior (Part 1)
Chapter 15: Patterns of Behavior (Part 2)

2 comments:

  1. Bob BenJuly 9, 2014 at 9:52 AM

    This is the one I'll be reading next!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bob BenJuly 13, 2014 at 3:11 PM

    Ok, I read the Centurion Six series last night. Enjoyed it very much. I think I felt familiar with Blaine & the Ice Queen having already read the other book, The Return of Dr. Necropolis. I'd have to say I liked the Dr. Necroplis one better, due the the interesting bad guy. Good premise to the series.

    Don't leave me hanging...hurry up and work on the stories.

    PS How was your "map my swim" swim?

    ReplyDelete

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