One of these days I need to decide on an abbreviation for "Chronicles of M" so I don't have to continue typing it out. Who knows, maybe it'll turn into an established hashtag that way.  :P

Anyhoo, I've been thinking about writing a solo book centered around Mai (semi-important character for books 2 and 3) where it shows her life as a Japanese demon hunter and how she came to possess Oni, her Katana that may or may not be sentient (no spoilers here, suckers). If I do this, I'll probably spend a good chunk of time prior to writing it sitting around reading japanese folklore and watching their insane action movies. Not to steal ideas, mind you, but to get a better feel for the presentation. So, if you have any suggestions or fun ideas centered around Japanese demons, spirits or anything really, let me know. I love researching this kind of stuff!

B&N and Kobo have posted copies of my books on their sites. Oddly enough, Book 1 has made it to B&N and Book 2 made it on Kobo, but not both. The front page of this website has a link to the search by author name, so once both books are posted on each website that will be auto-updated. I've also sent copies to Sony's ebook site and Itunes (via Smashwords), as soon as those post I'll update the site.

CORRECTION: Book 1 is on Itunes now  :D

I figured putting the percentage completed in the title was an easier marker for these updates. I'm tired of going back through the old ones and counting.

So far so good. The writing was slowed down from the holidays and being sick in bed/on couch for a week. That being said, I suspect I'll have this new book out by March sometime.

The story is far more linear than in the other books, but that is not to say it doesn't have several things going on: letters between Uhler and another scientist, a serial killer investigation, an escaped android with mental issues, M's preparations for his upcoming fight with A'loc, the fight itself and then all the bs after that. So, like usual, this book is packed with crazy crap.

It's funny, but I feel sort of bad not introducing some new writing concept to this book, as I did with the previous. The problem is that I'm using those other ideas (chance of perspectives/vocabulary, battles being shown from different angles, 3rd person/first person narrative) and aside from the added letters from Uhler, all is pretty consistent in the writing style. Honestly, I'm not sure I should add more to the writing style, it's already pretty wild as it is.   :D

Lately I've been considering the idea of doing some sort of hardback edition at the end of each trilogy. I probably will, but I haven't decided yet. Part of what is keeping from going with it is something that many authors (myself included) have to deal with every time they sit down and write: character continuity. Is this how the character would say this, or do that? Would s/he think that? For a lot of authors this is a HUGE problem. Not because they aren't great writers, but because there seems to be a desire to keep our main characters static. We like seeing our characters fight the good fight, but we really don't want them to grow from it...not much anyways.

I do realize that is a very general statement and just about everyone reading this is thinking "nu uh, I like my character's to grow!" On some level I'm sure you believe that, but then look at what is popular on television and tell me that's true. That being said, we DO like to see characters grow and change over time, but it has to be handled correctly and in the right circumstances.

For example, take something like Farscape (if you don't know, it's a sci-fi show from a while back) where the characters basically didn't know each other, didn't like each other, but because of better options were stuck together for years. By the end of the show these character's had been through so much hell that there wasn't even a question anymore of how they would work as a team and each other's roles in, for instance, a gun fight. They went from a bunch of individuals putting up with eachother to a full on team. The character's didnt simply trust eachother, they knew eachother. Most shows don't do that.

My issue is that i KNOW there's a lack of cohesion in my main characters. They say one thing, and think another in a very different manner. M starts off as..well...a giant a-hole, by the end of book 2 he's a man out of time and a little on-edge and in book 3 he's a very different person still. I wanted these characters to be as real as possible and so far, I think I've done that. The issue is: what happens when you read the books in order, one right after the other? Will the character development come off as development, or will it come off as a jumbled, kerfuffle of a mess?

Starting today, I will be selling any/all of my books through this website, on top of Amazon and whoever else I submit it to (Nook and Itunes are my next targets).  I'll let you know now that the books wil always be cheaper directly through me simply because the percentage I have to give to the vendor is far cheaper than what amazon, nook, itunes will be. Currently, each is $2.50 on here vs $2.99 through Amazon. The price on here may decrease as I am not entirely sure what I'm being charged to sell direct. Also, I have placed the books in PDF, MOBI (kindle) and EPUB formats on the site already. If there is another format you would like to see, please reply to this blog posting or email me and I'll get right on it.

Another thing selling direct does for me is to allow for the occasional discount. So, perhaps in the near future I can do a buy 1 get the 2nd book 1/2 off - something like that.

One last thought, to get to the direct sales page (along with links to Amazon US and UK) all you have to do is click on "About the Books" up above and pick the book you want to look at.

I'm letting everyone know that I'm still around and will be updating more frequently than I have lately. Between the holidays, having bronichitis for a week and my son also being sick...it's been a little busy. Not looking for pity or anything. Life is what life is and if you don't roll with the punches, you get knocked out. That being said, over the next week, or so, I'll be rolling out updates with the book, some weird ideas I've been thinking about and the usual silliness that comes with reading my bs.   :D