Alan Seeger's Blog

Please visit Five59 Publishing and Raised On Rockon Facebook for further updates.

The new anthology, SUMMER DREAMS, by a collection of 12 authors who are Facebook friends, is now available at Amazon's Kindle store for only 99 cents. All profits will be donated to children's literacy charities.



http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Dreams-A...

I'll be featured on Ten Minute Interviews Tuesday at http://www.tenminuteinterviews.com/alan-seeger/. Thanks to Candace Broxton for this opportunity!

PINBALL is being featured later today at eBookSoda, a new readers' site where you can get a free membership and they will send you ebook recommendations tailored to your taste.

www.ebooksoda.com

I want to make mention of a great series of science fiction novels by my friend Terry Schott. It's called "The Game Is Life" and involves virtual reality taken to the extreme. [Disclaimer: I was honored to serve as the editor for these books, but I do not recieve any financial benefit if you buy them.]

Book 1 is entitled THE GAME. 

What if life as we know it was just a game? 


What if, instead of traditional schools, children learned by participating in a virtual reality simulation, one that allowed them to experience "life" from birth to death -- multiple times? What if one player, on his final play, could change the world forever...?

Book 2 is DIGITAL HERETIC. 

Millions on Earth are shaken by the events set in motion by Zack's final play... 


Billions on Tygon watch breathlessly as the consequences of his actions ripple through both worlds. 


Will his girlfriend, still inside the Game, step forward to lead the movement that he created? 


Billions of lives are in jeopardy of being lost...based on the decisions made by children inside the Game.

Book 3 is INTERLUDE - BRANDON.

Don't skip this one... There are a lot of answers to questions asked in the first two books, and you'll be lost if you miss out on this one! 

Brandon Strayne. 


Brilliant computer programmer, businessman, and world leader. 


Where did this mysterious man come from? 


This volume details his history and rise to power. 


Before there was the Game... there was a boy... 


This takes the story of the Game even further by viewing how it all started! 


A must read for all fans of the Game is Life Series.

Book 4 is VIRTUAL PROPHET. 

Inside the Game, players struggle to survive in a world where technology no longer functions. 

On Tygon, fans are unable to view what is occurring inside the Game. 

Trew and Danielle rush to save both realities, but they are unable to know what the other is doing. 

The fate of reality depends on a Game, and time is about to run out...

There is also TIMELESS, an addendum to the series, not to be read until after you have read INTERLUDE - BRANDON:

Rumours are whispered that powerful beings exist inside the Game. 


Some of them are good and do their best to help the players from the shadows, while others are 
evil and cause pain and suffering throughout the simulated Game world. 


Courtney learns that these beings, referred to collectively as Timeless, are very real. 


And they have asked her to join them...

...left of school. Four sweet weeks, and I'll be able to devote all my time to finishing TILT, the long-awaited third book of the Gatespace Trilogy.

I can't wait.

I was 17 years old, and I was extremely excited.I had tickets for the very first Oklahoma Jam festival concert, to be held at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds speedway arena (which has since been torn down).The roster of bands featured (in alphabetical order) Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, Black Oak(formerly Black Oak Arkansas), Climax Blues Band, Head East, Missouri, Montrose, Rick Derringer, Stillwater, U.K., Van Halen and Wet Willie. There were two full sized stages set up next to each other, so that while one band was performing, the stagehands were able to set up for the next. Best of all, tickets had only been a lousy ten bucks! That was less than $1 per band. The same week, I had tickets to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and The Kinksat two separate shows, and if memory serves, those had cost $8 each. Needless to say, ticket prices these days, nearly 40 years later, are something I find ridiculous. $75, $90, $115 per ticket to see some of the same acts I once paid less than $10 to see? ‘Fraid not.At any rate, some of the things I remember about this day are stuck in my mind quite clearly. Jim Dandy Mangrum of Black Oak, doing his best David Lee Roth… or was that the other way around? Head East, who I only knew by their monster single “Never Been Any Reason,” with its repeated chorus, “Save my life, I’m going down for the last time.” Many years later, I would have the opportunity to see Christian rock giants Petra in concert two different times; their lead singer at the time was John Schlitt, who had been one of the two vocalists featured on “Never Been Any Reason.” Diminutive guitarist Rick Derringer rocked the crowd with his hard rock lead guitar playing. Progressive rock quartet U.K. made an impression on me because I knew who each of the individual members were; Eddie Jobson, formerly of Roxy Music, on keyboards and a fantastic electric violin; John Wetton of King Crimson on bass and vocals, Soft Machine guitarist Allan Holdsworth, and the amazing Bill Bruford (Yes and King Crimson) on drums. Finally the band I’d waited most of the day for, Van Halen, took the stage. I was waiting directly in front of the stage where I could get a good look at this skinny guy, just a few years older than me, that was such an amazing guitar player. I could see them all clearly: Eddie Van Halen grinning and playing his guitar like no one I’d ever heard; Michael Anthony holding down the low end, Alex Van Halen keeping the rhythm going behind the drum kit, and Diamond David Lee Roth screaming, flirting, jumping in the air doing scissor kicks, and keeping the entire audience in his back pocket.I went home deaf in one ear for a couple of days (Eh? What’d you say?) because I was standing directly in front of the stage right PA mains of stage #1, but it was well worth it.  
And yes, I did make it to those other two shows: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and The Kinks, both at the Civic Center Auditorium in downtown Oklahoma City. It was kind of cool, because I got to hear Van Halen do “You Really Got Me,” and then just a few days later, I got to hear the guys who wrote the song do it, along with “Lola” and “Sleepwalker.” All in all, an excellent week. 

Completely in love with this show. Like, Firefly-level love. And the past seasons are on Netflix, so I'm slowly watching those, too. --Stephanie Bordeaux-Seeger

My wife is referring to the wonderful BBC series Sherlock , now in its third season (or "series," as they say in Britain.)
Despite the fact that it's in its 3rd season, there are only, what, 11 episodes to watch? So it's a Firefly-class show in terms of the number of episodes, too. 
If you haven't watched it, The way the scripts parallel the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories is wonderful. In the original, Dr. John Watson, British Army surgeon, is sent to Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-79), is wounded and sent home to England. On their first encounter, Holmes takes one look and remarks that Watson has been in Afghanistan, astounding him. In this show, the same thing happens after Watson has been in Afghanistan with the modern-day Coalition forces, and when he and Holmes meet, Holmes eyes him for a moment and says, "Afghanistan, or Iraq?" Wonderful writing.
***** Five stars. Watch it at your earliest opportunity.

(Originally published at FreeBooksDude.com, January 27, 2014) 

I've been a voracious reader for decades, pretty much from the time I could read. My parents used to tell me about how we were driving down the street one day when I was very small. I looked up at a sign we were passing, and asked, "B-O-W-L-I-N-G... does that say 'bowling'? 

I'm not sure how apocryphal that story is, but I do know that I have loved to read ever since the days when I could only handle "The Poky Little Puppy." By the time I was 11, I had read Heinlein's "Red Planet" and "Have Space Suit, Will Travel," among others; shortly thereafter, I tried to read J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," although I confess that I didn't succeed in making my way through it until I was about 17. That is also about the time that I read Stephen King's "The Stand," which continues to be one of my very favorite books of all time. I always have to have something to read in my idle time -- if I don't have my Kindle or a book or magazine, I'll read whatever I can get my hands on; women's magazines, cereal boxes... you get the picture. 

Along with loving to read, it wasn't very long before I began trying to write as well. I can remember filling spiral notebooks with scribbled stories when I was about nine. Despite that, it was rare that anyone got to read any of my fiction until I published "PINBALL" in January 2013.

My experience as senior editor of a weekly online newspaper from 2005-2009 made me realize that this sort of work was not only something I loved to do, but it was something at which I was excellent. When I got my first Kindle in 2010 and began reading independently published books, I realized that while there are a lot of excellent indie books on the market, there are also a lot that should never have been published in the first place. In between, there are those that have good plots, great characters and everything else that a good book needs, but there's a certain something lacking. Perhaps the author isn't good at punctuation, or maybe spelling is her weak point. One author may not know how to write realistic sounding dialogue, and another may be long winded and overly detailed in his narrative or simply have poor or clumsy sentence construction. 

Whatever the problem, I realized that I could help. 

I began reaching out to the authors of different books that I had read and enjoyed, and eventually one of them hired me to re-edit his book. When I was done, his reaction was very positive and I went on to edit several more for that same author. Since then, I have done the same for several others. 

So as an independent author, why should you hire a professional editor? 

It's important, first of all, to let someone else lay their eyes on your manuscript. After you've labored over the love child that is your book -- especially if it's your FIRST book -- for perhaps hundreds of hours, it's easy to get to a point where you no longer see the issues that are present in your manuscript. I call it reaching your mental saturation point. Letting someone else read your book allows a fresh perspective that will often reveal problems such as as doubled words (you see what I did there?). 

So why pay someone to do this job? Well, I believe that not just anyone can or should be editing your book. You need to seek out someone with a bit of a track record. For example, in the year since I published my own first book, I have done a dozen proof-and-edit jobs for others in addition to heading up a horror short story anthology project, "13 Bites," that was published shortly before Halloween 2013. All have been well received; so far as I know, all my clients are happy ones. 

So what should you look for? First of all, find someone who understands proper sentence construction, but also has an ear for how real people speak. Both are important. Typically, your narrative will contain "proper" English, while your character dialogue may or may not, depending on who your characters are and their station in society. If the person is a Wall Street executive, he may speak in complete, well constructed sentences. If he is from a small town in the "hollers" of Appalachia, he may not even know what a sentence IS. "Whut's a sin tints?" he may ask, "Is that like when ye turn all brown from bein' out in th' sun?" 

No matter what you decide about your dialogue, punctuation is still vitally important. Do you use an ellipsis or a semicolon, and when is each one appropriate? When do you separate clauses with commas? These and many other punctuation issues are a major problem for many authors, and I love fixing them like a zombie loves brains. 

Find an editor that understands what kind of book you are writing and how to work with you to make it exactly what you're shooting for; trust me, when the project is finished, you will be as happy as one human being can be with his clothes on. 

After almost two years without certain necessary equipment that I needed to be able to properly make high quality recordings, I have ordered a new Focusrite 2i2 audio interface which should be here next week. 

I have so much music bubbling inside me. Hopefully I can buckle down and get some of it crystallized.