J. Steven Butler's Blog

Hi all,

Mark your calendars! THE NIGHT SWEEPER: ASSASSIN, book two of the Sweeper chronicles will be released on December 20th. I am very excited about the release and sharing the continued adventures of Cray and Mira. Feel free to contact me with questions or for details.

Thanks,

J. steven Butler

My six year old son is very creative, extremely intelligent, and despises school. Like me, he prefers to be at home. Quite often, he asks me if he would have to go to school should certain scenarios arise. This morning, he gave me quite a laugh.

"Dad," he said from the back seat. "I know this isn't going to happen, but if my eyeball fell out, would I have to go to school today?"

Why on earth this particular thought came to him is beyond my limited human comprehension. I assured him that he most definitely would not go to school in the event that his eyeball fell out. Naturally, the next question followed.

"Can my eye fall out?"

I explained that this was very unlikely and only happens in cases of extreme trauma, for instance, in the event a tree fell on his head. We both laughed for a while, and he accepted the inevitible fact that he was not going to get out of school by losing his eyeball.

One thing is certain, if I could harness half of his creative thinking, I would be a much better writer. Maybe the gift lies in being completely random.

I wish you the best for today. May all of your members stay intact. Be blessed!

It's that time of year. The time when droves of people make promises to themselves in the form of New Year's resolutions. Statistically, the top ten New Year's resolutions are as follows:

1. Lose Weight
2. Get Organized
3. Spend Less/Save More
4. Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5. Stay Fit and Healthy
6. Learn Something New and Exciting
7. Quit Smoking
8. Help Others in their Dreams
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend More Time with Family

I definitely have a couple of those on my list for the coming year, but I want to give you a challenge to make a very specific resolution for yourself in 2015. Be more conscious of God's love for you. That's it. It could be as simple as waking up in the morning, looking in the mirror, and saying, "God loves me." Maybe you can quote John 3:16 once every day and insert your own name - For God so loved _______, that He gave His only begotten Son, that when I, _________, believe in Him, I won't perish, but have eternal life.

There are a lot of people out there who want you to think that God is out to get you, that He doesn't care, or that He's not even real. I'm not here to debate with them. I simply believe if you look to Him, you'll find Him.

Remind yourself that He loves you. You are precious in His sight. He created you perfectly just as you are. Ask Him to be real to you.

Blessings and hope to you for 2015,

J. Steven Butler

I've been sitting here today at work, listening to old-school Michael Jackson - don't judge me - and it occurred to me what a strange life famous musicians must have. I'm sure this is no great revelation, but I imagine most young people would gladly sacrifice a limb to trade places with Adam Levine or Taylor Swift.

I don't know any famous musicians personally, but I have a little experience with being a professional musician myself. It was nothing on a grand scale, but I spent the better part of two years travelling and singing as my sole livelihood. Here's what I discovered.

I hate to travel. Despite the dreams of "seeing the world", it becomes quickly apparent that interstates look the same no matter what state you're in. Sure, there are times you get to see some amazing places, but that is always shoved into your deadlines, which in my case, were pretty tight.

I doubt the same is true for most celebs, but I had to set up sound equipment for my own gigs. Set up = hard manual labor. Period. There is nothing fun about it. And when you're done with the concert, guess what? You take it all back down. Imagine doing that night after night after night after night. You get the exhausting picture.

Then there is the seemingly universal predispotion for famous musicians to end up on drugs or abusing alcohol. I'm not making light of this. It is saddeningly common if Entertainent Tonight and E are to be believed (because why would the media lie **extreme sarcasm implied**). Makes me think perhaps the lifestyle isn't as glamourous as we make it out to be.

And of course, there is always the intense pressure of making the next hit so you can stay on top of the charts. And if you're not churning out hits, the remedy seems to be taking off your clothes and making a video which leads me to believe most of the A-listers are cold all of the time, and who likes to be cold?

So as you watch the New Year's extravaganzas on TV tonight, and you see all of the half-naked people singing to millions with a big smile, just remember you're probably much happier than they are. And at least you're warm. :)

Wow! It has been a crazy year for me including moving my family to a new city and major surgery. I have not posted as much as I would like. However, I wish to address a wonderful novel that I recenly finished reading: Allegiant, by Veronica Roth.

Judging by the ratings and comments on Amazon, there are a lot of people who really hated this book. To some degree, I understand their sentiment. Without revealing anything regarding the ending, I get that many people were disappointed, angry even.

Still, there is a side of me that sees the novel as beautifully prosaic. I loved it far more than Insurgent, and I read the final pages with what I can only describe as a lovely sense of melancholy. As with real life, things don't always turn out good in the end. That doesn't bother me. I find it poetic!

A tip to make your writing easier and give it more realism: use what's around you. Unless you are completely new to writing fiction, you have probably read something to this degree before (probably a thousand times). Most of my encounters with this philosophy have tended towards humans: conversation, body language, interaction, etc.

But I have found it to be quite effective to draw from my daily physical surroundings as well. For instance, in The Night Sweeper, there is a scene that takes place with the protagonists taking refuge in an abandoned house. Here's a little secret...I used my own house.

In fact, I used my entire neighborhood and a local private airfield for the entire section. What was wonderful about it was that it was easier to envision the events unfolding in my mind because they were in a familiar place.

I didn't have to spend time creating an imaginary floor plan for the home, because I followed the natural floor plan of my own. If you haven't tried it, write a scene as it would take place in a surrounding familiar to you. You'll find that little details about your setting begin to come alive in your writing, and that depth will be conveyed to your audience.

Until next time remember, when in doubt, write!

Hi guys,

I have a new character that I will be introducing in book two of The Sweeper Chronicles. I thought it would be fun to let my friends/readers pick the name and ethnicity. Just comment or send me a message to pick one. The most votes wins.

Ayla- Caucasian

Noel- Latina

Destiny- African American

Ming- Asian

I was thinking today of the works of Suzanne Collins and her use of technology in The Hunger Games. One thing I love about those stories is that she doesn't get mired into trying to explain all of the technology as if it could really exist. She simply lays out the world in the following fashion: domed force fields exist, ointments that heal almost overnight exist, genetically altered creatures exist, etc.

There are undoubtedly masters of fiction who excelled at describing the hows of their writing. Michael Crichton immediately comes to mind. And I'm sure that was a large part of his appeal.

I'm merely asking the question, is it necessary? Author Frank Herbert, master storyteller of the Dune Chronicles, like Suzanne Collins, built an amazing world without the need to explain how all of the tech was possible. On the other hand, if you are a Trekkie, many of the wonderful books written in that subset have extravagant explanations as to how the theoretical science works.

Ultimately, I believe it comes down to the preference of the reader. Some of us are more likely to suspend reality and take a little bit of our tech by faith, while others balk at the idea of unexplained phenomena.

Maybe that is one of the differences between hardcore science fiction fans and paranormal fans. Is either wrong? Certainly not. Do we all fit into one category or the other? Ludicrous.

After all, it's entertainment, and there are great books on both sides of the spectrum. So whether reading or writing, I say go for the level of technicality you are comfortable with.

In my honest and not-so-exert opinion...

J. Steven Butler

Hey guys. The Night Sweeper is free on Amazon today through Saturday if you want a copy. Feel free to spread the word. :)

You might be surprised to find that I am not just an author, but a music pastor for a wonderful church in my hometown. In fact, my wife and I moved here for that purpose long before I began writing seriously.

You also might be surprised that many people would find it odd that a Christian would write violent zombie fiction (although I don't believe the violence I write is gratuitous).

The truth is, I write what I do because it entertains me, I love it, and I don't see any conflict of interest. I believe Christians in many cases have become far too irrelevant to society in general. They are so concerned with not showing a "bad example", that often they don't realize what a true bad example is.

If Christians are to be like Jesus, why aren't we interacting with society more instead of keeping ourselves locked away where nobody outside of our small circle knows who we really are? I believe in Jesus, and I know not everybody out there does. I also know not everybody out there even appreciates that. But I think if we get to the heart of things, we can always find similar things that we love.

For instance...zombies. :-)