Andy Goldman's Blog
October 2, 2019
October Countdown Deals
It's October, there's a nice chill to the air here in Northern California, and that's putting me in a good mood. To celebrate the return of chilly weather, I'm putting my books on sale, one a week. The earlier you buy one, the better the deal.
The Only City Left, 10/4-10/11, starting at $0.99.
The Fifth House, 10/12-10/18, starting at $1.99.
The Roundabout, 10/19-10/25, starting at $1.99.
If you or someone you know anyone might like books full of an endless city, ghosts, werewolves, killer robots, humanoid cats, and superpowered invaders, now's the perfect time to check out The Only City Left trilogy.
My books can be found on Amazon.
The Only City Left, 10/4-10/11, starting at $0.99.
The Fifth House, 10/12-10/18, starting at $1.99.
The Roundabout, 10/19-10/25, starting at $1.99.
If you or someone you know anyone might like books full of an endless city, ghosts, werewolves, killer robots, humanoid cats, and superpowered invaders, now's the perfect time to check out The Only City Left trilogy.
My books can be found on Amazon.
June 9, 2015
Indie Ebook Bundle Sweepstakes
I am pleased to be part of an ebook bundle by a group of wonderful authors I've met on Google +. The details are below. I've read and enjoyed at least half of these books already and the rest are on my To Read list. Please enter and share to help independent authors get the word out about their books. Thank you!
10 authors, 12 ebooks, 5 winners! That’s 5 people who are going to win this excellent Indie Ebook Bundle, valued at over $40! The more you share your unique Lucky URL, and the more people who enter this sweepstakes using your Lucky URL, the more chances you have to win!
With novels, novellas, and stories that include science-fiction, fantasy, superheroes, the supernatural, mysteries, and a coming of age tale, you cannot go wrong with this bundle by a group of wonderful independent authors.
5 winners will receive the following ebooks:
The Red Road
by Jenni Wiltz
Link: http://jenniwiltz.com
Genre: Literary fiction / Coming of age
Description: Honor student Emma knows college is the only way out of her gang-riddled hometown. But when a gang targets her father, can she resist the desire for violence and revenge?
Retail value: $3.99
The Judgement Conundrum
by Lacerant Plainer
Links: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/169931and http://www.amazon.com/Lacerant-Plainer/e/B0087OTXPY/
Description: The Judgement Conundrum is a short story about alien invasion. It was created in a post-apocalyptic world, which holds both hope and despair for the human race.
Retail Value: $2.99
Lotus Petals
by Gina Drayer
Link: http://ginadrayer.com/books/
Genre: Supernatural Mystery
Description: ‘Lotus Petals’ is at the crossroads of crime procedural and supernatural/paranormal.
Retail value: $4.99
The Minus Faction, Episodes One, Two and Three
by Rick Wayne
Link: www.RickWayne.com/books
Genre: Science Fiction/Superhero Fiction
Description: Superheroes for grown-ups. The Minus Faction is a sci-fi thriller about extraordinary abilities and how not to use them.
Retail value: $6.97
DERELICT
by LJ Cohen
Link: http://www.ljcohen.net/derelict.html
Genre: Science Fiction/Space Opera
Description: When Rosalen Maldonado tinkers with the derelict space ship, she doesn’t count on waking its damaged AI or having three stowaways on board. If the accidental crew can’t figure out how to work together, they’ll die together, victims of a computer that doesn’t realize the war ended decades before any of them were even born.
Retail value: $4.99
Crooks & Straights
by Masha du Toit
Link: http://masha.co.za/crooks_straights/crooks_straights_infopage.html
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Description: A contemporary fantasy set in Cape Town, South Africa.
Retail value: $4.99
A Noble’s Quest
by Ryan Toxopeus
Link: https://prcreative.ca/ryan/
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Description: Thomas and Sarentha, two poor lumberjacks, get into a fatal fight at work and are forced to flee. A nobleman takes them in to do his dirty work, teams them up with his niece Eliza, and sends them off on a quest to uncover a terrifying truth.
Retail value: $3.99
Chrono Virus: Fall of the Horizon
by Aaron Crocco
Link: http://www.aaroncrocco.com/books/chrono-virus-fall-of-the-horizon/
Genre: Science Fiction
Description: Sam Martell’s friends and crewmates are dying. So is his ship, the Horizon. Tasked by the captain to find an answer, he’ll learn their deaths occurred long before serving on board. Now he’ll have to fight the past to save his future. Will the crew of the Horizon discover a way to save their dying ship or is it already too late? The clock is ticking toward disaster… or is it?
Retail value: $2.99
The Only City Left
by Andy Goldman
Link: http://atgoldman.com/?page_id=2557
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantastical Sci-Fi
Description: Eighteen-year-old Allin Arcady only wants one thing: to reach the Roof of the World and see the Sun for the first time in his life. The problem is, he’s lost in the depths of the ruined planet-city called Earth, fleeing the horrors of his past.
Retail value: $4.99
River of Possibilities: A tale of death, deception and the paranormal
by Marti Lawrence
Link: http://www.amazon.com/River-Possibilities-death-deception-paranormal/dp/1461074819/
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Description: Elizabeth Cunningham watched her parents applaud and smile as she graduated college. Two months later she watched their caskets being lowered into the ground. She becomes involved in searching for the cause of their death and discovers a link to the paranormal.
Retail value: $2.99
The winners will receive ebooks separately from each author. Delivery of the ebooks may require sideloading the ebook onto the device of your choice. Entry into this contest grants permission to the involved authors to add your e-mail address to their mailing lists. You may unsubscribe from the mailing lists at any time.
April 6, 2015
The Only Sweepstakes Left
The Only Sweepstakes Left
The Fifth House, the second book in my The Only City Left series, will be out on May 11. In honor of that occasion, I’ll be giving away some prizes, but before I do that, I want to make sure I have this running a contest thing down.
To that end, if you sign up for The Only Sweepstakes Left, you have a chance to win one of three Funko POP! toys: Bobble-Head Deadpool, Marty McFly, or Super Saiyan Goku.
Winner chooses one of these three toys and I’ll mail it free of charge. Due to the cost of international shipping, this contest is open to U.S. residents only. Thank you for your understanding.
Anyone who enters this contest will be signed up for my New Releases mailing list, Andy Goldman’s Thought-Stream, which I send out when I have a new book or short story available (no more than 1 e-mail/month). If you would rather not stay on the mailing list, you may simply unsubscribe.
The more people who enter the sweepstakes using your Lucky URL, the more chances you have to win.
Thank you and good luck!
The Fifth House, the second book in my The Only City Left series, will be out on May 11. In honor of that occasion, I’ll be giving away some prizes, but before I do that, I want to make sure I have this running a contest thing down.
To that end, if you sign up for The Only Sweepstakes Left, you have a chance to win one of three Funko POP! toys: Bobble-Head Deadpool, Marty McFly, or Super Saiyan Goku.
Winner chooses one of these three toys and I’ll mail it free of charge. Due to the cost of international shipping, this contest is open to U.S. residents only. Thank you for your understanding.
Anyone who enters this contest will be signed up for my New Releases mailing list, Andy Goldman’s Thought-Stream, which I send out when I have a new book or short story available (no more than 1 e-mail/month). If you would rather not stay on the mailing list, you may simply unsubscribe.
The more people who enter the sweepstakes using your Lucky URL, the more chances you have to win.
Thank you and good luck!
January 14, 2015
The Fifth House Edits: Week One
I am 40,000 words into the first pass edit of The Fifth House, which is the sequel to The Only City Left.
For this first pass, I am looking at the structure of the story as a whole, from where the chapter breaks are, to character arcs through the book, to where certain scenes need to fall in relation to one another. More detailed edits will have to wait for the second pass.
Already I have pushed back the introduction of one character and relegated her to a smaller role in the book, because she was fighting for attention in an already-crowded novel. That change allowed me to cut down the length of the first chapter she appeared in, but of course this also requires cascading changes throughout the rest of the book. In the end, I think it will be worth it, though. Plus, any character I cut like this usually shows up again, whether in a short story or another work altogether.
I should mention that I have two point-of-view characters in Book Two, as opposed to only Allin in Book One, and they switch off chapters. This is done to expand the story possibilities in this book, and to have the action be more wide-ranging while still allowing me to tell the big-picture story I want to tell. Reading through my draft, I realized that the second character was sort of defined by her relationship to Allin. Since she should be as important a character as Allin, I wrote an entirely new introduction chapter for her, and I think this makes the story flow much more smoothly.
Finally, when I wrote this draft, I was more concerned with getting the ideas out than making the chapters the perfect length as I went. This meant that some of my “chapters” were 4000, 5000, even 7000 words long, whereas my preferred chapter length is about 2500 words. Breaking the chapters down to that size is complicated by my dual-narrator approach, but it’s a challenge I’m having fun tackling.
So in the first third of the draft, I have cut chunks of exposition, removed a character, added in a new chapter, and cut the existing chapters into smaller, more manageable pieces. Not bad for week one of edits!
For this first pass, I am looking at the structure of the story as a whole, from where the chapter breaks are, to character arcs through the book, to where certain scenes need to fall in relation to one another. More detailed edits will have to wait for the second pass.
Already I have pushed back the introduction of one character and relegated her to a smaller role in the book, because she was fighting for attention in an already-crowded novel. That change allowed me to cut down the length of the first chapter she appeared in, but of course this also requires cascading changes throughout the rest of the book. In the end, I think it will be worth it, though. Plus, any character I cut like this usually shows up again, whether in a short story or another work altogether.
I should mention that I have two point-of-view characters in Book Two, as opposed to only Allin in Book One, and they switch off chapters. This is done to expand the story possibilities in this book, and to have the action be more wide-ranging while still allowing me to tell the big-picture story I want to tell. Reading through my draft, I realized that the second character was sort of defined by her relationship to Allin. Since she should be as important a character as Allin, I wrote an entirely new introduction chapter for her, and I think this makes the story flow much more smoothly.
Finally, when I wrote this draft, I was more concerned with getting the ideas out than making the chapters the perfect length as I went. This meant that some of my “chapters” were 4000, 5000, even 7000 words long, whereas my preferred chapter length is about 2500 words. Breaking the chapters down to that size is complicated by my dual-narrator approach, but it’s a challenge I’m having fun tackling.
So in the first third of the draft, I have cut chunks of exposition, removed a character, added in a new chapter, and cut the existing chapters into smaller, more manageable pieces. Not bad for week one of edits!
January 5, 2015
Manga & Graphic Novel Challenge
The fine folks at Mother/Gamer/Writer have been hosting a Manga/Graphic Novel/Video Game Novel Challenge for a few years now, and I'm going to join in this year.
I'm going to shoot for the stars and enter at Level 5 (read a total of 45-55 books). The actual reading should be easy. I tear through manga and graphic novels on a regular basis (and I'm skipping the video game novel portion of the challenge). But keeping up with reviewing each book? That will be a challenge. Let's see if I can keep up or I fall flat on my face, shall we?
I better get myself to the library and get some manga and graphic novels checked out, because if there's one thing I can't do, it's afford to buy all of the books I am going to read! If you're of a mind to help me in that department, maybe you'd consider buying one of my books or stories? (What, you thought I'd miss a chance for a shameless plug?)
January 2, 2015
Moorcock on Tolkien
I can’t get worked up about a lot of things, and certainly not about what books people like to read, so it is always with some amusement when I see someone or other trash someone else’s writing. It is even more amusing (or perhaps confusing) when I find out one of my writer heroes, Michael Moorcock, despised another of my writer heroes, J.R.R. Tolkien.
I’ll spoil the ending of this post right now: I like both of them and I’m cool with that. But I think it’s interesting to look at their different styles, as I experienced them, and see what I can make of Moorcock’s attitude and what effect each writer has had on my own style.
In a recent piece in the New Yorker, “The Anti-Tolkien,” Peter Bebergal writes: “Moorcock, one of the most prolific living fantasists, sees Tolkien’s creation as little more than a conservative vision of the status quo, an adventure that brings its hero “There and Back Again,” rather than into a world where experience means you can’t go home again.”
Moorcock’s work, especially the Elric series, is presented as a rebellion against Tolkien’s traditional fantasy.
Bebergal again: “In the nineteen-seventies, swimming in the shadows like a remora alongside Tolkien’s legacy, was a hero of sorts with a slightly darker nature than that of Bilbo or Gandalf. His name is Elric, a frail, drug-addicted albino and the reluctant ruler of the kingdom of Melniboné, where revenge and hedonism are abiding characteristics, and human beings are enslaved. The inhabitants of Melniboné are not the spiritual, almost angelic elves of Lothlórien, but a race of decadent autocrats whose magical gifts are bestowed by demons.”
I had never really thought of Moorcock’s work this way, probably because I read Moorcock before I read Tolkien (the Lord of the Rings trilogy seemed dense and overwhelming to me in my teens, when I devoured dozens of books each month and formed some of my strongest reader/author bonds).
Granted, I always found something cooler about Moorcock’s worlds and heroes. They were tragic, usually barely hanging on to their lives, and even when they succeeded, it wasn’t long before a cruel world swept the rug out from under them once more. Perhaps Moorcock’s writing better agreed with the way the world felt to teenaged me (and, I’ll admit it) adult me.
I rarely participate in epic quests and ultimately conquer evil. Life is a series of small battles and the outcome is usually questionable, so I can relate more to Moorcock’s heroes in this way. As Bebergal writes, “Elric is not about abstract ideas of good and evil, with faceless powers looking to strip the world of its trees and its hobbit holes. Elric is about law and chaos, and how, sometimes, choosing one over the other is no more or less just.”
All that being said, epic fantasy, with the forces of good eventually winning a hard-fought victory over the nameless evil, definitely has its time and place. I love the scope, the world-building, the mix of characters and personalities. I love that Tolkien’s world feels like a real place, a piece of our own history, with a sense that around any corner of the world, something else awaits, some adventure or hero or villain or ruin with a story all its own.
Even though I tend more toward stories about individual heroes trying to balance law and chaos within themselves, often with bittersweet victories at the end, I don’t feel the need to dismiss one type of story over another.
As a writer I tend toward one side of the balance, but as a reader I enjoy both equally, at least until the next book I read tips me more toward one side or the other.
(Speaking of which, Michael Moorcock’s new book, The Whispering Swarm, is out on January 13!)
I’ll spoil the ending of this post right now: I like both of them and I’m cool with that. But I think it’s interesting to look at their different styles, as I experienced them, and see what I can make of Moorcock’s attitude and what effect each writer has had on my own style.
In a recent piece in the New Yorker, “The Anti-Tolkien,” Peter Bebergal writes: “Moorcock, one of the most prolific living fantasists, sees Tolkien’s creation as little more than a conservative vision of the status quo, an adventure that brings its hero “There and Back Again,” rather than into a world where experience means you can’t go home again.”
Moorcock’s work, especially the Elric series, is presented as a rebellion against Tolkien’s traditional fantasy.
Bebergal again: “In the nineteen-seventies, swimming in the shadows like a remora alongside Tolkien’s legacy, was a hero of sorts with a slightly darker nature than that of Bilbo or Gandalf. His name is Elric, a frail, drug-addicted albino and the reluctant ruler of the kingdom of Melniboné, where revenge and hedonism are abiding characteristics, and human beings are enslaved. The inhabitants of Melniboné are not the spiritual, almost angelic elves of Lothlórien, but a race of decadent autocrats whose magical gifts are bestowed by demons.”
I had never really thought of Moorcock’s work this way, probably because I read Moorcock before I read Tolkien (the Lord of the Rings trilogy seemed dense and overwhelming to me in my teens, when I devoured dozens of books each month and formed some of my strongest reader/author bonds).
Granted, I always found something cooler about Moorcock’s worlds and heroes. They were tragic, usually barely hanging on to their lives, and even when they succeeded, it wasn’t long before a cruel world swept the rug out from under them once more. Perhaps Moorcock’s writing better agreed with the way the world felt to teenaged me (and, I’ll admit it) adult me.
I rarely participate in epic quests and ultimately conquer evil. Life is a series of small battles and the outcome is usually questionable, so I can relate more to Moorcock’s heroes in this way. As Bebergal writes, “Elric is not about abstract ideas of good and evil, with faceless powers looking to strip the world of its trees and its hobbit holes. Elric is about law and chaos, and how, sometimes, choosing one over the other is no more or less just.”
All that being said, epic fantasy, with the forces of good eventually winning a hard-fought victory over the nameless evil, definitely has its time and place. I love the scope, the world-building, the mix of characters and personalities. I love that Tolkien’s world feels like a real place, a piece of our own history, with a sense that around any corner of the world, something else awaits, some adventure or hero or villain or ruin with a story all its own.
Even though I tend more toward stories about individual heroes trying to balance law and chaos within themselves, often with bittersweet victories at the end, I don’t feel the need to dismiss one type of story over another.
As a writer I tend toward one side of the balance, but as a reader I enjoy both equally, at least until the next book I read tips me more toward one side or the other.
(Speaking of which, Michael Moorcock’s new book, The Whispering Swarm, is out on January 13!)
October 21, 2014
Upcoming Book Tour
For any bloggers/reviewers in my circles who might be interested.
Twin Opinions will be hosting a book blitz (Nov 17-19) and book tour (Dec 1-7) for The Only City Left.
Details are at the link below and you can sign up at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jIGQ...
Twin Opinions will be hosting a book blitz (Nov 17-19) and book tour (Dec 1-7) for The Only City Left.
Details are at the link below and you can sign up at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jIGQ...
September 26, 2014
Meet Allin Arcady
Ryan Toxopeus nominated me to participate in the Meet My Character Blog Tour, and lo, after weeks of procrastination, here it is.
Meet Allin Arcady
1) What is the name of your character? Is he fictional or a historic person?
Allin Arcady. He’s fictional but part of a grand future history I have planned. (I can't resist future histories. Cherryh. Asimov. Heinlein. Niven. I love it when an author's many and varied works share a universe and timeline.)
2) When and where is the story set?
The Only City Left is set on the planet Earth, tens of thousands of years in the future. At this point, the planet has been paved over, dug out, and built up to the point where it is one giant, hive-like city that completely covers the planet. Oceans still exist beneath the city, and some towns and cities were swallowed whole, especially if they had some historical value, but from the outside the Earth would be unrecognizable to a visitor from our time.
They might recognize the Moon though, still orbiting the Earth as it always has.
The city called Earth is largely empty now. No one knows where the majority of the population went, but there are many rumors as to why they disappeared. All agree that it must have happened a long time ago.
3) What should we know about him?
Allin has survived on his own in the depths of the City for the past three years. Before that, he lived with his parents as a nomad, always moving throughout the City, never settling down. He’s used to scavenging old tech to create new devices to help him survive his often-perilous journey.
4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?
Allin’s running from the horrors of his past. He thinks if he can climb out of the dark depths of the City and see the Sun rise over the Roof of the World, he’ll have accomplished all he can hope for in life. Unfortunately, making his way up through the deadly maze of the City is not easy, and it becomes even harder when a menace from his parents’ past comes calling. Allin may want to be rid of his past, but it’s not going to let go that easily.
5) What is the personal goal of the character?
To survive and to see the Sun for once in his dark, dreary life.
6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
It’s called The Only City Left. You can read a sample on Amazon, or read some of the wonderful reviews it has received.
7) When can we expect the book to be published?
The Only City Left is currently available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. I'm currently at work on the sequel, The Fifth House.
Meet Allin Arcady
1) What is the name of your character? Is he fictional or a historic person?
Allin Arcady. He’s fictional but part of a grand future history I have planned. (I can't resist future histories. Cherryh. Asimov. Heinlein. Niven. I love it when an author's many and varied works share a universe and timeline.)
2) When and where is the story set?
The Only City Left is set on the planet Earth, tens of thousands of years in the future. At this point, the planet has been paved over, dug out, and built up to the point where it is one giant, hive-like city that completely covers the planet. Oceans still exist beneath the city, and some towns and cities were swallowed whole, especially if they had some historical value, but from the outside the Earth would be unrecognizable to a visitor from our time.
They might recognize the Moon though, still orbiting the Earth as it always has.
The city called Earth is largely empty now. No one knows where the majority of the population went, but there are many rumors as to why they disappeared. All agree that it must have happened a long time ago.
3) What should we know about him?
Allin has survived on his own in the depths of the City for the past three years. Before that, he lived with his parents as a nomad, always moving throughout the City, never settling down. He’s used to scavenging old tech to create new devices to help him survive his often-perilous journey.
4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?
Allin’s running from the horrors of his past. He thinks if he can climb out of the dark depths of the City and see the Sun rise over the Roof of the World, he’ll have accomplished all he can hope for in life. Unfortunately, making his way up through the deadly maze of the City is not easy, and it becomes even harder when a menace from his parents’ past comes calling. Allin may want to be rid of his past, but it’s not going to let go that easily.
5) What is the personal goal of the character?
To survive and to see the Sun for once in his dark, dreary life.
6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
It’s called The Only City Left. You can read a sample on Amazon, or read some of the wonderful reviews it has received.
7) When can we expect the book to be published?
The Only City Left is currently available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats. I'm currently at work on the sequel, The Fifth House.
September 9, 2014
Countdown Sale is On
This is the big tech news everyone's waiting for today, right?
The Countdown Sale for The Only City Left has begun! Grab a copy for $1.99 today and load it onto your Kindle for the next time you're looking for fast-paced, fantastical science-fiction.
http://www.amazon.com/Only-City-Left-...
(Also, I stopped automatically importing my posts from atgoldman.com, since I can't control when they actually get posted. Sorry for the double post yesterday.)
The Countdown Sale for The Only City Left has begun! Grab a copy for $1.99 today and load it onto your Kindle for the next time you're looking for fast-paced, fantastical science-fiction.
http://www.amazon.com/Only-City-Left-...
(Also, I stopped automatically importing my posts from atgoldman.com, since I can't control when they actually get posted. Sorry for the double post yesterday.)
September 8, 2014
Kindle Countdown Sale
The Just Because Sale
Just because...I'm curious.
Just because...No sales at $1.99 will earn me the same as no sales at $4.99.
Just because...Sales are fun, right?
The Only City Left will be on Kindle Countdown sale from 9/9-9/15.
Tell your friends! Or if you haven't enjoyed the samples from it, tell your enemies!
