I Have a Book!!!!1!!!!!!11one!!

It’s been a while since I updated this dusty site, but not for lack of interest. Rather, I’ve been up to my neck in writing projects…which should (hopefully) be trickling out over the next months (and years, perhaps).

To wit, my first novel To Chart the Clouds is now available in eBook, Paperback, and Audiobook!

I’ve had the incredible opportunity to have a couple of interviews and chats about the novel, so I won’t repeat the same things here; except to say how incredibly grateful I am to have an editor and publisher willing to indulge my academic and fantastical literary predilections.

I’ve been fascinated with Japan since middle school, when my friend dragged me to an Akira Kurosawa film festival at the local college. Neither historical films nor anime were readily accessible in the mid-90s, so I had to scrabble for all the bootleg dubs and Toonami reruns I could find.

My interest led me to study Japanese in undergrad, then to grad school, where I studied the development of cartography in non-western societies (specifically Japan). A lot of that threaded To Chart the Clouds, although hopefully it’s a bit less dry than my thesis.

My first Legend of the Five Rings RPG book was the 2^nd edition players guide. I found it at a used books store in the bargain bin, and for good reason—someone had torn off the back cover and colored over many of the illustrations with permanent marker. Still, the text was (mostly) legible, and that was good enough for me.

The first time I actually went to Japan was in the early 2000’s. This was right about when the Clan War series came out. I remember having to leave a sweater and pair of pants at home because I wanted to make sure to bring EVERY BOOK IN THE SERIES. Reading L5R, in JAPAN?! I couldn’t imagine anything cooler.

Twenty years later, I’m still reading L5R. Although I haven’t had much opportunity to actually play the game, I have a pretty respectable collection of RPG books ranging from second edition (alas, my old Player’s Guide finally fell apart in the mid-aughts) to the most current FFG books. This isn’t meant to establish my bona fides—I consider myself more of an amateur historian where L5R lore is concerned; but rather to show how lucky I’ve been to have the opportunity to write in a world that has given me so much enjoyment over the years.

Even now, I still can’t quite believe it.

Periodically, I take a copy of To Chart the Clouds down from my bookshelf and just hold it. Mostly to assure myself it’s real, that I actually wrote it, and it actually got published. There really aren’t words to describe how simultaneously delightful and humbling it is; not to mention how grateful I am that both my editor and Aconyte took a chance on a quirky novel about Rokugani cartography.

My Semi-Charmed Life: 2020 Edition

Firstly, I wanted to apologize for not posting this sooner. The three or four of you who actually read my updates have probably been climbing the walls with anticipation. By way of some small explanation, my lateness does not have its roots in pure laziness (although I would be lying if I didn’t admit procrastination played some small part), but rather the opposite. I’ve been working my fingers off, typing up all manner of odd fictions to (mildly) enthrall and (somewhat) entertain my loyal pair of readers.

But my current output isn’t why I’ve blown the digital dust off this creaky old website. Rather I come unto you with hard, cold data, dollars and cents, the big payola, crinklebills, nightmare tickets, pure uncut cheques, the fortunate wind, trade slips, bartercoin, all that jazz.

I’m speaking, of course, of my writing income.

For those (few) of you who have been following my career. The intent of these posts is to provide a view from the middle of the literary pack. While I cannot claim to have reached the rarefied literary heights of such luminaries as Cameron Hurley, John Scalzi, and Jim C. Hines (all of whom also post about their income); I nonetheless have the supreme good fortune to have actually made money writing.

I consider myself firmly in the ranks of the semi-pro authors in that I: 1) Have a day job; 2) Have managed to monetize my writing hobby, and; 3) Could not afford to live on my fiction receipts. Even so, I’m hoping this “view from the middle” might be of use to folks planning on getting into genre fiction.
So, without further adieu:

 
 
2020 Breakdown

 
Overall, 2020 was a good year (literarily speaking). I had three commissions: one for a short story, one novella, and one novel. The novel carried over into 2021, but ate up most of the last few months of 2020. I also managed to eke out around 6 flash pieces (none of which sold), and four longer stories (two of which sold). From a financial standpoint, I’ve only received payments on the commissioned novella and two short stories, but that’s sort of the nature of the beast.
I did however receive the balance on a visual media option from a few years back, so that pushed my secondary rights income to untold heights (normally it hovers around $50-100 or so). I kept up my various memberships and subscriptions throughout the year, but my expenses were relatively low being that I attended approximately zero conventions (and for good reason).

2020 Writing Income and Expenses
Source	Income	Expenses
First Rights	$1,861.16
Secondary Rights (Audio, Reprint, Film)	$2,508.01
Royalties	$42.31
Membership SFWA		$100.00
Website Hosting and Maintenance		$180.00
Duotrope Publication Tracking		$50.00
Subscriptions and Professional Publications		$120.00
Total	$4,411.48	$450.00

Year-Over-Year Breakdown

Although 2020 wasn’t my best year, it was pretty close--well, actually equally close to best and worst being that it’s the median over the six years I’ve done this. If not for the visual media payment, it would’ve been much lower (about $2.4K lower, to be exact). But as I’ve said before, writing income tends to lag quite a bit. This total doesn’t quite reflect my 2020 output, but rather the output of previous years as I find homes for older pieces, or receive payments in arrears.     

Year	Income	Expenses	Total
2016	$1,507.87	$1,296.05	$211.82
2017	$4,744.03	$2,098.69	$2,645.34
2018	$5,295.70	$2,592.58	$2,703.12
2019	$2,633.27	$646.34	$1,986.93
2020	$4,411.48	$450.00	$3,961.48

So there you have it. My luck holds for another year. I know one of these days the payments will peter out, but I’ll probably keep writing long after that. In the meantime, I’m just grateful.

In conclusion, I’ll leave you with the same advice I do every year: If you want to write, great! Just make sure you have a day job to pay the bills.

A Wild Author Appears!

In the immortal words of American rock band Staind’s lead single from their 2001 album Break the Cycle: “It’s been awhile…”

Quarantine has been rough on us all to varying degrees, and having to balance childcare, with work, life, friendships, etc. has left precious little time for writing. At the beginning of this all I gave myself permission to not feel guilty about not producing any new fiction. As expected, it didn’t work.

I feel guilty as hell.

I suppose that’s one of the risk of tying self-worth to productivity. But I’m not here to tell you things you already know, I’m to brush the digital dust off this website and start updating it on a (semi) regular basis again. I’m sure all eight of my followers will approve.

To start this off I’ve got news about two of my stories that recently hit the e-publications--then I’ll end with news of a series of posts I’ve planned on doing, but never quite gotten around to writing. The idea being to weaponized my crippling sense of obligation to force myself to write something, anything.

So, here we go, I guess…

"Valley of the Fallen" by Alexey Shugurov

Firstly, my story: “The Transubstantiation” appeared in the mid-August issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It’s a grimdark military fantasy adjacent piece about a ragtag band of “Glory Hounds” who hunt heroes and carve them up for magical parts. Also there are bloody battles, giants, desperate struggles, and all sorts of darkly textured political drama.

I wrote this piece last year partly to articulate the disaffection (and disappointment) I feel regarding national politics, and partly as a rumination on revolutions and how they’re not done even when they’re “done”. I also wanted to tease out narratives of misrepresentation and bias that I felt were particularly relevant in an era where you have to view everything through a critical lens--especially with the November election weighing heavily on everyone’s thoughts, not to mention what (if any) positive concrete changes a Democratic “win” would bring.

Anyway, I hope the story isn’t as heavy-handed as my explanation of my thought-process.

"Rice Terraces" by Ferdinand Ladera

Secondly, my story: “The Duty of Birds” appeared in the flagship issue of The Year After. It’s a historical fantasy set in mid-19^th century Japan during the Bakumatsu period. Like “Transubstantiation” this one is also about national upheavel--although more as a backdrop. It really centers on the relationship between three generations of women (well, actually spider women) and how they weather the changing political landscape as Japan “embraces modernity”.

I wrote this piece several years ago as a challenge. I’d been reading a lot of Japanese fiction and history, and really got into the idea of crafting a story that was a set of nested shikotenketsu. I’m not sure exactly how well I pulled that aspect off, but I’m pretty proud of the end result regardless.

Portrait of the Author as a Young(er) ManLastly, I’ve long considered writing a series of posts about tabletop roleplaying games. I write genre fiction, sure…but the reason I was put on this earth was to RUN GAMES. I still remember my first D&D book; picked up off the racks of a used book store in the early 90’s it had no cover and someone had colored in all the pictures with marker. Still, it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen in my whole damn life. I started running for my friends and family shortly after and have never looked back.

The series I’ve always wanted to write is: “Gaming 201”. Y’know, there are a lot of posts, videos, podcasts, blogs, etc directed toward basic Gamemastering--but apart from esoteric stuff I haven’t found much that bridge the gap between fundamentals and academic game theory. These will be more an exercise in keeping my writing skills sharp by talking about something that I love, as opposed to LET ME TELL YOU HOW TO PLAY GAMES GOOD--style articles.  

I don’t know how many there will be, but I’ve got ideas for at least a half-dozen. So…well…maybe a half-dozen? In any case, my plan is to keep them to a few hundred words so that you all don’t feel like your time has been wasted.

Anyway, I’m sure a lot of you out there have been gaming longer, and know a lot more than I do. Please contact me, I’d love to hear about your tricks and tips. Seriously.

Seriously.

Until then, I hope you all find ways to stay healthy, solvent, and fulfilled in these troubling, troubling times.

My Semi-Charmed Life (2019 Edition)

I remember my first real writing convention (The 2012 Nebula Awards), standing awkwardly in the Con Suite trying to make conversation with the likes of Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Cameron Hurley, John Scalzi, and Connie Willis. I had little more than handful of token pubs to my name and was simultaneously invigorated and terrified. How could I possibly think my meagre scribblings could even hold a candle to their genre-defining fiction?

I think a lot of would-be authors are faced with this sort of either/or proposition. Yes, there are people who make their livelihood selling fiction, but it's not until you start going to conventions and talking with colleagues that you begin to realize most of us can't live on what we make as authors.

Put more bluntly, there are many more of me out there than there are Neil Gaimans or Connie Willises.

Don't get me wrong, I've done quite well, and I'm both proud and humbled that so many of my stories have found safe, loving homes out in the wide world. I'm a lucky, lucky guy. I can certainly call myself "successful" inasmuch as I defined success when I began writing--namely that the hobby pay for itself, which it seems to have done. I think I can also say with reasonable confidence that I am solidly amidst the ranks of the semi-pro authors (i.e. people who make money writing).

Since I already track my writing income for tax purposes (something you should seriously consider doing if you make more than a couple hundred dollars a year), I resolved to post it to my personal site so that you can get a view from the lower-middle of the authorial heap:

Not my best year, but far from my worst. Although I didn't make as recent years (see below), I've gotten better at controlling expenses, and only had time to attend one convention this year. Next, we'll dive into yearly income since I started actively tracking it in 2016:

If you take awayone thing from the table above it should be how wildly writing income can fluctuate year-over-year. I got incredibly lucky in 2017 and 2018, landing a big secondary rights deal as well as beginning the first of my Black Library work.

In any case, I hope you find this useful.

A VERY Surprising Summer

As usual, when publications are concerned, when it rains it pours. After a bit of literary drought, I'm proud to announce that not one, not two, but THREE of my stories have come out in the last month. So, in no particular order:

The Fangs of Rustwood: It all started when I heard that Games Workshop was about to release an Age of Sigmar Battletome for the Gloomspite Gitz (goblins, in ye olde tongue). The folks at Black Library asked me to pitch some short story ideas for the Summer of Reading event, and you can bet they were ALL ABOUT GOBLINS. Fortunately, the editors weren't put off at all by my mad cackles, and were willing to work with me on a couple of grot tales.

Starting with my viewing of Arachnophobia at the tender age of eight, I've always had an unhealthy fear of spiders. So I was excited to pass a little bit of that sweaty-palmed terror onto you. "The Fangs of Rustwood" is part murder mystery, part survival horror, with a mess of giant arachnids thrown into the mix.

The Lies that Bind: Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an enormous fan of the Banner Saga franchise. With art reminiscent of the old Rankin Bass and Ralph Bakshi flights of fancy, deep characterization, choices that affect gameplay, and an engrossing world based on Scandinavian myths and eddas. As you can imagine, I was keen to sneak into the figurative mead hall and try my hand at writing some tie-in fiction, and the fine folks at Stoic were incredibly receptive. The story expands on the history and origins of Rugga, one of Banner Saga II's prime villains (or heroes, if you're a fan of ambitious social climbers).

Second to Last Stop: I wrote this little horror story back in 2010. My intent was to dissect the role of liminal space in the context of horror, really digging into that specific point in a movie/story/game where the protagonists stop existing in the "real" world and fall into shadow. I thought it would be fun to examine this idea through a lot of different tropes and subgenres to create a sort of meta-commentary on genre as a whole. Honestly, I was pretty damn proud of how it turned out.

Then Cabin in the Woods hit theatres and horror editors wouldn't touch my story with a ten-foot pole. Fortunately, the story seems to have legs…lots of them, in fact. The fine folks at The NoSleep Podcast have (as usual) outdone themselves, especially Graham Rowat, who not only give an amazing performance, but effortlessly tackles the narrator's dialectic gymnastics, switching from Appalachian drawl, to Spanish, to a New England twang without batting an eye.