Archive for November, 2014

Book Cover Design Contest

Posted: November 21, 2014 in Writing
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I know I posted about design cover artwork before, but after following 99designs and their interesting design contest concept, I had to jump in. After you do your design brief and open the contest, many designers put forth their concepts based on your request. I didn’t realize that you could (and probably should) run the contest as ‘blind’. That means that designers don’t see other designers work and potentially steal their ideas.

The best thing you can do to foster good competition and participation is to give the artists feedback. In my case, most of the artists came back with another entry based on my suggestion. At the time of this post, and the first of two rounds is practically over, I had 56 different entries! This has been a really great response and I think part of it is because I gave the best feedback I could and thanked the artists for their time and effort.

So without much ado, I have a favor to ask. Would you please click on the link below and rate the covers I posted?
Feel free to write your own comment if you think adding, removing or tweaking a specific design element would be helpful.
From these choices, I will slim the list down to a select few and choose a winner. At that point I will even be able to ask for more changes and get this just like I want.

To help with perspective, I’m including the rough draft of my back cover copy. Below that is the link to get to the polls.
Enjoy!

James Randall Parker is a synthetic biologist who has heard enough at a conference in Rome. He’s now sure that no one else has implemented artificial DNA into humans like he has. But out of the lab and out of the U.S. for the first time, he’s not prepared for the gauntlet of dynamic personalities and powerful forces that want to steal his work. 

His world is quickly turned upside down when he’s seduced by a beautiful spy and embroiled in a deadly game of scientific espionage that he learns is driven by a secret underground society known as the Nexus. 

Now Jim Parker must team up with the wife he just cheated on, a busy executive with a secret of her own, as they evade the far reaching influence of the Nexus, stomping around some of Italy’s most ancient and storied cities. But when the Nexus assassin tasked with finding and killing him discovers a buried incident that ties him to her own broken life, does she become an ally or motivated enemy?

The Carrington Event will take you through life and death, adventure and discovery. All while being strangled by a hidden solar catastrophe that will disrupt the world order within the next 48 hours…

Vote on your favorite cover design!

Make your teacher proud…

Posted: November 19, 2014 in Writing
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The first part of our lives is infiltrated by academic teachers. Word and number coaches who teach us the very beginning to our own personal knowledge base. As we progress through the education system we are faced with more intricate learnings. Our observations are sharper and we start putting together large chunks of what we understand into massive learned objects. Some of them become ‘enlightenments’ which end up driving us to successful professions.

But along the way, there are experiences that slip through the offered subject matter that have a way of shaping who we are. Some of those who contribute along the way are people we remember with a whole gamut of emotions: despising, awkward, charismatic, endearing.

Who helped shaped your life?

One of my most vivid memories in college was a professor in my junior/senior year. He was tough. Very tough. But also very good. I had an accident where a car radiator blew up and sprayed steaming hot anti-freeze on my back. Massive burns. I still had to finish fixing my car to get home. I ended up with gauze covering over three-quarters of my back, sticky with ointment, there to catch the fluids my body was producing to help heal the wound. It was horrible. Painful.

I had a test in two days – a big test – with this very teacher. I called to tell him there was no way I could drive 50 miles to class (yeah, long drive) to go over the test prep and could I postpone the test itself.

This was an actual, physical ailment. Nothing like faking a cold or flu and crying because I was scared of the test.
Did I get a resounding “yes, certainly”? Nope. Not even close.

He quickly arranged to find another student who lived close to me and someone that would share their test prep notes. And “I’ll see you for the test in two days”.

What? Are you kidding me?

He told me it was a deadline. And we don’t miss deadlines. It was a lesson. I didn’t know it at the time.
I ended up getting the notes and showing up to the test and taking it. I think I got a B+, which was a very good grade in his class.

He made me dig down deep and get over my whiney self and get the job done. I’ll never forget. It helped transform me into a stronger student. I apply that same resolve in every day life. I want to thank him for it. But he’s long gone.
The last thing that I can do is to make him proud. And I endeavor to do that whenever I have a deadline.

Creative first lines…

Posted: November 17, 2014 in Writing
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I am a subscriber to Writer’s Digest. One of the funnest things I like to read is their First Things First section where they provide a picture and challenge readers to write the opening line. They pick and publish the top 10 entries out of about a thousand.
The imagination I see from other readers is amazing. Case in point. In the Jan 2015 issue (not sure how that works, it’s only Nov. 2014), the picture is of a man and woman, facing and embracing each other. The picture is cut off at the top so you can’t see their faces. They’re outside in a park-like area, casually dressed.
I can’t republish the words without consent, but I will tell you about them.
Aside from being highly creative, the same picture brought out tangents from multiple genre’s. I read Romantic, Mystery, Thriller, Comedy and Sci-Fi. They were all very clever, interesting and compelling. They all have a strong voice and good cadence.
Sometimes I try to envision my opening scene as if it were a picture and try to come up with my best first line. If I could come up with something as solid as some of the one’s I’ve read, I’d be happy.
I would certainly encourage you to read some of these first liners. They’re not posted online, sadly. But they are entertaining. I looked at their website trying to find a link to these sharp one liners and failed.
But certainly, looking at a generic picture and putting together a handful of creative, compelling first lines to a book, article or blog would be great exercise.

Control your genes with your thoughts…

Posted: November 16, 2014 in Writing
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This article I found was very interesting. But I wasn’t sure of the practical application. I understand it has to do with modifying a gene expression with your thought, but could you use it to combat diabetes or alzheimer’s with it? I don’t really know. I recently discovered a new acquaintance who may be of some help in this area. She’s a molecular biologist and although this may not be her specific area of expertise, she may help me understand the end goal.
Still, taking this from a game to changing something deep within ourselves is fantastic. Imagine sitting down and thinking about eradicating your cancer for 10 minutes a day and it keeps you perfectly healthy.
This could be an interesting back drop for a story.
I bet someone can use this.

Check it out:
Control genes with your thoughts

So you want to write a novel … Part 2

Posted: November 14, 2014 in Writing
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I felt compelled to expand on my last post – So you want to write a novel – because I’m passionate about doing what I really want to do in life and I’ve also received a great deal of feedback from many of you that apparently liked what I had to say the first time.

I’m a self-motivated, highly-motivated individual. I’ve always had a strong desire to do something when I put my mind to it, but as I’ve found, it takes help to not only start something, but to finish. I wasn’t always good at finishing.

Fresh out of college with a finance degree, I got a job as a stockbroker. The handbook of the day was “Think and Grow Rich” by Carnegie Mellon. He talked about getting that burning, white-hot desire for money. Honestly, I was a little put off by that. I’m not an overly materialistic person. I’m more interested in doing, in memories, in adventure. An extra thousand dollars in my savings account is nice, but I’m not going to work through the night for it. I will work through the night to finish something that satisfies me. For something that I will be able to carry around for the rest of my life.

Part of my motivation comes from being shy. Many times in my life I didn’t step up for what I wanted. And I regretted it. As I’ve learned, I only regret things I didn’t try. Because I’ll never know what would have happened if I asked.

Part of the apprehension that comes with writing is that you feel like you’re putting your inner thoughts on paper and asking people if they like it. It’s hard. It’s soul bearing. You feel absolutely naked in front of strangers. Very few people are natural writers, so the rest of us need help. We need feedback so that we can learn. Start slow. I employed professional editing services to give me constructive feedback and help me build up momentum. I never felt like I was being judged.

Most importantly, learn to be yourself. Speak your mind. The great writer and writing coach David Morrell (creator of Rambo) pleaded with us at ThrillerFest to do this. What you feel will come across in your words. If you’re honest…

No matter how I slice it, with my age, I’m half way through the movie. So I want to make the second half count. When I wanted to be a musician I played and practiced and worked hard and had a great time and career with some very great friends. When I wanted my pilot’s license, I did the same. Now that I circle back to the one thing I’ve done all my life – writing – I want to write and publish books. I want to give back to the collective that’s given me so much fun in my life. Books, adventure, vision, introspection.

I will drag my broken body across the finish line to complete what I started.

Find your motivation and you’ll discover it’s not as hard as you think.

Thank you all!
p.s. Today’s my birthday so I’m allowed a little soap box time 🙂

The Ancient Alaskan…

Posted: November 13, 2014 in Writing
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I just dig stories like this. For writers it can sound a little cliche. The northern ice melts, something scary is uncovered and suddenly there’s a problem.
But what I like about this story is that it’s real. Ancient infant remains found at a particularly well preserved burial site. Here’s where the writer in me comes out. What if the discovery also found an ancient relic or object that seems out of place or out of time? As if its symbol was tied to another culture on the other side of the planet and only showed up in history some several thousand years later?
What if we were able to extract DNA from this innocent child to find some new discovery in ourselves? What if it unleashed a terrible virus and no one in our time had immunity?
I know, this is not some super original idea. But I have this habit of having to tie everything back to something that actually could happen. I have always been a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy, but these days I need something a little more real. I need discoveries like this to keep it honest.
And who knows? Maybe the scientists did uncover something out of the ordinary and haven’t told us about it. Perhaps they’re already in the adventure of a lifetime. The Ancient Alaskan…
Check it out:
The Ancient Alaskan

So you want to write a novel…

Posted: November 12, 2014 in Writing
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Just had to share this story.
My Clark Kent impression of a day job is as a Sr. software engineer in the healthcare industry. A few years ago I was out of town at this huge and fantastic children’s hospital where we were deploying our product. At the time I was eagerly writing as much as I could, pounding away at the keyboard on my way to finishing my first 90K word novel Genetic Impulse.

I was in a Starbuck’s (yeah, inside the hospital – like I said, it was huge), and I overheard one of the executive administrator’s talking to the clerk. The lady behind the counter was asking him if he’d finish writing his book yet.
My ears perked up. Someone else writing? Awesome! I have to eavesdrop on this conversation.
The administrator replied “I haven’t actually finished it yet. Well, I haven’t actually started, but I do have all these ideas. And they’re going to be a smash. I can’t wait to be a successful writer and get out of this place.”
I almost choked from laughing. Really? He hadn’t written a word yet and here he was, ready to rub his colleagues noses in the fact that he was a writing super star. And he hadn’t written one word.

Here I was, scratching out time during the day, during the night, during lunch, wherever I could to continue getting better and more importantly, getting it done.

It is not an easy process. And as I’ve heard and learned, you have to love the process. You have to love writing. You have to love editing. You have to love networking and social media. You have to learn to take the bullets when someone doesn’t like or appreciate your effort. And if you do all that, you will have accomplished something the executive at the Starbuck’s probably never will. You’ll be a writer with a completed manuscript in your back pocket. And no one can take that away.

The takeaway? Don’t be that guy. Don’t be the smart mouth who never finished what he started. Or didn’t start. It’s taken me a while to get my daily groove on and light up the laptop screen with my best effort. So please, find your writing groove and don’t be that guy.

The real Avatar

Posted: November 7, 2014 in Writing
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So this posted science news I found was a little creepy. At first. The gist of it is that scientists were able to transmit signals from one person, port them over the internet and into the brain of another person and control the other person’s hand – within a split second of sending the signal.
I immediately began thinking of the implications and ramifications of work like this. Imagine using this kind of technology to murder someone through someone else’s body. I know, it’s not the first time this kind of idea has been spawned. But now there’s actual science behind it. It’s not complete science fiction.
Then I started to think about the movie Avatar. This would pretty much do most of it. You could create a biologic “shell” and live vicariously through it (somewhat). But that’s pretty far off. I’m more of a what-can-happen-in-the-next-few-days-or-months kind of guy.
And what of the scientists that created this amazing experiment? What might other unworthy powers want from them? A dying rich recluse…a desperate government that hatches a nefarious plan to take down a rival?
Oh, you could spin a million ideas around this. And like I said, it’s not science fiction any more. It’s science fact.

Check it out:
Direct brain interface between humans

Science in Thrillers Part 2

Posted: November 5, 2014 in Science and Technology, Writing
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Continuing with the thought about science and technology in thrillers, I will admit that I like to stretch mine just a little bit. Sometimes it may be the basis for a whole new business empire or just touch on something that could be extended and become reality. I am a huge science fiction fan, but I try to steer clear of getting too far out there.
So my book Genetic Impulse (which is not yet published) bends on the subject of something I watched on the Discovery Channel a few years ago. In the show, I watched a scientist run a fossil through a chemical process and actually come away with soft tissue. More incredibly, it was the fossil of a T-Rex!
Check it out: Discovery – Dinosaur DNA

So I thought, this is cool, but where could this research lead us? What can we get from it? Dr. Schweitzer made an incredible discovery, but the part that falls short is the fact that the soft-tissue does not contain DNA. So put away your Jurassic Park annual pass. That won’t be happening any time soon. Still, it was amazing.

What I took from this is the idea that you could perform this type of analysis on other fossils. In fact, why don’t we do this on human fossils? In my book, my fictional Dr. Susan Chang does do this on ancient human fossils and comes away with DNA (simply because it’s not nearly as old as T-Rex. No matter how you slice it, it’d be a one in infinity chance to find DNA that can last more than a million years.) Her discovery maps an interesting path from human ancestors to modern humans. What happens next will be delivered when the book comes out. But see how this one discovery can lead to something more interesting?

I equate it to the Jurassic Park simplification of ideas. Michael Crichton was brilliant with his ideas. Hey, let’s take a mosquito and drape it in amber, then extract it millions of years later and joila! we have dinosaurs! But what made this fun is that for the average person like you and me, it was enough to be believable. And that’s the trick.

I like to make my leaps a little more connected, a little more fact-based. But that’s me. I need to know it could really happen. Now if only I could have the same commercial success as Crichton…

Science in Thrillers

Posted: November 3, 2014 in Writing
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The rapid world of evolving science and technology has made great fuel for us as mystery and thriller writers. We’ve bridged the gap between what was once considered far reaching science fiction and good thriller fiction. Science and technology can help us produce new bad guys, new bad events and intricate ways to put our heroes and heroines in danger. As well as unique ways to get them out. All it takes is a little digging and some creative thought.

I was watching an episode of Castle the other night (yeah, a little soft on the thriller side of things, but hey, Stana Katic is uh, nice to watch), and they blend in some great little technical gifts that make the week’s premise fun. In this episode, the bad guy was using pictures of house keys to go back and ‘print’ them using a 3-D printer. Ingenious… I loved it. I’m sure criminals have already done this and the idea made its way to the show, but for the average joe, it makes the episode interesting. (At some point we’ll probably all have key fobs and chips like cars do to defend against such a tactic, but for now it is a little scary…)

But the point is, I find this kind of science or technology, and it’s not science fiction – it’s science fact, in a great many shows and movies today. I think it really helps open up the challenges our characters will face in their adventures.
What kind of tech trend can you use as a nefarious device in your book?

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