Beat my Bracket, Win a Book!

March Madness is here! Coincidentally, I've got a fat stack of signed paperback books burning a hole in my kitchen table. Why not combine the two?

So, here's the deal. I've created a tournament bracket that you can join here. Whoever wins the entire pool will received signed copies of the entire Tales of a Dying Star series! Five books, signed and delivered to your doorstep.

BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE! (Insert Billy Mays voice) 

Anyone who outperforms my personal bracket (titled David Kristoph's Master Bracket) will get a signed copy of Siege of Praetar. And believe me--I totally suck at March Madness. My wife beat me last year by making her picks based on the cuteness of the school's mascot. I wish I were joking.

So that's the gist: join the pool, kick my ass, win a signed book. Sign up here and make your picks. It's free! 

Announcing: DAYS UNTIL HOME

Being a lowly self-published author has its perks: you make your own hours; beer for lunch without any judgement; pants are optional. Also, you meet a lot of fantastic, talented writers happily grinding away at their keyboards like you. Through my many travels across the infinite blogosphere I've been lucky enough to discover author Mark Gardner, and through him, Greg Dragon.

And guess what? We're collaborating on a kick-ass Science Fiction Epic.

The serial will run each Wednesday, starting with me, followed by Greg, and with Mark wrapping up the cycle. We’ll alternate like this for 21 chapters, one chapter per week. The character I'll be writing is one of the asteroid miners. Greg will tell the story of one of the bridge crew, and Mark will cover an Engineer.

So, the basic premise is that a spaceship is on a mining mission to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The mining is all done, and the ship is preparing to head back to home to Earth. DISASTER! Something blows up, the ship is disabled, and a bunch of the crew is driftwood. Think Gravity but cooler. Now, each of us is going to assume that our faction is responsible for the disaster. We’re not going to say precisely that we did it, but we’ll be dropping red herrings, and our POV will be that we’re the bad guys.

But we don’t know who done it. You guys will vote around week fifteen or so on who you think done it. Whatever faction gets the most votes is the faction that done it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Of course, we invite you all to let us know how the serial is going in the comments. You’ll have fifteen weeks to gauge the story, and make suggestions, etc, but when the votes are tallied, we’ll have our villains.

I'm excited as all hell to work with Mark and Greg. Mark's a seat-of-the-pants writer, which contrasts with my Must-Outline-Everything style. Greg sounds like he's somewhere in the middle. It'll be a fantastic mix, and I think we'll mesh together in a wonderful way.

The disaster begins next Wednesday, March 16!

Greg Dragon brings a fresh perspective to fiction by telling human stories of life, love and relationships in a science fiction setting. This original author spins his celestial scenes from an imagination nurtured by being an avid reader himself. His exposure to multiple cultures, multiple religions, martial arts, and travel lends a unique dynamic to his stories. You can enjoy excerpts from his work by visiting his website.

Amazon - Goodreads - Website - Twitter

Mark Gardner lives in northern Arizona with his wife, three children and a pair of spoiled dogs. Mark holds a degree in Computer Systems and Applications and is currently attending Northern Arizona University, enrolled in the undergraduate Applied Human Behavior program.

Amazon - Goodreads - Website - Twitter

Review of Airframe, by Michael Crichton

I enjoyed this book. I really did. It had a solid plot with an interesting mystery. It had a likable protagonist, a cast of antagonists, including a violent factory union and malicious media reps. The conclusion was satisfying.

Yet there's something present in most of Crichton's books that was missing in this one. 

This book felt like comfort food. It was good, it filled me up, it was safe--but it didn't blow me away. It wasn't exotic, I never felt in danger, the waves were calm and never frightening. But I enjoyed it, and still walked away happy.

An airplane flying from Hong Kong to Los Angeles experiences sudden and violent turbulence over the Pacific--turbulence bad enough to kill 3 people and injure dozens more. The maker of the aircraft, Norton Airframes, is blamed for the incident. It's up to Casey, one of the company VPs, to find out what went wrong within a week, before the news affects the company's big sale to China.

There are several good subplots in the book. The Union of Auto Workers (UAW) is unhappy with the pending China sale, and makes it dangerous for Casey to walk on the factory floor. One of the executives in the company has an ulterior motive, and has sent an intern to spy on Casey for an unknown reason. And the media is poised to jump on Norton Airframes even though the turbulence wasn't their fault at all. 

Similar to State of Fear, Crichton lets a trickle of his personal opinion into this book, regarding the media. He (accurately) portrays the modern media as bloodthirsty and headstrong, with a low attention span, more concerned with telling a good story than journalistic integrity. Considering the book was written in 1996, I can only imagine his opinion strengthened in this regard with the rise of the internet, and I wish Crichton were here today to comment on it. 

It's difficult to go into much more detail about Airframe without spoiling the book, so I won't try. Airframe is an enjoyable industrial mystery with all the framework and meat of a good story, even if it is one of Crichton's weaker ones. 

2015 Writing Review

I'm a sucker for keeping detailed statistics regarding my writing, as you may or may not already know. Well, open your prose-holes because you're about to get a giant dump of information and statistics.

2015 was pretty fricken great. Broken down by quarter, my overall writing progress (words written):

• Q1: 91,384
• Q2: 114,842
• Q3: 208,113
• Q4: 169,462
• Total: 583,801 words written

TOP DAY: July 18 (7,755 words)

TOP WEEK: August 31 (25,613 words)

TOP MONTH: July (74,283 words)

LONGEST PROJECT: Spore (123,000 words)

SHORTEST PROJECT: Their Eyes Like Snow (3,800 words)

Obvious disclaimer about quality vs quantity, that you shouldn't get too focused on word count, yada yada yada. My goal for 2015 was to write half a million words, or about 10,000 per week. Through the first two quarters it didn't look like I would be able to do it, but then an incredible Q3, where I averaged 2,200 words per day, catapulted me back on track. This is mainly because my writing pace increased overall: I went from averaging about 500 words/hour to closer to 1,000 words/hour by the end of the year. A year of writing every single day has helped me get to the point where the words just flow easier. Neat!

So, what did I work on in 2015? I'm glad you asked.

Full Novels

• The Ancillary: 40,600 words. The second book in the Tales of a Dying Star series, I released this on February 16. 
• Sword of Blue: 54,000 words. The third book in the Tales of a Dying Star series, this was published on April 17.
• Drowned by Fire: 64,300 words. The fourth book in the Tales of a Dying Star series, completing the first quadrilogy, published on June 28.
• Pillars of Wrath: 91,100 words. This is the first of the Books of Bathyly, a high fantasy series. It's actually 113,000 words total, but I began the book in 2014, so 91,100 is just what I added this year. I'm currently seeking representation for the manuscript, and will self-publish if I do not find any.
• Spore: 123,000 words. This is a techno-thriller, about a man suffering debilitating sleep insomnia who weasels his way into a secretive drug trial. The manuscript is currently out with my wonderful beta readers, after which I will be seeking representation. 
• Gear: 62,600 words. This is another techno-thriller, about two cyclists attempting to bike across the continental United States who stumble across a government facility in the desert. The first draft is currently 75% complete.
• The Information War: 27,200 words. Another techno-thriller, surrounding an IT company that uses social media to manipulate world news and current events in their clients' favor. The first draft is currently 33% complete.
• Born of Sand: 69,400 words. The fifth book in the Tales of a Dying Star series, and the introduction to the second quadrilogy. Published December 25, exactly one year after the release of Siege of Praetar. 

Short Stories

• TP-03: 10,000 words. A small robot is built by its master to help around the workshop. Currently seeking publication.
• The Lancer: 8,600 words. The veteran of a lost war sacrifices her dignity to keep her loved ones safe. Currently seeking publication.
• Their Eyes Like Snow: 3,800 words. Mongolian 'patchmen' search deep within the great Siberian swamps for a cure to save their people. This was a submission to the Arizona State University Climate Fiction contest. 
• The Ghost War: 10,000 words. A Shade travels deep within enemy territory to attempt to end the war. Currently revising prior to seeking publication.

Other Noteworthy Work

• I've been collaborating with a writing buddy on a Choose Your Own Adventure series, which we will be releasing later this Spring. I wrote 62,300 words toward this project.
• In April, my short story "The Sentinel" was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2015 Writers of the Future Contest. You can read The Sentinel in Siege of Praetar (it is the opening chapter). 

So that's how 2015 went. Pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. So now it's time to turn my attention to 2016. My goals for this upcoming year:

1. Write more. Specifically, more than 2015, so the goal is 583,802 words. That's about 1,600 words per day, which is totally achievable. Luckily for me 2016 is a leap year, so I get an extra day to do it. Woo!
2. Submit four more short stories. My goal is to write one short story per quarter, so four overall. I've got some ideas. 
3. More collaborative work. I have several writing buddies with whom I'm hoping to collaborate on some joint projects. 
4. I normally dislike fan fiction, but I'm making an exception for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds writing contest. I'd hate myself if I didn't at least submit something to the contest. So far all the ideas I have involve Wesley Crusher being smothered to death by tribbles, so I need to, uhh, brainstorm some more. 
5. Write/Finish the following novels:
   1. Gear: already 62,600 words done.
   2. The Information War: already 27,200 words done.
   3. Tales of a Dying Star #6: outlined and ready to write.
   4. Tales of a Dying Star #7: SUPER rough outline completed. 
   5. Books of Bathyly #2: already 60,000 completed, since I split the first book in two. Will probably be adding another 60,000 when all is said and done. 
   6. 144 Hours: a thriller I have outlined and ready to write.
   7. Untitled Thriller: Gone Girl meets Euthanasia. Already outlined, ready to write.

I have a lot of other projects planned and on the horizon, but for now the above are the main goals to keep me busy. Really busy.

How did your own 2016 go, fellow writers? 

Beta Readers Needed!

I'm currently looking for beta readers for my upcoming techno-thriller, Spore: A man suffering terrible sleep insomnia is given a chance at a normal life when he's admitted into a secretive drug trial at a remote facility, but when treatments begin he soon discovers the cure may be worse than the disease.

What would be required of you:

1. I'll send you a pre-release copy of the book, in .MOBI or .PDF format. 
2. Read it! 123,000 words, or just over 300 pages long.
3. You'll send me general feedback by February 1. What you liked, what you didn't like, what was confusing, and any other general notes on the story.

Your reward when you're done:

1. Signed copies of the entire Tales of a Dying Star series.
2. Signed paperback and hardcover copies of Spore when it is eventually released.
3. My undying gratitude.

Interested? Email me at David.Kristoph@gmail.com with your name, reading/writing history, and a short description of why you'd make a great beta reader.