A Sequel?

Since the big, epic, life-changing announcement of a long-awaited second novel releasing this summer--no, not from Harper Lee, my second novel, The Adventures of Braxton Revere--I've heard one question over and over: why isn't this a sequel to your first book, On the Backs of Dragons? OK, I've only heard it 5 or 6 times, but still, I have to admit that the question has somewhat surprised me. Yes, some people claimed they enjoyed OTBOD, as I call it. But I often have a tough time receiving and believing praise. I've always been that way. I try to be harder on myself than the rest of the world will be--it's good practice. I do love to hear compliments about the book, yet still I struggle, in part because I know others that couldn't even finish it. I try not to take it personal--we all have different tastes. Some people like Star Wars, others Star Trek, and then there are freaks like me who can enjoy both. 

That said, it seems clear that the people who liked OTBOD have impeccable judgment. Those that didn't like it are most likely the type of people that like Nickelback and getting parking tickets. Not much you can do about them.

As to the question: why isn't this a sequel? Well, it just isn't. There are many reasons people sit down to write a novel, but for most I believe the overriding one is quite simple: they have a story to tell. That doesn't mean I don't have a sequel story to tell. I do. I even have a rough draft, and while it is very rough (going from a rough draft to a novel you are happy to release is a long road), I am very pleased with it. I want to tell that story. Maybe some day.

But not now. No, right now I wanted to tell this story, about a guy who was willing to risk his neck to save those who had spent their lives harassing him. A story about a guy who would want to tell that story himself, which is why it was written in first person. I'm really excited to tell that story.

Someday, maybe I'll get to tell more of the story of Caroline, Jonas, Mouse, Chupwah, Jomey, Akari, Eston, and the rest. But not yet.

Did My Mom Review My Book?

When people tell me that they enjoyed my book On the Backs of Dragons, I will usually ask them to leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads (once I get over the giddy feeling that such comments give me, which can take anywhere from minutes to hours).  These sites appear to be the best way to reach new readers, so I figure it's worth a shot. Unfortunately, this seldom happens, although I understand--who has time to leave a review? I rarely leave reviews myself for things that I enjoy (and by rarely, I mean almost never), so why would I expect differently from others? The truth is, I don't expect anything. But one can always hope.

However, a few people have been kind enough to grant my request. I am always gratified and humbled when they do so. At this time, I have four reviews on Amazon, one of which came from a request, two of which came from people I don't know, and one of which came from my mom.

Wait--did my mom really leave me a review on Amazon? My mom reviewed my book? The mom who will call me because things aren't working on her computer? We've all had those conversations:

Me: "Hello."
Mom: "Yeah, my computer won't turn on, and I don't know why!"
Me: "Did you press the power button?" (Note: This is a legitimate question and will often solve the problem, but we'll pretend it didn't this time.)
Mom: "Yes, that was the first thing I tried!"
Me: "Is it plugged in?"
Mom: "Oh, that's right, I unplugged it because the TV said there was a chance of lightning."

So anyway, THAT mom left me a review on Amazon. How is this even possible? The mind boggles.

Now, there are a few ways to take this. Number one is that sadly, a good review from my mom does me no good. It only makes it look like I desperately crave for people to leave me good reviews on Amazon. Now, this is 100% true, but I do not want it to LOOK like that. Right?

Number two, it is true that people do not know this is my mom. However, she left the review under her real name. It is true that it could be my mom, or my cousin, or my brother, or whatever--but with a name like Morong, the credibility of such a review is going to be low. We're not talking about the Smiths here.

Number three, I need to be grateful that it is a GOOD review. What if my mom had panned my book? I can't even comprehend the implications of that.

So the question is, what do I do with this? Do I ask her to delete it? Do I ask her to create an alias such as "ThisisnotJeremy'smom" or "Iamnotrelatedtotheauthor" so that it looks like the review came from an independent source? (I can only imagine how long it would take me to walk her through that process!) Or do I take it as how it was intended: my mom was proud of her son for actually seeing a goal through and publishing a book. She wanted a way to express that. Leaving a review on Amazon was her way of doing it.

I think we'll go with that one.

In short, the review can stay, and if it prevents me from selling any copies, so be it!

What I've Been Working On

For those who don't know, November is National Novel Writing Month. I've never participated before, but since I happened to have the week off to start November and was getting ready to bang out something anyway, I decided to jump in feet first and give it a shot.

The basic idea behind it is to get 50,000 words by the end of the month. Doesn't matter how you do it, just do it. I think this is a great exercise even when it's not National Novel Writing Month. No matter how hard you try, I'm fairly certain that for the bulk of us wanna-be writers, the first draft is going to be terrible. So there's no sense in lingering on each and every word, because either way, it will probably stink. Sorry, but it will. Bang it out, then go back to it later.

I'm far from a veteran, but what I've noticed is that there is only so much you can outline and plan before writing. I think it's good to have some major concepts, clever ideas, characters, etc. queued up and ready--certainly do what you can beforehand, but it seems to have its limits. At least, my imagination is only capable of doing so much. But when you actually get into writing, ideas will appear, characters can materialize, and plot points can tie together. Or they can fail spectacularly. Either way, the work has to be done, and banging out whether it be November or February seems to work best.

So here is what I have been up to, writing-wise. I finished a couple of drafts on a little vampire hunting novel titled Adventures of Braxton Revere and recently received back some edits from a very fine young editor. I'm looking forward to digging into those, though it will be hard work to bring this idea up to snuff.

I also received word that a short story I wrote, titled Jim, will be published in the winter edition of a new literary journal titled Midnight Circus. I'm excited about this for many reasons, obviously. Foremost of which, I'm excited because it is my attempt to pay tribute to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, my favorite novel. The story is a second person narrative following Jim on his escape from slavery. I recently reread the book, as I am wont to do, and I was really struck by the idea that Jim's daughter, who is deaf and can't read because it is forbidden by slaves, has to somehow be told that her father is gone. Heartbreaking. I'm excited to share it with the world.

Lastly, the project I'm tackling for November is a sequel to On the Backs of Dragons. I had a lot of ideas for a sequel, but was having trouble weaving them together. But the combination finally spun in place and I've been having a blast revisiting that world. It's been fun visiting a world I've already created rather than building from scratch this time around. And I hope people who enjoyed the first one will be excited to see what Caroline, Mouse, Jonas, Akari, Chupwah, Eston, Maldazor, Cyril, Jomey, Matthias, Fritz, Tod, Drake, Grayson, and many others have been up to. A lot of it has been quite a surprise to me! So far, the part I have enjoyed the most was revisiting a couple of very minor characters that appeared only briefly--if you've ever wondered what happens to the nameless Storm Troopers or SPECTRE henchman after their failure, you might enjoy it, too.

One other thing: make sure you check out my short story Ellen and Helen below. I didn't get much feedback on it, so it's either terrible or people didn't read it--or both! Regardless, I had fun doing it.

My First Objective Review

Talk about a late birthday present - the first "objective" review of On The Backs of Dragons! I've received positive feedback from a number of people that I know that have either read it, or begun to, but one can't help but take those with a grain of salt. The mores of our society preclude most people from telling me to my face that they hate it, even if they do - or to put it in the way that only Marty McFly could, most people won't say: "Get out of here kid, you've got no future." Which is good, because I don't think I could take that kind of rejection. . .

Anyway, it's understandable that I'd be a little nervous to see my first piece of objective feedback. I do have a couple of reviews on Amazon, which were positive, but they are pretty generic. But this review on a website called EAB Publishing Company would qualify as my first totally objective, substantive review I think, although it only covers the first 100 pages. Here's a highlight:

I started reading On the Backs of Dragons and quickly got into it.  The characters are well developed and the author gives them each a unique presence so you quickly keep them apart.  The world On the Backs of Dragons takes place in also has a lot of room to develop back-story and I found myself wanting to know more about it.  For an author’s first book I am impressed so far.  The opportunities so far have been minor.  There are some grammar and structural opportunities, but nothing you can’t skim past.  I feel like there are also some points where the book could be longer to better establish character personalities and story points, but nothing major.  I am reading on.

Anyway, the reason I am calling it a birthday present is because it was published on my birthday! Kind of cool. Anyway, I hope he enjoys the other 250 pages. The issues he has with the book are hopefully just my lack of experience showing - for example, when I had to make a decision about cutting back story or keeping the story moving, I almost always cut back story. I wanted to make it a swift read not bogged down with needless details, or details that were not central to the story anyway. I don't doubt that I may have taken it to extremes. As far as grammar errors, I won't pretend to be pleased about those!

Anyway, this made my day, and I am very grateful that Mr. Benson chose to read and review my book (coincidentally, I am from the Benson area of Omaha and was once a Bunny).

Legends

Have some exciting news today. Thanks to the efforts of Shawn, the book is now available at Legends Comics & Coffee. Pretty cool! It will also remain available at the Benson Imaginarium through the end of the month. Get your geek on at these fine stores, and grab my book while you do!

Unused Concepts

During the creation of On the Backs of Dragons, Shawn came up with a lot of things that were either rough drafts of what ended up in the book, or ideas that would end up scrapped. Rather than let them go totally to waste, I thought I'd share some of them here for kicks. There is much more where this came from - hope you enjoy!

Early concept drawing of Akari "on the back of a dragon." It just works on so many levels! ;)

 The logo looks pretty sharp here, but the color scheme just didn't feel quite right to me. So we went a little more plain with just black and white.

 

 

Ordering On The Backs of Dragons

First off, if you are considering ordering my book - thank you! It is something that I have really enjoyed writing, and I really hope that you will enjoy reading it. I'm very new to the whole publishing thing, so we will be gradually rolling it out to different platforms, but in short order, there will be a few options if you would like to order it.

The easiest and best option: Amazon. If you are old school like me and would like a paperback, it will be available there in a couple of days (I hope Tuesday). Or if you're in this century (I am not) and want it for your Kindle, we've got you covered there, too. I anticipate that these options should be available on Tuesday, but there may be a lag time, especially on the Kindle version. (I would really recommend buying it on both, that way you are protected from power outages and so forth. It just makes sense... ;) )  I believe it will be $14.99 on Amazon and Kindle will likely be $4.99.

The one that will earn me the most money: the CreateSpace site. CreateSpace is a division of Amazon that is setup to help people who would rather self-publish than go through the publishing rat race. They also provide authors more generous royalty rates when it is ordered through the site, but that is because they charge you the list price AND for shipping. Look, I'm just happy you're interested in my book - Amazon is the better deal and if you're enrolled in Prime or purchase over $25, you get free shipping, too. So for a plain hard copy, that is the way to go. But if you've got a few extra bucks laying around, by all means go with CreateSpace... ;)

The others: Still working on Barnes and Nobles (online), Apple, SmashWords, etc.

Signed copies: Shockingly, a few people have inquired about getting a signed copy. Hey, if you want to pretend along with me that I am an author, that's fine by me! In this case, I am going to order a bunch of copies to have on hand, and if you would like one signed, I can mail it to you or we can work out another arrangement. I will have exact pricing shortly, but the goal would be to keep it around the list price with shipping, and if I get it you another way, then it would of course be even cheaper. There certainly won't be a charge for my signature - once you see the scrawl I call a signature, you'll clearly understand why! :)

I do plan on placing my first order of copies on Tuesday, April 16th, so if you would like to get in on the first printing, send $15 through Paypal to jeremymorong@yahoo.com before then and that will cover the shipping costs and book price. If you do not want me to inscribe the book to you, or if you would like me to inscribe it to someone else, please let me know in the description on Paypal, or e-mail me as well and I'll make it happen. All orders should be mailed out by April 22nd.

As far as sampling before you buy, I have posted Chapter One here (I apologize for the lousy format, it is hard to convert to a decent reading style on a blog) and I will have more shortly. Amazon does allow for previews inside, but it can take up to six weeks for those to become active so bear with me on that one. I'd love to e-mail you a sample in Word if you'd like something before then, which would be in book format.

Thanks so much for your interest, and wish me luck in my self-publishing adventure!

The First Chapter

Here is the first chapter from On the Backs of Dragons, my first novel. There is a prologue that takes place before this in the chronology of the book; it's probably necessary to read the book, but not this first chapter. Hoping to have a publication date for the book set very shortly....

Chapter One - Thirteen Years Later

I

s that all you ever do Caroline - read?” Jonas was once again pestering his older sister in that unique way that little brothers seem to take so much pleasure in. Jonas was thirteen and acted it, while Caroline was sixteen and acted anything but. So she ignored the question and continued to lose herself in her book, sprawled out on the deck near the river, enjoying the day. Of course, that didn't deter Jonas, it only encouraged him to continue.

“So, what'cha reading?” He bent his knees and leaned down to look at the book's title. “Akari the Dragonslayer.”  That again? You know our uncle's not going to rise from the dead just because you keep reading that book, right? Akari is long dead.”

He then held his arms out straight and walked stiff-legged, as if his legs were sticks -- imitating the way he imagined a dead person would act upon returning from beyond the grave.

Caroline rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am aware, thank you Jonas. Don't you have anything better to do? Why don't you go finish up your chores before dad returns.”

“Don't have to. I made a bet with Mouse and he lost, like usual.” Jonas walked onto the dock and plopped down in a sagging chair beside Caroline. He gestured with his thumb, pointing toward a wooden building with a thatched roof - their father's workplace. “He's sweeping up the foundry now.”

He took a handful of small stones from his pocket and started flinging them one by one into the nearby Great River, acting as if he did not have a care in the world. Caroline found this very obnoxious. 

The Matter of the Back Matter

All right, here is the description of my book On the Backs of Dragons that will appear on the back cover of the paperback edition. I think this thing has been harder to put together than some of the chapters of the book!

Life can get awfully complicated when you make promises you intend to keep.

So says Akari, and he speaks from experience. A simple promise he made to his sister leads him to faking his death, living with dragons in a live volcano, and using all of his powers and skill with magic and warfare to overcome the ruthless army of Azoria. Eventually, he realizes that only he can bring a costly war to an end – with the Fate of three kingdoms at stake.

It is only with the help of Akari’s niece Caroline and his nephews Jonas and “Mouse,” who travel great distances down rivers, through caves, swamps, oceans, over mountains – and in the air, with the help of a stray dragon or two. They all must show courage they didn’t know they had so that the island of Ambrosia can be saved from the menacing King Maldazor.

Sasquatches, ruthless Barbarian invaders, the wild and free men of Mulvaria, a Cyclops that enjoys the taste of rat meat, and nasty little cave creatures known as “In-Betweeners” all play a part in their adventures – either helping them along the way, or doing whatever they can to thwart their plans.