Stranger on a Train

Stranger on a Train XX

I don’t believe in coincidence.

I do believe in God.

And this morning, I got a talking to through the radio…

And when you wake up in the morningÂ
With your head on fireÂ
And your eyes too bloody to seeÂ
Go on and cry in your coffeeÂ
But don’t come bitchin’ to meÂ

Because you had to be a big shot, didn’t ya
You had to open up your mouthÂ
You had to be a big shot, didn’t ya,Â
All your friends were so knocked outÂ
You had to have the last word, last nightÂ
You know what everything’s aboutÂ
You had to have a white hot spotlightÂ
You had to be a big shot last night

Billy Joel. Pre-Uptown Girl. Shit don’t get more real than that. Thanks, God. I needed that.

See, last night I got what had to be the weirdest, most conflicted feedback I’ve ever received on any of my endeavors. In turn, I’m feeling conflicted about it. It all comes on the heels of a tiny rant I had concerning The Janus Affair book trailer. Yeah, I know â€” you’re probably think I’m obsessing over it, and maybe I am. A bit. Look, the point is I got this complete curveball right before hitting the sack and I’m asking myself “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?” even the following morning. There’s a bigger blogpost in here, I think, for another time; but there is a lesson learned here:Â Be careful what you wish for.

Sometimes, being a Big Shot isn’t easy.

This isn’t a rallying of the troops, mind you. It’s been a week, safe to say; but I got a groove with By Dawn’s Early Light and an audiobook in the can. As the conductor just said, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Stranger on a Train XIX

Heading home…finally.

Yeah, today was rough. I’m snapping back from the weekend at the Steampunk World’s Fair. It was beastly getting up there, but coming home was a snap. Because of that cluster-fuck journey through traffic hell, I’m planning an EARLY departure for Balticon.It torques me slightly that I’ve got to work Thursday night, but it’s a job. I’d rather have a minor inconvenience than unemployment, and this job’s keeping everyone sane…well, everyone but me seeing as I’ve got two ACX titles awaiting production, a book trailer nearing completion (so close…), and Blogworld NY looming in the distance. How did things get so overbooked?!

Oh yeah. Unemployment. Feast or famine, right?

So, in eight days, The Janus Affair happens. It feels completely different as Pip and I had copies of the book waiting for us at SPWF as giveaways. I have no clue if those attendees (some who knew us from both the book and the podcasts) really grasped that they were getting free copies of the book before its release but there you go. Harper Voyager, it feels, has an entirely different attitude about this title. Are their hopes up? Are they thinking this could be a breakaway title? Who knows…

We sure don’t.

What we do know is that our book trailer is closing in on completion, we got Balticon closing in fast, and I’m trying to keep everything on track. All this, and I have two books to get cracking on. (Writing, I mean…not the ACX titles…)

And technically, Summer still hasn’t even begun. Hoo-boy.

The event this weekend was good fun. Pip and I shopped and socialized. That P.J. Schnyder…what a dynamo. And this book? Yeah, I think the trailer does it justice.

You think I would have this “new book” thing down. I don’t. That fear before a launch â€” it never gets old.

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You ever have one of those weekends where you needed a weekend to recuperate?

That’s May for me. So far.

It’s not like I didn’t see this coming, what with Pip’s family visiting from New Zealand, the book trailer, Steampunk World’s Fair, Balticon, Blogworld, and a new book about to launch…oh yeah, and there was this weekend which included family portraits, renewal of vows, and an epic cookout….

Aaaaaaand the Amtrak train in front of us appears to be broken down. Happy Monday.

All bitching aside, yesterday was righteous. Pip looked beautiful, Sonic Boom (even wound up as she was) was well-behaved (for the most part), people were having fun, the food was full of awesome (so those chowing down told me), and I upheld my reputation as a purveyor of fine beer.

Yes, Mother’s Day 2012 was a day of WIN.

Now, looming ahead (just past the broken down Amtrak) is Steampunk World’s Fair. This week I’m supposed to be working on the audio for the trailer, so I’ll be getting my steampunk on this week. Too bad The Janus Affair won’t be ready, so I guess that means Balticon is going to be another party of epic scale.

Train’s moving again. Crisis averted? We’ll see…

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I should be focusing on the job. I should be a blank slate on the way to Alexandria. I should feel a sense of accomplishment from the weekend.

I think I’m obsessing over this book trailer.

It makes sense, you know? Even with the previous night Linc and I took off from editing, I was putting together some audio for it. I couldn’t find the right effect so I put it together in Soundtrack Pro. The end result was exactly what I wanted, and it was built around a basic, elementary sound.

Guess that is what makes a film, or a book, or any artistic endeavor â€” the details. It’s the super glue of creativity.

My in-laws are in from New Zealand. Sonic Boom is over the moon. I think Pip is far more thrilled than she’s letting on. I missed spending Sunday with them, but I had audio for ACX to record, a Tales from the Archives (this one from J.R. Blackwell) to mix, and a sound effect for the trailer. It was a productive day, but I got to make sure I make time for the family. That’s a detail that really matters.

I think I also need to make time to see The Avengers again. It was a blast. Jose Whedon already had good reason to be proud with Serenity, but he really met unrealistic expectations.

Good on ya, Joss.

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Back into the groove…

I got a blogpost in the making. You know, one not quite as off-the-cuff as this one, but it’s vitriol might even be too much for me. Then again, after reading this post from Stephen King, I’m thinking if an author’s rant is justified and witty as hell, why not?

Yeah. The Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards and giving good rants â€” two things I share with the King, baby.

Maybe I’ll work on that vitriolic blogpost, or get cracking on my look back on these past two weekends. I’m still thinking about them.

If you missed it, the trailer filming wrapped Sunday. Two weekends, a cast of eight, and an old Victorian house. It was quite the education and still very humbling that Brute Force Studios would open their house, their props, and their talent to us. This weekend was the Go/No Go Weekend as we needed to get the parlour scene down, or there would be no trailer.

The ladies delivered, and my cameraman worked it like a boss.

Now we get together and start editing. And while The Janus Affair trailer takes shape, Pip and I continue work on By Dawn’s Early Light. That’s Book Three for Welly and Eliza. No release date set, but high hopes indeed. Just as high as the ones I have for the trailer. I dropped in another production shot, this time featuring P.J. Schnyder. I see shots like this and I see the trailer’s potential. Of course I want the trailer to rock the world…but I also want it to blow people away because of the hard work and A-game everyone brought to this production. “Thank you” just doesn’t seem to be enough.

My headache this morning is finally subsiding. It started to recede when I started blogging about the trailer. Coincidence?

No. I don’t think so.

Stranger on a Train XV

It’s the start to a new week, although it doesn’t feel like I ever finished last week. Immediately after Day Two of the new job, I polished up an audio chapter of Truly, Deeply Disturbed and sent that off to the review cue for the publisher. Then it was packing of the big pink travel bag; and Pip, Jett, Karina, and I mounted up and headed to Grimmoire Manor (the home of Brute Force Studios) to film a book trailer. That’s the challenge of being unemployed: You either sit on your rear waiting for things to right themselves, or you step up to projects and then suddenly find yourself juggling commitments.

Doesn’t mean I’m folding like a cheap lawn chair. I’m seeing all these projects through.

I learned something about steampunk over the weekend, something I don’t think I’ve heard a lot of people mention and maybe it should be mentioned more often: It’s a passion. Whether you are a crafter like Thomas, a model like Sarah (both of Brute Force), or writers like Pip and myself, it’s something we do (and in some instances, defend) because we love it. We have a lot of reasons why but that love is what runs our analytical engines. I am constantly blown away by the talent I meet in this genre, but those who excel at it nurture a real passion for steampunk. Sometimes, artists may not even realize they are dancing with steampunk; and that’s when what happens is less about aesthetic and more about art. Yeah, there is a deeper commitment and drive behind steampunk, and it’s inspiring.

Here’s a behind the scenes shot of our Sophia del Morte (Sarah Hunter). I got high hopes for this book trailer…

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