Wise Bear Book - Interview with Author Jon Teetsell

To say that I'm nervous, is like the sun asking for air conditioning and perhaps a little lemonade.

This will be my first ever recorded interview.  I'll be doing a little Q & A with Quinn Barrett of Wise Bear Books tomorrow at 1PM EST.

Quinn Barret is the author of Invisible Snow available in Paperback and on Kindle.

Not that I expect anyone I know to call in, but I'm putting it out there:

Call in to speak with the host

(646) 200-0260

Of note:

•  I'm very soft spoken and once, I was told I sound like Jim Henson's Kermit the Frog.

2012 - The Year of Alorya

This is not one of my favorite holidays, in fact I think New Years is the most overblown holiday of the year. This doesn't take away from the fact that it's good for all of us to have new beginnings. In 2011, it was a year which brought about many new beginnings for me. As I think back to this same night last year, I thought of Alorya.
I had given up on publishing. The biggest problem I had then, was the same problem I have now. I admit, I get completely tongue tied when people ask me the simplest question: What is it about? It took me roughly 248 pages to tell the story and it would be about half as many pages to explain what it's about. Last year, I set as my resolution to get Alorya published.
On top of every rejection letter I had received, I placed a note which told me what I had done wrong. I learned to do this with job interviews and I found that it really helped. Over the course of the last few years, I had received correspondence from vanity presses which would basically take your money and give you a book. The one thing I knew more than anyone was that I was not a good enough writer to just have my book printed. I wanted to go the independent route, but I needed to go through the same trials that any author would go through to get published. I needed that round of editing, in which a professional would tell me how much they hated the story. The silver lining around that cloud was that they would also tell me how to improve it. I also needed someone to help me take the original problem I spoke of and find a solution. How do I explain what Alorya is about in under 120 pages? With the help of Matthew Ashdown, the task became more simple.

I once heard someone say that if they had a time machine, they'd go back in time and kill Hilter. I thought, if you had a time machine, why not go back in time and make sure Hitler was raised properly?

My little story of the birth of my son was built on the frame of an old Star Wars story I had been writing. Then I tied that question of what to do if you had the knowledge to prevent a disaster.

With the view inside the head of a madman with a laptop over, I thought I'd wrap this up and explain what I want to do next.

My next book has to do with the Sorcerer who holds dominion over Time.

This year, I want to market Alorya to the best of my ability. I want all of the marketing to pave the way for my second book. I'm also going to take part in a contest which has been a nemesis of mine for the last few years. (More to come on that).

I wish all of you a Happy New Year! I hope 2012 gives everyone a chance to make their dreams of 2011 come true.

Star Wars - Who's in charge today?

I'm going to leave out the chronological order of the Star Wars movies for the sake of making my point.

While playing Knights of the Old Republic, I was able to see that their were 3 main bodies of power to govern the people.  The Republic government, the Jedi and the Sith.  It was clear that the Republic would would be the tool which would either be used by the Sith or the Jedi.  This lasted for thousands of years.

Once Palpatine is elected Chancellor, the galaxy is thrusted into over one hundred years of political chaos.  Secretly a Sith, Palpatine uses bureaucracy, a war with confederate star systems and the Jedi to fashion himself Emperor.  We Occupy Wall Street, but the Empire had a Rebel Alliance which destroyed the Death Star.  This was definitely not a sustainable government, but I'm not sure Palpatine cared, really.

Luke Skywalker and the Alliance take down the head of the Empirical government creating a power vacuum which last for years.  Imperial Remnant forces battled Alliance forces until the Alliance proves victorious, takes control of Coruscant and creates the New Republic.  The Empire, with a handful of systems, sit near the edge of the galaxy continuing business as usual.

The New Republic was anything but successful.  While the Jedi Order was able to rebuild, the New Republic had to fight internal bickering and a great bureaucracy which was strangely similar to the Old Republic.  While they squabbled, their enemies plotted.

Enter the Yuuzhan Vong.  From literally, out of nowhere, these aliens to the galaxy came seeking anything but peace.  Taking advantage of soft under-belly of the New Republic, the Yuuzhan Vong was able to cut through the galaxy with relative ease.  It wasn't until the New Jedi Order was free to act independently of the failed government that the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated.  The Galactic Alliance was a fractured government which limped along while the citizens of the galaxy rebuilt.

First Chief of State to the Galactic Alliance - Cal Omas - Removed from power by a Coup.

Second Chief of State - Darth Caedus (a Sith????) and Cha Naithal - To be fair, Jacen Solo was good at keeping it a secret that he was in fact a Sith.  Ok, so not really.  Darth Caedus and Cha Naithal did bring about the Second Galactic Civil War.  Darth Caedus was killed by his sister and Cha Naithal was disgraced.

Third Chief of State - Natasi Daala (former Imperial Admiral) - Enter the Police State.  She too left office in hand-cuffs.  Her platform of destroying all those who sought power was deemed to risky, although it was a similar platform to many of her predecessors.

The Triumvirate - Grand Master Saba Sabatyne, Senator Treen and Senator Jaxton - When I first read of Saba Sabatyne, I pictured an incompetent alligator in a Jedi robe.  The other two were up to no good from the moment they were introduced to the reader.  I've not seen the outcome of this stellar Administration, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to be pretty.

UPDATE:  This just in.  The Sith rule the galaxy, once again.  And now, to Steve, with the weather.

Inspiration - Daily Life

Fantasy vs Reality

Every writer will be inspired by every day events in their life, but to varying degrees.  From a writing perspective, I took everything I experienced and skewed it into a Sci-Fi / Fantasy world called Alorya.  When I was in my teens, I lived inside my head.  People would see me as quiet or shy, but I just hadn't found my outlet for communicating this to other people.

A little over ten years ago, I was on a job interview for a company I can't remember.  I was perhaps the worst person for interviews on the planet, at the time, but the focal point was how I perceived it within my creativity.  I viewed it as a scene out of Star Wars.  The room was ablaze in red and green flashes of light, while I battled the IT Manager for a position with that company.  I would later go to my computer at some point and write about this lightsaber battle with a hypacritical Jedi to which I narrowly escaped with my life.

I write in the same way others would keep a diary or a journal, but through my eyes, it's all transformed into an "out of this world" experience.  My battles against ogres, romances with elves, and command of the force is my way of journaling life without the mundanity of everyday life.  Have you ever thought about a conversation you just had and wished you said something differently?  Maybe you miss your bus by a minute and think about the extra time you took taking that "shortcut"?  It is in this light that I view writing and creating as a fun experience and not a job.