Interviewed in a cabin with weirdos running around.. Oh, and people are doing vcon 40.

It's always fun when an interview takes it from a different perspective. Man, is this what it takes for me to update my blog?
https://writersonthewharf.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/stuck-in-the-rubbermans-cage-with-joe-picard/

Ehhh, what else is new.. VCON is on... I'm going to visit today. No, no table to be manned, not staying in the hotel all weekend and doing panels... I have some health BS that's kinda screwed up half the friggin ... YEAR.

And it's VCON40. 40. And I'm barely hanging on to the sidelines this time. Grr.

I got interviewed about an interview.

I didn't realize how odd that is until I typed the title of this post. Have you seen my "interview with Lenth"?

If you missed it, (I very recently posted it on this blog,) here it is:

And Tabitha Ormiston-Smith thinks it's a peachy idea, so she wanted to interview me about it! Here it is:

http://topcatsalley.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/book-trailer-as-entertainment.html

Now if only the book in question was a book of interviews with interviewers interviewing interviewers.

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BuffaloBuffaloBuffalo.

Oh, and another vid is coming very soon....

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Rubberman's Cage - Lenth's Interview video

Hey folks! With my next book, Rubberman's Cage coming up fast, I made a video while I waited on the editors.. it's an interview of Rubberman Cage's main character, Lenth.

It was written in an FB chat by me as Lenth, and Tabitha Ormiston-Smith asking 'Lenth' questions. One draft, ad-libbed script. She couldn't make it to the video shoot, as she's in Australia, and I'm in Vancouver, so in the video, it's only her words that make an appearance. I get to star as Lenth.. and I'm told I can kind of act!

The vid reveals a lot about the book's concept, and the life Lenth has been leading up until that point, (roughly a third through the book) He lived in a small area with his 'Brothers', supervised by a silent 'Rubberman', and this has been his normal life from birth... and then one of his Brothers became dead! And then disappeared overnight...

 ANYWAY, so check it out. The camera stinks, but I managed to salvage an interesting final production, I think.... gimmie feedback, SVP!

 http://youtu.be/qQC-0yzjs5w

Interview with MAJOR SULLYAN from the "Artesans of Albia" series.

 Interview with

MAJOR SULLYAN

Questions posed by Joseph Picard,

Sullyan's answers provided by her creator, Cas Peace.

Also check out the book blast for the series, which has a cool giveaway contest with a ton of books up as prizes, both paper and ebooks, including the ebooks of the Lifehack series!

JP- Greetings, Major Sullyan, is that the correct way to address you? I'm not military, myself, so I'm not sure about protocol.

S- And my greetings to you. As my name is Sullyan, and I am a Major in High King Elias's forces, you have used the correct form of address. Well done!

JP- I've heard some people calling you a bit of a role model of young women. Would you encourage them to pursue a career in the military?

S- It would certainly please me to be perceived as a role model for Albian women. It would please me more to be a role model for all those who are born with the Artesan gift but do not currently use it, male or female! Too long has there been a tide of mistrust against Artesans, and I would do all I can to turn that tide and encourage those so gifted to nurture their talents.

We are fortunate to have the support of High King Elias in this. As for women entering Albia's military, I am, unfortunately, still unique in my choice of career and likely to remain so, unless the people radically change their ideas. My acceptance by General Blaine and Elias was unprecedented, and due purely to my unusual circumstances. I have had to fight every step of the way to gain the trust and recognition of those in positions of power, and there are many who still believe my presence at the Manor to be a travesty. I have learned to live with that.

Albia's military has given me what I never had as a child - a sense of belonging, friends, and success - and I would deny no one, be they woman or man, the chance to experience such security. But I doubt I could convince many Albian women to join me!

JP- What kind of advice would you give youth who are headed for a military career?

S- Be prepared for some very hard work! Make sure you are able to listen to and accept orders, without questioning. Be aware that you may well be required to lay down your life, whether for your comrades, your officers, or your king. You must put loyalty at the heart of your being, and be prepared to forsake the comforts of home and hearth. But if you have the courage to embrace all that a military life brings, you will find comradeship like you have never known, loyalty so deep it takes your breath away, and the undying gratitude of the High King himself.

JP- So, forgive me if I pry, but is there a special someone out there?

S- All of my friends are special and dear to my heart. I owe my life to General Blaine, and also to my aide, Bulldog, whom I love. But I think you speak of romance, yes? In which case, I am blessed in my Captain and life mate, Robin Tamsen.

I understand there are those who think that a close romantic liaison between a Major and her Captain is unworkable, and at first, so did the General. But Robin and I are as dedicated to serving our king as we are to each other - we always put duty before love. I admit, we did not have the best of starts, and the General was on the verge of transferring Robin away on several occasions. But our love was forged and annealed in fire and tribulation, and we emerged the stronger for it. I believe we are now a formidable team.

JP- Now, there's also been talk about these “Artesan” abilities. Is this something you can speak on? How does one get these kinds of skills? Training? Born with them? Bitten by a magic spider?

S- Bitten by a magic spider? You are so droll! No, my friend, to become an Artesan, you must be born with the talent within you. Yet having innate abilities is not enough. First, you must accept the gift. In some people, it manifests early, as in my own life. In others, it emerges at puberty, or even sometimes in adulthood. Children find it easier, more natural, to accept what they are able to do, while those who realize the gift later in life can find the phenomenon frightening.

Prejudiced parents who discover that their offspring are talented often force these children to suppress their gifts, and this can lead to disorders of the mind. Yet those who embrace their Artesan abilities learn, through rigorous training, how glorious such powers can be.

We, here at the Manor, are constantly working to educate the people of Albia, to convince them that their fears and prejudices are unfounded. Sadly, renegades and raiders from the other realms often undo our labors.

JP- Sounds dangerous, but I suppose that's to be expected. After meeting with you, I have confidence you'll be doing your best. Doubtless you're very busy, so thank you for your time. Stay safe out there, Major!

~~~

Cas Peace's links:

Book Sales US: King's Envoy, King's Champion, and King's Artesan, available in print and digital format on www.amazon.com

Book Sales UK: King's Envoy, King's Champion, and King's Artesan, available in print and digital format on www.amazon.co.uk

Find Cas Peace on www.caspeace.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cas.peace

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CasPeace1

Her Blog: http://peacewrites.blogspot.co.uk/

Don't forget to check out the music accompanying each of Cas's fantasy novels. All are available for FREE download from her website.

Joseph Picard's links:

For his sci-fi print and e-books at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002LPT7VA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ozerobook

His main page: http://www.ozero.ca

Interview! Raffle! VCON! WHOOOOOOO!

Ahh! My poor neglected blog... y'all would hear a lot more out of me if you followed my FB page.

But news! Fresh interview here along with a rafflecopter giveaway thingie for my 3 ebooks!

And VCON'S COMING! I have no table this year, instead I'll be speaking at like 8 events. One of which is:

TAURINE: LEGACY OF JOLT

Oct 4th at VCON, 4 PM. Today I bought a big can of redbull as a door prize. Me, Sandra Wicklow and Kristi Charish will be yapping about energy drinks, the good the bad, the ugly.

At 1PM, I'll be in a discussion group called "Romance or Porn" in relation to novels, and probably media in general. I hope to read a snippit from Watching Yute that demonstrates where my personal line is.

At two I'll be in a group discussing 'canon' ideas vs fan-made stuff,
I'll also be moderating at a panel at 3 about copyrights and piracy, "Copyright of Copyleft"

The following day I'm going to be doing a reading slot, where.. I haven't decided what I'll be reading yet! Maybe from one of my books, maybe from a short story that's going into the unpublished (so far) compilation called "13 Bites".

I'm also talking at a bunch of stuff on Sunday, too! "The Future of Money" and "Weed Wackers"

Tons of fun that I wouldn't have been able to do if I had been stuck at a vendor table!

Oh, next post, I should talk about 13 bites... or ya'll can just go to my FB, posted above!

I've been neglecting this blog pretty bad, but go listen to my interview!!

http://www.thegenretraveler.com/science-fiction/podcast-episode-21-attack-of-the-nanite-zombies/

It's about half an hour long, and ends up bringing in a lot of different topics. Kinda. It went really well, and came out on valentine's. I have a lot to blog about, and no time to do it! Broke my knee, got gotten by a job, blah blah blah. I'll have to tell those tales another time. Oh, did I mention yet I have a 2nd kiddo due in the summer? Eeeheeeheee!

Next entry- sooner, and more. Promise. Kinda.

Echoes of Erebus first draft nearing completion

I'm roughly forty pages away, and with no toddler around in the next week or so, I have a lot of opportunity to do it. I'm not saying it WILL be done in the next week, but it's very possible.

I have recently threatened to drop Sarah 17 stories, and chop her roughly in half. I'm not sure how she'd deal with those situations, and neither is she. Thankfully she managed to think her way out of both threats in fun ways. Right now I have her deep underground. She just dealt with a boobytrap and some Erebus-grade opponents,all while struggling with visibility issues. Light amplification won't help much when there's no light to amplify.

An 'Erebus-grade' creation comes in two varieties depending on the mood of the creator at the time. Effective, or 'unique'. Those two categorizations sometimes overlap, but an effective design will be re-used, making the creature much less unique. Case in point being the common zombie. Sure, you can do artistic things WITH zombies, but this often reduces their effectiveness.

The cover I posted last time has been changed... at least there's another draft in the mix now. Same general idea, but somewhat darker blues.

In other news, I ran into a review of Lifehack that I wasn't aware of before. It was pretty darn complimentary, and illustrates how I need to stop chasing after reviewers who I know to be tough as nails, and let some gentler readers have a crack at it now and then.

I've also been interviewed for another website, thought I'm not sure when it will be posted. You can bet I'll pop the link up when it happens!

I've gotten 'clearance' to do a signing event in a local coffee shop. I just need to pick my saturday, do a little promo work, and it'll be done. The manager was quite open to the idea... it makes me think I should try some other coffee shops, and do these kinds of things until I need to reorder for my personal stock.



In other other news, I just had a sneezing fit so violent, I now smell blood.
In other other other news, my cat is going bat-poopie insane, and just clobbered herself by running into a doorframe at mach 47.

Got interviewd! And to celebrate, have an Echoes excerpt too...!

Clinton Foster's 'Interviews and Projects' blog has just posted a spot about Watching Yute. I kind of end up on my gay-rights soapbox a little bit, but worse things could happen. All in all, it's good stuff. (in the event you're reading this long after my interview has sunk into the archives, you can probably find it directly by this link.) Thanks again Clinton! I know there's a reason you invented the internet... huh? Different guy? Okay. His own main site is here by the way.

Ah, I've been promising a new excerpt for a while, and I keep procrastinating. Here's the freshest stuff... it's not finalized by any means, and has had limited proof reading, but it does show a facet of "Echoes of Erebus" that I haven't really shown before. To set it up, our hero Sarah dreams from time to time when she has nothing else to do. It becomes clear soon that in her dreams she is 'Amanda', living out events during Erebus' attacks on the city of Meston....

-------

Sarah found herself again dreaming that she was this 'Amanda'. She was with a group of a dozen or so people, wandering down a deserted street. A nearby discarded newspaper reminded her that she was in the city of Meston.

Some of the people in the group were wounded. Two were kids. A few could be seen carrying weapons. A couple rifles, a bat, a shovel. Everyone walked on cautiously, looking around now and then.
No one spoke, everyone listened. An unidentified sound caused the group to stop and listen. “What is it?” asked the younger child, a boy. He was shushed quickly by the girl standing next to him. Everyone kept listening.

Sarah looked down and saw blood on her hands. Was she injured, or was it someone else's blood? She felt pain. Her hands were scraped. She had fallen at some point.

The sound happened again. A dull but sharp sound. “It's one of those cannon things again.” said a man at the front of the group. “Maybe it means they're trying to send in more evacuation craft. Keep one eye on the sky, folks. If we spot a chopper, or one of those airlimbs coming in, we might be able to hustle over to get a ride.”

“Sure,” Sarah said, “If they don't get shot down by those things first. They'd be nuts to try that again.” Sarah didn't mean to say that, Amanda was in control of this dream. Sarah was just a passenger. Sarah didn't have much of an idea what she was talking about, but it didn't sound that optimistic. “Let's just keep going for now, alright?” A few people in the group murmured in the affirmative, and they got underway.

After a block or so, they came to a blood spill that reached across the entire street. They stopped at the edge of it, each silently considering having to walk across it. It looked to go on for about half a block.
“What the hell happened here?” someone asked quietly.
A woman in the group spoke up with a bit more of a tactical mindset. “Is it even safe to cross? I mean, if the zombies are nanite-driven like the Autar ones were, who's to say that this blood isn't infectious? Or even some kind of trap? It might infect us as soon as we step on it!”

The older of the two kids, a girl roughly twelve years old wandered away from the 'pond', muttering “This isn't happening, this isn't happening. I'm going to wake up now, alright? Someone wake me up now, please!”
That got the attention of the group. Many also looked to the younger child. A boy about eight years old. He was standing, shaking, staring out across the blood pond with wide eyes.

Amanda picked up the boy. “Oh to heck with this. We're not hauling these kids across this. It's too much.”
One of the men with a rifle nodded. “It's not like we were headed for anywhere specific. If we took a left back there, it's still roughly the same distance out of the city.” Amanda hadn't been waiting for his approval, nor the opinions of any of the others. She had already begun carrying the boy in the direction he suggested. The girl was the first to follow and the others were not far behind.

The boy clung to Amanda tightly as they walked, but he was still trembling. “What's your name, kiddo?” Amanda asked softly. He wasn't answering. “Hey little man, can you tell me your name?”
The girl walking beside them answered. “His name is Mitch.”
Mitch was getting heavy, but he still trembled enough that Amanda didn't feel like asking him to walk. “Hi, Mitch. Is this your sister here? She was kind enough to tell me your name, can you introduce me to her?”

“Cathy.” Mitch said quietly. Amanda wanted to draw more conversation out of Mitch, but every topic she could think of probably led to the horrible things going on. Gee Mitch, where are your parents, Mitch? Eaten, you say? Intriguing. You even got to see it happen, and hear the screams of your mother as her own blood bubbled up her throat? See? There's a unique experience you can talk about to your school chums. They what? They were eaten too? Oh, some of them were doing the eating. What a diverse group!

Amanda kept her mouth shut and just gave Mitch an extra squeeze. She wanted to give Cathy a squeeze too, but her arms were full with Mitch. Instead, she looked over to Cathy with a sympathetic forced smile. Cathy returned a similar look. It was heartbreaking.

“What the fuck was that?” a man in the group asked. He was pointing down the street, but nothing was there. “It ran across, it looked kinda big!” Amanda and everyone else kept an eye on that street. Something indeed sauntered out from an adjoining street, several blocks ahead.

A horse. With a rider. Maybe. It was too far off to see details, but it walked like a horse, and it was coming their way. It sauntered casually. Another two horses with riders stumbled into view behind him. They were wrestling as if they were dogs playing. The riders didn't fall off somehow, despite the horses falling on their side several times in their playing, often nearly upside down.

The first horseman continued striding forward slowly as the two playful ones were joined by a fourth. The first was close enough to see that the rider's head was little more than a skull. He raised his arms high in proclamation. He lacked hands; the forearms ended in narrow points. A voice came from him, booming so loud as to rattle windows.

“Hail, good travelers!” Despite a deep tone and immense volume, the voice sounded friendly enough. “This apocalypse is brought to you by our new and righteous lord and god, Erebus! Yes, Erebus! For when death isn't enough for you, Erebus will put extra spring in your step and extra human flesh in your mouth! If you get mutilated by only one necromantic god this year, make it Erebus!”

As the lead horseman lowered his arms, the other three ceased their play and began to charge. It was now easier to see that none of them had normal heads. One's head was replaced with a rifle sticking up, one had a roast turkey sitting up as a head, and the last one had half a dozen impaled rats planted in its neck stump.
All four charged with pointed arms held out to their sides, pointing downward at an angle. With that same volume, a scream came out that sounded a lot like that 'demon of Densfarn' that Sarah had seen.

Mitch grabbed onto Amanda even tighter as the group braced for the inevitable.