Presenting my Free Novel: Wasteland Vigilante!

 

I've been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

I decided a while ago that I wanted something special to go with my mailing list. Most authors do free short stories with theirs, even free novels that could also be purchased online. I wanted something unique. After NaNoWriMo 2020, I had the first draft of what would become Wasteland Vigilante.

I tried writing in a new style, commonly known as Writing into the Dark, to see how such a story would turn out. This book was the result of that, and I am very proud of it. My regular cover artist, Peta, did a wonderful cover for me with the direction of "something like Barbarella." I loved what she came up with and plan on printing it off to display in my house.

But, anyway, back to the book.

This book will only be available for those who subscribe to my mailing list. You will not see it on sale anywhere else. As I said earlier, I wanted to make a unique gift for those who chose to invest a little of their time in me and my work as a thankyou. 

Will there be other free works for my subscribers? Sure. I have a short story in the pipeline and if I have an idea good enough for a sequel to Wasteland Vigilante? Sure. But, time will tell. I don't think a one-off novel is such a bad thing in these times.

I will finish this blog post with the blurb for the book, followed by the link for new mailing list subscribers to find it.

By day, Isaac Pierce is a dedicated cop. By night, he is the vigilante Nightblade. His knives deal swift and brutal justice to any criminal he hunts.

Nightblade’s enemies set a trap to take him down once and for all. One that will force Isaac into a desperate course of action to survive.

But fate has other plans for him. A sudden intervention forces Isaac on an unexpected journey. One where his life will be forever changed and going back isn’t an option.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, Wasteland Vigilante.

This is the Way? (Conclusions)

So, where has this all led me? After some thought about what I wanted to do with my future, and what I really wanted to spend money on, it became clear.

The so-called "Culture War" so many talk about online has just become one big war of words now. There are those like myself who just want good movies, games, comics, and books released for us to enjoy without the unwanted, on the nose political messaging. There are those on the other side, the progressives who want to see more matching entertainment and will fight tooth and nail for it, even doing their best to destroy those who argue for it.

After a long time of watching this and seeing numerous movies, comics, games, and books released that catered to this crowd, minus the profit they were after, I found my way forward.

I simply moved on.

I finished console gaming and now own a Raspberry Pi computer I've turned into a retro gaming machine, complete with a classic NES case. My friend Doug, whose YouTube channel you can find here, created a wonderful memory card filled with games from my childhood I know and love, plus a few I missed out on. I've enjoyed sessions of Alien Vs Predator arcade with my youngest son, especially when he was giving me tactical orders so he could attack the bosses. I've got hours of entertainment on one small computer, without having to pay out for another high-priced game ever again.

When it comes to comics, I've backed a large number of the Comicsgate projects found on Indiegogo, twenty-eight so far. My favourite has been Monster M.D, written by Von Klaus, with amazing art by Marco Maccagni and beautiful colours by Tanya Wicker. It was a large and satisfying read with characters I want to see more of. In modern mainstream comics, you just don't find that. I wait for book two with excitement. I just wish I'd purchased the art book that went with book one. Live and learn, I guess.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. The answer isn't found in internet slap fights with people you don't know. It isn't found in making YouTube videos attacking people for whatever reason. It isn't even found in non-fiction books written on the topic.

The answer is two-fold: Vote with your wallet, and make your own stuff.

Watching all this has inspired me to work harder to get more of my work out there. I'm due to release a free book as part of my mailing list this week. I have another with my editor which will be out in a couple of months, hopefully, and I'm currently writing my attempt at a military science fiction novel. Carla Tornielli is illustrating the cover for me and I can't wait to launch it.

I take comfort in the releases of the past, seeking out old movies rereleased on blu ray with new special features. My Pi computer will never grow old, and the CG projects will keep on coming. As long as they do, I'll be there, money in hand.

For those of you who just want to show support, investing in these small creations is the best way. When it comes to the bigger companies and their releases, vote with your wallet. It's the only language they understand anymore.

This is the Way? (Part Two)

With regards to comics, I think I could go on for some time. I'd probably end up parroting the talking points of many others who have already commented on the whole situation, too. 

From my own point of view, I'd given up collecting comics when our first child was born. About eleven years later, I got back into it and was surprised how the landscape had changed. A lot of the big artists I knew and loved had either scaled their work back or gone onto different things, like Marc Silvestri, Todd McFarlane, and Rob Liefeld. Hell, Jim Lee was helping run DC comics, which was a shocker. Comics themselves had gone through a big change, especially with Marvel. The stories were pretty basic, just the right length for a trade paperback and the art was now this cartoony style which looked shit.

This was picked up in an article in Bleeding Cool News. Don't get me wrong, I don't like the site and the guy who runs it, but the article itself told a grim story which I personally think wasn't taken too seriously at the time.

Then the stories of comic-book stores closing began to spread. These would usually beloved by the local communities, and it was a real shame to watch, especially as the movies would make a huge profit. As time went on, more stores announced closures, and then more, and then more.

Plenty of people have spoken about why this is happening, and the answer is pretty clear. The stories and art are not as great as they once were, so people weren't buying them.

The problem is, if you talk about this stuff online, you're called every name under the sun, from Racist to Sexist. I speak with friends constantly about it, those who have been reading and collecting for most of their lives, and they feel the same. Various YouTube channels have spoken about this, especially Richard Meyer, who became a focus of a lot of attacks for some of the stuff he said. When someone told him he should make his own comic, he did, and that was Jawbreakers.

That was like chucking a snowball down the hill.

Comicsgate was born. More and more, creators arrived and started launching their own projects. Go look on Indiegogo for comic projects and most of them will be Comicsgate related. 

One example out of the many is Bonds: The Drive. From new writer and artist Nyriam, the project had a target of $2000. She's pulled in (at the time of writing this) just over $20000. 

I've supported that project, and many others, because I support Comicsgate in general. They are producing new works, original works, and I love it.

When those already involved in mainstream comics did their own Kickstarters to keep themselves afloat during the pandemic's outbreak. It was noticeable none of them pulled in the same kind of success. Recently, writer Joe Glass launched The Miracles. With a goal of £35000, it looked set to fail, and one point and he threw a massive bitch fit on Twitter about it. The project was successful in the end, thanks to a huge push, but only just. The end result was £35864. Notice the difference?

When it comes to video games, I made my feelings know on them in a previous post. But one thing I found myself thinking about was, when did things start to go bad for it all? If I could put a finger on it, I would point towards the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation. Four games spring to mind, all published by EA, funny enough.

Kingdoms of Amalur had promise but fell pretty quick. The fallout for the company, especially the employees, is a sad tale in itself. Part of what did that, I think, was locking part of the campaign away behind the now-infamous "online pass," which drew some very strong criticism, especially since the game was offline.

Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3 also spring to mind. Both featured unwelcome micro-transactions in them which affected the game in some way. With Dead Space, you could pay to receive more materials from scavenge hunts and built better weapons quicker. Mass Effect had them in the multiplayer. I noticed when I paid for the loot chests, I tended to get better weapons from them as opposed to earning the currency normally. Was it a coincidence? Maybe, but it was a sign of things to come for the world of gaming. Mass Effect 3 also became infamous for the Day One DLC, a small story mission for a character considered vital to the main story, obviously ripped from it to get more cash from people.

Battlefield 4 was another infamous title. Upon launch, the game had multiple bugs and glitches because of it being rushed out of the door. Along with the game becoming known for crashes during online play, EA had to pause the release of future DLC to fix it post-launch.

I look back on all this and am grateful I got away from the whole thing. Micro-transactions, constant DLC, games broken on release, all while the price of games and consoles continued to climb. Nah, no thanks.

Now, I have a Raspberry Pi with a huge catalog of old SNES, Megadrive, arcade, and so on. Games I can play to my heart's content, offline, with no need for yearly membership fees. No more expensive games and consoles for me.

Oh, and for those who say what I'm doing is games piracy? I really couldn't give two shits.