Category Archives: Writing

Back Matter

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Books by Wesley Allison

Look for them wherever fine ebooks are sold. Paper editions are available at the City of Amathar Blog and by special order from your favorite bookseller.

Princess of Amathar

Transported to the artificial world of Ecos, Earth man Alexander Ashton struggles to understand the society of his new friends the Amatharians. As he does so, he finds himself falling in love with their princess and being thrust into a millennium-long war with their mortal foes the reptilian Zoasians. Princess of Amathar is a sword-swinging novel of high adventure.

His Robot Girlfriend

Mike Smith’s life was crap, living all alone, years after his wife had died and his children had grown up and moved away. Then he saw the commercial for the Daffodil. Far more than other robots, the Daffodil could become anything and everything he wanted it to be. Mike’s life is about to change.

His Robot Wife

In His Robot Wife, the novella-length sequel to His Robot Girlfriend, it is the year 2037 and Mike has been married to his robot wife, Patience, for five years. Troubles are on the horizon though. Prop 22 promises to annul marriages between humans and robots. And Patience hasn’t quite been herself. Is there something wrong, or does she just need a software upgrade?

His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue

It is the year 2037, when men are men and robots are cute.  Patience, the robot wife, has a new friend– Wanda.  Wanda, another Daffodil, has been having difficulty bonding with her human, the recently divorced Ryan.  She hopes that with Patience’s mentoring, she’ll be able to help Ryan accept her into his troubled life.  But even Patience isn’t prepared for what happens when they take a joint vacation cruise to Antarctica.  His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue is a science fiction story in a world where technology is more than just a pretty face.

Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven Princess

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller, friend to those in need of a friend and guardian to those in need of a guardian. He is a liar and braggart, not to be trusted, especially around pies. Who are we to believe? Buxton himself leads us through his world as he comes to the aid of… a poor orphan? An elven princess? Who can guess with Eaglethorpe himself telling the tale?

Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller is back, this time to put on a play about a sorceress. When the sorceress, subject of his play arrives with fire in her eyes, Eaglethorpe must pretend to be his good friend Ellwood. Will he pull off this charade and survive? And what happens when the real Ellwood shows up? One can never tell, especially when Eaglethorpe tells the story.

The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton

Eaglethorpe Buxton, famed adventurer and story-teller, friend to those in need of a friend and guardian to those in need of a guardian. He is a liar and braggart, not to be trusted, especially around pies. Who are we to believe? Buxton himself leads us through his world in The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton, which include the two previously published tales and three all new adventures.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 0: Brechalon

Brechalon is the novella-length prequel to The Voyage of the Minotaur and the books which follow in the story of Senta and the Steel Dragon. Meet the people who will change a world– the Dechantagnes, wealthy siblings from a disgraced aristocratic family who plot their revenge; the imprisoned sorceress Zurfina; and Senta, the orphan girl who will one day rise to great fame and power.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 1: The Voyage of the Minotaur

In a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten, an expedition sets out to establish a colony in a lost world. The Voyage of the Minotaur is a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding Land

Two years have passed since Senta, the sorceress Zurfina, and Bessemer the steel dragon arrived in the strange land of Birmisia. Now it is up to the settlers to build a home in this dark and forbidding land, ruled by terrifying dinosaurs and strange lizardmen. Ten year old Senta must discover which is the greater threat, a would-be wizard or the ever-increasing presence of the tyrannosaurus.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 3: The Drache Girl

More than three years have passed since the colonists arrived in Birmisia, and Port Dechantagne is a thriving colony, with the railway line almost complete. Twelve year old sorceress’s apprentice Senta Bly, Police Constable Saba Colbshallow, and former maid Yuah Dechantagne must deal with wizards, prejudice, steam carriages, boys riding dinosaurs, and the mysterious activities of the lizardmen.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 4: The Young Sorceress

Everyone in Port Dechantagne seems to have an agenda of their own, from mysterious sorceress Zurfina, to agents from the enemy nation of Freedonia, to the kings and witchdoctors of the mysterious lizardmen. On the eve of her fifteenth birthday, sorceress’s apprentice Senta finds herself being pulled first one way and then the other. Will she actually have to split herself into four in order to deal with all her responsibilities?

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 5: The Two Dragons

War has come the Birmisia. The newly settled colonists contemplate war on two fronts. The mysterious lizardmen from far away Tsahloose, led by their monstrous dragon god, threaten from the south. And from across the sea, the totalitarian kingdom of Freedonia threatens to invade their world with wizards and steam-powered war machines. Can even 17 year old Senta and her mistress Zurfina the Magnificent stop them? Find out in the thrilling conclusion to the Senta and the Steel Dragon Series.

Senta and the Steel Dragon Book 6: The Sorceress and her Lovers

It’s been three years since the war and the world has changed. Port Dechantagne, once a distant outpost of civilization, has grown to be a large city, the center of prosperous Birmisia Colony. Steam-powered carriages share the streets with triceratops-pulled trolleys, fine ladies in their most fashionable bustle dresses lead their lizardmen servants through the shopping districts, and an endless stream of immigrants pours into the region.  Eleven-year-old Iolana Staff, daughter of the colonial governor, has important things on her mind, namely the mysterious Result Mechanism. Meanwhile, sorceress Senta Bly returns from the continent with a new male companion, an illegitimate daughter, and a long lost brother. Hated and feared for her magic, she must face wizards, assassins, and an old enemy from another reality.

Tesla’s Stepdaughters

In a world where men are almost extinct, someone is trying to kill history’s greatest rock & roll band. Science Police Agent John Andrews must negotiate a complicated relationship with Ep!phanee, the band’s lead singer; drummer Ruth De Molay, bassist Steffie Sin, and the redheaded clone lead guitarist Penny Dreadful, as he protects them and tries to discover who wants to kill the Ladybugs.

Women of Power

The life of a superhero is tough. All American Girl fights supervillains, alien invaders, and terrorists as she tries to get product endorsements and a magazine deal. That’s nothing compared to her private life though. She’s only just broken up with her super boyfriend Perihelion when he’s scooped up by Omega Woman, and now rival Skygirl has moved into her territory.

Blood Trade

Vegas is going to hell– literally. Werewolves run through the streets and the vampires are taking over. Former army ranger/Goth tattoo model/private eye Xochitl McKenna doesn’t like it either, especially when it comes between her and her clients. But are the vampires and werewolves the greatest threat, or is it something or someone much closer to her? Warning: Adult Content.

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

From the 180,000 acre campus of Maxxim Industries, fourteen year old girl genius and inventor Astrid Maxxim works alongside her father, Dr. Roger Maxxim, on projects to make the world a better place. Her latest invention is a flying scooter—the hoverbike. Is it the target of an international spy ring, or are they after secret Project RG-7, or Astrid herself?

Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

Girl inventor Astrid Maxxim and her friends are back.  This time Astrid is building an observation dome beneath the sea.  Will she complete her amazing construction project, or will she be sidetracked by underwater monsters, the evil organization known as the Black Hand, or her snotty cousin Gloria?

Astrid Maxxim and the Antarctic Expedition

Teen inventor Astrid Maxxim is back in her third adventure as she makes a journey to the bottom of the planet to uncover the secrets of a mysterious lost expedition. Meanwhile, troubles plague her friends and family as a hostile takeover threatens Maxxim Industries. Join Astrid and her friends as she faces the frozen dangers of the Antarctic, wild animals, mad bombers, and corporate high finance.

Desperate Poems

Desperate Poems is a collection of seventy poems (some more desperate than others), written over a period of forty years about life, love, desire, being young, and growing old.

Tools of the Writing Trade

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As I’ve mentioned before, my main tool for writing is my iMac. I switched to an Apple computer, after many years of using Windows, in January 2013 and I haven’t looked back. I love my iMac. I’ve had fewer problems with it in the year and a half I’ve had it than I typically had with Windows machines in any given month. Before I got my iMac, I was already a lover of iPhones and iPads.

This past April, when Apple lowered the price and upgraded the processor on the MacBook Air, I got one. Of course my plan was to be able to write on both my iMac and my Macbook and seamlessly synch between the two. I also wanted to synch with my iDevices. Though I don’t write on them, I do look at files sometimes and read through drafts.

I had been using Microsoft Word/Office, but would have to buy another license for my notebook if I wanted to use it. But with the purchase of my latest iPhone and now my Macbook I had Apple’s Pages word processor on all of my devices for free. Since Pages synchs up using iCloud, my problem was solved.

I really wanted to like Pages and it’s not awful. If I were writing for any other purpose than publication, it would be great. Sadly, it just wasn’t a good fit for me. All the publishers require Word documents. While pages exports to Word files, there are almost always errors. They are usually minor—maybe an extra line or something, but they are there. That meant I had to write in Pages and then fix any formatting errors in Word. If I then found an editing error, I had to make the change in Pages, export to Word, and then fix the formatting errors again. If I didn’t, I ended up with multiple versions of documents, all with slightly different errors. That’s what happened.

I wrote three books using Pages, but finally I have had to buy another license for Office to use on my notebook. I thought about Office365, but Microsoft in their wisdom offers a license for 1 computer or a license for 5 computers. I can’t be the only one that uses a desktop/laptop combo and needs two!

So, I have two copies of Office now. How do I synch them? iCloud works pretty well, but until the next version of OSX, it’s difficult to use it with anything other than Apple’s own applications. Microsoft offers One Drive for Mac, but the interface is not smooth and using One Note, I have found that their synching isn’t the quickest. Finally there is Dropbox. Not only does it work faster than either iCloud or One Drive, but the Dropbox app for the iPad and iPhone allows you to view and print Office Files (and not Pages).

So as of today, I’ve got my writing arrangement all configured. Word on both computers. Dropbox to synch my files and view them on phone or tablet. And all my most up-to-date files organized and ready to go.

Writing Fundamentals

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I’ve been reading a great deal of Indy books lately. Being an Indy author myself, I feel like I should help support others like me. I’ve read some very good work. I’ve also read some work that needs some help. Since I’m a teacher and taught English for some 15 of my 21 teaching years, I thought I would write a series of posts about some fundamentals of writing.

Now I’m not talking about typos. We see those all the time and it sucks when they pop up, but they do. I know the difference between there, they’re, and their, but sometimes in the heat of plotting out a story, I type the wrong one. Sometimes I write the same word twice, especially if I’ve stopped and then started writing later. Sometimes I simply misspell a word. The answer of course is proofreading. By the time I publish a book I’ve proofread it myself at least a dozen times. I also have at least one proofreader besides myself read through it for errors. Even so, some creep in. I try to read through my already published books at least once a year. Sometimes I find a typo that has persisted for a dozen passes. I also have a handful of loyal readers who let me know when they catch an error. I feel embarrassed, but grateful. And don’t even get me started about typos created during the editing process.  Sometimes I want to pull out my hair.  It’s not even that unusual to find a typo in a professionally edited, big publisher edition of a well-known author’s book. I see it all the time. So I’m not writing about those.

What I am going to write about is some general fundamental basics of writing. Upcoming posts will be about tense, point of view, figures of speech, characters, pacing, and whatever else I can think up. These posts will all be titled Writing Fundamentals, so watch for them in the coming days.

Thanks Great Britain, and Everyone Else Too

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There was a time a couple of years ago, when I was selling about twice as many books in the U.K. as I was in the U.S.  This might have been due to having fewer ebook outlets, or perhaps the British just have great taste.  I noticed this year though that I am selling many more books in the U.S.  Again, this could be because Americans are finding it easier to find me, or maybe the Brits are just getting tired of me.  This whole thing got me curious to see exactly where my books were selling, so I took a look.  These numbers are based on sales from July 1, 2014 to July 26, 2014, and while they take into account free books, they don’t include books distributed by “free book” sites like Manybooks, which doesn’t keep track of where the downloader is.

I sold books in 13 countries.  Obviously since my books are only available in English, those countries where English is the dominant language fall higher on the list.  Still there are English speakers everywhere.  My own cousin lives in Germany and might account for a sale or two.  Here’s how they figure– listed in order by sales.

62% United States, 21% United Kingdom, 9% Canada, 4% Australia, 2% Germany

The Following each account for less than 1%, but are still listed by number of sales, highest first.

France, New Zealand, Sweden, Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, Czech Republic, China

So thanks to all of you around the world who purchased one or more of my books, and if you liked them, please leave positive feedback at your ebook store and maybe talk them up with your friends and colleagues.

 

Oops: Missed My Anniversary

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I missed it!  August 12th was the 6th anniversary of City of Amathar Blog.  I’ve been posting daily for the past six years, and I think I missed 2 days in that time.  Well, I’m onto my seventh year.  It’s been a blast so far.

Kindle Unlimited – Sorry, No.

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Last month, Amazon announced Kindle Unlimited.  I would love to have my books available on Kindle Unlimited, because I think subscription services (Netflix for Ebooks) are the wave of the future, and are especially great for discovering new authors such as myself.  My books are already available on Scribd and Oyster.  Sadly, I can’t do it.  In order to have books on Amazon Unlimited, they have to be on Amazon Select, and therefore exclusive to Amazon.  I would have to pull my books from not only Scribd and Oyster, but also Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iBooks (where I sell twice as many books as I do at Amazon).

For a much more detailed perspective on Amazon Select, read Mark Coker’s article on it here.  For a reader’s point of view about the availability of ebooks, read MrsJoseph’s blog post here.

Writing Victory

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I was looking at my writing log this morning and I declare a victory.  Since Jun 9, which was the first Monday of summer vacation, I have met my writing quota every day except one– the infamous Game Developer Tycoon episode.  I’m feeling pretty good about it too.

I don’t know about anyone else, but it’s hard to stay focused on writing for a long time, especially in the first half of a novel.  Once you reach that tipping point when you can see the downward slope to the end, it’s not so bad.  Still, writing 50,000 words or 125,000 words and trying to make it all fit into one continuous narration that makes some kind of point.  It’s pretty daunting.

So you take a victory when you can, and today I declare a victory.  I haven’t finished anything except about a month (minus one day) of meeting my goals.  Hooray for me.

Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike – Free Now

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Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike

By the time you read this, there will be a new version of Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike available for download wherever fine ebooks are sold.  If you have already purchased this book, you can download the newer edition for free from the bookstore at which you purchased it.  If you haven’t yet read this little tale, now is a good time to pick it up.  It’s only 99 cents. (Use SW100 coupon code at Smashwords to get it free this month.)

So, what’s different?  Not too much.  I found and corrected one error (kids instead of kid’s).  I also made one or two tweaks to the writing to smooth out the style.  I like to reread and reedit my books every so often just to make sure they are the best they can be.  Check out the books page on this site for purchase locations, or look for Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike wherever fine ebooks are sold.

Astrid Maxxim: Roger and Kate Maxxim

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Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea DomeAstrid Maxxim and her parents, Roger and Kate Maxxim, are characters in the book series Astrid Maxxim – Girl Inventor.  The series is written for adolescents, but I hope anyone can enjoy it.  Both Roger and Kate are named for good friends of mine– unrelated and unknown to each other, but whom both helped me with my writing.

Roger Maxxim is a brilliant scientist and inventor with a definite bit of the mad scientist in him.  Kate Maxxim is a hard-nosed CEO, who is nevertheless dedicated to running Maxxim Industries the way her father-in-law envisioned.

Astrid is the main character in the stories, and along with her friends, occupies most of the plot, but it was important for me that she have a loving family (as do all the kids in the story).  On the other hand, Astrid’s parents are a bit of a role reversal, as her father is the more nurturing of the two and her mother is more of the disciplinarian.

Astrid Maxxim: Denise Brown

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Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea DomeDenise Brown is one of Astrid Maxxim’s best friends. Denise is one of the few kids in the story that isn’t an only child. )I realized after I had finished Astrid Maxxim 1, that I had made many of them only children.)  Denise has a brother named Dennis. Members of my writers group pointed out that with the names being so similar, the readers might get confused. On the other hand, that’s just what people tend to do– name their kids in groups or with similar names.  In any case, by that time, I was married to the names.

Denise and Dennis live with their two dads. I made a conscious decision that I would have a gay couple in the books to reflect the reality of our culture.  On the other hand, having essentially a completely non-sexual (and kind of a 50s naiveté) thing going, I wasn’t going to spend a lot of time fleshing out the details.  Their dads have different last names, so either they live in a state where gay marriage is not legal or they just decided to keep their own names.  The kids are both named Brown, while their other dad is named Richards.

Being a teacher, I have a real thing about people (gay or straight) giving their kids hyphenated names.  It never fits in the computer correctly.  It always messes up class lists.  And the kinds always pick one or the other name and go by it anyway.  I actually had a mother call me one time and tell me not to accept her child’s assignments if she didn’t use her full hyphenated name!  I told her “Get a grip, lady.  What she calls herself is between you and her, and what papers I accept is between her and me.”