Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

1999: The Sequel (Sort Of)

Monday, March 7th, 2016


Click To Purchase
Among the more unfair things a publisher can do is publish part one of something when they have no idea when parts 2 and so forth will become available. That’s more or less what I’ve selfishly done, post Book One of the 1999 sequel, “1999: Red And Black,” without knowing when I’ll be able to get back to finish the novel. I’d planned this 4-book series for a Spring release, but I’ve become swamped with other things that will likely push Red and Black into the fall. I just wanted to get Book One posted before the March 25th release date of Batman vs. Superman, for reasons which will become obvious if you actually read the book. I’ve not seen any more of the film than most of you have—trailers and clips—and I doubt the film or anything DC may be doing will have much in common with the Red And Black storyline, but I thought I’d do the premature posting just for the record. I’ll keep you posted as to when I’ll be able to finish the novel but, for now, here’s a preview of the 1999 sequel.

As for the original 1999:
I’d assumed Amazon would send out alerts as the remaining installments were published (roughly one per month after Book One). Apparently, they did not, as I am only now learning a lot of people who read and enjoyed Book One had no idea the remainder of the series had been published. Amazon has also taken down the series page because I un-published the sampler (“1999 Limited Edition”). I suppose that’s how their automation works, but it’s unfortunate (and a real pain) that I have to go back and forth with customer service to try and get them to stop doing dumb stuff.

1999 has been posted in its entirety and all four installments have been available for months now. I have no immediate plans to consolidate them into a single volume, as I am pursuing avenues to release this book in print, ideally with illustrations (the project was conceived as an illustrated novel). I’ll know more towards the summer, and will post here as things develop. Thank you, everyone who has supported this work.

1999 the Roleplaying Game

Monday, December 7th, 2015

So, in a burst of inspiration over the last few days, I’ve written a fairly simple tabletop RPG set in the 1999 universe (or an alternate version of it).  I can’t really finish it until I’ve read Book 4, but it’s in good enough shape that a little independent playtesting (or at least “read-testing”) is in order.

Interested in giving it a try?  Send email to me at dvandom at gmail (not putting in a full email since I get enough spam due to robo-sifting as it is) and I’ll give you viewing privileges on the current Google Doc.

Just keep in mind, this is not meant to be a detailed game where it matters if you carry a Ruger or a Colt .45.  A gun is a gun, a fighter jet is a fighter jet, and a giant robot is…well, okay, those have some differences.

Gobble, Gobble

Friday, November 20th, 2015

I’ve posted an episode sampler from “1999” to the Kindle store. “1999 Limited Edition” will be a free download this weekend, Nov 21-22, as well as Thanksgiving week, Wednesday Nov 25 through Friday, Nov 27. It contains five sample episodes from Book 1 and 2, which kind of sucks for those of you who actually paid for Books 1 and 2 (although, combined, those are twelve episodes).

Unfortunately, the only way to effectively promote a book on Amazon is to give it away, period. Every other avenue requires exhausting investment in social media and other platforms that I honestly don’t have time for. But Kindle readers gobble up free stuff (and who can blame them), which helps (somewhat) in rankings but more important, raises visibility of the series as a whole.

If you’re active on message boards or Facebook pages, feel free to repost this or pass on the word. The five episodes make a great introduction to the series, No Kindle is required. Oh, and even if you don’t download it (because you already have these eps), please do me a solid and leave a (hopefully positive) review. That really helps, too.

Wishing everybody a Happy Turkey… –cjp

Cover 2g236

1999

Sunday, September 13th, 2015

The bad news: it doesn’t have the full-color plates I intended the project to have; it is, for now, a novel instead of an illustrated novel. The good news: there are interested parties (well, actually, there’ve always been interested parties), so we might see 1999 Illustrated sometime next year. The better news: barring some unforeseen screwup, on September 29th, this long-delayed project is finally going to see the light of day.

What is it? In short strokes: The Priestverse. Earth-P. My Watchmen (with all due respect to the amazing Mr. Moore). The film Crash with su­per­he­roes. Click here for details.

Klang!

Tuesday, September 1st, 2015

In an effort to avoid writing the same email a hundred times, and in the interest of providing some context to both the story and the creative process to the five (count ’em) folks who’d actually be interested in this, I’ve jotted down notes about Quantum & Woody’s Acclaim run and the Valiant Q2 project. It’s mostly the usual whining and complaining and biting the hand that fed me (or, at least, gnawing on it a little). The rant is in my Kindle store, but you don’t actually need a Kindle to read it. Details are here.