The Challenges of Marketing Without Spoilers

I suck at blurbs anyway, but the blurb for Bloodhunters was particularly difficult to write. Here’s the problem: I want readers to know it’s a LGBTQ+ friendly book. I want them to know that one of the main characters is transgender. But in the book itself, that’s a plot twist that you don’t learn until about halfway through. And there’s another, equally important plot twist involving the identity of the terrorist they’re chasing. This twist carries much of the story, but I can’t talk about it in promotional material.

So what’s left to advertise? Well, it’s an action-packed sci-fi story about a team of bounty hunters, yada yada, but that doesn’t really separate it from a thousand other sci-fi books on the kindle store. IMO, there are two main reasons my story stands out, and both are spoilers.

And those who do buy it, I hope they don’t stop reading it before the twists. Even I admit the story is a bit generic before you find out you-know-what. I may have mentioned this before, but one of my beta readers quit halfway through, partly because he thought Vik was the main character.

And then there's the fact that I use a pen name. I have 160 friends on Facebook, and I bet a few of them would buy my books if I advertised them there. But I try to keep my main account and my Xine account separate. I don't like talking about trans stuff on main anymore, especially since I'm going to be looking for a new job soon.

My best hope is word-of-mouth. I really hope somebody reads the book and tells a trans friend, “You should read this. It’s not what you think.” I know I won’t make a lot of sales that way, but at least that means the books will be read by the people who would enjoy them most, and that’s the important thing.

Bloodhunters: Playing Catch-Up (MAJOR SPOILERS)

If, for some reason, you decide to start the Bloodhunters series on volume 2 or 3, here is a PDF you can download that will bring you up to speed. It contains major spoilers, which is why I’m not posting the content of the PDF on this blog. Personally I’d recommend reading all three in order, but I’m sure you have your reasons.

You can download the PDF from one of these links:

Google Drive            Mega

Freebies

Here’s a few freebies I put out there for anyone who wants to download them.

Mega Folder

The contents of this folder will likely rotate, and the files might get updated from time to time. As of this writing, it contains:

Blood Samples (PDF, EPUB) - Six short stories that take place in the months before Bloodhunters v1: Bad Blood. But ou can also get this book for free on Kindle and other e-retailers.

Preview Comic (PDF) - Some really old comic book art of mine, which retells the first few chapters of my books.

BH Sketches (7z) - Some sketches of the characters in my books. Most of these pictures are also available on my DeviantArt page.

Timeline (PDF) - The dates of various events in the Bloodhunters universe. Note that Earthdate (ED) uses the format EDYYYYY.MM.DD.

Avatars (7z) - Just small pics of the various characters, in case you want to use them for your social media sites.

Note that the Bloodhunters RPG has its own folder here.

Discord Server

Want to chat about the Bloodhunters books? I've set up a Discord server here:

Bloodhunters Server

For now, the link is doesn't expire, so feel free to send invites to anyone you like. I don't expect a lot of people to come across this link. However, if we start to get an influx of spammers, I'll start booting people and remove the above link.

Timeline: Chapter List and Birthdates (Possible Spoilers)

Blood Samples

ED.02499.08.02 Blood Hunt 1.01

ED.02499.08.06 Blood Bond 1.02

ED.02499.08.13 Blood Contract 1.03

ED.02499.08.18 Blood Ties 1.04

ED.02499.08.22 Blood Frenzy 1.05

ED.02499.08.31 Blood Guardian 1.06

Bloodhunters v1: Bad Blood

ED.02499.12.31 Prologue 1.00

ED.02499.12.31 Disaster 1.01

ED.02500.01.01 Aftermath 1.02

ED.02500.01.01 Preparations 1.03

ED.02500.01.01 The Journey 1.04

ED.02500.01.01 Transport 1.05

ED.02500.01.01 Cargo 1.06

ED.02500.01.01 Convergence 1.07

ED.02500.01.01 Alliance 1.08

ED.02500.01.02 Arrival 1.09

ED.02500.01.02 Confrontation 1.10

ED.02500.02.05 Assignments 2.00

ED.02500.02.10 The Chauffer 2.01

ED.02500.03.12 Gravity 2.02

ED.02500.04.21 Science Experiments 2.03

ED.02500.05.07 Safeguards 2.04

ED.02500.06.24 Paradise 2.05

ED.02500.07.09 POP 2.06

ED.02500.08.15 Adrift 2.07

ED.02500.09.27 Identity Politics 2.08

ED.02500.10.04 Mindwipe 2.09

ED.02500.11.28 Brimstone 2.10

ED.02500.06.24 Blackmail 2.11

Bloodhunters v2: Blue Blood

ED.02500.12.28 I Know Who You Are 1.00

ED.02501.01.01 Closure 1.01

ED.02501.02.17 A Girl and her Cat 1.02

ED.02501.03.11 Waterlogged 1.03

ED.02501.04.21 The Dogs of War 1.04

ED.02501.05.30 The Way of the Jilted Heart 1.05

ED.02501.06.06 When Bloodstone Met Whisper 1.06

ED.02501.07.16 Snake Oil 1.07

ED.02501.08.03 Hunted 1.08

ED.02501.09.19 Eroddicka 1.09

ED.02501.10.15 Gal Pals 1.10

ED.02501.11.26 Lifepurge 1.11

ED.02501.12.13 The Fall 1.12

ED.02502.01.02 Carrion 2.00

ED.02502.01.02 Wisp 2.01

ED.02502.01.15 The Council of Heirs 2.02

ED.02502.02.20 Homecoming 2.03

ED.02502.03.13 Exit Strategy 2.04

ED.02502.03.25 Revelation 2.05

ED.02502.04.10 The Trial 2.06

ED.02502.04.12 Finale 2.07

ED.02508.01.15 New Blood 2.08

ED.02734.02.13 Epilogue 2.09

ED.?????.??.?? Another Time 3.00

ED.?????.??.?? Reawakening 3.01

ED.?????.??.?? The Cycle 3.02

ED.01988.07.04 Titus 3.03

ED.02347.06.19 Among the Stars 3.04

ED.02484.07.02 Corton 3.05

ED.02508.01.18 Vermon 3.06

Bloodhunters v3: New Blood

ED.02508.01.15 Introduction 1.00

ED.02508.01.20 Inauguration Day 1.01

ED.02508.01.20 Unfinished Business 1.02

ED.02508.01.21 Meeting of the Minds 1.03

ED.02508.02.11 Blood Drive 1.04

ED.02508.02.20 Dinner Plans 1.05

ED.02508.02.28 Family 1.06

ED.02508.03.02 The Trap 1.07

ED.02508.03.10 Instincts 1.08

ED.02508.03.14 Ides 1.09

ED.02508.03.16 Data Mining 1.10

ED.02508.03.21 Deadline 1.11

ED.02508.04.17 Prisoners 1.12

ED.02508.04.20 Field Test 1.13

ED.02508.04.22 Behind the Curtain 1.14

ED.02508.04.25 Rescue 1.15

ED.02508.05.01 Tena's Twenty 2.00

ED.02508.05.01 The Festival 2.01

ED.02508.05.08 Raving Mad 2.02

ED.02508.05.14 Brynwyn 2.03

ED.02508.05.20 Sekka of the Jungle 2.04

ED.02508.05.27 Rescuing the Princess 2.05

ED.02508.06.01 Cold Blood 2.06

ED.02508.06.06 The Interview 2.07

ED.02508.06.13 Editorial 2.08

ED.02508.06.19 Bone 2.09

ED.02508.06.26 Dog Is My Co-Pilot 2.10

ED.02508.07.03 Ladies Night 2.11

ED.02508.07.10 The Party 2.12

ED.02508.07.17 One Day 2.13

ED.02508.07.24 Drone Alone 2.14

ED.02508.08.02 Free Spirit 2.15

ED.02508.08.09 Bat Attitude 2.16

ED.02508.08.18 Princess of Pop 2.17

ED.02508.08.29 Primum Non Nocere 2.18

ED.02508.09.06 Red Herrings and Wild Geese 2.19

ED.02508.09.17 Toxic Relationship 2.20

ED.02508.09.30 Last Call 2.21

ED.02508.10.01 Coup 3.00

ED.02508.10.14 Honeymoon 3.01

ED.02508.10.15 The Offer 3.02

ED.02508.10.30 Prep Time 3.03

ED.02508.10.30 The Final Battle 3.04

ED.02508.10.30 Not Quite Dead 3.05

ED.02508.10.31 Wrap-Up 3.06

ED.02508.11.14 Epilogue 3.07

ED.02508.11.15 Itropa: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 4.00

ED.02508.11.15 WARCAT: Repeating History 4.01

ED.02508.11.15 Roommates 4.02

ED.02508.11.15 Born Again 4.03

ED.02734.02.16 What The Future Holds 4.04

Birthdates

Note: These are not necessarily canon until they appear in a book.

ED.02466.09.02 Glik

ED.02468.05.13 Trenyn

ED.02471.10.26 Bloodstone

ED.02475.03.21 Vik Lambert

ED.02476.04.03 Whisper

ED.02479.07.30 Raven Vermon

ED.02483.01.23 Zak

ED.02484.02.25 Vex

ED.02488.06.18 Sekka

Q&A: What's On That Character Sheet?

Geek Cutes Cover

This is in regards to the cover of Geek Cutes. The scene on the cover refers to the first story in the anthology, "Dungeon Therapy." The character sheet is meant to represent the Dwarf Fighter that Rita (the main character) plays in the tabletop game, "Blaggards & Blades." 

In creating the cover, I designed an entire character sheet and filled it out, because I wasn't sure how much of it would end up showing up on the cover. I wanted to make a generic-looking character sheet that wouldn't infringe on any specific game's copyright. I only made it half-size because I knew I wasn't going to show the entire thing.

For stats, I went with Brains (INT+WIS), Brawn (STR+CON), and Style (DEX+CHA). I've always wanted to write a simple RPG using these stats. I use similar system in the Bloodhunters RPG (which is a work in progress), but that system only uses 6-sided dice, while the fictional "Blaggards & Blades" uses a more traditional set of fantasy dice.

Below is a close-up of the character sheet. I can't say it really looks playable. The selection of skills is particularly odd. But for a book cover, it does its job.

Q&A: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

When Douglas Adams was asked this question, he used to respond, “A small mail order firm in Cleveland.”

Early Team

So where do I get my ideas? I’m reluctant to answer that question because, you know, lawsuits and all that. But everything is inspired by something, and none of my stories ended up very similar to the stories that inspired them. I’ve been accused of drawing inspiration from Cowboy Beebop and Witchblade, neither of which I’ve ever watched or read. So I might as well set the record straight. Here are a few of the characters and stories that jump-started my imagination. Beware of spoilers if you haven’t read all my books.

I don’t think Bloodhunters would exist without Star Wars. Back in high school, I drew a lot of fanfiction comic books, and Return of the Jedi was a huge influence on my stories. In the earliest drafts of Bloodhunters, Bloodstone was basically Boba Fett, but I think we can agree the character evolved in a very different direction. At the time, there were only three Star Wars movies, and Fett only had a few minutes of screen time. In the canon of the time, Fett’s entire personality could be summed up as “ruthless bounty hunter.” Everything about the character’s out-of-helmet identity, I had to make up on my own.

Meanwhile, Whisper was kinda-sorta inspired by Boushh, Leia’s bounty hunter disguise in Return of the Jedi. That connection isn’t as easy to see anymore. In the earliest days, the “big reveal” was that Whisper was actually a woman (I’m a sucker for Mulan-type stories), but that didn’t seem like such a big thing to hide, so I had to give her a bigger secret.

Raven, oddly enough, was partly inspired by the video game character Earthworm Jim. In my mind, the way her suit carries her is similar to how Jim’s spacesuit works.

Early Trenyn

Trenyn originally went by the nickname “Stiletto” because they were always going to have a few blades floating around their head. The early design had them wearing a headband that enhanced their telekinesis. The idea of a telepath with muted powers might have come from the Star Trek TNG episode, “The Loss.” In the episode, Deanna feels debilitated for losing her abilities, even though it just puts her on the same level as everyone else on the ship.

Dervish doesn’t really have a direct inspiration, because there’s shapeshifters all over media. But the idea of her being a gift for Vermon may have come from the Star Trek TNG episode, “The Perfect Mate.” Or it might have been inspired by the pilot episode of Firefly, where River is transported as if she’s cargo.

Vik was partially inspired by an NES game called “Low G Man.” It’s about a guy who can jump really high, thanks to an anti-gravity backpack. The game is no masterpiece, but it’s an underrated gem. It got me thinking, “What if the same tech sci-fi uses for artificial gravity and hovercars was implanted into a human?” and Vik was born.

Yna was originally named “Ia,” but the capital I looked too much like a lowercase L. She came about because I was sick of “Human Torch”-style characters having no drawbacks. It seemed so convenient that you can just make a suit out of unstable particles, and that a person can literally turn into fire without any negative health effects. Terra from Final Fantasy VI may also have been an inspiration.

Early Panther

In the earliest drafts, Panther was a werecat. He used hormone injections to control his transformation between human and cat-humanoid forms. He had no direct inspiration, I just love cats and always try to work cat-like characters into my stories. When I introduced Galeans in a later draft, Panther’s power felt sort of redundant. Plus the team already had a shapeshifter, making Panther sort like a limited version of Dervish. I almost kept him as a Galean, but changed my mind. I later put a Galean on the crew in book 3.

Zak isn’t inspired by anyone, he just evolved for story’s sake. Though for his personality, I often had Link from the 1989 “Legend of Zelda” cartoons in my head.

Yeela’s more complicated. Originally Trenyn was going to have a pet drone that followed them around everywhere, held aloft by their telekinesis. I tabled that idea until book 3, and decided to give Zak a drone. But sometime during book 3’s intro, I decided Yeela was too interesting to let go, and she became the drone.

Vex is a long story. Early on I envisioned her as an enemy for the original team. Whisper would have a child, which would be artificially aged by a villain, then brainwashed and turned against the team. Elements of that story became Wisp. The final version of Vex takes some inspiration from Chloe from Life is Strange.

Glik

Glik was based on a virtual “paper doll” I created in the 90s. The base doll had a transparent chest, and you could see his organs beating. Originally it was going to be a doll of a human, but I made it an alien so I wouldn’t have to worry about drawing the organs right.

Wisp was an unrelated short story I wrote in the 90s, also to go along with a paper doll. I was going through severe depression at the time, and I kept thinking what the “perfect life” would be like. Then I started thinking about reincarnation, and how cool it would be to live multiple lives in different time periods, keeping the experience from each one. The original story was magical rather than technological. Fitting Wisp’s story into the Bloodhunters was a bit like fitting a square peg into a round hole, but I don’t regret it.

Lyryssa wasn’t really inspired by anyone in particular. She wasn’t meant to join the team, but her presence really helped advance the plot, so I kept her. I have a loved one who suffers from chronic pain, so I thought it would be nice to depict someone facing the same battle.