The past couple of months have been good for sci-fi movie goers. I actually managed to get away for Iron Man III (sort of sci-fi), Star Trek into Darkness and Oblivion. Here is why I like Oblivion better than the other two.

It felt like a science fiction movie. It was a science fiction movie. I like science fiction movies.

I suppose I should elaborate. Oblivion put considerable time and energy into the atmosphere and the ethos and the cinema-graphic beauty of the film. I’m not placing it on a level with Blade Runner, but that’s the sort of thing I’m talking about.

I’m not familiar with the comics or graphic novels Oblivion is based off of, but now I’m curious to check them out. I did notice the same guy was able to do both the source material and the movie (quite an accomplishment). And I can’t help but wonder if that is part of the reason the movie seems to breathe in its own waters so perfectly.

I thought Iron Man III was enjoyable, but it felt like a merchandizing effort. During the final scene I kept thinking I should be stroking a Mattel product of some sort.

Into Darkness I found really enjoyable. I love Star Trek in general, and this film definitely felt like Star Trek. But that was its limitation as well. The movie was more of a Star Trek love fest than an actual science fiction film. The outcomes were limited and the universe (sort of) defined. I did enjoy the punch drunk pacing of the final third of the movie. (The sort of thing that never really lets the viewer regain their balance or composure.)

But Oblivion had endless horizons to fly into for me, and it did so. The tech was spot on. The settings/scenery were brilliant. (The floating pool above the clouds? How awesome was that?) No matter how messed up or dystopian, an important aspect of science fiction (for me) is the longing to experience worlds beyond my own.

Tom Cruise’s character accomplished that for me. I wanted to experience what he longed to experience. I dreamed of going where he went. The threats were real, but the payoff worth it. Oblivion was a feast for my imagination both visually and intellectually. It is the sort of science fiction movie that has become quite rare, and I’m grateful for every one that comes along.

Yup. Eight. It’s been three years since I started writing full-time. During the first year I worked exclusively on my first book, Fistful of Reefer. The next year I hammered out The Austin Job, Twitch and Die! and a compilation of Lost DMB File shorts.

Over the last twelve months, I’ve written De Novo Syndrome, Desert Gods, The Green Ones: Season One, and now I’m polishing up First Relic. And you know what? I’m starting to learn the ropes as a professional writer.

The reason I’m most confident of this fact? My eighth book has been nothing but pure product. The kind of product you dip your pinky finger into and dab on your tongue. You smear it across the front of your teeth, turn to your peers and say, “It’s pure. Break it down, boys.”

In Plain English

My eighth book has been my first non-emotional creation. Not that the process of writing it was completely dispassionate, but I was able to complete the first draft with a professional disassociation. I drew it forth and crafted it with a professional eye from a safe distance. Rather than writing by gut, I wrote according to informed and experienced inspiration.

While I suspect the vast majority of readers would never discern the behind-the-scenes differences via the final product, as the creator, I know I’ve entered a whole new world. I feel like I’ve left my pull-ups in the drawer and boldly embraced the world of briefs.

Sure, I might have a few accidents. My sparkling new Hulk Underoos may not remain unadulterated for long. In moments of giddy, childlike glee I’ll lose control and let my muse run away with me. I might even embrace a few short bouts of non-commercial nudity (and just run around the backyard buck-naked writing whatever the hell I feel like.) But ultimately, there’s no going back to diapers now.

Pure, Reader-Centric Products

My eighth book, First Relic, is indeed a new first. With it, I’ve proved to myself I can craft quality stories completely independent of my moods. I’m a professional writer, one step closer to creating pure reader-centric products unburdened by my own insecurities. And I like the feeling.

Start reading the DMB Files for only $0.99.

For the next few days, May 1st-3rd, DE NOVO SYNDROME will be available for $0.99. This three day sale is in celebration of the release of Desert Gods, the second novel of the DMB Files. So why $0.99 instead of free? Well, for a handful of reasons, free promotional events are losing their effectiveness. They no longer drive books up the rankings in ebook stores like Amazon, etc. And in most cases, the readers who are uploading free books tend to read only free books. In other words, they would prefer to wait around until the next book in the series is offered for free, rather than going out to buy it. $0.99 is the new free!!!

So, on that note…

DE NOVO SYNDROME will be on sale for $0.99 May 1st-3rd!!!

Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo Books. If you insist on paying the full $2.99, just wait until May 4th! The sale is for ebooks only, but De Novo is available in paperback as well, from Amazon.

BookBub is one of the key sites that will be advertising this promotional. If you are constantly looking for books on sale for cheap or free within your favorite genres, I recommend signing up. They will send you a daily email with the books that fall within your perimeters. I have found the site to be a quality, professional service.

Finally, you can always spread the word about De Novo Syndrome to anyone else you think would be a fan. (just share this post!) Keep your fingers crossed that this promo will be the perfect boost for the expanding series. Above all, enjoy the show!

The much awaited continuation of the DMB Files has arrived! (Hey, me and at least 4 other people have been really awaiting it.) DESERT GODS (not to be confused with DESSERT GODS. That’s a whole different book entirely.) picks up where De Novo Syndrome leaves off and throws Buckner and Evie into a final showdown with Oleg and his minions of twitchers.

But, before they get to the desert they pick up my new favorite character, Dr. Petrosian. The crank of all cranks, this guy makes Buckner look downright cheery. Plus, he is keeping all kinds of secrets from when he used to be Buckner’s father’s partner and best friend.

Anywho, this book reveals all sorts of gems on Buckner’s past as well as some revelations about the nature of the twitch retrovirus. On top of that, I drop a bit of a bomb that will reinterpret the way Buckner sees his entire world. Ooolala. You sci-fi and twisty thriller fans won’t want to miss it. Expect the unexpected!

Now, as for calls to action from my legions of faithfuls (I love all four of you!):
1.) Go buy it! DESERT GODS is available from Amazon and Kobo Books and B&N.
2.) If you have read the book, please post a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
3.) If you haven’t read De Novo Syndrome yet, you will want to read it first. But, before you run out to buy De Novo…

DE NOVO SYNDROME will be on sale for $0.99 May 1st-3rd!!!

Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo Books. If you still need to pick up a copy of De Novo, I recommend taking advantage of the sale. If you insist on paying the full $2.99, just pick it up now, or wait until May 4th! The sale is for ebooks only, but De Novo is available in paperback as well, from Amazon.

Finally, you can always spread the word to anyone else you think would be a fan. Above all, enjoy the show!

Barnes and Noble has finally replaced their modest (I’m being kind) self-publishing platform with an all new and better titled one. Thus Nook Press enters the world about one year too late.

Congratulations, B&N. You have finally produced a practical and functional pubbing platform. Don’t pop the cork. I still like Kobo’s Writing Life and Amazon’s KDP better. But at least you’re in the same ballpark…finally.

I attempted to update a price on one of my titles today using Nook Press, and it actually seemed to work. That’s an improvement from the last couple of times I tried and failed with Pubit! (And now the name of your platform doesn’t sound like a frog vocalization!)

The ability to download an epub is a bonus for sure. And the improved sales tracking brings Nook Press in line with Author Central (I’ve never liked that Author Central and KDP are separate) and Writing Life.

I have to admit I’m still disappointed with the royalties from Nook Press. After falling in love with Kobo’s decision to  extend the lower limit of their 70% royalty rate to the $1.99 price point, I had hoped that others (like B&N) would follow suit. It appears they won’t. When selling shorts or serial episodes, the $1.99 price is just right. The extra royalties are even better.

Meanwhile, Nook Press is still offering 65% for everything $2.99 and above. Excuse me while I refuse to kiss the sky.

The email I received from B&N stated that Nook Press will be an editor, and collaborative platform. I didn’t see any evidence while checking it out today. I didn’t look too long, and honestly I don’t much care. Unless I could convince my editors and BETA readers to use the platform, the feature wouldn’t do me any good. The email also stated they have implemented an instant chat for customer service. I didn’t try it out. But if it works, that would be impressive.

Bottom line.

Unless B&N can figure out how to sell more ebooks to more customers, I’m not interested. I can’t help thinking Nook Press is too little too late. Bummer.

Just for Fun!

In a manner of speaking. Even more exciting, the DMB Files universe is expanding into young adult dystopian literature (similar to The Hunger Games) with my latest project, The Green Ones. For those of you who are new to the DMB Files, or have lost track (I’m shifty, I’ll admit), The Green Ones marks the third separate series of stories colluding within the same fictional universe (alongside the DMB Files and the Lost DMB Files).

While the Lost DMB Files sport a pulpy/punk flavor and range between 1912 and 1930, the DMB Files take on a sci-fi/fantasy thriller edge and push into the near future. Soon these two series will be joined by a dystopian crossover serial. The Green Ones will run concurrently with the DMB Files, but…with a twist. (Sorry, I’d hate to spoil the surprise for you. But if you’ve read De Novo Syndrome and Desert Gods, you know where this is going.) Here is a bit more as far as product description for The Green Ones:

An Earth rampant with telekinesis results in isolated city-states forced to live beneath protective domes. Among the Americas, New Teotihuacan has arisen as the most powerful thanks to its strict social classes and teenage fighting force known as masazin.

A resident of New Teo’s worker city, Calli Bluehair, loses her parents in a telekinetic storm caused by her little brother, Olin. Two years later, the siblings have five days to make final preparations for their last chance at a better life–Masa Academy and it’s famous graduates, the masazin.

Those who survive the academy are rewarded with immortality. But only loyal citizens, ages 14-15, are allowed to register. If Calli can’t conceal their sordid past, she and Olin will live out their last years as twitch infected chadzitzin condemned to the violent and self-indulgent underground of worker city. Unfortunately, the little they know of their past is only the tip of the iceberg.

So why am I telling you this now?

Well, if you are the type who likes to get in on the ground level, I’m currently looking for a few more quality BETA readers willing to exchange early access to the stories for constructive critism on how to tighten them up before final publication. If you are a fan of such fiction as The Hunger Games, Divergent or Ender’s Game, these serial stories should be right up your alley.

Those interested would receive the stories in whatever file format they wish (for free). In exchange I ask for your HONEST opinion on how to make them better. The stories should be pretty close to their final version (minus a thorough copy edit). I am not looking for editing! Again, these stories will be published as serials. That means each story will be told in 40 page to 80 page episodes, as well as being further grouped into Seasons of several episodes. The Green Ones represents season one and currently consists of one episode out of an approximate five.

Interested? Comment on this post, and I’ll be in touch!

This year, make a change that matters. To illustrate the importance of doing so, here is a moral tale based on the National Football League franchise, the Dallas Cowboys. (Don’t worry, NFL fandom is not required to learn this lesson.)

Once upon a time, there was an evil NFL franchise owner and CEO, Jones Jerry. Jones Jerry was neither faery nor orc. He was pure-D avarice from his wazoo to his cork. Stab him with a knife or blend him with a spoon, as owner, operator and general manager, he’d fork you in the end.

He lined his wooly pockets by milking talent and sparking drama. He drove his players to the point of slapping their own mama while he danced and jigged high up in his skybox.

“A pox!” his subjects did cry. “It’s rigged! We supply you with money in exchange for more than Romos and Wittens and Bryants. We want a championship, or we’ll switch our allegiance to the football Giants!” (Now with more iridium!)

At first Jones Jerry did fret to the point of regret for purchasing his multi-million dollar bionical-hip (and stadium). “Don’t be a dope,” he smirked a wicked smirk. “Those hicks, I’ll lend them hope.” A mad hatter with geriatric bladder, he passed haughty gas from his executive potty. “I’ll fire the coach, that torpid roach.”

A year passes. “No playoffs!” The minions pump their fists, “it’s all been in vain!”

“Never fear my sucklings, I’ll draft a big name.”

Another season. “Ugly ducklings don’t always make swans! We need fame,” the ilk bellowed “in exchange for our magnificent brawn!”

“I’m just getting started,” Jones Jerry belted then he farted. “We need a new scheme, I think on defense first.”

Someone sneezed, the crowd reluctant to listen.

Jones Jerry rent his polyester in a display of emotion, “Brought to you by none other than Monte Kissen!”

“Oh, well that guy!” tears trailed down cheeks as nudists did streaks and the media did glisten, “He’s a genius at only 72 years young. I’ll buy! I’ll buy!”

“Heh, heh, heh,” Jones Jerry wrung his arthritic old hands with ben-glee, mumbling to himself “Excellent, because I’m still selling without a single victory.” He flung down his shirt, his pants, and sprung into the air, as nude as the day Beelzebub bore him in sulfur flatulence from his derrière. “No championship! No ring! No classy outfits for the cheerleaders! No Tom Landry I sing!”

Jones Jerry reared and jeered from his high-ass until a single somber sanitation engineer took notice from far beneath the skybox dais.

“I’ll take and I’ll take year after year, until sanity like vanity is neither thither nor there!”

The janitor slumped in a chair, his head in his hands. “It’s not fair. We’re doomed.” But then from the mist of his mind, the only way out of the gloom, the truth. The truth did loom. He wrested it within a single daring, glaring dare. Wrested it from nothing less than mid-air. “This, I bear, is the truth, the truth laid bare.”

The humble dirt servant rose as he spoke. “I will not sit, nor will I sulk. Engorged by truth, I’m no less than the Hulk! This team will not change as long as Jones Jerry is around. He’s gone clinical, even the least cynical can see. I am bound, as a true fan, there is only one thing for me.”

Then the lowly Cowboy butler brushed off his saddle. Not for a second did he prepare to straddle. He placed it on the ground with the tenderest of care, laid down and propped his head without pomp or flare.

“How’s this for a fan? I’ll just do a lazy-ass job, you crazy old sod.”

And that, my friends, is the 10-year plan.

And so, my New Year’s resolution for 2013 is to not expect much from institutions run by nutters, like Congress and the Cowboys. You see, I’m vowing to change the one thing that matters most. Me. The rest are symptoms. It is the only vow worth vowing. And year after year, I’ll just keep vowing it, until I get there.

This promotional contains some really great books by both well known authors and some lessor so (like me). For anyone looking to add a few more worthy titles to their holiday reading, or anyone looking for some ebook gift ideas for other readers they know, have a look around: http://buymereadme.com/ (feel free to spread the word!)

The sale is for December 21st only!!!

The promotional is also giving away nearly a $1000 worth of prizes, so that’s not such a bad thing either. (Note: this is a Kindle store promotion.)

Some of the titles I recommend:

Jim Buckner’s (aka me) first book has arrived, and here is what people are saying about it.

“The rabid, frothy pacing gripped me like the iron jaws of a junkyard dog and left me crying out for a literary tetanus shot! More please.”

“I only smoke after sex and reading a really good book. This novel had me lighting up before I could set it down.”

“My first thought: Good Lord, not another first person POV series. My last thought: Thank you, may I have another?”

Who exactly are these people? Well… I don’t know. But whoever they are, they’re certainly real. As real as Jim Buckner himself. (Why would you even ask?)

The mysterious universe alluded to by the Lost DMB Files comes into sharper focus with the DMB Files as Professor Buckner discovers how deep the rabbit hole goes. The year is 2025, and the nation of Texicas is over 100 years old. Those behind its founding preserve a secret 1000 years older. The truth is waiting.

Buy at Amazon

If you have read this classic in the making already, please post a review! For the rest of you, get to reading! (and recommending to others. Unlike me, I know the rest of you have friends.)

De Novo Syndrome: He’ll do anything to get her back, including evolve.

When Jim Buckner’s daughter is kidnapped, his obsession shifts from discovering the lost genetic sequence for awakening human immortality to discovering who took her and how to get her back.

The journey reveals a hibernating side-effect of his research, telekinesis. At the heart of a secret war raging for over a century, Buckner discovers how far he’ll go to get his daughter back–as far as it takes.

A father-daughter story written as paranoid thriller, De Novo Syndrome centers on a father learning to dedicate his heart, rather than his work, to his daughter. The fact his life’s work has been to save his daughter’s life, complicates the matter.

Coming soon: Desert Gods, the second novel of the DMB Files

A bit premature, I know. But hey, I’m with NASA on this one.