Since I have lost touch with my original cover artist, I’ve had to go elsewhere for the next book. Today I’m introducing the cover for the seventh book in the Doc Vandal series: The Skyscraper Thief. In order to keep it in the family, this piece is by my daughter, Kyrie Howlett.
Now that you’ve got the cover, you won’t have to wait long for the book. Book seven should be out very shortly, so keep an eye out for it!
Well, I did it, I bit the bullet and started up a Patreon.
It was a big decision, but it was also something I felt I had to do. Basically, I’ve been operating on a very minimal budget ever since I started self-publishing. I do my own cover design, much of the editing, layout, and a whole bunch more. The problem I’m facing is that the entire self-publishing ecosystem has been changing as it moves further into the mainstream.
That’s a good thing, but one of the repercussions of that move isn’t. Put simply, a lot of resources that used to be either free or low-cost are becoming more and more expensive as time goes on. Meanwhile, my sales aren’t going well at all. It’s a bad combination, in fact it’s getting close to a death spiral.
Patreon is my attempt to get off the ride before it goes over the cliff. It’s a cushion for the lean times, and hopefully a way to fund things like advertising to make more people aware of Doc Vandal and build more sales.
But enough about me: What about you?
For those of you who read this and decide to join my Patreon, I’ve already built up some content and set up a structure for the benefit tiers. My underlying philosophy here, is Access, Insight, and Input.
The first tier provides Access to the private channels on my Doc Vandal Discord, as well as a PDF of the completed first draft of The Skyscraper Thief–yes, you can read that today if you sign up on any tier.
The second tier is Insight, and it gives you a look into my writing process. I have started uploading full versions of the cover art, including one that’s never been published anywhere, and also some of my Scapple Boards so you can see how my mind works when writing a story–and even how the story evolves.
The third tier is Input. This tier gives you access to each chapter of a novel as it’s completed, as well as the option of naming a character. I’m also going to let this tier help me decide which story to do next once I finish the War Between Worlds.
I’ve already uploaded content for all three tiers and will be adding more soon.
The last couple of weeks, and especially the month of July have not been good to me. But I figured those of you who do read this deserved an update.
First: I caught something about two weeks ago that really kicked my ass. At the time I thought it was just a summer cold, but it’s been much worse and lasted much longer than a cold usually does.
Second: Probably resulting from the the first, my production on book eight has really slowed down as the words have been fighting me harder than an entire Martian Invasion. It’s been hard to focus and almost everything I write just gets rewritten as it isn’t working. I’ll get there, but right now it’s a slog.
Third: Sales have cratered for July. June went well, but July has been abysmal on every platform.
So, with all that, I do have a couple of pieces of good news. I’ve been in touch with my cover artist and he’s getting to work on the cover for Book Seven. It will be revealed here once it’s been finished and paid for. Also, I have been in touch with my beta and should be getting the manuscript back for revisions in a few weeks.
In the meantime, keep reading, keep writing, and have fun.
Where to begin? Today is Monday, and so it’s a new week with a new update. First, The Skyscraper Thief is with my beta reader, so I should be hearing back with any updates in the not too distant future. With any luck it’s still on track for a late June/early July release but don’t hold me to that quite yet…
The War Between Worlds is advancing almost as fast as the Martian invaders themselves. I’m currently sitting at just short of 8500 words with a week of production in the can.
I recently read a comparative review of Ulysses and Scrivener, and I have problems. I have even more problems with the app the author said was better than either, but that’s a different thing entirely.
I’m going to start with the elephant in the room. Ulysses is subscription software. It costs $39.99 per year/$5.99 per month; each and every month. This is actually better than the price given in the review, which listed an annual cost of $49.99, but it’s still a subscription. Even so, the author of the review explicitly stated that it was a “good value.”
Scrivener costs $59.99, the review said $49.99, for a perpetual license. This, however is not described as a “good value.” Personally, I have been using Scrivener for twelve and a half years, and have spent approximately a hundred dollars in total. Yes, I’ve been able to take advantage of discounts, but I’ve also bought the MacOS, iOS, and Windows versions in that time.
Now while the person did admit that the one-time purchase option of Scrivener is better, the focus on the value of the subscription software is a clear sign of bias. Another level of bias comes in when they mention a feature both have as a benefit for Ulysses over Scrivener.
Next we come to Backup and Sync, and somehow the fact that Ulysses backs up on a fixed schedule–not saves, but backs up–of 12 hours, 7 days, and six months is much better than Scrivener because you have to close the program for Scrivener to run a backup. Somehow he fails to mention that Scrivener also supports running a backup with every manual save… so you don’t have to close Scrivener to run a backup.
Finally, the author talks about sharing and collaboration; saying that Scrivener doesn’t support third party apps and can only be used on one device. This is news to me, as I have been using Dropbox with Scrivener for many years, and have it installed on three computers. The limit is that any one project can only be open on one device at one time. If you try to open it on a second device, you have to create a second version of the project.
Needless to say, he awards the victory to Ulysses.
Now to be honest, it’s possible he is right. Ulysses may be a better writing app than Scrivener; though I think it’s more important to ask which writing app is better for you, than which is better overall.
Unfortunately, the clear bias in the review combines with the misstatements of fact to make it completely worthless for anyone aiming for an honest comparison of the two programs.
I frequent a lot of writing groups on the web, on Facebook, even on Reddit. I’m a writer, so that’s pretty normal. Some people in these groups are wildly successful, others are just working on their first attempt at a novel. Many of them have questions. Lots of these questions are really good, and the answers will often help more people than just the original poster.
But then there’s this question: The question of death.
“I’m writing a novel and I want to do X. Can I do X in this kind of novel?”
It’s a terrible question, it’s asking for permission from people who cannot give it, and more importantly, the answer is always the same: Yes; but with a caveat.
A writer can do anything in a novel. Sure, there are a couple of apparent limits. Many people will tell you you can’t write a category romance without a Happily Ever After (known in the trade as HEA) ending. The thing is, they aren’t actually saying you can’t write it that way; they are really saying that if you write it that way you can’t sell it as a category romance.
The truth is, you can do anything you want so long as you can make it work. That’s the catch: you have to do it well enough that it works. That’s what matters, the execution.
Don’t ask whether you can do it. Ask whether you should do it, and whether you can do it justice.
Quick heads up as today is my daughter’s 21st birthday so there are multiple things going on.
Last night I hit my minimum length target of 55,000 words on The Skyscraper Thief. That does not mean it’s finished, though I am very close. As of this writing, I am working on the penultimate scene in the book–which is the climactic showdown with the aforementioned “Skyscraper Thief” himself.
After this, I have to write what I’m calling the epilogue, which ties up some plot threads from the first couple of scenes which a reader might have thought I had forgotten.
Then I let it sit for a bit, export to Word for a revision pass and feed off to my lead beta before she goes on an international trip. Meanwhile, I still have to get the cover, and take into account any feedback from beta reading.
Meanwhile, as of next week at the latest, I should be working on The War Between Worlds, the next Doc Vandal book.
As always, please read, share, and review my books. Let’s introduce the world to Yesterday’s Tomorrow!
The picture at the head of this post, both is and is not the Chrysler Building. In our world, it most definitely is the Chrysler Building; in Doc Vandal’s world, it is the DeSoto Building. In the grand scheme of things it’s not a huge change, just another automobile marque used by the same carmaker. It’s much like the fact Doc’s world has a Republic State Building; it’s a small way to make it clear we’re talking about somewhere else.
I chose this picture because the DeSoto Building is an important location in The Skyscraper Thief, and I’m getting very near to the end of that book. As of this writing, I’m just over five thousand words short of my target length, and should be done in about a week–though my daughter’s upcoming 21st birthday and three new potential RPG contracts may push it closer to the end of the month.
Sadly, that doesn’t mean it will be out next month. Once it’s done, I need to do at least one revision pass and then send it out for beta-reading. It also needs a cover, and while I have the idea and the artist lined up, that will still take time. My current plan is to have it out towards the end of summer, around back-to-school.
Dates for the next one are more nebulous, so forgive me for not providing any beyond the fact that I should be starting it this month.
In the meantime, The Ziggurat of Doom and Against the Eldest Flame have both been featured on the SFF Book Bonanza website this month the former in the new releases, the latter in the 99cent specials page. It features lots of awesome books every month so check it out.
My next newsletter, hopefully due out later this week, will have a review of the first Doc Brazen book, so take keep an eye out for that.
That’s about it for today’s Welcome to Yesterday’s Tomorrow. Keep reading, review what you read, and if you can, sign up for the newsletter!
Mars is more than just the red planet, it’s the world where sword and planet was born. The first generally recognized sword and planet story was Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Under the Moons of Mars, a six-part serial that started in the February 1912 issue of The All-Story, one of the first pulps.
The idea wasn’t entirely unique to Burroughs; he may have been inspired by Edwin Lester Arnold’s Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation (also known as Gulliver of Mars). While the parallels are obvious, there’s no question but that Burroughs’ book was better. I’ve read everything I’ve ever found of Burroughs, but only the one book by Arnold.
Others such as Otis Adalbert Kline, and Michael Moorcock wrote their own sword and planet adventures set on Mars, while Ralph Milne Farley struck out for Venus, where Kline set most of his works.
But still, it’s the red planet that rules our dreams.
As I get closer to the end of the first draft of The Skyscraper Thief, I’m putting together notes for the book currently titled The War Between the Worlds, Doc’s subsequent adventure. With current books in the series set in 1938, it should come as no secret that book eight will feature a Martian invasion. At the same time, my own tastes run more to Burroughs than Wells.
The problem is that we know a lot more about Mars now than either Burroughs or Wells did, and many of their ideas wouldn’t fly now. Also, Doc has seen what the surface of Mars looks like so he knows there is no civilization there…
I think I’ve found a way to deal with the contradiction, but you’ll have to wait until I’m further along before I’m willing to share it. If you have your own ideas, feel free to send them along…
If you like Doc Vandal, why not review the books? It’s and it helps everyone.
It’s funny to think that an average human has power over a pulp superhero, but it’s absolutely true.
Nothing is more important to writers and their characters than readers. We write because we read. You are the people who really bring our words to life. Reading is the closest thing we have to telepathy, thoughts flowing from one mind to another through the medium of the printed page.
The biggest foe any writer can face is obscurity. If people don’t know your work exists, they will never be able to read and enjoy it. My love of science fiction grew out of finding a used copy of E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Second Stage Lensmen in a general store on the side of the road many years ago. It was sheer random chance that I found. Something about the cover picture spoke to me.
I hope Doc Vandal can do that for some future me.
Now you know why I’m coming to you, the readers. Today we have more tools for discovery than ever before, but none of them help if the content isn’t being shared.
That’s what I need you, my readers, to do: share Doc Vandal. Not just for me, not just for Doc Vandal, but for all the people who would love to read Doc Vandal if they only knew the books existed.
So, what can you do? It’s easy.
The more people talk about Doc Vandal, the better the series is going to do and the more I will be able to do with the series. When it comes right down to it, all I can do is write the books and source the best cover art I can. Doc’s success depends on you.
Please help Doc Vandal; it really is all up to you.
No movie captures the tone I envisioned for Doc Vandal as well as Kerry Conran’s 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. From giant robots, to airships and flying battle stations, it’s all there. I don’t think any movie captures the underlying meaning of the term “Yesterday’s Tomorrow,” as well as this one.
In fact, it was as much a direct inspiration for Doc as Doc Savage himself. Doc Savage gave me the structure, but Sky Captain inspired the world. Doc Vandal’s alternate 1937 draws heavily on the kind of super-science pulp technology the movie features. It’s more than just pulp, it’s retro-pulp and the retro is just as important as the pulp.
The cinematography and CGI immediately tells us this is the past; a past that never was. It frames the story in the world of the pulps in the way other pulp recreations were never able to do. Quite literally, it provides a pulp lens for the viewer.
As to the story. It’s a classic pulp adventure with all the strengths and weaknesses of the genre. It’s by no means a perfect film, but it’s well acted and features a very strong cast.
If you want to see a world like Doc Vandal’s go watch this movie now.
Last time, I showed off the comparison between the first cover I commissioned for Against the Eldest Flame, and the final cover I published. Today I’m going to talk about how the final cover came to be.
At the top of the page, you’ll see my original sketch that became the cover for Against the Eldest Flame, and really set the stage for my vision of the series’ visual identity. It’s not the same as the final cover by any means, but all the elements are there. Unlike the previous airship cover, this one really was my idea from the start.
The biggest design change was moving the Zeppelin above the volcano instead of right in front of it. That worked, but it was a matter of detail more than anything else.
On the whole though, I was happy with my original design. First, it had action; something was happening in the picture. Second, and more importantly for the overall vision, it was reminiscent of pulp magazine covers. They were paintings, they weren’t photorealistic. Artists like Alex Schomburg, Margaret Brundage, and H.W. Wesso had a very distinctive look, one that was completely different from modern self-published paperbacks.
Of course, it doesn’t help that many premade covers are assembled from photographic elements and the shadows don’t always match. It may be a personal thing, but I find it looks terrible.
As a creator, though, this cover was hugely important to me. While it’s not my art you see on the page, it is my design. As a self-published author, this matters a lot. By creating the original design I made sure that the cover reflected my vision, not someone else’s.
Take control of your vision: it’s worth it.
Like all self-published authors, I went through multiple options before finally choosing my cover art. I thought about the public domain, and even tried a couple of public domain images on my first two novels.
When it came to Doc Vandal, that didn’t work. I wanted something better than I could get by slapping some new text over an old painting. You can see my first attempt to commission a cover for Against the Eldest Flame on the top left.
If you look at it, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it as an image. A photorealistic Zeppelin is coming out of the clouds; title and author are right there and it’s even identified as a Doc Vandal adventure. It’s also static and boring. It’s a generic cover and basically just sits there.
Perhaps more importantly, nothing about it says “Pulp Adventure!”
Now look at the second cover, the one on the right. What can only be described as a main battle Zeppelin is flying out from an exploding volcano. It has action, it has bright primary colors. Most importantly, it’s done in a retro art style that calls back to the pulps.
There’s nothing photorealistic about it, and that’s deliberate.
I have a vision for my Doc Vandal adventures. You can see it in the covers, and it goes beyond the art style. There’s a consistent trade dress, with a logo and the volume number on every cover. You don’t have to be able to read the words to know a Doc Vandal cover when you see one.
There’s a consistent vision here, and that’s important. It shows potential readers that I know what I’m trying to do; that I have a goal in mind. It’s not enough to make sure your books are where readers can see them; you have to make sure they can recognize them.
You need a vision, and even more importantly you need to articulate that vision.
In an era where the term “woke” has been weaponized, I think it’s important to explain what I’m doing with the Doc Vandal series and why I’m doing it.
Doc Vandal’s team is deliberately more diverse than Doc Savage’s was, and not just because it has talking gorillas. In the 1930’s pulps almost everyone was a straight white male except for the obligatory love interest, and possibly the exotic servant. While that worked eighty years ago, it doesn’t work so well now. Today’s audiences are more diverse, as well as more aware; and while you may not be able to fit everyone into a short novel, that doesn’t mean you have to leave everyone except the white guys out.
One of the biggest problems with the old-school approach for me is verisimilitude: the world isn’t all-white so how can my books be? Sure, people can argue that putting non-white and LGBTQ+ characters front and center in a book set in the thirties is unrealistic, but hello? I already have talking gorillas and French-speaking velociraptors. Strict historical realism is not a major concern.
Vic and Ming are lesbian; Ming is Chinese; Gilly is African-American. Doc is pretty much asexual. Gus and Kehla are straight. Not all of these choices were deliberate and conscious on my side. Vic’s sexuality grew out of the first decision I ever made about her; namely that I wouldn’t simply reduce her to Doc’s love interest and hanger-on. Ming’s grew out of questioning why she was reacting the way to Vic that she was. Neither character was introduced to showcase her sexuality. It just happened.
That is actually the whole point. I didn’t include diversity to score points; I included diversity because that’s what worked for the story.
If you’re observant, you might have noticed that the Doc Vandal Series is no longer available in Kindle Unlimited. It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was a necessary one.
Older fans of Doc Vandal might remember that I previously sold the RPG rights to the character and wrote a settings book for Chaosium‘s upcoming QuestWorlds system. The catch there is that the number one marketplace for RPG sourcebooks is DriveThruRPG, not Amazon. So, if I want to make the Doc Vandal books available at the same place as the RPG supplement, I have to put the books on more platforms than just Amazon.
That means I can’t put them in Kindle Unlimited, as that’s only available to books that are exclusive to Amazon.
As a result, I’ve already started publishing the books on other sites as well as Amazon. For example, all six books in the main series are currently available on Kobo here. I’m not stopping there.
Over the next couple of weeks the books should become available on all the major platforms, including Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Smashwords–as well as various libraries and subscription services.
Let’s find the best way for you to read Doc Vandal.
As the singer of the theme to Star Trek Enterprise said, “It’s been a long road, getting from there to here.”
Sitting here typing this, I realize it’s been a good three years since I finished the first draft of The Ziggurat of Doom, and I didn’t actually publish it until yesterday. That’s a long time even for a book set in the thirties, and I feel I owe an explanation.
The first part is pretty simple. Nobody publishes an unedited first draft, and I’m no different. My first draft was done in February of 2o2o, so I sent the book to betas at the beginning of March, and finally got it back in the middle of June. Revisions took a while, but I was on track for a fall release.
Then, on October 28, 2020, my partner of over 20 years died.
Needless to say, that hit me hard. I couldn’t write for over two years. It also didn’t help that our KDP account was in her name, which caused its own headaches. Luckily, those headaches are mostly gone, though Giant Robots of Tunguska is still stuck in review hell while Amazon figures out that I do indeed have the rights to put it on the new account.
In the meantime, I’m working on getting the second omnibus up and writing book seven–The Skyscraper Thief. I’ve also added hardcovers to the available options.
Anyway, I have a bunch of updates to make so I’d best be about it.
Happy reading and I’ll see you in Yesterday’s Tomorrow…
Just wanted to add an update on how work is going on War Between Worlds. After a period when it felt like I was fighting for every word, things have started flowing again and it’s a good feeling.
One of the things I am enjoying about this particular story is how open I can be with my references, since they’re all in the public domain. While Wells’ invasion is the best known, and in some ways my primary influence, it isn’t the only one. In fact it’s some of the others that I want to write about today. Specifically planetary romances.
By far the best known of the Martian planetary romances is that of Edgar Rice Burroughs novel A Princess of Mars. First published in 1912, it’s widely seen as the origin of the genre. Naturally, it wasn’t.
While many people will point to Edwin Lester Arnold’s 1905 novel Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, as not only a precursor to Burroughs, but also a major influence, I have to wonder. Part of the problem is that while Arnold’s novel does predate Burroughs, it was a relatively unsuccessful novel that was only published in the United Kingdom during Burroughs’ lifetime.
Another book which I think much more likely to have been an influence is A Journey to Mars, by Gustavus W. Pope, first published in 1894. In fact, I can even see an argument that Arnold could have been influenced by Pope. Among other things, not only was Pope’s book published in the United States, but it includes several elements Burroughs would use in his own later writings.
So naturally, I’m drawing inspiration from all three.
Now while Burroughs, Wells, and even Arnold’s influences are going to be quite visible, I have to wonder if anyone will catch my references to Pope…
This is basically just a quick update to let people know where things are sitting as I write this.
To start at the beginning, I have been getting work done on the War Between Worlds and can feel the returning momentum. It’s not a tremendous amount, but working on it doesn’t feel like pulling hen’s teeth, which is a huge improvement over the last little while.
Next, we move on to art. I do have a new artist who is currently working on the cover for book seven. It’s actually my daughter, who has been doing art commissions for others for a while now. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it looks.
I also added more content to my Patreon today, and I hope people will check it out. It’s the best way to get a behind the scenes look at both Doc Vandal and my writing process.
I’ll see you in Yesterday’s Tomorrow!
I know, I know, I really shouldn’t use the same photo two posts running–but I also shouldn’t spend as long between posts as I have.
Anyway, here’s the latter half of July, all of August, and first half of September update. First, the obvious one: progress has been slow on The War Between Worlds, and I’m struggling with the words. I know it will pick up, but for now I just have to work through the write and rewrite battle. That’s not fun, but I’ve been here before on every book and know it’s just a matter of working through it.
Second, the Skyscraper Thief, which is still sitting on various hard drives. On the positive side, I just got confirmation from my beta reader that she should have feedback for me by the time I turn sixty. For those about to freak out, don’t: that’s less than three weeks away. On the negative side, I haven’t heard anything from my cover artist since July, so I’m currently looking into other options as I need both edits and a cover before I can publish.
So, where does that leave me–other than plugging away?
Well, the library in town is having a local author spotlight on October 20th, and I’m planning on attending that. Ideally I can both get my name out in the community and see about selling some books.
I’m also looking in to starting up a Doc Vandal Patreon account… some of my ideas include giving early access to first drafts, Tuckerization, access to some of my behind the scenes notes, and of course the ability to vote on things and even potentially help choose Doc and the team’s next adventure….
So, for right now all I can say is follow this space!
Just as the Martians are invading New York State in the novel, the words are invading my mind. While the words themselves haven’t been coming as fast this past week or so, they’re still coming but more slowly, it makes sense because I’ve been doing more research.
One of the catches of this particular novel is that it’s requiring a certain amount of research that wasn’t necessary for some of the previous books in the series. For example, New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman is a minor character in this adventure. Now I could just say this is an alternate world so it’s an alternate character, but I didn’t want to do that. I want a sense of verisimilitude, and that comes from research.
Some of the basics I had to determine were things like his politics, and his family. It’s not enough to know the political party, but it’s also helpful to understand what the man stood for. Also, given the situation these characters are in it helps to know his military record. In this case, he was a WWI veteran but not a combat veteran who achieved the rank of Colonel. I’m not sure how many of these details will actually hit the page, but everything that does hit the page will be influenced by these details.
I also found an interview show where he was a guest, so I was able to get an idea for his voice and manner of speaking. It also helped that it showed his stance on a number of issues, from defense to civil rights.
In other news, sales have been going quite well, especially in the last few days as I’ve not only sold a number of books on Amazon but books have started moving on other platforms as well…
Obviously, I’m not on Mars.
As of this writing I’ve just passed the 25% mark on my target length for War Between Worlds. At that rate I should be done the first draft sometime around the end of July, or beginning of August.
This one is an interesting book to write because I’m drawing so much from existing inspirations. Usually, I just take a single idea, but this time I’m drawing rather more. While I don’t want to go into detail at this point–and not just because it’s liable to change as I get further into the book–I’m trying to do something of a mashup of Burroughs’ elements in Wells’ framework as viewed through the eyes of Doc and the team.
Anyway, I don’t have a lot more to say this time, so I will close it here.
Remember, if you like what you read, leave a review. It helps.
Welcome to Yesterday's Tomorrow 