New cover for "Meskka"

I re-did the cover for Meskka a little. Mostly made the planet and title bigger. What do you think?

Point of View

I've left Meskka alone for several months while I've been working on An Unwanted Apprentice. I've decided to go back and re-read it. (Every writing book and published author reccomends doing this after you're finished.) It's a good thing too. I've found several point of view errors that I somehow missed before. Also, I've found a few scenes that I wanted to re-write to do more showing instead of telling. Also, I added a viewpoint scence for Bast during the battle on Alkask. On re-reading it, I found it really strange that this battle is taking place on Bast's homeworld, yet we're in Tomed's viewpoint for most of it. So I added a viewpoint that shows what Bast was doing, and what she was thinking about the process.

epub: Hyperlinks in ePub Books

I also have a site at www.jedisaber.com/ebooks where I talk about how to make ePub files by hand. I'm going to do some blog posts here with bits and pieces about the ePub format that don't fit in the guide. I thought this might be of interest, since I've almost decided to self-publish.

Anyway, today's topic, links in ePub files.

I've gotten a few questions about how to do links inside of ePub books. This question is both easy to answer, and complicated.

The easy answer is: Just like you would in a normal web-page. This is complicated by the fact that the ePub specification does not give any usage guidelines on how to handle links.

iBooks, Stanza, and Adobe Digital Editions all handle it this way:

If you have an eBook with two files in it, say, "chap01.xhtml" and "chap02.xhtml", and they are in the same sub-folder in the zip file, adding a link is easy:

<a href="chap02.xhtml">Link title here</a>

Put that code somewhere in the chap01.xhtml file, and it'll jump you right to it. This is handy if you want to include a Table of Contents, or link to annotations or something similar. (Yes, if you use the TOC.ncx file, the ePub book will have a Table of Contents, but only through the menu. If you want one to show up as part of the book when you're paging through it, you have to make a separate page with links.)

Also, note that all links in ePub files are relative links. If your folder structure looks like this:

Mimetype
OEBPS
  - title.xhtml
  - chap01.xhtml
Extras
  - annotations.xhtml

You can link between title and chap01 by just using the filename, not the full path. If you want to link from chap01 to annotations.xhtml, your link would have to look like this:

<a href="../extras/annotations.xhtml">link text</a>

(Please note that while you can put files in different folders like this, it's not recommended.)

Linking outside of the book can be interesting. The standard link:

<a href="http://www.jedisaber.com/">Link</a>

works in iBooks, Stanza, and Digital Editions. I'm not sure if it works in others, due to limited testing ability. (I don't have a Sony Reader or Nook.)

Top 9 things you MUST mention if you write a Star Trek SCE book

I've been reading the Star Trek: SCE books lately. (Starfleet Corps of Engineers)
I love them, they're so nerdy even most Star Trek fans probably don't even like them (yes, that's a generalization that I've done no research on...).

One thing that has popped out at me is the number of cliches specific to this series (yes, some of them are on purpose referencing other Star Trek cliches.)

So, just for fun, I present the top 9 things you MUST mention if you write a Star Trek SCE book:

1. P8 Blue's "specially designed chair" -
This phrase must be used at least once per book, as entered. preferably, it should be used anytime a character goes anywhere near the briefing room.

2. Hawkins has to get hurt -
Hawkins is a member of the security team. This is actually a referance to redshirts on TOS getting killed off all the time. He gets at least a bump on the head in every novel.

3. Captian Gold has to use at least one Yiddish word.
This one actually makes sense, but it still counts...

4. Beat the reader over the head with Bart Faulwell's homosexuality -
Sensitive topic for some, most authors beat the reader over the head with it with all the finesse of a Klingon.

Bonus Points:

5. Sneak in a mention of Core-Breach's family axe -
If you do, you MUST quote the full text of the inscription.

6. Mention Gomez spilling hot-chocolate on Captain Picard at least once -
they've gotten better at this as the series has progressed, but at the beginning it was in EVERY novel.

7. Only Scotty's seventy-year out-of-date knowledge can save us!

8. Soloman talks in binary code, the other characters marvel -
for extra points, recount again for the reader how he got his nickname

9. Beat the ship up so badly that in real life they'd scrap it... then fix it all up for the next book

What was I thinking?

I've been at a tractor show for the past week, and when I got back I sat down to start writing some more (I know, I could have, and should have been writing AT the tractor show, but that's a different matter...), and thought, "What was I thinking?"

The last sentence I had wrote was:

"He hoped the Natas weren't here. Or, if they were, that they could at least get luck before they had to face them."

I have NO idea what I meant. Obviously, there's a typo in there somewhere. I'm going to blame the iPad's auto-correct for replacing whatever word I meant to write with "luck". I'm still not sure what I meant to write though...

A good excuse... um, er, reason for not posting much..

Okay, it's a lame excuse, but I found this list of myths about introverts interesting:

http://jerrybrito.org/post/6114304704/top-ten-myths-about-introverts

I'm surely an introvert myself.

How does this apply to writing? It's easy sometimes to make all the characters do what you would do in a situation, but that doesn't feel real, and would make a boring, flat story.
In Meskka, for instance, Tomed and Bast are extroverts, and Nilre is an introvert. Rrrark is more of an introvert, but he can be outgoing if he has to be.

In An Unwanted Apprentice, Kendra and Alenk are introverts (it's a bit of a cliche to have a collage researcher and student be introverts, but that's a different topic...) Tannin is definitely an extrovert... and not just because he won't shut up. ;)

That's just one of the fun things I like about writing, exploring different personality types.

Busy season...

I'm back from Washington.... okay, I've been back for a while. August is a really busy month. Both of my day jobs are keeping me busy. I just got back from the steam show in Mason, MI, and week after next I'm going to the Gas Tractor show in Oakley, MI.

On a sci-fi note, NPR has a poll where you can vote for your favorite sci-fi and fantasy books.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/02/138894873/vote-for-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-titles?sc=fb&cc=fp

What are yours?

On a cross-country train trip...

My wife and I are taking Amtrack across the country to go to her sister's wedding. Coach fare is cheaper than airfare, and we'd never traveled on a train before.

You got to see a lot of the countryside when traveling by rail, much more than you see on a plane. You also spend a lot of time in the train. Our trip is taking four days. We couldn't afford a sleeper car, and I've confirmed again that I really need to be laying out flat to get a good night's sleep. My Dad would love it though, he sleeps in a chair anyway, and he's fascinated by trains.

We've also learned something interesting things about the train, such as the speed limit for passenger trains in the U.S. is 79 miles per hour. Also, some of the windows come apart to serve as an emergency exit. They say "caution: steep drop". Yeah. We're on the second story of the train. I'm pretty sure I'd bread a leg if I had to get out of the train that way.

What does this have to do with writing, you ask? I've seen the following bit of advice on many different writing sites: Get as many different experiences as possible, because it immensely enrich your writing if write from experience. Even in fantasy and sci-fi, something that is relatable, and sounds like you know what your talking about will suck the reader in. conversely, something that doesn't ring true will halt the story, as the reader says "Wait, no way!"

I think I'm going to put a train in the book I'm working on now...

Excerpt

OK, here's an excerpt from "An Unwanted Apprentice". Please bear in mind that this is a first draft, so it's full of errors. Hopefully, it'll make you want to read more...

----------

The wind eventually died down, and Creina opened her eyes. One of the men was laying face down on the bridge, the other was standing next to him, sword drawn and scanning the horizon.
The clouds had dissipated and the weather was now back to normal for a springtime afternoon, except for the light mist covering the river. Creina strained to see through it, but couldn't make out the opposite bank. It slowly dissipated, leaving the surface of everything around them damp. It seemed to be taking a long time to clear as far as the other shore. The young woman who had helped her out of the river jumped up from where she was crouched in front of her, and the air around the two of them stopped rippling.
"The other bank," the woman said, pointing, "it's not there."
Water stretched back beyond where the opposite bank had been. A large crater was further inland, and the river was slowly filling it.
"So much for this ford." the young man with the sword said as he stared at the crater. "What happened?"
The woman bent down and felt the unconscious man's neck. She sighed, in relief, Creina thought. Apparently he was still alive.
"Alenk used a spell," the woman said.
"What?" the young man glanced down at the other, Alenk, the girl had called him, then back at the crater. "I've never heard of one powerful enough to do.... that!" he said, gesturing at the remains of the riverbank.
"Excuse me..." Creina said, her voice coming out barely above a whisper.
They both turned to look at her.
"Oh no!" The woman whirled around and rushed over to her. "I forgot all about you! I'm sorry! I'm Kendra, this is Tannin, and the unconscious one is Alenk."
She cleared her throat and forced herself to sound not as afraid as she felt. "Will he be okay?"
"Oh, he'll be fine," Kendra waved a hand dismissively at him, "he just used too much energy."
"Pardon me," Tannin interrupted, "but how shall we address you, miss...?"
"Creina," she said, "My name is Creina. And... what just happened? Are you wizards? Are we in Rogim?"
Kendra looked over at Tannin.
"Those two are Wizards," he said, "I'm a knight of Rogim, and we are currently on the border. I'm not quite sure what happened myself."
"Good," Creina took a big breath. "If you're a knight, you're just the person I need to talk to. The military recently executed the king and took over, they're looting the countryside, and plan on invading Rogim."
"It's worse than we thought then," Tannin said, glancing at the carriage still parked farther back along the trail. "We should warn the capital immediately."
"Yes, but the fastest way to do that is to wait for him to wake up." Kendra said, jerking a thumb back at Alenk.
At that, Alenk moaned, and slowly sat up. "What hit me?"
"Class one restricted battle spell from the second dynasty, I believe." Kendra said.
Alenk looked at the crater. "Oh."
He was silent for a moment then looked over at Creina. "Are you okay?" She nodded.
Kendra quickly filled him in on what Creina had told them.
"I'll let the the Council know about it." he said, and walked off into the forest.
Creina wasn't quite sure she wanted to know how he was going to do that. She'd heard stories about wizards. She'd never met one of course, it'd been years since anyone in Caradan had seen a wizard. So far, the two in front of her weren't what she'd expected. If one listened to the Natas, wizards were mean, evil creatures with pale skin, black hair and even blacker eyes and a black soul and cruel heart to match. These two were about as far from that stereotype as you could get. That didn't exactly surprise Creina though, from the way a Natas mystic changed the subject every time someone asked about wizards, she gathered that the two groups had some kind of disagreement in the past.
The other stereotype description of wizards that she'd heard stated that they were kindly old crones who traveled the countryside preaching about some strange foreign god and practicing magic to try to convert people to their belief. Creina didn't give much credence to either view; both sounded like they had been watered down over time by many different people--none of whom had probably ever actually met a wizard.

Progress...

Well, the website is back up. I have to do some more stuff behind the scenes to make sure it stays that way...

Also, I've done a little more writing in An Unwanted Apprentice. I have a scene that I just wrote in Kendra's veiwpoint, and I went back and changed it to Criena's. I think it works much better that way. Normally, I don't do any editing until I'm finished with a first draft (all the experts tell you it works better that way too...) but as I was thinking about where I wanted to go with the story, it needed to be from Criena's point of view before I could continue on.