Labyrinth (Deuces Wild Book 3)
Page 20
Don’t worry, chap. We held the fort while you were gone… and while there is video footage of Jeff and I pulling your leg in your absence while we worked on the covers, it’s only going up on Patreon… so you won’t see it!
Bwhahahahahahah :D
JIT and Steve
Huge gratitude bombs going out to our dedicated and relentless JITers. Without you we’d be making boobs of ourselves will silly errors. Thanks for catching them. And for the positive feedback. You have no idea how helpful it is to know that we’re on the right track! You’re the best.
Thanks also to Zen Master Steve. Goodness knows how he manages to do all he does… and keep a cool head… but it’s super appreciated. Thanks Steve :)
(Ooops. Microsoft put a fancy emoticon in there. I’ve fixed it. Text only! I got it!)
Aside: Last book Steve ended up having to reupload the book after going through and taking out a bunch of emoticons in the author notes. Apparently, MA and I are the worst.
It makes me wonder if we should be more expressive with our language… rather than resorting to the short hand of millennials. Perhaps that’s something to consider. After all, we do put “writer” on our tax returns. I think with that identity we might need to embrace some form of writerly responsibility. Or at least word-smithery.
I will try harder.
Reviewers
I’d love to extend a HUGE thank you to our amazing Amazon reviewers. It’s because of you that we get to do this full time. Without your five-star reviews and thoughtful words on Amazon we simply wouldn’t have enough folks reading these space shenanigans to be able to write full time.
You are the reason these stories exist. So, truly, thank you.
Readers and FB page supporters
Last, and certainly by no means least, I’d like to thank you for reading this book… and all the others. Your enthusiasm for the world, and the characters, is heart-warming. Your words of encouragement, and demands for the next episode, are the things that keep us going through the looooong hours of writing, punching and plotting.
Thank you for being here, for reading, for reviewing, and for always brightening my day with your words of support on the fb and Patreon pages.
Thank you.
E x
Solo Deuces
This episode was particularly tricky to write, partly because MA was ‘out of pocket’ for most of the time of writing. Not only that, and this may come as a complete shock to you, but I’m writing this having finished punching the Nickie side of the story and still not seen anything about Tabitha.
I mean, sure, we had a story meeting about the larger theme and what Tabby needed to accomplish… but details? Beats? Words? Nada! So, as I’m writing this, I hope it works.
I mean, I think it has in the past. To be fair we had practice at this with the last two Dark Ages books. But as I’m typing my scrivener file is open and where the Tabitha scenes will go I have place holders saying: “Tabitha”.
Fingers crossed he gets it to me before Steve needs the file for Editing and JIT! ;)
MA says Tabitha, I say Nickie
Explain that when I label my files, coz I write the Nickie part. Sometimes forget, and get confused when MA sends me Tabitha stuff.
Of course, he gives me grief for this, proclaiming it to be a Tabitha book…
MA and “You’re right”
You’re right isn’t something that MA says willingly or often.
It normally involves tonnes of reasoning (which is mostly futile) and waiting for him to emotionally come around to a different way of thinking. It happens. But it can take anything from a few minutes (of tantrum or push back) to several months of just not mentioning it.
It’s often worth the wait.
The other day he called me from China while I was having a lie down. (The recovery from adrenal failure is still progressing well, but I can’t keep going all day yet). He asked about some of the words we’d been working on and I told him I had a problem with some of the sentence structures so I was punching them.
It was a minor point.
But… whether it was because he’d just woken up, or because he was taking it personally, he insisted on seeing what I was doing.
Ellie: dude, we’ve done like 16 books together? Surely at this point you can trust my judgement.
MA: no. it’s not that. And the logic doesn’t follow.
Ellie: how come?
MA: because in those 16 books I wasn’t reading for this.
Ellie: and? It clearly wasn’t something you wanted switching back. And besides, clearly you trust my judgement in order to write that many books with me. And can I just say: Dark Ages?
MA: waffle waffle.
Ellie: So I’m right?
MA: waffle waffle. A few moments of randomness go past.
Ok. Yes. You’re right. Ok. Fine.
(beat)
MA: Shut up.
MA and business decisions
Later in the same conversation we were talking about some business-y stuff. I was gently asking questions to figure out what his motivations were… and giving an alternative viewpoint on stuff he may or may not have considered already.
He sounded grumpy, so I thought I’d try and smooth it over.
Ellie: hey, look, I’m the only one who will say these things to you. So do you want me to stop?
MA: waffle waffle. No.
Ellie: coz I can stop. And then… you can just do whatever you want, in total peace.
MA: waffle waffle.
Ellie: But you know I’m right. And you’d-
MA: yes. You’re right. Ok? Do you want to get it on a recording?
Ellie: no. It’s ok. It’s more important that you understand that I’m right, than I hear it!
MA: Hahahaha. (beat) Shut up.
I know. He’s got a tough job.
But at least he can admit it when someone else is probably right. Well done, Yoda. Well done. :)
Labor Day
If you’re a long-term reader of my little corner of the Kurtherian Universe you’ll already be aware that I moved to the US about a year and a bit ago. I spent my first year in LA and then at the beginning of this year moved to Austin, Texas.
And this will be the first year that I’ll be celebrating Labor Day like a native.
Woot!
It’s all thanks to Amy.
Amy is one of my writer friends. She hangs out at my place quite a bit. You may have seen pictures of us going to see movies or hanging out in the local café. Anyway, we’ve started watching old movies (that we feel we ought to have seen before) at my place, using a projector set up. (Coz projectors, like bow-ties, are cool! – you should excuse the Doctor Who reference if you’re not familiar with the show.)
When we watch movies at the theatre there are strict no talking rules - under pain of death from Shelia the Velociraptor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K9g18kEx-0
At my place there are no such rules.
Or velociraptors.
And so, we stop the movie every so often when we want to talk. It’s a hoot. And we discuss everything from the profound to the ridiculous.
My writing about this in the last author notes led Amy to suggest that we should probably do this on a live stream. So that’s what we’re going to do. It’s open to all levels in Patreon, and we’re even taking a vote on which movie you want us to watch. You can even watch the movie along with us. In fact, I’d recommend that, because then you’ll see what we’re talking about.
It’s going to be a kind of Labor day “watch-along”.
I’m psyched.
Now, full disclosure: Realistically the event is going to be over with by the time you read these notes – unless you read SUPER fast. So… what we’re going to do is put a full recording of the live stream up for anyone to see if they join after the event.
Again, this is any tier you join at… just a bonus for being a part of the family over there.
We’re even having
a poll to determine which film we watch. We’ve tried to keep them all a little British, or British vs American, for maximum humor. (Amy regularly does an Ellie accent, and is gradually teaching me some American, which is highly amusing. For her.)
The movies in the mix are:
The Full Monty,
Sherlock (TV show),
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Bridget Jones's Baby,
and Hot Fuzz.
I’ve only seen two out of the five, so I’m looking forward to broadening my horizons!
If you’d like to check it out, here’s the link to the poll.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cast-your-vote-20894279
Kisses and the missing text generation
MA and I were talking about the back-matter layout of the new Nickie books. I was asking if the link to my fb page was still being included, simply because there is no Oz in this series to do the reminding before the author notes.
MA checked.
MA: Yep it goes in after you put ‘e’ and ‘x’.
Ellie: (thinking for a moment) You mean ‘Ex’? That’s my initial and then a kiss.
MA: I thought a kiss was :-x... like in a face?
Ellie: I think you might have missed a generation of texting.
MA and his Self-Journal
MA was making some reference to his to-do list and it reminded me of his Tony Robbins calendar thingy. I asked him about it.
MA: I’m not using that anymore. I’m using that one you suggested.
Ellie: Panda?
MA: No, the Self-Journal.
Ellie: Oh great. That one is awesome. (I used to give them out at my business masterminds because they’re so effective). How’s it been for you?
MA: Yea, good. The one time I used it it helped.
Ellie: (Blink blink).
MA: Shut up.
MA and (Time-)Travel
MA was in China or some place like that. We were chatting on slack to organize details for the various projects. Once we were done with the essentials I thought I better ask about his travels.
Ellie: so, how’s the trip?
MA: Oh - trip is 'k' - I hate long flights and are on layover for 2 hours to continue to Beijing. Signing probably tonight. It's 6:30 AM right now here.
MA: Tuesday
MA: I WENT INTO THE FUTURE!
MA: Or is it Wednesday?
MA: Fuck, I don't know.
MA: Oh... Tuesday says my laptop
Ellie: hahhahaa #authornotes
John DeBlanc vs Nickie
For the keenly observant members of the Kurtherian family, you may have noticed that our character John Deblanc has a strangely similar name to one of the gang: John DeBlanc!
How so?
Well, we like to honor our readers and helpers as much as possible… and last month John joined at the Patreon level where I said I’d name a character of him. He was psyched about it, and this was my first opportunity since he signed on. So that’s how John Deblanc of Zuifra was named.
And with so many new series I’m in the process of launching won’t just be in Michael’s Kurtherian Universe that you can leave your legacy for readers. (And yes, at this stage you can probably choose. Just drop me a message in there).
If you’re interested in this and scores of other perks, feel free to check out becoming a member here:
https://www.patreon.com/ellleighclarke
I’d love to connect with you over there!
Ok, so I’ve already used about two thirds of our backmatter allowance for this book, so I should probably let MA say something.
Thanks again for reading! You’re the best.
Ellie x
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Written August 28, 2018
Tabitha 03 ;-)
<
First, THANK YOU for not only reading these stories but giving us a chance to crack at each other as well.
As you can tell, Ellie has been a bit busy there in Austin, and with her social media. I admire her ability to keep her stuff all in order since my social media is all over the place.
#Crapfood
So, during this conversation Ellie and I had on the phone yesterday? Two days ago? I think two days ago, she was commenting on her travels to Asia and how the only thing she had difficulty with was finding and being able to eat fresh food.
Now, my concern with coming to China was that I wouldn’t be able to find ANY food I was going to want to eat. I was worried enough that I did research into the subject, and found out KFC was a big deal here in China, and if I was in larger cities, I’d probably be able to eat just fine.
And so I have. I’ve had Japanese, buffets (international hotels seem to have these HUGE restaurants with food from a few different styles. I’ve noticed now in both Asia and previously in Europe, that Italian food is the “go to” choice for me) and I’ve eaten Chinese food at Lost Heaven in Shanghai (WONDERFUL!)
However, what I haven’t tried to locate is anything remotely labeled fresh.
So, when Ellie was complaining (I suppose you could spin it as “commenting”) that it wasn’t easy to find fresh food, and all she could find was processed stuff, I retorted, “You mean that food I eat all the time?”
<
Too many time zones
Ellie is on Central time in the USA, I’m on…HTFDIK in China (approximately 13 hours apart I think.) She has a weird sleep / non-sleep schedule and I’m never sure when is good to call her. I’ve decided it doesn’t matter since whenever I try to call her, she’s asleep.
<
BUT with her weird sleep schedule, I'm probably too nice not calling her at midnight her time, (2:00 PM in the afternoon my time) and screwing up trying to reach her at 11:00 AM her time, 1:00 AM my time.
However, I usually get a ring back or a Slack comment within 30 minutes whenever I reach out. Sometimes I find out she is out with Amy (look out Austin!) and others she is in the middle of a nap. Because naps fuel her life. With such a screwed-up sleep schedule, that’s how she copes.
I, on the other hand, am usually good with a night of sleep and one nap after a large lunch at Javier’s (Aria Hotel). Here in China, I usually sleep from 9:30 pm to 3:30 AM – then wake up to work for a couple of hours while team members are up in the USA and then fall back for a nap before breakfast. I’m JUST getting into the groove to sleep longer, and I go home in three (3) days. Just in time to HATE MY LIFE adjusting to USA time.
I’m back one night in Vegas, then fly to Atlanta, Georgia (the state, not the country for you John Ringo fans) and visit DragonCon.
Hope I saw you there! (I’m flying home when this book is released.)
This book would be much later
If it wasn’t for Ellie keeping me on track, and Natale Roberts helping me too, this book wouldn’t be where it is (in front of you, being read.) I sincerely appreciate the Editors (Lynne’s team) / Artist (Jeff-fa-fa) / JIT team / Jami and folks and everyone who has helped produce our stories, and this one in particular.
<
If you liked these storie
s (or ANY author’s stories) consider giving them a review, it helps our marketing for the next fan!
Just a note. If you happen to go to Shenzhen, China. The town isn’t two gas stations and a single light, it’s a city of about twelve million people. SURPRISE! (Also, it’s a note for me to pay attention to the cities I’m going to visit and learning a bit about them before I jump on a train, not knowing where I’m going to end up.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
Books written by Ell Leigh Clarke
The Ascension Myth
* With Michael Anderle *
Awakened (01)
Activated (02)
Called (03)
Sanctioned (04)
Rebirth (05)
Retribution (06)
Cloaked (07)
Bourne (08)
Committed (09)
Subversion (10)
Invasion (11)
Ascension (12)
Confessions of a Space Anthropologist
* With Michael Anderle *
Giles Kurns: Rogue Operator (01)
Giles Kurns: Rogue Instigator (02)
The Second Dark Ages
*with Michael Anderle*
Darkest Before The Dawn (03)
Dawn Arrives (04)
Deuces Wild
*with Michael Anderle*
Beyond The Frontiers (01)
Rampage (02)
Labyrinth (03)