Tag: The Augmented Man

Fantasy Horror Author A.F. Stewart and I talk Deviltry, Noveltry, Shipbuilding, Agony and Ecstasy

Watch, leave a comment, gain a friend!

A.F. Stewart, aka @Scribe77, did me.

Interviewed me, I mean.

 
We talked about

  • The differences between writing short stories and novels (not much from a crafting standpoint, me thinks)
  • Creating sympathetic villains (even the worst person has one humanizing detail)
  • Genre writing (I don’t believe I write in a genre. My regular readers tell me my genre is “Joseph”)
  • My incredible anthology, Tales Told ‘Round Celestial Campfires
  • Being able to do amazing things with words when you’re an author
  • The link between Satan and Hamilton Burger
  • Getting kudos from your readers
  • Ritchie and Phyl, my incredible work in progress
  • How writing Flash fiction is like building a ship in a bottle
  • Great Opening Lines
  • My incredible scifi/military/thriller, The Augmented Man
  • Writing about characters rather than genre (the story comes first, the genre comes second)
  • Empty Sky and my standing offer; read the book, leave a review, and I’ll send you an autographed copy of the rewrite when it’s published.
  • Children growing up
  • Stories that grew out of my anthropology studies – Mani He and The Goatmen of Aguirra
  • Getting kudos from editors and publishers
  • Writing almost fantastic fantasies (okay, the story’s fantastic. It uses almost fantasy elements – The Weight)

So, yeah, we covered a few things.

Enjoy!

He can read, too!

It’s so thrilling!

I thought I’d give folks a bit of a treat and/or break today.

A treat – I’ll read excerpts from The Augmented Man.

A break – in case a steady diet of Empty Sky is becoming tiresome.

 
A while back I polled readers regarding what single scene they’d like to hear read aloud. Everybody had great suggestions and four scenes came to the top. Everybody thought the final scene was amazing and no, I’m not going to share it aloud here. Read it for yourself. I don’t want to give anything away.

The other three top scenes are offered here: Surface, Donaldson introducing the Augmented Men to the Gang of Eight, and the WarClouds discovering Rivers in the forest.

Enjoy!

The opening, Surface section:

 

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Joseph Carrabis signs and discusses The Augmented Man at The Barnes&Noble in Peabody, MA 5 Jan Noon

Come watch me sign books! It’s amazing! I’ll even sign one for you!

The good folks at the Peabody, MA, Barnes&Noble bookstore invited me to do a book signing on Sunday, 5 Jan 2020 starting at noonET.

Please attend. It’ll be fun!

 
A bit about The Augmented Man
The US Military concedes that any kind of combat leaves soldiers psychologically damaged and makes reintegration to society difficult.

The solution is to find individuals who are already so psychologically damaged the most horrendous combat experience will seem trivial by comparison. Better, find individuals psychologically damaged who’ve also experienced massive physical insult and trauma. Best, individuals psychologically damaged, physically traumatized, and emotionally vacant.

But where to find such individuals?

Captain James Donaldson suggests using massively abused and traumatized children as the basis, arguing “…they’ve already experienced more at home than they’ll ever experience in the field. All we need to is help their bodies catch up to where their psyches and emotions already are.

Nine individuals are selected for Augmentation and entered into combat.

One survives.

And comes home.

Anecdote Deux
At the request of those in attendance at my last booksigning, I read both the Surface section and pages 228-231, from the start of the first Gunship scene to “Better, Ed?” of The Augmented Man as my text.

I should point out that I’m always nervous reading. I truly prefer someone else reading my work. I can hear how it sounds to other people that way.

In any case, I read.

And people froze. I’m not kidding. It was that cold.

Okay, I am kidding. I mean when I stopped reading and looked up, it was deer-caught-in-headlights time. The folks listening stared at me, blinking. A few moments later the comments began; “You pulled me in,” “My god that’s incredible,” “Shit, you can write,” and more.

YES! Thank you, that’s what it’s all about.

To me.

When your audience is so captivated by the work they’re speechless, you’ve done your job as an author.

About me
You can find out more than you need to know at my About page.

Give a Listen

Don’t I sound good?

I got a slot on The Authors’ Show today, 4 Dec 2019, all day.

All you need do is go to The Authors’ Show and click on The Augmented Man in the broadcast schedule to listen to me waxing lyrical.

Okay, more like me talking about the book.

In any case, hope you enjoy.

And if you get a chance. Let me know what you think.

 

Joseph Carrabis signs and discusses The Augmented Man at The Barnes&Noble in Burlington, MA 14 Dec 1PM

Ever watch an author sign a book for a reader? It’s impressive. There’s a flourish, a joy, an excitement. It’s amazing. Come watch it happen!

The good folks at the Burlington, MA, Barnes&Noble bookstore invited me to do a book signing on Saturday December 14, 2019 1:00 PM.

Please attend. It’ll be fun!

 
A bit about The Augmented Man
The US Military concedes that any kind of combat leaves soldiers psychologically damaged and makes reintegration to society difficult.

The solution is to find individuals who are already so psychologically damaged the most horrendous combat experience will seem trivial by comparison. Better, find individuals psychologically damaged who’ve also experienced massive physical insult and trauma. Best, individuals psychologically damaged, physically traumatized, and emotionally vacant.

But where to find such individuals?

Captain James Donaldson suggests using massively abused and traumatized children as the basis, arguing “…they’ve already experienced more at home than they’ll ever experience in the field. All we need to is help their bodies catch up to where their psyches and emotions already are.

Nine individuals are selected for Augmentation and entered into combat.

One survives.

And comes home.

Anecdote
I recently took part in an authors’ reading and used the Surface section of The Augmented Man as my text.

One of the other author’s partners said, “I’m uncomfortable with your subject, but your writing pulled me right into the story.”

YES! Thank you, that’s what it’s all about.

To me.

When the power of the writing overcomes the reader’s objections to the story’s content, take a moment and be proud. You’ve done good work.

About me
You can find out more than you need to know at my About page.