aroslav: Blog

I've gotten a couple of questions recently that were interesting enough that I thought I'd share them with whoever was interested.

The first was a comment from a reader of Adams' Apples, a book that is a spoof or lampoon of just about everything. If there is someone I did not make fun of, I apologize. The story was conceived about forty years ago and begun in February of 2019, just before we found out we'd be locked down with some new pandemic that was going to kill us all. I was going at it for the most ridiculous scenarios I could come up with and every morning I woke up to see something even more ridiculous in the news.

The criticism was two-fold. 1) The cure was released to the world for free, but suddenly there's talk of government approval and $500 a dose. That's a punchy hole in the plot there. 2) How is it that it was okay for Elisabeth to poison Ramsey, deliberately going against his will to not be a lab rat? How is that acceptable behavior?

Okay. 1) 100 years ago this year, a doctor and grad student in Toronto made a lifesaving discovery and patented the drug. They considered this to be so important to the world that they sold the patent to the university for $1 to put it in public domain. Yet today, Insulin costs between $120-$400 a month and there is no generic alternative. All drug companies had to do was build on the public domain patent with one added feature to make the drug private and jack up the prices. Generics of any medication can only be made after the patent has expired and by simply changing the formula slightly every few years as an improvement on the basic formula, the big pharma companies have kept insulin away from the public which should receive it for free.

2) Whoever said Elizabeth's actions were 'okay?' Really, if that's the only red flag in this story about how absurd the situation was, I was too subtle. And still, people would rather give their families a horse tranquilizer for Covid than get vaccinated. The Covid vaccine should have been offered at about $300 per shot so only the rich could afford it and then everyone would be clamoring to get it for free. And no one would care what was in it.

Well, if that didn't get half my readership up in arms over one thing or another, I've lost my touch. Maybe I should misidentify a firearm and really touch off a controversy. Or I could make a mistake in the baling process for hay. That could keep us talking for a few days.

But my second question was less controversial. I've received this question several times over the past year regarding the Team Manager series, but here it is in a nutshell: "In your mind who’s the girl on the cover?"

I guess I've never talked about my cover selection process. I don't set out looking for a match to a particular character for my covers. I look on a stock photo site for a selection of keywords and review the presented images to see which I think most appropriately represents the story. That being said, however, the covers do end up representing a character in my mind over time. In the Team Manager series, they are easy:

SWISH! is Natalie Armor, Dennis's Number One.
SPRINT! is Brenda Grant, Dennis's Number Four.
COACH! is Amy Unger, Dennis's Number Two.
CHAMP! (not yet fully developed and subject to change) is Lana Brown, Dennis's Number Ten.

If you check out either my Patreon blog today (members only) or my Discord, you'll find a montage of the four cover girls as well as proper photo credits and licensing info. I license nearly all my art from Shutterstock.

And yes, I will be getting the paperback version of COACH! out soon for the two of you who want to buy it.

Another surprised reader went back in the archives and read "Welded Together", the second story I posted on SOL. His comment was: "While this was an enjoyable story, it was not your best as you have demonstrated in so many others." He was specific regarding flat characters and lack of character development.

My response was that this was most certainly not only not my best, but it is without question my second worst story I've posted here. The worst one was so bad and out of character that I had it removed.

"Welded Together" was a concept I had that I didn't execute very well. I was still learning my way around this genre, and it was supposed to be a place holder to keep people aware of me while I was developing the Model Student series. It did, but not in a good way. I even edited the ending to make it less of a downer! But I still thought the concept was sound and deserved a better treatment.

So, I gave it one. In my series of stories titled Pygmalion Revisited, the story "Iron Alchemy" is generally the same basic story, but with much better treatment, more interesting characters, and overall better writing. Pygmalion Revisited is a series of stories based loosely on the Pygmalion myth as told by Ovid. Each story explores a different aspect of the relationship between an artist and his or her artwork or models. Each is in a different medium. I really liked that series and think more people would like it as well. Don't skip the introduction which has the text of the myth as recited by Ovid (translated).

That's it from warm and sunny Las Vegas. I hope those of you who have been impacted by the snowstorms this week stay safe and warm.

The third volume of the Team Manager series has begun serialization today with the posting of the cast list and the first chapter of COACH!. This one is 45 chapters long and I've uploaded all of them to post every three days through June 13, 2022. By that time, I hope to have volume four ready to post.

In the meantime, I'm in the rewriting/editing stage of the last part of Bob's Memoir: 4,000 Years as a Free Demon. As is often the case, I've discovered the first draft ending was too abrupt and left the story in a bad place, so there is a lot of new material being added. The first draft, written during NaNoWriMo in November, was 150,000 words. This draft with at least two chapters left to go is 190,000 words. The story concept has almost limitless possibilities.

I follow two sports teams in Iowa while I'm writing the Team Manager series. They've practically written the next volume for me with the way they are playing basketball. Last night, my college team scored an 85-49 victory and one player went over 1500 career points when she sank six three-pointers. Four of them were in the first four minutes of the game! The high school team plays tonight, defending its 17-1 season record. Go Angelines and Crusaders!

Enjoy!

The next serial of the Team Manager series starts here on SOL on Tuesday February 1, but the COACH! eBook is available now! The new book is 45 chapters and 156,000 words. Just right for your weekend reading.

In case you're wondering, I'm 20 chapters into writing the next volume, CHAMP! I anticipate release of that book in approximately mid-June.

Of course, my Sausage Grinder patrons ($10/month) are reading the book now as I write it! Usually, two or three chapters a week.

Enjoy the story and join in the conversation on my Discord page.

It's hard to believe that Team Manager SPRINT! will come to an end this week! The last chapter is slated to post on Saturday. Despite getting some push-back on my antiquated haying techniques, response has been good and I'm excited to continue the series with Team Manager COACH! on February 1. COACH! contains an updated cast list at the beginning of the book so you'll know who is who.

And I'm releasing the COACH! eBook on January 28, so you can continue straight from the last chapter of SPRINT! into the new book. That's this coming Friday, so watch for it on Bookapy.

In the meantime, I'm continuing to progress on the fourth book in this series by writing two or three chapters a week. It will be ready to go before COACH! comes to an end. Lots more fun as the crew faces their last high school season and heads off to college. This will be a one-of-a-kind adventure.

And I'm nearing the end of the rewrite process of Bob's Memoir: 4000 Years as a Free Demon. This free-wheeling romp through the history of humanity as seen by a somewhat naive immortal will give you a whole new perspective on what you think you know about history. Cameos by Zeus, Aphrodite, Jesus, Poseidon, Homer, Odysseus, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Caesar, the Spanish Inquisition, and Doug. Bob is just a happy-go-lucky... mostly lucky... demon, romping through the greatest bedrooms of history.

Bob will take you around the world in 40 centuries. I expect I'll have this ready to post somewhere around the end of February or beginning of March. If you are easily offended, better skip this one. No subject, no religion, no country, and no politics are off limits for Bob's commentary.

Well, that's the news from Las Vegas this week. Hope you are staying safe, sane, and healthy!

Well, the year was a little bumpy getting started, but I think I’m moving forward again. January 2, I had to post to my patrons that I’d done no new writing that week! Almost unheard of. It had to do with my cancelled flight from Seattle to Las Vegas and getting out of town four days late, then having my daughter and her husband show up for five days the next day. Wouldn’t have traded that for all the words in the dictionary!

This week, I’ve gotten rolling again and managed to get two new chapters out. I'm ready to hit the keyboard again this afternoon. That work is on Team Manager CHAMP!, which I expect to be the last volume in the Team Manager Series. Don’t forget that Team Manager COACH! is slated to start here on February 1. The eBook will be released at the same time.

This is important:

I deleted a comment from the Team Manager SPRINT! comments last night. I deliberated a long time about it before I hit the trash container. I really don’t mind occasional political comments (which pop up every time a firearm is mentioned in one of my stories). I don’t mind being called out on my antiquated haying processes in the story. Sorry. My memories of haying are from 60 years ago. I was a little nostalgic.

What I don’t like is flaming. Flaming is anytime a reader makes a personal attack on another reader rather than on the content of a comment. You can cite all the studies you want regarding whether gun control works or not. Stick to the subject. You can send me YouTube videos on modern haying operations. Fine. But don’t start calling people names and questioning their intelligence just because they disagree with you. I’ll delete it. And if it gets too bad, I’ll close off the comments entirely.

And please, don’t try to tell me that infringes your right to free speech! I’m not passing any governmental laws about what you can and can’t say. I’m telling you that it isn’t welcome in my comment feed and I’ll kick it out. Your right to free speech stops at my ears.

Aside from that, I’m also having a great time working on the rewrite of Bob’s Memoir: 4000 Years as a Free Demon. I cranked out that story at the phenomenal rate of 5,000 words a day during November. Now, in rewriting it, I’ve discovered how much I left out! Usually, when I rewrite, I compress things and edit them down. This is turning out to be about 50% longer in the rewrite than in the first draft!

I just hope that everyone else finds the story as riveting as I do. I’m having a blast! Probably looking at March or April release.

Enjoy!