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 Just a short one today.
Tell your story! - J. E. Ayers
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 Available 9/12/23 We have a sample chapter out for Skate the Seeker! Find it here.
There is also a sale in the shop until the 20th of August, so go get some cool stuff. I look forward to September 12th! -J. E. Ayers  Skate the Seeker Proof copies are on the way, and there will be some early reviews coming after that. I’m to the point where it’s time to start doing more than thinking about book 3. I expect I’ll start the draft within a month or two. Events for Seeker are lining up; most of my weekends in September are gone already! Keep an eye out for previews here and elsewhere. Media To get ready to teach creative writing this semester, I’ve been trying to make sure that as I read and watch stuff, I’m paying attention to choices and thoughts behind them. Anything that I can talk about with the class, I want in my pocket. I’ve been rereading some of my comics/graphic novels. The Long Halloween continues to be a stellar reread, which is saying a lot for a comic book run from almost thirty years ago. I suppose good storytelling stands out against time no matter the medium or genre. This continues to be THE Batman story for me, and marks a pretty clear point of deviation from the Miller years in terms of tone and attitude, all for the good.  Image belongs to Bones studios. All rights reserved by owner. I also started My Hero Academia over since I can’t remember where I left off before. The show does so much characterization with design and dialogue. It’s a great example of economic storytelling in a visual medium, and I’m blown away by how engaging it is from the start. I've also enjoyed a re-watch of One Punch Man's episodes, which does a fantastic job of telling one joke, but somehow making it funny each time it builds to the anti-climax. Miscellany There’s stuff coming up soon, all about a month away. School starts in a few weeks. I’ll post stuff on here and social media about local events and whatnot when the time comes. Speaking of social media, you can find me on Threads … which I cannot yet link here because the app doesn’t have desktop capability. Hmm. I'll be trying to update parts of the website more broadly soon; keen-eyed observers may have noticed a "Store" button up at the top of the page. Until I can get to work right on here, I've just plopped a link there to the Red Bubble store and called it good enough. Anyway, side projects abound. Now that all the major work is done on finalizing Seeker, I’m ready to start on book three, so those will now probably have to wait. That’s all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers   Map for Skate the Seeker by @shah_alom1 on fiverr.com A Map, a Map, a Map! First, thanks to Md Shah Alom of fiverr.com for making this map, which will be located at the front of Skate the Seeker. Book two covers a lot of ground, and I wanted to give readers a visual way to keep track of where everyone was going to and coming from. The artist does lots of good work - not just maps - so you should go check him out if you're in the market for just about anything design-related. I've always been drawn to maps. If there were maps in my textbooks at school, those were what drew my attention before, during, and after the accompanying text. When it comes to fiction, the maps that accompany the sprawling worlds of writers like Tolkien, Martin, and Sanderson were always easy wins for me as a reader.
 Skate the Seeker Proofreads have been sent back to the publisher. I think we'll be ready after one more round, with plenty of time before the September 12 release. The nuts and bolts are done, for the most part. Nothing else to report here, yet. If you haven't read book 1, I guess now's the time before the sequel hits you. Media There's been so much, all of it good. The Super Mario movie was fun. It was pretty much what a movie about Mario ought to be, really. Is there some deep message to it? Not particularly, but there doesn't need to be. Sometimes a movie can just be flashy, silly, and colorful, and that's okay. I also watched most of the second season of Star Wars: Visions, and "Screecher's Reach" may be the single best slice of Star Wars I have ever seen. I will spoil nothing. I will only say that the mood of this episode is phenomenal and the plot made me feel more than any Star Wars media has in at least a decade. When I think of great episodes of a series, this one will rank the top of the list for a while. Absolutely phenomenal work. The thing that has eaten up most of my free time by far has been Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Since the day it came out, I've managed to log about fifty hours, and I feel I've barel scratched the surface of what I can do and see. The scope of this game is insane, and the new enemies and abilities make for a very different experience than its predecessor. I love this game, and it's another example of something that's made me feel things for media that I haven't in years. I like digital skydiving, but I have no desire for the real thing. Weird.  Copyright Nintendo, Inc. Miscellany There's not more to report on my side project yet. Skate's been front and center since I got it back from the publisher. Now that summer is upon us, I don't know when I'll be able to reliably get back to the daily work the Rainbow invites. Skate has a TV Tropes page now. I've got loads to get ready for next year's teaching schedule. I finally get to teach creative writing! How great is that! This wonderful opportunity does mean a lot of planning required on my part. There's also Quiz Bowl and Chess Club to consider. Keep an eye out for the occasional bonus post like the one I shot out a week ago. Busy, busy. That's all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers  I have made no secret of my love of public libraries; I don’t know anyone who does any amount of recreational reading who doesn’t have some story of finding a book on a chance perusal of library shelves that affected their taste in years to come, or who needed some service offered by their local library in a time of need. These thoughts are a defense of sorts, an apologia general in favor of these institutions that benefit us all – even if you’ve never set foot in one yourself (you need to fix that, by the way – go to your library). Public libraries are one of the single best ideas humanity has ever produced and successfully implemented. To have a public warehouse full of every printed media imaginable, with access granted freely to every person regardless of status or education, is an unambiguous boon to our collective lives, an uncomplicated and straightforward benefit to every single citizen. You can access – free of charge – a catalog of newspapers and magazines, nonfiction, fiction of every stripe, reference materials, maps, histories, movies, music, and more at your convenience. When I consider how much we collectively gain, how much is available to me personally, through these institutions, I genuinely marvel at the fact that something so wonderful, so powerful, is available to us all without costing anything to any individual beyond a small tax (a small tax, by the way, that I guarantee you don’t even notice). And let us imagine that you are an unfortunate soul who doesn’t enjoy your library. Perhaps it is underfunded, perhaps you don’t like books (!!!), perhaps you live too far away from one to justify a trip – whatever the cause, let ‘s assume you don’t like your library, or at least that you don’t ever plan to make use of your library. It’s still a benefit to you to have it open so that others can use it. Maybe your doctor used a library for a quiet study location when she was in school, or maybe your mechanic used his library as a resource as a child and got interested in cars. Anyone who has to learn anything – that is to say, everyone – benefits from the existence of these places. Some scoff at libraries as old fashioned or obsolete. “We have the internet,” they say. “Why would we still need these spaces?” To this skeptic, I offer three rebuttals.
There will always be a place for libraries, and there always should be. Any system or development that ends up without free public libraries is a bad system, and would be unacceptable to ever implement. I walked into my local library yesterday because I needed a DVD of a film I planned to show in class. The library, of course, had the movie. While I was there, I passed by a display of books on beekeeping. Why was it there? Was it merely seasonal? Did one of our librarians have an interest in apiarian pursuits? I don't know, and it doesn't matter. It was good to see the book about bees and how to tend them. I passed by a manga version of Macbeth. I pulled it from the shelf, and flipped through it. It was great! I put it into the "return if you're not checking out" bin. Nobody hassled me at any point during any of this. No one tried to make me pay money for anything, no one tried to sell me anything, no one told me to leave my seat. I was able to be at peace in public enjoying a wonderful adaptation of one of my favorite stories, and this is available to me every day. I love my library. I hope you do too. That's all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers  Skate the Seeker Work continues with the good people at Thinklings on book 2 of the Rag & Bone Chronicles. Once I get the final copy back, it’s another read through for me and then off to the printers for final formatting. Keep an eye out; we’ll likely have a preview chapter out before the release day: September 12, 2023. Media With school trying its best to wind down, I’m neck deep in Gatsby. We’re finally through the book, and now it’s on to Baz Luhrmann’s kaleidoscopic retelling for a series of comparisons between film and novel. This movie never gives you a chance to stop and think, a ceaseless whirlwind of spectacle and drama. I love it, and look forward to it each year. I’ve got a foot in Westeros as well, in Storm of Swords for the fourth read-through. I think if I read the books enough, GRRM may finally finish book six. Probably not helping, but I’m gonna do my part to try. I also picked up a copy of Estranged from my local bookstore, and it’s a fun graphic fairytale for middle-grade readers. I recommend it for anyone who’s a fan of fantasy. Miscellany I’ve finished the first draft of my side project, and I’m nearly done with my first read-through. This pass is mostly to take note of what needs fixing the most – inconsistencies, flagrant narrative cheating, plot troubles – though I do take the time to tighten up the prose with this pass, just as I do for each of them. Plenty of work to do yet. I doubt I’ll have a finished manuscript before it’s time to work on R&B 3, but I plan to get as far as I can in the process.  Image belongs to Nintendo, Inc. I’m looking forward to taking my son to see the Mario movie; I’ve heard it’s great fun, the exact sort of thing I’d like to watch with him in preparation for his birthday this month. I’m also greatly anticipating the sequel to Breath of the Wild on the Switch. Tears of the Kingdom looks awesome, and I am doing my best to avoid too many spoilers in the meantime. I’ve started playing Minecraft, and it’s fun in survival and creative modes, providing another distraction for as long as I care to enjoy it. That’s all from me, for now. Tell your story! –J. E. Ayers  Skate the Seeker As announced recently, I can finally share the cover art for Skate the Seeker! Keep an eye out for further updates and previews; September 12 cannot get here soon enough. Special thanks to Nada Orlić for her work on the cover. I was excited to get the same designer for book 1 working on book 2, and am very happy with the results. Media I picked up a middle-grade graphic novel called Estranged from my local book resale shop, Once Upon a Time Books. It was a quick read, and very fun. Fans of the Amulet series will find a lot to like here. I’ve continued into season 2 of His Dark Materials, and I’m loving that. Tense and emotional, exciting and magical, all at the right moments, with just the lightest touch of humor to ease you forward through the story, I look forward to carving time out each week to watch on the couch. With House of the Dragon still months (years? I don’t remember) away from more episodes, it’s a strong contender for best new fantasy show on a streaming service right now.  Image copyright belongs to Joy Pictures, Inc. I also watched the animated The Legend of Hei from Joy Pictures. This was easily my favorite random find as far as shows go from the last few years. Fans of Wuxia, magic martial arts, and clean entertainment should definitely give this a watch. Elemental magic à la the Avatar universe plays a part, and I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. Miscellany Work on side project Rainbow continues; I took a break from it for almost two months waiting on Skate news, but now I’m a couple chapters away from a finished first – and VERY rough – first draft. As soon as I put finishing touches on Seeker, I’ll set Rainbow aside and begin work on Rag & Bone 3. Until then, it’s giving me something to work on without spinning my wheels in frustration. I introduced my eldest to Minecraft yesterday, and he was engrossed. In creative mode, nothing can hurt you, so he enjoyed meeting zombies and creepers, squids and pigs. It was fun to watch him explore, too. It’s a wonderful world we live in, where these imaginary places can grow for infinite exploration at the click of a button. That’s all from me for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers   The cover for the book is out! Grab a copy on September 12! That's all. -J. E. Ayers |
AuthorJeff Ayers writes books that are pretty good. Archives
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