Barry Lyga's Blog: The BLog, page 9

Hey, here’s a video of me demystifying how authors get paid. Or at least trying to demystify it! As you’ll see, it’s a complicated subject…

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💰💰MONEY! 💰💰 Writing Advice: How are authors paid??? More writing advice: barrylyga.com/writingadvice #barrylyga #writersoftiktok #author #authorsoftiktok #writer #booktok #writingadvice #fyp #money #royalties #publishing

♬ original sound – Barry Lyga

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Right now, I’m low-key obsessed with a game called The Long Dark.

It’s a survival simulator, basically, where you play as a person (male or female, your choice) trapped in the Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic storm has wiped out all technology. The great thing about the game is that it is “the poetry of survival.” There are no other characters. No missions. No enemies to fight (other than some wildlife that, if you’re smart, you can avoid.) It’s all about scavenging for scraps and just trying to survive.

My record so far is 23 days.

It’s weirdly soothing, and there’s a real spike of adrenaline when you find a hidden cache of food or stumble across a cabin in the middle of the woods!

(And since it’s me, occasionally you stumble across a dead body…)

I joined Sheridan Sharp on her “Am I Write?” podcast to discuss skill, perseverance, and the power of luck when it comes to publishing. It was a really fun conversation — check it out in your favorite podcast player or at this link!

 

Every year around this time, I post a list of books I really, really enjoyed over the last twelve months. I don’t artificially impose any sort of number I must reach — it’s not my Top Ten, for example. It’s just “of all the books I read this year, these are the ones I think you gotta read.”

Here you go:

Five Decembers by James KestrelSkyjacked by Paul GriffinThe Shining Girls by Lauren BeukesEvery City Is Every Other City by John McFetridgeRevival by Stephen KingThe Word Exchange by Alena GraedonBlack Volume 1 by Kwanza Osajyefo, Tim Smith 3, & Jamal IgleMen of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book by Gerald JonesThe 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

My dad passed away on October 9. It was both a shock and not a shock.

He’d been sick for a few weeks. In the hospital and then in a rehab facility. Feeling pretty good and committed to physical therapy so that he could go home.

And then suddenly they rushed him back to the hospital and when I finally got through to my stepmother to find out why, she said, simply, “He didn’t make it.

“I’m so sorry. He didn’t make it.”

This isn’t an obituary. (He already has one.) It’s not a eulogy. (I already gave one.)

It’s just to note that my dad is gone, and I’m sad. Except for the times I’m not. And then I am again.

On the same day my dad died, so did Keith Giffen, the phenomenal art talent who drew Young Barry’s favorite comic book, Legion of Super-Heroes. And because my life has taken so many weird turns, I am friends with Giffen’s longtime buddy and collaborator Paul Levitz, so I emailed Paul to offer my condolences, and all he wanted to do was offer his condolences about my dad, but I just wanted to talk about Keith.

I guess because it was easier.

My dad taught me to play piano and then when my parents got divorced, I didn’t have a piano to practice on any longer. And not a week goes by that I don’t wish I still played.

And now it’s more intense because I associate the piano with my father, a beautiful, talented player, and I wish I could hear him play again. He played the Beatles and Del Shannon and Beethoven and Liszt and Boston and basically anything you could play on the piano.

When I was a kid, he played in a rock band on the weekends, which earned me a teeny tiny bit of street cred when he spoke at my school on Career Day.

As far as I know, that picture up there at the top is the first one ever of him holding me. And there’s no one to tell me otherwise any more.

A million years ago (OK, maybe six), I was asked to write some novels based on The Flash TV series. I was, needless to say, chuffed.

Someone at my publisher mentioned that if I did a good job writing the books that maybe I’d get the opportunity to pitch an episode of the show.

This, also needless to say, did not happen.

But recently I was spelunking on my hard drive and I was surprised to find the script, embedded below. Now, I remember coming up with an idea for an episode of the show. I even remember writing up an outline and noodling around with some dialogue.

But I don’t remember actually writing the damn thing!

And yet…here it is. A full episode of The Flash, set somewhere in Season 3, I’d imagine. I know that at the time I was thinking about this, I figured it would be a fill-in episode, so I deliberately wrote it to avoid continuity glitches and such. But as I look at it now, I realize that — especially for a first-timer — it relies way too much on guest stars and special effects. I think it probably would have been pretty expensive.

And even though it was meant to be a one-off, I left a little hook just in case anyone wanted to revisit.

Ah, well.

If you’re interested, enter the world of…Swift Justice!

Flash TV Episode

I’ve always loved the idea of cool designs based on my books, but I never had the time to make it happen until recently.

Well, now I am proud to announce the opening of the Barry Lyga Store!

You’ll find a bevy of fun designs on a plethora of different products. Everything from t-shirts and hoodies to phone cases, water bottles, stickers, and more!

There’s a ton of I Hunt Killers stuff, as well as Brookdale items from The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl, Boy Toy, Hero-Type, and Goth Girl Rising!

Oh, and BTW — that I Hunt Killers skull word cloud is my absolute fave design. It looks really amazing on the graphic tee…

Somehow I missed this when it went live a couple of weeks ago! Mea culpa!

Check out my hour-long interview with Dan Henk, in which I discuss my writing methods and philosophies, as well as eighties comics! Find it here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every year, I try to pick out the very best of the books I read and funnel them directly into your brain. In 2022, I read 48 novels and a ton of comic books. Here are the ones I thought were the very very best:

Piranesi by Susanna ClarkeThe First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire NorthLater by Stephen KingSex Criminals Vol. 1 by Matt Fraction & Chip ZdarskyThe Getaway by Lamar GilesDie Volume 1 by Kieron GillenRecursion by Blake CrouchThe Sellout by Paul Beatty