Indie Book Club discussion

Congrats to Big J for getting his second book chosen as the BotM!

If you are interested in reading and haven't read the first book it is free on Amazon permanently so there is no cost to catch up.

Damn! I won! How cool!

Ok, I generated a coupon from Smashwords that's good for the entire month of July. Use VD43A. That'll drop the book to $1.50. If anyone encounters any problems with the code, let me know and I'll fix the problem.

Thanks again and I hope you guys like it!

Big J

Ok, thought this might come in helpful. An actual link to the book on Smashwords. :)

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

I've been told from a few different people that the second book is not really a stand alone book. It's a problem I've rectified for the third, but in case anyone would like to read it without reading the first one first, and you have questions, feel free to ask away!

Also, Scott is right. The first is free on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a whole slew of other places.

The first book will also explain the strange picture he keeps posting if anyone is wondering lol!

LOL! Ye olde Bug of Nightmarish Proportions! Chapter 14 - Exterminators. My favorite chapter and my wife's least favorite. She deliberately calls the guur "grr", when it should rhyme with "spoor", or "allure". Guur. Jeez.

Big J

I'm happy it's this book 'cause I've actually already read it! :D

And I liked the bugs. You know, when they were on fire. I approve of the fire.

Congrats, Jeff. I'll be diving in soon!

Thanks, B!

Since there are a few people who have already read the book and others who have read the first one and therefore have a passing familiarity with Lentari I'll start with some discussion questions.

Which jhorun is the coolest? What would you like to have?

Hollywood cast for the big budget movie version.

Best practical joke Steve and Sarah could combine to play?

What do you think a cool dragon name would be for Lentari?

Mmmm, good questions. I'm on the iPad at the moment. I'll start formulating my answers!

Best practical joke... That's a good one... *thinking**

Ok, to address the questions...

First off are the jhoruns. Which one would be the coolest? As much as I'd think it'd be cool as hell to have Steve's ability of being a fire thrower, I'd still choose Sarah's teleportation jhorun. Being able to revisit any place you've already been? Sign me up!

Hollywood cast for the big budget version of the story...

Here's who I would choose:

Steve: Maybe Chris Klein? Josh Duhamel?
Sarah: Kaley Cuoco or maybe Jennifer Lawrence. She seems to serious, though.
Annie: Liv Tyler, or maybe a younger Jennifer Connelly
Tristan: Channing Tatum
Mikal: Freddie Boath (young Alex from Mummy Returns)
Rhenyon: Mads Mikkleson
Thaden: I think Joseph Gordon-Levitt could easily pull it off.

Best practical joke that Steve and Sarah could team up on and pull off?

**thinking**

I think it'd be funny as hell if Sarah would teleport a sleeping person onto a raft in the middle of a lake and then have Steve throw a chaser that would zoom over his head, thus causing them to freak out and leap out of bed. Right into the water. Who would I do that to? Older bro. Younger bro. Sister. Bro-in-law. Sis-in-law. Mother-in-law. Wow, the list keeps growing, doesn't it?? :)

As for a cool dragon name for Lentari? I've had several suggested to me on my blog. I personally like Lorcan, Caradoc, and Sarkan. All of which I used in book III. LOL!

Jeff, Book II is proving to be a very fun and engaging read so far. Nice work. Editing is top notch as well. I might have to hire your editor one of these days... :)

For best prank I would like to see Sarah teleport the pants off of a political figure, or an equivalent, in the middle of a debate while Steve heats up the soles of his shoes. Hopefully no one is going commando, but it would be pretty hilarious to see some self important jerk suddenly in his underwear dancing around like crazy with super heated feet.

I think being a fire slinger would be epic, but the telekinesis/teleporting thing would be a lot more practical!

I'm almost seeing Patrick Wilson as Steve and Beth Riesgraf as Sarah. I can totally see Baoth for Mikal, and like Luke Evans still for Rhenyon. I see someone less... pretty for Tristan than Tatum, myself, a little more rugged in his handsome... Though I'm not sure who yet. ^_^

I'm terrible at practical jokes, and I like Caradoc!

Beth Riesgraf... I can totally see her as Sarah. Nice choice! And toasting politicians? Man alive, the possibilities are endless!!!!

B - She did a really good job, that's for sure. She's a member here. Brandy, you did a great job!

Interested in editing book III? I'm not done yet, but the finish line is finally in sight.

Though a little less psychotic in her portrayal of Sarah than how she plays Parker in "Leverage"!

Lol! True!

By the way, to those that celebrate it, Happy 4th!!

Ok, here's an open-ended question for anyone who'd like to answer.

Let's just say, in this example, if you were approached by a wizard of Lentari and you could have your very own jhorun, what would you make it? Something practical? Something fun? Something devious? All of the above??? :)

If I had my own jhorun, it would be the ability of flight, that would be uber cool. If I couldn't have that, then perhaps super eyesight or senses.

I am keen to find out what happens in book 3. Am I right in saying it might be taking place partly on earth? I am imagining all sorts of things, from melee combat in your local KFC to Dragons dogfighting F-22's :-)
While I love the 'homely' feel of the first two books, I would absolutely love to see it turn into a kinda Superhero context, and wonder how Steve and Sarah would cope with the stardom ;-)

~Rob

The ability of flight. That would be an awesome jhorun. That'd have to rank in the top 5 uber-cool jhoruns of all time!

Book III does have some scenes happening on Earth. There's an accidental teleportation by a panicked female teleporter. Both wyverian and rider are teleported to Earth. Sorry, but there really aren't any battles detailing dragons versus technology!

I wonder how Steve and Sarah would deal with stardom, too. Steve would probably scowl at all the attention and Sarah would just flat-out avoid it 'cause that's what my wife and I would probably do. LOL!

I've found a pretty good book about dragons vs WWII technology.

What kind of date we looking at for book III? July 31st?

July 31st? Hooo boy. LOL! I've been plugging away at it full steam. I'm still shooting for a summer release.

I was thinking about it earlier today. I still have to come up with a design for book III's cover. Suggestions? The only prereqs are that I'm trying to leave humans off the cover. Dragons, griffins, trolls, that's fine. No humans. :)

Mind if I ask what your writing/post-writing routine is like? ^_^ Like... do you have it go through a certain number of beta readers, or does your wife and her highlighters take care of that?

Hi Mia -

Speaking of my wife's highlighters, she's finished your short story and is compiling her notes.

My own personal routine is this:

1. Finish chapter. Give to wife to proofread. She makes suggestions. I correct and reprint, give back to wife. No colorful marks? Proceed to step 2.
2. Write next chapter, etc. Once all chapters have been written, printed, proofread, wife happy, then I'll convert the whole book into one of the ebook formats and put it on her Nook or iPhone so she can read it from start to finish. She'll make corrections again.
3. With corrections done, I'll delete the first draft off of whatever device she's using and reinstall it. I'll let her read it again (she's a quick reader). Once she gives it the green light then it's on to the next step.
4. Beta Readers. I'll find a couple readers and ask for their input. I have several family members & friends that will also be Beta Readers for me, but it's the unbiased opinions I care more about.
5. With input from BR back I'll either make the changes or discuss suggestions with wife and veto if I don't want to change that part.
6. With that done I'll give to editor. Once the editor finishes and gives the corrected manuscript back to me, I'll make the changes (or veto) and then it'll be converted to Amazon Kindle format and also submitted to Smashwords.
7. Only then will I work on the print edition.

Somewhere in the middle of all that I'll contact my artist and start arranging for the cover to book III to begin. Usually the cover is done in about a week, but I have to make sure she can fit me in to her schedule.

So to answer your question, Mia, my wife plays a significant role in making sure I don't have any plot holes, or if I portray her character wrong. She'll usually say, "I wouldn't say that. Instead, I'd say this:..."

That's why I love her input. She'll not only point out the mistakes but then will offer suggestions to fix the mistakes! :)

Wow. You must have crazy quick turn around on your beta readers if you're aiming for a summer release and not yet finished writing. :)

It can go fast if things fall into place. That's why I'm reluctant to give a set date 'cause I know I don't have control over all aspects.

If a Beta Reader is slow to get back to me, or if the editor finds a ton of mistakes, or any number of other possibilities, then I'll be stuck. So I'm just going to go with the flow.

Makes sense. I know how it goes. I'm waiting on my beta readers now for Adelheid 3. Can't wait to read Bakkian 3, though. :)

Thanks! I appreciate that! I hope it lives up to what the other two have started!

This book has my first attempt at creating a villain. I wanted Thaden to be, in essence, a schoolyard bully. Thinks he's all that, but in reality, he's just a wimp and a coward.

Sorry I haven't been discussing much. Apparently July is a very busy month for book releases plus family events. It means I don't have a lot of time to check Goodreads.

Hey, no worries. That's gonna be my September. Birthdays, anniversaries, important days to remember.

It's like rounding the corner on Monopoly and being faced with the row that has Pennsylvania Ave and Boardwalk on it. You just look at what's before you and sigh. Like this: **sigh**.

:) Woke up to lightning, thunder, and (gasp!) rain! Proof positive that it does rain in Hell!! LOL!

My sister created a Facebook page for me. Didn't really want it, but now that I have it, if anyone wants to drop by and say hello, feel free!

http://www.facebook.com/bakkian.chron...

Working on associating Goodreads with FB...

I'm about a 1/3 of the way into Book II. Jeff, I think you did a good job on the villain so far. I think you struck the right balance between making him a little humorous but still somewhat dangerous.

Thanks, Bill! I tried to model him after a school bully. :)

Jeff, is the evil Ylani Wizard that Steve refers to (view spoiler)[after the rescue of the queen (hide spoiler)] near the beginning Thaden? I'm still only about 40% through, so forgive me if this is a silly question.

B. - Yep!

I was getting Thaden confused with King Ertu. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I was able to do a search, and saw that Thaden is active in the later part of the novel. Was Thaden part of Bakkian I? My memory is notoriously bad...

Thaden was technically introduced in book I, but I do have a couple of references to a "dark wizard from the north who has learned how to steal jhoruns".

If in case you're wondering, nope, he doesn't appear in book III at all. :)

I had an idea for an artifact or jhorun that made me giggle this morning. It's called the "monkeying around" jhorun. It changes everyone's jhorun near it by adding the phrase "with monkeys" to the description. "I can throw fire with monkeys." "I can teleport with monkeys." Everything is funnier with monkeys. :)

LOL! That'd be funny! Opens up ideas for others. :) Like someone who has a jhorun that could "reverse" a person's mood, so that a typically grumpy person would end up being comical.

Oh, the possibilities...