Monday, October 31, 2016

Back at work

Hello world,

After a period with zero inspiration, I am back at it. Episode Two of Stargate: Nova Roma is now up over at 128. That's all I wrote, at least for now.

Edmond Dantes

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

And That Makes Three

Hello world,

Yesterday I finished a major effort to complete my third - and last - Battlestar Xanthi story....Four Lost Chapters. The little sort of says it all. These chapters were not added to A Collection of Memories, because they would make that tale to clunky. And some it was not in line with that story's rating. But enough chatter, back to work....

Friday, September 23, 2016

Another Jump

The final chapter of Battlestar Xanthi: Project Destiny is up. As for what exactly Project Destiny is....well, that would be spoiling the surprise.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Jumping Xanthi



Hello World,

Battlestar Xanthi: Project Destiny is moving forward. I posted the first two chapters yesterday. 

And Chapter Three is in the works. So enough talk, time to get back at it...

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Endings and beginings

Hello world,

The final chapter of Battlestar Xanthi: A Collection Of Memories has been placed. Further more, I have begun work on Battlestar Xanthi: Project Destiny. Although not set aboard the Big X herself, Project Destiny does include characters from A Collection of Memories and will show more of the Xanthi's universe.

Also, today I have posted the first two pieces of content on 128. Curious as to what they are about ? Well, there is only one way to find out...

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Forward Motion

Hello world,

Chapter 10 for Battlestar Xanthi is now up. And Chapter 11 is in the works, which brings me to another point....

The End is Neigh

What exactly that means, I'm keeping under wraps. The only clue you're going to get is Chapter 10. Want to know more ? Read the chapter.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Two new blogs

Hello world,

So....things have not been going well in the book department. Sales of Hollywood are frozen solid and - probably a result of the sales - my inspiration for the sequel has tanked. (No point in writing part 2 if part 1 isn't going anywhere.) Today's attempt to do something about that was to widen my internet footprint.

I started two new blogs. One over at Bol.com - in Dutch - and a second English one. And then I cross-connected the lot. The Dutch blog is to allow me to write stuff in my native language as well. (That, and hopefully attract people to this blog as well.) The English blog - 128 - is not really a blog....

It's more of a library. A place where I can publish/put the stories that - because I've been so busy with Hollywood and Frontier Fleet - have stayed in the icebox for years. I'll be honest...it's going to be a struggle to find time (and inspiration) to write all this. But if you want an easy, well paying job, don't become a writer.

That's it for now.

Breaking out the duster

Hello world,

Time to dust off my blog....After a very nice vacation on Crete, my day job threw me into a two week period of chaos. (I'll spare you the details, but the place was a mess.) The good news is that the dust is slowly settling now.

The bad news is that the vacation period is about to start. And that means that officially the amount of work will go down....But because half the department will be gone, you end being three times as busy.

The result of this is that my writing has been not getting much traction lately. I figured it was time to do something about that. Starting with my blog...

Friday, June 3, 2016

I don't know how and I don't care...

....but Hollywood made it onto the British version of Amazon. The important thing is that it can now be ordered from an English site as well. (Alas, for some readers this will mean extra shipping time. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.) The link is below and will be (permanently) added to the list found on the right.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hollywood-Edmond-Dantes/dp/940214708X

Monday, May 23, 2016

Chess and Chekhov

During my childhood, we went on a vacation by means of a tank. At least, that what it felt like to me. When you're a kids, everything feels (at least) three times as big. So my parents station wagon - grey, rusty and Japanese - to me was a tank. Most of our vacations in that era took place in Germany. These days, that's a short a hop...but back it was a survival trip that crossed half the world. (Today, if I want to travel as far as Germany felt back then, I'd have to book a ticket to Pluto.)

To survive this trip - not to mention my three sisters - I had to deploy multiple methods. The top three consisted of reading, sleeping and listening to music. The latter came in two categories. For the kids there were children's song, among which Sesame street - especially Bert and Ernie - were the most popular. These were mixed with musicals. This probably wasn't just because my parents liked them, but also because they had long playtimes. (Thus allowing them to have background music, while still focusing on the children and the road.)

In our family, there were two. A Dutch musical called Chekhov (about the Russian writer) and an American musical called Chess. As a kid, I wasn't the biggest fan of these musicals. In fact, there was plenty of grumping and complaining when these musical started from the beginning again. (They liked to loop them.) But times changed and my knowledge of English improved...

These days when I suffer from writer's block, the best cure is...listening to Chekhov or Chess. (And if that doesn't work, I still have a huge collection of other music. This column - for instance - was partially written to Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are Changin') En the chances didn't stop there. The 'tank' was sold ages ago, while me and my sisters moved out centuries ago.

And now the hard part of this column. The punch-line.....But maybe it's already in here. (Thank you, Mister Dylan.) Times change. And so does our perspective. When we look at the world, we look through our eyes. But is this best thing to do ? Maybe we should try to watch the world from the perspective of our children ? Try to imagine how they will be when they grow up ? And how those people would see the world ? Decide for yourself.

Column is up

Howdy world,

Well, my column is up. Now I have to start gathering votes. It's almost dinner time here, but I'll try to up the translated version in a couple of hours. If you want to vote regardless, simply click the link and then click the button stem. (Stem is Dutch for vote.)

http://www.metronieuws.nl/lezerscolumn/ed-dantes/mens-maatschappij/2016/05/schaken-en-tsjechov

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Outcome of yesterday's R and D

  1. After a lot of digging and searching, I found a (Dutch) page with a list of blogs. I submitted my Blog for it. I don't know if it will be placed, but if it is, I'll put the link up here.
  2. I've also submitted another column for Metro. Alas - like the site - above, I'm also waiting for this to go through a review process. And again, I'll put the link up ASAP. But in this case, I'll also put up a translated version of the column.
  3. A critical look at my Bol.com page showed that it has one whopper of a flaw. It has zero reviews. So I send some mails around asking for some.
  4. Speaking of reviews....there are lots of list out there with tips on how to promote your book. And one tip they all share. Ask a newspaper for a review. So I've a copy to the local paper - De Stentor - and kept my fingers crossed. (I send it this morning. And since today is Sunday, it'll probably be a couple of days before I get a reply. If I get one at all, that is.)
That's it for now. More on this as things develop.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Promoting Hollywood

Hello world,

Time for an update.... My attempt to promote Hollywood by means of the paper has failed...spectacularly. I spent 75 Euros on advertisements and didn't sell a single book. The column got 6 votes, but needed 70 plus. Furthermore, I send a copy of Hollywood to Marvel Entertainment. (This happened a while back) The result...zero. (To be honest, I was expecting this, but it still sucks.)

So I'm spending today doing R and D on further options. First up, a minor review/upgrade of this Blog/site. By my count this will be version 2.1

(The original color scheme with way to many labels was 1.0, then I cleaned up the labels - creating version 1.1. Next I added the 'about me' page, creating version 1.2. And then I changed the color scheme, creating 2.0.)

Monday, May 9, 2016

Alas, only for Dutchies

Hello world,

My column is now open for voting. Alas, it's a Dutch newspaper. Which means that (likely) only Dutchies can read the column. But if you want to vote/stem anyway, you're more then welcome.

http://www.metronieuws.nl/lezerscolumn/ed-dantes/actueel/2016/05/misschien

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Marvel's cruel pun (and a small update)

Hello world,

Just a little fun fact, since today is mother's day (at least in the Netherlands)...

Spoilers ! (If you haven't seen season 2 of Agent Carter yet)

You have been
w
a
r
n
e
d

For those of you out there who have seen it. Remember how Anna Jarvis got shot and now can't have kids ? Well, today is mother's day, of which the modern version was created in 1914 by a lady called....Anna Jarvis. To paraphrase Peter Latimer of Warehouse 13. ' Not cool, Marvel, not cool !'

Furthermore, I'm going to continue work of Chapter 10 of Battlestar Xanthi: A Collection of Memories today. And I have a column for Metro (a Dutch newspaper) in the pipeline ( you can submit columns on-line and then people can vote. Win and you get published + 100 Euros), along with open reply requests for Frontier Fleet. All in all, it's going to be a busy day. So I am out of here....

Chapter 9 is up !

Hi all,

Chapter Nine is ready, steady, go ! So, time to start work on Chapter Ten....

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Oh no, you don't !

It almost happened again, my blog nearly started to gather dust again. But not this time...

I've planned Chapter 9, 10 and even 11 of Battlestar Xanthi: A Collection of Memories. There's a major twist in there, but where ?....well, you'll just have to read them. Chapter 9 has reached the writing stage, so it's coming ASAP. Speaking of which, time to get back to it....

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Chapter 8 is up !

Hello all,

Well...Chapter 8 of Battlestar Xanthi: A Collection of Memories is up. And Chapters 9 and 10 will soon enter the planning stage. So there will be more new content on my FanFiction.net site. (Yeah !) But I'm keeping further details under wraps for now. (Gotta keep the fresh content going here as well.) So, stay tuned for further updates as they come out. folks.

Monday, March 28, 2016

Promotion

Okay, started promotion for Hollywood. I've never done anything like this before, so I started by using my mail and sending a message out to people. Also, I've after several very busy days, I've finally done some major catching up for Star Trek: Frontier Fleet. This means that I now have my hands free to start working on Battlestar Xanthi: A Collection Of Memories again.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Hollywood can now be ordered

Ladies and gentlemen,

My first novel - Hollywood - can now be ordered. If you life in the Netherlands, then delivery time should be one or two workdays. Added to that, I added to the link to the list at the side. (Because if everything goes according to plan and I can keep the fresh content coming, the post containing the link will sooner or later fall off the page.)

Finally, I did some prep work on my Xanthi story update. So as soon as I have some free time, I can get started on getting that going. For now, that all she wrote.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Good News and Bad News

The Good News...

My first novel Hollywood is finally up on Bol.com. (Yeah !) It can also be found on Ako.nl. Or by Googling 'Edmond Dantes Hollywood'. There should be several good hits right at the top. (I've tested it, so I know it at least works for me.) Here is the link for Bol.com:

https://www.bol.com/nl/p/hollywood/9200000056953708/

The Bad News....

Alas, all the sites the Bol.com arrangement places your book on, are in Dutch. Further more, all the sites currently list the book as 'Not available.' I'm hoping that as soon as people place orders, this will changed. (The arrangement is print-on-demand. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that once there is a demand, they'll print.)

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Tech note

Since I was dusting it off I thought 'why not' and changed the Template. The old look had been around for a couple of years and was getting just that...old ! So I changed it. I've also made a minor change to the 'about me' page, because of the changed title of Hollywood.

In the waiting room ?

Oh boy....it happened again. I let a nice, thick layer of dust accumulate on my blog. Well, time to break out the vacuum-cleaner, because it's that time again. Let's dust this puppy off.

"August in Hollywood" has been renamed "Hollywood" Furthermore, I've taken the leap and put it on Bol.com. Alas, the sub-site for my book doesn't work....Yet ? I'm hoping it's simply bureaucracy doing it's thing. (aka being slow.) So right now it's just a matter of patience. (I'll try again tomorrow.)

On the bright side, I have successfully order a test copy. So *crossed fingers*.  And I am working on a sequel. So if this does work out, expect at least one more book to hit the web ASAP. But for now, it's just wait and see....