A review that caught my eye!

I've been getting a bunch of cool reviews lately, but I really REALLY liked this one...

"I recommend this book. I'm kind of a geek when it comes to books. This one was good. On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being like Dune or Ender's Game I can't put it down and 1 being like Twilight (ahhhh my eyes burn.... can't read it) This book was a solid 6+. I would rank it with some of Stephen Kings early work when he was all over the place but raw." - Chris White


Keep em coming!


Rob

You can get printed version from Barnes and Noble now...

Just went to bn.com and saw that you can get the print version from there as well.  Gonna go into the local store and see if they'll carry copies in the stores as well as online.  Thought that was pretty cool.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/convergence-2012

Rob

The Secret World MMO gets a launch date...

Yes, I like MMOs, do I get to play very often?  Nope.  I used to play the shit out of WoW and recently RIFT... One game that's I've been keeping my eye on for a while though is The Secret World from Funcom...

Well they announced today that it will ship April 2012...  With BETA beginning August 26 (just a few days before my B-Day).  So I'm gonna try luck at getting in on the beta...

This game is shaping up to be pretty sick.

Go check it out at: http://www.thesecretworld.com/

(oh yeah by the way, back is feeling much better...  In case anyone was wondering)

Rob

Didn't even know they made this... Flawless Victory!

Last year I saw what looked like a pretty cool rework of Mortal Kombat.  Last night I was talking with my nephews about it and we went looking for it.  Imagine my surprise when I saw they did a whole season of "Mortal Kombat: Legacy".  As webisodes.

I've only watched the very first episode and it looked good.  Why does this excite me?  Because things like this really show that the web is a viable distribution model for content.  We know there's a bunch of YouTube channels which can launch careers, etc., but this is the first content I've seen that wasn't "Funny".  I follow stuff like Ray William Johnson's "=3" and similar, but this is first serious effort at Sci-fi that I'm digging so far.  With each episode reaching over 3.5 million hits I guess I'm not alone.

Anyways if you like Mortal Kombat and want to check out a reboot of it check out the youtube channel at:
http://www.youtube.com/show/mortalkombatlegacy

If you know of other stuff that is as good if not better send me a link!

Rob

Pain...

So up nice and early to get some work done...  I'm walking down the stairs and missed a step and caught myself as I was falling and twisted.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal for your average person.  For me though this is a disaster because I have two slipped discs in my back. (spinal disc herniation).

I've lived with this for the past 10 years and usually I just deal with it.  On my "good days" I have a sensation that extends from top right outer thigh to my knee a sensation that is best described as a sunburn with a cat scratching it with an occasional slice of a hot dagger deep into my thigh.

On bad days the pain will extend upwards into my groin area and the dagger strikes are almost constant.

When I overdo it (moving, working out incorrectly, bending in a weird way, etc) It escalates and then I have a few new symptoms.  #1 I can barely move around or get out of bed because my body get's "stuck"  there's some angles which cause such pain as to make my legs give out.  One angle is straight up and down as I stand completely erect.

Well falling just now has tweaked the back and as I sit here in front of my machine I am on the verge of tears because it hurts badly.  Gonna try to ice it quickly and see if that helps.

SIDE NOTE:  Where the hell is Kuthanaga when you need him.  Hell, the Earth's Milk would probably help remedy this as well...    

What the hell is the SIGNATURE EDITION?

The CONVERGENCE 2012 SIGNATURE EDITION is a special edition of the book which has a custom seal on the cover of the book as well as the front page.  It is signed on the cover and dedicated to whomever you wish on the front page.  Additionally, I have this campaign going on called "The Marked" which is on the official website as well as in the back of the book that is like a special "Thank you" to the people who support me with this book.  All SIGNATURE EDITION buyers will be listed among The Marked.  The book will be updated every six months (print & eBook).  I also will be adding to the blog as well so you'll be able to prove to people that you were instrumental in helping me continue my career in writing!

So what does it set you back?  It's $25 (+$6 S&H) and I keep a few books on hand to try to speed the whole process up.

So you want one? Well you can grab a copy at http://www.convergence2012.com/signature/

Rob

Question: "Do I Believe in Aliens?"...

OK, so I got asked if I believe in aliens.

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: I've always been very curious about the universe we live in and wondered if there was other life out there in the ocean of stars.  I'm also one of those "Show me proof".

Where do I find proof?  Pyramids come to mind, Stonehenge, crop circles (without broken stalks) and Nazca lines in Peru are just a few of the things that make me say "Hmmmm".  Why?  because why the hell would someone go through all the trouble of constructing things like the Nazca lines where you can't enjoy them at ground level?  I mean imagine the conversation between the builder and his friend...
"Hey Bill I just finished my masterpiece..."
"Yeah?  Where is it?"
"Um dude, we're standing on it."
"Looks like a fuckin' line to me..."
"What?!  It's a bird man!"
"Yeah, sure it is..."
"Crap.  It's a bird man..."        

Do I think that aliens come down and anal probe hillbillies? Yes, but probably just to fuck with their heads.  I'm a firm believer that first contact has come and gone and there are some alien species among us, probably something similar to the whole Men in Black thing...

I think the ones that are among us are very good at hiding because we human beings are very susceptible to FEAR, I think we're more likely to kill something first and then be like "Oh that was a peace ambassador here to offer us help against an invading armada... Ooops my bad." later.

I suspect the ones that are here, are observing and scoring us.  Once we get past "Dumb-ass hairless monkey" status, then they may attempt to offer us a ticket to the big show.  I also wouldn't be surprised if they're standing right next to us and can see us but we can't typically see them because maybe they are slightly off-phased?  Maybe they reside in an alternate dimension that is very thin and acts like a two-way mirror?  Hell I wouldn't be surprised if the Earth is the equivalent to a galactic "Jersey Shore" that the aliens get around and watch...  Speaking of Jersey Shore, could you imagine if the survival of the human race depended on being scored based off of some random "reality-based" TV show and it was Jersey Shore?   Oh man, we'd be fucked...  Just saying.

Original Video Trailer for Convergence 2012

So how did I decide to write CONVERGENCE 2012?

I've been asked this a couple of times and so I figured the blog is a good place to answer it.

September 2009 I went to bed like any other time and had a crazy dream about an elf but not an elf.  The dream basically presented to me the concept of what if mythology was based off of alien encounters?  Then I woke up with a very clear image of Xanari fixed in my mind.

I went about my day and the dream wouldn't let me go.  I kept thinking about Xanari and laughed it away as I continued my daily chores.

The next night I slept again and dreamed of a white liquid which was truly remarkable.  Healing properties and the ability to shift its taste to whatever I wanted.  When I woke from that dream I scratched my chin and said "WTF?" because this dream also plagued me all day long, but it was now mixing with Xanari and no matter what was going on I kept revisiting those pieces.

The odd dreams kept coming and I kept telling my wife about it and I finally decided to start writing.  When I sat down to write the title was instantly in my head CONVERGENCE 2012.  I realized that even in 2009 that calling the book CONVERGENCE 2012 was potentially a very bad idea as typically a book when COMPLETED can takes over a year and a half to get picked up and published.

It didn't phase me and I started writing.  Something amazing happened when I sat down.  I didn't have a timeline, I didn't know where the story was going to go and when I started typing it just happened. Even now when I go back and reread it (I've now read the book 6 times) I'm still mystified.  Why?  because I don't remember writing large chunks of the story.  It was as if the book wrote itself.  (Spooky)...

In any event that is how I decided to write CONVERGENCE 2012...