April Update

As most of you have noticed, I've been away from this blog for the past couple months. It's a very long story as to why I was MIA from social media in general, but for the moment I'll simply give all of you an update on what I'm currently working on and what projects are on the horizon.

Most of my time at the moment has been spent getting settled in California. Back in August, my wife and I were called to become part of a church plant in San Francisco called Canvas. Canvas won't officially launch as a church until September, but 25+ people from Arizona are in the process of relocating to the Bay Area to make this plant happen. My wife and I just finished securing our new place in Daly City, and we'll be moving in there next Monday the 15th. Once I'm completely settled, I'll be getting back into the full swing of my blogging routine, and I'll be plugging back into my online venues such as The Crossover Alliance and my own website.

Another piece of news is that today I'll be sketching out an outline to a brand new non-fiction project - a novel that details the journey of faith my wife and I have been on over the past few years. I've been meaning to begin this project for a while now, and I figure now that I'm finally getting settled with things I have the time to dig into it. This non-fiction novel is tentatively titled "Never Forsaken" - a title based on Psalm 37:25. A release date for this book has not yet been determined. For those of you who have been waiting for the third novel in my Expired Reality series, fear not because I am going to be working on it side-by-side with my new non-fiction project.

Over the course of the next month, I will be revamping many of my online channels. I'll be using MailChimp to help me craft and manage better email newsletters, Weebly or Moonfruit to help me streamline and polish my website, and Hootsuite to help me manage my FB and Twitter feeds more productively.

That's some of what I'll be working on over the course of the next couple of months. In the next couple weeks I'll be getting back into my blogging groove, and as soon as my aforementioned channels are updated, I'll let everyone know.

Anaisha

In today's post, I want to talk a bit about Anaisha - the planet my Expired Reality series takes place on. Anaisha's origins are a mystery, but the manner in which humanity built a civilization upon the planet is not. It is revealed through the Black Earth series (which is a prequel series to the ER series) that Strangeways Silver, owner of SilverTech Industries, 'founded' the planet and claimed it as humanity's next inhabitable world. For years, Mr. Silver sent teams of scientists, architects, builders, and other personnel to begin establishing a major city on the planet. This city is Lysallis.

Lysallis eventually stretched into outlying areas, and after some time the continent of Enera was colonized. During the events of the Black Earth series, Legion and the Dark Army invade Earth and humanity is forced to flee in SilverTech shuttles to Anaisha. The ER series takes place 80 years after this event, and by this time most of Enera is populated and under a government that mimics much of the government in our own United States, with a presidential elect, and a solid judicial system.

Anaisha has a sun much like Earth's, and a blue moon. The planet enjoys a steady pattern of four seasons. Anaisha's atmosphere is filled with an element known as rhodenine - possibly debris from a recently destroyed planet, and the continent of Enera is dotted with wedge-shaped machines called Anaishan Purifiers which were put in place to clear the air of the harmful chemicals that were released while SilverTech Industries colonized Enera.

Enera isn't the only continent on Anaisha though, and as the series unfolds, new areas of the planet will be revealed. So far the Far Lands has been mentioned. This is an area of extreme wilderness where very few venture and even fewer return from.

Fun fact: When I penned the first novel in the Expired Reality series - Endangered Memories - I had originally spelled the name of this planet ANASHA. My intent has always been for the middle 'A' to be pronounced the same way the 'A' is pronounced in the word 'Aim'. But when people started pronouncing it as it's spelled, I realized I needed an 'I' in there to correct things.

An Introduction To The Expired Reality Series

Many of you have enjoyed the books in my Black Earth series, and for that, I am grateful. What many of you may not know is that the Black Earth series isn't where I began my story telling. When I was eleven, back in 1990, I began penciling a story about a young boy - David - who crossed paths with a criminal mastermind - Mr. Big - and stopped him from kidnapping his sister and killing hundreds of innocent people in a hotel bombing.

That story eventually became the very first novel I finished when I was only sixteen - Mission: Australia. And over the years, Mission: Australia has evolved in the Expired Reality series. The Black Earth series is actually the prequel series to the ER series, as it details the destruction of Earth and how humanity came to be on the planet known as Anaisha.

I figured it was about time to properly introduce all of you to the ER series. This series has gone through many revisions, and a number of cover designs. For a very long time - since its creation - the series was touted as young adult. Then, as it evolved, content cropped up in the series that was not so young adult - suggestive content, torture, violence. After taking a long look at my Black Earth series and then figuring out where I want to go with the ER series, I realized I couldn't keep the young adult moniker on it any longer, and now it is filed under the genre known as Edgy Christian Speculative Fiction. For a detailed description of what this genre is all about, go here.

Different cover designs for the first novel in the series (Endangered Memories)

The Expired Reality series takes place nearly 80 years from the time Nathan Pierce (from the Black Earth series) battled the alien entity Legion, and Satan's Dark Army, in their attempts to destroy Earth and all of humanity. Through great struggle, bloodshed, and terror, humans managed to flee the planet in space vessels that brought them across the universe to an earth-like planet called Anaisha, where they settled and began to rebuild.

Now, humanity's close call with extinction is but a memory. Legion's suffocating alien darkness and any reference to the Great Witch Evanescence - lieutenant of the Dark Army - are but a terrifying memory to those who are able to recall their dark past.

Despite the fact that Anaisha was founded and colonized by the sadistic madman, Strangeways Silver, to be a utopia, the planet - especially the main continent of Enera - is far from flawless. In the years prior to the Expired Reality novels, criminal mastermind Mr. Big has set claim to the city of Lysallis and its outlying areas, filling the community with acts of violence and fear.

On one fateful day, one teenager - David Corbin - interrupted Mr. Big and his plans to murder hundreds of people in a hotel bombing. David's interference that day created a chain of events that put the child hero and the notorious villain head to head for many years to come. Eventually, David - at this time the head of a team of teenage heroes known as the Lazerblades - captured Mr. Big and detained him in prison, bringing virtual peace back to Enera.

The Expired Reality novels begin at the end of this virtually peaceful period, when Legion - the same alien entity responsible for Earth's destruction - reveals its presence upon Anaisha, and the Great Witch Evanescence actively seeks to satisfy her hunger for humanity's ultimate extinction. The teen heroes are called on once again to save the world, as ancient artifacts, humanities ugly past, and otherworldly species intersect in a final battle against the forces of evil.

The Expired Reality series is a series of novels, short stories, and novellas that can be read completely separate from the Black Earth series, and is a long-running series that will stretch out into many mediums of entertainment for many years to come.

In coming posts, I'll be introducing some of the characters from this series, discuss the layout and structure of Anaisha, detail some of the religious beliefs in the world, and give some sneak peeks into where I plan on taking this series in the near future.

What To Expect...

As many of you know, my Black Earth series has come to its conclusion (in regards to full-length novels) with the release of Exodus. However that doesn't end the story of humanity's struggle against the alien force known as Legion or the Dark Army under Satan's command. Planets are still being engulfed in Legion's darkness, and the Great Witch Evanescence and her cohorts are still pushing  creation toward the brink of extinction.

The storyline that the Black Earth series set up continues in my other series, Expired Reality. Expired Reality is the series that I first began writing in when I was eleven - back in 1990. The characters, the plots, and the main feel of the series has gone through many revisions, but now that the Black Earth series has been established as a foundation for the master storyline, I know (for the most part) what direction I want to go with the Expired Reality series.

In the upcoming weeks, I'll be writing posts that give you more information about my Expired Reality series, including -

- An introduction post to get you acquainted with the series as a whole, including a brief intro to certain events and characters that carry over from the Black Earth series.

- Character introductions which will include background on many of the main characters of the ER series, including David Corbin, Carrie Green, Turquoise-Wedge, and Mr. Big.

- Posts that go into depth regarding the world structure of Anaisha (An-ā-sha) - the planet that the ER series takes place on (initially).

- Posts that go into the religious (or lack thereof) aspects of Anaisha.

- Other fun/interesting posts that come to mind.

I will also be cross-referencing my posts with the official Compendium, so if you ever want to reference the topics discussed in the future, they will be easily accessible from the official website. Additionally, I will be continually adding to the official timeline - a handy reference for those of you who are fans of both series and are interested in having a visual guide to where each of my books fits (chronologically) into the Black Earth/ Expired Reality universe.

I'm looking forward to bringing everyone up to speed on a series that has been close to my heart since I was a mere child. Stay tuned for the posts to begin next week!

Picture Perfect Now Free!

Now that my Black Earth series has come to a close - at least in regards to the full-length novels - it's time to pick up the torch that is the Expired Reality series and start busting out more of the storyline that began my entire writing career.

Last week I released the new cover designs for the first two novels in the series - Endangered Memories, Lost Birth - along with the new cover design for the first novella in the series - Picture Perfect.

And in celebration of the reemergence of the Expired Reality series, I've made Picture Perfect available for free via Smashwords. This is a permanent price change. For those wondering, Picture Perfect is a novella set before the Expired Reality series and gives background to Drather, a bounty hunter from the series.

My hope is that Kindle and Nook follow suite by making Picture Perfect available for free - neither site allows an author to set their books for free as a permanent price - however most of the time they will price match, so once they realize Picture Perfect is free on Smashwords, hopefully they will fall in line. The good news is you can grab any and all digital versions of the novella at Smashwords, including Nook, Kindle, PDF, Apple, Kobo, etc. Go grab your copy here! And enjoy!

New Expired Reality Covers

With my announcement a couple weeks ago regarding my exit from the young adult genre and the pulling of the young adult labels from my Expired Reality series, I've been at work on some new cover designs for the series - simple, colorful, and easy to create as the Expired Reality series continues to grow over the course of the next decade - at least.

Here's the brand new cover I designed for Endangered Memories (book 1 in the series)

The new cover for Lost Birth (book 2 in the series)

And the new cover for Picture Perfect (a novella in the series)

The Crossover Alliance Giveaway Winners

Below are the winners of The Crossover Alliance giveaway. Each will be contacted shortly regarding their prizes. Thanks to everyone who participate!

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A Quick Update

As you can all tell, I've been away from my blog for the last week or so. Don't worry, it's nothing any of you did. I've just been busy packing up our home for our upcoming move to San Francisco to take part in the Canvas church plant. I figured I'd drop in today and let you all know what I have planned on the horizon - things I'm aiming to get done in the upcoming months...

1. The Crossover Alliance Giveaway
The big giveaway via The Crossover Alliance is over, and I will be announcing the winners tomorrow, both through my usual social networking outlets and this blog.

2. Expired Reality Cover Design
Since I have moved the Expired Reality series out of the young adult market, I have some new cover designs I'll be working on. I already have basic groundwork set up for these, I just have to find some time to work on them.

3. The Black Earth/Expired Reality Timeline
This nifty timeline I created needs to be updated and improved upon. I have some ideas on linking character profiles to the timeline and maybe even some short fiction pieces, but it's another project that will take me some time to build out.

4. The Black Earth Quad Pack
I do have plans of combining the four novels in my Black Earth series into a digital four-pack, similar to my Black Earth Double Pack.

5. The 3rd Novel in the Expired Reality Series (Tentatively Titled: Dark Horizons)
This novel has been through many revisions over the last few years, but has yet to see daylight. This is the main manuscript I will be working on this year once I'm finally settled in San Francisco. The novel will serve as the groundwork to bring the Expired Reality series into the edgier feel that the Black Earth series contains.

6. More Goodies
I have some more side stories, novellas, and Black Earth/Expired Reality content I want to work on this next year, so keep your eyes peeled! For now, I'm heading back into my mess of an office to get this room packed up and ready for the Bay Area!

Saying Goodbye To Young Adult Fiction

I've been wrestling with something for quite some time now. For the past few years, I've had two running novel series - Black Earth and Expired Reality. The Expired Reality series has actually been around since I was a mere eleven years old because it was the capsule for some of my very first writing. It has also been marketed this entire time as Young Adult. The Black Earth series, on the other hand, began a few years ago and just recently came to a close at four novels. Black Earth was an experiment on mixing genres, finding my writing style, and thumbing my nose at convention. Okay, maybe those weren't the intended purposes of writing the series, but more like side effects of writing outside the lines of convention.

Over the course of this last decade, the Expired Reality series has been self-published, rewritten, self-published again, rewritten again, self-published again, put on hiatus - it all makes my head spin. Trying to find my voice in what I sought to form into an epic young adult series actually turned out to be a lesson in smacking my head against a wall until it bled.

And now I know why.

It's become increasingly difficult for me to put attention and passion into the Expired Reality series these past few years because I've wanted so bad for it to follow in the footsteps of my Black Earth series. Black Earth encompasses Christian themes with edgy content and speculative fiction. It's raised some controversy, it's received fairly good reviews, and it has helped me find my voice as a writer. And why shouldn't my Expired Reality series follow in its footsteps? The Expired Reality series takes place in the same universe, only 100 years later, with some of the same characters. But if you read through both series, you'll find that they each have a unique voice, and one is definitely edgier than the other.

A good friend of mine asked just the right question the last time I visited him. He asked me what my writing goals were now that I had finished the Black Earth series. And I answered by telling him that now it would be the Expired Reality series all the way. At least twelve novels, countless short stories and novellas, and even some side series. Of course, I have some plans to sketch out some side stories for the Black Earth series, but overall, my Expired Reality series is where the majority of my efforts will be put toward from here on out.

Then my friend asked me about the challenges I am going to face marketing the Expired Reality series as edgy Christian young adult fiction. To market something as edgy and Christian has been a bit of a challenge itself, but the Black Earth series has proven that it is a unique genre in its own right. But to label something as edgy, Christian, and young adult brings along some unwanted hurdles. Out of all fictional genres, I believe young adult has the most boundaries/rules/expectations surrounding it. Certainly every genre comes with reader expectations - when you pick up a mystery, you expect to dive into a whodunnit. When you pick up science fiction, you expect to travel to other worlds or encounter sentient life in far reaches of the galaxy.

When you pick up young adult fiction, the elements within it are only 'supposed' to reach a certain limit. Violence, sexual situations, language - all these things have caps on them in young adult fiction, and for good reason. Young adult fiction is targeted at just that - young adults. And we really don't want to be filling their head with all sorts of crap. That being said, I am well aware that there are young adult series - many of them - that center around edgy content, most particularly sex. But there's still a certain expectation as to what boundaries an author is to cross when penning in a young adult novel.

Tie 'Christian' to the young adult genre, to those expectations, and things become even more restricted.

One important question came to me through this discussion I had with my friend: Where was I going to be able to go with my ER series if I kept it under the young adult title? My friend then pointed out that he didn't think I really wanted to write young adult anymore. And he was the first of two people - different instances - who stated the same observation.

It's a hard fact to swallow, that I don't want to write young adult anymore. It's the genre I started out in, it's the genre I figured I'd be writing in throughout the majority of my life. But alas, I know it's time to turn away from the young adult title. Time to strip off the tag, break the chains, and move forward in the direction my Black Earth series set the foundation for.

In this regard, my Expired Reality series will no longer be marketed under the YA heading. Instead, I will collect it - all of it - under my edgy Christian speculative fiction label. The first two novels in the series, Endangered Memories and Lost Birth, will not be rewritten, neither will Picture Perfect, the first novella in the series. The stories and characters are exactly how I want them to be moving forward in the Expired Reality series. And as the series moves along, my readers can expect it to take on a slightly Black Earth feel in regards to edgy content. My Expired Reality series will still hold its own feel - I do want the Black Earth and Expired Reality series to stand separate from each other to some degree - but you'll be able to sense the Black Earth styling as the Expired Reality series moves forward.

Pulling away from the YA label and moving forward under the umbrella of edgy Christian speculative fiction brings about another change to the Expired Reality series - cover design. In the next week, you'll see the cover designs change for the Expired Reality books that are already on the market. Moving forward, every book in the series will hold a common design structure, but each will differ slightly from each other in color and other small details. I want to thank Jelani Parham - my good friend and writing buddy - for creating the covers that I've been using, and the fact that the cover art is going to be changed up in no way implies I have been unhappy with his work, simply that the look and feel of the books needs to not be specifically aimed at young adults.

I am really excited about these changes, and I hope you as my readers are as well. Collecting all of my writing under one common genre frees me up to make the characters, story lines, and themes more consistent with each other, and will allow me to experiment a bit more than I would have been able to having stayed under the young adult label.

The Crossover Alliance Giveaway

There is a big giveaway going on right now on the community that I run - The Crossover Alliance, and in it, you can win some great edgy Christian speculative fiction. Here's some info on the books being given away, along with the Rafflecopter entry form -

The Black Earth Series by yours truly -

On the evening of Nathan Pierce's high school graduation, the stars begin to fall from the sky, crashing into Earth at an alarming rate. With the world in panic, an unforgettable cast of characters come together to face off against a darkness that threatens to destroy our planet.







Running Black by Patrick Todoroff -
It's 2059 and the North Korean mercenary Tam Song heads up Eshu International: a private security team that will take any job for the right price, no questions asked. Based in the Belfast Metro Zone, they're the best black contract outfit on the planet.

Stable nano-technology: the melding of man and machine on a microscopic level. It's a break-through worth billions no one's been able to achieve. Until now. The Dawson Hull Conglomerate has finally developed a viable Nanotech Neural Network; an interface system that exponentially increases a person's cyber-capabilities. They're days away from unveiling the prototype to the world.

Eshu International just got hired to steal it.

The Maze by Jason Brannon -

A near death experience transports Jamie Burroughs into The Maze, a realm every bit as peculiar as Lewis Caroll's Wonderland, yet engineered with the moral intent of C.S. Lewis' Narnia. Built by angels and demons and filled with traps and riddles, The Maze gives whoever enters a face-to-face encounter with their sins.

For Jamie, The Maze becomes a terrifying journey through a world of darkness where his soul and the lives of those he loves hangs in the balance. With his family in danger and his soul in peril, Jamie is forced to reevaluate the kind of man he truly is as he struggles to escape The Maze before it’s too late.

The Age of Apollyon by Mark Carver -

Notre-Dame Cathedral lies in ruins. The mangled corpses of the possessed are scattered in the shadows beneath the pulverized Gothic towers. This is the aftermath of the Manifestation....

Satan has revealed himself to the world, which falls trembling at his feet. Religious genocide sweeps Europe and Asia, and the world's greatest fortresses of faith are smashed to the ground. The New World and Australia become safe havens for refugees fleeing Lucifer's wrath.

Heaven remains silent. The followers of Christ cry out: Where is God?

Patric Bourdon believes in himself. He claims to be a member of the Church of Satan, but in reality, it is his own hedonism that drives him. His zealous and pregnant fiancée waits patiently for him to "man up" and take responsibility for his impending family, but the lure of drugs and debauchery proves too strong....

Until Patric receives a command that he cannot refuse.

Tourec, his self-righteous half-brother, has begun a campaign of terrorism against the forces of darkness. The Church of Satan is paralyzed with fear as Tourec and his band of rogue assassins seek vengeance for the evils that Lucifer has wrought upon the earth, and Patric is commanded to seek out and neutralize his brother by any means necessary....

Or his fiancée and unborn child shall perish.

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