A Close Encounter?

 Note:  at some future date, this blog will not just be about Jimmy Miller previews.  It’s my only published work, so for now it works. 

        

      When I was twelve, I went to bed one night, and in the morning I had a pair of marks on my left leg that I didn’t have before sleeping.  I had no memory of injuring the two areas in question.  Just above my knee I had a sudden scar that measured maybe one centimeter.  On the underside of my thigh a smaller one, perhaps two millimeters in diameter, was also present.  Ignoring these blemishes and believing they would fade away, I didn’t think about them that much.  A friend of mine had inquired about the scars later that day, and I was at a loss for an explanation.
         Thirty-two years passed and those same scars are just as visible today as they were when they first materialized.  My wife insisted that I get them examined by a doctor in the event it was something cancerous.  However, the physician reassured me the scars were benign.            
       On closer inspection the scar in close proximity to my knee shows a triangular discoloration under the skin.  There appears to be a foreign object imbedded there.  Now the other more diminutive scar is hexagonal.  How could something remain in my body without an infection or some kind of reaction from my immune system?  It is bizarre and quite intriguing.  In what manner did this item get into my leg?

Live on ebay

I've placed a copy of my book on eBay.  I started the auction at 99 cents.   Or it could bought for $10.00.  The auction lasts for 7 days.  I need a new laptop.  The zero key isn't working.  So, I will be looking at laptops on eBay.

By the Way

People can find me on Google+ and Facebook.  I have a personal and an author page.  The author page is where you can Like me and all that.  So...there's a variety of ways to connect.

When is your most creative time of day?  For me, it's in the morning right after a reasonable night's sleep and a few cups of coffee.  I can write at night, but my mind won't shut off when I try and sleep later on.  Then I don't sleep.  When I don't sleep enough, there goes a whole day without writing.  Bummer for me.

Challenges of an indie author

Obviously, number one is to convince others that it doesn't necessarily mean that the author is necessarily from India.  It took me a while to get that out of my head, especially since I'm a fan of The Big Bang Theory.

Marketing is a pain in the neck. Juggling this, writing, and all other demands on my time (including kids, yard work, house work, getting out of the house once in a while), egad...how dreadful.  If I had more knowledge of how markets worked and to find the right niche of readers most likely to enjoy my book, maybe this wouldn't be so painful.

One nagging bit of inquiry...how do I get my story reviewed by someone who has a reputation?  If only I was on the radar of the NYT or Washington Post, then more people would read it.  I wonder what other indie authors find as stumbling blocks, and more importantly, how to overcome them.

How It Started

What started as a project to help my autistic son with his writing, turned into a novel and eventually a series.  Language arts tend to be a difficult subject for people with autism.  I have two sons, and my older son has autism.  I set out to create a story with the both boys and decided we would do maybe a ten page tale of a superhero duo.  The characters would have my kids' names.  I couldn't decide who was who, so I named one Jimmy Miller temporarily.  Since I envisioned a pair of male heroes, I thought to bring a female character to bring some balance...the Princess Leia of the group, if you will.

I gave her the name Annie because my wife's grandfather had called her this most of her childhood instead of her actual one.  My sister's middle name is Ann and I had a friend, when I was a child, named Annie, short for Anastasia.  She was only eight and tragically died--a victim of a heinous crime.  Anyway, the more I brought the character to life, the more I fell in love with her.  It's a fictional resurrection for that girl I knew who perished way too young.

As for the villains I placed Etyouth (pronounced Et-Youth) in New Mexico not because of the Roswell/UFO/government conspiracy cliche, but I had a grandfather who sexually abused me most of my childhood and had an associate, and both of them went to New Mexico every winter.  He often desired to take me with him and when I was eleven, while my parents' separation was heading towards divorce, he did attempt to abduct me, hoping to abscond with me to his place in New Mexico...only, I ran off.  This was back in the late '70's and early '80's, still the dark ages for sexual abuse, when kids were never believed.

Anyway, not to dwell on my personal childhood trauma, the story in some ways is allegorical to my own background.  However, it's told as a science fiction story. So...this is a behind the scenes look at the evolution of Jimmy Miller, The Super Powerful: Forecast Acid Rain.

Girl Superhero

In the story it's obvious that Jimmy Miller has super powers.  What I don't say on the book in hopes the reader will make this discovery is that his 9-year-old friend Annie Marshall has them, too.  Annie has some terrifying abilities that fortunately she uses for good.  She is somewhat temperamental, so she is likely to strike out in anger.  Jimmy and Annie have powers that they have together that they don't have separate.  Annie has to overcome her mother's struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.  This often charming, manipulative brunette had to deal with an abusive step-father and often living in life-threatening situations.  By all rights she should have more behavioral problems, but her friendship with Jimmy is such a positive influence that she is surprisingly resilient.  Her younger brother, however, has some issues.  Being the preteen that she is she has a crush on singing sensation, Jonathon Bubber. 

Annie is a champion for kids (or former kids) who have dealt their own history with abuse, neglectful parents, foster care, and even school bullying.  Too bad for that step-father who dared to return and attack this girl's mother...he'll never do it again!

Updated book trailer

Here's an update to the book trailer.  The music is obnoxious, so any input or criticism is welcomed!  You can also find it here.