Reader mail: Where can I read [your book] online for free?

Don’t pirate books. Don’t pirate games. In general, really, don’t pirate stuff you can buy or rent or get on loan that someone worked really hard to create.

Gina

Oh, ew. Ew. I feel icky. I hate answering this question. But answer it I must.

First of all, thank you for wanting to read my books. Really. I realize that on this planet there are trampoline gyms and elephant rides and a whole host of other fun things you could be doing with your time, so I appreciate the fact that you wish to devote it to eyeballing my words. I am touched and humbled.

That said…

Authors and artists do what they love because they are passionate about creating the things that they love to create. Generally speaking, they do not do it for the money (of which, sorry to say, there is precious little for most). But artists still need money to live. Painters can’t use their artwork to put a roof over their heads; paintings are made of canvas and are bad at keeping the rain out. Authors can’t eat their…

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When To Be Cruel

Auston Habershaw

Plot and story derive from conflict – anybody who’s tried writing anything has figured this out at some point. In order for something to happen, you need the character(s) to do something. In order to make that something they do interesting, there needs to be something at stake. Things are only at stake if there is some situation in which Option A is preferred over Option B and yet, with inaction or failure surpass some obstacle, Option B will come to pass or remain. That state of affairs is called “conflict” – I want A, but I have to overcome (whatever) to achieve it, otherwise B.

So concludes your really, really basic lesson in plotting stories.

The idea of conflict is simple enough, but how to go about creating it is infinitely complex. You need things to be at stake, yes, but what constitutes that? Furthermore, how large should the obstacle be…

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Win a Signed Copy of THE OLDEST TRICK! Today only!

Auston Habershaw

You could win this, and with my name scribbled in it! Surely, your descendants will sing of this immortal day!

Today is a very special day. My friend, A.F.E. Smith, has a book out today. It’s called DARKHAVEN, and it sounds really cool, and you should all buy it. To celebrate, AFE is throwing a release party, at which you can win many prizes and much wealth. Well, prizes. Mostly in the form of books or artwork from your favorite authors. Which, now that I think of it, is very much the same thing as wealth.

But I digress.

I, the intrepid author of this, your fourth or fifth favorite blog, am participating in this party in two very important ways.

Way the First

Ms. Smith will be interviewing me on her release party page at 3pm EST (or 8pm UK time). You can ask questions, too! Stop on…

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Announcing: THE OLDEST TRICK, releasing on July 14th!

Auston Habershaw

So, by now you’ve heard me jawing about my two novels (The Iron Ring and Iron and Blood) which, together, really comprise a single novel. That single novel was the one I originally submitted to Harper Voyager and now, after being apart for so very long, they are together again at last! This is my vision as I originally intended it – the director’s cut, if you will (though, really, it isn’t any different than the other two books, just presented back-to-back in one volume).

To avoid any potential confusion, you will note that the cover artists have combined both covers into one bold, yellow vision.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my book has been reunited with itself and now you can read the entirety of The Iron Ring and Iron and Blood in one volume under its original title, THE OLDEST TRICK!

(pause here for applause.)

(c’mon…

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It’s RELEASE DAY!

Auston Habershaw

Yes! Finally, Blood and Iron, Part 2 of the Saga of the Redeemed, is released today!

Do you know how hard it is living with all these spoilers in my head? It’s really hard. Every time somebody would walk up to me and start talking about what they hope/think will happen to Tyvian, Artus, Hool, and so on, it was all I could do to keep from yelling “NO! THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENS AT ALL!” or “HOW DID YOU GET INSIDE MY BRAIN, YOU FIEND?”

Now you can all buy it and see for yourself. Please do!

This one doesn’t end with a “To Be Continued.” I promise. (Oh, and Book 3 comes out in the fall)

Found wherever fine e-books are sold!

Amazon

Barnes and Nobel

Kobo

Harper Collins

Oh, and if you haven’t read The Iron Ring, please go do that first – it will all make waaaay…

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Book Giveaway Contest: Best One-Liners

A chance to win a free copy of Auston Habershaw’s upcoming book by doing what you probably already love doing–coming up with a witty one-liner!

Auston Habershaw

Hello there, friends! Say, have you heard I have a novel out? No?! Heavens to murgatroyd, wherever have you been? Well, no matter, no matter – we’ll fix things up right soon. Here’s what I’m going to do:

I’m going to give you a free copy of THE IRON RING. Yes, that’s right – give you one. For free.

I’ve got a bunch of copies of THE IRON RING to give to you good people. Why? Well, it just so happens the sequel to THE IRON RING is coming out on June 2nd, and I want to give some people a chance to read the first one before they read the second, right? Only seems fair, and time is of the essence, my friends.

Now, obviously this is such a stupendous deal that I might be inundated with requests for that limited number of free copies, and then I’d have to…

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Monsterhearts Review

I wrote this review of the indie RPG Monsterhearts last year for The Mental Attic, so it’s about time I reblogged it here! We’ve actually since moved this game to an adapted version of FAE (Fate Accelerated Edition), and I’m hoping to do a review/recap on how that’s been working for us at some point as well. Enjoy!

The Mental Attic

Monsterhearts is an indie Role Playing Game, published by Apocalypse World and created by Avery Mcdaldno (formerly Joe), about the “messy lives of teenage monsters,” in which characters take the roles of supernatural teens in the high school settings, along the lines of TV shows such as Buffy or the Vampire Diaries. If you’ve ever wanted to game in the young adult paranormal romance genre, there’s no better system for diving head-first into it than this one.

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Words of Wisdom From the Greats

Auston Habershaw

Pictured (closest to furthest): TR Napper, me, Kary English, Steve Pantazis, Zach Chapman, Daniel J Davis

This past week I have been in LA at the Writers of the Future Workshop. I have heard from a dozen different luminaries in the fields of Scifi/Fantasy all about a wide range of topics. Each and every one of them provided deep and useful advice for furthering my career and the careers of my fellow winners. While I couldn’t possibly recap what I learned entirely, I can provide you with some highlights. Note that most of these statements are paraphrased from my notes, so they aren’t direct quotes. Enjoy!

Dave Farland

On concept:

Every idea for a science fiction or fantasy short story sounds stupid when you explain it to someone. Learn to embrace the stupid. The trick is how to make the stupid idea work.

On setting:

Setting comes first. A sense of…

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The Right to Make You Feel Icky

Auston Habershaw

I quote from Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols:

Let us finally consider how naïve it is altogether to say: “Man ought to be such and such!” Reality shows us an enchanting wealth of types, the abundance of a lavish play and change of forms – and some wretched loafer of a moralist comments: “No! Man ought to be different.” He even knows what man should be like, this wretched bigot and prig: he paints himself on the wall and comments, “Ecce homo!” But even when the moralist addresses himself only to the single human being and says to him, “You ought to be such and such!” he does not cease to make himself ridiculous.”

Today’s news has brought to my attention two things of which I feel you lot ought to be aware. First, there is Indiana’s terrible, terrible law just passed by the state legislature, known…

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The Ten Commandments of Gamemastering

An excellent list of advice from an excellent GM. Seriously, if you’re playing or running any RPG, read these and take it to heart.

Auston Habershaw

I’ve been running role playing games for my friends for about 22 years or so at this point. I have created and run over a dozen campaigns and innumerable one-shot adventures. I’ve played RPGs with rank newbies and grizzled veterans and everybody in-between. I’ve lost count of the number of game-systems knocking around in my head (and, indeed, as any of my long-time players can attest, I sometimes get them all tangled up together.). What I lay out here are the strictures by which I try to run what I consider to be a good game. They may work for you or not; all I’m expressing is my experience. I might also add that I don’t always live up to these commandments myself, as much as I try. When they all work, though, something golden is bound to happen.

 

#1: Thou Shalt Not Take Thy Game Too Seriously

Yes, I…

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