The best of July 2017

It's the monthly (if I'm lucky) look back at our biggest hits this past month. I usually do this when ... I remember to, really. There are some months I won't bother -- if the biggest posts came from another month, or if there's a post that I'm just going to get flack for, I tend to not bother, and move on to something else. I usually have a lot of other things to deal with

This month is especially surprising in some ways. How? To start with, I only posted 23 blogs in July. Only 23. I usually shoot for 30 or better. Despite that, I've gotten over 22,000 hits this month. Yes, I know that's just under a thousand hits per blog ... but not all of the best viewed posts this month were even from this month.

Let's go through them briefly.

1) The Flight of Dragon Awards

Not a surprise, really. I only posted this one everywhere. Frankly, I hope that every person who read this post voted. The people who read that post are more than 10% of the folks who voted in Hugos of recent years.

2) Attacking Allies

This is where I go into either the cowardly, the idiotic, or stupid practices of politics, where infighting and ideological purity seems preferably to actually getting anything done. Yes, I do touch on my own case a bit here, but mine is only a small example of a much larger problem.

I shouldn't be surprised that this was a success. Politics, sex and comic books are usually my biggest hits on the blog. Pity I hate politics so much.

3) Fall TV, 2017

Also not a surprise. A lot of what's coming is in the territory of "please don't suck, please don't suck." Even though I'm almost certain it will.

If nothing else, we'll at least have Lethal Weapon coming back.

4) Building Character: Scott "Mossad" Murphy

Okay, I honestly don't know how this came to be such a popular post this month. I guess it's been so long since I discussed A Pius Man, and I have such audience in comparison that it was a curious title.

5)  Pius #PulpRevolution? Or Superversive?

For this one ... I'm actually a little surprised this didn't get more traction. Maybe I should have just used the #PulpRev hashtag in the title instead. Either way, it was an exploration into whether or not A Pius Man fit into the Pulp Revolution, mostly by going through two or three different posts on it.

Of course, my entire conversation on it was easily handled. I told Jon del Arroz about the post while I was writing it. He said, "Oh, it'd definitely Pulp. I knew that in the first few pages."

Oy.

6) Faster than the Speed of Pulp #PulpRev

This one was basically just a quick review of all the books I've done, and the projects I have coming up. I was basically showing off.

Mostly brought to you by Larry Correia and Brian Niemeier for giving me the excuse to boast about just how much faster I write than George RR Martin.

Heh.

7) Pius Writing

Another surprise, which is more like a very brief description about A Pius Man. 

In fact, it's so brief, I'm surprised I let it go that short.

Oh well.

8) The Catholic Geek: On Anthologies 06/18

This ... may not be as surprising as I'd usually think. My radio shows do better as shows on Blog Talk Radio than on the blog. But in this case, Jennifer Brozek was the editor of the shared world anthology, Jeff Sturgeon's Last Cities of Earth. Jennifer Brozek is a Hugo Award finalist and a multiple Bram Stoker Award finalist. So she came with her own audience.

9) Dragons and Puppies

This is the one post were I blink and go "Wait? What?"

I didn't quite realize at the time how much click bait the title was. Oops. I actually had people think that the puppies were something other than, well, puppies.

Some people do cat pictures. I prefer dogs.

10) #PulpRev, Astounding Frontiers, Trumptopia, and other updates

And... another list of everything I've got coming up.

And oy, do I have  alot coming up.

I know the phrase is "I'll stop when I'm dead," but I'd like the dead part to happen later, rather than sooner. Thanks.

I have no idea how this post got the traction it did over others. The Hashtag? The odd title? Who knows?

Catholic Writer's Conference Live! 2015 Blogging panel

A little more on how I spent my week.

Rape is Not Entertainment

[Do I even have to say "trigger warnings ahead"?]

I have some odd followers on Twitter.

I have members of the Catholic Writer's Guild who follow me, because I'm a Catholic writer.

I have conservatives and libertarians follow me, because I'm politically ... complicated.

 I've been re-tweeted by Larry Correia, lord of gun porn.

Sarah Garlits

And then there's Sarah Garlits, aka Sarah Blake. Who's more ... porn porn. Sort of.

For those of you who don't know Madam Garlits, yes, she is an adult entertainer. No, I don't mean porn actress ... she used to be, but now does burlesque variants. It's complicated.

And I'm getting off topic...

How we tripped over each other on Twitter, I don't recall. I don't know why she follows me, but I find her interesting. And if you're new here, for me, "interesting" is a compliment.

She is also a rape survivor.

Garlits maintains a blog for abuse survivors, and she's very, very well-adjusted, considering her back story. She documents her day-to-day recovery, researches the topic thoroughly, and it's always an interesting day when someone on the internet teaches me something.

Finding the time: blogging, marketing, and ass kicking.

For some people, killing time is a figure of speech.

For me, I break out the garrot.... literally, I used to play Hitman: Blood Money.

Right now, I'm taking Krav Maga, the self defense system of the Israeli military, for when you absolutely positively have to kick someone in the crotch.  I'm also writing scenes for A Pius Stand, the final book of the Pius trilogy, and I've started on a new book, Sanctuary, a novel for Scott "Mossad" Murphy -- because I wanted to write a book where someone who never uses weapons is sent up against an army of gang bangers, armed with machineguns and RPGs.

So, I'm keeping busy while I wait for my beta readers of A Pius Legacy to get back to me.

You didn't think I forgot A Pius Legacy, did you?  Nope, it's still coming out in December (I hope) in time for Christmas..... (I'd like to have it up and running for Black Friday, but I'm not that delusional)

But it's amazing how much time can be sucked up by driving out to Long Island from Queens.  Then doing three hours of Krav Maga/cardio, then trying to fit in reading, writing, and what television I still watch.

Anyway, if I disappear from the blog for long stretches, I apologize.  This blog almost didn't get posted, such is the state of my life right now.

Despite the fans I have -- and I have some very encouraging, uplifting fans-- they don't pay the bills.  So, if I'm doing something that prevents you from buying the book, then by all means, let me know. I get very little feedback outside of a select few, who have lives of their own. This won't stop me from publishing, or writing, since I enjoy the writing, and might as well publish what I produce.

But I have to fight for every minute of time I have devoted to pushing the books, and I'm not sure if it's worth it anymore.  If no one cares, then I might as well roll up the blog and the Facebook pages and dedicate all of my time to just writing and Krav Maga.

So, I must ask you a few things.  Could you folks who have read A Pius Man comment below about the book. Did you like it? Hate it? What parts of it? I have already been told that the blog codes were annoying in the last book, so APL will not include them.

Also -- how many of you have purchased and/or read A Pius Man? If you haven't ..... could you tell me what you're waiting for? If you're waiting for a pricedrop on a paperback edition, I can arrange that. If you want a price drop on the Kindle, you already have it. If you want a hardcover, then by all means, let me know, I can arrange for it.

I'm very easy in most things -- except for sex, you'd have to work for that -- but you have to ask in order to get me to give. My ESP doesn't quite work over the internet.

Now, pardon me, I have to get my ass kicked by a 5'5" Indian girl who tends to elbow me in the throat.

Be well all, and God bless.

I Have an Evil Plan, with Zahn, Ringo, and David.

Holidays are generally not great days for my blog traffic.  This upcoming labor day, that's a good thing, because I'm going to be at DragonCon.

Yes, DragonCon, in beautiful downtown Atlanta, Georgia.  You can check out their guest list here.

I intend to enjoy myself, and unleash my evil plan.

Okay, it's not necessarily evil, but it should be interesting.

For newcomers, It Was Only On Stun! is a murder mystery at a science fiction convention. And, since I've published this bloody book mostly through my own stubborn efforts, I'm going to try selling as much as possible, and one thing that would help would be blurbs from authors, giving me positive reviews. Really positive reviews.

In short, I hope to give a copy of my book to Peter David, Timothy Zahn, and John Ringo. Why these authors?  You mean aside from the fact that they are all kick-ass writers, and popular in the science fiction community?

Peter David and John Ringo have a similar sense of humor to mine ... or I developed my sense of humor by reading them, pick one.  I find Ringo inspiring, and David usually entertaining, when he's not putting his politics into it.

Timothy Zahn is "only" an amazing author, and most likely responsible for resurrecting Star Wars as a franchise (sadly, the book franchise might be the only reason Lucas felt comfortable trying the prequel trilogy.  Bonus: Zahn has gone everywhere that Lucas has, and has outperformed the little sot.)

Right now, my major hope for the convention is that I don't have security sicced on me for trying to hand an author a novel.  Signed, of course.

On the plus side, I know Peter David has out-and-out advocated this procedure, so I can at least tell him that I'm only following his own advice. 

On the other hand, if Zahn found it creepy, he could call the 501st Imperial Stormtrooper Legion (see my Sean Ryan Trailer.).

And John Ringo ... well, he's ex-82nd airborne, and legions of his fans are military vets. I really hope he doesn't mind. And that he likes the book.

It's going to be amusing.

Coming soon: another twitter tale.

Last week, you learned about the strange situation I'm in with google.  This week, I've fixed it, as you can tell by the strange ad layouts you see around you.  And, I think that I like these ads better -- when I have them, that is.

However, I spent so much time getting that fixed, I'm missing a blog for the day.  I think the moral of the story is: don't bother with google ads, unless you like being screwed over.

However, I will make a little note here: Does anyone remember "Boys of the Old Brigade"?  It was story by twitter that I put together a while ago.

I'm thinking of doing it again in December, only with a story called Coyote Christmas.   I've written out the whole story in proper format, and I've done a twitter version.  The former was 18 pages, the latter only 7.

However, there is one major difference.

This time, I actually have a twitter account.

How many people do you think I can confuse on Twitter with lines like

Calling me a rent-a-cop is like calling a mushroom cloud a really neat special effect. 

It should at least get someone's attention.

I'm thinking of saving this story for December 5th.  So, if you want to catch it live, join my twitter by then (the join button is in the right hand column).

Occupy Google!

Sorry, this blog will be postponed for today. Nothing new is going to happen.

Why?  Because Google has decided to jerk me around

This blog, APM, has recently had a slight bump in traffic.  How slight?  Well, to break it down, the blog has had just over 16,000 viewers.

Thus far, November has brought in over 8,000 new readers.

Google Ads, who usually have a place in the right hand column, or just under the latest blog post, have decided that my latest bump in Google Ad clicks is sketchy.

If you don't have Google's Adsense on a blog, it's simple: you get paid by click.  The more hits you get on the website, the more likely it is that someone will click on your ads, and the more clicks, the more money.

However, you don't get paid until you make $100.

Before November, I had "made" $40.  Since the start of the November, I've brought in more than that -- not much, but I could buy a new laptop, if I buy it wholesale ....

In other words, just when I'm actually about to make ANY money, Google pulls the plug on me.

I'm going to spend the next few days waterboarding someone at Google .... um, I mean, appealing my case to these overstuffed shirts.

It's not much, but for someone who is too overeducated to be employed even at McDonald's (I think they're afraid I may take over), it's something.

Pardon the interruption.