As my friends and various other folks I haven’t run off yet can attest, I’m a strong supporter of this ongoing project. I’ve had stories in 3 of the 4 volumes so far, and will be submitting to this one too.

Jim and Amie were the first editors to take a chance on my mad musings, and I will NEVER forget that.

This is one case where I’m quite happy to skip the Get Paid part of the program since the proceeds are going to support a small town library, and particularly the children’s programs.

That’s not ‘exposure’, that’s a (darned) good cause. Anyway, if the first books are free, then I’m helping to establish a love of reading that will last a lifetime ; )
==========
We’re doing another library anthology this year!!!

The Roaring Library

Theme: 1920’s Texas – the Roaring Twenties

Length: 5000-8000 words long

Send us your stories! They need to be set in the 1920s in Texas, not
necessarily in a library, although that’s a strong element to include.

The anthology supports the Tom Burnett Memorial Library and the
children’s program there, and all proceeds go to the library.

Submissions are due no later than September 7, 2026

Please send submissions to oldnfo (at) gmail (dot) com

Target publication date is November 13, 2026

And for your information so you know who the team is-
Editors: J.L. Curtis and Amie Schultz
Copy-Editor: Laura Begley
Design (cover and formatting): Cedar Sanderson

Thanks in advance, folks!

-- J.L. Curtis

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The original concept was a character sketch I did for a previous D&D character.

Ciara Gitano Stirling is a woman of two worlds, and ended up with what is just short of a split personality.

Ciara is half-elven, and half-gypsy, resulting in a wandering player with demure façade and a bit of a chaotic streak.

Old blood and new blood calling my name

Half of the wood, half of the road

Now something wilder takes hold

And then there’s ‘Black Betty’ Stirling, a name hastily chosen as she was staring down the business end of the Wild Hunt after a calling at a crossroads got a little out of hand…

Fey Night at the Crossroads

She not only survived the night, she walked away with just a touch of the Lord of the Hunt’s power. ‘Black Betty’ is less elven and more wild fey, and there is some question as to which court would claim her…

In D&D terms, she’s a Bard’lock with The Lord of the Hunt as her Archfey patron.
As a bard, she follows the College of Metal, and since the party she was in had two other College of Metal bards, their performances in or out of combat were rather less than subtle…

For the best musical rendition of the inside of her head as Ciara, listen to The Longing by Patty Gurdy.

Visually, as ‘Black Betty’ she is Simone Simons with pointy ears and the performance skills both her and Lindsey Stirling (or a pixy on espresso, which can be similar). Her primary instrument is a musical variation of the Hexblade that she summons at need, and generally alternates between violin and hurdy gurdy as the song and mood strikes her.

Regardless of which persona is dominate, she rides a black, unnamed desert stallion that she would, and has both killed and bled for.

She Doesn’t Run

[Verse 1]
Moon sliver high on the crossroads line
Sweat on my hands but my heart beats fine
Thunder rolling like a call in the night
I stand my ground, I won’t take flight

[Pre-Chorus]
Fiddle in my hands, fire in my veins
Old blood and new blood calling my name
Half of the wood, half of the road
Now something wilder takes hold

[Chorus]
I don’t run, I don’t hide
Let the storm break, let the wild ride
Power rising under my skin
This is where I truly begin
She doesn’t run — no, she doesn’t run

[Verse 2]
Hooves like thunder, eyes like green fire
Lord of the Hunt testing my desire
I danced where his lightning split the sky
Looked him dead in the eye and refused to die

[Bridge]
Black Betty Stirling woke with the dawn
New fiddle singing, old fears gone
Tattoo on my heart, hart’s blood on my tongue
The Hunt rides with me — my song’s just begun

[Chorus – Big, triumphant]
I don’t run, I don’t hide
Let the storm break, let the wild ride
Power rising under my skin
This is where I truly begin
She doesn’t run — no, she doesn’t run!

[Outro – extended fiddle solo over big anthemic repeat]
Ciara sleeps… my time has begun…
We do not run…
Let the thunder sing, let the wild one come…

The song is me and several AI’s in collaborative storytelling mode; my story, mixed lyrics, Suno audio, MJ, Grok, and Kling for images and animation.

I would never claim to be a visual artist, animator, or musician. I’m just a Writer and Collaborative Storyteller having some fun with the marvelous new genii we have let out of their bottles.

Listen and Enjoy.

As part of the fun we’ve been having at , we fired up WRAC, ‘a pirate radio station broadcasting from a ‘decommissioned’ MilSat somewhere in the vicinity of L5’.

We’ve released a couple of things so far on various social media platforms, to moderate but positive response.

This got me playing with Suno and a few other tools on the music side of things, in addition to trying to learn enough video work to be useful (my formal training on it was ages ago).

Anywho, I got to playing with a few tools and and worked up a process that included analysis of a story, followed by breakdown into lyrics and instructions interactively. Iterate and edit until I was happy with the results and then feed into Suno; repeat.

Like all current AI tool, it takes several cycles of iteration and edits to get something useful, but when it’s right, it can be Very Right.

A few friends either asked where they could stream it, or told me I should release it for streaming.

With the fun has been having as an example, I decided to take a chance and release it into the world.

I will be the first to say that I’m not a musician. I can barely play radio, but I can use the tools currently available to get an acceptable output, and I can channel that to support the things that I AM reasonably good at, like my writing.

I feel the same way about my use of AI Images. I won’t say art, since art requires a people involved at a ‘higher’ level than I normally practice. I can reach the level of ‘so-so’ hack graphic designer if I work at it, but that’s the most I’ll claim in that direction.

Once again, I can use the tools available to support my primary creative outlet; writing.

If you read and like ‘The Way of the Gun’ in either Space Cowboys #5 or Raconteur Press’ Best of 2024, give a listen to Way of the Gun (Gando) on your streaming platform of choice. If you don’t use one of the links below, try searching ‘Jesse A Barrett’ on the streaming service. That seems to work better at this point, for some reason.

If you haven’t read it, but think the idea of Offworld Outlaw Country is intriguing, give it a listen, you don’t have to know the full story to enjoy this version of it. You can always pick up one of the anthos it appeared in afterwards if you like. You can also just ‘stream’ the anthology of choice on KU.

For those who might be interested, I also have other ‘unreleased’ projects on my Suno, including things like a 90’s Romanian Club-Mix Heist album inspired by a short story I wrote for ’s upcoming Midnight Sea anthology (finger’s crossed). I needed music to set the mood and distract my muse while I finished it, and couldn’t find anything suitable. I ended up almost accidently generated a concept album on the themes I was playing with…

Most of those are instrumentals that exist to accent themes while I’m working on various writing projects.

Anywho, give it a listen, maybe buy a copy to support an indie creative, and let me know what you think!

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https://music.apple.com/us/album/way-of-the-gun-gando-single/1892605029

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n30Uc3aK_Vr5agwyXBUQ5XTm7v005-55k

This1 was my first official ‘working’ con, and I wanted to have a few things in place to try and track the impact of what I was doing2.

QR Codes have become ubiquitous, but I’ve learned that having an accessible / usable URL can be important too. Some people just don’t like the ‘magic box’ element of QR codes.

In the end, I figured I needed a way to shorten the URL’s (in some cases), generate QR Codes (in others), and have some behind the scenes tracking so I can see how many hits I’m getting.

After some research I picked an affordable option that met my requirements. There are many others out there that may fit you better, so look around some and find the program that fits your needs.

The important bit to me is the analytics.

My bookmarks have QR Codes and URL’s, my business cards have either a shortened URL or a QR Code. Each of the book covers I have printed as backups also have a QR code for Amazon, making it possible for people to order eBooks while standing right there.

NOTE: In my infinite wisdom I left this binder BEHIND the table — oops…

In this way everything important to what I’m trying to sell has a way to track what happens when someone steps away from the table.

All of this combines with the sales numbers to give a better picture of what happens after the face to face interaction.

I’m not a Marketing Daimyo like Jack Wylder, but I understand sales reporting and I want to know what’s working and how well.

Yeah, a ~200 person con won’t reveal the secrets of the universe, but I’m hoping it will give me a start in refining my ‘in person’ promo materials.

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This year’s FenCon was a bit more ‘interesting’ than usual for me.

I was planning on attending when Crystal Schuh Gayle asked if I wanted to get a table this time.

I’d been very low key pondering the idea, but that question combined with the very reasonable rate when compared to the pair of memberships I was planning on picking up anyway made it a possibility.

Then I made the mistake of telling Crystal that, and word got back to that I ‘was going’. He then decides to get one himself, ‘since he’d have someone to talk to’…

Which resulted in me getting off the fence on the side of ‘let’s see what happens’.

So FenCon XXI goes down in the books as my first con as a dealer AND an attending pro.

Insert random incoherent screaming here

Time passes and and I end up with most of a book order, a bunch of fun 3d printed stuff (lots of gaming supplies), and a stack of VERY rush ordered bookmarks. The Roommate helps me get everything loaded, and his Lady assisted in the sorting and pricing of the various 3d stuff.

Since I was also the only member of who was planning on ‘working’1 at FenCon, I also collected a box of Press Books and promo stuff, JIC.

We arrived on Thursday, a bit late to do the traditional BarCon thing, and were ready to get started bright and early on Friday morning.

The start of the con was slightly more chaotic than usual, but it was handled well by folks involved. We got set up ahead of JVS at the next table over as he was driving in2, and I set up an ambush. This year, he was leaving with one of MY books for a change!

muahahaha

John gets set up, and asks if I play guitar after I deliver my book, with a bookmark (above).

I failed either a ‘sense motive’ check or a ‘detect traps’ check, not sure which, and respond with a simple ‘no’

John laughs, and reaches back to grab a custom guitar he’s hand built with his lion logo on it.

“Then you can hang it on the wall, here…”

HeadDesk

I’m honored, but damn…

I’d like to claim that the shock was why I missed my first panel, but that was hours later, and I just had the day wrong in my head.

and RJ Hanson covered for me and I DIDN’T get to tell any of my good Critical Failure stories. Well, I think I told and a couple of folks, but not in the panel.

Which set a theme for the panels I was on, someone missed every one, for a variety of reasons. Ah well, Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome doesn’t just apply in combat, and we carried on fairly well.

BarCon on Friday was good, as was having breakfast with the RacPress folks each morning. Face to face with them is always a good time, even if I wound up with a couple of new projects for the next few weeks. Sat ended relatively early for me, and Sun we drove back to OKC.

From a sales standpoint, I did OK. My minimum markers of not making a fool of myself unintentionally and covering the upgrade to the table were easily handled. I’ll have to go back in and cook the books to see exactly how well I did, but it should end up somewhere between OK, and Pretty Good. I’m not adverse to dealing again.

The GM’ing on the Fly and How to destroy a Writer’s Group in 6 Easy Steps panels both went well from where I was sitting, and I’d like to formally thank the other panelists for bringing a variety of points of view without bringing the conflicts that have seemed inevitable over the last several years. I’d much rather ‘argue’ in the bar than fight in the halls.

I established that panels are something I can do as both a participant and a mod, but I want to keep the numbers down in reasonable levels.

Oh, and Kevin J Anderson posted a picture with me on X!

If you zoom in and look WAY in the back / right, I’m the folliclly challenged bloke talking to RJ Hanson (in his fun ‘Writer Character Sheet’ t-shirt).

I did grab and get KJA to sign a copy of his Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina antho, from before the coming of the Haus of Maus…

Overall, FenCon XXI was a good con for me.

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This came about due to a confluence of circumstances that included Crystal Schuh Gayle asking if I wanted to get a table at the same time was wondering if I could sell books.

I said I’d think about it, but I was leaning that direction. Next thing I know a a much ‘bigger’ writer PINGS me saying something like ‘I heard you were getting a table, I might get the next one over so we’ll have someone to talk to…’

This made up my mind, even if it looks like he opted not to do so.

EDIT: Apparently he just wasn’t listed yet, but has posted he’d be there.

As a result I have most of a book order, Promo materials ordered with RUSH priority, a bunch of very random 3d printed stuff, and a growing sense of creeping dread…

I offered to share some table space with the folks at , and they DO know what they are doing, so I’ll have more than my small handful of anthologies available, and might even have have friends / collogues / coworkers dropping by to sell / sign a few things…

Beyond being in the Dealer’s Room, my tentative schedule is:

----------------------------------------------------

Nat 1 For the Win! - Friday 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Newbury

Sometimes failures are more fun than successes. Panelists talk about those epic fails that made the session, the campaign, or their way into legend.

Panelists:

Jesse A Barrett , Wally Waltner , RJ Hanson (MOD)

----------------------------------------------------

DMing on the Fly (M) - Sunday 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Manchester 1

What do you do when your party refuses to follow any of your hooks? Tips, tricks, and stories about sessions that did not go as planned.

Panelists:

RJ Hanson, Rob Howell , Mike Stewart , Jesse A Barrett (MOD?!?)

----------------------------------------------------

How to Destroy a Writer’s Group in Six Easy Steps - Sunday 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Windsor 1

Okay, it probably takes more than six steps to destroy a writing group, but what are the behaviors to avoid when joining a writing group? Our panelists share their experiences to help guide the audience in their own quest for the perfect writing group.

Panelists:

Jesse A Barrett , Rhonda Eudaly , Michelle Muenzler (she/her) , D.L. Young , J.L. Curtis (MOD)

----------------------------------------------------

Obviously, this isn’t my first con, or my first recent con, but it will be the first one I’m attending as both a Dealer, and a Pro. I’ve been attending con’s since the late 80’s (with a couple rather large breaks), and writing professionally since 2022.

We’ll see how everything holds up and where I pencil in the Panic Attack…

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Robert E. Howard (full name Robert Ervin Howard) was an American author best known as a pioneering writer of pulp fiction, particularly in the genres of fantasy, adventure, horror, and historical fiction. He is widely regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre of fantasy literature, most famously through his creation of the iconic character Conan the Barbarian (often called Conan the Cimmerian).

Born on January 22, 1906, in Peaster, Texas (a small town in Parker County, west of Fort Worth), Howard was the only child of Dr. Isaac Mordecai Howard, a traveling country physician, and Hester Jane Ervin Howard. The family moved frequently during his early years due to his father’s work but eventually settled in the small Central Texas town of Cross Plains around 1919, where Howard lived for most of his life. He attended local schools there and showed an early aptitude for reading and storytelling, devouring books on history, mythology, folklore, and adventure literature.

Howard began writing seriously as a teenager, submitting stories to pulp magazines—the cheap, mass-market periodicals that dominated popular fiction in the 1920s and 1930s. His first published story, “Spear and Fang,” appeared in Weird Tales in 1925 when he was just 19. He quickly became a prolific contributor to Weird Tales and other pulps, often writing under pseudonyms like Patrick Ervin or Steve Costigan for different genres.

His output was remarkable for someone who died young: in a career spanning roughly 12 years, he produced hundreds of stories, poems, and essays across diverse genres. These included:

• Fantasy and sword and sorcery: Besides Conan, he created Kull of Atlantis (a brooding Atlantean king), Solomon Kane (a Puritan avenger fighting supernatural evil), Bran Mak Morn (a Pictish king defending his people against invaders), and others. His Hyborian Age setting for Conan—a fictional prehistoric era between the sinking of Atlantis and the rise of known history—blended myth, history, and imagination into a vivid, gritty world of barbarians, ancient civilizations, sorcery, and monsters.

• Westerns and boxing tales: He wrote humorous Western adventures featuring characters like Breckinridge Elkins and serious frontier stories. His Sailor Steve Costigan series drew on his own brief experiences as a boxer and seaman.

• Historical adventure: Tales like those of El Borak (a gun-slinging adventurer in the Middle East) and others set in various eras.

• Horror and weird fiction: Stories with Lovecraftian influences, as Howard corresponded extensively with H.P. Lovecraft and other Weird Tales writers.

Howard’s prose was vivid, fast-paced, and muscular, emphasizing action, raw human emotion, barbaric vitality, and a pessimistic view of civilization’s decay. He often portrayed “barbarian” characters as noble and vital in contrast to decadent, corrupt civilized societies—a theme reflecting his own disillusionment with modernity and admiration for frontier ruggedness.

His most enduring creation, Conan, debuted in Weird Tales with “The Phoenix on the Sword” in 1932. Conan is a massive, cunning Cimmerian barbarian who rises from thief and mercenary to king through sheer strength, wits, and ferocity. The stories mix sword fights, sorcery, intrigue, and exotic locales. Though only about 20 Conan tales were completed (plus fragments), they defined the genre and inspired countless imitators. Howard’s success peaked in the mid-1930s, but he earned modest pay from the pulps and supplemented income with other writing.

Tragically, Howard’s life ended abruptly. He was deeply attached to his mother, who suffered from tuberculosis for years. On June 11, 1936, as she lay in a coma with no hope of recovery, a nurse informed the family she would not awaken. Howard, who had prepared for this moment (including setting his affairs in order), stepped outside to his car, shot himself in the head with a pistol, and died about eight hours later at age 30. His mother passed away the next day. Both were buried in Greenleaf Cemetery in Brownwood, Texas.

Despite his short life and limited recognition during it—most of his work appeared only in magazines—Howard’s posthumous influence has been immense. Conan stories were collected and edited (notably by L. Sprague de Camp and others in the 1950s–1970s), leading to massive popularity in paperbacks. This fueled adaptations, including films (the 1982 Conan the Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), comics, games, and more. His sword and sorcery style influenced fantasy writers like Fritz Leiber (who coined the term), and his work helped pave the way for modern heroic fantasy.

Howard remains celebrated for his raw energy, world-building, and unflinching portrayal of human nature. Though his personal life was marked by isolation in rural Texas, health struggles, and depression, his legacy endures as one of the most dynamic voices in 20th-century pulp and fantasy fiction.

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Why is it that every werewolf book is this weird testosterone fueled alpha male/female romance thing?

Like guys. werewolves are family groups. They are basically big ol’ dog families. Your werewolf family wouldn’t be made up of alpha males fighting each other for dominance and subjugating females.

If there was a werewolf in your neighborhood, they’d be that family of 10 kids always roughhousing outside and their house is the one all the neighborhood kids go to hang out at because Mr. Werewolf and Mrs. Werewolf are the Cool Parents that their kids find really embarrassing.

@avatar-dacia

“Wait...Emily? Aren’t she and her whole family...you know?”

“Don’t believe everything you’ve heard; worst thing that’s ever happened over there is the twins teething on visitors’ shoes.”

@prokopetz

Here’s the thing, though. While the notion of the “alpha wolf” is indeed misguided, being based on observations of wolves in captivity, the dominance thing does happen. And it’s not just the adult males; adult females do it too - but it’s only a thing when wolves who aren’t related by blood end up sharing a habitat.

So consider: by some happenstance, two unrelated werewolf families end up living across the street from one another. Of course they’re not going to start brawling in the streets - they’re civilized people, after all - but that urge to show the other pack who’s boss comes out in other ways, resulting in the two clans getting, like, weirdly competitive about everything.

Imagine the Halloween displays.

@severalows

Are you trying to tell me that the most hardcore ride-or-die PTA mothers are probably actually werewolves?

@therobotmonster

“We’re settling this through the old ways, Helen.”

“Spiked silver chains on the night of the blood moon?”

“The spring bake sale, Helen. Turn it down a notch.”

“Fine. But when they taste my lemon squares you’re going to wish we’d gone with the silver chains, Jessi.”

Meanwhile, across the room:

“You know what I like doin’ Rob?”

“What’s that Bill?”

“Peening out of doors.”

“Me too, Bill. But I thought you just married into the whole werewolf thing.”

“I’m just making conversation, Rob.”

@cheesseanonioncrisps

I like it. The house in between their two houses is owned by a vampire family who deliberately fuel the fire because they like to watch the drama.

(What? Just because you’re not allowed to kill werewolves anymore, doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with them.)

“Oh, hi Helen. Putting up the Christmas decorations, I see?”

“Yep, this light show’ll make this our best Christmas display yet.”

“Oh great! You know the Johnsons have got life-size singing reindeer as part of their display.”

Helen’s perfectly manicured nails grow another two centimeters.

“Oh they have, have they? Oh is that the time! I’m sorry Lilith, I’ve just got to go to the shops.”

She returns three hours later with six reindeer and a giant inflatable Father Christmas. Lilith runs off to tell the neighbors.

@sunshine-tattoo

I would watch the f*ck outta this garbage sitcom

@selenekallanwriter

Across from the vampires lives a family of Fae. True to their nature, they turn up their noses at the garish decorations and the childish behavior of the werewolf families, while secretly betting with the vampires on who will show the claws first: Jessi or Helen.

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Again; not mine, but I’d read or watch the (heck) out of it if it was presented properly ; )

I didn’t score as many sales as I think I could have, but the ones I got did better than expected.

This year I started off strong, but kindov petered out, and I’m not exactly sure why. I’m looking into that so it will stop being a problem.

I sold a few, bounced a couple, and didn’t finish more than I really want to admit to.

Looking into next year, I’m going to finish a long overdue Project, and then see about clearing out a handful of WiP’s that I like the flow of and want to see complete. Not sure where they will end up, but I’m approaching a point where a Personal Collection isn’t out of the question, so having some new stuff in it can’t hurt. I’m also trying to figure out what I want to do in the way of something longer. I figure it’s about time to add an unfinished novel to my collection…

By The Numbers:

There are three additional collections I don’t have direct access to the numbers on, so I’m guessing based on the median number of sales and the mean number of page reads (orange).

Anthologies I have stories in sold ~900 copies this year, and have ~400k total page reads.

This would put me ahead of 90% of indie writers in sales numbers, but in the lower-mid range on royalties, particularly when my average ‘take’ is ~7.4% of the net. Since to date I’m exclusively a short fiction writer, this is about right. My monthly ‘check’ from Pubshare has reached the point where I can order a mid-priced meal off an actual menu monthly, so I’ll take that. According to Larry Correia’s ‘Official Alphabetical List of Author Success’, I’m solidly ‘L-List’. Not too bad for the end of my 2nd full year writing.

I read the comments…

I was unable to resist checking various books for reviews.

Umm, folks, Anthos need love too, so PLEASE if you read and liked one of them, leave a review!

That said, I got several nicely positive ones out of Blades & Black Magic. When even someone who didn’t like the style of a tale says that it was well written and looked to be on target, I’ll take that as a high complement!

My unusual Sword & Sorcery story looks to have more review mentions than the rest of my stuff combined. The few other mentions I could find were positive, so I’ll take that.

It also means that I might have to add a few more tales of Kermik the Green and his world of Mups, Might, & Magic. Give the people what they want and all that ; )

I also have a couple of Sean and Mal stories I need to get written, and one of my ‘bounced’ stories keeps nagging at me for both an origin tale and further adventures of, so those are also possibilities.

What do the clankers have to say?

Amusingly, Grok can now ID me fairly reliably, including getting the books right (if not all of them) and telling me from a different Jesse Barret, who is the reason I started using my middle initial…

Jesse A. Barrett is an independent science fiction writer who began publishing professionally in 2022. He’s a lifelong avid reader who turned to writing after a varied career path, including jobs in photography, pizza delivery, tropical fish sales, phone support, and fintech/software support.

His works primarily appear in anthologies published by small/indie presses like Raconteur Press (often referred to as “RacPress” in his writings), where he contributes short stories to themed collections. Notable titles he’s associated with include:

Contributions to the Space Cowboys anthology series (e.g., stories in Space Cowboys and Space Cowboys 5, which have received positive ratings on Goodreads, averaging around 4.3–4.6 stars from dozens of readers).

Full Steam Ahead (another anthology contribution).

He maintains an Amazon author page for his published works and runs a Substack newsletter where he shares insights about his writing journey, praises small presses like Raconteur for fair treatment of authors (e.g., ongoing royalties and rights reversion after a period), and discusses the indie publishing scene.

Barrett describes himself as an up-and-coming writer in the indie/small press space, focusing on fun, entertaining sci-fi stories. His output aligns with the highly skewed distribution common among self-published and indie authors—modest but enthusiastic readership in niche genres, with earnings likely in the lower tiers typical for most writers in this ecosystem.

(Note: This is distinct from Jesse M. Barrett, the lawyer and husband of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who has legal writings but is not a fiction author.)

Ya, that’s about right.

In conclusion, from a writing standpoint, 2025 wasn’t the year I wanted it to be but it could have been MUCH worse.

If you are interested in my published fiction, everything is linked below. If you like my rambles, subscribe to my substack, and if you feel like Tossing a Coin to your Witcher, feel free to do so at a higher tier ; )

See you all in 2026!

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is becoming a household name for all of us here at GHG. After Neither Beg Nor Yield, Skovolis – City of Thrones, and Blades & Black Magic, this is the fourth collection with his stamp on it that I’m having a look at. Yeah, I duplicated this paragraph from the previous intro, what of it?

As mentioned, I was sent an eARC copy of this most recent Sword & Sorcery Anthology from Jason and in exchange for an honest review in five thousand words or less. I may have ad libbed that last part, which is probably why I went (well) over. So strap in for a long-format waxing on what exactly Daggers & Dark Powers is. And, more importantly for those of us that rank these things, whether or not it’s better than Blades & Black Magic.

Spoilers and well-meaning, bad language to follow.

Cozzy

Like the last one, I’m not going to quote any more of it, since that caliber of work more than deserves the traffic.

So, if you’re interested in Sword & Sorcery, head over there and give it a read, and then hopefully pick up Blades & Black Magic and Daggers & Dark Powers, if you don’t have them yet!

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I was included in the conversation on an upcoming episode of RacChat with several other members of the team.

One of MANY things that came up in conversation were story hooks, and it reminded me of this article I posted in October:

Raconteur Press

In the beginning, "Let there be Action!"

Missing; one story hook…

Read more

8 months ago · 33 likes · 9 comments · Raconteur Press

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If you missed the first half, you can find it here.

I hope you enjoyed the first half on Tuesday, and most of you will have worked out why I’m dropping the second half on Thanksgiving Day ; )

Like I did with the the first half, I’m including 2 versions of my story.

There’s the lightly edited text version, AND an AI ‘reading’ that I thought turned out OK. I don’t believe that AI ‘readers’ are the best future for audiobooks, but they MAY be an option for those of us who are just starting out and can’t afford a good reader / voice actor. I’m looking forward to the point when I can replace this with a good human reader.

So please, read or listen as you may prefer, and if you want your own copy of the book to keep, pick up Space Cowboys by Raconteur Press.

Thanks,

Jesse A Barrett

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W.A.R.P. in Sector 3! - Part 2

By Jesse A Barrett

Continuing from Part One

Their new course was set to take almost twice as long as the old one, but it avoided most ‘official’ entanglements. It also used almost twice as much fuel and ate into their profits on this run, but now Captain Rogers had a better idea of why some ‘simple farm supplies’ had such a high payday.

The problem was, their second to last jump point was monitored, and if they had shown up on the Patrol’s sensors it wouldn’t be too hard to work out an approximate systems entry vector and have something in their way. Unfortunately, anything else either put them in major traffic lanes where they would be noticed, or with jumps that were long enough to not be worth the risk. Azikiwe was good and their systems were solid, but ships still disappeared every year. This left them hoping that with all the data going into the official systems, the pieces wouldn’t be put together until afterwards. At which point, if there is no official evidence of the final hand off, it never happened.

Captain Rogers, Sarika, and Azikiwe were on the bridge. The Gunny was monitoring the loaders. Knowing those three, said monitoring probably involved a deck of cards. He’d report to the bridge in time for the jump. Les, well Les was physically chained to the primary controls for Cargo Bay One. It seems that he had to go to the head and didn’t believe that the captain was serious enough to follow through with his threat over a ‘quick pit stop’. The Gunny waited for him to finish before he hit him with the hand stunner, and he woke up a few minutes later with a mid-range hangover and his ankles shackled to a padeye normally used for harnesses in zero g. He was not pleased, but he had been warned, and the intercoms could be disabled from engineering.

“Jump in thirty seconds, Captain,” Sarika reported; her hands on the control yoke rather than just monitoring the autopilot. She counted the last ten seconds down, and then there was a brief moment of disorientation before the screen flickered into a new starscape.

“Nothin’ on passive, Captain,” Azikiwe reported. “Estimated time before full update ta’ planet, approximately six minutes. Transit time to planetary orbit, fourteen hours with current vectors.”

So far, there weren’t any sensor systems that were capable of FTL readings, so they had to wait for everything to catch up with their appearance.

It was a tense six minutes, but it didn’t appear that anything had been waiting in their path, and they didn’t show any unusual traffic, yet. That could change as they made their approach, but everyone took there not being a Patrol interdictor waiting for them to be a good sign.

“Let’s give it an hour on this approach and then seconds to duty stations and try to get some rest. I want our primaries at the controls as we make final approach to the planet,” Captain Rogers said. Then he activated the intercom. “Gunny.”

“Yes Captain?” that worthy responded quickly.

“Give it an hour and then send the bosun in to relieve Les. He can take a meal pack, two water bottles, and a fresh suit honey bag. Les does not leave that point until we make landfall, or the cargo is off my ship.”

“Understood, Captain.”

Captain Rogers then headed for his own stateroom to try and get some rest.

Ten hours later they swapped back. Technically it was early, but no one really wanted the seconds handling this planetary approach. The only thing reported on the changeover was a sensor blip that could have been a warp exit, but it was masked by the mass of one of the planet’s three satellites. Both the pilot and the nav reviewed the readings and neither were willing to say what it was definitively.

They were on final deceleration into orbit when Azikiwe suddenly spoke up from the primary sensors, with unusual formality.

“Sensors to Pilot; warp exit on our deceleration path!”
Sarika swore loudly in Hindi, and then slapped the main intercom. “Everyone strap in for high G maneuvering; 10 seconds!” she announced.

“Gunny, get rail and missile solutions on that ship, now.” The captain demanded.

“Definite warp entry readings behind satellite two, near where the blip was earlier. Signature appears to match the warp exit now on our path.”

Everyone was slammed sideways as the pilot’s countdown from ten reach zero. Several minutes of rapid maneuvers followed and they shot off on a new vector at more than a gravity’s acceleration higher than their inertial dampers could handle.

The communicator crackled to life.

“IS Dawn Trader, reduce acceleration and assume parking orbit at the following coordinates. Prepare to be boarded. You are suspected of carrying Prohibited Cargo.” Coordinates and vector information appeared on the incoming data channel.

“Damnit, they are maneuvering, adjust,” the transmission was cut, apparently a bit later than the speaker intended.

Captain Rogers slammed the intercom switch.

“Les, depressurize the cargo bay now, and prepare to jettison.”

“Nnnnuuurrrrrgggggggg, *grunt* *clank* roger captain. Deconpress … fuuuuuuu *metallic clinking sounds, rapidly fade into hissing silence*”

Several seconds crawl by.

“Cargo Bay One reporting, we have decompressed to vacuum and are standing by on the catapults” Les gasped over the ship’s radio. “Please try to refrain from high G maneuvering without warning, if at all possible. Out.”

‘Say what you may about Les’ judgment sometimes, he is more than competent other than that,’ Captain Rogers thought.

“Gunny, recalculate the missiles for a zero energy drop in two minutes. Activation and intercept about here, if the activation code is received.” The captain marked a point on the most likely intercept vector. “Drop a second set here, timed for final atmospheric approach. Get the details on that from Azikiwe. Continue updating the railgun and let me know if it looks like they will get into ion cannon range. That little guy we have concealed doesn’t have much, but it may come in handy.”

“Roger, captain,” the gunny replied.

The first waypoint came and went and there was no reason to light off the missiles they had dropped. With nothing more than some compressed air launching them, it was unlikely that they would be detected unless and until they went active. If they didn’t, twenty-four hours after a preset deadline they would either head for a hot reentry or detonate.

They were just starting to feel some atmospheric friction when they learned that the Patrol gunners also knew their job. The ship rocked as one of the two active impulse drives went offline, along with about half of the ship’s power and an unknown number of systems.
“Multiple Ion cannon hits, captain!” Azikiwe cried. “Starboard impulse drive out, starboard warp nacelles out, reactor one offline.”

“IS Dawn Trader you have been ordered into parking orbit. Comply or be destroyed.”

“Gunny, light the candles,” captain Rogers ordered. “Sarika, ass to the planet, I want best speed to minimum jump distance. Az, gimme something safe near that trajectory and feed the updates to Sarika. I don’t want a micro-jump like the Patrol used to drop in ahead of us. Those are too dangerous without way more time or computing power than we have. I want a solid jump, inside of ¾ range that we can then use to bounce away from.

“Les, dump the birds and high g maneuvering warning.”

There was no answer on the ship’s comms.

In Cargo Bay One, Les was slicing through the padeye with a pocket cutter. He knew the captain meant it about chaining someone to the board, he just hadn’t planned on it being him. Next to him, the primary controls for the bay were still sparking as various capacitors discharged and the lights in the bay flickered uncomfortably. Whatever had hit them had made a real mess of the systems. Fortunately, the catapults were intended for use in combat drops, and were both heavily shielded and contained redundant systems. Unfortunately, the secondary controls were next to the main bay doors, far out of reach of his current position.

Since the chain was stretched tight and in contact with his suit, he heard a faint *PING* as the padeye broke loose, and he staggered across the hold. He’d partially dislocated a knee on one of the maneuvers, so an irregular stagger was all he could manage. Somehow, he got to the controls, slapped the emergency launch code, and got himself secured before the next set of maneuvers reminded him that they could pull more g’s than they could compensate.

“IS Dawn Trader this is your last warning. Assume parking orbit and prepare to be boarded or we will be forced to ….”

*Indistinct voice in the background*

“What do you mean ‘incoming missiles’? From the ship? What vector?!? Evasive,” again, the transmission cut off suddenly.

The main viewscreens on the bridge of IS Dawn Trader tracked from planet back to stars and suddenly everyone was forced into their acceleration chairs.

“The patrol interceptor is veering away from ta’ planet. Should throw off the vectoring on ta’ missiles and let ta’ noseys outmaneuver th’ candles or take them out if their PD is any good,” As reported.

“Correcting to jump vector, we will reach it thirty seconds before we reach the calculated jump point,” Sarika reported. “Time to jump at max acceleration, twelve minutes, thirty-seven seconds. Minor corrections for the duration.”

In cargo bay one, Les was strapped to the auxiliary controls and held in place by about an extra grav of acceleration. He watched the monitors as the cargo boxes tumbled toward the planet, the emergency tracking and stabilization systems on some still functional and transmitting as others tumbled on their almost impossibly accurate trajectory to the Cincinnatus colony. The durable plasteel cases mostly survived reentry to slam into the colony at terminal velocity, destroying anything they hit even close to. The crates with the TK500M’s had more redundant systems and a surprising number actually made the surface, blowing apart as emergency protocols engaged and freeing their violent and agitated cargo to wreak havoc in the burning ruins created by their support equipment. At maximum range on the ship sensors, and far too close on the repeaters still active on a few of the crates, Les watched as their erstwhile cargo created carnage wherever they landed.

Scant seconds before they jumped out, he could remain silent no more.

“As god is my witness…” he breathed, as reality flickered, and the screens went black.

The End

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The rights have reverted, so now I’m bringing it to my tens of followers — and that one guy crazy enough to Subscribe at a higher level — so that it can be enjoyed by all.

If you want treeware, PLEASE pick up a copy of Space Cowboys from Raconteur Press. It was their first non-Malta based antho, and the one that established that this small indy press thing might actually work. The way they do business, everyone in the book Gets Paid for every sale, even after the story rights revert to the authors.

I’m including 2 versions of my story.

There’s the lightly edited text version, AND an AI ‘reading’ that I thought turned out OK. I don’t believe that AI ‘readers’ are the best future for audiobooks, but they MAY be an option for those of us who are just starting out and can’t afford a good reader / voice actor. I’m looking forward to the point when I can replace this with a good human reader.

There is also a very good reason for my releasing this near the Thanksgiving Holiday, stick around for part two1 and the big reveal ; )

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W.A.R.P. in Sector 3!

By Jesse A. Barrett

“Wait,” the pilot said, looking up from her controls. “We’re carrying what?!”

“Prohibited Cargo,” Les, the loadmaster sighed.

The captain’s head tracked from the forward display to where Les was standing just inside the bridge bulkhead, deadly as an auto-turret.

“You said it was animal husbandry forms and farm implements,” he not quite stated or asked.

“It is, mostly. The live turkeys are an established bio-line, preferred in many colonies, and the equipment is fairly high end, but nothing particularly special…” Les trailed off.

“But?” The captain prompted.

“But Cincinnatus is a prohibited colony.”

“That doesn’t normally impact basic survival supplies,” the pilot chimed in.

“Which was my thought when I accepted the cargo,” Les agreed. “Then I looked up the restrictions. Unfortunately, the bioengineered birds, embryo tanks, and gene scrubbers move things from simple farm implements over into the Prohibited column. It would seem that they had some problems with ‘excessive and exotic use of genengineering techniques’.”

Les sighed again, “And since I didn’t know there might be problems when we loaded on that last station, the noseys might have noticed the manifests.”

“I filed a standard flight plan, Les!” The pilot said, her voice growing louder and sharper with each word.

“And as soon as the Patrol computers put one and one together there will be an interdictor on our tail,” Captain Rogers finished.

“At least it’s not bloody cows,’ the co-pilot and navigator said in his thick Biafran accent to no one in particular. “My family kept bloody cows back on Earth, and still keeps them in the colony now. I hate bloody cows.”

The pilot growled and muttered something unintelligible as she tapped the small figurine of Kamdhenu kept in a dead readout. To this day Captain Rogers had no idea how those two stayed married.

“Right. Azikiwe, plot us a new course that avoids anything official that we can. Sarika, I don’t know, fly casual until Az gets you the updated courses then go as low profile as we can. Les, let’s go inspect the cargo you brought on my ship,” Captain Rogers said, turning sharply and heading through the bulkhead and towards cargo bay one.

The Independent Starship Dawn Trader was a former Patrol craft converted into a fast freighter. Quad jump nacelles gave her twice the distance that was standard for her size, and her impulse drives could push almost four g’s with enough power. Since their Grav systems could only comp three, speed runs quickly got uncomfortable, and maneuvering at speed could be, in the captain’s understated idiom ‘unpleasant’. Most of the time they cruised at between one and two gravs of acceleration and comfortably had twice that in reserve. That and her ability to skip almost half the standard jump points normally meant fairly quick and easy runs. She had three cargo bays, one large and two smaller, as well as a half dozen small cabins if they were hauling passengers rather than just cargo.

The Dawn Trader also mounted two ‘decommissioned’ missile ports, an obvious railgun, and a ‘lookout’ turret that might have had one of its old ion cannons concealed in its rebuilt mechanisms. Captain Rogers believed in the old Terran Scout motto of “Be Prepared” and between his pilot and nav there wasn’t much that couldn’t be scavenged eventually and for the right price.

And then there was Les.

He exemplified all of the old clichés about navy quartermasters. He was efficient to a fault, could pack the bays and cabins if necessary to the consistency of a rubber brick, and had more larceny in his black heart than any one, single person needed.

He just didn’t have quite as much Good Sense as he should.

“Man at arms, please report to Cargo Bay One,” boomed out of the 1MC.

Captain Rogers winced slightly as he released the button. It seems that the engineers finally got the volume back to par. Now he’d have to see if they could cut it by half for normal messages. Les winced also, but not because of the volume. It would seem that the captain wanted the Gunny with them for this little ‘chat’. Les gulped.

All the cargo bays had an airlock between them and the rest of the ship. This made it easier to get in and out if something was being loaded in vacuum, or occasionally rapidly unloaded. Today, it felt more like a mantrap to Les.

Despite this, both sets of doors opened normally as the captain led Les purposely through them.

The Gunny was, of course, already there.

No one on board except maybe Captain Rogers knew his name. He was just ‘the Gunny’. He was hired as primary fire control and ship’s security, and he had been born for those roles. At present he was inspecting a large plasteel animal crate. From inside came clicking and whispering noises, and what could almost be described as an ominous cooing. Also, the Gunny was looking slightly above his eye level, which is not where one would expect someone to look at a turkey.

The Gunny stepped back from the crate, his hand unconsciously going to the blaster on his hip as a deep, threatening ‘GOBBLE’ echoed through Cargo Bay One.

“Just what, may I ask, the hell is that?” he said, gesturing with a knife-hand at the crate.

Les sighed again. He was doing a lot of that today.

“Hostile Environment Meat Bird; TK500-M”

“What?”

“Deathworld Turkey”

“You have got to be kidding me!” The Gunny exclaimed. The captain just did the turret tracking thing again, from the crate, to the Gunny, and then back to Les.

“Explain,” was all Captain Rogers said, but the meaningful look at the external airlock controls drove home the point.

Les began speaking much more quickly, “You know those giant turkey legs all the reenactors like to serve? Where do you think they come from?

“TK500-M were originally created for survival in hostile environments. Worse even than Terra. They started with the North American Turkey, added some fighting cock and then some Emu and Cassowary. They wound up with a *ahem* larger specimen that was more than capable of taking care of itself in just about any circumstances where humans can live without extraordinary measures. Females produce several eggs a week, provided they have enough feed and the males have been trained for both security purposes and even riding on worlds near one G or less. Good meat too. Juicy and tenderizes easily. Make sure you get the skin off though. That makes cow leather seem easy to chew.

“Problem is, they were a little TOO successful. Many of the traits they wanted will heterodyne in the profiles used. As a result, they are kept sterile, and they should be gene mapped with each generation to ensure that they haven’t deviated too far from the template. That’s why they need the incubators and the gene scanners. Otherwise, they can go feral and become truly nasty.”

“How nasty?” the Gunny asked, in spite of himself.

*Sigh*

“On at least one world, they regularly hunt feral hogs in flocks that can run into the dozens. That one was actually an intentional release. Unfortunately, they didn’t scan the templates closely enough and a few weren’t sterile. The rest, as you say, is history. Auzeeland lost that war and literally abandoned one of their continents to birds, pigs, and anything smart or sneaky enough to survive with them.”

“I’m starting to understand how they wound up on the Prohibited list,” Captain Rogers said, quietly.

The Gunny spun on his heel to face Les, knife-hand raising.

*Sigh*

“It gets worse,” Les interrupted. “They added duck for some reason. Just a little, but when some of the odder survival traits bleed through…

“Let’s just say that if you ever see a feral TK500-M with a green emu’s head, save your last round for yourself.”

The Gunny stopped, just stopped, knife-hand raised and his mouth open. He had no idea how to respond to that.

Captain Rogers looked across the cargo bay. There were over four dozen of the heavy-duty animal crates, and nearly half again as many standard shippers neatly stacked between them. Apparently keeping some distance between the males was a Good Idea.

‘This,’ he thought to himself, ’is the cargo that will bring me down? A shipment of faire food to a backwater colony that has already played a little too fast and loose with its genengineering.’

“Not on my Watch,” he said quietly but firmly.

Les and the gunny stopped staring at each other and looked at the captain.

“Beg pardon, sir?” the Gunny asked.

“OK, grab the seconds and I want this stuff in place so that the catapults can dump it all on command, and then I want someone physically in here on the cat controls until we make landfall on Cincinnatus.

“I’m serious about that.

“If it takes suit catheters and the gunny here securing your people to the console, so be it but the controls will be manned at all times, in addition to connected to the bridge and engineering. I will NOT allow a shipment of killer turkeys to take me out of the sky,” Captain Rogers declared.

“Do. You. Understand?” he asked Les, very directly.

“Yes, sir!” Les walked quickly over to the intercom to wake up the bosun and the loaders. Normally it would be two on and two off, but with them loading themselves he’d sent all three off to their racks after takeoff.

“Were you serious about securing them to the controls, Captain?” the gunny asked as they walked away from the oddly disquieting sound of feathers and talons shifting.

“Check in regularly, if that panel doesn’t have someone within five feet of it break out the ankle chains.”

“Yes sir!”

To Be Continued…

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On Pantsing

This story has a couple of interesting notes as to why I’m a pantser when I write.

It comes down to the creative process itself.

The act of creation is the interesting part. I like solving puzzles. If I have a good outline, then the ‘fun’ part has been done and all that’s left is the work. Whereas, if I have a general idea of what’s going to happen and some beats along the way, then I play as I work.

For example; in this one, I had no idea that Mrs. Jan shot sporting clays — well — or spoke ‘Construction Spanish’ when I started. Both factoids became important to either the story, or her depth as a character.

I also didn’t know the key element of of WHY Bad Things were happening until Chris explained it to everyone. I could hear the pieces fall into place with a nearly audible ‘click’, and everything looked like it was planned that way from the beginning, two stories and several years ago.

*snicker*

‘First Annual Eunice J. Tucker Memorial Book Burning and BBQ’ was my first prosale ever. I couldn’t have set things up that far in advance if I’d tried. Sure, it needs a better edit pass, but I still like the story, and still enjoy playing in the world created for it. It gives me an excuse to drop in Easter Eggs that some folks will notice, and let me say thanks for that initial chance while also supporting the Tom Burnett Memorial Library.

So, I hope you enjoy my story, and all of the others in Library Creatures, and please drop a review when your done. They help the Big River know to tell more folks about things.

Jesse

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This year’s fundraiser for the Tom Burnett Memorial Library is now available!

What else lives in the library?

Library Creatures is the imaginative answer to that question in a collection of short stories written by sixteen authors. This is part of the Library Anthologies series. All proceeds are donated to a rural library to support their collection development.

In my story, I return to the world of my first two Library short stories, and we learn a bit more about what Miss Ann and Mrs. Jan have been up to ; )

Additionally, several friends have joined in with their tales of Library Creatures, and to show their loves of books!

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Jesse A. Barrett, Writer

Jesse A. Barrett is a versatile storyteller whose work spans sword & sorcery, science fiction, and pulp-style action adventures. A lifetime reader and collector of writers, he began his professional writing career in 2022 after diverse experiences in photography, pizza delivery, tropical fish, and IT. Based in Central Oklahoma, he draws inspiration from gaming, reading, and herding creative minds. His stories have appeared in anthologies from Raconteur Press, AMP, and various “Team ‘...and More!’” collections, captivating readers with high-stakes narratives and imaginative worlds.

What to Expect

Jesse A. Barrett’s writing delivers fast-paced, two-fisted action reminiscent of classic pulp fiction, blending high fantasy with speculative elements like rayguns, giant robots, and intergalactic showdowns. Expect gritty heroes facing impossible odds, clever world-building that nods to golden-age sci-fi and sword & sorcery tropes, and stories that prioritize excitement, attitude, and unapologetic fun. His tales often explore themes of freedom, resilience, and living life to the fullest, with a focus on male-driven narratives that avoid preachiness while embracing bold, attitude-filled escapism. Whether it’s batrachian warriors, space marine battles, or weird western showdowns, Barrett’s prose is accessible, engaging, and designed to keep you turning pages—no fragile, yellowed paper required.

Promo Copy

“Dive into the adrenaline-fueled worlds of Jesse A. Barrett, where sword & sorcery meets sci-fi mayhem in stories that pack a punch! From pacific island adventures to interstellar cowboy showdowns, Barrett’s pulp-inspired tales are perfect for fans of Robert E. Howard and classic adventure fiction. Grab his latest in Raconteur Press anthologies like Plasma Pulp, Blades & Black Magic, or Best of 2024 — and experience the attitude and freedom of living life on the edge.

Available now on Amazon: thrilling reads that prove heroes don’t back down!”

For more, check out his Amazon author page or Substack for updates and stories.

Had to edit a couple of things that Grok picked up from other Raconteur Press writers and anthologies, but all in all it did an interesting job. Then I took things a step further and figured I’d see what MJ could do with a pic and a request to turn me into a ‘steampunk action hero’. More pointless fun, and I could dream I photographed that well ; )

Also, Grok seems to think I need to write some kind of Hollow Earth Dinosaur thing…

*shrugs*

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I shared a friend’s post on Story Intros from a Psychological POV (Psychology for Writers), and picked up the gem below from John Van Stry.

I grew up on classic SF and pulp reprints. Astute — or even just frequent — readers will know by now that I’m a big fan of good story hooks, and John makes some great points concerning them.

Make sure you drop by HIS substack and subscribe, the man is an amazing writer.

Story Hooks

By John Van Stry

Intros are important, so important that they have a name for them, as you probably know it’s called ‘the hook’. Apt name that. I learned a lot about writing hooks from an English teacher who had a journalism degree and taught us all about how to write a news article. The first paragraph had to have a compelling ‘hook’ to get you to read all of it. Your job required it. It was more important than anything else in the article.

Pulling apart the hooks of stories in the newspaper will give you a fair bit of insight as to just how they’re done. Yes, they’re short, but if your hook doesn’t start in the first paragraph of your book, you may just lose a sale forever.

The biggest thing with a hook is that it has to be memorable. There have to be things that stand out. A big word or two used in an interesting way. A clever turn of a phrase. An engaging action. An engaging person. An enigma that must be solved. In many cases that opening to your story may have nothing at all to do with your story. Though you do want it to provide some sort of insight - to either the character, a tradition, a practice, or something about a time and/or place. You also want to use it to try and set the pace.

Writing good hooks takes practice, and it takes some time. I have more than a few novels out there where I didn’t write the hook until I was at least a third into writing the novel. Because doing something in your hook, or immediately after you set it, that comes back sixty or a hundred pages later to be important can really help with writing it.

Remember, you don’t have to write the story in order, and you don’t have to write the hook until you have a better understand of the story you’ve sat down to write. Some stories flow naturally forward from a great opening. Some stories flow backwards from a great ending. And some are like a bowl of spaghettis thrown against the wall.

Lately I’ve seen people pull out the beginning of ‘The Dawn Treader’ as an example of a great hook. But here’s the thing, it’s not. Not really. It’s a good opener and a good hook, but until someone reminded you of it, did you really remember it? I didn’t, and I’ve read that book at least three times. As a hook it relied on you already having read previous books in the series. You read that opening statement and it’s the same as settling into your favorite chair - you know you’re going to be comfortable because you’ve just been reminded that you know what to expect.

The Sherlock Holmes introduction however is much better and much more, because you’re being introduced to the man whom the entire series is going to be about for the first time.

Which leads into the most important aspect of hooks and intros:

They are Genre Dependent. The Dawn Treader intro is a children’s book, and has to be quick, and has to say something in that first line to grab a child’s interest and pull that child forward. Sherlock Holmes however is for the older, adult mystery reader. So it’s got a lot more ‘time’ to set the hook, and needs to find a way to be engaging that those who have picked up that genre story will find interesting. Hence the warnings, then descriptions, and the feeding of clues about the character. You could almost say you’re getting a mini-mystery complete with ending in the first couple of pages. Which draws the reader in and on.

Action and adventure stories also have their unique way. They start off with an action, or several actions. They just get right into it. You are immediately there. Or something is happening now.

So every introduction or hook that you create has to fit within the bounds of the genre is which your story lies. It needs to confirm to the reader that yes, that spaceship on the cover means that this is a book about spaceships. Or that this is an action novel. Or a thriller, or a romance, or … I’m sure you get the idea.

Last but not least is the hardest thing one can do, and that is to be unique. To start off with a hook that is odd and not easily understood, but which leaves the reader with a hint that something is not quite right with the beginning of the story, so they read on to find out more. Those are the harder and more challenging to write. Sometimes I suspect they’re just sudden inspiration, other times I suspect that they’re from experience and serious planning.

On the other hand the hook to Mercedes Lackey’s first novel has to be one of the most common and overused tropes in existence. Yet it was written in such a way that you still continued on, out of sheer curiosity as to how could someone write something that’s been written so many times before, and yet make you enjoy it. So don’t feel like you have to be unique. (Or maybe in her own way she was - by using something that had been overused almost to death).

But to return to the point of this overly long response, it’s not in the psychology of the person you describe, it’s in the description. It’s in the way we are told about a character-if our intro is going to be an introduction to a character-far more than it is about that character.

‘The trick, they say, is all in the telling.’

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The 4th year / 5th1 volume of the Tom Burnett Memorial Library Anthology Series!

Coming in November2

I managed to make the cover this time, and it seems like half of Cedar’s family are writers these days...

Anywho, we will appear alongside other folks like Lee Allread, Tom Rogneby, and various members of Team “... and More!”

These collections are always fun, and I’ll submit to them whenever I can. Jim and Amie gave me my first opportunity, and I’ll never forget that. Helping out a nice little small town library is also a Very Good Cause ; )

Links will be all over when we have them, and in the mean time you might pick up Haunted Library (2 vol), Tales of the Oil Patch, And Cattlemen to show your support in the mean time.

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To that end, we put together projects, questions, guest posts, and other things that can (hopefully) drive continued engagement and help folks learn something.

I worked up this very high level post about adding some basic editing to cover animations and the like, and ran into a problem with the way FB formats things. More to the point, the way it PREVENTS formatting.

So I’m posting it here and zelda’ing it back there as a more static post.

Hopefully anyone who follows me and and not the WriterDojo will appreciate the post, and maybe even look into the writing advice included in the ‘Dojo’s podcasts.

Taking your animations to the next level

There are lots of ways to animate your book covers or promos these days. From Tik-Tok through Midjourney and beyond, there are more ways than ever to set an image in motion.

That said, just a moving picture isn’t really enough.

IMHO, they tend to start and stop too abruptly, and this includes MJ’s looped images.

Fortunately, it isn’t hard at all to jazz up your animations into a real promo.

We’ll take things in order, and I’ll recommend the tools *I* use. This does NOT mean that there aren’t other and perhaps better tools available to do the same job.

DISCLAIMER: None of the products mentioned sponsor or otherwise contribute to me, or the WriterDojo (although I would personally consider any offers they made…)

Generate your Animation

For this example, I’m going to use a fun, random image that friend Lawdog recently used in a post of his2:

Since this is a basic demo, I’m going to do a single, high motion, 5 second animation loop with the MJ web interface.

For reasons I have yet to work out, the 3^rd choice is frequently the one I like, so I’m going to save it locally, so I can work it.

So, we have this 5 second loop of a Lady Fox DJ’ing for a rave made up of squirrels with glowsticks. There are reasons for this particular analogy, and if you know Ian, you know what they are3.

Anywho, the short video that starts and stops rather abruptly. That’s the first thing we need to fix.

VLC Media Player (Long Live the Traffic Cone!) is considered by most to be the best player available on the Windows platform, and their products for other OS’s are also highly rated.

Load the clip, and you can see that it starts and stops with no warning.

We know where the clip came from, so we have a good start frame, but we need an end frame (1). Play through to near the end and then scroll to the last frame. Then we use Video>Take Snapshot to grab the last frame.

Now we have two images, and 5 seconds of video.

I’m going to do a quick bit of editing in a photo / image editor4 to add some headers and give the vid a reason to exist.

Now I have video several images and need to edit them together.

Enter VideoMeld, by Goldwave, Inc.

I’ve used their audio editor for more years than I like to think about, so when I needed a good, easy to use video editor, it’s the one I reached for first. It has more features and plugins than I’ve needed, and is well capable of doing much higher level work than this little project.5

It can be as easy as lining the elements up and hitting FILE>Export Project to Video File, and I’ve done that and it was still better than leaving the video raw. However, with VideoMeld or any full featured video editor we can do so much more with a few minutes work.

First, lets adjust the runtime on the images. VM’s default is 5 seconds, and for this, that’s too long for most of what we’re doing.

Rita1 and Rita3 have headers, but they are quick, and jumping from one to another is fine, so we’ll just right click on the name, hit Settings, and trim them both down to a second.

Rita2 is the original image, leading into the motion section, so I’m going to go ½ second and then right into the animated bit.

I tried a couple of transitions, but with the way I set up the images, they took away from the effect I wanted.

Since this is a loop, I’m repeating Rita2 as the end frame, and I didn’t need the one I picked up in VLC. If this wasn’t a loop, I would substitute in the VLS capture. Runtime is 1 second, and I want half of that for a page turn transition (Right Click>Effects).

Once that’s in place I’m also going to join Rita2 to Rita4 by selecting both, and going Effects>Crossfade Sections, so that page turn moves more cleanly between the two different images.

Lastly I’m going to add a half second of black screen and do a fast fade (1/2 second) into it, so there is a definite end to the sequence.

14 seconds of video done in less time than you might think, and more easily.

More importantly, it has a smoother, more finished look than the animation alone.

youtu.be/3y524g7HYfs

I used a fun image from a friend to make a quick promo his his substack, but there is no reason you couldn’t do the same to a character image or book cover; animating it and turning it into a more effective commercial for the story, book, or you the writer.

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