Category: Admin

Fight…for your rights…NO REALLY

A friend of mine shared this news story out of Los Angeles today.  When I saw the headline and preview, I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t The Onion.  I cant’ really fathom who thought this was a good idea to try and fit into an employment contract, even as a negotiation start point.  It’ll be interesting to see if A. this is in the final offer and B. just how quickly it takes for it to result in litigation.  Indeed, part of me wonders if this is a law firm trying to make future work for itself.

Let this be a lesson to would be writers:  Always read your employment contract’s portion on intellectual property.  If you have questions, get a lawyer involved.  A prospective employer can and likely will try to put anything in a contract, to include attempting to claim rights which they would seemingly have no right to.  While this story is in the news, I have a fellow author who had a would be employer try to slip similarly punitive language into his “signing on” contract.  When he (rightfully) called the employer on it, they immediately provided him with a different set of signing papers with the offending language removed / revised.  Needless to say, this immediately colored his view of the folks who wanted to hire him.

As always, keep your head on a swivel.

by Categories: Admin, Writing 1 Comment

Guest Blogging, Some News, and a Little Q&A

Sorry for some of the intermittent posting.  I have spent most of the last few days filling out interview questions for my blog tour through Goddess Fish Promotions.  For those of you who do not know what a blog tour is, basically a promotion site sets you up with guest blogs / reviews of your book on several different websites.  This is my first time trying it, so we’ll see it goes.  Even if it doesn’t work for me, successful paranormal / urban fantasy author R.L. Naquin swears by them–so it may be a genre thing.

In other news–I have recently been published in Armor magazine, the U.S. Army’s professional journal for mounted warfare.  You can find the article here:  http://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eARMOR/content/issues/2017/Winter/  .  It’s regarding doctrine, so odds are it may be a little dry without context.

Out of all the questions I got asked (and there were a lot), I had the most fun with the “What is your musical playlist?”  one.  I kept it limited to 15 songs, but here was my answer (with some Metal Monday Alumni):

1.) Dawson’s Christian – Vixy and Tony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjxMieuRPe4)

2.) Husker – Bear McCreary, from BSG: Blood and Chrome (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeCFZ04ggQ0)

3.) Gettysburg Trilogy – Iced Earth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxkVNYPSups)

4.) The Stars Will Fall – Crom (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky1nY3jlq1M)

5.) One Last Battle – Vic Tyler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFzpZeSVPRA)

6.) Attack – Hans Zimmer, Pearl Harbor OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p0rVpyxnwI)

7.) Requiem For A Tower – London Music Works (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaioIutcHKI)

8.) Theme from Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla—Akira Ifukube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfwLQIE3l4s)

9.) Bottle of Pain—Combichrist (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyFyTHQqIFc)

10.) Freedom Fighters—Two Steps From Hell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP1QHVNHMAE)

11.) The Bleeding—Five Finger Death Punch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeeWq3hDMCU)

12.) I Love You—Woodkid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afqeBydhpQU)

13.) Long Live the King—Sabaton (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rIYMEl_4xc)

14.) When Winter Comes—Miracle of Sound (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDt3jeXGfDU)

15.) Even in Death—Evanescence (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9btPqVRZIlY)

I also learned that a lot of interviewers unwittingly ask the same questions.  I don’t want to steal any of the gracious hosts’ thunder, so I’ll start regularly answering a set of these questions  here on the blog / in my newsletter.  (“Newsletter?  How do we sign up for the newsletter?”  “Click here, my curious friend!”)

“A Midwinter’s Ski” was reviewed by Roses In Ink.  If you liked it as much as they did, pick it up for free on Amazon.

Last month I rode out to San Diego to attend the WEST 2017 Naval Conference hosted by the USNI (United States Naval Institute) and AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association).  The primary purpose was to receive my physical award for winning the USNI’s 2016 Cyberwarfare Essay Contest.  As a bonus, I also got to see a lot of awesome exhibits, visit the U.S.S. Midway, and talk some slight smack to a Class of ’64 USNA grad.  (“I guess we decided after 14 years to finally let your guys experience a victory.”  “_My_ class never lost to Navy, Sir.”).  This is me with the other award winners:

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Here’s what the plaque looks like:

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I’m pretty sure that The Prolific Trek is still muttering about driving halfway across the US to pick up something that would have easily fit in a mailing package.  But, had I done that, I would not have gotten to see the Grand Canyon:

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Or totally fan boy over meeting the amazing Vincent P. O’Hara, author of several naval history books.  The one I’m holding, The U.S. Navy Against the Axis, is probably the best single-volume coverage of the USN’s surface fleet during the Second World War.  While James Hornfischer’s Neptune’s Inferno is my go to recommendation for the Guadalcanal Campaign, O’Hara’s is my choice for a complete series.

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Finally, my next upcoming event is Little Apple Comic Expo (LACE).  It will be hosted at the Kansas State Student Union on 18 March from 10 AM to 6 PM.  Feel free to swing on by to see Anita C. Young and I hawking our wares.

Anyway, that’s it from the Midwest.

by Categories: Admin, Con(vention) Life, WritingTags: , , 1 Comment