Tag: writing

The Death of Terry Goodkind

I read his Sword of Truth series way back when in the early 2000’s until I caught up to where he was writing then pursued other books. Fast forward over 15 years, and a couple of months ago, I decided to start re-reading them as I’d heard much more had been written. So I started over with the first book, Wizard’s First Rule, and carried on from there. Now I’m on the 7th book, The Pillars of Creation.

Then, this weekend, I heard about his death. Man, what a shame. The guy was an amazing writer, sold something like 25 million books, and did it with a strong touch of Ayn Rand guiding his hand. The philosophical commentary he implemented into his writings was superb, especially about individual freedom.

Ok, yeah it also has a great love story and icky stuff like that. But there’s also some awesome BATTLES and of course, wisdom such as this:

“Cut. Once committed to the fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut. The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gap in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don’t allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit. It’s the balance of life: death. It is the dance with death.” – Faith of the Fallen.

I highly recommend reading his books. They are fantastic. (If a bit…. verbose in their descriptions.)

And for fun, here’s a few more great quotes:

“Charity, if you have the means, is a personal choice, but charity which is expected or compelled is simply a polite word for slavery.” – Pillars of Creation.

“Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.” – Faith of the Fallen.

“Not everyone is willing to embrace liberty; liberty requires not just effort, but risk. Some people choose to delude themselves and see their chains as protective armor.” – Chainfire.

“Wrong doing must be punished. If not, it will proliferate until anarchy wears the robes of tolerance and understanding.” – Blood of the Fold.

“If something is wrong, it matters not if a thousand men are for it; you must still oppose it. If something is just, no amount of popular outcry should stay you from your course.” – Naked Empire.

“Laugh all you want. I know my own worth and don’t need to prove it to someone who doesn’t know theirs.” – Faith of the Fallen.

“Culture carries no privilege to exist. Cultures do not have value simply because they are. Some cultures, the world is better off without.” – Soul of the Fire.

“Enemies,’ the wizard said, ‘are the price of honour.” – Debt of Bones.

Rest easy Terry Goodkind. You’ll be missed.

Book is back from the Editor.

I’ve got to go over the changes made and see what I accept or don’t.

So far, I’ve only found one that I don’t accept. And that’s in reference to the phrase, “I felt like I’d been shot at, missed, shit at, and hit all over.” Everything else appears to make the book tighter and better.

But it’s pretty cool to see what a professional editor thinks of my writing. It’s like, BAM! Run on sentence. BOOM! Apostrophe here. Ka-POW! Make this not suck. Yippee Kay Yay! Semi-colon.

We’re getting closer and closer to publication! Yeeehaw.

Some of you have done NOTHING with your life and you’re mad about it.

You have a college degree & a smartphone with access to virtually *anything* and you can barely get out of bed in the morning while you spit on people who built a whole world with nothing but a horse, map, & axe.

You’ve made nothing with access to everything. You’ve conquered nothing. Hell you can’t even conquer yourself. So go tear it all down. Scream into the void how unfair it all is. It’s not that you’ve wasted your short time here. Surely not.

Don’t bother with your own legacy your busy shitting on the long dead who aren’t here to care. Go burn down every Starbucks. That’ll show them. Torch the Target. Tear down every monument. Deface every memorial. But what have you built? What do you leave behind?

So take your benzos. Watch your porn. Get Uber to drop off your dinner. Buy an adult coloring book. Have sex with strangers to ease your crippling anxiety. It’s not you. It’s the system really. It isn’t fair. Go cancel someone. Dox someone. They deserve it. You’re the good guy.

Don’t write an epic novel worth building a statue to remember you. Go troll seven year old problematic tweets ever on the hunt for the boogeyman. See now you’ve accomplished something. Cancel everyone. You’re a warrior now. A real hero.

And lastly whatever you do never ever take even a moment to self reflect on your own failures. Never own them. Never take a hint of responsibility. Remember you’re just a helpless victim of circumstances beyond your control. This all means nothing. It’s like you weren’t even here.

-Twitter Rant by Luinalaska.

 

 

‘Nuff Said.

Publishing Contract Signed!

Severed Press will be publishing my book.

http://www.severedpress.com/

I’m pretty stoked. From everything I’ve read, they are an amazing publishing company and best of all their covers are works of art. (Yeah, I’m shallow like that. Nothing sinks a book faster than poor covers… except poor writing!)

Woohoo!

Sequel is finished!

Whew.

My first sequel finished, and my first feedback is that it’s as good as the first.

I’ll take that as two huge wins.

How does it feel? Pretty darn good. I managed to knock out the sequel in almost exactly a year. My goal was to have it finished by Dec which would have been about a half year, but for personal mental health reasons, that didn’t happen. But a year… while working a full time job and being a full time father and husband? That’s pretty sweet. In comparison, the first book took me almost two years… but to be fair to myself – there was a massive learning curve I had to overcome.

But now I’ve proven I can do it. I can write. Repeatedly. And churn out good entertaining work. That’s awesome. Am I a writer yet? I think so!

Anyways, I’m pretty stoked.

And now it’s time to start on the third one.

Gotta strike while the irons hot!

But, first – A song of Victory must be had. Oh yes… Victory!