Sunday 28 October 2012

Publicity is good even if its under the wrong name!

http://www.thevalleyvoice.ca/Voice%20Stories/October%202012/Chilliwack%20Books%20-%20Grey%20Redemption%20-%20Author%20Steve%20Covey%20-%20Oct%207%202012.htm

Just some local PR! Nice as other than a quick spot in the Langley Times newspaper the book has been getting very little attention in Canada! No idea why as I worked like hell to keep the spelling in Canadian english! But I guess I am in good company as the Surrey International Writers Conference was last week and it got very little mention in the local press and it had a book signing with trully luminary authors! SO while they got my name wrong they got the rest of the info totally correct and it is all about the book and having fun with it and not about me! Just a quick blog to keep you all in the loop.

An update on the writing! Chapter one is done in rough form and it has been difficult to write in the third person global perspective but I am learning! Along with some help from others and gentle pushes it is coming along.

The AudioBook is moving slowly. You'd think it be easy but far more hoops to jump than a regular book, Good news is it will be inexpensive for its size. Bad news is it won't be available in any format other than digital download!

Friday 5 October 2012

October's New Beginnings


I have been doing a ton of research for Grey. I’d like to be able to keep the real feel of Grey Redemption with this new story. Part of the problem, as a writer, is not taking the easy way out. That is to ask the reader to suspend belief too often. As storytellers it’s easy to simply say; “ well in my world it’s like this.”  I remember all too well the sense of let down when one of my favorite authors wrote about the main character flipping off the safety of a .38 revolver.
            So how does Rhys work within the New World Order? Gone are the days of simple cipher drafts left unsent in anon mail servers. Money transfers? Not these days without some heavy company profiles. I don’t want to spoil the book for those only reading the blog, so yes I get he can do a lot more now at the end of Grey Redemption but what if he still wants to be off the grid? What if he still needs to work off the grid and further needs to work outside of his normal and ordinary associations? He can’t very well use the same master forger that Simon knows about can he?
            In doing this research I have come across the Dark Net or the Hidden Web. These are websites only accessed under P2P share protocols, or anonymous browser.  First off don’t go looking for this stuff. Really it probably isn’t the safest thing to do. Remember when all the talk was don’t read this book as it would lead to demon possession or play with this talking board as it could unleash evil…How many stories and films have been made along these plots? Well this side of the net is that dangerous! Really! I fully intend on removing the hard-drive from the computer I am using to do the research and burning it. Remember once seen things cannot be unseen. Temper this advice with the fact that I have little faith in humanity and am pretty jaded by my work. Seriously any drug, perversion or general felony can be bought or sold on this darker web.  Seriously, ANYTHING is available and seemingly permitted or at least tolerated by these tech savvy gurus. Remember when Narcoterrorism  was the scary buzzword of the nineties? The trench coat mafia was the image used to sell conformity and terrify school children. Well you know all the geeks and nerds that got teased and abused? They grew up. The trench coat mafia was a joke and Narcoterrorism did little but get certain groups elected, money, and power. But this Darknet or Dark web seems to be the nerds’ revenge and it is very real. It is incredibly slow, circa 1989 speeds, and it has tons of broken links, mislabeled content but it seems that the world of everything is Permitted is just under the surface of the mainstream.
            Imagine a Groupon style site that lists hits. Yes were talking contract murder. Where someone posts some bully, manager, boss, or politicians name. Then someone else posts a price. When the offered price is reached, you guessed it the HIT IS ON. Obviously the president was on it with a huge number. I didn’t look closely as I didn’t want to be privy to anything should it happen in the future. The close eyes, quickly hit the back button was employed as it often is on this darker trek.
            So how does one pay for this bag of pot, cocaine, assignation? In a new currency called Bitcoins.  Bitcoins seems to be the new Cyber Currency. Yes there is even an app for that! LOL! I have been researching how this currency works and could go into a long explanation but suffice to say it works and is virtually untraceable. So why no big headlines warning about this? Easy. Same reason the person checking your luggage and taking your nail clippers while the flight attendant gives you powdered creamer and long stem wine glasses. You only need to believe your safe as it would take far to much money and effort and personal resolve to really be safe. You don’t know about it, well you didn’t, and so “they” don’t need to come up with a way to “protect” against it. 
            So, October is a month of new beginnings and new stories. The prequel is going to be shelved for a while as I really think the sequel is a better way to move the story forward. Health scares are over and hopefully in the review mirror for a long time and as I gave up drinking I wont have to worry about messing up dialogue at 2 am after two too many vodkas and ice. Hopefully the creativity won’t suffer!
Thanks for reading, and remaining interested.
Cheers
Scott (now ready to channel RHYS again)
View from Fairmont Empress gold room 206. Where the plot was hatched! 

Sunday 15 July 2012

Grey Redemption and the AudioBook challenge

Hey Everyone,

    So, it has been another long while since I updated anyone on anything! Seems that I am saying that a great deal this year! It has not been for a lack of trying! I have been so incredibly engaged that staying on top of my blog is taking a back seat. Now I know why famous author types hire people to do this!

   This being said I think it is a little more honest the way I do it. We all have incredibly busy lives! Be it a stay at home mom, police officer, or writer. So we all know the challenges the day to day of life brings. Add to that the ups and downs and Facebook pokes and distractions, as welcome as they might be at times, and you get infrequent posts. Someone said Facebook is like jail. You waste a ton of time hanging around while getting poked by people you don't know well. I thought it was a funny perspective.

   My life has settled into a new normal, and while it is not without some new and different challenges, it is all good. I managed to steal a little bit of time to sit and reflect a little on what has been going on with the writing and the direction things are going. So lets break some news.

   I have a new Publisher and agent and together we have a new strategy for Grey Redemption and the prequel, that's working title is Grey Dawn.  Awesome and scary news as it means the white board timeline and the character lists have to be distilled into a new yarn! Been working on it a bit, less than I would like but it is hashing out ok. At issue is not messing up the original by confusing a content edit with a new fact that doesn't fit. I know I wrote it so it should seem like an easy thing. But in reality the original got so cut up that I have to be very careful with the facts of that edited reality! For example it would be cool to show how the old Regimental Sargent Major dies in the beginning of Grey Redemption as a great deal of readers liked the character. Editorial brevity had him simply die in the plane crash. Rhys never shares the cigar he was gifted by the man with Baal's eyes! Instead he smokes it alone in the back of a train car...So consistency with the published work's reality is a bit of a Leviathan! (Props to Rick M)

   Many readers and fans have commented as to the detailed imagery in Grey Redemption. Some good and some bad comments. Both are valid. This is to say that some people like the idea of reading how a mercenary moves through a large airport while others prefer the jumping timeline method. I have written before how I wanted the reader inside the mind of the main character. A 544 page book written in the first person perspective is a stylistic challenge. So I chose not to do the flash ahead. It would have been easier to simply start the next scene with:  Vancouver June Ninth, 18:15 hours. But I felt, and still do, that the effort of the reader to read through the minutia would pay dividends when the action ramped up. But like it or not almost all have agreed that listening to it on a Audiobook would be great.

    So let me be the first to tell you that it is currently in the works! Yes, the copyright and distribution issues looks to have been overcome! The script, as it is called when working in the audio format, is moving through first reading and the actor that is reading it has an awesome voice for the genre! I am truly looking forward to getting a full copy, putting it on my Iphone and sitting back to enjoy the yarn anew! It should help with some of the edit continuity challenges I've been having too.

     Distribution should be via Itunes and Audible. Two of the major players in the audiobook market. We are kicking around a few other options in addition to the major players, but nothing solid yet. The price point for this work should be pretty reasonable as well. I am actively trying to get it on the sites for around 4.99 or 5.99! I know the audio version will make people like my brother in law happy, and I hope it fits a niche for the others that have requested it!

    The timeline for this project is a little fluid and depends on a bunch of different factors, not the least of which is me finishing Grey Dawn! The plan as it sits is to release the Audiobook of Grey Redemption and then six months later release Grey Dawn as an Ebook only. Sales numbers of Grey Redemption are heavily weighted toward Ebook downloads so doing another three format release just doesn't make sense. I get that the Ebook can't be signed and the like but I have a fix for that as well. More on that later. Going with the single format release allows me to better control the price point of that as well. I promised fans  a cheaper version for Grey Dawn and I will come through!

    Following the release of Grey Dawn we will look at the numbers and see if we can do an Audio version as well six months to a year later. So that is the plan. You have no idea the amount of work that has gone into getting us here! Hopefully things go as planned and you can look forward to having a cigar and a pint, lying in the sun, seeing the world once again through the monster that is Rhys Munroe!

Saturday 17 March 2012

Farewell to The King. RIP Wiener


For those of you that might have missed the tweets and the Facebook updates the Correctional Service of Canada lost one of the best last week. This is what I read out for his send off. None of this is meant to be critical of the service in anyway.  It is simply an observational piece I wrote for a great man. 

 I lost a Good friend last week. Actually a very special person in my life. So how is it he could be only a good friend and yet a very special person at the same time?  Well, you see it was like this.   Wayne King, or Wiener as his friends knew him, was the 1st partner I   had in   corrections. Wayne actually never called himself a Correctional Officer. He preferred the word guard, boss, line screw, or even  digger pig.  To him these were not words of slang or ignorant shouts, they were badges of honor he earned and wore proudly. This of course is at odds with the new and improved correctional environment but to quote Todd Bertuzzi “it is what it is.” I guess for Wayne the terms he used to describe himself better reflected his view of his job. Whether the now view or Wayne’s view is more correct I have no idea. Something probably best left to that of PhD profs to comment on in the years that follow. But what I do know is that Wayne’s view of his job and himself earned the respect of officers, inmates, and managers alike.
I don’t want to preach to the choir, but indulge me for just a moment for those here today that have never walked on a range. Jails are very different places with a language and culture entirely of its own. Words like Dad, Partner, Boss, and Goof have dramatically different meanings and weight placed on them. Behaviour and actions are viewed and judged far more critically than in normal society. Weakness could get you killed and sympathy could make you an easy mark. If you haven’t been inside it is almost impossible to relate and so most of us don’t. “Just another boring day inside”; we say and lie to those closest to us that have never carried a badge. “Piece of cake Dad.” We lie to each other and, after a time we believe it too. In doing so complete the circle and lie to ourselves. I believe this might be getting better with the new corrections, and I hope this is truly the case, as the cost is quite dear to all of us.
I met Mr. King on a lazy Sunday morning after my 10 days of familiarization training within the jail. I had already graduated from Staff College having been brought in on the military or university-educated program. This program hired ex-military of 10 years or better or university graduates.  I had neither qualification. Having only completed 4 years in military and 2 years of university I was on the B  list. Somebody else, possessing a Masters degree, got a better offer and dropped out 2 days before the course was supposed start. So I got the call, and started training on that day for what my parents had always tried to keep me from going into; Jail. Now after 23 years I do get there is a difference between one side of the bars and the other. But let me also state with 23 years of experience, that we are still both doing time. Within that understanding one of the old keepers had decided that it was best to put this college grad, as it was quite obvious I wasn’t seasoned military, with the Wiener. So I reported to F unit which was “The King’s Unit”,  put my lunch in the fridge introduced myself  as Scott and sat down opposite the heavy wooden desk. He looked over the pocket fox magazine he was reading, raised his eyebrows and said. “ Hey, my name is Wayne King but you can just call me the Wiener. Put your feet up and relax its Sunday brunch routine. Grab a book if you like.” He had nodded and a stack of various adult reading material. Having been briefly introduced to sales and sales techniques I  knew that gaining rapport was important. I also knew that one of the best ways to gain rapport was to do what other people do, or act like them. So I tossed 2 feet up on the desk grabbed the pocket Fox from the pile and flipped to some story in the middle of the book. This seemed to relax  the Wiener and I thought it odd way to start one’s correctional career. About an hour later I heard the large courtyard door lock bang to the open position. I looked quickly at Wiener  who could see the  mirror in the office that showed the internal sliding door. I raise my eyes questioningly while gesturing to put the book down or back in the pile. The  wiener just smiled and shook his head no while continuing to read his pocket fox. The large sliding door banged shut and a very tall man in a suit presented himself at the front door of the office, which was ajar. He looked at me raised his eyebrow slightly and then looked at the Wiener, as I followed his gaze.
“ Sir.” Said the wiener.
“ Good morning Mr. King. I see you have everything in hand and everything is running well in the unit today?  Said the unknown suited gentleman.
“ Yes Sir we got it under control.” Said the wiener.
  a trashcan.
“ Yes sir.  Don’t worry sir I will train him up.” Replied the Wiener, putting his book down for the 1st time.
“ Great.”  The suited gentleman replied as he turned on his heel and walked out of the office and towards the sliding barrier.
 I listened as the sliding barrier slammed shut and the courtyard door banged open and then slammed behind the tall gentleman as he left F unit. Then I looked at the Wiener, raising my eyes in that way one does when asking what the fuck? I watched as a large smile spread across his face, his eyes sparkled in a fashion I would come to know and associate with Mr. King’s mischievous sense of humor.
“ That rookie was the old man, you know the Warden! Follow my lead since you made such a good 1st impression I would suggest learning as much as you can and keeping your head down so that you don’t see him for at least another 2 years, till you’re off probation.”
That was a different world. A world before use of force reports, and endless ticky boxes of policy. It was in a word a Jail. We don’t use those words anymore. In that old world an officer was expected to deal with whatever happened in the unit by themselves and keep the ship moving toward the common goal of control and custody. It was that simple and that difficult. There were no after incident briefings, or Critical Incident Stress Management procedures to follow or to help. You did what you did and went home and dealt with it. We were the law, the Rule of law, and the buck stopped with us on the most dangerous patrol beat any officer could walk. We had to deal with death, violence, and the threats of both on a almost weekly basis. The inside crimes ran the gamut with everything you would find in regular society, with the added spice of the odd that no cop would ever encounter. I doubt RCMP get a course on how to handle adult self circumcision. Yet me and the Wiener had to do just that. In that world before manuals, and policy. Prior to the Situational Management Model, and introduction of mental health training. Before the days of media scrutiny and courses on ethics and values. How did we survive? How did we do it right? Well I guess the truth is we didn’t. Not entirely. Wayne always said.  A good day is when we win and they don’t and we all meet for a beer after shift; And don’t worry kid we got more guns than they have knives.” But in looking back over all these years we all paid a price. Lost a little, or a great deal doing our jobs protecting society. These officers that were old when I started had figured it all out and paid the price in doing so. Now I am the old guard, in this new world of Corrections and I know it is as different today for me as it was for Officers like Wiener. Yet as different as it is now, then, and before. The Kings wisdom holds as true today as it was then and I pass it along to each and every officer I train. Wiener Said:
Kid, before you do anything in here with a convict think what happens if he says NO!” Then ask yourself is what your doing or trying to do worth a punch in the mouth for? Once you know the answers to those two questions you’ll know what your doing is right and how to do it.”
Simple logic and logic that has yet to be replaced with any piece of policy I have seen. That was my partner, my Dad, OUR BACKUP, and my friend. Wiener.    

Saturday 11 February 2012

The Mechanics of Love.

Hey Everyone,
So much for me staying up to date on my blog. I see a few have dropped off the reading list and a few more joined. Welcome to all. So if your looking for an animated and fun read about the pro's and cons of the new 6.8 cartridge your going to be sadly disappointed. 


Is love being the only boy invited to your 10-year-old classmates birthday? Or is it wanting to follow your husband to the grave after 65 years? Neither of these situations have I had the pleasure or pain of experiencing. This is not to say that I've not felt love. I believe I have felt love and not only the fleeting "falling in love" and "brotherly love". But real love. It is sacrifice and understanding, understanding the perspective of a creature you can't understand. It  is believing the unbelievable and forgiving the unforgivable, it is to look and see past all the imperfections to truly view the soul of another human being and to become comfortable with that view. It is a trading of priorities. By this I mean it is the attempt to place your priorities beside or slightly  behind that of the person you love, while they attempt to do the same for you. It is a beautiful and difficult ballet to pull off, and I believe it is why two out of three marriages fail but educated people still engage in the folly. Because when it works nothing comes close to the joy it brings, equally, like most things in life, nothing comes close to the anguish it brings when it is out of sync and the pain when fails. I don't mean stray  into an area better served by poets and songwriters but perhaps following in my dad's footsteps as a Millwright. Talking about the mechanics of love. Yeah I guess that's what I'm doing, and in that a title. The mechanics of love.



Rhys Munroe, the main player in Grey Redemption holds firmly onto the notion to never get involved with someone you wouldn't walk away from in thirty minutes or less. He changes towards that magical connection we all  look for, and most fail. 


Happy Valentines Day. 


For a great video on 6.8 ballistics look up Davidkxx on Youtube with the search string 6.8. Great video. Problem is you can't find the rounds in any monkey strewn dictatorship worth kicking the shit out of.