Thoughts on the Passing of Steve Jobs, Media softness, and the Surrey International Writers Conference.

So the sun has once again chosen to show itself in the Chilliwack district. So I guess with the bright sunshine I should come up with something equally as bright to blog about. As I have said in the past this is a little more than difficult since I really don’t know what readers would like to hear. That being said I thought I’d go over a little bit of the recent events and thoughts I’ve had about them. It was with great sorrow that we lost Steve Jobs. The man was a visionary and has left a significant impact on our world, not just for the tech savvy but also for just the general public. It was with the significant amount of sadness that I read how he wasn’t this kind of a man. At least this seems to be the case if you read some of the blogs and some of the comments after his passing. While, I understand there is a little bit of Internet toughness or anonymity behind the keyboard. I still felt that the comments made by many were inappropriate.  One such comment that jumps to the forefront of my attention was the idea that he was nothing more than just money making technology thief. That he somehow stole ideas from Windows and other operating software like Linux.  While I do not doubt for a moment that he borrowed some of the ideas on how to get a GUI, which was the first name for a window, to operate within a UNIX environment. This borrowing of ideas was hardly specific to Steve. Each operating system copied each other freely. The simple fact that there are 1.6 smart phones for every person in the United States speaks to this man’s visionary influence. The simple fact that I can blog from my iPhone to an audience almost too vast to comprehend provides more than a little evidence of this man’s global influence. Leonardo da Vinci influenced his society with wonderfully creative art that merged science and technology in ways that hadn’t been thought of before. In a very similar way, Mr. Jobs did the exact same thing. The Apple Computer has come such a long way from its meager beginnings.  I remember typing away on my Apple prior to having a numbered designation, looking at a cathode ray tube display of green letters. I remember thinking jealously when one of my good friends got his new Apple and it had an Amber display. Back then the word processing powerhouse was Magic Words, and it came with a 2nd disc, Magic Spelling. I wrote my 1st stories on the old Mac. It wasn’t all easy and wasn’t at all as smooth as writing is today. No, now I can sit mouse in hand finger on the delete key, and speak out loud and watch the letters magically appear on my screen. My concern no longer which big disk to stick in the drive, or how much memory I was using. No, now all I have to do is make sure that my stutter words or misspoken grammar doesn’t show up on screen as I’m speaking it. So to the naysayer and proponents that believe Mr. Steve Jobs was just some money grabbing lying geek thief, I say shame. For whatever sour grapes or product brand loyalty you feel, it is not okay to steal or hijack the accomplishments of one of the most visionary computer, and corporate, moguls of this century.

 I blame this partly on the media. No one wants to hear the good news story, as scandals sell so much better. What he died of supersedes and becomes more important than what he created. The sound bite short vision of today’s media outlets hampers the consumers understanding. For example, I remember listening with fascination to the O.J. Simpson trial. At that time it was being touted as the trial of the century. Really? Trial of the century? Funny, I already thought we had those back in Nürnberg. While the lethal assaults allegedly committed by Mr. Simpson were horrible, I don’t really think they compare to having several Nazis on trial for war crimes.  Now we have the Michael Jackson Dr. on trial for murder and the occupy Wall Street movements.  All of this dispensed in 30 second sound bites to a growing group of people with a 30 second attention span. It is very difficult to get a feel, or read, on an actual event occurring in a different part of the world. I have been to events similar to occupy Wall Street, and then watching them on the news later wondering to myself was I actually there? The viewpoint put forward was so dramatically different than my observations that the reporter and I could not have been at the same rally.

    So this is the week for the large Surrey International Writers Conference.  I look forward to this conference every year, as it is by far one of the best I have attended. The access to authors and other literary professionals is second to none. It is so very cool to meet your childhood writing heroes, men and women who shaped your early development into an adult. Visionaries and Masters at their talent that challenge you to look inward at yourself and outward as to how you shape the world you live in. Perhaps this was unintentional, I know in writing Gray Redemption that many people are reading more into the book than I originally intended. I think this is a good thing, I’ve said before that each person brings something personal to the reading of any book. What one person gets out of it is significantly different than what someone else may get out of it. What I took away from Boys Life, or Baal, was a great deal different than what my friends took away from the book. For me it was a personal space that allowed me to come to terms with and, create coping mechanisms for my severe attention deficit hyperactive disorder.  It basically got me through my teen years, raging hormones, and at the time a not correctly diagnosed disability.  I know the politically correct term is challenged, or disadvantaged. But a label is just a label, making it softer is akin to calling a psychopath morally challenged. This year the writing conference actually included me in the book-signing event. Being so included with such masterful authors is extraordinarily humbling. It also caused a resurgence of that author fear; What If No One Shows up!  I easily signed over hundred and fifty books at the Chapters event just a few months ago. So it is really hard to imagine that someone else has a book left that needs to be signed. But I posted it up on my Facebook page, and sent out a tweet. So we shall see if there is any real interest. I have got a couple of e-mails from people that are going to try and make it to the Surrey Sheraton, but I’m not holding my breath.  What I will take away from this event is far more important. The classes and course material, panels and keynotes, go such a long way to improving and inspiring the job that is writing has no equal. Nor are the contacts and friendships that develop at such a small and intimate venue. While missing the glitzy glamour and large venue of say the London book fair. It more than compensates for this by being so hands on, smoothly run, and delivered. It is a conference that I encouraged many to attend and will continue to do so. I believe hands down that it is impossible to get as much bang for your buck in your ongoing writers education.

 So with that I believe I will sign off, kick the soapbox back under the bed, and work towards completing my list of tasks before heading deep into the darkest Surrey. I look forward to seeing everyone at the conference.

Summer was late and is now over!

Well another month has begun and while it looks like summer will stick around for a little while I am not taking any bets. Usually I am not so interested in the seasonal transitions but having so much work to do I really missed this summer. I have been trying to write and get a few chapters glued together but I am just not feeling the love. Been trying to hang on the deck for the most part as writing in the sun is so much nicer than being locked away! Lounging in my robe till 3 in the afternoon has most of my neighbors wondering what I do. My cat is also a major distraction almost as much as keeping up with Kindle Boards! You see in Cat World doors operate like they do on Star Trek. They move to the door and it opens and stays open for the time required for the little ball of fuzz to decide if he really wants to come outside. Then saited for the moment without outside pursuits he returns to go in, god help me if I am slow. Cats hate to have their beliefs of the world challenged.
Book sales are going well and I am looking forward to my next royalty check as it will include Canada and the US sales. So should put a larger dent in my promise to buy C a car. Car is already in the drive way so...Come on people read! Just kidding!
So tonight C and I are going to a MMA event out here in the valley. They are usually good fights and VIP front row tickets are only 75 bucks so a bit of an alternative to UFC fights! I may even do some ringside advertising for the next even and an upcoming event in Whitehorse! Seems to be a good match spectator wise.


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Location:Chilliwack Central Rd,Chilliwack,Canada

Finally Home to Langley and the Canadian Book Signing for Grey Redemption!

    So the big day has come and gone. It is with a little sadness and humbled pride. It was great to meet readers, friends, and fans and interact with people on a personal level. I have been good at keeping up with my email and responses to fans and I was glad I did. Many comments were passed along about how approachable I was and people like the fact that I had in some cases previously chatted, tweeted, blogged, and generally kept up with them! It hasn't been easy. But it was very rewarding to hear. It was great to see many new fans and readers and shake some hands and answer some questions. I met one of the men who were part of the group that set up the Highway of Heroes here on Hwy one just outside of Langley. Very special Group and awesome cause. I told him my book, actually several of them, is in country with our troops and are getting pretty dog-eared! But it is times like these that you really see the picture of how insignificant some personal accomplishments are. Writing a book isn't easy but it is a far cry from coming home to a parade you will never see or hear. Putting ones life on the line for an idea, and a way of life at a time when your own sense of self is hardly developed! I was an Infantry Soldier at the same age as these Heroes and I know I had no idea about my place in the world. I know friends currently in country and the fact Grey Redemption provided them with a little escape means the world to me. 

   I had tried to get into Iraq. I wanted to donate a bunch of books and do an author reading in country to honour these brave men. After 22 years in Federal Service I know jumping through hoops. But in the end the task proved to be too difficult. I needed approval at the Ministerial level, as in his desk. We had just had a cabinet shuffle so I knew this would never happen. So I adapted and overcame the challenge by passing out five books to operators headed into harms way. Two went with Canadians and two with British forces, and one went with a private contractor. They were all told to read and share. I have heard one is now in the base library or reading room and another is held together with 100mph tape! Truly an honour! 

   On the writing side of things. I received so much feedback asking for a prequel I may shelf my current project Footsie and start working on Grey Dawn. I have it outlined and I think I am prepared to let slip the reins on Rhys and let him once again play in the world. I have blogged about how difficult this is as I tend to get immersed in the character and Rhys is a challenge to put away after four thousand words. He tends to affect my own character and Crystal really doesn't like him! He also smokes far to many Cuban cigars for my frail lungs. But at least we each drink about as much! LOL! 

   The Surrey International Writers Conference, or SWIC, is only a few months away. I am so looking forward to learning more and have been looking at the program and wishing I could clone myself as too many overlaps with great presenters force me to make choices I don't want to make! Rhys would bug the place and then listen to the classes he had to miss! 

   That is all for now. Keep reading and keep writing and I will try to do the same! 

Grey Redemption Book Signing Aug 6, 2 till 5pm

So I finally was able to nail down a start time for the Langley Chapters Canadian book signing. It is a little odd feeling as I have already been to London England and New York releases. Guess Canada will always be a little behind. I am ok with that as whole as it means silly trends tend miss us completely. Or like Software games for the Mac. Usually when we get them the bugs are worked out. Not that the bugs will be worked out of Grey, no second edition yet. But it is fun seeing who sees which errors and responds. I always take the time to answer, perhaps taking the time to point out one they missed. Almost like a tracking system, if the story was tight and moving fast it gets missed, hmmm perhaps something to this. So the day has been set and I posted an 'Event' on Facebook so I can stave off the dreaded author fear of fears. "What if nobody shows?" I have had brave authors tell the story on a few occasions. Sometimes it is bad timing, a missed social holiday. But, no matter the reason it is a devastating experience. The author that writes the SLADE books recounted this, quite bravely I thought at the time. Course I have come to expect this from him now. He goes off script often at the Surrey Writers Conference. Others do too but perhaps not as often. A shout out or plug for a well deserving conference. Best money a writer can spend. You'll learn more in four days than most are capable of absorbing.
Anyway the response has been good on the Event Page and a few more people have searched the Scott D Covey author page and clicked the like button and joined to catch all the updates. Answering emails still takes a couple hours a day. To be truthful I still enjoy most of the emails. some make me wonder. For example I had one person text me that 1000 9mm rounds weigh X while I said they weighed Y. So I went to the closet and pulled out one case and stuck it on the bathroom scale and confirmed I was right. Then I discovered it was a US fan from LA. So that was a quick email, two words, Hollow Points. He wrote back that those are against the Geneva Convention. I answered; "Correct, so is Rhys Munroe."
Drifting back to the book signing and adding the Surrey International Writers Conference I have a event scheduled for that too. Part of this event is a book signing on one evening. Free to the public and is probably one of the easiest ways to meet some of your favorite authors and get them to sign your coffee stained dog eared loves. I encourage you to check out the SIWC webpage and even if your not into attending, see who is presenting, and come out and get a copy signed. We like it and it provides us with the social energy required to keep writing. Remember for the most part we write removed from the social world. In quiet rooms, alone with the madness of the craft shifting and swapping between personalities as our own go neglected by the effort.
For example Rhys Munroe smoked a great deal more cigars than I did at the time of writing. But alone in the dark with him looking at the world through my eyes I started matching his desire. So it was a nice three weeks shaking that monkey off my back. His disposable income for cigars was different too... So many nice Cubans burned in the creation of Grey Redemption!
So that is all the news and goings on from my desk. Keep the opinions and comments coming.

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Location:Vines St,Chilliwack,Canada

Reviews and views

Ok, A sunny day here on the West Coast. Finally! Canada day started out cloudy but was ok too.  But today I find myself alone with my computer, a gorgeous aged 08 Bolivar Gold, and a wee lady’s dram of Dalwhinnie Distiller's edition 15 yr old. A perfect time to quietly muse on about things and make a blog entry for this week.

I really do have to stretch to come up with something to write about. It would be easier if stuff was posted here to the blog. A good flame war or two about things like RYJ Edmundos would be fun and make it easier to write about. I only found out last week that to respond people have to have a blog or a login to Goggle. So the fact that the blog had been viewed over 1400 times but rarely commented on made sense. I thought my spelling had got in the way!

So a good friend touched off a bit of an email deluge at least to my basket after a review he posted. Some people thought it was a slap and a slight and quickly rallied to my ego’s defense.  I guess they missed the part on facebook where I linked his review and thanked him.  I love you all but my ego is really not that fragile and I didn’t think Jay’s review was off in the slightest. If I had a caveat it would be that the review doesn’t need to be taken with a grain a salt as it hit the mark.  Those that know Jay, as I do, are sure to get that he is above reproach as a friend or any thing less. He is brilliant, detail orientated, and kind. Amazing qualities to be sure. He liked the story, found it hard to put down at times, and enjoyed it despite the errors he found. He and three other close friends have commented on the errors. Editing just isn’t up to par these days.  Others have merrily read along as I did missing them entirely caught up in the yarn. One I know tossed the book four times against the wall cursing my punctuation and me! But he finished it, and enjoyed everything but the ending. When I asked him why he said that I sped it up too much and kind of changed the tone if not the voice of the book. I had intended on being slightly less descriptive as I moved along having forced the reader into a psychopathic mercenary’s mind. The verbose descriptions challenges for many, until they reap the mind picture rewards and go with the flow. He wanted me to keep the same pacing while every professional writer told me to speed it up.  Each of you brings a special something to the reading of Grey Redemption. You bring you.  A unique viewpoint and skill set. If you enjoy it, and it was worth the money you spent I am happy. I thank all of you for giving it a chance and I thank everyone who makes the time to write a review.

“Class what do you think the author was trying to say when he wrote…” Remember that start to every literature class? God how I hated those classes! Taught by bored and disillusioned PE teachers, using Coles notes for a guide. Ok perhaps I am being slightly harsh but?  So lets flash ahead twenty years and I am running late for a lunch date with a friend and as I was rushed I missed my mornings second coffee. So I go into the Starbucks near my house and while I am standing in line listening to frustrating people order fluffy coffee drinks I hear. “ I think Rhys Munroe is really a metaphor for the greed and rampant consumerism encouraged by the product based world.” I am seriously looking across the line thinking Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. (to the texting non-military types, this is where WTF came from). There in the corner are five people sitting around two of the small tables, with three hardcopies, and one soft of Grey Redemption. It’s a book club and they are actually reviewing my book! Seriously! This is like getting to be present at your own funeral; or rather I imagine it is, as I haven’t died yet.  Anyway, I sat down and listened. While there were a couple of comments about the edit I was glad to see most of the content was about the story! They had never heard of Equatorial Guinea and were amazed at some of the stuff I was showing them. They also were reading more into it. Way more into it than I had ever imagined anyone ever would. It was rewarding and funny at the same time as I remembered those Monday mornings in English Lit.

I got up from my voyeuristic perch and walked over. The table looked up and I smiled and asked if they wanted me to sign their books. They looked at each other in confusion and then back at me and I handed out my cards.  It finally caught that I was indeed the guy with the cigar in his hand from the website. Really do I look that different?  Then each handed me their book so I could sign it. “Tell us what it is your book is trying to say about the state of affairs in Africa.” One of the guys asked. I thought about the question looked at the speaker and quoted Bertuzzi; “It is what it is.” Then I added, “All the characters outside the mains are named after my friends cats.”

A review of Robert McCammon's THE FIVE

Reading Robert McCammon’s book The Five reminded me of the book Silver On The Tree. I don’t why because for the life of me I can’t remember the plot of Silver On The Tree. I was going to look it up and answer this question first, but thought better of it. Suffering from severe attention deficit hyperactive disorder. I have learned to let stuff slide.  So even though I don’t remember the plot, I do remember it was written by Susan Cooper. Not bad considering I read this in the late seventies! But The Five brought it back, or more accurately a memory I associate with Silver On The Tree.

I was probably 14 or 15 when I read Silver On The Tree. With severe ADHD reading was an escape and one I desperately needed. I read a library of books! But the focus of this review is The Five. So why did enjoying The Five bring this back?  I get this is a review and so I can’t give away too much.  When I was a kid my Dad had installed a motion light out back of our house. In the late seventies these were pretty rare. It came on with the passing of every large cat, a cruel joke for a kid with ADHD. We had been hit with a huge ice storm and I remember the tree directly behind my window had turned silver. On this night the light had come on collecting my attention and I looked out trying to see what had moved. It was a common game, I would see the neighbour’s cat or a bird and lay back and go to sleep. But on this day I remember seeing nothing but movement not looked at directly. That is to say I could see shadows dance on the trunk of the tree but only if I did not look directly at them. It was weird, and so I went to investigate. I slipped out into the cold in just my socks and underwear to see what was there.  It never gets really cold in BC but that night was frigid past the frozen ice on the tree. It bit, and froze breath to your lips.  Looking up into this ancient tree, I saw nothing. The shadows that had called me down were gone. Replacing them was a feeling, a terror as the seconds slid forward. Something was just on the other side of the tree, it didn’t like me, and it wanted me. I didn’t want to look around that tree either. I had come down to look. Had never before been afraid to look at anything! I was a teenager and as such was indestructible. I knew, just knew, that a monster real and deadly was on the other side of that tree. The knowledge of this was crushing me in place, forcing me to stand and stretch the frozen moments with it.

I sprinted past the tree, eyes shut, hands like claws outstretched before me. I remember being very surprised by this response. Thinking to myself I had just done the worst possible thing I could do, faced with a monster behind a tree.  I hit the back fence and turned around, opening my eyes for the first time. Nothing! I was relieved and disappointed at the same time. A very odd emotional conundrum and one I wouldn’t feel again until my first wife asked for a divorce.

The Five has been compared to Boys Life. A fair comparison in some ways yet not quite a right fit. I remembered reading Boys Life in hardcover before it was on the shelves in Canada. A relative brought it up from the States, knowing I loved McCammon’s books. I read it, jacket off, as usual and having never read the teaser had no idea where the story was going to take me. I kept waiting for the monster. I had no idea of the trials and tribulations the Author was having. I didn’t know he wanted to write outside of the ‘horror proper’. I was a kid that loved McCammon’s scary stories. It was probably one of the better-written books I had read and I moved on genre-wise with the author.

But truth be told, I wanted another scary story. I am 45 and I have wanted that scary story for 20 years. The Five was worth the wait! It isn’t ‘horror proper’, it’s better! Natural and supernatural forces woven so skillfully, that you can view this story from many different angles.  It is made scarier by what you bring to the reading. Just like that dark frozen night so many years ago in my backyard. The masterly written book takes you on a Rock Bands journey and so much more. The journey is so realistic that it makes the supernatural side much more believable. A brilliant Creepy and satisfying, work of fiction, written by a master. Dare I say “The”!

Grey Redemption paying some bills

Grey Redemption is paying some bills. That’s right I got my first royalty cheque in the mail. I wasn’t expecting one for a few more months, as they like to wait four to six for the first one to do the quasi-accounting math that is required.  It was more than I expected and less than I dreamt about but as many of you know I dream big.  Nice way to cover some of the bills doing the jet set thing around the globe.

Ever notice that the devil hangs on your shoulder much more strongly than the angel? Driving home the other day highlighted this for me.  A bear cub ran out onto the road in a tight corner while I was speeding home. I slammed on the brakes and sure enough the little angel on my shoulder did the bug splat on the window. Left with only the devil I took the tight inside line and the bitch started to protest. Her ass drifting out past the shoulder, tires ripping at the green belt along the edge of the road. I gave her a few more inches and the shriek turned into a guttural roar and she straightened out. Once again saved by the devil on my shoulder while the safer, more prudent one had to reconstitute herself.

How are these two divergent paragraphs connected? Other than being on the same page? Well in this way. If I had listened to the safer option I would never have taken the risk to write such a different book. Really? Raunchy sex in a military thriller? Are you kidding me? Yet people like it. They like that Rhys Munroe brings them along for the whole ride and not just parts of it. They like getting a peek into the alpha male world and are made more comfortable because Rhys has baggage. A plane full of baggage! Great reviews on Chapters and Amazon by people whom have bought the book and truth be told I DON’T KNOW! A few friends have said they will post a review yet only one has. Not a complaint I know everyone has very busy lives and posting a review takes some time.

I have a little more news too. The BIG official book signing for Canada will be at the Langley Chapters on 200^th street. It is scheduled for the 6^th of August. So mark your calendars and come out and say hello. You don’t have to buy the book from the store to have me sign it and I have some cool swag to give away as well. In addition to this signing I am also included in the Surrey International Writers Conference book signing as well. That is on October 22. The Book Fair is held in the Fraser Room from 5:30 to 7:00 pm on Saturday evening. The book should be available at the Chapters during the conference. You don’t have to be attending the conference to come to the book fair although I encourage you to do so if you want to be part of one of the best shows on the planet! Really! I have been to London and New York and this is by far the best!

Now to finish the Blog, on to the writing. I have wanted to catch up on some reading and I can’t write and read at the same time. So my project has been on the shelf while I finished Brett Easton Ellis’s Imperial Bedrooms and all of Robert McCammon’s books. Brett went back to his original style and voice for Bedrooms and I loved it.  Gritty and unrepentant novel that screamed Ellis. McCammon has been a little more difficult as I love his horror. In fact when I first read Boys Life I kept waiting for the monster to show itself. This is not to say by any stretch that I am not enjoying these period books as I most certainly am. McCammon is just the best horror writer on the planet and his skills in dialogue are second to none. I loved the hemp-smoking doctor and magistrate scene immensely! But my copy of Five is yet to arrive! I hope I get a first printing version! In fact I looked for it in four stores in the US on my recent trip and could find none. I was willing to buy two just to make sure I got a first printing as I am sure this will put him back on the NYC bestsellers list! Where he most certainly belongs!