Alterpedia – Sirens

In the Alters’ World (and the series of books found here), creatures of legend reveal themselves to the world. Born through genetic abnormalities, defects and mutations, the Alters have lived for centuries as outcasts of human society, hiding their true nature from the world while colorful stories have been written by many to describe what they’ve seen. How are these creatures different from what was described in the stories? What relationship do they have with humanity? Every entry of the Alterpedia will delve into a new creature from around the world. This week we cover:

Sirens

The beautiful, enchanting voices calling to sailors from across the sea – we often think of Sirens as either monsters of the Aegean Sea or the unfortunate inevitability for those all-night binge drinking sessions near frat houses. But whether you think of the women of the distant shores or the flashing lights atop patrol cars, the thought of Sirens has long haunted the collective consciousness of mankind. But are these beautiful entities really the evil beasts we’ve so long feared?

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A Word To Indies: Violence And Cultural Responsibilities

There’s a lot of pros and cons to being an Indie. On the plus side, you can determine your own fate and you can be at the helm for every major decision. On the other hand, you don’t have the benefit of the advice given to the traditionally published authors as they go through the process of entering the market. You don’t have an editor, a publisher, a publicist and an agent to tell you what’s the “right” and “wrong” of your work as you go out into the world. And for some people that can be terrifying, especially as we enter a time when independent works are so easily adapted into more mainstream formats. It is possible, today, that an independent author could have their work adapted into a film or something to that effect. And because of that, it’s hard to look at certain debates and not be concerned about what your role is in it all.

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Science Fiction as Metaphor

A while ago I came across an article about science fiction that caught my attention. The article was a decent argument that I felt had at least some validity, so of course I shared “Our Science Fiction Movies Hate Science Fiction” on Twitter and mentioned I didn’t agree with everything in it. Sadly, 140 characters isn’t nearly enough to start talking about the failings of a fairly long article. So like any opinionated guy on the internet I decided to blog about it to those of you silly enough to give me the page views.

It all started with Elysium.

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I Return From The Desert: 10 Commandments For Starting Indies

A couple of years ago, wandering through the southern California desert, I saw a burning bush (as is typical of the region for 9 months out of the year). And during the time when this bush was burning I swear I heard someone telling me that it would be a good idea to go and do something that everyone else figured was damn foolish. Now, as I say this, you might think that I was dehydrated or suffering a heat stroke in the sun. You might even think that the bush in question was of a questionable form of herb that wasn’t legal in the country I reside in. But whatever was happening in those moments I can tell you one thing for certain:

Never take your career advice from a hallucination.

Two years later and I’ve found that being indie is a longer, harder road than I even imagined. Honestly, I burned out and lost my way for a while. Thankfully, it wasn’t 40 years, but I have come back rocking a freshly styled beard and sporting a brand new manuscript that I swear wasn’t written by some mysterious ghost writer.

And anyone who claims otherwise is a damned liar

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