What’s Up With Texas?
Posted: March 31, 2014 by jazzdog in WritingTags: author, Chain Reaction, champagne books, creativity, DIRTY WATER, Texas, thriller, toxic relationship, writing
I get asked every so often, after a reader has finished one of my Nick Sibelius novels, where the ideas and characters come from. I understand the question. I populate the novels with quirky characters—a bicycle fanatic eco-terrorist, a good old boy who seems to accidentally kill people around him, a serial killer who uses musical instruments as weapons—I could go on. For these and other characters, my only defense is that I assume I was dropped on my head as an infant. Although when I step back from these creations I do see some similarities. All of them tend to be passionate about their cause. Their principles may not be moral high ground, but they are passionate. Most of them play their passion out in creative ways. Sure, anyone could kill with a gun or knife, but a tuba?
The situations these characters find themselves in come out of my history with Texas. I moved to Austin when I was twelve and lived in the state for several decades. We Texans—yes, I live in Seattle now, but a part of me will always be in Texas—have, from our perspective, a clear vision of who we are and what we’re about. If you drive across the state line into Louisiana or Arkansas or Oklahoma or New Mexico, that clear vision appears a bit distorted, and well, odd. No matter what Alaska, California or France say (wanna be’s!) Texas is obviously the largest sovereign nation in the United States, in terms of the geography of the land and of our minds. We’ve got a governor who shot a coyote while on a jog. The Texas story here is that we’ve let coyotes overpopulate and we need to hunt them. The other 49 states are thinking, “Your governor carries a gun when he jogs?” A call for secession rises every so often from some opportunistic politician (yeah, the governor too. Don’t know if he was packing a gun that day.). A drone secessionist air force, smuggling drugs in a pipeline, burying toxic chemicals in a water tank, and sucking an aquifer dry for capitalistic gain do not strain belief. Just when I think I’ve come up with something off the wall crazy, I read a news story from Texas supporting the possibility of the very thing I considered nuts.
Now some might see this as disdain for the state where so much of my life has occurred. Your perception is merely a cultural misunderstanding. From a Texas perspective, we have a certain twisted pride in doing what “you people” (that’s Texan for someone not from Texas) think is over the top. It’s true. Everything is bigger, better, louder, brasher, crazier, and more colorful in Texas. I can hear somebody in Alaska, naked as a jay bird, banging garbage can lids together, dancing in the snow while yelling “we’re bigger, we’re bigger.” As a graduate of two of Texas’ finest institutions of learning, The University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, I offer this rhetorical rebuff of your protest.
“Not.”
Richard Hacker is the author of
CHAIN REACTION
DIRTY WATER
TOXIC RELATIONSHIP
Available Now from Champagne Books or your favorite digital bookseller
Available Now from Champagne Books or your favorite digital bookseller
Web & Blog: www.richardhacker.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RWHacker
Twitter: @Richard_Hacker
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RWHacker
Twitter: @Richard_Hacker
Landing Your Next Writing Goal
Posted: March 10, 2014 by jazzdog in Aviation, CHAIN REACTION, Creativity, DIRTY WATER, Story, TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, Uncategorized, WritingTags: author, creativity, Richard Hacker, writing
A great joy in my life, other than writing, has been flying. Not the big commercial jets, but small, single engine airplanes. One of the basic things every pilot learns sooner or later is that the more you try to control the airplane, the less control you have. When I first started flying, I recall coming in for landings. Here’s the internal dialogue:
“This is so cool, I’m flying a plane! Look at me. How easy. Just line up with the runway. Wait, drifting to the left. I’m high. Rudder, throttle, slip it, yes, yes, low, I’m low, to the right, wait, okay, leftrudderrightrudderupupnodownuprightupleftdown. Almost there. Jeeze the ground’s coming up fast. Don’t hit the ground. Hold it, hold it, throttle, no too much, ease off, leftright, down. Yes! I’m on the ground! Yes!”
The final approach at Stinson Airport in San Antonio, TX
After one of those white knuckle landings, my instructor had me continue what’s called a touch and go, in which you land, then reconfigure the plane and take off again. This time around she coached me to relax. In fact, she wanted me to hold the yoke (it moves the ailerons and elevator–I won’t get into here) between my thumb and forefinger of one hand. At first I thought I had jolted her grey cells on the previous landing. Guide a plane weighing several thousand pounds at 80 mph onto hard asphalt with my thumb and forefinger? But I followed her instruction, trusting when we went out of control she’d be there to save us.
Given that I’m writing this blog, you know I managed to survive. As odd as it seems, letting go of my white knuckle grasp for control allowed me to fly with the aircraft in a partnership. The plane was not some beast to be tamed. Why, the thing wanted to fly!
So what does holding a yoke with your thumb and finger have to do with writing? From the critique groups I participate in, to writers I know, to my own writing, I think we all have those moments when inspiration just doesn’t seem to be in the room. We struggle with a scene, fighting for each word, the blank part of the page haunting us. Or our well thought out plot, on second read, just doesn’t seem to work. One way to approach the dilemma is to put the head down and write those 2000 words or else!
I have nothing against goals, in fact, goals can be very helpful in keeping us on track and moving forward. However, how a writer approaches a goal does make a difference. To take my flying analogy, if I try to over control my writing, essentially forcing the words on a page, like I forced the plane into a landing, I may not get the results I want. Yes, I’m on the ground, but it wasn’t very pretty.
As odd as it seems, letting go of a white knuckle grasp for control allows an author to write with the story in a partnership. The story is not some beast to be tamed. Why, the story wanted to be written!
Richard Hacker is the author of the Nick Sibelius crime series.
CHAIN REACTION to be release by Champagne Books, March 2014
DIRTY WATER
TOXIC RELATIONSHIP
Both Available Now from Champagne Books at your favorite digital bookseller
Web & Blog: www.richardhacker.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RWHacker
Twitter: @Richard_Hacker
CHAIN REACTION Released Today!
Posted: March 3, 2014 by jazzdog in Book Release, CHAIN REACTION, Crime, Novel, Pflugerville, Texas, ThrillerTags: book release, Chain Reaction, champagne books, crime, eBook, fiction, Nick Sibelius, novel, Richard Hacker, Texas, thriller, toxic relationship
The third book in the Nick Sibelius crime series is now officially out!
In Chain Reaction, Nick Sibelius and his partner Theresa Soliz take on a client caught in an apparent grudge between competitive bass fisherman, they discover they have unknowingly entangled themselves in the secessionist plot of healthcare magnate, Bruce Reynolds, to create the sovereign nation of Texas. Faced with Reynold’s remotely controlled drone air force, they make a desperate attempt to prevent civil war, while keeping their client alive and their relationship intact.
Here’s what’s being said about the previous Nick Sibelius novels:
Praise for DIRTY WATER
“A must read for all murder mystery fans. 5 Stars” — Cozie Corner Blog
“…the mystery and suspense is present throughout.” — Texas Book Nook
“What do you get when you combine Politics, Texas, Murder, and Mystery mixed with a bit of romance? Well, you get Dirty Water. Richard Hacker has written a novel that will intrigue and fascinate readers. You will find yourself hanging on every word while waiting for the other ball to drop.” — My Reading Addiction
“This story has so many elements that makes it intriguing. Hacker has woven a tale of deception, politics, and crime solving and he has done a superb job of connecting all three…A great Mystery/Suspense read.” — A Life Through Books
“…a murder mystery with a touch of romance and domestic terrorism. From the start I found myself turning the pages to discover what was going to happen next. Four crowns.” — Queen of All She Reads
Praise for TOXIC RELATIONSHIP
“Tight suspense with wonderful laugh out loud moments. Richard Hacker is a master storyteller.” Pam Binder, Pacific Northwest Writers Association President and author of the NY Times Best Selling anthology, A Season in the Highlands
“Many times I found myself getting strange looks because I was laughing out loud…Highly entertaining and sure to be enjoyed by fans of mysteries with humor. I highly recommend it and hope that there will be more stories to follow.” Paige Lovitt for Reader Views and Seattle PI
“If you’ve ever spent time in Texas, and love it like I do, you’ll catch yourself nodding and smiling as Hacker masterfully weaves his plot through the cultural fabric of the Lone Star State….Toxic Relationship reaffirms my belief that anything by Richard Hacker is a safe bet. It’s a smart novel chocked full of great characters and light humor.” Brian Braden, Brian’s 99 Cents for Underground Book Reviews
“All throughout Toxic Relationship, I laughed my butt off!” JenRen, TE Garden of Book Bloggers
“The characters in this story are awesome. The story is steady, we meet a man changing into a woman, the doofusses, a love story gone wrong, a psychopath dentist with higher aspirations than sense, and a killer who was scarier than zombies. I think for a mystery, adventure and laugh out loud funny read, you wouldn’t go wrong with Toxic Relationship.” Beth Cutwright, Beth Art from the Heart
Five Stars. One of the most enjoyable books I have read in quite a while, this book was remarkably easy for me to get into. I loved the characters, in particular, the bad guy characters! … If you are looking for something just a bit different, something that will seduce you into forgetting about your undone chores, then this book is for you, too. Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Writers League of Texas
Posted: February 28, 2014 by jazzdog in Award Winning, Conferences, Creativity, Novel, Texas, TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, Uncategorized, WritingTags: fantasy, sci-fi, Shaper, toxic relationship, WLT, writer, writers league of texas, writing
I’ve been featured on the Writers League of Texas blog to promote their literary contest. A sci-fi manuscript of mine, SHAPER, won in the sci-fi/fantasy category and the first Nick Sibelius novel, TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, was a finalist in the 2011 contest.
My Annual Holiday Blog Post!!!
Posted: December 9, 2013 by jazzdog in Award Winning, Creativity, DIRTY WATER, Texas, TOXIC RELATIONSHIPTags: blog, books, Christmas, creativity, DIRTY WATER, fiction, gifts, holidays, novel, Richard Hacker, Texas, toxic relationship, writing
Given it’s December, this must be my annual holiday blog post!!! I cannot offer unending pop star carols in the background, no flashing lights, fake snow on plastic trees or even a mocha pumpkin cinnamon double whip with red and green sprinkles. Sorry.
I can point out how this holiday month for various religious traditions is filled with one thing I think we can all agree is one of the most wonderful creations of human beings. No not the Easy Bake Oven. Although, now that it’s genderless (not exactly sure how ‘experts’ identify the gender of a toy oven– but that’s another blog) we can all make cup cakes with a light bulb. But I digress. The gift of the holiday season is story in all of its forms.
Whether you are Buddhist, Wiccan, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Atheist, Secular Humanist, Great Spaghetti Monsterist, nothing or something in between or barely defined in your consciousness, we all carry around stories of what it means to be human in this world. And so we write short stories, plays, screen plays, poems, novels, radio plays, and every other form of story to answer one basic question–the same question Charlie Brown and Scrooge struggle to understand–Why am I here? What is the meaning of life?
Traditional holiday stories can have some depth and edge to them, although much of what we hear gets softened and homogenized to leave us with a taste of joy and hope. Nothing wrong with that. Besides, we have eleven other months in the year to get at the meaning of life through vampires, private investigators, serial killers, alien life forms, lustful lovers, and talking dogs.
So today I give you the gift of story. Yes, I bought it online at a steep discount and the shipping was free. That doesn’t mean I love you less.
Speaking of gift giving and stories. I humbly offer my two tales of Texas mayhem as the perfect stocking stuffer. TOXIC RELATIONSHIP and DIRTY WATER are both available at your favorite digital book store.
Happy Holidays.
Drone Killer
Posted: December 2, 2013 by jazzdog in Aviation, DIRTY WATER, Interview, Life, TexasTags: Amazon, blog, DIRTY WATER, drone, humor, interview, life, novel, Richard Hacker, Texas
I’ve got some great news for all of you good ol’ boys and geeks out there. Yeah, I know. How often do the stars align for Billy Bob and William Robert to find joy in the very same thing? Here it is. Amazon is planning on using drones to deliver packages. I know. How good is that? To get a real sense of how putting a few thousand package delivering drones into the air increases entertainment value in both cow pastures and urban landscapes, I visited two of my characters, Junior Pendleton and Izzy Zydeco to give their unique views on the subject.
I dropped in on Junior at the Huntsville State Penitentiary. He’s still a bit rattled by the bicycle rights terrorist, Cherry’s, rather ruckus visit (you’ll have to read DIRTY WATER to learn more). However, when I mentioned we might be talking about shooting stuff, he was all in.
Richard: Thanks for taking time out of your highly regimented and confined day for me.
Junior: Whatever you’re here to accuse me of, well I ain’t done it. Well, probably I did, but ain’t admitting nothing without my attorney present.
Richard: No worries, Junior. I want to talk with you about Jeff Bezos proposal to deliver packages by drone.
Junior: Always liked that clown. Although he’s a bit scary looking with all that red hair and that big old nose.
Richard: Not Bozo the Clown. Bezos, the CEO of Amazon. He wants to deliver packages using flying drones, you know, like little helicopters.
Junior: Well, I’ll be damned. (He leans back, hand behind his head, staring at a point somewhere above my head.) Could be fun.
Richard: Yes, that’s what I wanted to ask you about. What sorts of things do you imagine you and other like minded souls would do if you had Amazon drones flying over your property.
Junior: You kiddin’? Shoot ‘em. Yessir. Shoot those birds right out of the sky. They are on my god given sovereign air space, just like a turkey or duck or one of those damned grackles…
Richard: Given that you can carry a loaded AK-47 down the street in broad daylight, I suppose looking up to shoot a drone wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.
Junior: Stretch? Hell no! Besides, we’re talking about ‘alien’ drones from Amazon. I say shoot first, ask questions later. That’s what I did when that balloonist flew over my land. Trust me. Them wicker baskets don’t offer much in the way of protection. And I still don’t know why he didn’t have armor around his propane tank. I can still see that ol’ boy running from the wreckage when his tanks exploded. Whew! What a sight.
Richard: I’m not going to press the point that your way of thinking is what landed you in prison and just move on to other thoughts that come to you when you think of drones delivering packages.
Junior: Lemme see, here. You know, not that I’ve done this, but I’ve heard people follow UPS trucks and snag packages right off people’s porches. Of course with the price of gasoline and those damned web cams, it’s getting harder to do the deed and make a clean get away. So how’s about this? I follow me one of those alien drones and when I say I, I don’t mean me. So I follow the drone and then BLAM!. Shoot that sucker right out of the sky, crack open its little bucket like a piñata and make off with an XBox or some trousers or a lawn sprinkler or something. Now I would never do something like that, but I imagine someone with a mind sharper than my own will come up with it.
Richard: Thanks for you time–
Junior: Wait. I ain’t finished yet. Here’s another good one. Dynamite. Tie one to a helium balloon or put it under your own remote controlled helicopter, swing in close to one of them alien drones and KABLAM!! Now that’d be something to see.
I left Junior in the good hands of the Texas prison system and then got on a video call with Izzy Zydeco, bastard son of Governor Fran Adamson and virtual gaming entrepreneur. We won’t mention the whole illegitimate son thing since it’s a sore point for him. After some small talk we got right to it.
Izzy: I’m happy to share some of my brilliance with you. Of course, delivery drones will be a sea change in online gaming. Imagine, international teams of gamers controlling drones they’ve rented on a per minute basis to attack delivery drones.
Richard: I don’t think I understand, Izzy. Why would gamers want to shoot down a delivery drone?
Izzy: Were you born in a cave? Points, of course. If they’ll pay real money to buy virtual weapons and armor to get points, imagine what they’d pay to use a real flying weapons platform. We could add little machine guns, laser guided mini-missiles, the list is endless. Of course, they could always just ram them mid-air.
Richard: All for points. Wouldn’t they worry about breaking the law?
Izzy: I’m talking ultra-secure servers and heavy weight encryption. Not even the NSA will be able to figure out who pulled the trigger.
Richard: Although, they’d probably post their video and brag about the points they’re accumulating. So I would think the FBI–
Izzy: You are in a little box, man. Laws. Geeze, if I worried about breaking the law I’d never have become the success I am.
Richard: Kind of my point, Izzy. You’re advocating criminal activity.
Izzy: Hey, are you on a secure line?
Izzy ended the call and I have been unable to locate him. However, I think we can take away three things from these expert opinions:
- Delivery drones are coming
- Asking a guy in a cow pasture with a gun to not shoot down a passing drone is a bit too much to ask.
- The next big video game? Drone Killer.
Do What You Love
Posted: October 8, 2013 by jazzdog in Creativity, Digital Media, Marketing, Novel, Publishing, Uncategorized, WritingTags: J.K.Rowling, marketing, publishing, Rowling, Social networking, success
James Stewart’s column in the New York Times, “Long Odds for Authors Newly Published” about J.K. Rowling aka Robert Galbraith’s book, Cuckoo’s Calling has left me pondering what writing is all about these days. In the article, Stewart discusses how Cuckoo’s Calling under the Galbraith name had to be shopped around at publishers and then, depending on who you talk to, sold somewhere between 1500-8500 books in all formats. Once the Rowling name came to light, the book sold 1.1 milliion at last count. Yes, 1.1 million.
So, when Galbraith was the author, the book didn’t have the visiblity or the street cred for larger numbers of readers to pick it up. Under the Rowling brand, the publisher had to scramble to get enough copies out in the world. I imagine for Rowling, writing under a pseudonym allowed her to break away from the expectations that probably contributed to the chilly reception her previous novel got with reviewers (which, by the way, still sold north of a million copies). But what does this phenomenon mean for the rest of us?
Writers have more avenues for our work than ever before and from where I stand, we also have more people who act like they somehow know what is the “right” thing for an aspiring author to do. I’m sure you’ve heard some of these:
1. Platform. You must have a platform!!
2. It’s all about social networking. You must have a social networking presence!
3. Self-publishing will be the final nail in your writing coffin.
4. Self-publishing is the path to readership and financial success.
5. Traditional publising is dead.
6. Traditional publishing is the path to readership and financial success.
I could go on. The thing that strikes me about all of those statements is that there’s a bit of truth in each and a lot of rubbish. We attend workshops and conferences, read blogs and books on writing, and debate with each other about the “right” path. Here’s where I am on the whole business of writing.
Occasionally someone comes along who creates the perfect storm: the right book in the market at the right time and the marketing prowess to make it known to hundreds of thousands of readers. However, most of the time, and I’m in the upper 90% zone here, most of the time authors create works of varying quality, struggle to reach a market and sell well under 500 books. It doesn’t matter if it’s self-published, small press or large traditional, there are some key things which seem to be important to reaching readers.
First, you have to have written a book people want to read. To compete with the big players in the market, the quality of the writing has to match or exceed what those writers are doing. I think it’s more difficult to reach that level of quality by self-publishing, but not impossible. Having a publisher doesn’t guarantee quailty either. In both cases, as authors, it’s our job to ensure the excellence of our work. To insist on it.
Second, you’ve got to have some marketing mojo behind you. Some authors know how to market their work and enjoy the business end of the book business as much or more so than the writing side. However, most of us, I’m guessing, don’t have the marketing skills and don’t enjoy the business. We just want to write. If you self-publish, you’re in the marketing driver’s seat. It’s up to you. If you go with a publisher, well, you’re probably in the marketing driver’s seat too, since traditional publishers don’t seem to be investing in new authors unless there’s a clear business imperative — i.e., there’s money to be made.
I’m sure there are many more points to be made about how to be successful in this business. But I’m left with the continued conviction that as artists, all writers can do is their very best work and put it out in the world to the best of their capabilities. Once in the marketplace, a novel takes on a life or death of its own.
I suppose the real question for any author is why? Why spend hours, days, months, years on a novel? A few possible answers:
- I want to make money with my work
- I want people to read my work
- I love the creative process itself
I have a feeling that at one level or another, we hold all three (and probably others) in mind. However, I think the most sustainable order for those three is:
Love the creative process — if you don’t love it, if it’s pain and struggle, you’ll have a difficult time doing this five, ten, twenty years or more down the line
Want people to read your work — after all, we’re story tellers. We’re the person sitting at the communal fire telling the stories that shape our lives
Want to be successful — however you define success — money, readers, movie deals, acclaim, awards
So let me add my piece of advice to the pile of advice we all hear every day. Here it is:
Do what you love.
Share what you do.
Define your own success.
