Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Blackmail Commentary – Starting Points

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Feels like it has been awhile since we’ve chatted about Pathways in the Dark, so welcome back to the author commentary on book four of the Greystone series! SPOILER WARNING is in place, though by now I’m sure you’ve read and enjoyed the collection.

Right?

Blackmail and the journey of Samantha Myers

When putting together each piece of the collection, I realized the opportunities available. This included glimpses into the lives of some of the supporting cast. With Trustfall, Ruiz was given the spotlight. For Blackmail, it was time to dig into Samantha Myers and her story.

Keeping readers in the dark about a mysterious character is a double edge sword. You want to keep them interesting but also want to hold back on all the answers. It’s a fine line and can work against a narrative if utilized incorrectly.

I didn’t want that to be the case with Samantha Myers.

Having a working outline for A Circle of Shadows helped in this regard. Knowing where her journey was heading allowed me some wiggle room to showcase a case personal to her, while allowing the reader a glimpse at her life.

As in the case of most of the collection, the driving force of Blackmail stemmed from The Medusa Coin. At the end of the novel, Myers calls a mysterious benefactor and we learn her motivations aren’t exactly as pure as we hoped.

But what did that mean for her? Why was she working against Loren and Soriya?

Those were questions I wanted to explore without giving away the whole mystery.

Who is Samantha Myers?

I love writing the character. Her comments, her snark, comes from a place near and dear to my heart. I love her attitude in The Medusa Coin and the down to earth nature of bringing her into the fold in this crazy series. Yet for every interaction in the novel there was little time to really delve into her story. A narrative choice and one that worked for the book but also one I wanted to rectify slightly through Pathways in the Dark.

For Blackmail, I wanted to provide an outlet for her to explore Portents without being confined to the role of a supporting player in Loren’s drama. I needed Myers to break away from the world and come into her own. In order to do that I needed a reason for her to fly solo.

Two cases of blackmail…

It wasn’t just a clever title. It was always meant to explain her situation without explicitly laying it out for the reader. Being pulled into the case, having to steal from her colleagues to pay off a blackmailer was always meant to bring to light the truth of her situation.

Her mysterious benefactor, the figure in the shadows that has placed her as Loren’s partner, is also manipulating her against her will.

Putting that personal spin on events raised the stakes in my eyes and forced Myers to come to grips with her situation.

I loved writing this story. It was definitely a challenge, something outside the norm for Greystone, but I thought it was a breath of fresh air in terms of a character piece. I’ll be discussing those challenges more next time.

Thanks for reading.

Amazon Exclusive

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This is something I’ve been toying with for the last few months. I’ve held some reticence for the change but now stand poised to go Amazon exclusive for my eBooks to test out the model.

Why Amazon Exclusive?

I love the other retailer streams. Kobo has been an amazing retailer with tons of promotions geared toward independent authors. Their customer service is fantastic as well. Smashwords’ founder, Mark Coker, is one of the best advocates of the self-publishing industry ever and I love his passion for bringing readers what they want.

The truth of the matter is that after almost two years, Amazon makes up 97% of my readership. That can’t be ignored. So as of July 1st, the Greystone series will be part of KDP Select.

What does this mean for you?

Probably nothing. If you’ve purchased a book through another retailer it will not disappear. It will always be yours and nothing will happen to it.

For those worried about not being able to order a paperback through other channels, this change only relates to the eBook. Physical copies will always be available anywhere and everywhere.

For those Kindle lovers, the benefit is all yours. Being part of KDP Select means all my books will be in the Kindle Unlimited program. You can now borrow my books from their extensive library along will thousands of others. Tell your friends!

“But I hate Amazon! They are taking over the world!”

This was one of the issues I was concerned about when considering this move. If this relates to you, if you only buy through Kobo or Smashwords is your retailer of choice, there is a solution and one I credit author Jay Allan for giving me:

  1. Buy my book through Amazon.
  2. Send me the receipt by emailing me at lou@loupaduano.com.
  3. I will send you the format of your choice. Be it ePub or PDF. Whatever works best for you.

That way everyone wins.

The Greystone Saga Volume Two…

The launch sale ends tomorrow! Snag your copy of this digital box set at $2.99 now before it jumps to its regular price of $4.99!

Grab your copy today!

Thanks for reading!

Writing Update – June 25, 2018

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Sometimes you can think you’re unstoppable, that when push comes to shove you can move heaven and earth to get the work done.

Then June rolls around…

Writing Update

It’s almost a misnomer. I’m plugging away at DSA Season One and will be for quite some time. The truth of the matter, however, is that the family has come first for the last month. And it should.

I started pouring every waking hour into Greystone back in March 2016. For over two years every nap, every evening and every weekend went into crafting the five novels in the series. It went into marketing. It went into promotion, newsletters, blogs, and every other crazy facet of this world.

Away from my kiddos. Away from my wife.

It hasn’t been fun for them.

This past month showed me that big time.

This summer, I’m restructuring some goals and working on a new way to build what is coming for the next few years. And I’m taking some time to be with my family.

So what’s coming your way?

A Circle of Shadows just arrived in my mailbox this week. I’m reading through it and closing the last minute issues. I think it is the perfect send-off for the series for now. I hope you’ll agree.

The pre-order is live on Amazon for the ebook! Check it out today.

Lots more story to tell in the city of Portents but for now this is goodbye.

I’m buckling down to complete edits on DSA Season One, Book Two entitled Promethean. I love the story involved and the character interactions and hope I can pull it together in the self-editing phase. It’s been a bear of a time working on the details and fleshing out story logic for some long term plans in the series, however, I think you’ll find it all worthwhile when you see the results down the line.

To break away from editing, I’m finally putting an outline together for a new sci-fi, space opera series called Red Epsilon. Five books are planned with more in the offering down the line. It’s a love letter to Star Trek and Babylon 5 about a reluctant crew forced to stand against a growing darkness in the universe. Book One is called Ancient Weapons and I’m hoping to script it out this summer so it is ready to draft during NaNoWriMo this November.

Sci-Fi Valley Con

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my table in Altoona a couple weeks back. It was a fun time meeting new readers and showing them how awesome the Greystone series can be. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the books!

Time to hunker down and get this book DONE!

Thanks for reading.

The Apartment Commentary – Walter Schriff

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The Apartment author commentary concludes! SPOILER WARNING ahead. Big time for this one!

Figuring out the threat…

When it came time to figure out who these ghosts were hassling people in Portents, the first two or three drafts never named them.

Yes – them.

Three were present in the first drafts. I made their appearances vague, their motivations even more nebulous. I had no idea how they connected to the story or how to raise the stakes. At one point I was researching things like Blackbeard and Napoleon in an effort to connect with some legendary aspect.

They didn’t fit. None of it fit with the narrative.

Enter the Kindly Killer

It was during the self-editing phase when I stumbled on this notion of the Kindly Killer. He is the first connection between Loren and Soriya, a vital part of their so-called origin story and when I remembered him he fit so perfectly I couldn’t stop writing until the story was completed.

Having that personal connection with Soriya at the climax of the tale raised the stakes. She knows how dangerous Walter can be and can’t risk his return to the mortal plane. Making it personal, looking for that deeper meaning in terms of the overall narrative of Greystone, builds a better story in my mind.

I hope you agree.

Why care so much about the Kindly Killer?

Walter Schriff has been around since Signs of Portents. Always a background mention, never anything more. I did that purposely. (I try to do everything purposely…)

Some people believe his inclusion in the first novel is a distraction. I look at it differently.

His presence is a seed for something to come.

The Kindly Killer serves as a point of origin for Loren and Soriya’s relationship. His suddenly viciousness in slaughtering people, his arrest and the subsequent events that locked Loren and Soriya into this incredible journey lies at the heart of the story that will serve as Book Six of the series.

Say what?

Yeah. I’m a couple years away from putting it together. Having A Circle of Shadows back on my desk has sparked a few notions about what’s to come for the back half of the series.

But Walter Schriff plays a huge role in Book Six.

Get ready.

Red eyes…

Did you notice another old friend within the Bypass at the end of our story? Talking about raising stakes, having Soriya peer into the Bypass at the climax of the story served two purposes.

The first was to seed an event to come in A Circle of Shadows. (Shhh, it’s a secret…)

The second was to bring back old red eyes, Nathaniel Evans, for a cool cameo. I missed our old villain from Signs of Portents and once I realized Schriff played a role in the story I thought it would be cool to bring back more past threats as a nod for where we’ve been in the series.

And where we’re heading…

Did you enjoy the story? Did you like the nods to the past? Shoot me an email at lou@loupaduano.com to let me know.

Thanks for reading.

The Apartment Commentary – Bypass Thread

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The Apartment author commentary continues and your mandatory SPOILER WARNING is still in effect! Strap in kiddos cause here we go!!

Logic rules all

Logic, especially story logic, is and always will be my number one rule when it comes to writing. Things need to happen for a reason. If there is a way to make a story element fit within the massive structure already being built over the first three novels of the series then it needs to happen.

As long as it makes complete and total sense.

I’ve spoke about this before. Certain elements of the series have to carry over, character traits that would never disappear (unless mind control is in the mix, which DOES happen…), and other rules that each writer creates for their world.

So how do ghosts fit into the Greystone mythos?

I wanted a ghost story. I knew I had the perfect trappings of one. An abandoned apartment, kids trapped inside and Soriya playing the hero.

But where do ghosts come from when dealing with a city like Portents? With mythical creatures and legends becoming real, how do these specters play into it?

I wracked my brain on this one. It took WAY too long to figure it out, if I’m being honest, and I always am with you, dear reader.

The truth was I had no clue until I was going through the proofreading phase of The Medusa Coin.

The Bypass.

I wrote my answer months earlier. The Greystone was freaking out and, by extension, the Bypass was changing. Evolving. Fluctuating.

The Bypass stands as the center of existence, the crossroads of reality, as we know it. It holds every past, present and all futures within its orbit. So what happens to the dead? Are they floating inside?

And what happens when the Bypass shudders, when it shifts, and a flick of light escapes the chamber tucked under the city?

Taking the thread left by The Medusa Coin and being able to use it here, dove-tailed perfectly with where things were heading in the series. The threat of something happening to the Bypass needed to be explored and with its presence in the apartment as a means of transportation for the ghosts haunting our heroine, it created the story logic I needed to explain their presence.

Our friendly neighborhood ghosts…

I’m saving this one for next time. I’ll be talking about our friend, the Kindly Killer, who seems to continually pop into these pages and why that might be, as well as another friend tucked in the background of the tale.

But I’m sure you know who I’m talking about already, don’t you?

Thanks for reading!

The Apartment Commentary – Starting Points

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It’s been a couple weeks but the Pathways in the Dark author commentary continues!!! SPOILER WARNING ahead for The Apartment tale in the collection…

Starting Points

Truth be told, The Apartment was the very first idea I had coming out of Signs of Portents. At one point it was going to be a story tucked in Tales from Portents but then that collection turned out to be full of prequel stories and it didn’t fit.

From there, the concept of Soriya leaving the nest stuck with me. I thought it was a nice progression of her arc in the series, always looking for connections; always resenting Mentor’s stance of isolation for the betterment of the work.

When it came to The Medusa Coin, the initial outline had Soriya seeking out a new place to live. It was ancillary and really pulled people out of the story. Frankly, it didn’t interest me when looking at the overall narrative of the novel and it was quickly cut from further outlines.

However, I couldn’t let it go. I had been drawn to that moment for almost a year. In my head, it played more comedic as Soriya is forced to learn how to live a “normal” life amid the insanity that plagues her. A real super-hero dilemma compared to the nightmares she usually faces.

That wasn’t enough to sustain the story, though. Doing it for giggles, while tempting, offered no drama; no stakes and the initial concept petered out pretty quickly from there.

Telling a ghost story

I scare pretty easily. I don’t enjoy the feeling, the terror that comes with the horror genre. Yet, something always pulls me in that direction; some unnatural predilection to scaring the crap out of myself that made writing The Apartment so exciting.

When it came to finding a reason for why Soriya would pick a certain place to live, without relying a simple need to connect with people, I kept coming back to her work. Her commitment to Portents.

So what would draw her to this apartment at the Golden Palisades?

A ghost.

Something simple, yet mythic in how we’ve created lore around the idea of ghosts in the world. Those unwilling or unable to head to their natural end and remain stuck. What would they do? What would they want? These questions fascinate me as much as they terrify me and I wanted to figure it out.

The Apartment allowed that aspect. It opened Soriya to a new experience, multiple new experiences especially when taking into account the arrival of the kids – Davis and Kevin – to the story.

That was what Pathways was about; pushing this cast of characters into new situations to see where they would go. How they handle tragedy, violence, horror and even the mundane on their own…

Holding onto an idea

This one stuck with me longer than most and I was so glad it did. Soriya’s move fit perfectly with the themes being explored in the collection and it let me tell this haunting tale as a bonus.

Thanks for reading.

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