The Tyrant Strategy and The Target Audience

April 24, 2012 in General Topics

Let’s talk target markets, by talking about The Tyrant Strategy. Image Credit: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I was conceptualizing this trilogy of fiction books (Part 1 coming this fall, kids!), I realized early on that I wanted to write for people who didn’t know they liked science fiction. I wanted an accessible military sci-fi epic with an emphasis on characters.

I wanted some extraordinary characters, but also ample heapings of regular folks that were meshed inextricably, and at times unwillingly, into the process of history being made — of the world changing. And these characters came from all walks of life. What’s crazy is how readily these characters overlap with my target audience. Read the rest of this entry →

Sale: “Todd Elrin and the Forever Reset”; The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine

January 25, 2012 in General Topics

My science fiction short story “Todd Elrin and the Forever Reset” just got picked up for its first-ever run. Look for it on The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine at some point in the future. Of course I’ll post an announcement when it is live.

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How about the number 50?

June 26, 2011 in General Topics

Doing some math today with my fiction, I discovered I’ve written over fifty short stories since starting writing seriously back in my twenties. That is quite awesome. And a little bit obsessive.
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Neat little post over on ISFDB

June 22, 2011 in General Topics

This is kind of cool: someone’s taken the time to add me to the ISFDB (Internet Speculative Fiction Database). I’m over there at this link: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?117145.

This list isn’t 100% current, by the way. For interested parties, my updated Bibliography can be found at the top menu bar of this website.

But let me extend my sincere thanks to the party or parties that created an entry for me. You rock.

An Update, and the free tale “Busy As…”

November 18, 2008 in General Topics

Been a busy week here, but with it has come some good achievements, as well as correspondence from long-lost buds, including Dave Thompson. Salud, buddy.

I’ve officially tied both ends together of the novel outline I’ve been working on, and I’m thrilled. Now, a quick pass through it again to box up any loose ends, and I can start in earnest on the fun part of this project.

I am so excited. I can’t wait to bring this piece to life. It spans a projected three serialized volumes, and I’ve mapped it from the beginning all the way through the very last scene. I’ve two novels sitting in a desk drawer, so the size of the project doesn’t intimidate me at all.

Hopefully, this will be the one that moves my work up a few notches on the ole’ public awareness scales. I’m really interested in seeing if I can make a snowball instead of the flurries I’ve done so far.

We’ll see.

The amusing thing is, the ideas for short stories keep coming. I had a crazy one hit me last night – just might have to carve out the time to make it live.

So today, allow me to bring you some more free fiction. As always, this is exclusive to the site, so if you happen to want rights to it, feel free to hit me up at my e-mail address. I love any feedback, as well.

Stay tuned.

Busy as…
Copyright 2008 Jonathan C. Gillespie

Every day at 4AM, Unit 68B-43 came back online from low-power mode and swam the six-hundred feet down the underwater passage and up the other side. Once on the surface, it made its way to the bank and ran a survey of the trees along the sides of what had once been the Potomac. The trees used to be normal cedars.

Measuring carefully the sizes of each tree, it trimmed with deurtanium incisors the largest present, sending hundred-foot titans along prescribed trajectories, filling the forest with crashes and thunder as they hit the ground. 68B-43 would then collect these trees and carry them back to its endless project. Its preferred path along the riverbank was worn several feet deep thanks to its daily passes.

Placing the trees where needed, 68B-43 took the last few hours of the day to survey its work, recharging its super-efficient solar cells in the process, and taking in hydrogen from the water with each stroke of its mighty webbed feet. Pausing atop the dam, it achieved something approaching pleasure at its progress, as it had been programmed.

Its optics picked up the swathe of water that spread to the horizon, held in check by its daily efforts. Behind its miles-deep masterpiece, the Potomac was little more than a creek, and the ocean could not be seen, making the plasteel and admanticrete buildings atop the plateaus of Manhattan appear so much taller.

68B-43 sent a message to the other units. Its hyperlake was now complete. It would settle into maintenance mode, forever restraining this new body of water, while man farmed the fertile soils of the new Atlantic mountains.