New Release Date For Black Earth: Exodus

The paperback proofing of Black Earth: Exodus went surprisingly well, with nearly no errors to speak of. To that end, I'm going to push up the release date for the ebook and paperback editions of the book to Tuesday, December 4th. I'm also going to be doing some giveaways shortly after the release, so stay tuned to this blog to find out more about that.

In other news, I completed NaNoWriMo! This was my eighth year in a row participating and completing the challenge. Some might say it's time for a break, but I say no way. I have many projects I've been wanting to work on that I haven't had time to mess with because of NaNo and Black Earth: Exodus, but now that both are sliding off my plate, I can focus on marketing for Exodus, building up The Crossover Alliance, and spreading word about my entire Black Earth series.

The Light At The End Of The NaNoWriMo Tunnel

We're in the last week of November (I know, time flies!) and that means we're in the last week of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month for those who still don't know what that means. Last night I crossed the 45,000 word mark, meaning I only have 5,000 more words I need to write this week and I will have accomplished NaNoWriMo for the 8th straight year.

Finishing NaNoWriMo is always a great accomplishment for me - it helps me learn writing discipline, gives me an excuse to cut out distractions in November, and also gives me a draft for an upcoming self-published book.

At the same time, I'm always a bit relieved when NaNoWriMo is over with because it means I can move that off my plate and move onto other projects I've had waiting in line. This is particularly true of this year, because November has been mostly consumed with NaNoWriMo and the formatting and completion of the fourth (and final full-length) novel in my Black Earth series, Exodus. I just received the proof copy of the paperback version of Black Earth: Exodus in the mail yesterday and from what I've seen, it came out without needing anymore revisions to the formatting or cover - meaning the release is imminent.

So with NaNoWriMo and Black Earth: Exodus moving off my plate, I can start pushing some marketing out the doors for Exodus, the Black Earth series as a whole, and the rest of my writing. I also want to dive into creating some merchandise through Zazzle, and put some more time and effort into building The Crossover Alliance community.

Great things are on the horizon! But, one thing at a time. I still have 5,000 more words to write in my NaNo novel before I can claim victory, so I'll see you on the other side.

Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment and post some of the things that I'm thankful for. These are things I am thankful for all year long, but I figured since it's Thanksgiving, maybe I'd actually go public with them.

My relationship with God.
These last few years have brought me closer to God and further from myself - the parts of myself that need to die and make room for newness and better fruit. It's been a challenging journey through self-publishing, writing, and family matters since I left my '9-5' job back in 2009, but God has seen my family through and shown us miracles and countless proofs of His love for us. I'm thankful that He is a God who is continuously active in our lives.

My family -
I am blessed beyond measure with my wife and my son. My wife and I have grown so very close to each other during this journey, and I cannot imagine my life now without my dear son. Working from home while also taking care of my son has been a challenge, and I've had to learn to grown into certain spots, but overall, I wouldn't trade my family or the experiences we share together for anything in this world.

My Career -
I've been writing stories since I was eleven, and now that I'm thirty-three, I find my passion to write becoming an ever-growing obsession. I have had the ability and privilege to write from home full time and grow into this self-publishing business. At times, this writer's life is frustrating and hectic, but those golden moments when I get chills reading something I toiled over or hearing how my writing changed someone's outlook on life are priceless and make all the struggle worth it.

My hobbies -
This should probably be changed to hobby (singular) - video gaming. I grew up with video games. My dad introduced me to computers at a young age, and I still remember playing Choplifter on my Commodore 64. Video games run in my blood, and I still enjoy them to this day, sneaking in moments of gaming goodness whenever I get the chance. In fact, if I wasn't called to writing, I definitely would have entered into the area of video game design for my career.

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving, regardless if the retail industry attempts to overshadow it with nonsense.

Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment and post some of the things that I'm thankful for. These are things I am thankful for all year long, but I figured since it's Thanksgiving, maybe I'd actually go public with them.

My relationship with God.
These last few years have brought me closer to God and further from myself - the parts of myself that need to die and make room for newness and better fruit. It's been a challenging journey through self-publishing, writing, and family matters since I left my '9-5' job back in 2009, but God has seen my family through and shown us miracles and countless proofs of His love for us. I'm thankful that He is a God who is continuously active in our lives.

My family -
I am blessed beyond measure with my wife and my son. My wife and I have grown so very close to each other during this journey, and I cannot imagine my life now without my dear son. Working from home while also taking care of my son has been a challenge, and I've had to learn to grown into certain spots, but overall, I wouldn't trade my family or the experiences we share together for anything in this world.

My Career -
I've been writing stories since I was eleven, and now that I'm thirty-three, I find my passion to write becoming an ever-growing obsession. I have had the ability and privilege to write from home full time and grow into this self-publishing business. At times, this writer's life is frustrating and hectic, but those golden moments when I get chills reading something I toiled over or hearing how my writing changed someone's outlook on life are priceless and make all the struggle worth it.

My hobbies -
This should probably be changed to hobby (singular) - video gaming. I grew up with video games. My dad introduced me to computers at a young age, and I still remember playing Choplifter on my Commodore 64. Video games run in my blood, and I still enjoy them to this day, sneaking in moments of gaming goodness whenever I get the chance. In fact, if I wasn't called to writing, I definitely would have entered into the area of video game design for my career.

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving, regardless if the retail industry attempts to overshadow it with nonsense. I'll be back on this blog next week, ramping up for the release of Black Earth: Exodus!

Black Earth: Exodus Release Date Announced

I just uploaded the cover and manuscript of Black Earth: Exodus to Createspace to gain approval so I can order a proof copy of the paperback. That means the release of the book is drawing near! I have set the release date for the final volume in the Black Earth series to be Thursday, December 13th. On that day, both ebook versions and the paperback version of the book will be available for purchase. The paperback will be set at $12.95 and the ebook version at $2.99.

Here's the novel's synopsis:

In the midst of the world's darkest nightmares, light shines the brightest...

In what began as a star falling in the distant Phoenix sky, Legion's invasion of Earth has led Nathan Pierce through the twisted depths of the human spirit in search of his family and truth. After a bloody and brutal confrontation with the President of the United States in Echo city, Nathan and his friends find themselves on a new path leading through the Broken Lands—toward the city of Providence, California, the battleground upon which humanity will make a stand against the Dark Army and Legion itself.

But as Nathan's group journeys through bomb-ravaged cities and demon-infested highways to reach Providence, those determined to put an end to Nathan's life enact a final plan to stop him, his friends, and humanity as a whole. An offer is made to rewind time and put back the wrongs that Professor Grey’s time travels have caused. Everything can be restored. But at what cost?

While war rages across the planet, the fragmented shards of Shadowbanish come together to form a weapon that can finally tip the scales in humanity's favor, but only if the hero can endure the trials of Earth’s final days. 

NaNoWriMo Update

Okay, so it's Day 13 of National Novel Writing Month and I'm actually a day behind in my word count. Instead of doing NaNo yesterday, I spent the evening watching The Avengers with my wife. Decent movie, but overhyped, I think. I didn't really care for any of the Marvel movies leading up to it - except the first Iron Man - but The Avengers turned out to be worth seeing at least once for me. I have more interest in the Batman movies and in the possibility of a Justice League movie.

Anyway, I'm at 20,008 words so far in NaNo. Almost halfway there. As I've mentioned in another post, I ended up changing my NaNo project a few days into the month. Even though I spent each and every day in October doing activities via the Writing.com NaNo Prep Challenge to get ready for NaNo, I just couldn't bring myself to try and squeeze blood from a rock. The original NaNo idea I had - Black Earth: Spectrum - just wasn't cutting it for me. The characters were hollow, the plot contrived, and trying to write through it was agony.

Instead, I've been working on a novella that takes place between my Black Earth and Expired Reality series, and will serve as a bridge between the two to sum up how one leads into the other. I don't want to give away many details right now because the final book in the Black Earth series - Black Earth: Exodus - will be released next month, and to give away what's going on in my NaNo novel right now will spoil much of what happens in Exodus.

Black Earth: Exodus Cover Peek

We're almost there, friends. Before Christmas hits, Black Earth: Exodus - the fourth and final full-length novel in the Black Earth series - will be released. If you're a tad confused by the title, it's because I changed it from Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha to Black Earth: Exodus for a few different reasons, all of which are described in this post here - http://www.davidnalderman.blogspot.com/2012/11/fall-project-goals.html.

Right now I'm in the middle of formatting the novel for paperback, and my plan is to order the initial proof copy early next week. It's a bittersweet process ending a series like this, but at the same time I'm excited because it opens the doors and frees me up to start working on the bridge novella between the Black Earth and Expired Reality series - which coincidentally is my NaNoWriMo project this year!

This means it's time to show off a sneak peek at some of the cover design...

















My editor's son modeled for the pic, and we took it in a tunnel that runs under the street near where I live. My wife added the glow effects and edited the pic to make it a little darker so the fonts for the main title will show up well enough when I add them.

If you're wondering what the glowing wrist is all about, you'll have to read the book. I will give this hint though - if you're a loyal reader of my Black Earth series, then you know that President Stone initiated a mandatory bar code tattoo on everyone living within the sanctuary zones. The glowing mark on the wrist is the opposite of that. Cryptic, I know, but you'll find out what it all means soon enough.

I even did a bit of sketching to come up with the mark. There's symbolism behind it, but to give that away at this point would require me to reveal exactly what the mark is all about.

Soon enough.

Fall Project Goals

Fall is my second favorite season of the year. It's the time of year Arizona finally starts to cool down, although we're still left with 90+ degree temperatures scattered throughout the forecast here and there, but nothing like what we get in the summertime. I also love fall because it ushers in my first favorite time of the year - winter. It is these next six months of the year that I absolutely cherish, and this year will be no exception because there are a lot of exciting things going on.

In my personal life, my wife and I are getting ready for our move to San Francisco after the New Year. Our most recent updates to this move and our involvement with the Canvas church plant can be found at my other blog - Of Dreams and Faith. Needless to say, we have the boxes out and are getting set to start packing things up.

In regards to my writing career, I have some exciting things on the horizon. First, Black Earth 4 will be release next month (December) in both paperback and ebook formats. I really wanted to release it this month, but it's taken me just a tad longer to get the book finished and edited than I initially planned, and by the time the book is ready to roll out the door, we're going to come up on Thanksgiving, so I'll just wait until after that holiday and plan on releasing the book in the beginning of December. An exact date will be announced soon.

On the same topic, Black Earth 4 - originally titled Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha - has been renamed Black Earth: Exodus. This name change happened for a few different reasons: the title describes the book better than Bridge to Anaisha did; the shorter title mirrors the shorter length of the book; I am going to use Bridge to Anaisha as my NaNoWriMo novel title.

This brings me to the subject of NaNoWriMo. I've decided to start my initial story over from scratch. Even after the month of preparation via the Writing.com October Pre NaNo Challenge, I am finding that I have no interest in the Black Earth: Spectrum storyline or any of the characters. So, they go on the back burner for now. Instead, I'm going to work on what will later be titled Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha. The story will cover characters from my Black Earth series with details as to where each wound up after the events of Black Earth: Exodus, and will overlap with some of the characters from the Expired Reality series, essentially tying the two series together.

Other projects set for this fall are the release of my newly redesigned email newsletter (which I had to overhaul when I created my new author logo and design of the website), a list of new Compendium entries that will be release this winter, and some exciting things for The Crossover Alliance including a panel discussion on edgy Christian speculative fiction with Giovanni Gelati from Gelati's Scoop (November 28th at 1pm AZ time), and a great big giveaway of works from various edgy Christian speculative fiction writers.

And winter will bring its own slate of great projects, including (FINALLY) the LZR Project, the third Expired Reality series novel, and some other great literary goodies.

Time to break out my jacket and get ready for the cold!