My Visit to Shiloh and How Carrie Fisher Led Us to Jack Daniels

My girlfriend Jamie Ball put up a bunch of pictures of our trip to Tennessee. I thought I'd put up a few specifically about one incident that may interest some specific people who know my interest in the Civil War.

In the late '90s, I had the privilege of speaking with author Shelby Foote for a while. We spoke a bit about the craft of writing; about the importance of telling a story rather than just throwing out names and dates. I asked who his favorite general was, and interestingly he said Grant. He pointed out Grant's fascinating personality, and how he is misunderstood as a drunk and a butcher. He pointed out the Vicksburg Campaign as an example of his skills in leadership and strategy.

As we wrapped up, I asked him what battlefield I should visit. I like to joke that he told me to get lost, because he told me to go to Shiloh, to choose any path to walk into the woods. Then, he said I should leave the path and walk deeper into the woods until I don't know where I am. Then I'm exactly where I should be.

Ever since that conversation I have intended to go to Shiloh and follow his advice. I finally got that chance, but it began to rain. Jamie and I had driven across the entire state of Tennessee to get there, (from Chattanooga, another one of Grant's victories,) so we weren't about to give up. We had gotten lost along the way and wound up at the Jack Daniel's distillery, but that wasn't going to count.

We found a path, and waited for a break in the rain. As we wandered down the path, we heard distant roar of thunder in the clouds. We feared being hit by lightning, but yet it was somehow perfect as it resembled the rumbling of cannon. We got to a monument tucked away in some small clearing, and Jamie waited there while I walked into the woods.

I reached a point where I could no longer see a path, and wasn't exactly sure how to get back. So I figured that was it. The thunder was still rolling overhead, and besides that, it was silent, save for a few birds emerging after the rain. I listened for whatever it was I was supposed to gather out there.

I had come to Tennessee to see my dying uncle, but he had passed just before I got there. He was only 60 years old, 14 years older than I am. He was also one of my earliest influences in writing, being a nonfiction author himself. I wrote my very first script when coming back from his wedding in the 1970s. I felt like this had somehow come full circle.

The one thing I felt was the moisture of the air. In Tennessee, after a rainfall, the humidity remains giving a sensation to both body and smell. I closed my eyes and let that moment sink in. The booms continued overhead and I tried to shake the fear of being stricken until I one of the booms was a distant gunshot. Someone was probably hunting, and it added to the historical nostalgia, but I didn't want to be the subject of an accident, so I hurried back.

There was Jamie, wearing a hood whose sharp angles looked like she was hiding horns coming toward me. That's about as much meaning as I'm going to get out of that journey, but it's a journey I had to take, and am glad I did. It had been a perfect time to fulfill the advice I got from one of my literary heroes.

Finally Saw the Bad News Bears

When I was 5 years old I played in Little League and a movie came out about Little League called The Bad News Bears. I obviously wanted to see it, but my parents wisely said I could not until I was old enough.

At 46, I suppose I'm old enough, so I just watched it, and I found something particularly interesting. This was close to the same time of Rocky, and it had the same message which is lacking in so many sports movies. The lead team loses, and the point of the movie is that there are more important things than your petty little game.

My favorite part of the movie was the climax where they are losing the game as a direct result of decisions they made which were better for their lives, even if they caused them to lose the game. It is triumphant, because the characters have learned that what's happening here isn't really all that important.

I never had any interest in seeing Rocky 2 for this very reason. As I understand it, Rocky wins in a rematch against his opponent in the first. This takes away the entire point of the first movie. All these films which advertise themselves as "this boxer's one chance" or "this team's one chance to win" are huge turn-offs to me because, I'm sorry, what happens in a game just isn't as important as what happens in their lives.

It's interesting that several films of the '70s seemed to understand that.

The Audiobook of The American Game is a Dream Come True for Me

I spent nearly 20 years trying to get The American Game made into a movie.  It was a story about a series of baseball games that take place between enemy soldiers during the Civil War.  It seemed like a beautiful story, an with the way people got excited about it when I told them, it seemed like it was a sure thing.

When I finally gave up, I wrote it into a book.  Though I was most proud of the book, I always felt it was a pity that I didn't get to see these characters portrayed on screen.  I didn't ever get to hear their voices.

But that changed when I partnered with Steve White to create the audiobook.  White is an actor who does an amazing array of accents and voices.  I knew as soon as I heard his voice reel that he would be able to bring these characters to life.  And he did.

Over the course of a year, he worked on the audiobook, and now it's available on Audible.  It's so amazing to hear the characters come to life, and the story become a reality.  I love the written word, but this was always meant to be seen and heard.  At least I got one of the two.

You can find The American Game on audiobook now at: https://amzn.to/2IsawuJ

You can learn more about the book at: http://www.bandwagononline.com/The-American-Game.html

Relic Worlds, Book 3, Part 1 is Now Available!

The third Relic Worlds book, entitled Lancaster James & the Shattered Remains of Antiquity is off to a start with part 1 now available on Amazon.  There will be three parts to this book, each released three months apart.  When they're all complete, a completed paperback will be released.

The Shattered Remains of Antiquity follows Lancaster as he tries to collect three important pieces to a powerful artifact.  This artifact was believed to be the only solution to the dangerous Sigueran civilization, which is believed to be what killed off so many other alien races throughout the centuries.

Lancaster James and the Shattered Remains of Antiquity is 99 cents and is available on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/2EnzSML

Presenting My Game at Wondercon

I'll be going to Wondercon again this weekend, and this time I'm doing things a little differently.

Rather than getting a booth and trying to sell books that way, I've got a big table in the gaming area.  The main presentation there will, of course, be the Relic Worlds miniatures game, Relic Worlds Showdown.  The setup I made for this with the big volcano and everything (Breakup Mountain) always gets the most attention, so it's probably the best thing to grab attention for the series as a whole.

So I'll be putting on the game, but I'll also have flyers, and copies of the books.  I probably can't sell them since I don't have a booth, but I learned a while ago that I never make a profit at these conventions; it's about exposure.  So the whole point will be to get attention and to hand out flyers to get people into the Relic Worlds series.

Since part 1 of book 3 will have just released, I'm giving out business card sized flyers with a link for readers to download it for free.  Book 1 will also be available for free on Amazon Kindle that weekend as well, so there will be flyers for where they can find that as well.

And there will be presentations of the game all day, which recently released, and it more or less premiering at that convention.

If you're there, drop by our presentation in the game area.  You won't be able to miss the giant volcano!

Coming to Realize How Important an Affect Princess Leia Had on Our Culture

I began last season of RPG Storytime: Star Wars with a tribute to Carrie Fisher, who had died the end of the year before.  It was a bit of a late tribute, but so was my recognition of her character's effect on our society.

I had never really thought about the impact the character of Princess Leia had on our society.  It is odd that such a feminist icon came out of the mind of a man who also said "there are no bras in space," but Leia made a huge impact on the way female characters were portrayed on film.

It's easy to look at it today and say of course women are supposed to be right there in the action.  But if you look at other media at the time, including other movies, TV, and even games and books, women were the "romantic interest" to be saved by the heroic man.  Star Wars began with that trope where the heroes were supposed to save a princess from the clutches of an evil empire.  But then it upended that idea by having the woman snap back at the men, criticizing them for their lack of planning.

Most of the time, the imagery of her was not as a victim needing to be saved, but as one of the heroes along with them.  Her very first action in the film is to shoot down a stormtrooper.  She wasn't intimidated by the lead villains, despite them scaring the crap out of the audience.

I say "most of the time" because there were advertisers who displayed her as the sexy damsel in distress.  One of the most famous posters is of her sprawling at Luke's feet, clutching to his leg for protection.  But that was by people who were still thinking in that period of time.

The presumptuousness of the film taking for granted that Leia is strong and in charge caused an entire generation, my generation, to grow up with an assumption that women can be in charge.  We've barely argued the issue because we know women's equality to be true.  Typically, these sorts of social changes are credited with some sort of more prestigious event or person.  But the simple fact is that EVERYONE saw Star Wars.  And it's that sort of huge impact that truly changes a culture.

I wish I had recognized all of this while Carrie Fisher was alive.  I know she didn't create the icon, but she deserves credit for breathing life into her, and carrying a torch of dignity and intelligence throughout her life.

Serializing All the Relic Worlds Books

Book three in the Relic Worlds series is the first one I'm doing that is truly serialized; meaning I'm releasing it in parts rather than as one full book.  There will be a completed book at the end that will be available both as an e-book and as a paperback.  But I'm first going to release it in three parts scattered throughout the year.

I was originally doing this mostly because I realized book three was going to take longer to do it right.  But then I realized that this is the best format for Relic Worlds.  First, the whole series is supposed to reflect the feeling of serials, where you follow your characters through multiple stories, each of which getting more severe, and often ending in cliffhangers.  When I watch Netflix series, I often feel like they are exemplifying the feeling I want to get across in Relic Worlds; catching their attention, then hooking them at the end to make them want to keep watching.

So I'm purposefully shifting Relic Worlds to have this style.  I already had some short stories like that, but now I'm going to bring it to the novels.  I'll also be giving them more of a sense of suspense between sections.  Up until now, and to an extent, even including book three, I've had a tendency to wrap up chapters and entire sections without any suspense or immediacy.  That's a habit of mine where I want to complete things.  But the model of hooking the audience that's been exemplified in "binge-worthy" television is to always end making the audience want more.

In addition to breaking up the stories from now on, I've also gone back to the first two books and broken them into three parts.  Each one is 99 cents, and the completed book is 2.99.  I just think this will be an exciting way to read it.  You can find the first one at Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2nYTStU  

This isn't entirely a business decision.  I genuinely feel the most enjoyable experience for an adventure story like Relic Worlds is to leave the audience on the edge of their seat wondering what will happen next.  And so that will be more of the format from now on.