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More interviews, H.E.R.O. Shorts - Silverlash

I'm not entirely certain how, but I forgot to blog about the release of my short stories, H.E.R.O. Shorts - Silverlash (and before that, Gatecrasher).  Details on them are on my books page at http://www.kevinrau.com/books.asp.  Both of these short stories are available for $0.99 on Amazon for the Kindle (as e-books).  They also include new renders of characters specifically for each story.


Here are the newest author interviews I've added to my site:
If you are an author, and would like to become involved, here's a link right to the questions page:
http://www.kevinrau.com/i/QuestionsToEmail.asp .  I welcome new submissions, and don't limit the genre.

In other news, my latest short story, focusing on Silverlash, is off to the editors, I've finished the core story points for the next full novel in the H.E.R.O. series, and begun the writing phase!

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Here are the newest author interviews I've added to my site:

  • D.X. Luc (erotica/fantasy/paranormal, 5/10/2012)
  • C.R. Hiatt (Y.A. Action & Adventure, 5/11/2012)

If you are an author, and would like to become involved, here's a link right to the questions page:
http://www.kevinrau.com/i/QuestionsToEmail.asp .  I welcome new submissions, and don't limit the genre.


In other news, my latest short story, focusing on Silverlash, is off to the editors, I've finished the core story points for the next full novel in the H.E.R.O. series, and begun the writing phase!








'Til next time.

--Kev

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Here are the newest interviews I've done:




If you are an author, and would like to become involved, here's a link right to the questions page:
http://www.kevinrau.com/i/QuestionsToEmail.asp .  I welcome new submissions (and have a few more to make live right now), and don't limit the genre.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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I've been doing author interviews on a regular basis, over 30 of them at http://www.kevinrau.com/Interviews.asp !

Here are the last 10, but for the full list of author interviews, click above.

If you are an author, and would like to become involved, here's a link right to the questions page:
http://www.kevinrau.com/i/QuestionsToEmail.asp .  I welcome new submissions (and have a few more to make live right now), and don't limit the genre.

'Til next time.

--Kev


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Interview of me with Jennifer Alvarez

Jennifer Lynn Alvarez interviewed me for her blog, here's the direct link:

http://www.jenniferlynnalvarez.com/2012/04/day-94-author-interview-with-kevin-rau.html

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Author Interviews with J.S. Dunn and Jeff Whelan

I've got even more interviews on my main website at http://www.kevinrau.com that I haven't mentioned in the blog yet - here they are:


Thanks much to J.S. and Jeff for participating!


Enjoy!

'Til next time.

 --Kev

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More interviews with authors on the website

I've got a bunch of interviews on www.kevinrau.com that I haven't mentioned in the blog yet - here they are:

I've got a few more in a "raw" state, and once I get the web pages for them I'll get them up on the site as well.  Enjoy!

'Til next time.

 --Kev

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Interviews with authors Paul Mundane and Christine Nolfi

I've added two interviews to my website www.kevinrau.com.

The first is with contemporary science fiction and fellow superhero author, Paul Mundane at http://www.kevinrau.com/interviews/paulmundane.asp.

The second is with contemporary fiction author, Christine Nolfi at http://www.kevinrau.com/interviews/christinenolfi.asp.

Check them out!

'Til next time.

--Kev

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New Author Interview section

I've replaced the "Series" button on my website (I moved that list to the "Books" page") with a new "Interviews" button.

I'm now soliciting other authors to have them do an online interview with me, which I'll post on this new page.  Rather than throwing it in a blog, where it will become buried in a list of other blog entries, I'm adding each author as a separate entry in a list dedicated to them.

The section is kicked off by an interview with Tenya Sharp Ingalls.  I'd like to thank her for the interview, and wish her good fortune on her first novel, Cumbrian Rain on Amazon.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Book 6, shoulder, stuff

So Book 6 (H.E.R.O. - Paragon) of the H.E.R.O. series has been out for most of a week now.  It's good to see that out the door so I can focus on the next book.

I've been working on Book 7 (H.E.R.O. - Dossier), although it's an illustrated guidebook of the H.E.R.O. universe to date rather than a novel.  I thought people might appreciate an easy place to look for information on people with six novels worth of information out there now.  It's been slow going, but I've finished the non-character sections (information about Metrocity, H.E.R.O., the smartphones they use, super sub-types, etc.).  I'm just getting into the write-up on each character.

After that I'll get back to a regular novel in the series.

About six weeks ago I did something to my left shoulder muscle while weight lifting (I've been upping the weights constantly, was hitting new heights for me).  Anyway, I either pulled the shoulder muscle right at the very end of the muscle (where it meets the trapezius muscle), or possibly tore the end off the bone.  It was pretty painful, but it's not like a doctor can do much about that type of thing (to my knowledge).  I kept working out for a few weeks, but it got worse, and I just came off a four week rest period where I only jogged on the elliptical each morning instead of weight lifting and jogging mixed.

Wow, a month off really lowers your strength limit - at least for the first workout session (for each body area).  I lowered the weights quite a bit (from 335 back down to 250) to ensure I don't strain something worse.  I'm not in any competition, it doesn't matter if it takes me weeks to get back up to the old strength levels, it's more important not to damage the muscle any further.

Anyway, it's interesting and different from the norm.

Lately, I've been hitting Twitter like mad to try to build up a follower base.  It's almost a game, because Twitter sets limits on how many people you can follow (or follow you) per day based on how many current followers you have.  Ah, the marketing side of being an author.  Bleck.  I'd rather just write and get the books out to you guys.  Ah well.

Have a good one.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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H.E.R.O. - Paragon graphics, shoulder

H.E.R.O. - Paragon has been off to the editors for half a week or so.  It'll be anywhere from a week to a month or so to get the copies back and make adjustments to the novel.  I'm hoping before March, since I'm strongly considering having a booth at a convention and would like to have time to order copies and receive them prior to it.

I completed the graphics on one of the antagonists in H.E.R.O. - Paragon.  His name is Atomizer.  There are pics available both on my website at http://www.kevinrau.com/HEROs/Atomizer.asp and also on the H.E.R.O. Facebook page (in the photos section) at http://www.facebook.com/herobooks.

Working on the next character from the novel now.  Then onto either one more, or to the cover for H.E.R.O. - Paragon.

On a completely different note, I hit 335 pounds on my bench press last week.  I'm pleased with that, but my chest/triceps/shoulder lifting days are causing the topmost part of my left shoulder muscle to either tear away from the bone, or at the very least straining it right at the point where the shoulder muscle is closest to the trapezius muscle on either side of the neck.  It's painful.  Not that I mind pain on a normal basis, but when I'm up a chunk of the night thinking about how wonderful the sensation in the shoulder is rather than sleeping that I really become annoyed with it.  This morning I'm only jogging - I'll give it a little more time to heal before I push it again.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Book 6, Twitter, FB

H.E.R.O. - Paragon (Book 6 in the series) is in my edit phase now, meaning that I go through it, tweak the story, correct spelling and grammar and generally polish the story.  After that I'll run it through some software tools to help search for more grammar issues (repetitive word use and such).  Then I'll hand it over to my editors to dig into.  While they do their thing, I'll switch over to making a new 3D character or two for my website (and cover use).  Then I'll do the cover art for the novel.

I've got the Facebook page for H.E.R.O. setup - feel free to peruse it, and "Like" it if you do!  H.E.R.O. Superhero Novels on FB  I've got most of the character images from my http://www.kevinrau.com website up on that FB page now for those who prefer staying on FB.

Last night I joined Twitter.  It's the first time I've ever looked at it, so I'm a bit of a noob.  My handle is kevin_rau in case you're interested.

I've modified http://www.kevinrau.com to have a place for people to fill in their email address, and it'll be added to my database.  The only purpose for this will be notifications of when a new book is being released.

My thoughts right now are to split out information into how much people want to see:
1.  Only new book notifications - fill out the tiny form on the website with your email address and click Submit.
2.  View only occasional/rare posts by me about random topics (not always related to the novels).  Subscribe to this blog.
3.  See when I add pictures, character art or occasional updates on book progress - Like the Facebook page listed above.
4.  Get random sayings "from" my characters, and probably daily plugs for my website - follow kevin_rau on Twitter.

Hopefully that batch of options covers most people who are interested in what's happening with the H.E.R.O. universe.  Note that #4 is the only one where I'll try out the idea of random sayings.  We'll see how that works.

Okay, back to editing H.E.R.O. - Paragon.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Multi-missile launcher....

I feel sort of like I've launched a group of missiles from a launcher, or set of launchers with Book 6 of the H.E.R.O. series (H.E.R.O. - Paragon).  The goal is for them all to hit one target in a giant explosion of a story.  That's my hope, anyway.  The story is definitely moving along.

The Christmas festivities are over.  I'm glad to be at home, typing away on a day off.  It's great to see friends and family, but it's a lot to do in a few weeks time.  I'm thinking that I may try to find a giant bag to pull over the tree and just haul it downstairs in one piece so I don't have to put it all together again next year....

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Christmas season is busy....

I've had quite a few gatherings to attend for family and friends in the last week, and more to come this weekend. The same sort of thing is hitting my editors, so Book 5 is likely to slip into January while we wait. On a good note about that - one of my editors said that Book 4 was my best novel, and that Book 5 is even better.

It's always my goal to create an entertaining, interesting, and at times exciting story for my readers. I won't always go with the idea of having a "tight" plotline in a novel, though. After all, these are superhero novels I'm writing - these people ought to be reacting to crimes, disasters and other events occurring in the city. Also, an ongoing novel series is more akin to a television series than to most books, or even most trilogies.

With the cover for H.E.R.O. - Horde finished, I shifted my attention to my notes for Book 6. On Tuesday I began writing the novel, so the gears have begun turning on it. There is a tiny convention in Green Bay, WI that I'm debating on hosting a booth at during March 30 - April 1, 2012. My hope is to get the book out in time to have paperbacks printed to bring along.

I'm also debating putting together the art for some posters of the characters. I've got so many already that I'm not sure which ones people would want. Gah - I never thought I'd be in this position back when I began making the 3D characters.... On the other hand, time taken out to work on poster art keeps me from working on 'the next' novel after #6.

Okay, done with rambling.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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X-Mas events

I defeated Lady Rapture - I had to totally re-design the gold of her hair - but it works, and doesn't take long to render now.  The intent was to make it the same golden color as Psystar's, and since I like the new gold much more than the old I re-did Psystar's hair to match.  (Psystar was the first character I designed.)  I rendered sixteen pics of each and have those up on the website.

Now that Rapture is complete I've been working on the cover design for H.E.R.O. - Horde.  My inclination is always to throw in more and more characters on the cover to give the reader an idea of the characters within.  One of my editors and some friends thought it looked too cluttered, so I'm going with a simpler look on this one than on H.E.R.O. - Dark Research.  It does look pretty clean, though - I've got a tiny version of it on the Books page, and am waiting on a (hopefully) final render of Ladies Nocturne/Celeste/Rapture to complete to plug in.

Today is an X-Mas event for me.  Sadly, my girlfriend is stuck working all weekend, so I get to go alone to a massive extended family affair.  It should still be enjoyable, but would have been nice for her and the kids to be there.

One (rough) edit of H.E.R.O. - Horde is complete by an editor.  I'm still hoping to have it out by the end of the year.

I believe I have the core storylines for Book 6 ... H.E.R.O. - Paragon ... selected.  I'll probably begin actual work on it tomorrow.  (I don't really consider collecting notes and story ideas as part of the "work" for each novel.)

'Til next time.

--Kev

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The Ladies

I completed the graphics for Lady Celeste and Lady Nocturne - both are now on the H.E.R.O. tab of my website with pics and descriptions.

Lady Rapture is being difficult.  I finished her design, but I've had four PCs rendering images of her, and after 8 hours none have completed a single render.  Her hair is apparently a beast on the render engine.  (It's metallic.)

I still have to select the heroes (and poses) that also go on the cover for H.E.R.O. - Horde.  But, the cover is progressing.  It certainly takes a lot more to do the graphics stuff than I'd thought.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Goth & Metal

Someone clued me into Within Temptation - they are a Goth band.  Kind of a mix of celtic and metal music mixed together (and to a degree sound similar to Evanescence at times).  I like it - and kind of wish I'd heard about it before starting on H.E.R.O. - Horde, although it wouldn't have changed the novel, I suppose.  But hearing the music while writing the scenes at the Goth clubs would have been interesting at the least.

On another note, I sure wish there were an easy place to go to email new bands - heavy metal in particular at this time.  I could really use some band art (from either their t-shirts or CD cover) to put on the t-shirts of some of the Horde guys on my novel.  Sadly, I'd have to get the "legal OK" from them to use it on my work, and I suppose that would bog down using anything like that.  But it'd be cool to have.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Rawr and H.E.R.O. - Dark Research

Rawr!  Had a great chest and triceps workout this morning, hit new highs on my bench press, decline press, incline press and dips.

H.E.R.O. - Dark Research (book 4 in the series) is now available on Amazon.com for the Kindle.  I immediately enrolled it in the Amazon Prime borrowing club deal as well if you have a Amazon Prime membership.  The proof for the paperback has also been ordered (to review the layout on the paper version), so that should be on its way to me soon-ish.  Createspace seems to follow their own version of the space-time continuum for printing/shipping books.  They are great when a customer orders, but when an author orders it can be lightning fast ... or turtle slow to get it out to us.

Thanks again to my editors - Ralph Gadbois, Dan Henry and Kimi Johnson - for their hard work on the fourth book, and my apologies to them for hitting them with the fifth book just before the holiday.  I'm hoping they find time to squeeze in the edits on it amongst the other obligations the Christmas season brings with it.

Have a great day, everyone!

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Dec 10, 2011

Today's a good day.  Two of my three editors finished going through H.E.R.O. - Dark Research the other day, and I've implemented the changes requested.  The last sounds like she'll be done tomorrow, and then I can put the book out for Kindle right away.

Also, I finished my edit review of book 5 (H.E.R.O. - Horde), and sent it over to the first two editors.  Not sure of a timeline, but it is now past one more hurdle on the path to release.

On a different note, I enrolled all of my novels in Amazon's Kindle Owner's Lending Library.  If you have a Kindle device (sadly, they don't allow it with a PC, iPad, etc. running the Kindle reader - it must be an actual Kindle device) - but if you DO have one, then my books are now available for borrowing as your free monthly book to read.  The downside of this is that I had to pull them from the Barnes and Noble bookstore for at least 90 days while I try this out.  I'll see how it works for the first 90 days and decide which route to go after that, but Nook owners either buy very few books, or it's a dead platform or something.  I've sold very, very few e-books for Nook devices.

Anyway, I'm now beginning work on the cover art for H.E.R.O. - Horde.  I've got a strong idea of what I want to go with, now to see if I can actually do it and have it look decent.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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Blog on www.kevinrau.com

I'm fairly excited, I found a way to post the RSS feed from my Blogger.com site directly on my main www.kevinrau.com website.  I added a menu item at the top for ease of viewing as well.  Now people won't have to leave my website to see the blog (which I pretty much hated).

Still waiting on my editors on the fourth novel, although it sounds like the second is nearly finished.  I'll be excited to get it out there for people.

Due to the delays of the holiday season with them, I've gotten way ahead of schedule on Book 5 (H.E.R.O. - Horde).  I'm working on the final scenes now, and it's up over 102,000 words.  Depending on how fast the editing goes on that one it may be out within weeks of Book 4.

Of course, now the mind begins thinking about covers.  I'm going to go with a similar approach as with Book 4, although this one will have a horde of brick-like brutes at the bottom half (all mashed together, like they are standing in a tight space), and some heroes up in the center.  I'm debating doing up the graphics on one to three of the main Goth mutant ladies that appear in the novel as well, since one or more are likely to appear in later novels.

Sadly, the newest "cool" character to me - Borgax - may not be possible for me to do up a decent 3D graphic for.  He needs to look like a robot, or an exoskeleton in this novel, and I don't have good art assets to build that sort of thing.  (Also, while I'm fairly proud of most of my hero character images, I don't know that I'm good enough to do him justice, at least not yet.)

Well, back to finishing up the novel.  Good fortune to you all.

'Til next time.

--Kev

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I'm on Fire

Perhaps not literal fire, but I'm making real progress on a few different things.  I've the toons Rampart and Muckman up on the website in all their graphical glory.  Muckman's not overly special (as far as the costume goes), but I wanted people to see what I generally envisioned for him.  I really like how Rampart's costume turned out.

I'm still waiting on my editors for H.E.R.O. - Dark Research.  I'm hoping that doesn't mean the novel's chock full of typos and grammatical mistakes - although I'm fairly certain they are both simply quite busy.  I'll have it out as soon as they get the results back to me (and make the changes).

That hasn't stopped me from forging ahead on the fifth novel in the series.  It'll be called H.E.R.O. - Horde, and is already nearly 50,000 words in already.  Considering a full novel is about 100,000 words, I'm nearly halfway done, depending on how the story turns out.  Some of the heroes you've barely seen in the other novels get some more face time in this novel.  Some of the notable mutants who aren't simply interested in anarchy begin to appear in the series as well (Lady Nocturne and Lady Celeste, for example).  I'm strongly tempted to do up the graphics on those two.  I'm not certain I have the graphics assets to make Lady Nocturne with her odd mutant parts, but Lady Celeste wouldn't be hard to make, methinks.

On a side note of interest, I hit 300 lbs. on my bench and decline presses recently.  I don't often speak of my weight lifting - I'm a somewhat overweight guy who hits his home gym five times a week and weight lifts hard, mixing in time on the elliptical between every weight lifting set (I like to keep my heart rate as close to or above 150 beats per minute as I can during a workout).  My weakness is food - I love bad food, and someone forgot to install the switch in me that says 'you are now full' that most others seem to have.  I'm not crying about it, however, but simply bringing up a core reason why I hit the gym hard five days a week.

'Til next time....

--Kev

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New characters on website - Zonk and Big Man

I've added both Zonk and Big Man to the H.E.R.O. page of my website.  Both are bricks, although each also has an unusual power.  Big Man is more of the standard, serious hero of Metrocity.  Zonk is a clownish guy who may not be entirely (at all?) sane.

Both came out generally like I envisioned, especially Zonk - who just looks crazy.

Here's one pic of each, although there are sixteen of each on my main site:

'Til next time...

--Kev

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New H.E.R.O. character on the website - Watermane

Say hello to Watermane!  This established heroine of Metrocity hangs out near the river district, and literally enjoys walks along the beach.

Sixteen renders of her have been added to http://www.kevinrau.com, along with some general information.

Her data page is http://www.kevinrau.com/HERO/Watermane.asp



Now back to working on my notes for the fifth H.E.R.O. novel....  :)

'Til next time.

--Kev

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H.E.R.O. - Dark Research now has a cover

I believe I've finalized the cover for H.E.R.O. - Dark Research.  Here's a tiny pic of it:

I'm breaking from using the gradient backgrounds I did on my previous three covers, but this one seemed to work out fairly well.  I might go with this approach on future novels as well, I guess I'll have to see how the next one turns out.  Razorwing's dark wings work nicely as a backdrop here.  I'm not sure sure it'll work as well with some other character in the background.

This fourth novel in my H.E.R.O. series is in the hands of the editors right now.  With some fortune they'll finish sometime this weekend and I'll be able to get the book out for Kindle and Nook early next week.  (Paperback is always delayed due to the requirement of ordering a proof copy.)

On the Books page of my website (http://www.kevinrau.com) the cover is clickable to view a larger version of the above.

'Til next time....

--Kev


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H.E.R.O. - Dark Research first draft complete

It's pretty exciting to hit this point. The fourth novel in the series is (roughly) complete. Now for the editing stages. The book should be out within a month(ish).

This book was interesting to write. It flowed out of me like a torrent. This story feels bigger. Certainly there are more heroes involved than in the prior novels. Metrocity is growing and evolving, and apparently I have a few new supers to make for my website. >;)

On the other hand, it's also kind of strange. I've been so hell-bent on this story that hitting the end almost feels like I flew off the edge of a cliff and I'm now freefalling.

Or perhaps that is just from getting sick. A cold is hitting me hard - far more rapidly than I'm used to.

Whichever, I've got a book to edit.... :)

'Til next time.

--Kev

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