Saturday 24 August 2013

Neo Ace Chapter 15 Released. Cadets Have Time Off in Banff.

I just posted chapter 15, the customary hot springs episode if this was a Japanese anime, up at Wattpad.  I thought I would throw in a nice Rocky Mountains twist and let the story wind down a bit from the big battle in Chapter 14.  I'm hoping to crank a few extra chapter out in the next few weeks to set up for the end of the novel.  Been really busy at work and that just sucks the life out of story writing if you've been writing at work all day too.
Lake Louise in Banff National Park

I've been incorporating little slices of Alberta into the Neo-Ace story as the mecha academy is set primarily in a future version of Edmonton.  The next story that builds on it will be international in scope, but for now I've written about a future cityscape with bullet trains connecting Edmonton to Calgary, and even an updated Banff.


Have a read for free on Wattpad and let me know if you like it!  You can hit the Wattpad link here.  If you like it please follow me on Wattpad, Facebook or Twitter.







Saturday 17 August 2013

Neo-Ace Chapter 14 - Fortress Assault is Published and Edmonton Animethon

Chapter 14 of Neo-Ace was just released.  I've setup a massive fortress assault with mechs and plenty of high-tech weaponry.  This was a big chapter to write.  Have a read for free on Wattpad and let me know if you like it!  You can hit the Wattpad link here.  If you like it please follow me on Wattpad, Facebook or Twitter.

When I'm visiting Tokyo it is always kind of fun to see all of the anime pop culture elements shown on posters and signs everywhere.  On the LRT awhile back, I saw this poster for Animethon in Edmonton, which is Canada's longest running anime convention, celebrating 20 years.  Wow.  Twenty years of anime conventions that spanned a media timeline from bootleg VHS (pre-internet) ripoffs of shows you couldn't see here to the DVD boom and bust, to Internet fansubs and piracy, and finally legit viewing sites like Crunchyroll.  Anime has come a long way in the overseas markets.

I always liked mechas, and Pacific Rim is going to get the genre some new fans, but I have to admit that I wasn't all that into ten years ago.  Mechas are not really all that realistic as they probably can't maneuver the way you see in anime and take the punishment that they do.  But they are fun and big and who doesn't want to pilot one as I've said before?  To me it is a genre that is like scifi fantasy, and I watch it for pure entertainment.  In my writing for Neo-Ace I've tried to up the realism as I'm a military buff that does recognize the shortcomings of actual mechs in combat and I've tried to address some of these things.  Have a read of Chapter 14 at Wattpad for free and see if I've succeeded.

You can hit the Wattpad link here to read Neo-Ace Academy for free.  If you like it please follow me on Wattpad, Facebook or Twitter.

I also have two published shorts on Amazon titled HARM and Raid on Kahamba if you want more.  Neo-Ace will be published on Amazon late this year.



Monday 5 August 2013

Neo-Ace Chapter 13 Now Available At Wattpad

I've posted Chapter 13 up at Wattpad.  I'm developing the character of Dr. Janet Chan some more.  Who wouldn't want to know more about the woman who designed the first HARM units during the Alien War!  I can feel the tempo of the story picking up and it'll be mostly action writing from now on.  You can hit the Wattpad link here to read Neo-Ace Academy for free.  If you like it please follow me on Wattpad, Facebook or Twitter.

Griz!  I was backing away at this point to get back to the car.  Big claws.
Chocolate Bear Claws - much more friendly!
It's been a busy July and the August long weekend is here.  I managed to finish one short chapter and start another over the weekend.  July was fun with activities like the Calgary Stampede, Taste of Edmonton, a very nice dinner out at Vivo, the premier of Pacific Rim (which was an awesome giant robot movie), and a trip out to Jasper in the Rocky Mountains.  Out at Jasper I saw my second grizzly bear ever, so the only big animals I haven't seen this summer are like mountain lions and moose.  I saw a black bear earlier this year and had elk eating the flowers in front of our cabin at Pyramid Lake so it has been a pretty good year for wildlife.