Gamma Nine - Releases 1st of April - Info and Links

Wyvern said:
I have to admit this past week has been chaos for me - I have started on the first chapter - its already pulled me in that I dont wanna be at work today :P
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Glad to hear it. I am taking a break while I am waiting for an exclusive review and interview to come out in two weeks. So I am switching off and writing a free short story next week. It will be published RAW on my website for fans :D. It ties into the universe of Gamma Nine as well.
 
Spartan said:
Glad to hear it. I am taking a break while I am waiting for an exclusive review and interview to come out in two weeks. So I am switching off and writing a free short story next week. It will be published RAW on my website for fans :D. It ties into the universe of Gamma Nine as well.
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hehe awesome I will keep an eye out :D
 
Spartan said:
Glad to hear it. I am taking a break while I am waiting for an exclusive review and interview to come out in two weeks. So I am switching off and writing a free short story next week. It will be published RAW on my website for fans :D. It ties into the universe of Gamma Nine as well.
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Congrats on the book. Will put it in my to buy list.
This is a cool idea, to give more to the fans. Should get them to come back for more.
 
ABCpt said:
Congrats on the book. Will put it in my to buy list.
This is a cool idea, to give more to the fans. Should get them to come back for more.
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Agreed and thank you. I plan on expanding the universe as I write more and more. Eventually doing tie-ins and other stories within the main universe. Think Warhammer 40K just my own universe.
 
[MENTION=4772]Spartan[/MENTION], I'm really enjoying the book so far, not too far in, just finished chapter two, going on to two.one, but I am well and truly engaged and can't wait to pick up the story again, and I'm really enjoying your writing style, and the universe and characters that you've created. I've even had a few moments where I can already foresee a sad time when I've finished this book and I have to wait for you to write the next one.

It's also really awesome to be able to talk to the author of a book I'm reading, that's a first for me.

In case of possible spoilers:

Spoiler: show

Having read your comments on your editor fighting with you about the length of your prologue, and your forward explaining what you've done with the zero chapters, I just want to say, don't stress about it, I enjoyed the zero chapters, I would even go so far as to say that they are absolutely necessary to set the scene before getting into the story. I don't think that anyone who enjoys sci-fi or fantasy would think twice about going through some back story, and the book would be less rich without it. You definitely wouldn't have an appreciation for what The Beast is or the situation that humanity finds itself in without those chapters, and you also wouldn't fully appreciate the significance of the Titans, particularly the Grim Wolves without them.

One thing that has been really great so far is the way you've set the Wolves up as these legendary bad-asses, but as soon as you meet them, their most striking feature is their humanity and their individual personalities. You can feel the long relationship and bond they share from the way they talk to each other and their easy banter, and you can feel how intimidated Christian must be to be a newbie in their ranks.

Knowing as I do that you're a gamer, I can't help but look for gaming influences in your inspiration. I'm sure it's because I know you from MyGaming that my mind goes straight to games when I visualize your universe, but I must ask (just curious), is there a bit of Dead Space in The Beast, and maybe a touch of Crysis in the Titans? The weapon locking system on their armour also puts me in mind of Mass Effect because I always wondered if they had some magnetic system going to keep their guns on their backs like that, although I don't recall them ever going into those sort of details in Mass Effect. I even found myself in a plaformer while in the labyrinth, and I'm about to enter an arena fight, which is definitely looking like it's going to be a cover based firefight. It's an odd effect, my mind making a book feel like a game, but I find it's making it really easy to visualize and it's making the story very immersive.

One thing that I feel like an arse to bring up, because it's a minor thing, but if you are going to do revisions or something, you might want to know (I don't know how these things work), but I have come across a couple of spelling mistakes like, "feint shadow in the back of his mind" instead of "faint shadow in the back of his mind", and a missing g in "brining ship systems online".

There's also a sentence here and there that could use a tweak, for instance
"“Why so nervous my scrumpet?” he said, knowing that P-SEP, nor the military, had no policies against sexual harassment.", seems like it should read
"“Why so nervous my scrumpet?” he said, knowing that neither P-SEP, nor the military, had policies against sexual harassment."

Sorry to bring up such little things, but I know I would want to fix things like that if it were me, and it jars me a little when I hit them, like an unexpected speedbump in the road of the story.
 
matt said:
[MENTION=4772]Spartan[/MENTION], I'm really enjoying the book so far, not too far in, just finished chapter two, going on to two.one, but I am well and truly engaged and can't wait to pick up the story again, and I'm really enjoying your writing style, and the universe and characters that you've created. I've even had a few moments where I can already foresee a sad time when I've finished this book and I have to wait for you to write the next one.

It's also really awesome to be able to talk to the author of a book I'm reading, that's a first for me.

In case of possible spoilers:

Spoiler: show

Having read your comments on your editor fighting with you about the length of your prologue, and your forward explaining what you've done with the zero chapters, I just want to say, don't stress about it, I enjoyed the zero chapters, I would even go so far as to say that they are absolutely necessary to set the scene before getting into the story. I don't think that anyone who enjoys sci-fi or fantasy would think twice about going through some back story, and the book would be less rich without it. You definitely wouldn't have an appreciation for what The Beast is or the situation that humanity finds itself in without those chapters, and you also wouldn't fully appreciate the significance of the Titans, particularly the Grim Wolves without them.

One thing that has been really great so far is the way you've set the Wolves up as these legendary bad-asses, but as soon as you meet them, their most striking feature is their humanity and their individual personalities. You can feel the long relationship and bond they share from the way they talk to each other and their easy banter, and you can feel how intimidated Christian must be to be a newbie in their ranks.

Knowing as I do that you're a gamer, I can't help but look for gaming influences in your inspiration. I'm sure it's because I know you from MyGaming that my mind goes straight to games when I visualize your universe, but I must ask (just curious), is there a bit of Dead Space in The Beast, and maybe a touch of Crysis in the Titans? The weapon locking system on their armour also puts me in mind of Mass Effect because I always wondered if they had some magnetic system going to keep their guns on their backs like that, although I don't recall them ever going into those sort of details in Mass Effect. I even found myself in a plaformer while in the labyrinth, and I'm about to enter an arena fight, which is definitely looking like it's going to be a cover based firefight. It's an odd effect, my mind making a book feel like a game, but I find it's making it really easy to visualize and it's making the story very immersive.

One thing that I feel like an arse to bring up, because it's a minor thing, but if you are going to do revisions or something, you might want to know (I don't know how these things work), but I have come across a couple of spelling mistakes like, "feint shadow in the back of his mind" instead of "faint shadow in the back of his mind", and a missing g in "brining ship systems online".

There's also a sentence here and there that could use a tweak, for instance
"“Why so nervous my scrumpet?” he said, knowing that P-SEP, nor the military, had no policies against sexual harassment.", seems like it should read
"“Why so nervous my scrumpet?” he said, knowing that neither P-SEP, nor the military, had policies against sexual harassment."

Sorry to bring up such little things, but I know I would want to fix things like that if it were me, and it jars me a little when I hit them, like an unexpected speedbump in the road of the story.
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It does my heart good to hear that you are enjoying it and connecting to it. Thank you for your comments. I will not give away any spoilers but I will answer some of the things you mentioned.

First off the inspiration or feeling you get when you read. Yes indeed my influences come from so many things that you would find something familiar when you read it. Games, movies, series and other books all inspired me and helped my idea grow. I put a personal spin on most of my writing but a lot of it is already such a good formula, why would I spoil it by making my own stuff up in certain cases. As a gamer I think like a gamer and my imagination works visually. I see as I write and make things up as I go along. There are bound to be many coincidences and even more later on.

Book 2 will be even better in this regard.

I am glad you like the idea of connecting with me. That is the way I want it to be and I appreciate every piece of feedback.

On to the mistakes you might have come across. I will not make excuses but I will tell you the reality of the writing and self-publishing world. I did everything except the cover and editing myself. The cover was done by a fantastic friend who did it for free for the first novel. The editor was and will always be the point at which most self-publishers stumble. A good, keen-eyed editor is expensive, costing more than $500 or even more to hire and go over a novel. I could not afford that, so I had to shop around for an editor. I found one that I could afford and she did a good job. But her work falls more in the amateur side of editing than the big professional ones costing an arm and a leg. I did the best I could as I wrote to catch errors, reading every part thrice to spot something. Then the editor had it for 10 days and caught a few errors. Then beta-readers and family took it, they spotted a few as well. Yet still some errors remain, and will remain. If I had to worry about every mistake I would spend months having to go through it again, worrying about it being perfect, when it never truly will. There will be errors, even the mainstream writers have errors in their work, very few but there are some. Their high level of skill and the skill of their editors sift out the errors much easier.

I can tell you the tale of one Indie author who fell into the trap of trying to revise his work after the mistakes in his novel was nitpicked or highlighted by others. It is a horror legend in the indie author's world. This author has been revising his work for more than 10 years now as I am writing this. He or she has brought out more novels, but this one, his or her first work, has never been finished. He or she wrote a major piece on a website I frequent, telling his or her story of having pride in your work instead of letting the stress of mistakes get to you. Love your work with all of its faults and stand by it the person said. If you question it you will spend years fixing one mistake only to spot two more, forever.

What you also have to remember it will vary from reader to reader. One family member noticed zero mistakes, another two within the first chapter. Minimal problems like a missing letter or the wrong word. I have to be honest here when I say that I could not stand still and focus on every single mistake. There are more than a few, but I am happy with my first try and I am learning as I go, hopefully making Book 2 even better. More than 90% of readers will not see or even worry about a mistake. It is when there are problems with story and structure, that is when they have more than enough reason to cause a riot.

As I was writing this I asked the cover artist, who is busy reading it as well, how many errors she noticed and did it distract her from the novel. She mentioned only two errors and it did not distract her at all. So in the end some readers with keener eyes will see more mistakes than others. And even if I spent more time doing a revision I would never catch them all and perhaps introduce more or even worse ones. I ask that you read the story and keep in mind that this is but the first drop in a vast ocean of writing I plan on doing and all I want is you, the reader, to enjoy and connect with my work. My mistakes are there, they bother me daily, it constantly keeps me out of sleep, grating at my nerves as I wait for reviews. I am well aware of each of them, that I noticed while I was formatting. But I have to look forward and write the next part. Standing still and spinning my wheels as I try and reach perfection will only keep me from reaching more people or telling more stories.

I apologize for the long post, but I hope it helped explain the predicament of the self-publishing world a bit. It is a hornet's nest of competition and judgement. Even so, I am proud of every word in my debut novel.
 
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matt said:
[MENTION=4772]Spartan[/MENTION], I'm really enjoying the book so far, not too far in, just finished chapter two, going on to two.one, but I am well and truly engaged and can't wait to pick up the story again, and I'm really enjoying your writing style, and the universe and characters that you've created. I've even had a few moments where I can already foresee a sad time when I've finished this book and I have to wait for you to write the next one.

It's also really awesome to be able to talk to the author of a book I'm reading, that's a first for me.

In case of possible spoilers:

Spoiler: show

Having read your comments on your editor fighting with you about the length of your prologue, and your forward explaining what you've done with the zero chapters, I just want to say, don't stress about it, I enjoyed the zero chapters, I would even go so far as to say that they are absolutely necessary to set the scene before getting into the story. I don't think that anyone who enjoys sci-fi or fantasy would think twice about going through some back story, and the book would be less rich without it. You definitely wouldn't have an appreciation for what The Beast is or the situation that humanity finds itself in without those chapters, and you also wouldn't fully appreciate the significance of the Titans, particularly the Grim Wolves without them.

One thing that has been really great so far is the way you've set the Wolves up as these legendary bad-asses, but as soon as you meet them, their most striking feature is their humanity and their individual personalities. You can feel the long relationship and bond they share from the way they talk to each other and their easy banter, and you can feel how intimidated Christian must be to be a newbie in their ranks.

Knowing as I do that you're a gamer, I can't help but look for gaming influences in your inspiration. I'm sure it's because I know you from MyGaming that my mind goes straight to games when I visualize your universe, but I must ask (just curious), is there a bit of Dead Space in The Beast, and maybe a touch of Crysis in the Titans? The weapon locking system on their armour also puts me in mind of Mass Effect because I always wondered if they had some magnetic system going to keep their guns on their backs like that, although I don't recall them ever going into those sort of details in Mass Effect. I even found myself in a plaformer while in the labyrinth, and I'm about to enter an arena fight, which is definitely looking like it's going to be a cover based firefight. It's an odd effect, my mind making a book feel like a game, but I find it's making it really easy to visualize and it's making the story very immersive.

One thing that I feel like an arse to bring up, because it's a minor thing, but if you are going to do revisions or something, you might want to know (I don't know how these things work), but I have come across a couple of spelling mistakes like, "feint shadow in the back of his mind" instead of "faint shadow in the back of his mind", and a missing g in "brining ship systems online".

There's also a sentence here and there that could use a tweak, for instance
"“Why so nervous my scrumpet?” he said, knowing that P-SEP, nor the military, had no policies against sexual harassment.", seems like it should read
"“Why so nervous my scrumpet?” he said, knowing that neither P-SEP, nor the military, had policies against sexual harassment."

Sorry to bring up such little things, but I know I would want to fix things like that if it were me, and it jars me a little when I hit them, like an unexpected speedbump in the road of the story.
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I forgot to add. There is some Dead Space in the Beast. And the powers the Crysis suits had was part of an idea, but it is an amalgamation of more than one thing, shaped in my own mind and written by my hand.

And one more thing. I studied to be an editor before I wrote my novel, and did many grammar courses and specialist studies. I walked away with one single thing I will always remember and adhere to. Grammar is an ever changing fluid of rules and regulations, governing or even holding back some brilliant writers all because some rule prohibits the use of this or that. The writing, the story is what should matter. Even if a person's grammar is sub-par but he gets his words to hit a reader where it means to, in the heart, the head or the soul, then he has succeeded in every single way. Spelling mistakes are not always on purpose and could be due to many reasons, fatigue or the haste to finish their work. The story my friends, that is all that matters in the grander scope of writing, always the story.

If you really want to annoy me, mention comma splicing and watch me crap my pants and probably yours as well.
 
Spartan said:
*snip*
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Totally understandable dude, typos here and there are unavoidable, and I have come across them in plenty of books I have read, even from extremely experienced writers who are with big publishers, and I can imagine that editors and proofreaders are really expensive. I wasn't sure if I should even bring it up, except that I thought it might be helpful to you. Please don't think I'm bashing you, there haven't been many, and it's seriously impressive work, especially for your first book, and self-published nogal.
 
Spartan said:
Excellent news. Thank you Avantar. I hope you enjoy it.
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A pleasure. I hope you get huge support from the community and a lot of sales from the rest of the public. I have a sense of pride having a fellow SA citizen self publish a book available internationaly - how awesome is that? (Retorical) It is very awesome.:cool:
 
Avantar said:
A pleasure. I hope you get huge support from the community and a lot of sales from the rest of the public. I have a sense of pride having a fellow SA citizen self publish a book available internationaly - how awesome is that? (Retorical) It is very awesome.:cool:
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Your pride makes me even more humble. Thank you. Sales are steady but nothing next to the support and comments from fans or potential fans. Reading that someone wants to read it or like [MENTION=193]matt[/MENTION] sharing his thoughts and helping with some things means more to me than any amount of money ever could.
 
matt said:
Totally understandable dude, typos here and there are unavoidable, and I have come across them in plenty of books I have read, even from extremely experienced writers who are with big publishers, and I can imagine that editors and proofreaders are really expensive. I wasn't sure if I should even bring it up, except that I thought it might be helpful to you. Please don't think I'm bashing you, there haven't been many, and it's seriously impressive work, especially for your first book, and self-published nogal.
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I do not mind if someone points out a mistake. Minor ones like spelling or little grammar missteps are not required, but I value every comment and suggestion even if they help fine tune my work. Out of the 124000 odd words there are about 50 mistakes I know of. Not too shabby for a first-timer. As long as my story and structure is solid.

No offense taken whatsoever. Your comments, constructive and complimentary as they are, help me to do better. Book 2 will be even better with more action. Just another thought. The first few Chapters were written long before the rest of the novel organically grew into the end product. I never went back and changed or re-edited anything. I am proud of all of it.

I will be realizing the first free short story in a few days. I will link everyone. It is a filler, one of a few coming to fans, between Book 1 and Book 2.
 
Spartan said:
I forgot to add. There is some Dead Space in the Beast. And the powers the Crysis suits had was part of an idea, but it is an amalgamation of more than one thing, shaped in my own mind and written by my hand.
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Cool, that is pretty much what I had imagined. An idea from here, a feature from there as inspiration, but definitely something new and unique as a whole. Understanding the influences does make the imagery much more vivid though.

Spoiler: show

I am quite keen to explore the relationship between Christian and Nathan. I'm sure that's coming, but I'm intrigued to find out more about it. Looks like a bit of history there. Sounds like they were once close, but possibly had a falling out. Christian didn't seem to know he would be joining the Grim Wolves, and wasn't expecting Nathan. Nathan wasn't keen on him joining the squad. Could be to protect his brother, or because he didn't want to have a noob join the squad, or maybe because of hard feelings. Lots of ways that could play out.
 
matt said:
Cool, that is pretty much what I had imagined. An idea from here, a feature from there as inspiration, but definitely something new and unique as a whole. Understanding the influences does make the imagery much more vivid though.

Spoiler: show

I am quite keen to explore the relationship between Christian and Nathan. I'm sure that's coming, but I'm intrigued to find out more about it. Looks like a bit of history there. Sounds like they were once close, but possibly had a falling out. Christian didn't seem to know he would be joining the Grim Wolves, and wasn't expecting Nathan. Nathan wasn't keen on him joining the squad. Could be to protect his brother, or because he didn't want to have a noob join the squad, or maybe because of hard feelings. Lots of ways that could play out.
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Exactly. It is my interpretation of everything I love about Science Fiction.

The thing you speak of is briefly touched on but expanded on later. Much more to come.

I can't express how wonderful it is to speak to someone actively reading the book, and that person seems invested. Thank you Matt.

- - - - - - - - - - Double Post Merged - - - - - - - - - -

matt said:
Cool, that is pretty much what I had imagined. An idea from here, a feature from there as inspiration, but definitely something new and unique as a whole. Understanding the influences does make the imagery much more vivid though.

Spoiler: show

I am quite keen to explore the relationship between Christian and Nathan. I'm sure that's coming, but I'm intrigued to find out more about it. Looks like a bit of history there. Sounds like they were once close, but possibly had a falling out. Christian didn't seem to know he would be joining the Grim Wolves, and wasn't expecting Nathan. Nathan wasn't keen on him joining the squad. Could be to protect his brother, or because he didn't want to have a noob join the squad, or maybe because of hard feelings. Lots of ways that could play out.
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You have not even begun to see the bigger fights. I can't wait until you get to the bigger and badder parts of the novel.
 
Spartan said:
You have not even begun to see the bigger fights. I can't wait until you get to the bigger and badder parts of the novel.
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I'm looking forward to it. There's so much potential, and I'm still just getting started on the story. I haven't even made it to enemy territory yet. I have the book on my Kindle, my tablet, my phone and my PC, so that I have an option if I find a bit of time to read. I even got through a couple of pages while I was standing in a garage shop on Saturday while I was waiting for them to make me a cup of coffee.
 
matt said:
I'm looking forward to it. There's so much potential, and I'm still just getting started on the story. I haven't even made it to enemy territory yet. I have the book on my Kindle, my tablet, my phone and my PC, so that I have an option if I find a bit of time to read. I even got through a couple of pages while I was standing in a garage shop on Saturday while I was waiting for them to make me a cup of coffee.
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Might just have to get you a shirt or something if you keep it up. That remind me, maybe I should get shirts made. I wonder...
 
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