21 August 2012

Moving On

Well folks, it's been fun over here at blogger, but I'm switching accounts. My new blog is here: http://theredrenegade.wordpress.com/

The background and such will change with my mood. But basically Blogger doesn't provide all the stuff I want or need, and I'm probably going to do away with the website. It's just too much hassle to do everything when really it's just me.

Thank you for following me here. Please head over to the new Wordpress blog and follow me there. :)

13 August 2012

Book Review - Know No Fear



I'm kicking off my book reviews with a novel I finished over the weekend. This one has been out for a few months now, but I just got around to reading it.

And it blew me away.

"Know No Fear" by Dan Abnett is another installment in the New York Time's best selling series, The Horus Heresy.

The story begins on the planet Calth, a verdent, booming planet that is slated to become another regional capital in the five hundred worlds of the Ultramar Empire. Hundreds of thousands of Ultramarines, Army auxiliaries, and Mechanicum forces are preparing to deploy against a host of Orks at the order of the Warmaster, Horus Lupercal. As they prepare, the warriors of the XVII Legion, the Word Bearers, are translating in system. The Ultramarines' Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, and his warriors believe that they are going to attack the greenskins together with the Word Bearers.

But it's a trap. The Ultramarines still don't know that Horus has turned against the Emperor, and the Word Bearers are there to end the Ultramarines.

I'm not going to give away any spoilers. That would ruin the book, and do an injustice to such an amazing tale. There is little introduction to the book except a description of how the Ultramarines mark records of combat operations. Then, Dan Abnett throws you into the muster of the Ultramarines, the Army units, the Mechanicum, and the devious plots of the Word Bearers and their Primarch, Lorgar Aurelian. The book is written in the present tense, as in, "Roboute Guilliman picks his nose, and eats the booger he digs from that oriface." (That's not a quote from the book, just so you know.) "Know No Fear" is fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat. You are bodily dragged at a hundred miles an hour from beginning to end with no apology.

The action is intense. Scenes of battle are littered with close calls, close combat, and plenty of daemon fighting. What gets me is the emotions poured into the story. Some authors do poorly expressing the emotional states of their characters, especially in action/sci-fi. But Dan Abnett fills the book with the rage and anger dug from the depths of the Ultramarines, and especially Roboute Guilliman, at the treachery of their brothers. The mixed words, tones, and descriptions of body language and feelings brings these feelings to life for the reader. The loss of comrades, desperation, fear, and unbridled rage.

It took me four days to get through "Know No Fear" on my kindle. (Damnable work!) I was left satisfied at the amazing saga told, and craving much more of the same. A full five stars for "Know No Fear"!

03 August 2012

Rawr! Dragon Con!

Quick blog update as I finish up the novella, work on a new one, play test the tabletop war-game rules, and try to get the darned sourcebook done, along with other up and coming biz things. I'll talk more about those as they move along. Great things are a comin'.

But that's not what I'm going to talk about here. Here I'm going to talk about DRAGON CON! A friend of mine from a previous life (read: active military) texted me and said I should totally go to Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA.

So I totally am!

I have my plane ticket and my Dragon Con pass. But a hotel? Forget it. Everything was booked up. So I'll just have my friend and a backpack and an adventure ahead of me. But aren't those the best trips? :)

I won't be there in Author/Entrepreneur mode. I'll be rollin' like an average ginger squeeing over the celebrities I've always wanted to meet . . . that's right, I said squeeing. What? You wanna fight about it?
But, should you wanna say herro (O herro!), or just chat a bit, if you see me feel free to do so. And excuse me in advance if I seem off, I'm bringing my A+ Game for this one, so I'll be partying hard 'till 7AM each morning.

As my friends Tony and Dell always say: No excuses, play like a champ.

Until next time . . .

24 July 2012

Expect Delays

Today was to be the day of days. Today I was going to post a full video of the miniature war-game we have been working on. It was glorious. There was a full game board, miniatures, and my brother and I describing the game and the future.

This amazing plan was shot when I realized that, when the company I ordered my refurbished digital camcorder from sent me my product, they neglected to include a DC chord so that the camcorder could be powered while plugged into the computer via USB (it's an older camcorder, so Sony didn't make it so it could pull power from the computer when connected via USB; and I say butts to that).

The DC chord is ordered and on the way. The video should be up by the end of this week, or beginning of next.

So for now let's talk numbers. I never knew how much it would cost to commission a sculptor to create a basic green for us to create a master mold from. The lowest price? $300 PER MINIATURE. So if we're having said sculptor design the Lord, Mage, three poses of close combat troops, and three poses of archers, that's $2400. That doesn't include shipping.

This is one of the reasons we have decided to start with one Army. The Dragon Warrior Tribes will be the first Army to debut. Once we receive our [small] small business loan and get things going we'll have a Kickstarter where we *may* add another unit - a heavy unit of heavily armored men with great weapons. That's not for another month and a half to two months, though. I'm getting ahead of myself. The point is other armies are forthcoming, but it will be a few months.

On a completely different note, the novella is at the editor for a second round of editing and I should get it back any day now. On top of that, the cover art for the novella is in the works! Here's a sample from the talented DrGraevling (http://drgraevling.deviantart.com/):

Here we see Peter in front of the planet Jupiter and its moon Callisto, with the Community Ship Luebeck in orbit. I'm wetting myself in anticipation for the finished product.

Until next time . . .

19 July 2012

I Dream In Digital

Hey folks, if you've stuck around you know that RENEGADE DATA CORE is going through some big changes. We're going to producing miniature war game rules and producing our own miniatures! We also have some new books coming out soon.

And here's where we had to make a decision. We're looking to get a small business loan from the bank, and we want to keep costs low. The decision was made to make all books 100% digital. I apologize to those who prefer print copies. It's just not in the budget. 1,000 copies of a book is over $4,000, and companies like B&N and Amazon expect larger volumes of product than that.

All books will be available in Kindle and PDF formats. This will include the soon-to-be published miniatures rules, CATACLYSM SKIRMISH. As always everything will be available through the RENEGADE DATA CORE website, and everything will continue to be available on the new website (which will have the same URL, but different host).

Tune in next week when we post video talking about our new tabletop war game.

Until next time . . .

09 July 2012

Oh The Times They Are A Changing

So here we are in July. For you Americans, hope you enjoyed your 4th of July. 'MURIKA!
For everyone everywhere, I hope you're keeping cool. It just cooled off here in Omaha. Cool being a high of 90 degrees farenheight today.

There are some changes going on at Renegade Data Core.

First and foremost, the ms for the novella tentatively titled "FREE". . .or "RUN". . .I forget. . .is at the editor's (finally). In a week or two I'll get it back for review and rewrite before going back for another round of crushing. Second, and connected (I'll get to that) the ms for "A TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM" is about half-way done. This does not include cover or internal images. Those I have to commission (very very soon - payday cannot come soon enough).

So how are these connected, you ask? I will be at ANIME NEBRASKON in Lincoln, Nebraska November 2nd through the 4th. At the convention I'll have for sale trade paperbacks of DER STERNVOLKER, (tentatively titled) RUN, A TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM, and I'll be selling posters, too. I'm debating on t-shirts (the return on investment tends to be low, especially if very few people buy them). If you're in the area for the convention stop by my booth and say hello, stay and chat, keep me from going completely insane. I will most likely will be there starting the evening of Friday, the 2nd. I will not during the day, as I still have a real job to go to (one day I'll work for myself. . .), but then I'll be there Saturday (the 3rd) and most of Sunday (the 4th).

The website will be changing, too. Currently the RENEGADE DATA CORE site is built with Google Sites. While it served its purpose getting everything rolling, it's becoming cluttered, and I've had complaints about white lettering on black background hurting peoples' eyes. That, and Google Sites only lets you do so much, and I need to be able to do more. I have my website guy (I have a website guy!) working on a new design to best serve the fans. So, no more eye gouging.

Lastly, Renegade Data Core will be providing more products than just stories and comics. First, I am working on a YouTube series titled CARVER JONES. The scripts are in their rough-rough drafts, and we're working to get props and set stuff. I do not have a tentative date at which they'll be released, but I will keep you all updated as they are.
And second Renegade Data Core is pleased to announce that within the next eight months we will begin producing our first line of wargamining miniatures and fully playable game! We are working on the Alpha of the rules and ordering up all the equipment we need to produce runs of miniatures. Again, no set deadlines (except for our initial debut at AdeptiCon, April 18-21, 2013), but we'll keep you informed.

Until next time. . .

06 June 2012

Don't Get Lost

So I've been a busy little bee. While getting the novella ready for editing and writing another (long) short story, I've also been working on an idea that I've been mulling over for the last few months.

This idea stemmed from all the cool sourcebooks and technical readouts (TROs) that are produced by the crew over at Battletech. I've been a Battletech fan for over thirteen years now (damn, I feel old...). The amazing stories of 'Mech combat in the 31st Century, along with the awesome BattleMechs, Battle Armor, Aerofighters, and so much more are the leading material that has inspired my writing. I love how vast and diverse the BattleTech universe is, and how detailed authors of both novels/short stories and of sourcebooks get into the technology, history, and politics of the universe.

This level of detail is what I'm searching for when I write in the Post-Earth universe I've created. I want to capture the details, the people, the cultures, the politics, history, and wars. I want the reader to see, smell, and feel the worlds and ships I throw them into.

With this desire in mind I am working on a daunting, but awesome project: A TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM: A POST-EARTH SOURCEBOOK.

Written from the perspective of an academic from Elysium on Mars, A TRAVELER'S GUID TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM with delve into the history that led to the death of Earth, and the solar system that Peter Drexel and his crew live in. Below I have included the rough outline, but note that this is just a draft. I plan to have full faction sections replete with pictures, military unit dossiers, and company and personnel profiles. When all said and done this sourcebook will be 250+ pages of COMPLETELY AWESOME! You can also see on the PRODUCTS SECTION of the website where I've added a block for the sourcebook.

Enjoy my notes! Until next time. . .


A Traveler’s Guide to the Solar System: A Post-Earth Sourcebook
·      Credits
·      Intro
o   About the book
·      “Letter” from an Elysian Historian (2306)
·      That Final Frontier (2012 to 2032)
o   When Dreams Come True (2012)
o   Cornering the Bear (2015)
§  [The Legacy of the CIS]
o   They All Fall Down (2015-2018)
§  Scandinavia Rising
§  Iron Cross
§  Federation
§  Restless Dragon
§  Brasilia
o   Digging In (2018)
§  [4 Vesta]
o   How Many Companies Does It Take to Colonize Luna? (2019)
o   God of War (2026)
§  [Ancestors of Olympus]
§  [Kangaroo Lovers]
o   Unlocking Venus (2030)
§  The Russo-Brazilian Pact
o   Go to Jupiter, Young Man (2032)
·      A Series of Unfortunate Events (2032 to 2062)
o   Free Luna! (2034)
§  [Irony]
o   Titan (2036)
o   Hot Feet (2036)
o   The Bear Strikes Back (2038)
o   The Bear, The Dragon, and The Eagle (2039)
§  Playing All Sides: Brazil’s Involvement
o   Land Grab (2040)
·      Exodus (2062 to 2092)
o   One Way Ticket (2062-2063)
o   Shattered Moon (2064)
o   Battlefield: Space (2063)
§  [A Primer to Space Combat]
o   Chinese New Year (2065)
o   Learning to Love the Bomb (2067)
§  Bye Bye Pakistan
§  More Problems Than Solutions
o   Ring of Fire (2067-2071)
o   Flexing the Muscles (2070-2075)
o   Resource Wars (2074-2092)
§  Dry At the Pumps
§  If I Can’t Have It, No One Can
§  The Failure of Alternative Energy
§  Falsely Entitled
§  Opening Shots: The Eagle Strikes the Bear, The Dragon Sleeps (2085-2086)
§  The Dragon’s Share (2086-2087)
§  Raging Bear (2087)
§  Vikings and Huns (2087-2090)
§  CIS Wall (2087-2090)
§  Caught in the Middle (2087-2090)
§  Total War (2090-2092)
§  [Silence in the Land of the Rising Sun]
·      Apocalypse (2092 to 2095)
o   Last Ditch Efforts (2092-2094)
§  Make Peace, Not War
§  Massacre
o   If the World Dies And No One Is Around, Does It Make A Sound? (2095)
§  [The Mystery of Earth’s Demise]
·      Dark Age (2095 to 2230)
o   Let the Solar System Burn!
o   Mercury
o   Venus
o   Earth Orbit
§  A Fleet By Any Other Name
o   Luna
o   Mars
§  The Olympus Mons Technocracy
·      [The Yorks, The d’Helions and The d’Angers]
§  Elysium
§  Rivalry
o   The Asteroid Belt
o   Jupiter
§  Ganymede
§  Callisto
o   Titan
·      Getting Back Up (2230 to 2304)
o   Silence in the Void
o   Mercury
o   Venus
§  Lakshimi
o   Luna
o   The Star Folk
§  Community Fleet
§  The Council, or Keeping My Enemies Closer
§  Principalities
§  The Grounding Movement
o   Mars
§  The Olympus Mons Technocracy
§  Elysium
o   The Asteroid Belt
§  A Pirate’s Life For Me
o   Jupiter
§  Ganymede
§  Callisto
o   Titan
·      The Present (2304 to 2306)
o   Demons of Ancient Earth
o   A Wakening Olympus Mons
§  [A History of Polygamy]
o   Spreading Their Wings
o   [Martin: How A Single Ship Can Cause So Much Trouble]
o   Slowly Forming
§  Lunans: Wrong In The Head
§  Tharsis Tholus
§  Svol League
§  The Feng Business Consortium
·      Image Inserts
o   Maps
§  Mercury
§  Venus
·      Lakshimi
§  Luna
§  Mars
·      The Olympus Mons Technocracy
·      Elysium
§  Ganymede
§  Callisto
§  Titan
o   Venus
§  Lakshimi
·      Colette
·      King
·       
§  Novo Liberec
o   Mars
§  Olympus Mons Technocracy
·      Olympus Mons
·      Emperor Elect Edward York with four wives
·      Rickard d’Helion with three wives, and sister Celeste
·      Henry d’Angers with three wives
·      Giuseppe Della-Moretta, two wives, and sons Michael and Theodore
·      Samuel Drella, two wives, sons and daughters
·      Mary Cartwright and three husbands
·      Kraken, Lynx, and Spartan Colossi with Oracle surrounded by Titan- and Ranger-pattern power armor and Auxillia Infantry Combat Vehicles
§  Elysium
·      Elysium City overlooking the beach
·      Albor
·      President Sean McIntosh and parliament
·      Hecatus Tech Headquarters
·      Knight, Guardian, and Ferret Colossi, Champion MBTs, surrounded by Digger-pattern power armor and regular infantry with Heavy Wheeled APCs
§  Schmidt Principality
·      Schmidt (city)
·      Prince
·      Two Spartan Colossi with four tanks, surrounded by tracked APCs, and cold-weather gear equipped infantry
§  Sirenum – Nomads outside a walled city
o   Star Folk
§  Community Fleet with Midgard, Luebeck, and Dire Wolf at the center
§  Luebeck’s commercial district
§  Thiemmo Rautenstrauch von Midgard
§  Scion Brandt Krueger von Luedeker with wife Sophia, with von Luedeker crest
§  House von Sibenthal crest
§  House von Croy crest
§  Peter Drexel, Amelia Krueger von Luedeker, Balder Faltskog, Eyolf “The Wolf” Aune, Zoryn Revnik, and Maria Hannover
§  Renegade-, Hankyu-, and Ranger-pattern power armor suits each decorated differently (Renegade: All Black; Hankyu: Hessen Colors; Ranger: Brown with feathers, decorations, and Norse pagan fetishes)
§  House von Luedeker Guards in front of von Luedeker keep on the Dire Wolf
o   Jupiter
§  Ganymede
·      Ta-Urt
·      Dendera
§  Callisto
·      Doh – Feng Business Consortium
·      The Svol League
o   Skuld
o   Ieiwa
o   Nar
o   Saturn
§  Titan – The Principality of Haven Butte