Quotes and random times!

Faults are thick where love is thin! -author unknown

It seems that there are a lot of people out there who really enjoy putting someone down.  They are quick to judge, easy to point out flaws and faults, will say quickly how they don’t like something.  Sadly, I used to be like this, but I’m happy to say over the years I’ve managed to drag that negative piece out of me.  The reason why is not only does it dishearten someone you are talking to, but it is detrimental to your own person.  When you turn that around, however, then not only does it encourage the person who is working, but it can make you feel a lot better about yourself.  Plus, that positive attitude rubs off on others, and as the saying goes, what goes around comes around.  If you do incredibly crappy things, then that’s all you’ll get.  But if you do good things, then you’ll get that in return.

I’m not saying that encourage with wild abandon.  You do have to be careful.  Encouraging someone’s project without giving them a tip as to make it better can have negative results.  If the person fails, then that’s a horrible feeling.  Often, it’s difficult to climb out of that hole that you’ve dug yourself into.  Still, if you’re the person who gave the encouragement, it’s better to be there to help that person out of the hole.

People want what you have, but don’t want to be where you have been. -author unknown

We, as a species, do like things the easy way.  We like to get a job without actually doing any work involved in getting a job.  Even when we do have a job, it’s preferable to sit comfortably on our hind ends than to actually work and do the things we were hired for.  Often, we look at someone who’s had some success and think “I wish I could be that lucky”.  But that’s the real kicker, a lot of those people who’ve had great success have not been lucky but worked their butts off.  Oh, there are those (who mostly reside in the 1%) who didn’t work hard, but basically had the good fortune of being born into wealth.  They road that train hard and continue riding it, knowing full well their own children are also going to end up on the same train you took.  And it won’t end there for that family, as generation after generation will do no work in order to get that which they were born into.  And boy do they feel entitled.  “I deserve this because it’s my family’s!”  Your family may have earned their wealth, however, on the backs of others.  But I guess, if you’d like to be entitled to blood money, be my guest.

But then there’s those who do put in an effort and it pays off.  Granted, it pays off when there is a large number of other people who see the work and say “wow, this is pretty awesome, I will actually spend money to get that and enjoy it”.  A good example is J. K. Rowling.  Rowling lived on social assistance for a good part of her life while she was writing the first couple of books.  But they took off, people loved them, there was resulting movies and such, and Rowling has become a major success.

So, I guess the point is, never give up, always work your hardest, and if you do see someone who is trying something new, whether it’s a video or a book or a story or a comic… don’t discourage them.

“There are three things I was born with in this world, and there are three things I will have until the day I die; hope, determination, and song.” -Miriam Makeba

While this is true, there are three things I was born with and three things I’ll die with, it’s kind of vague in a way at times.  I know for a fact music throughout my life has played a very important role.  From when I was a kid and my mom was getting me to take piano lessons (which I now regret dropping) to present day when I scour for new music to listen to.  When I was a kid, my mom didn’t send me to piano lessons because it was the thing to do with kids.  My mom taught me piano.  No fees for paying a music teacher, no need to drive anywhere.  The piano was in our dining room.  I’d sit on it sometimes without thinking.  My mom and dad still have that piano, and when I visit them, I will still sit on that bench without thinking.

But, like all kids at the young age I was, I sometimes felt I was being forced into it.  It’s something I regret quitting now.

However, I’m not dead.  It really shouldn’t be too late to learn.

The best preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today. -author unknown

It’s amazing how when one day slides into the next that when you have a really good day, chances are the next day might be pretty good too.  When you prepare yourself for things you have to do (or things you want to do), it’s wonderful when you get the chance to actually get things done that you’ve wanted to get done.  So, in closing, plan for tomorrow today, no matter what it is you do.

People make their own choices, we have to respect that

People are different and unique in whom they love and are sexually attracted to.

All people have their choices and preferences when it comes to love, relationships, and even friends and sexual encounters.

Some men identify as men, and they wish to be with a woman.

Some men identify as men, and they wish to be with another man.

Some men identify as men, and their sexual preference includes both genders.

Some men identify as men, and prefer no sexual encounters at all.

Some men identify as men, and prefer good company without any promise of sexual advances.

Some men identify as a woman, and they wish to be with another woman.

Some men identify as a woman, and they wish to be with a man.

Some men identify as a woman, and their sexual preference includes both genders.

Some men identify as a woman, and prefer no sexual encounters at all.

Some men identify as women, and prefer good company without any promise of sexual advances.

Some women identify as women, and they wish to be with a man.

Some women identify as women, and they wish to be with a woman.

Some women identify as women, and their sexual preference includes both genders.

Some women identify as women, and prefer no sexual encounters at all.

Some women identify as women, and prefer good company without any promise of sexual advances.

Some women identify as men, and they wish to be with a man.

Some women identify as men, and they wish to be with a woman.

Some women identify as men, and their sexual preference includes both genders.

Some women identify as men, and prefer no sexual encounters at all.

Some women identify as men, and prefer good company without any promise of sexual advances.

Some people identify as neither gender, and are attracted to other qualities in a partner.

Some people identify as neither gender, and prefer no sexual contact at all.

Some people identify as both genders, and are attracted to other qualities in a partner.

Some people identify as both genders, and prefer no sexual contact at all.

Some people may find one other person that they share a deep relationship, and they might enjoy sex together.

Some people may find one other person that they share a deep relationship, and they may never have sex together.

Some people may find several people that they enjoy spending time with, and they might have sex with those people.

Sometimes at the same time.  And that’s okay.

Some people may find several people that they enjoy spending time with, and they may never have sex with them.

The point is, people have their own individual ideals about love and sex. Many of those people do not try to push those ideals on others.  So for the rest of us straight people, we shouldn’t push our own ideals onto them.  All of these examples of people function perfectly well in society, their actions of sex and love (which in and of itself are two different things) do not directly affect the rest of us.  This also allows people to explore their sexuality, to learn about themselves as they learn about other people.  We are all individuals and we all have different needs and desires.

The choices we make that affect us in a positive way are healthy choices.

So respect people’s choices.

Amazing things you can learn while scouring the Internet

Or at least, while scrolling through your tumblr dashboard.

I ran across this awesome little tutorial that one of my followers (and obviously someone I follow) had posted and it works great.  It’s an HDR effect and really works best for older photographs that have been scanned.

Here’s the rundown.

1. Open your picture.
2. Duplicate layer (Ctrl+J)
3. Overlay that shit 50%
4. Flatten image (Ctrl+E)
5. Duplicate that one layer that you have now (Ctrl+J)
6. Desaturate (Shift+Ctrl+U)
7. Invert (Ctrl+I)
8. Gaussian Blur it to 40
9. Now overlay that B&W Blurred image
10. Duplicate and sharpen if necessary

The result works on any image, whether it’s a photo or a screen capture through a video game.  I took a video game screen cap from Guild Wars 2 and gave it a try.

Original screen capture.

Image after using the steps.

It’s subtle but you can see the brighter colour in the ship’s sails behind the building Shani is standing on.  Even the sky looks a bit brighter.  Now, what about a photograph?

Original image from my laptop’s web cam.

Newly created image using the above steps.

Even in this image, there’s things that appear just a bit brighter.  But, what about an image that was taken by a camera like a Kodak Brownie and then scanned?

My cat Jenny! The original photo.

Jenny after some touch ups.

I am going to add this to my list of things to do when working on photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Shopping, shopping, shopping

Now that spring has arrived, I venture outside more often.  For those who are saying “but Tim, spring arrived on March 21″, to which I say, no, no it did not.  We had 7 months of winter, which Old Man Winter owes us some payback.  So this year, I expect summer to last until the end of November.  Anyway, now that spring is here, I’ve taken to going out and buying a few things I need and a few things I want.  Like new jacket and shorts.  I wanted cargo pants, but there weren’t any at the local store, so I had to forego those.  But buying a new jacket made me realize I have about two dozen jackets in my closet.  Maybe it’s time to give some of those jackets to good will.  Thankfully this is a long weekend and I can have some time going through clothes and sorting them out and getting rid of stuff I don’t want (like the shorts that have lost the top button or the shirt that lost the bottom three) and taking them to good will.  Like that old GX94 jacket of mine that I’ve (literally) had since 1988.

The jacket I had tagged with GX-94, a radio station in Yorkton, Sask I used to work at.

It might be best, if buy this jacket second hand, that you get a job as an evening announcer.

…and maybe change your name to Tim Stewart.

I also went browsing through the DVD racks to see if there was anything cheap to pick up.  Which there was, but nothing I’d buy.  Lots of crap movies and a ton of really old stuff that I had no interest in.  There was even lots of MMA, WWE and boxing DVDs.  What got me, though, was the world championship poker DVDs that I saw.  Really?  That’s worthy of a DVD?  See, I can understand the others, hell, I can even understand curling.  But poker is like watching televised chess.  Great game, but boring to watch.  Same with poker.  Same with golf, for that matter.  Baseball is slightly better.  It’d be something I’d rather see live.

Needless to say, I did not walk out with any DVDs that were in there.

I do, however, have a new jacket.

 

 

 

Kindle

I am seriously thinking about going the route of publishing Rocket Fox and rewrites of Black Mask & Pale Rider through Kindle Direct Publishing.

Currently, I’m reading through the information, which is helpful, but it doesn’t give me any aspects of the experience.  For that, I’m doing searches for what experiences other authors have had by using Kindle Direct Publishing.

Now, there is the downside to this, that it is just an ebook, and I won’t be able to have a hard copy of the product for my shelf or even give one away to my parents.  But, the upside is that the book will gain more exposure through more countries being published as an ebook and distributed by Kindle.

I’m not against Kindle or it’s publishing, as a matter of fact I think that the direct electronic market is a viable way to go.  And I like the idea of being able to buy a book in the comfort of my living room and having it right there for me when I click the submit button to purchase it.  Again, the only downside is not having that hardcopy edition.  For some reason it makes it feel very real.

But we live in a digital age, whether we like to admit it or not.  Smartphones, digital cameras, laptops, netbooks, iPods, tablets, all of it is around us every single day.

Books really shouldn’t be any different.

Books!

Often, this is the point when I’d start doing a shameless self promotion.  But in this case, I’m not.  I’m here to tell you about an author I know and have known for a while.  Although we know each other, we actually haven’t met face to face.  Because we met before we actually wrote a full book.  John G Walker is the author of a series called the Statford Chronicles.  Three books which look at the investigations that private investigator Tom Statford looks into.  But he’s not just an ordinary private eye.

Now you might be asking, why John and I have never met face to face (possibly has a lot to do with the fact I hate traveling).  We first met, of all places, through the MMO City of Heroes.  Through that game, there was an entire community that played together and even role played characters together.  And we all did a lot of writing (I’ve mentioned Moondancer Drake on this blog before, I met her the same way).  There’s been some incredible projects that have been born from the old RP Congress that was active in City of Heroes.  And these three novels are the result of John G Walker’s work, all of which are available for the Kindle.

 The Sincerest Form of Flattery (The Statford Chronicles) eBook: John Walker: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

Life was simple for private detective Tom Statford. Sure, being the Keeper, the first, last and only line of defense between gods and mortals could make for interesting times, but a mundane existence in south-eastern Virginia kept things on the boring side of life. Boring, until bodies appear with all the trademarks of ritualistic homicide. Now, the Keeper must not only stop a psychopath, but also the end of the world.

Easy enough, if the killer doesn’t find him first.

A novel by John G Walker.

In The Details (The Statford Chronicles) eBook: John Walker, Starla Huchton: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

Private detective Tom Statford has a problem. A priest has been murdered in Hampton Roads, Virginia. That’s bad. His killer is claiming the Devil as an accomplice, sending the forces of Heaven after the fallen angel. That’s even worse. Lucifer comes to Tom to proclaim his innocence, which makes Tom’s life more interesting than it needs to be, and he’s the only one who can prove the Devil didn’t make the killer do it.

But who would believe the Prince of Lies?

A novel by John G Walker and illustrated by Starla Hutchon.

The Blame Game (The Statford Chronicles) eBook: John Walker, Starla Huchton: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

In the third outing of private detective of the gods Tom Statford, a woman shows up in his office claiming to have been murdered. What’s worse is she’s a target of a fire god. With four other bodies involved, along with Chinese organized crime, Tom has to figure out who killed the girl, and who is using a god as an assassin. No big deal, right? Before it’s all over, this case will give the phrase “May you live in interesting times” a whole new meaning.

A novel by John G Walker and illustrated by Starla Hutchon.

Working again

 

It’s time once again.  As the days get warmer and longer, I’m getting the urge to go back and edit, expand and recraft the story of Black Mask & Pale Rider.  I’ve even decided a title change should take place, considering that there will be a third character added in the second book.  That being Wren Wennemein, and to leave her out of the title would be rather rude.  Right now, I’m toying with Elves of the Old West.

The first book will go into how the two elves wound up on Earth in the first place.  I have most of this part written out, I just need to expand on all of that.  So with all of that, I have some work cut out for me.  But, this is a story that’s stuck with me for some time and has grown beyond what Black Mask & Pale Rider originally was.

Granted, there are what I call “The Four Distractions” I have to contend with on my taskbar.

 

Star Trek Online, Neverwinter, Champions Online and Guild Wars 2.  Maybe I can steer clear of them long enough to get some work in.  Usually when I begin working, I don’t stop for a while (until I get hungry or need to walk around or go to the bathroom).

So this will be brought up again, and if all goes well, I’ll offer up chapter downloads in pdf format as I did with the original series and with Rocket Fox.

Where do characters come from? (Part One)

Instead of inserting a large number of pictures into this post, such as the one above, I decided a video might suit better to this cause.  It details the different incarnations of one of the main characters from Black Mask & Pale Rider, Shani Wennemein.

It’s a history, of sorts, of where the character of Shani Wennemein came from.  I could also produce character sheets for that, considering she originated as a character in Dungeons and Dragons.  The first video game aspect of her came in Bioware’s Neverwinter Nights.  She’s still there and active from time to time, as I played a lot on a persistent world server called Legacy of the North.  The server’s still there, just hasn’t been as populated as it was in its heyday.  In truth, Shani never started out life in the video game world as an elf.  She began as a tiefling, the half demon creatures of the Dungeons and Dragons world.  But, thanks to the fact I was a bonehead and never asked for permission for a tiefling character (the DMs were strict on those rules), Shani became an elf instead.  Which is fine, really.  Being an elf is a lot easier to pass off as human in the Union and Confederacy of 1863.  Whereas a tiefling would probably have been hunted down with all intentions of killing her.  The horns and tail would have been a major pain for her.  As it stands, with her Neverwinter Nights version, it’s hard to conceal a pair of wings as she is a Red Dragon Disciple (dual classing is awesome) as well as being a bard.  She still has her roguish nature, however, as she started off as a thief (and considering you can have up to three classes in Neverwinter Nights, thief is not out of the question to add).

The latest incarnation is in Neverwinter Online, Cryptic Studios entry into the fantasy genre MMO, and Neverwinter’s first appearance in an MMO (the was the Dungeons and Dragons Online MMO, but took place outside of Neverwinter).  As is the case in NWO, Shani is a thief, and uses all aspects of stealth and daggery goodness available to her.  Sadly, NWO does not allow for dual classing, nor does it have a bard option (which I’d grab for Pania in a heartbeat).  There are “coming soon” options, which includes a race (which I can only assume will be Drow) and a class (which I’m not certain of consdering many of the D&D classics like paladin, barbarian, sorcerer and monk do not exist).

I should add something about DDO, considering I did make Shani in that game, but didn’t get very far.  She was rogue, and it was an interesting game, but it was very team heavy, which wasn’t always great if you just wanted to log on and run around for a bit on your own.  Needless to say, DDO wasn’t very memorable for me.

Also, two other games that I don’t have in the video where Shani was created were both superhero MMOs.  One I didn’t get Shani up very high in level, the other sadly doesn’t exist anymore, which next to Guild Wars 2 is possibly one of the best representations of Shani.  The former is Champions Online, the latter is City of Heroes.  In CoX, Shani was a dual pistols blaster, and she was a lot of fun.  As I said before, it’s kind of sad that the game doesn’t exist anymore, considering it had it’s fun elements about it.  I often like going back to a game I haven’t played in a while, even if it is online, and with CoX I can’t do that.

Lastly, which is the first part of the video, is Guild Wars 2.  Quite possibly the best representation of Shani from what I’ve written in the book.  A dual gunslinger who can swap out to dual blades should the need arise.  A very acrobatic woman with the ability to cloak herself in darkness and disappear from her enemies.  Unfortunately, there is no elf race in Guild Wars 2, but I managed to pick the smallest size available for Shani and gave her hair that covered her ears (which still stick out and she’s received the comment that she looks more like an elf than a human).

Shani did begin her life, so to speak, outside of the realm of the pages of a book, but did eventually end up there.  But she still exists in the game world in many different facets.  This happens to be where she began, and the constant aspect of role play developed the story that eventually did become The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider.

Next week, I’ll do part two to this which explores where Pania Alow came from.  It’ll include a video as well.

And now, time for shameless self promotion.

Both my first book, Black Mask & Pale Rider, and my second book, Canyons of Steel, are available for purchase online through many different online book sellers.

Lulu.com (where both books were published)

1. Tim Holtorf Author Spotlight the front page store for my books on lulu.com.

Amazon.com (both in paperback and in kindle versions)

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider
2. Canyons of Steel

Amazon.co.uk (both in paperback and in kindle versions)

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider
2. Canyons of Steel

Amazon.ca (price not listed and currently out of stock)

1. Canyons of Steel

Barnes & Noble (for the Nook)

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider

iTunes iBook store

1. The Adventures of Black Mask & Pale Rider

Nerds have come a long way

Originally printed in The Outlook weekly newspaper as an open editorial, May 9, 2013.

At one time, not long ago, the biggest insult you could call a comic book collector was “nerd”.  Anything nerdy was to be seen in a negative light.  I got that a few times when I was a kid, it happens.  And I will be the first to admit, I was quite nerdy in my youth and still am today.  Only now I wear it with a bit of pride.

Here’s four little stories for you about being a nerd. Two are related to a pair of very well known authors, one is regarding the changing world of comics, sci fi and fantasy and the fourth is a little more personal.

Back in the 1960s lots of kids would write to the big comic book companies about the ongoing stories that would come out month to month.  During that time, it was a big deal to get your letter in the letters page of a Superman or Batman comic.  Some became regular writers.  One such regular letter writer was a young George R. R. Martin.  Now, back in the 60’s, it was standard practice for the comic editors to add the letter writer’s full name and address with the letter (simpler times).  Young George ended up corresponding with many other comic readers across Canada and the United States, and this eventually gave way to an invitation to a home made fanzine.  Fanzines are magazines dedicated to science fiction or fantasy or even comic book characters.  They were often photocopied and stapled together and either sold or given away.  This is how Martin got his start writing, which after many years he ended up being noticed in Hollywood and scripted several Twilight Zone episodes.  Now, Martin is famous for the novel series Game Of Thrones, which has gone onto critical acclaim on HBO.  Quite the step from being just a comic book nerd who’d write letters to the editor of his favourite comics.

The world of comics, sci fi and fantasy is changing.  At one time, there was a stereotype that it was only boys and would always only be boys.  In today’s world, it’s not just boys anymore.  Girls, and women, are filling up the fandoms of many different comic book, movie, television and even video game franchises.  That old lament about there being no girls in comic shops has changed.  But, there is a new stereotype in place which often questions girls whether they are “true fans” or not of a certain genre.  My personal belief has always been, if you really enjoy something and make a good hobby of it, then you are definitely a fan of that thing.  No one should question someone’s love of their hobby.

This moves into something I heard best selling author John Greene (author of Searching For Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars) once said.  “Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. [W]hen people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness‚‘.”  It’s true because now a lot of people have added the term nerd for something they really love.  Science nerds, computer nerds, math nerds, music nerds, Shakespearean nerds.  Basically people who are really enthusiastic about something they really love.

Being a nerd has it’s down side but it’s also got a great upside to it.  Sometimes that upside won’t become evident until years later.  Which leads me to the more personal story, and involves my own writing.  Years ago, thanks to my nerdy love of comics and science fiction and fantasy, I had created whole worlds and characters in my head, and wrote them down on scratches of paper.  Amazingly, I kept them, and it wasn’t until recently that I’ve found them again.  But thanks to never growing out of my enthusiastic love of stuff, those things I wrote when I was 12 years old have expanded, and even helped with my own writing.

Being a nerd isn’t a negative thing.  Being a nerd is probably one of the most amazing things to be called.

Today is one of those days

Maybe it’s the fact that winter around here has been unusually longer than it normally is.  We’re finally getting warmer temperatures, the sun has always been getting up earlier and earlier as the days go by, but it just never felt like spring.  Even now, I’m hesitant to call it spring.  Oh yes, yesterday I went ahead and took out the summer shorts and wore them with pride, and consequently I ended up freezing my buttocks off because it was only 16 Celsius and windy as heck.

But that really cloudy feeling has still persisted the past few days.  I’m really glad I finished the first book of Rocket Fox and it’ll be going to the editing and rewriting phase.  And I’ve given myself a break from any serious writing (honestly, Star Trek Ocelot is not serious writing, it’s just stuff for fun), and I intend on doing that for the next few days.  But holy cow, I am feeling really down as of late.  When I’m at work I’m fine, I get excited about what I do and what I put together with the newspaper, which is a good thing.  It’s good to have purpose in your job, that you enjoy it and that it gives you a great deal of satisfaction.  That’s half the battle when it comes to having a job, and anyone who finds joy in what they do for a career is someone who has found that first step to bliss.  But when I go home, it’s kind of a drag.  I have stuff that I do, but it’s not much.  I write, I clean my apartment, I do what I need to do around the house.  But it feels less than fulfilling.  Which means, it may be time to go house hunting.

…deep breath…

I’m 42.  Almost 43 (next month, in fact).  I have never gone house hunting before.  By house hunting, I mean a house to buy.  My house.  My yard.  My dwelling.  It’s my place, I can do whatever I want in my house (without breaking any laws, mind you, nor would I suggest “marking territory in the backyard”, the neighbours wouldn’t like it very much).  Granted, if something goes wrong in my house, I have no landlord or building manager to go running to to fix it.  I have to handle all of that.  Maybe that’s what’s getting me down, is that while I really want a house of my own (mostly because I want a pet that neither lives in the water nor in a cage and chirps, because apartments will allow for those animals), I’m terrified about the process of getting one.  Getting a mortgage, getting monthly house payments, paying taxes on the property.  It all terrifies me to no end.

It also has to do with that aspect of wanting a pet.  I’d like someone (or in the case of an animal, something) to come home to, play with, enjoy time together and even do things with.  A small dog (I’m leaning toward Corgi) but most likely a cat (I’m leaning toward Sphynx… ’cause they’re bald!).  But I do find I am lonely at times within my own apartment.

…I also want a cool hidden library, but that’s another thing…

I guess, what I really hope is that this slight anxiety that I’ve been feeling lately manages to go away, that I settle down and things take a better turn.  One thing I’d like to do, however, is offer everyone who reads this an e-hug, so to speak, because I think we could all use something to pick each other up a bit.

Also…

Sphynx kitty, ’cause I think they’re cute as hell.

And…

Corgis!

You never know, maybe I’ll get one of each when I get a house.