frobber on 17/2/2016 at 23:21
Good to see TTLG still alive and kicking!
Shadowspawn keeps me posted on TTLG news. FenPhoenix also did a great LP in YouTube of my FM series. So, I'm still connected indirectly.
In recent years I've (mostly) moved on from designing spacecraft to earning a graduate degree in planetary science. These days, I study the moons of Mars among other things and I'm also working on a way to fly drones at Mars to look for life and survey possible human landing sites. Building models of the solar system isn't a whole lot different than physics in game engines -- and, in fact, I've actually used a game engine (Bullet) in my research. It's a cool job that has me working with some truly amazing people.
My reason for writing today is related to my 'night' job where I've been working on a book of short- and medium-length fiction called "The Golden Age of Heroes." Some of this is based on my knowledge of science. Overall, it covers a wide time period and generally has little to do with science. Stories are always about people no matter what is going on, and I'm not about to forget that rule.
During the last few months of my KoTP series (back in 2005) I recruited a "round table" of volunteers who were granted an inside look at the project before it was cast in concrete. In-process feedback to any creative project is critical, and I am looking to try the same sort of 'round table' with my story book. I won't mind corrections to my spelling, but I'm mostly looking for feedback on "holes" and any impressions including suggested improvements. I will not promise that I will follow suggestions. Mostly this sort of feedback kicks my creative engine into overdrive and the net effect improves the work dramatically.
To those interested in joining my round table, I will provide a link to a zip file, and you can take from there -- pick as many stories as you want to read and tell me whatever you think I should hear. At this stage in my life I am not looking for compliments and I'd rather hear about problems that need help.
If interested, please write to [email]Keneth_Ramsley@brown.edu[/email] - and I will send you a link to the file. Feedback to me will be via email. If a huge number of people are interested, I may set an upper limit on participants, but probably not. I also won't mind seeing discussion here on TTLG. But I am not expecting this.
If not interested, let me be the first to say that I get it.
I'd like to finish hearing feedback by early March. "Payment" for your help will be an acknowledgement in the book, and if the book is printed, you'll receive a signed copy. The book is likely to first appear as a Kindle edition -- in which case I'll figure out some way to grant you free access.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes!
Ken Ramsley (a.k.a., frobber)
SlyFoxx on 18/2/2016 at 00:14
Well look who is back! Nice to hear you've got your teeth into another creative endeavor.
Alas I must scoot as real life has my evening booked solid. I'll be keeping an eye on the thread and we'll see what happens.
PS...(actually I didn't a quick run through Keeper about a month ago.)
faetal on 18/2/2016 at 12:42
Looks like we have a hands down front-runner for which member has the coolest job then.
frobber on 24/2/2016 at 22:50
From what I see and understand, I won't be a successful writer unless people like what I write. But I also see that this is far from enough to produce much success. The original Harry Potter book manuscript, for example, happened to be sitting on a huge pile of submissions just when an appointment was canceled and a high-powered publishing exec had 15 minutes free. After submitting her book everywhere -- dozens of tries in all -- J.K. Rowling was about to give up and the rest is history. What about the ten or 20 or 50 equally well-written books in that pile? Being 'good' is only the beginning of the process.
At any rate, I'm planning to make brief YouTube videos of my progress toward publication, and when I produce my first upload, I'll let you know.
frobber
SlyFoxx on 25/2/2016 at 02:05
OK...third time is the charm. E-mail keeps getting kicked back. You've got TTLG PM's turned off. I'd like to help. My e-mail addy hasn't changed since back in the day but in case you don't have it. murkman at hotmail
twisty on 25/2/2016 at 02:31
Great to hear from you frobber! I don't have time to contribute unfortunately but am happy to hear that you are still kicking around. Speaking of which, I didn't realise that Shadowspawn still visits here either.
frobber on 25/2/2016 at 07:37
As promised, I made a video today about my latest creative project. At the very least you can see what I look like 11 years after releasing KotP.
Link: (
https://youtu.be/-pkHQIsZetY)
Enjoy,
frobber
frobber on 25/2/2016 at 07:44
I've unlocked the account and should be able to communicate normally now.
frobber on 11/6/2016 at 18:45
Two of the stories have been edited and published on Kindle (five more to go).
Here are links to the Kindle editions...
(
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029XGDZM) - "The Legend of Cyclone Young"
(
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GW7UI5Q) - "Silver Coins"
To all TTLG.com users I am offering
free Kindle ebook copies. Simply send a valid email address to me (KenRamsley@gmail.com). I will take care of the rest.
Future...
Once all seven stories are listed on Kindle, I will produce an audio book version of each, which I will upload to YouTube -- and eventually the whole collection to audible.com. Later, I'll produce a printed book of the collected stories. And while I'm busy producing all of this, I'll keep looking for publishers (who these days are little more than book distributes).
I appreciate the private messages and email support. As much as I am a scientist and engineer on my resume -- like many here on TTLG, I am
really an artist.
-frobber (a.k.a., Ken Ramsley)
Matthew on 17/6/2016 at 10:49
Very nice! I think I'll be buying those next week.
