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The Taste for Realism
I have seen, and admittedly indulged in that fan activity I will call the Fact Checking Game. It goes like this: First, you take some work of fiction, particularly a popular one, and you find some fascinating idea or claim it has. Then you deconstruct it with real world logic, checking all the facts and invariably coming up with an unrealistic or at least implausible conclusion. At this point, bemoaning that the creator did not think of this may commence. As a sequel, you can find some plausible counterpoint, and argue with the proponents of the former conclusion until the cows come home.
This is not, in itself, a bad thing.
Philosophical Diversity in Fiction
No, this is not a post about the culture war. Chill.
This post is about writing other cultures such that they are believable–not as middle-class Westerners wearing funny hats, but as fundamentally different worlds.
On Gratuitous Rape
This is not a happy-go-lucky post. If this subject matter disturbs you, I suggest reading something else, or perhaps waiting a few days–I plan to blog more frequently in the future.
The taste of the modern public has been, as of late, for dark and “gritty” fiction. Whether or not said fiction actually is is a subject for someone else’s post, but consider: The Hunger Games. Game of Thrones. The Malazan Book of the Fallen. The Witcher. Actually, I could rattle off a whole list of popular, dark, fiction, and invariably most of them are going to contain rape.
So I have 2 questions.
1. When’s the next book in the series coming out? Kinda left us hanging right when things got really interesting.
2. Could you make an Amazon author’s page so I can follow you there, I had to do some sleuthing to even find this website.
1. WARNING! WARNING! A HUGE ANSWER IS APPROACHING!
I was a little burned out on C&D when I finished it, due to both working on it for over a year (note: I don’t plan to work on the next book that long; I was doing it inefficiently before) and I also had an emotional rollercoaster ride from my Kindle Scout campaign. So I decided to take a break and work on a different book.
I did this also because I had NO IDEA C&D was going to take off like it did. But then it did.
If you scroll through my blog, you’ll see I have a history of abandoning projects. Unfortunately, the only way to cure this is to refuse to abandon projects. So I find myself self-obligated to complete this new novel, Ushabti Online, before returning to C&D.
The GOOD news is that Ushabti Online, as the name suggests, is another litrpg. And before you start worrying I’m starting one series before finishing the other, it’s one self-complete book.
The other good news is that I write really fast, so I hope to get the next C&D book out THIS YEAR. I hope that’s a satisfactory answer.
2. My author’s page is right here: amazon.com/author/matthewpschmidt Not sure why it wasn’t linked up properly. 🙁
Keep up the good work! Looking forward to both, followed you on amazon so that I won’t forget to check back in.
On a side note, will Ushabti Online be more hard LitRPG or soft like C&D? I always felt like the work necessary to construct and keep track of a hard LitRPG system (With full stat sheets and skill trees) can be better spent on expanding the world, characters, and plot threads instead.C&D definitely hit the sweet spot for me.
Glad you liked it! Ushabti Online will be my first litrpg after discovering the wider world of litrpgs in general, so it’s a bit more traditional (though, hopefully not cliché). It’ll be slightly harder, I think, but not heavy on the stat blocks and numbers.
great book. I was truly invested by the end and look forward to more. Don’t let us fans pressure you. You have to love what you are doing, and working on the next book in this series before you are ready would be a mistake for you and the book. (just don’t wait too long :P)
Thank you for your kind words. 😉
It was surprisingly difficult to find this website, but I enjoyed the book enough that I wanted to see if there was an ETA for the second book.
I’m a little sad that I have to wait, but I would much rather get a good book slowly than a mediocre book quickly. Even if you don’t meet your self-imposed deadline, please do not rush the book. I have seen it happen, and even if the book is good, the author tends to burn out and give up.
One other question though, do you know if the second book is going to be the last? Or will it continue into a trilogy?
The second book will definitely not be the last. As for after that… you’ll see. 😉
I know what you mean! Googling the author’s name or novel’s name didn’t work, the only reason I found this website is because there’s a kindle scout post for C&D that had a link to it,