Jake Bible Fiction

  • Friday Night Drabble Party!

    And the Drabble Party is back! Had to take a week off last week due to family visit, but tonight you get your free 100 word fix!

    And that’s not all! After the drabble is Team Long Shot’s 48 Hour Film Project “Not Again”. We won Audience Award- Group A and also Best Editing. Huzzah! It was a blast and a HUGE thank you to all of our supporters!

    Enjoy!

    ***

    Fighting The Future Ignorance
    By
    Jake Bible

    Gagging, drowning, feeling the weight of the world as the jet of water streams up his nose, pounding his sinuses, choking his throat. He spins about and ducks his head, but is met with the end of a nightclub, nightstick, billyclub, baton, violence in a wicked grip.

    He doesn’t give up; none of them do. They fight on, moving forward, moving to truth, moving to reality that is only a few concrete steps away.

    The child, the children, cry out as the beatings continue; the water hoses continue; the mad dogs attack; they don’t stop.

    The library is so close.

    ***

    And now….

    Disclaimer:  I make no claims. Deal.

  • It’s Okay To Have Fun Just Because!!!

    Howdy!

    I am essentially hedonistic in nature. I’ll admit that. Basically, if it isn’t fun I’m not going to do it (excluding the life necessities that keep my family alive and stuff like that.)

    But, due to the SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER SEASON OF GIANT BLOCKBUSTER FILMS, there are a lot of people on the MIGHTY INTERNET that seem intent on not only having zero fun, but of mocking and shaming folks because they did have fun. It’s getting bad, people. B-A-D spells moon bad. So for today’s post I figured I’d talk about having fun for fun’s sake!

    I’m also going to say something that could hurt me in the online community: I’m not a geek. Now, I am using the stereotyped geek definition here, not the carnival freak that bites the heads off chickens. I am one of those (just kidding…?). I’m not saying there is anything wrong with being a geek, not at all! Let your geek flag fly! I wouldn’t have readers or listeners without the wonderful people that have embraced my fiction. Y’all rock!

    I’m also not denying I don’t have one foot firmly planted in the geek world. I’d be lying if I said that. I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit to my years of D&D and MERP late nights. Plus, my comic book collection. And, my… Hmmmm, maybe I doth protest too much? I guess I’m really saying if I found myself in a geek throwdown I’d be handed my butt in two seconds. I know a lot, but I’m just not quite obsessive enough (Obsessive? Is that the right word?) to be considered a full blown geek. What I can say with certainty is that I am not anywhere close to a specific type of geek. You know the type of geek I’m talking about: the one that has difficulty actually enjoying anything they watch/read/listen to without tearing it apart.

    I just don’t get that mindset. I can’t go there.

    To explain why I don’t get it, let me talk about me some more because you all want to hear about me. I know I do.

    I love scifi. Always have. I love all the genres, really. From comedy (Eureka style) to full on gut gripping terror (Event Horizon), I dig it all. Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t tell the difference between bad scifi and good scifi. Bad scifi is half of what Hollywood puts out, while good scifi is Joss Whedon, Battlestar Galactica, Orphan Black (and many others). But, I appreciate fun scifi most of all. If I am having a good time watching/reading/listening to something then that is all that matters. I do not care that the core processor being used would never be able to fire up the sub-space uberdrive’s dimensional potential because it can only process 100 TBs per millisecond. That makes no difference to me as long as the story is fun. Why doesn’t it make a difference? Because it’s science fiction! None of it is real! None of it! It’s a made-up story in a world that doesn’t exist. Even the “realistic” science-based scifi is still fiction. And all of that goes for  horror, fantasy, comic books and their adaptations on the big and small screen as well. It isn’t real and there are no rules when something isn’t real.

    Of course, if something sucks (like really, really, really sucks) then it isn’t going to be fun.

    Except… The cheese!

    Now, I am using the cultural entertainment definition of cheese, not the dairy-based foodstuffs definition (but I do love that foodstuffs!). I am a HUGE fan of cheese! I love the “so bad, it’s good” scifi out there. I mean the SyFy channel cranks that out by the buttload and I just can’t keep up. I don’t even try anymore. One of my favorite memories of my childhood was the first time I ever saw Plan 9 From Outer Space on late night cable. Oh, the joy! It was so incredibly bad that even as a small child I could see the flaws. But, man, was it fun to watch! The horrible acting, the non-existent sets beyond cardboard and curtains, the flying saucers with the strings showing! Perfection! My son and I talk about this movie constantly with great fondness. It is a masterpiece.

    Take everything I have said above and apply it to all genres and you know how I roll. I like to have fun and I refuse to pick something apart just to pick it apart. Why even watch/read/listen to anything if you aren’t even going to try to enjoy it?

    This is why I doubt you will ever see me review anything or really even comment about it. I just can’t get to that place. I can have a good hearty discussion like the next person and I do have strong opinions about certain pieces of work (I can never get the two and a half hours back that I wasted watching Titanic in the theater. I still get sick to my stomach thinking about it). But, who the heck am I to say what is good and what isn’t? I’m a writer and I know how those reviews feel.

    So, if you take anything from this post, let it be that it is okay to have fun! It is okay to enjoy yourself even if the movie/book/TV show/podcast isn’t perfect or as good as you thought it should be OR as good as someone else thought it should be! You don’t have to justify your enjoyment, you don’t have to worry that you will be thought less of, you don’t have to worry at all! Don’t be afraid to taste the cheese! Don’t be afraid to enjoy something without a care in the world what other people think!

    Sometimes, almost ALL the time, it’s just better to have FUN for FUN’S sake!

    And with that I leave you this!

    Cheers!

    Disclaimer: This is a generalization! I am not saying all geeks argue the details, thus ruining the entertainment value of a product. I’m just saying, well, you know what I’m saying and you know the type I’m talking about. If you don’t know what I’m saying and want to argue about this then please re-read my post. Thanks!

  • Friday Night Drabble Party!

    Friday has risen and it is hungry for Drabbles!

    Good thing I have one for it tonight. You’ll be able to read it below before it is devoured.

    I also have many more drabbles for Friday in the form of One Foggy Night: A DEAD MECH Prequel Short. This is currently free on Amazon! Go get yourself a copy. Have your friends, family, neighbors, enemies get a copy too! If we get it into the Top Ten of any bestseller list on Amazon then I will record it and put it in the audio feed. That means you can buy it and not even have to read it yourself! ALL FOR FREE! What a country!

    So get to that.

    And now for tonight’s Drabble…

    Enjoy!

    ***

    The Problem
    By
    Jake Bible

    The split up the backside of her jeans wasn’t the problem; being larger than most girls she’d split her seat plenty of times before.

    The entire cafeteria laughing wasn’t the problem; she’d dealt with that many times.

    The laughter by the football team, especially her secret crush, wasn’t the problem either; he was the star quarterback and she knew she never had a chance.

    The building rage that boiled over and turned into a blinding, murderous wave of energy wasn’t the problem; that was pretty cool, actually.

    No, the problem was: what would she do with all the bodies?

    ***

    Cheers!

    Disclaimer: At no point do I condone mass murder by telekinesis.

  • Publishing Has A Dictator And Thy Name Is General Ization!

    Ah, yes, General Ization. That evil overlord of all things publishing.

    Whether publishing with one of the Big Publishers or self-publishing, General Ization has his grip firmly around the necks of all.

    Don’t believe me? Then let me know what your opinion of Big Publishing is. Or self-publishing. I’m sure you have an in-depth, well thought out opinion based on actual facts and experience.

    What’s that? Big Publishing is EVIL and must be brought down because it sucks the life out of innocent writers that can’t defend themselves? Huh…

    Oh, and self-publishing is filled with nothing but badly edited crap that shouldn’t be shat upon by an epileptic chimpanzee? Interesting.

    Sounds like you are an agent of General Ization! YOU MUST BE PUT TO DEATH!

    I bring this all up because there is a rampant problem with publishing today, in all forms and arenas.

    It’s not how writers are treated. Because if you are a writer and don’t realize you are at the bottom of the food chain then you haven’t been paying attention.

    It’s not that chaos reigns in the publishing world as everyone tries to figure out their place. Chaos is always there. Change happens, folks. That’s life.

    It’s not that companies are merging, bookstores are closing/screaming foul, or that new forms of distribution are changing the very way books/ebooks are put into that hands of readers. That’s called business. Once again, change happens. Get used to it.

    No, the rampant problem is how so many people (dare I say millions?) are taking generalizations as facts. How they are reading blogs (such as this one) and believing that opinions are Gospel. Can I get a hallelujah!

    The two major generalizations out there are:

    1. Big Publishing is only there to make a profit and no one in it cares about authors or quality. They only care about the bottom line.

    2. That self-publishing is crap. Dreck that was pulled from the asses of ignorant writers that only want to unleash their horrid words upon the world to satisfy their egos.

    I’m generalizing, of course.

    But, in a way I’m not. Think about the blogs/articles/reports you’ve read or seen in the past month regarding publishing. Now ask yourself this: did any of them say anything that was hard fact or hadn’t been said before?

    The answer is no. No, they haven’t.

    I click the links and read all of that stuff too. And I haven’t seen an original thought in forever. Pundits on both sides are just rehashing the same, boring arguments without a single, quantifiable fact behind them.

    Don’t believe me? Well, if Big Publishing is so evil then why do writers stay with them? Money? Maybe. Fame? Possibly. Because they have no other choice? Bullshit. Writers stay with something because it works for them. And if it works for the writers (not all, of course) then something must be done right. Come on, people! Writers are the bottom of the food chain as I said above. Just like all prey they stick with what keeps them alive. And if Big Publishing is keeping them alive then all the vitriol about how it does nothing but exploit writers can’t be true. It just can’t be.

    Don’t get me wrong, we are talking about major corporations which are out there to make a profit. But “major corporations” are not thinking, feeling, breathing entities. They are just pieces of paper and bank accounts. It’s the people in the corporations that matter, not the corporations themselves. Big Publishing— hold on, I’m going to stop using caps on that name and personifying it. Big (had to capitalize that since it’s the beginning of the sentence. Shut up) publishing is made up of people. Just like any other entity it is nothing without people. To generalize that big publishing is evil is to say that EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN PUBLISHING IS EVIL. Again, bullshit. Are there bad people? Yes. But they are everywhere. That’s life with humanity.

    Now how about self-publishing? I recently was having a conversation with an industry veteran that has worked with writers like Kurt Vonnegut, John LeCarre, E.L. Doctorow, and others. Her opinion is “self-publishing is filled with nothing but crap”. So I politely asked: “What self-published books have you read?” Her answer? None.

    None.

    This is a very intelligent person. She’s no dummy, yo. But, based on the generalizations she’s heard, not actual factual experience, she has formed an opinion that ALL self-publishing is “crap”. Why does she have that opinion when reality would suggest otherwise? There are now millions of self-published books in the market. The odds dictate that yes, a percentage will be crap. But, the odds dictate that some will be mediocre, too. And some, just like with all art everywhere in the world since the dawn of time, will be pure brilliance.

    But then she’s an editor, not a mathematician. Odds may be too hard to figure out.

    How many books have you read that you’ve loved? A small percentage. That’s what makes a classic a classic and a throwaway summer read a throwaway summer read. And that small percentage applies to authors, too. I love Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, but I can do without The Orchard Keeper. But because I didn’t really get into The Orchard Keeper then does that make Cormac McCarthy a shitty writer? I’m guessing no.

    A small percentage.

    You want to generalize? Then look at facts. Only a small percentage of anything is going to be good. That is art. And you, as an individual, will not agree with anyone else about that small percentage.

    Why?

    Because art is subjective!

    And there we have it folks: art is subjective. So is life. To state that anything is anything is egotistical flabberjabber. To say your experience is TRUTH or FACT is insane. It is only TRUTH or FACT for YOU. That’s it.

    Whether you are a writer or reader, your opinion is only valid for you. It is something others can weigh and take into account when forming their own opinions, but at no point should it be taken as FACT or TRUTH. Until you have read that self-published book or worked for big publishing then you have no experience to base any opinion on. You are General Ization’s infantry bitch.

    I’d also like to add that General Ization also applies to the subset of issues (GENDER!) within publishing. But I’m not going to get into that. There are many more articulate folks out there that have tackled this. Find them, read them, understand what’s going on.

    You may have read everything above and thought, “I don’t generalize. I base my opinions on the merit of the work.” Which may be true, but next time you have to choose between one book or the other think about what factors draw you to the one you choose. And what generalizations influenced you to make that choice.

    Because, as enlightened as you think you are (myself included), General Ization is standing right behind you, nodding, laughing, and plotting his next method of influence.

    Cheers.

  • The Next Way To Publish- Update and Thoughts, Part 8908625236.3

    Okay, so maybe I haven’t had that many parts to my updates. Probably closer to 75614562354.1. But that’s just a guess.

    So, how have you been? Good, good… Me? Been fine. Been busy. Busy, busy, busy. Busy.

    Busy with what you ask? Oh, writing the comic book scripts for DEAD MECH. Writing episodes of Big Box Blood Bath for serial release soon. Finishing a novel under a pen name. And watching the progress of the pre-order of Natural Born Cyborgs.

    Have you heard of it? No? Well, here it is!

    Natural Born Cyborgs–
    The techno-virus used by the Three hundreds of years ago has mutated and combined with BC (biochrome) to create a generation of natural born cyborgs- part biorganic metal, part human. Society decides these Splicers, as they are called, are too dangerous to let live and rounds them up for extermination. Those not found must hide their true natures and fight for their lives. And the lives of those yet born.
    Set in the same universe as DEAD MECH, but hundreds of years after the events in the Apex Trilogy, Natural Born Cyborgs is the first in the Splicer Wars series of novels that introduce the world to the new MechPunk style of science fiction- raw, unrelenting, brutal, and shiny.

    You like? I know ya do! I bet you wish you could read this right now! I know ya do! I KNOW EVERYTHING! Well, everything in my head. I know all of that. ALL OF THAT!

    But, seriously, how about those Pacers, eh? What? Oh, right, Natural Born Cyborgs. While I hate to take you away from this post you should click here to see what’s going on with this crazy pre-orderpalooza. Right…HERE!

    Cool, right? RIGHT?! Right…

    I have had a few pre-orders, a flurry in the beginning, but it has slacked off. So this post is for all of you folks that haven’t pre-ordered. Go pre-order. Do it now. NOW! Thanks.

    And for all of you that have already pre-ordered, here is a reminder: I don’t start writing the novel until I hit the minimum funding of $2000. We are 10% there. I know, I know, only 10%. But that’s to be expected. Hard to keep that momentum going day in and day out. That’s where I need your help, if you are so inclined. Spread the word. Tell your friends. Post on the Facebookerybookerbook. Tweet like your taint is on fire. Do all of that stuff.

    The sooner we hit $2000 in funding (like how I said ‘we’ there?) the sooner I start writing this bad boy!

    And here is the cool part: I may post rough draft samples along the way! Just some excerpts here and there to whet your whistle if your whistle needs whetting. Like this one!

    “The fire ball erupted all bout them, engulfing exposed skin in a blanket of heat and pain. The oxygen was ripped from their lungs and they lay singed and wounded on the deck of the transport car like forgotten goldfish dropped from a toddler’s hands.”

    Who is on the deck? Why is there a fireball? Who the hell lets toddlers handle goldfish? So many questions and the way to get the answers is to back Natural Born Cyborgs. So get to gettin’ to that. I promise you won’t be disappointed. I PROMISE!

    Cheers!