Month: October 2015

Writing contest on reddit

On By Jacob WallaceIn reddit, writingLeave a comment

While it is just reddit, every bit of exposure helps. I put up a 1041 word story on reddit.  Any support would be appreciated if you have an account.

The theme was deal with the devil. My story is ‘Repo From Hell’.  Let me know what you think. Link to post is here.https://www.reddit.com/r/fantasywriters/comments/3qe86d/spooky_october_2015_monthly_writing_challenge/cwevfvk

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If you enjoy my writing, please buy my books at amazon.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V2UT95Y?keywords=jacob%20wallace&qid=1445983009&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Don’t understand Google Plus

On By Jacob WallaceIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

So I recently tried to go on to Google+ to try and network and market my books on social media.  That thing looks like a maze!  Am I getting to old for new social media or something?  I was able to grasp twitter more or less.  Google+ just made my head spin when I looked at it.

Maybe I’ll have to check it out when it’s not one in the morning.  Maybe that might have something to do with it as well.

Paperback books are now available!

On By Jacob WallaceIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have approved my proofs, and paperbacks are now available!  It took a while for me to get them just right, but I’m finally satisfied with them enough to let the world see them.

Books are available for sale at these links:

http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Night-Twilight-Parody-1/dp/1517773881/ref=la_B00VDDH5LU_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445709380&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/Almost-Night-II-Unspeakable-Dimension/dp/1517784743/ref=la_B00VDDH5LU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445709380&sr=1-2

Gonna be another couple days.

On By Jacob WallaceIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Doing some minor edits to improve format of books, which requires another day of file review, plus I want to see the proofs, so another day for shipping.  Hopefully I can be selling by the weekend.

It was hard to remember patience.  I wanted to click approve so bad, but there were minor tweaks I want to do.  I’d rather wait another couple days and have books that are appealing on the inside and out, than click approve and regret it.  Coming soon!

Proof copy should be in tomorrow.

On By Jacob WallaceIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

My proof copy of my books should in tomorrow.  I will review them and hopefully see that they are fit for sale.  Then I can start selling physical copies starting tomorrow!  Yay!

Next will be the daunting task of approaching bookstores and coffee shops, trying to set up book signings and consignment deals.  If anybody has any tips, I would highly appreciate them!  Will also set up an etsy shop so I can sell autographed copies as well.

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If you enjoy these blogs, please show support by buying my book.  Soon to available in hard copy as well as ebook.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V2UT95Y?gwSec=1&redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p351_d1_i1

Inability to prove God and why that isn’t a bad thing.

On By Jacob WallaceIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I definitely don’t want this blog to become a religion based blog, but I do want to share some thoughts on the subject.  I don’t have a degree in theology or anything, but I just have some thoughts to share.  At this time, I do not wish to share where I stand on the religious topic.

Lots of people say that there is no proof of God.  Well, they’re not wrong, but I think it goes deeper than that.  There can’t be proof of God.  That isn’t to say there definitely is a God.  However, there simply can never proof of the being.  This doesn’t just apply to the Christian God either.

No ‘proof’, no matter how affirming can never be proof.  After all, we have records of certain miracles happening over time.  For instance, there is the Virgin of Guadalupe.  If you don’t know the story, you can look it up the full story yourself, but the gist is there was a peasant in 1531, Juan Diego, who saw a vision of Mary who asked him to build a church at a site.  The archbishop wanted proof, and to sum up the story, Juan’s sick uncle was healed and the image of Mary was imposed on a blanket.  Not just some smudge, but a full in color portrait, and it is still on display today.

There’s also all the miracles in the Bible.  No need to be biased; there’s miracles in the Koran, Torah, Vedas, etc.  There’s stigmatas, and even cases where priests claim to witness the eucharist literally turning into blood and meat.  (being an American, I grew up around Christian culture, and so that is what I am most familiar with; I’m sure other religions have their own miracle stories, but I am not as familiar with them)

Well, with all these records of miracles, why doesn’t everybody believe in God?  Because we have no proof that those stories are true.  Nobody knows if the miracles depicted in the Bible, Koran, etc. are true or not except those that were there themselves.  Nobody will ever know with certainty exactly how that picture ended up on that blanket in 1531 except for Juan Diego.  The point is, there will never be definitive proof.  Even if we had a definite miracle today, who would believe us in a hundred years?  Or even just ten years?

How would we know a miracle was a miracle if we saw one?  There isn’t much that could be definitively proven as miraculous.  There is pretty much nothing that could happen that could not be rationalized as a potential trick or scam.  Even today we have modern “prophets” or “gods” who are revealed to be scammers and tricksters.  Some of them even perform convincing “miracles” that are later shown to be a trick.  Especially with modern video editing, there is no shortage of things that could be done.  Or it could be a natural phenomenon that seems magical at the time, but later science shows it to be a natural, if unusual, occurrence.  Similar to the ancient people around in Biblical times.  Most people like to think of them as fools, but they were just as intelligent as we are, they just didn’t know as much.

Case in point, if God was real, then the existence of the world would be the result of a miracle.  We are all around to experience this miracle, but do we all believe?  No, because there is no way to know how the world came to be.  Some people like to say that the existence of the world is definite proof of God.  But that seems rather off.  For instance, some people say the world is too complex to have come about without a God.  Then that would necessitate a rather simple God, since in most monotheistic religions God is all powerful and there is none greater.  The buck stops with Him.  However, if God is all infinite and all powerful, then He must be a great deal more complex than the physical universe He created.  Therefore, we can’t use complexity as a means to gauge whether the universe had a creator or not.

Even if God Himself showed up on Earth, how would we know it was God?  Even if He could show definitive powers, it could be an alien or something.  There would be no way to now if an all powerful being would be just an advanced alien, or if it truly was the being that created the world, et cetera et cetera.  While advanced aliens are a little out there, so is the creator of the universe suddenly manifesting on the Earth not to end it, but just to show off His fancy powers.

All this is not to say that there is no God, nor is it to say that it is foolish to believe in a God.  Religion is based on faith.  That’s the beauty of it.  There is no proof for it, and there is no proof against it.  Just to go with the Christian God for a moment, Jesus tells the people that were cleansed of leprosy or other miracles that Jesus performed to go home and tell no one of the miracle.  Why?  Because Jesus didn’t want people to believe because of fancy “magic tricks”, Jesus wanted people because of faith.

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If you enjoyed this, please support me and buy my books.  Almost Night: A Twilight Parody  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V2UT95Y?gwSec=1&redirect=true&ref_=s9_simh_gw_p351_d1_i1

Zombie short

On By Jacob WallaceIn flash fiction, writingLeave a comment

Here’s a flash fiction story I wrote.  It is about one of the last humans getting turned into a zombie.

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Zombies bashed down the barrier to my shelter.  Adrenaline moved me and I was barely aware of grabbing my shotgun as they started to enter.  Brain, blood, and bone splattered on the walls and floor.  Gunpowder smoke rose, while I frantically shot each one.  A terrifying click came from the mechanism when I got ready to shoot the last one.  I swore before reaching for a shell.

Clumsy arms grabbed onto my barrel and I bashed its head with the butt.  It snarled in reply before latching onto my forearm.  I put my foot on its chest and thrust the creature away.  It stumbled back and I loaded the shotgun shell and blew its head off.  I breathed out a sigh of relief and let myself fall to the ground to sit and lean on my makeshift wall of sheet metal.

Something warm and wet slid down my arm.  Sharp pain burned on my wrist and my heart jolted when I saw the bloody teeth marks. I swore as I frantically tried to clean it. Somewhere deep inside me, I already knew it was already too late. Nobody lasts after a bite, and there was no reason that I would be an exception. Denial kept me from killing myself. I wanted to believe I was the one exception until my fever started to set in. Beads of sweat form on my face and there was no way to deny it. At that point, it was over.

All of my extremities started to go numb and I lost control of my fingers. Everything became blurry and I panted as my strength left. Thoughts of using my gun to blow my brains out crossed my mind. I didn’t want to be one of those monsters that I had spent months fighting, but even more I feared death. Part of me wanted to chuckle at how pathetic I was. All this prep, all those times I had to shoot friends and family after they were infected, and I was too cowardly to shoot myself when the time came.

I grabbed a shotgun shell.  At least, I tried to.  It was near impossible to get my fingers around that thing and the round bounced all over.  A feeling of triumph radiated through me when I held it, and I brought it to feed it into the ammo slot.  My hand didn’t have the strength to push past the spring, and it fell to the ground.  I didn’t even have the energy to be angry.  Everything became darker and all I could do was shut my eyes and accept it.

When my eyes opened, I had a sense of unity. Zombies may seem dumb, but we were still social creatures.  After months of watching everybody I care about die, and weeks of being alone in a shelter that I made, I finally belonged somewhere. None of our perceived differences mattered. Rich and poor was a thing of the past. Alpearances mattered little since our flesh was peeling off.  Zombies never fight each other, and I knew any zombies I met would have my back.

All the aches in my body were gone and my hand didn’t hurt at all. Hunger only pained me when I thought of it, and even then it wasn’t the growling pain in my stomach from rationing non-perishables for the past several months. It was more like I just knew that I needed to eat flesh.

I shambled from my destroyed shelter with the rest of the hoarde. There were no hard feelings that I killed half a dozen before that one bit me. All that mattered was that I was one of them now, and we searched for food in the form of any living being left in the world.