My new author blog on Blogspot is over at http://bhbranham.blogspot.com/
My primary blog&website is http://bhbranham.wordpress.com
Tumblr: http://bhbranham.tumblr.com
Twitter: @bhbranham
FB: https://www.facebook.com/bhbranham
You may purchase my books at http://bhbranham.storenvy.com as a signed paperback or hard cover.
It's also available at Amazon and Barnes&Noble in paperback or e-book, and at Kobo as an e-book.
Just search on "it really is rocket science".
I am currently watching the anime series "Golden Time" and "Seitokai Yakuindomo". Basically, unless it's a sketch comedy format or a college/workplace setting I'm done - too much recycling of plot and character types in a tight economy.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Friday, December 20, 2013
Time to reboot this.
I'm going to create a new blog on blogspot that reflects my author branding and focus on that. I'm going to actually shut this one down. I don't spend enough time on anime or gaming to warrant it and frankly, not many people look at it anyway so no loss.
Thanks to anyone who stopped by. I'll post the new blog here for a while before I delete this page once I set it up.
Thanks to anyone who stopped by. I'll post the new blog here for a while before I delete this page once I set it up.
Monday, December 9, 2013
I keep forgetting I *have* this blog. I'm going to convert it to synchronize it with my wordpress site over at http://bhbranham.wordpress.com
I should clean up my Google+ account, too as well. There's really no point anymore in compartmentalizing my "Vexx" life from my "Brad" life. More people know me as Vexx than as Brad but with all the forced transparency of the various social media coupled with my "I don't care if you know my hobbies" attitude - so it goes ;)
"It Really IS Rocket Science" adventure series news:
Volume One is percolating along on the shelves. Everyone likes the cover with Elisanth. I plan to use her on the third volume again. She evokes a pretty decent version of Glycerin, the lead guitarist.
Volume Two is in final edits. I'm hoping to use "Mamiko" for the cover of this volume. She has the appearance of a real-life version of the character Tsika, the bass guitar player, in the story.
Volume Three rough drafts are almost complete.
The marketing takes up quite a bit of time, 50% or better of available. Most of that is 'start up' and figuring out what actually matters - which social media, which channels, etc.
I should clean up my Google+ account, too as well. There's really no point anymore in compartmentalizing my "Vexx" life from my "Brad" life. More people know me as Vexx than as Brad but with all the forced transparency of the various social media coupled with my "I don't care if you know my hobbies" attitude - so it goes ;)
"It Really IS Rocket Science" adventure series news:
Volume One is percolating along on the shelves. Everyone likes the cover with Elisanth. I plan to use her on the third volume again. She evokes a pretty decent version of Glycerin, the lead guitarist.
Volume Two is in final edits. I'm hoping to use "Mamiko" for the cover of this volume. She has the appearance of a real-life version of the character Tsika, the bass guitar player, in the story.
Volume Three rough drafts are almost complete.
The marketing takes up quite a bit of time, 50% or better of available. Most of that is 'start up' and figuring out what actually matters - which social media, which channels, etc.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Several author moments
1) Attended an author festival, met with several indie publishers, traded notes with several published authors. Picked up useful data on self-marketing, etc.
2) Went to a seminar hosted by the Northwest Writers and Publishers Association on e-publishing and leveraging social media tools. Tricks and tips of handling the various channels a writer has access to these days. Got a chance to pitch my book, was happy at the response (I seem to be hitting a niche in story content without much competition currently - and not because it isn't liked, just no one seems to have thought of it.)
About halfway through volume 3 rough drafting ... I'm rollercoasting a little bit. Very funny and very dark ... but I feel like that's really how it goes sometimes. I did pull back and separate out a few events because it was turning into a perfect storm of oblivion and doom.
Part of me wishes I could put some of this earlier in the storyline but it just doesn't fit there. The feedback I've gotten on volume 1 is really good but the problems will require some careful tweaking. Probably the biggest epiphany is that I had written the story too much from an Eastern literature perspective for the average Western reader. Readers familiar with anime and manga were having no problems whereas non-anime types were "Oh my god, this is drowning in pathos and why are these people so needy?" I was taking tropes of the culture and playing around with them - satire, inversion, subversion, etc. but I forgot to tune it for Western sensibility. I think I can balance it out, but yeah, some dialog changes at the least.
I don't want to drive people away before they finish the first volume. The second volume seems to be really cool to most people so I want them to get there ;)
The third volume rough draft is very cool as well but I think it needs more upbeat moments to balance some seriously downer events and epiphanies. Things to do.
And ... I'm still no where on illustrations. I feel really strongly I need at least internal illustrations, more than just book jacket pics. Looking at DAZ still but that's a black hole of nickel and diming if one isn't careful.
Lots to do this month and it is already half over. Yipes.
1) Attended an author festival, met with several indie publishers, traded notes with several published authors. Picked up useful data on self-marketing, etc.
2) Went to a seminar hosted by the Northwest Writers and Publishers Association on e-publishing and leveraging social media tools. Tricks and tips of handling the various channels a writer has access to these days. Got a chance to pitch my book, was happy at the response (I seem to be hitting a niche in story content without much competition currently - and not because it isn't liked, just no one seems to have thought of it.)
About halfway through volume 3 rough drafting ... I'm rollercoasting a little bit. Very funny and very dark ... but I feel like that's really how it goes sometimes. I did pull back and separate out a few events because it was turning into a perfect storm of oblivion and doom.
Part of me wishes I could put some of this earlier in the storyline but it just doesn't fit there. The feedback I've gotten on volume 1 is really good but the problems will require some careful tweaking. Probably the biggest epiphany is that I had written the story too much from an Eastern literature perspective for the average Western reader. Readers familiar with anime and manga were having no problems whereas non-anime types were "Oh my god, this is drowning in pathos and why are these people so needy?" I was taking tropes of the culture and playing around with them - satire, inversion, subversion, etc. but I forgot to tune it for Western sensibility. I think I can balance it out, but yeah, some dialog changes at the least.
I don't want to drive people away before they finish the first volume. The second volume seems to be really cool to most people so I want them to get there ;)
The third volume rough draft is very cool as well but I think it needs more upbeat moments to balance some seriously downer events and epiphanies. Things to do.
And ... I'm still no where on illustrations. I feel really strongly I need at least internal illustrations, more than just book jacket pics. Looking at DAZ still but that's a black hole of nickel and diming if one isn't careful.
Lots to do this month and it is already half over. Yipes.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Volume three of the light novel series is underway now, several chapters into it.
My rewrite of volume one is getting good feedback - planning to publish this for sure now. Still not finding an artist so I've started looking at DAZ and other 3d char gen tools. I still flip back and forth between a cartoony/anime style versus a realistic style for the illustrations.
As for the literature, the more I write the better I get. The main obstacle I encounter now is starting new story arcs, the old blank page problem. I have an outline but coming up with original "daily life inbetween" stuff can require a lot of brainstorming. I'll pick up ideas in the oddest places (shopping, restaurants, etc).
On the gaming front, I'm just done with MMOs for a while -- a new project called Wildstar has my attention mostly because of the humor and the cartoony art style. Seems to be a nice collection of 'best practices'.
Also, purchased Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on a Steam sale. I'm more a high fantasy RPG fan but this is proving quite entertaining with all the sci-fi/horror/fantasy cultural references, puns, and gags.
My rewrite of volume one is getting good feedback - planning to publish this for sure now. Still not finding an artist so I've started looking at DAZ and other 3d char gen tools. I still flip back and forth between a cartoony/anime style versus a realistic style for the illustrations.
As for the literature, the more I write the better I get. The main obstacle I encounter now is starting new story arcs, the old blank page problem. I have an outline but coming up with original "daily life inbetween" stuff can require a lot of brainstorming. I'll pick up ideas in the oddest places (shopping, restaurants, etc).
On the gaming front, I'm just done with MMOs for a while -- a new project called Wildstar has my attention mostly because of the humor and the cartoony art style. Seems to be a nice collection of 'best practices'.
Also, purchased Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on a Steam sale. I'm more a high fantasy RPG fan but this is proving quite entertaining with all the sci-fi/horror/fantasy cultural references, puns, and gags.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Cranking through a light novel series at 1-2 chapters a week
Looks like I'm good for a quarterly update at best.
I'm lurching into volume two of my light novel series. I've gotten enough good feedback about volume one that I'm going to reformat it, fix a bunch of squirrel bits, and digitally publish it. Talking to a couple of artists about having them do some original illustrations to slip into the text. I like writing the story. I do wonder if this is a one-shot wonder or if I can write other stories. I just really like *these* characters though and I'd like to give them a world and a life to be in.
I'm currently not playing any MMOs. Secret World was a lot of fun but the company just appears to have dropped the ball ... or there's just not a lot of interest from the vast horde of gamers in quest lines that actually require one to think. Whichever, the world is very truncated. Tera just got boring. It was severely broken in the roleplay tools (when even an ancient game like EQ2 runs circles around it - not a good sign) and the grindfest that infects most Korean MMOs was only thinly veiled. Might give the lates final fantasy a twirl but otherwise I'm still playing Skyrim. With all the PC mods available, it can still be a 'new game' every time I roll a new character.
Currently, the holidays have permitted both my sons to be home so between them and she-who-is-cute-and-must-be-obeyed have been getting a lot of tabletop gaming in.
I'm lurching into volume two of my light novel series. I've gotten enough good feedback about volume one that I'm going to reformat it, fix a bunch of squirrel bits, and digitally publish it. Talking to a couple of artists about having them do some original illustrations to slip into the text. I like writing the story. I do wonder if this is a one-shot wonder or if I can write other stories. I just really like *these* characters though and I'd like to give them a world and a life to be in.
I'm currently not playing any MMOs. Secret World was a lot of fun but the company just appears to have dropped the ball ... or there's just not a lot of interest from the vast horde of gamers in quest lines that actually require one to think. Whichever, the world is very truncated. Tera just got boring. It was severely broken in the roleplay tools (when even an ancient game like EQ2 runs circles around it - not a good sign) and the grindfest that infects most Korean MMOs was only thinly veiled. Might give the lates final fantasy a twirl but otherwise I'm still playing Skyrim. With all the PC mods available, it can still be a 'new game' every time I roll a new character.
Currently, the holidays have permitted both my sons to be home so between them and she-who-is-cute-and-must-be-obeyed have been getting a lot of tabletop gaming in.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Writing a Light Novel
Been a busy summer, not necessarily profitable, but busy.
I've been percolating a concept for a light novel series. For those not familiar, light novels are popular in Japan. They're like written novel versions of manga, running 10-20 volumes of about a 100 pages a volume. I had finished an anime series about a high school pop music club and some friends and I were lamenting that anime almost never moved into college or professional life.
So I started storyboarding a series concept about a 20-something rock band, their adventures, lucky breaks, romances, and roller coaster ride to fame. The more I messed with it, the more compelled I got to keep going. I had used Rock Band 3 for character design (my art sucks) and programming their play and watching avatar behavior gave me ideas for their personalities.
Any way, the target audience is young adults - though I think anyone might find it readable. I've been publishing it in a forum but the material may be edging past the PG-13 point in some moments. I'm going to start publishing it in parallel. I may test it here and see whether the blog format handles it or not.
Sometimes, "It Really IS Rocket Science"
I've been percolating a concept for a light novel series. For those not familiar, light novels are popular in Japan. They're like written novel versions of manga, running 10-20 volumes of about a 100 pages a volume. I had finished an anime series about a high school pop music club and some friends and I were lamenting that anime almost never moved into college or professional life.
So I started storyboarding a series concept about a 20-something rock band, their adventures, lucky breaks, romances, and roller coaster ride to fame. The more I messed with it, the more compelled I got to keep going. I had used Rock Band 3 for character design (my art sucks) and programming their play and watching avatar behavior gave me ideas for their personalities.
Any way, the target audience is young adults - though I think anyone might find it readable. I've been publishing it in a forum but the material may be edging past the PG-13 point in some moments. I'm going to start publishing it in parallel. I may test it here and see whether the blog format handles it or not.
Sometimes, "It Really IS Rocket Science"
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
On the MMO front - experimenting with both TERA and Secret World. Tera looks like a few months of fun unless there are substantial changes made. The devs have largely missed the boat on emote complexity and roleplay tools - and it is far too linear and grindy (standard Korean MMO problem). Secret World is the most fascinating thing since way back in EQ/EQ2 in terms of quest lines and character design --- some nits (like the character appearance creation is not state-of-the-art by any stretch, I can't even adjust height weight and the hairstyles are repetitive.... then there's the "ape face" problem... )
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Musing on the gaming front... after the meltdown at the Sony Station, we took a break from EQ2 to try Rift out. Results so far ... its a reasonably fun game, competent BUT:
1) You run out of things to do and hit rinse/repeat far too soon.
2) The guild tools are almost non-existent, no housing... equals difficult to create a sense of community.
3) And my usual complaint.... where's the 2-3 player instances? What is it with 10-20 player instances that the devs love so much? They're button mashing fests of boredom...
4) Questing is largely a solo operation.... which would be fine if some of the storylines weren't so shallow (e.g. spot the traitor 10 or 20 levels before the truth is revealed)
I'm getting pretty tired of swapping MMOs every time one of my sons get bored though.. one is already twitching. There's a closed beta of an asian f2p mmo starting up soon and I may just solo over to that (Tiara Concerto), otherwise I'll head back to EQ2 after they overhaul the major cities as they planned before the Sony disaster that left us adrift in MMO land.
1) You run out of things to do and hit rinse/repeat far too soon.
2) The guild tools are almost non-existent, no housing... equals difficult to create a sense of community.
3) And my usual complaint.... where's the 2-3 player instances? What is it with 10-20 player instances that the devs love so much? They're button mashing fests of boredom...
4) Questing is largely a solo operation.... which would be fine if some of the storylines weren't so shallow (e.g. spot the traitor 10 or 20 levels before the truth is revealed)
I'm getting pretty tired of swapping MMOs every time one of my sons get bored though.. one is already twitching. There's a closed beta of an asian f2p mmo starting up soon and I may just solo over to that (Tiara Concerto), otherwise I'll head back to EQ2 after they overhaul the major cities as they planned before the Sony disaster that left us adrift in MMO land.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Natsu Matsuri ....
She-who-is-small-tsundere and I attended the local version of a japanese summer festival this weekend. One of the local taiko groups leads the effort (Takohachi). The festival was decent, many more food booths than last year (though the taiyaki booth was missing) and entertainment (missing was our local japanese news guy as emcee and a renowned koto player). The missing-in-action I blame on it being the 4th-of-July weekend (whose idea was THAT?).
Otherwise, we're having our "new year cleaning purification" a few months late. I'd started on a whole house overhaul with my son in January but we got derailed by burn out a month later. We're trying to get to a decent point by mid-July when my younger son comes to visit for a few weeks. Much gaming and feasting anticipated.
Snagged manga Yotsuba& vol.10 (にほんご) at the local Kinokuniya.
Otherwise, we're having our "new year cleaning purification" a few months late. I'd started on a whole house overhaul with my son in January but we got derailed by burn out a month later. We're trying to get to a decent point by mid-July when my younger son comes to visit for a few weeks. Much gaming and feasting anticipated.
Snagged manga Yotsuba& vol.10 (にほんご) at the local Kinokuniya.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
One of these days I'll remember I have this blog...
Just a short note....
Anime land....
Finished up Otome Yokai Zakuro, one of the few series I enjoyed last fall/winter.
Otherwise, keeping up with Kimi ni Todoke (shoujo angst) and a couple of odd ones.
Working!! was just announced as a second season for the summer and there's an OVA due out of Seitokei Yakuindomo, so goodness there.
Gaming-wise...
Still mashing along in Everquest 2. It remains more compelling than many MMOs simply because there's so much to do and its frankly nostalgic. Some of my other games (Dragon Age, Recettear, etc) are just idling in limbo as a result.
Finally scored a couple of interviews in the last month... but both were "already had someone in mind and are just going through the motions". I've been on the hiring side long enough to know the clues. I'm really tired of not-working. Absolutely anything that requires a smidge of brain power would be good or something that benefits the community. I've been volunteering but even that has been sporadically available.
I'm trying not to turn this into any rant... but I'm increasingly pessimistic about the country I'm in and its probable future. Both sons are training in careers that provide options elsewhere on the planet so perhaps they'll make out.
Anime land....
Finished up Otome Yokai Zakuro, one of the few series I enjoyed last fall/winter.
Otherwise, keeping up with Kimi ni Todoke (shoujo angst) and a couple of odd ones.
Working!! was just announced as a second season for the summer and there's an OVA due out of Seitokei Yakuindomo, so goodness there.
Gaming-wise...
Still mashing along in Everquest 2. It remains more compelling than many MMOs simply because there's so much to do and its frankly nostalgic. Some of my other games (Dragon Age, Recettear, etc) are just idling in limbo as a result.
Finally scored a couple of interviews in the last month... but both were "already had someone in mind and are just going through the motions". I've been on the hiring side long enough to know the clues. I'm really tired of not-working. Absolutely anything that requires a smidge of brain power would be good or something that benefits the community. I've been volunteering but even that has been sporadically available.
I'm trying not to turn this into any rant... but I'm increasingly pessimistic about the country I'm in and its probable future. Both sons are training in careers that provide options elsewhere on the planet so perhaps they'll make out.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Busy summer... but I've managed to find time for the following anime:
Just finished up Working!! .... a funny sit-com about a bunch of people who work in a "Denny's"-like restaurant and their interactions. It is based on a 4-panel comic and was unexpectedly popular. Perhaps there will be a follow up season.
Currently watching Seitokai Yakuindomo, based on another 4-panel strip, it is set in a high school that was all girls *until* this year. There's a few guys attending and one has the misfortune to end up on the student council "to get a guy's viewpoint". The humor is sharp and outrageous as the women are pretty clueless about guys outside of what they've read and stereotyped.
Continuing with the K-On!! saga (a 2-cour sequel). The storytelling and characterization is much better than expected and, of course, I like the music the fictional band puts out.
There's a few other series I'm watching, but they're more "as I get to them" rather than "oh, its out, drop everything".
In gaming news.... my sons and I have gone through a few more MMOs (free-to-play ones). Allods is pretty damn good (Russian built) but we've somehow ended up back playing a classic: Everquest 2 (most of the flavor and richness of EQ but with graphics that don't stab your eyes). They had a 14 day trial and 3 or 4 days into it, I'm like "oh.... THIS is what initially attracted me to MMORPGs". The crack is pretty good and the *community* is far more mature than 90% of the dysfunctional dilweeds and idiots I encounter in most MMOs.
Work-wise.... some software contracts and random computer support but I'm definitely in the "dislocated worker who has dropped off the radar" like about half of my engineering and IT coworkers. It probably isn't a Good Idea to have this much brainpower left in limbo by the robber barons. #2 son's college financial aid package was better this year so perhaps I can start taking classes in "career #3" again.
Just finished up Working!! .... a funny sit-com about a bunch of people who work in a "Denny's"-like restaurant and their interactions. It is based on a 4-panel comic and was unexpectedly popular. Perhaps there will be a follow up season.
Currently watching Seitokai Yakuindomo, based on another 4-panel strip, it is set in a high school that was all girls *until* this year. There's a few guys attending and one has the misfortune to end up on the student council "to get a guy's viewpoint". The humor is sharp and outrageous as the women are pretty clueless about guys outside of what they've read and stereotyped.
Continuing with the K-On!! saga (a 2-cour sequel). The storytelling and characterization is much better than expected and, of course, I like the music the fictional band puts out.
There's a few other series I'm watching, but they're more "as I get to them" rather than "oh, its out, drop everything".
In gaming news.... my sons and I have gone through a few more MMOs (free-to-play ones). Allods is pretty damn good (Russian built) but we've somehow ended up back playing a classic: Everquest 2 (most of the flavor and richness of EQ but with graphics that don't stab your eyes). They had a 14 day trial and 3 or 4 days into it, I'm like "oh.... THIS is what initially attracted me to MMORPGs". The crack is pretty good and the *community* is far more mature than 90% of the dysfunctional dilweeds and idiots I encounter in most MMOs.
Work-wise.... some software contracts and random computer support but I'm definitely in the "dislocated worker who has dropped off the radar" like about half of my engineering and IT coworkers. It probably isn't a Good Idea to have this much brainpower left in limbo by the robber barons. #2 son's college financial aid package was better this year so perhaps I can start taking classes in "career #3" again.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Oh boy, yet another "new toy"
Decided I needed some place to store my musings that didn't require me to host a site or play system administrator. I have a lot of hobbies that twinkle in and out of active states. The few that seem to be consistent are my love of world cultures (particularly Japan), languages, computational sciences, and gaming.
I *could* stick all of this on Facebook... but Facebook annoys me with its primitive level of "friending" in which I either get someone's full blast fire hydrant or nothing at all. There's no differentiation between professional, family, acquaintance, or hobby connections.
So after I tinker with the Google toys here, we'll see how this goes. Why Tatsudoshi-vexx for the URL?
"たつどし" means "dragon" (or more to the point - "year of the dragon"). My online personality since 1987 (yes, 1987) has always been a somewhat curmudgeonly but relatively mellow dragon who's moniker was "Vexx" (short for Vexxallarius). The personality originated in a character I developed for the tabletop D&D games I hosted in the 1980s. Nothing to do with that silly console game developed in the late 90s. And now you know :P
Future posts will reference my wife whom I call Sundrop when online. Ninety-five pounds of cute raspy tsundere in a 4'11" frame of Japanese extraction. Also sometimes referred to as "she-who-is-cute-and-must-be-obeyed".
We have two sons I'll refer to as Son #1 (age 25) and Son #2 (age 19) with whom I do most of my gaming. Sundrop mostly sticks to tabletop gaming. Then there is the small collection of "lost children" teens and 20-somethings we seem to have "adopted" via our sons which keep life interesting :)
I *could* stick all of this on Facebook... but Facebook annoys me with its primitive level of "friending" in which I either get someone's full blast fire hydrant or nothing at all. There's no differentiation between professional, family, acquaintance, or hobby connections.
So after I tinker with the Google toys here, we'll see how this goes. Why Tatsudoshi-vexx for the URL?
"たつどし" means "dragon" (or more to the point - "year of the dragon"). My online personality since 1987 (yes, 1987) has always been a somewhat curmudgeonly but relatively mellow dragon who's moniker was "Vexx" (short for Vexxallarius). The personality originated in a character I developed for the tabletop D&D games I hosted in the 1980s. Nothing to do with that silly console game developed in the late 90s. And now you know :P
Future posts will reference my wife whom I call Sundrop when online. Ninety-five pounds of cute raspy tsundere in a 4'11" frame of Japanese extraction. Also sometimes referred to as "she-who-is-cute-and-must-be-obeyed".
We have two sons I'll refer to as Son #1 (age 25) and Son #2 (age 19) with whom I do most of my gaming. Sundrop mostly sticks to tabletop gaming. Then there is the small collection of "lost children" teens and 20-somethings we seem to have "adopted" via our sons which keep life interesting :)
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