Keith J. Hackerson's DUNE BLOG / tehKJA's Blahg(kjablog.com)

[SandRider]

well, we keep saying that, but who are we really talking about?
there are only three active Anderclones active on the net; even an
"average" fanboy would just have to be aware of the OH presence
anywhere and anywhere McDune is mentioned ... if you discount the
501ers & the folks actually attached to the Keith's bunghole, attendance
at any signing or appearance can be tallied without taking your shoes off ....

I'm not buying "legions of rabid fanboys" anymore ... where the fuck are they ?
actual posting membership on the Official Corporate Dune Forum is a constant -
same old fucktards, occasionally a few new fucktards to replace the few who wander off,
OH sockpuppets & Byron ....

so where are these sales coming from that convince TOR to keep publishing tehKJA ?

the only theory I can come up with so far is that the vast, vast majority purchaser and consumer
of the McDune product has to be 10-15 year old middle-class white boys (who may or may not
have attempted to read Frank) with generous allowances that they spend on all hack-pulp
"scifi" - the Warhammer, the Stargate, the StarWars, whatever else is out there these days ...

they gobble up these books in read-and-toss-aside fashion and use some of the ideas or scenes or
characters to bolster their video-game fantasy lives; why would kids like that waste time arguing on
the net with a bunch of cranky old fucks about that stupid shit, when there is so much
porn to surf ?

[Ampoliros]

I must retort that warhammer is high-brow pulp. Not in the same league as star wars/ star trek at all.

[SandRider]

hit a soft spot, eh ?

[Hunchback Jack]

so where are these sales coming from that convince TOR to keep publishing tehKJA ?

the only theory I can come up with so far is that the vast, vast majority purchaser and consumer
of the McDune product has to be 10-15 year old middle-class white boys (who may or may not
have attempted to read Frank) with generous allowances that they spend on all hack-pulp
"scifi" - the Warhammer, the Stargate, the StarWars, whatever else is out there these days ...

Yeah, certainly younger readers who read SF movie novelizations and pulp series would make up a significant portion.

Maybe there are older folks who watched the Dune miniseries on siffy 10 years ago, have been reading the books ever since because they are in the same universe, and just don't socialize much on the internet beyond facebook. I'm guessing they might not read a lot of hard SF, and might not get into the whole "fandom" thing. They just buy and read the books for something to do.

HBJ

[SandChigger]

Keep in mind that we're in the upper half of the population, too.

You know, the ones above average intelligence.

[Ampoliros]

not so much a soft spot, Warhammer is definitely pulpish, but when its good its damn good.

I'd put Horus Rising by Dan Abnett as the best military sci-fi I've read. There is quite a bit of depth to the universe when people bother to write about it, hense the label high-brow pulp.

[Omphalos]

I've heard that his Warhammer books were actually good, but I still just cannot bring myself to believe it. Warhammer? That game from the 80s?

[SandRider]

shit, that game from the 80s a whole nother generation of geeks is spazzin-out over ...

I hauled that trunk of stuff my kid had in college into the LittleBigTown quite awhile back,
to the one little "hobby" store in the strip mall next to the town's only bowling alley, made
the mexicans carry it in like pirate's booty ... unlatched it and flipped the lid back, said
"say, what is all this shit?" .... two of the kids started pulling stuff out and came
all over themselves before the older guy who owns the store could calm them down
and get them the fuck out of the way ... his eyes got kinda big, too, and a little
forehead sweat broke out ...

the kids were still squealing they had never seen that many metal figures in one place
before (pewter? lead? some of them are really soft and dull and shed, and some are
more shiny & hard)(apparently, the new games only have plastic pieces ...) and the
owner kinda choked out that it was "quite a collection" ...

I asked him how much this shit was worth - he hemmed & hawed, talked about
"collectible price" and stuff like that - said he'd have to look at and research each
piece ... "ballpark figger, Hoss" I says .... he couldn't do that, not without looking
at and .... okay, gotcha .... you know anybody'd wanna buy this shit ?

(the kids came on themselves again) well, there is a small but dedicated group of players
in the area, he's sure they would all be interested in seeing this collection and most likely
some would be interested in certain select pieces ...

alrighty, then, and I gave the mexicans the hand-signal to close up the trunk and
haul it back to the truck; gave the dude a matchbook with the landline phone number
on the cover (never answer that one, ever; message-taking only, and it's the only number
I ever give out) looked him straight in the eye and said "I'm selling the whole box, all together,
kit & caboodle, five grand. You get somebody serious, you call me. Don't fuck with me over
any other petty bullshit." and walked out.

[Ampoliros]

Horus Rising was my first introduction to the WH40k printed word after falling in love with the Dawn of War RTS. Its an extremely well done introduction to the universe.

I'd love to have some other serious sci-fi readers check it out and tell me if I'm just running a temperature, but I seriously think it needs to be listed under sci-fi lit rather than pulp. The rest of the series is very much pulp, but also very enjoyable. If you enjoy Horus Rising you'll enjoy the next two books which finish out the introductory trilogy, after that the story widens out into the general WH40k universe.

[Lundse]

I've heard that his Warhammer books were actually good, but I still just cannot bring myself to believe it. Warhammer? That game from the 80s?

Still being played, by several friends of mine too. And some of the franchise books are, allegedly, quite good. Incidentally, there are some Dune influences on the game:

Lasguns.
One human Empire - with a godlike emperor.
Navigators (psyched/drugged up).
Technology is stunted (different reasons).
A gothic look and feel (more Lynch than Herbert).
And sword-play in science fiction (and more chain-saw-play, and chain-fist-play, and giant-fucking-hammer-play).

[Omphalos]

I've heard that his Warhammer books were actually good, but I still just cannot bring myself to believe it. Warhammer? That game from the 80s?

Still being played, by several friends of mine too. And some of the franchise books are, allegedly, quite good. Incidentally, there are some Dune influences on the game:

Lasguns.
One human Empire - with a godlike emperor.
Navigators (psyched/drugged up).
Technology is stunted (different reasons).
A gothic look and feel (more Lynch than Herbert).
And sword-play in science fiction (and more chain-saw-play, and chain-fist-play, and giant-fucking-hammer-play).

My brother was totally into the miniatures game. I think there was an RPG too, and I think I first played in way back then. Wasn't aware that it was still around or popular. I think that besides the various TSR games and Traveller that was one for the first games I got into a bit after D&D.

[SadisticCynic]

I'm a member of a gaming society at the uni. Pretty sure there are people there playing Warhammer.

[SandRider]

great, any of'em wanna buy a steamer trunk full of shit ?

(I ain't footin the bill on freight, tho; box weighs about 75 lbs ...)

[Ampoliros]

Since we're off topic, I've been invited to play "D&D" 4th edition tomm. night. I'd rather be playing an RPG though.

[Omphalos]

Hmmmm? Back when I played D&D it was called an RPG. Is it not anymore?

[Lundse]

D&D was sorta the first roleplaying game, yes. The latest version go back to the roots, where it can more or less be played as a pure tabletop skirmish game - without the actual roleplaying. Dunno if it is used for that, though...

But yeah, all the D&D editions are RPG's, and among the top 1-3 most popular in their respective times, I believe.

[Ampoliros]

its WoW with pencils basically. No character development, tons of 'at-will' powers that can only be used in combat regardless of their capabilities. Punishes anyone who tries to think outside the box. Non-combat type characters are deliberately useless.

So all the creativity that made the old games flourish has been tied down and squashed to make the game more appealing and more accessible to a console-game generation.

Its as much D&D as McDune is Dune. Where it used to be a role playing game its now a roll playing game, or as we call it, a Dice based game.

I don't care what my Charisma or my die roll was, if the mayor of a town refuses to believe a party of hardened adventurers when I tell him the 'small band of raiding hobgoblins' is actually a scout party for a hobgoblin army lead by several dragons, that's his problem.

[DuneFishUK]

I've only tried to play a structured RPG once. Waste of time. Define a few simple mechanics, write down some attributes and play for fun - all complexity should come through the plotting and the characters, not the system. Keep that bit simple ain't it.

great, any of'em wanna buy a steamer trunk full of shit ?

(I ain't footin the bill on freight, tho; box weighs about 75 lbs ...)

I'd actually be quite interested to see a couple of photos of what you got.

[inhuien]

I think he thinks this little blob of words shows how difficult the "Business of Writing" can be:
"(Yes, newbies, even successful authors still garner rejection slips, especially in today’s
extremely tight short story market.)" ... I think the lesson he thinks he is imparting is to not
give up, but continue flailing away until the story ("product") finds a profitable niche, no matter
how small the profit, and regardless of the depths you have to sink to find that niche ...

I don't think he understands that to just about anyone, I would suspect, he comes off sounding
like a greedy little cocksucker; that this blahg-entry is a classic How-To-for-Hacks: spit-up a story
in minimum time, contrive to attach it to another hack-project, do not be deterred by rejection from
reputable publishers ....

Faster than the Speed of Publishing: eBooks
......

I've got to the point that I can't read another word that man "writes", I'd rather be on slopping out duty on A wing after Friday nights Tandoori treats.

[Hunchback Jack]

Hey, check out the essay on the front page of KJA's wordfire site. It's called "Writing Like It’s 1999" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. In short, she's describing a trend in the publishing industry whereby agents are becoming publishers, and screwing writers in the process. Her answer? Writers should epublish directly, and/or go to a vanity press to self-publish hard copies.

Whether this trend is true or not, the fact that his fellow writers believe it might explain why KJA is suddenly jumping on the epublishing bandwagon rather than going through traditional channels.

It also makes me wonder what kind of deal KJA has with the HLP for publishing the Frank Herbert backlist. If it's anything like the kind of contracts KKR describes, he basically gets his expenses paid first, and a significant cut of the proceeds going forward.

A sweet deal, given that he can use Frank's already-established name to promote the new ebooks.

Edited to add: Check out the ebook page on that site, too. The captions on the Herbert novels (just put up yesterday) are classic KJA.

http://www.wordfire.com/index.php?optio ... Itemid=208" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HBJ

[Ampoliros]

Motherfucker...

Anyone know where he's getting all that cover art?

[SandChigger]

He's even got a book by Bill Ransom up there? (Jaguar?)

Has Ransom joined the Herberrits in fucking the Devil?

[SandChigger]

Motherfucker...

Anyone know where he's getting all that cover art?

Probably pinching it... like a lot of the ideas in his books?

I hope the fucker fucks up and someone grills his fat ass with a copyright violation. :twister:

Motherfucker.

[SandRider]

"Tales of Dune" is posted twice ....


I think this has been discussed before :
Blindfold (Kevin J. Anderson) $4.99
Falsely accused of murder on the colony world of Atlas, Troy Boren trusts the young Truthsayer Kalliana . . . until, impossibly, she convicts him. Kalliana doesn’t realize her power is fading, but soon the evidence becomes impossible to ignore. The Truthsayer drug Veritas has been diluted and someone in the colony is selling smuggled telepathy. Justice isn’t blind—it’s been blinded! From an immortal’s orbital prison to the buried secrets of a regal fortress, Kalliana and Troy seek the conspiracy that threatens to destroy their world from within. For without truth and justice, Atlas will certainly fall. . . .
he hasn't posted the first dates of publication on any of these (maybe he doesn't understand why that would be important?)
you would think he would smart enough to've edited this and re-named his "Truthsayers" ... or atleast not put it in the
blurb ... are these the exact same blurbs as they appeared on the paperbacks ?



and wasn't Keith's job at Livermore along the lines of low-priority data-entry, in a cubicle ?
Craig Kreident 1: Virtual Destruction (Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason) $4.99
When a prominent nuclear-weapons researcher is murdered in a Top Security zone, FBI investigator Craig Kreident is brought in. Written by two insiders who have worked at Lawrence Livermore, Virtual Destruction is not only a gripping thriller and complex mystery, but a vivid portrayal of an actual US nuclear-design facility.
Ignition (Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason) $4.99
In this high-tech action adventure from Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason, terrorists seize control of the Kennedy Space Center and hold the shuttle Atlantis and its crew hostage on the launchpad. Anderson and Beason have packed Ignition with insider information to create an extremely plausible, action-packed thriller
I don't know anything about Beason, but the only "insider information" Keith has about NASA came from the
JSC tour and Facebook videos from kids who went to Space Camp ...


the image resolution is too small for enlargement - what is the line preceding Frank's signature ?

do they think putting Frank's Signature on the cover somehow indicates his approval ?

A few days after we returned from Writers of the Future, I received a surprise letter from Doane Perry, the drummer for Jethro Tull (he’s only been with the band for 28 years, so he’s still the “new” guy). Doane has read my short story collection Landscapes, my novel Hopscotch, and is a big fan of the Terra Incognita series, including the two rock CDs. He invited Rebecca and me to be his guests at the upcoming Jethro Tull and Kansas concert at Denver’s spectacular Red Rocks amphitheater.

We met Doane the night before for dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse and enjoyed about four hours of conversation (and we could have talked for much longer, but the restaurant shut down), before we dropped him off at his hotel. We hit it off immediately, and both Rebecca and I found him fascinating company.

Next afternoon, we drove up to Red Rocks for the concert. Doane had arranged excellent seats for us at the show, and we enjoyed the opening hour from Kansas, which has always been one of my favorite bands. (Steve Walsh, the lead singer, and David Ragsdale, the violinist, both perform on the Terra Incognita/Roswell Six CDs).

I think if Keith were a better writer (and a better person) he would be able to construct a journal entry and
name-drop the old 70s guys still out touring on the State-Fair Circuit he meets in a less self-aggrandizing way,
and be a little more subtle in shoving his product into the blurb ...

altho, to be fair, this is not Keith at his self-centered worse ... we've seen him do the same much more clumsily
in the past ...


I wonder if the thin possibly-leather jacket has replaced Old Yeller ?

[DuneFishUK]

the image resolution is too small for enlargement - what is the line preceding Frank's signature ?

do they think putting Frank's Signature on the cover somehow indicates his approval ?

http://cache.smashwire.com/bookCovers/d ... a071311be5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Almost makes it sound like they care.

I'm genuinely glad they're releasing this stuff and it's pretty cool that the font is spelling out Frank Herbert's name once again.

...It's just a shame that Keith the Cuntiferous Gaping Arsehole is allowed anywhere near it.



(Looking at the sample on Smashwords - it's nice he's put a link to his site in the front of the book )