Tag: fantasy

Ail-sha the Troll princess

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

Nothing worse than an itch on your nose you can’t scratch… Why is that the focus of my mind? If only I had the wits to focus on my actual problems. Like the ropes digging burns into my wrists or the lose of feeling in my hands as I dangle, a solid meter off the ground, in the bridal tent.

Getting captured was part of my clever plan you see, losing my fingers was not something I foresaw though. I guess they didn’t need to bind my legs since the trolls and half trolls could catch up to a full sprint in less than a stride. With a short swing back and an explosive crunch, throwing my feet above my head. With my shoulders locking my chest above the chin, a good double kick and I had my feet around the tree used as a mid-tent pole.

The trolls had left the bark on, which made it very effect at it’s task releasing my from my current torture. Satisfaction of an itch scratched. I counted it among my blessings that the tree was of sap variety and was still fresh enough to not crumble at my nuzzling. Second blessing was the feeling returning to the tips of my fingers.

“Wat’cha doin’ der?” I couldn’t see who spoke, face full of log. A half-tongue though, clearly not a full troll.

“Just scratching my nose a bit.” I politely retorted. No need for poor manners, I am an honored guest after all.

“Silly grain-boy, I could have gotten that for you.”

“Then do me a spot and get at my right shoulder a bit.”

“Like thissss” Cracked, cold ivory pressed into the back of my shoulder. My guest drew tight circles along my shoulder creases. It burned a little as it chipped off chips of dried dirt and worked it’s uneven points into my muscle.

“Thank you, that’s quite good.”

“Isn’t it customary among you tiny things to repay such an act.”

“Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. That’s generally the deal. So I suppose,”! Six points pierced my right shoulder. All the relief turned white hot. My back cooled by my blood. Dropping back into a swing I pulled out chunks of bark with my knees, chunks of my knees as well.

“Now grain-boy. Bite me!”

There she was the fruit of my labor’s the troll chief’s daughter, Ail-sha. Half-elf, Half-troll. A thing grey beauty. All the strength of a full male Troll, and the grace of an Elf. Eight and Half feet tall she looked me in the eyes.

“I bite you… now you bite me.”

Her thumb and ring finger pinned back my ears. She squeezed the back of my head, Intense pressure built up in my temples as she forcefully buried my mouth into her neck. Thankfully I have sharp canines or she would have crushed my skull before I could draw blood. Dragging my teeth deeper down her neckline opening the bite as far as my bound state would let me.

Feeling her grip on my skull loosen, I hooked my legs around the bottom of her ribs. She wasn’t much wider than the roof post and at least I had tension off of my neck and shoulders.

She cooed as the warm air between us and the heat of her body turned her blood into steam. Under the wisps of my own panting I watched as the wound drew close, I had to take another bite.

Newsstand Pulp, Comic Spinners, Disney+, and why Harry Potter is the last great original IP franchise.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in HppoThorns, Uncategorized

As a writer of novella’s my competition is every piece of media in existence, not just other books or movies, video games and YouTube as well, and even online click-bait articles from twitter or the FaceBook and fanfic hosted by WattPad. I am selling an hour and a half of entertainment after all.

A market theorist should argue that “With increased competition, the quality of the goods and services provided will increase as well.”

My starving artist friends argue that getting endorsed by an industry titan will provide financial success and legitimacy of their talents. My comic artist friends want contracts with Marvel or DC. My painters want their art on display and endorsed through high art circulations. Writers want a publishing deal with the Big 5. Musicians a record deal.

The current market is not a meritocracy. It looks that way on the surface and as long as people believe it’s operating fairly, my artist friends (you included) will not upset the institutions they seek validation from.

The current market is still an aristocracy but that is about to change.

If you want to skip the three narratives that I have based this theory on then skip ahead to these marks

_—_

Our story starts in the 1920s when newsstands became filled with pulp magazines. Competition was high. It bread Robert E. Howard. Competition was so high in fact that even the greats like the creator of Conan could not support themselves off of writing alone. Even being paid $0.01 a penny a word for a short story or serial part ($20 for 2k/ 4 pages), which is $0.15 in 2019 money (a 2k story would pay $300).

Competition was high on the newsstands, but there was no TV, no internet, no Facebook.

The 30s came around and a new beast started attacking the pulps dominance.

Comics.

By the 40s only a few Titans of pulp were left, comparable to today’s BIG 5 publishers. They would only accept the best the likes of Issac Asimov, but by the 1960s Competition was to high and what even the big magazines could afford to pay was too low to attract talent. The pulp magazine industry died somewhere in the early seventies a quite death.

Forty years is a good run but what happened to pulp magazines is what’s killing Comics.

In the 90s comics were still in every grocery store. A cheap impulse buy was the only barrier to keep up with the adventures of the Amazing Spider-Man. Accessible to everyone. Until one day they weren’t, the comic shops had opened and the speculator market was booming. Image Comics forced innovation from the big 2. This single extra step of going to a comics store prevented “normies” from buying comics, or the brands from attracting new fans. Licensing characters to Saturday morning TV (IMO) is responsible for creating the next generation of fans eager to watch batman/spider-man/MCU films.

Competition, since the 90s, is high but the inconvenience barrier of the comic book stores prevents access to a casual audience. The direct market, comic bookstores, continue to lose customers. Sept 2019’s number 1 comic was Spawn 300 which sold an est 262,599 units while the number 10 sold Harleen issue 1 sold 84,785. For point of reference, keep in mind that Wonder Woman was the reworked in the late 60s because it was selling only around 200,000 copies a month for an average issue. (known as the Mod ERA)

Sales are so low that Disney owned Marvel is considering shutting down the comics book division.

Disney sits at the top of the market place right now. They want to leverage this position to run Disney+ and make that sweet Netflix money. Competition in the streaming service center is now high. Access is also getting harder.

Lets go back to before cable, Disney use to air it’s movies on regular television. Then once cable came along and VHS, Disney switched to a direct to customer model. Selling it’s classic films for limited time to customers who didn’t have cable and locking their films behind the cable pay wall. They turned away 80s children who now didn’t have access to their films. Then in the 90s when they became dependent on those same 80s children to watch their films, no one showed up to the theatre. Disney almost went bankrupt before the Pirates franchise saved them in the early 2000s.

Disney+ will do the same for the Disney corporation, when they depend on the adults and parents of 2030 to show up to the theatre.

Now the short answer as to why Harry Potter will be the last great original IP.

Harry Potter books came out in the 90s. Where was there audience exposed to them? What was there competition?

Scholastic Book Fairs

90s children had little internet, no cell phones, comic books were in comic stores.

Before the movies were released, this series of books was able build a hardcore base over the course of four years then it’s movie releases brought more people into the books. Growing each year as children aged up and were exposed to the books at the book fair and the movies all over television. In 2005 cable became mandatory as the FCC demanded that all TV convert to HD by 2005. Which meant that more people had access to catch the first three Harry Potter films on marathon every other week.

Children today and for the foreseeable future will have unlimited access, to everything. Clint Eastwood’s man with no name trilogy, the death of superman, The entire discography of Prince. Whatever they, or you want, is just a couple of taps away from the palm of your hand. And that’s if they are in the mood to spend or search pirate bay. YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit, Wattpad all provide free alternatives to keep you entertained.

_—_

Competition could not be higher.

Access by everyone for everything is high.

Convenience of Access is being limited only by the Titans themselves.

I have a plan, a theory, and a mission. But I can not do this alone.

The Future is not individual artist competing against each other.

The Future is small groups of artists functioning as one for each other.

The larger and more unified the artist group the more effective they will be as individuals.

I’m bringing together seven independent authors whose target audience is men ages 18-25+.

As the Magnificent Seven remarks.

“Men are Cheaper than Rifles.”

Right Now there are two requirements for a seat on this council

          1. You must have at least one professionally edited publish work for sale. (one mistake per 10k words)

          2. You are willing to spent at least 2 hours a week for the promotion and success of the council.

E-mail me at hppofantasywestern@yahoo.com

The first applicant to meet the requirements will be accepted immediately. Then applicants will be approved through an interview process and by a majority vote of the sitting members of the council until all seven positions have been filled. The last approved member of the council will get amazon and goodreads reviews from the sitting six members, As the first order of the council’s business.

Whether first or last you’ll be a winner, if you join a winning team.

I also want to make this clear. I don’t want your money. I want to help you sell books. I want to sell more books. I want to use the skills I have to best serve the other members of the council, in exchange for promotion, legitimacy and audience sharing. If you want these things as well and you’re willing to spend two hours of your time each week trading support for support.

Then let’s work together.

Send these to anyone author you know might be interested.

With Love,

HngyHngyHppo

You can reach me on Twitter at @HppoTweeter

A letter to my highschool economics teacher.

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

I’m glad that my meme’s are provoking thought but they are first and foremost propaganda so that my friends and family believe and value themselves more than how a company treats them poorly. While my pay is mathematically (according to inflation calculations that include medial and housing) far below the media income of the 1950s or the federal minimum wage that was set in the late 70s, I love my job. I only work three nights a week and earn enough to pay my portion of the bills. It gives me the time and opportunity to work on my novellas and pursue a career writing stories that hopefully will promote literacy for men age 18-25, who have been taught by school that reading is for nerds and girls.

Now onto what I really think about businesses in general, they are not evil organizations out only for the bottom line. Meritorious advancement exists as a function of a healthy market, If you are not advancing your best employees your competition will. They will gain market share and put you out of business. If you treat your employees to poor they will quit and you will be unable to preform the companies function. These are the reasons why we have such great working conditions.

Yet people need to understand that if they are using cognitive dissonance to excuse their company they must separate their identity from the company before they can make healthy decisions regarding their life. Most my memes are to this point. The company is out for profit not your welfare.

I truly believe we are kept from a full communist revolution because most companies are public traded. Rational people understand that a company exists to provide a good or service and that the CEO and board make decisions to maximize the profits for the share holders. Such shares that can be purchased by the very employees that the company employees. For example US Foods, which just purchased the company I work for, has 25,000 employees and 35% equity retained within the company. Which means that 65% is publicly extended for purchase at about 40$ per share, IF the employees wanted to they could become the principal shareholders for $12,500 each. If they want 51% collaborative voting rights that would be 65,800 each. But they don’t, they have the choice and they would rather keep their coin then make their company work for them. Publicly owned companies dominate because they have the power of the people financing them, their is a hard cap on the resources a privately owned company can call to bear.

I use this argument to explain why a CEO deserves 250x the wage of the lowest paid worker, because his/her wage is determined by the value added to the shareholders whom the low wage workers choose not to be.

Second and this is the point of most of my memes, If a company is treating you unfairly. You need to leave. Because unlike buying a car when an individual is negotiating with a company they are actually negotiating not for themselves but for the next guy. I have been made aware of companies that have raised their starting wage because after months of finding suitable candidates that turn down the offered position due to pay and benefits.

If you’d like an IRL example at my wife’s work, she has received healthcare benefits and pay raises because other people have left her position and stated healthcare and pay were their primary concern. Is she still underpaid, according to similar market positions, yes by about $2 per hour. But she loves her job and we do not work for money. After her company raises benefits and wages, they do not call back old employees who left over those concerns. Instead the new hires and my wife reap the rewards of people making the best market choice for themselves.

Now let me explain why the freedom dividend will do so much more to improve a healthy working relationship between employee and employer. 1K per month is not enough money for an individual to stop working and enjoy the offerings that minimum wage work provides. People will still work if they want cable, Netflix, internet, Iphones, dinners out, etc. But it will Provide courage to those who are in low wage jobs that barely pay the rent to ask for more or leave thus providing more the next guy. It is just enough money to prevent homelessness and allow people the freedom to move away from the Democratic socialist dens of NY, Denver, CALI and form smaller communities among the country side, with a guaranteed income moving across state lines to pursue employment at a job that might not work out is less of a threatening proposition. Many people are moving to CO because we offer higher wages, we do so because we have higher cost of living, Some will be able to move back after saving money for a few years. Others will never be able to move back because the wages offered by their home city wouldn’t be enough for them to make minimum payments on their credit cards.

Okay enough of that,

I use OpenOffice writer (Apache suites) and spell check through e-mail, a free writing software with no spell check.

And yeah I hope in the future people are working not because the choice is that or starvation and homelessness but because like me they enjoy the work they are doing.

Because until I can raise enough funds through selling my novellas to open a studio dedicated to their production, I need a day job. You can help on this front of course, My premiere work is only 99 cents for the eBook. It’s target audience is men 18-25. I know this isn’t you but your reach is vast and if you give it read, endorse my efforts. I’m sure you know exactly who to pass this onto with your blessing so that it can continue to reach young minds, raise reading speeds, and rekindle the lost love of literacy in the next generation.

Let me know if you would like me to provide you with a free copy. While I am trying to raise funds to further improve the quality and reach of this program, what’s important is the end result.

For instance my beta-reader after reading this within a week, started and finished DUNE in under 2 months. He had taken a 2 year break from reading longer works and wasn’t considering starting again.

(Note: this book contains sex in the second half of Act 3 – Longhorn Gold and Criostal) (this is not erotica and that portion can be skipped without any negative effects on the plot.)

Here is a link if you choose to help I’d be ever so grateful,

Much love,

HngyHngyhppo

Creating Milestones that take less than a mile…

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

There are many terrible things about being a writer. My gripe today is about milestones and deadlines. While all of these are self imposed and I can change them tomorrow if i felt the need. It is important to use them.

I don’t like it but it is none the less important.

I started writing ages ago and never finished anything. Then in 2017 I was left with only one choice if I wanted to continue to be an entrepreneur and work for myself. I had to write. I don’t want to write… It is not the most enjoyable thing I spend my time doing.

But it is the only thing that I have enough resources and skill at that it was worth pursuing. Also it solved a huge problem in my life.

The lack of decent male orientated novella length pulp fiction. If penguin publishing was still commissioning new or similar series to the Trailsmen then I would never have picked up the pen and instead refined perhaps my programing and game design skills.

But they didn’t and here we are.

My first book took over a year for only about 42K words… I know that I should have been able to finish it sooner but I didn’t know how to do. My second book took six months and my third and best book so far took only four. I should be able to get a book done every three months at a pace of 8k a week and so my next book will be ready by the start of September.

What does this have to do with milestones well I found that these milestones work for me. 600 words take a break. Finish scene take a long break. Keep track of my progress towards my deadline am I behind, ahead of schedule, or right on target.

In school I’ve always been a do it at the last minute type and the fear of failure has been a good focus. But with no publisher and audience breathing down my neck for the next Song of Ice and Fire, I have to manufacture my own fear.

The first thing I do is increase the demanded production to much higher than I can handle. It’s overwhelming but I’ll try to get 8k words done today and another 8k words tomorrow and another 8k after that. I took an extra day off of my part time job that pays my full time bills so that I could have the day to write. This helps keep that pressure on… I enjoy work and the bills it pays. I now have to prove that taking that day was worth forfeiting the steady days pay in exchange for higher production on my novella.

If I’m successful at reaching my word count goals than this book 4 will be draft a month and a half before I expect to publish it. Allowing my more time to edit and apply wordcraft polish before I send her off to the editor. While at the same time will remind me of the extreme work flow that I’m capable of and draw ever closer to my goal of having four more quality novellas done before June of next year.

And gee I wish these words counted but they don’t this distraction has cost me 30 minutes I should be writing,

With love

hngyhngyhppo

Dear Romance Reader,

Posted on by @HppoTweeter in Uncategorized

There is a man in your life who needs a helping hand…

You know one or more of these men they may be your brothers, sons, or friends but they haven’t picked up and read a book in year or more. Perhaps they have abandoned reading for fun somewhere in primary/high school and haven’t gone back to find the wonder and thrills hidden between the pages of a good story.

Whether we are strolling the emerald shores of the Scottish highlands, listening with anticipation for the waves crashing against the cliffs to come to a crescendo as our lovers are about to shed their shame that has kept their lips apart and become as free as the seaside’s misting spray.

Or

Holding the pages clutched tight as we can’t help but feel a burning rage building inside as our heroine becomes blocked, put down, and is faced with an unexpected yet inevitable obstacle barring her from her love. As a reader we desire nothing more than to slap our heroine’s villainous foil across the face and shout “Bitch!” with conviction.

It’s only after we’ve put these books down and look back at the world, at least for me, feel a twinged of guilt.

I want the world to experience this joy. I shouldn’t feel bad I know there exists a good book for everyone…

Sadly here is the problem I need your help to solve.

Every year someone goes without reading a full length novel they have lost reading speed. This is a huge problem for men. During the droughts in my life: The 60 hour work weeks, the 25 credit course loads, the high school activities and responsibilities that demanded more and left no time for a vacation between the pages of a good story. My reading speed fell.

In the time it takes you to be five pages deep, surrounded by the bright sights, calming scents, and rich sounds of a million dollar beach vacation, I’ve barely met our leads…

Blessed by god at the right time in my life I found western pulp fiction.

Small and simple books that are low on description, the author trusting that my imagination could fill in the gaps. Fast paced action preformed by flat almost cardboard-like caricatures that carried me from the initial conflict to the last page.

Soon my speed and concentration were back in form and I could read not just what I wanted but books that I needed to grow as a man, husband, and servant.

We know that books have an impact on not just our emotional health but our future success. They have shaped how we are able to deal with conflict and challenges in our life. Our hearts have been broken and healed by fiction.

If you’ve asked these men why they haven’t read a book and they’ve responded. Something to the effect

“I just haven’t found something that holds my interest.”

What they may be trying to communicate is that their reading speed and concentration is too low to enjoy the greats you know they’d love.

Here’s the shill, For the next 5 days this is free and after that 99 cents is the lowest amazon would let me offer it.

disguised inside the pages of the 180 page action film of words, is a tale about prejudice, acceptance and keeping your promises.

But don’t tell them that.

“This shit’s got a dragon, loads of violence, shape shifting wolves, magic and guns…”

My beta-reader hadn’t picked up a book in two years and now is reading Dune. So I know that if you man gives this junk half a chance they will be back into the written world and finding not only what interests them but what will make them better.

Thank you for your time and attention today,

Now someone you know needs to be sold (free til June 2nd) on this book because this is something they didn’t know they needed in their life until you’ve given it to them.

With Love,

Hngyhngyhppo