March 31st, 2008 Kai Starr
Since I have moved away from doing webcomics and turned my focus toward my prose writing, I’ve felt a little lost and isolated, on the web. I’m finding it hard to make connections with other writers, because so many of them are worried about losing their audience to another writer and won’t so much as trade links with him. Some webcomics artists are equally jealous of their readerships. I don’t see my readership that way. The pool of readers is not a finite pie. It’s an infinite loop, and one reader can be interested in many different writers and styles and genres, and they usually are. Every single day, potential new readers arrive at a reading age that is appropriate for our kind of stories! New readers (who often become friends) are not in short supply. They are in abundance, my friends! Why not share them and raise the happy quotient all around?
Introducing one’s current readers to other writers in no way hurts the relationship between the first author and those readers, but it does broaden and strengthen the entire writing community by exposing people to new works, which in turn encourages the creation of more new works. Readers benefit by having more content to read and enjoy. Writers benefit by having more chances to be read and enjoyed. It’s a total win-win situation, so why are some writers reluctant to link to their peers, or even to those who write in different genres? It makes no sense to me.
I’m not going to be one of those insular writers who jealously guards his small pool of readers, as if they are items instead of people. I would love to be able to point someone in the direction of a storyteller whose work they might enjoy, but I’d like to have that same nicety in my direction, as well. Thus, to that end, I am in the process of setting up a links page, and I’m looking for quality links! I’m particularly looking to exchange links with sites that have something to do with the Old West, writing or books, in general, and at first, I am going to have to be somewhat persnickety about who I link to, because of time and space constraints. I don’t want to be exclusive, but circumstances dictate that I must.
So, if you have a writing or Western-themed site and would like to trade links, or know of one that participates in link exchanges, please let me know! Either comment to this post, or email me at kai at kaistarr.com and tell me all about it. I need some trail pardners!
And now, for the update! Today, in Rustler’s Roundup, Josh and Jenny find themselves scolded by an indignant Chewy Bill Roberts, which urges Joshua to do the right thing a little faster than he might have, otherwise.
Today’s Updates:
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 45 (Desperado novel)
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March 30th, 2008 Kai Starr
New Desperado short story, today! In addition to the usual novel chapters for Rustler’s Roundup and The Faraian Conspiracy, today’s update brings you the latest short story for the Western series. Rubbin’ Eyeballs With a Gunn takes place in 1873, about three years after the Rustler’s Roundup story, after Joshua Love is firmly established in his outlaw lifestyle. The story is actually an excerpt from the unfinished novel, Deader Than Lester, but it stands on its own, in this form. In it, Joshua Love has his first face-to-face meeting with his strongest nemesis, US Marshal Garrett Gunn!
Gunn made a brief and unnamed appearance in the 1873 novel, Three Ways From Sunday, but he’s back in full force for Deader Than Lester, and he’s determined–even obsessed–with capturing or killing Joshua Love. I’m looking forward to writing more for these two. They work well off each other!
So, for today’s serial updates, in The Faraian Conspiracy, Jason and Mara continue to butt heads, and Jason decides to let Mara take out his frustrations in a painful way. And in Rustler’s Roundup, Josh and Jenny keep each other warm in the woods by making love…or at least, trying to.
Today’s Updates:
Rubbin’ Eyeballs With a Gunn (Desperado short story)
The Faraian Conspiracy, chapter 24 (ShadowFall novel)
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 44 (Desperado novel)
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March 27th, 2008 Kai Starr
Hoo, boy. It’s actually quiet around here, tonight. *listens to the crickets and enjoys it* Nice change from the constant traffic noise, yelling neighbors and non-stop barking dogs–although, I have to say that the sudden and unusual silence is a bit eerie. It does help me work on the Old West stories, though, to have such deep quiet around me. I need to hurry up and get my horse ranch, so I can always have a comfortable layer of peace around me. Horse noises don’t bother me, and neither do other natural sounds, but car horns and engines, screechy neighbors and yelling kids, blaring televisions and radios and other typical sources of 20th-century noise pollution do bother me. I often find myself needing a break from the never-ending stress of modern life.
*sigh* Sometimes, I would like to step back into 1869 and spend the day with Joshua, Jenny and Bill, just as a kind of mini vacation from the crazy world I have to live in. Not to say that theirs is any less crazy, but it’s crazy in a different way. I would enjoy the ability to escape to a nice quiet area and still be within the city limits! The area I live in was basically nothing but a farmhouse or two and a bunch of open prairie, in that time. No one even noticed the place, until the 1880s, when the Sam Bass gang robbed a train, at a spot just a few miles from my house. Ol’ Sam didn’t get more than a couple hundred dollars from that robbery, but Mesquite got itself some notoriety that it probably didn’t deserve. I imagine nobody would notice Mesquite, even now, if it wasn’t for the fact that the big rodeo arena is here. A handful of outlaws passed through here in the late 1800s, and Belle Starr lived about 5 or 6 miles from where I live, in what was then called Scyene (it’s now part of Dallas, and the main road is still named Scyene), but beyond that, Mesquite has always been and will likely always be just a wrinkly little mole on the ample buttcheek of of the whore that is Dallas. Only now, it has a bunch of lunatic people living in it, to make the buttcheekedness of it a little harder to stomach. 
Anyway, for today’s updates, in The Faraian Conspiracy, Jason and Mara prepare to leave Exedra for the start of their mission on Farai, and Mara’s antagonism toward his partner comes to light. And in Rustler’s Roundup, Jenny, Josh and Bill make it back to their cabin in Dechman, and, much to Bill’s chagrin, the two lovebirds decide to take their affection past the kissing and hugging stage.
Today’s Updates:
The Faraian Conspiracy, chapter 23 (ShadowFall novel)
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 43 (Desperado novel)
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March 26th, 2008 Kai Starr
Strange day, was Wednesday. I’m kind of battling with another small depression, and I’m not sure what to do about it. Nothing’s working. So…I’m not going to yakk too much about it, right now. It wouldn’t help, even if I did. It’ll go away on its own, if I just try to be patient. *grits teeth*
Aaaaaanyway, we’ll just go on to the story updates and pretend I didn’t say anything about my mood, mmmkay?
Today, in Rustler’s Roundup, the men return from the stagecoach holdup, and Araceli gets shocking news.
Today’s Updates:
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 42 (Desperado novel)
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March 25th, 2008 Kai Starr
Got lots of writing done, yesterday, in spite of having to sleep a lot to get rid of a monster sinus headache. I’m pleased with the way Rustler’s Roundup is shaping up! I hope you all enjoy today’s installment of it. As for me, I’m off to watch some more of Lonesome Dove. See y’all, tomorrow!
Today, in Rustler’s Roundup, Jenny finds herself in a slap fight with Araceli, and learns her true skill in shooting!
Today’s Updates:
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 41 (Desperado novel)
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March 25th, 2008 Kai Starr
I have a monster of a headache, right now. (-.-) But I have started watching the “Lonesome Dove” miniseries, and so far, have really liked it. Tommy Lee Jones, like Clint Eastwood, is made of COOL. But my fave actor in the series is Robert Duvall. I like his character and his acting and just the whole look of him in his cowboy costume. So far, I have liked everything about the series, though. The writing, the casting, the acting, the lighting, the cinematography. Everything.
Conversely, I tried watching “Deadwood,” a while back, but hated that series all to pieces. I tried very hard to like it, but I couldn’t. I hated it from the first scene on, and my hatred of it just grew stronger with every scene I watched. It seems to have been written by a bunch of 60s fratboys who think the Old West was just modern-day inner-city New York or Chicago in cowboy hats. Clue-by-four for the writers: it was NOT.
“Lonesome Dove” is truer to the world of that time. The characters are believable as real human beings, and the action is believable and appropriate for the characters and setting. Kudos to Larry McMurtry for writing real people living in a real world, instead of a bunch of flat cartoon characters living in a perpetually dark and filthy world that doesn’t seem any more real to me than a world in some crappy video game. Kudos to him for pacing his story in a way that gives us a sense of the way time flowed in that era. He has done with his characters and story the same kind of thing that I try to do with mine. I hope I have at least come close to that goal.
And speaking of my own stories, today, in Rustler’s Roundup, Joshua and Chewy Bill go along with Ramon’s gang for their first stagecoach holdup, but neither of them is prepared for the brutal and violent results!
Today’s Updates:
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 40 (Desperado novel)
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March 23rd, 2008 Kai Starr
Didn’t get much in the way of extra writing done, this weekend, but I did finish the picture of Joshua Love that I was working on, earlier. Now he’s got his gun, and he is appropriately scary. These pics belong with the later novel, Whirlwind, which takes place six years after Rustler’s Roundup, so Josh is 22 or 23 years old, here.
First, the greyscale version:
And now, the color:
Not sure which one is the scarier of the two, but I’m kind of leaning toward the color one, just because the blue in his eyes makes them look a lot emptier than they do in the greyscale version. Anyway, I may put this image on a Desperado t-shirt or two. I’m pleased with how it turned out!
Now for the updates! Today, in The Faraian Conspiracy, Queen Badoor responds to the rebels’ takeover of Faqar with extreme violence, and ends up making the situation worse. And in Rustler’s Roundup, Ramon’s niece, Araceli, initiates a pretty-girl war with Jenny, and Snake decides he’d like to try taming the wild little blonde girl.
Today’s Updates:
The Faraian Conspiracy, chapter 22 (ShadowFall novel)
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 39 (Desperado novel)
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March 20th, 2008 Kai Starr
Happy Easter, to all of you who celebrate it! I’ve got nothing special planned for this weekend, but am hoping to have some kind of fun, anyway. I’m certainly looking forward to the after-Easter chocolate sales!! Loves me some Cadbury eggs, both the creamy-center kind and the solid chocolate kind with candy coating! Mmm-MMM!! Have a great weekend, y’all, and see you on Monday! (^-^)
For today’s updates, in The Faraian Conspiracy, Ara leads his rebel force in their takeover of the city of Faqar. And in Rustler’s Roundup, Jenny gets her way and goes out to learn to shoot, but she’s unprepared for the treatment she gets from Ramon’s men.
Today’s Updates:
The Faraian Conspiracy, chapter 21 (ShadowFall novel)
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 38 (Desperado novel)
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March 19th, 2008 Kai Starr
Nice weather has returned to Mesquite, Texas! Woohoo! We had sunny skies and temps in the 60s, on Wednesday, so we were able to open up windows and enjoy a little of the warm sunshine. Sure does a lot to help a fellow’s mood! Things are still rough for us, but we’re hangin’ in there, best as we can. That’s about all anybody can do, in such situations. I could still use some good, dark chocolate (say, in brownie form!!) to help me keep my mood high enough to continue the writing. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to make some, this week! (^-^)
Anyway, on to the updates! For today, in Rustler’s Roundup, Joshua and and Jenny butt heads and have their first nasty fight! Ouch! (O.o)
Today’s Updates:
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 37 (Desperado novel)
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March 18th, 2008 Kai Starr
Well, the money stress isn’t over for me. I’m trying not to think too much about it, though. All I want to do is sleep, because of it, and the rainy weather we’re having down here in Mesquite is not helping!!! (-.-) I’m in serious need of dark chocolate, methinks.
Anyway, enough about that crap. On to the updates! For today, in Rustler’s Roundup, Joshua and Bill practice their shooting at Ramon’s range, and Josh learns something about the previous owner of his Colt!
Today’s Updates:
Rustler’s Roundup, chapter 36 (Desperado novel)
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