The fall of Predestiny and it’s rebirth as Dark Destiny

Hey,

    A few years ago, I wrote a couple of books with Frank Martin called the Predestiny series. It was an attempt to do a Young Adult science series that would hopefully break into new markets. It was also a cyberpunk series and something that was inspired by events in recent decades about corporate overreach, activism, and other events which had informed my burgeoning political consciousness. It was also inspired by Terminator, Dune, Continuum, and a bunch of other time travel stories.

    The premise of Predestiny was Robbie Stone was a high schooler in a near-future dystopia where Butterly International has more or less bought America. A friend of mine described the company as “Applezon” and I’d say that’s accurate, except it also owned Blackwater. Rob just wants to do the Occupy Wallstreet thing and is then almost killed. He only survives thanks to the timely intervention of a white haired girl named Jane (no, not Doe). Jane explains that Rob has a destiny! HE IS GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD!

    Yes, Robbie Stone is the Hitler in the “would you go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby”, except he’s closer to Paul Atreides in that he led the revolution ended up destroying the megacorps after they take over the world but ended up killing billions in the process. Some cyborged up super soldiers have decided to avert that by killing him. Jane has decided, for her own reasons, to protect him but this obviously throws Rob’s life for a complete loop. His only advantage is the people in the future don’t know his exact identity.

    It was a complete disaster. 

    At least sales wise.

    The short version is that not everyone can write every genre and while there was a fantastic story there, it didn’t really work out because I dialed back a lot on the implications of the book to stick to the Young Adult market. Frank did an amazing job with the material but I kept cutting myself off from going as hard in the material (that deserved to be R). I also didn’t develop the characters quite as much as I should (or as in other books).

    Marketing-wise, I didn’t know quite how to market the story and leaned rather hard into the YA element that I think pushed away readers who might have otherwise given the story a chance. The cover also had Jane on it rather than Robbie, which I think confused readers who bought it with the intention that they would have a female protagonist. I have a great fanbase but they’re primarily adults and of a cynical edge that probably this was not for them. So, instead of attracting a new audience, I just alienated my preexisting one.

    The sequel, Lost Future, was released but it had an even more YA looking cover that was misleading and poorly chosen. It was, if you can believe, even more incorrect for the marketing because the story got darker and darker. Robbie (now going by Rob) has to deal with killing someone for the first time and making horrible moral choices.  By the end of the book, it’s 100% clear that this shouldn’t have been a YA series as the world has become far too dark and gritty for the story. There’s plenty of YA dystopias but I could have pressed the issue further if I wasn’t trying to write with one hand tied behind my back. The fact I attempted to do the books around 60K also inhibited world building. This wasn’t the series for it.

    The bad luck unfortunately continued with an initial bit of good luck with the audiobook release being done for free by my good friend, Thomas Manchin. He’s a audiobook narrator of some great comedy books and quite a lot of fun. Mind you, Predestiny had the least amount of comedy in my books save, possibly, Lucifer’s Star or Wraith Knight. I think what jokes in that version of the book were done by Frank rather than me. Another sign that I was writing outside of my comfort zone in the desire to expand without realizing if you’re good at something, you should play to your strengths.

    So what happened there? Well, poor Thomas, ran into a spot of health trouble and couldn’t do the sequel. It would be almost a year’s delay before we discovered that he wouldn’t be able to able to do it despite how much he wanted to. Whoops.

    Now, if any of you know me then you should know I never know when to leave well enough alone. Just about everyone who writes over one book in their career knows there’s one or two that don’t do well. You just accept it and move on. Except, well, I was not going to do that. I owed Frank and my readers better, especially as there was a fantastic book here but I just needed to rework it to be all that it could be. In the end, of course, it was Cyberpunk: Edgerunners that made me realize what I had been doing wrong. That story with its ultra-violent dark and fascinating tale of David Martinez was enough to make me realize what kind of story I wanted to write.

    Frank was a little nonplussed at my desire to rewrite the entirety of the book we’d already worked together on and add about 20K to 30K of new content. To move Rob to being slightly older, increasing the humor, increasing the sarcasm, and making it clear just how tragic as well as traumatizing the events are. I also increased the action as well as the world-building, getting very strongly into the 2060s and how they plausibly completely went to shit from “our” world. Frank gave me some great insights into the book as he had always wanted it to be and the results were a far superior work (at least in my opinion). Oh and we decided to replace the covers.

    Re-writing Dark Destiny obviously meant re-writing Lost Future. The changes were even more extensive as the fundamental story was Rob coping with the moral question of whether it was possible to destroy the megacorporations without violence. Also, whether using violence when he knew it might eventually destroy the world was justified. The setting had gotten considerably darker from the original manuscript. The humor was certainly larger as well but there was now a much darker cast to it as some of the funniest characters were also vicious psychopaths. It was fun-fun and I even commissioned a new cover for it from the same artist. I also decided to change the names of both when I released them because they really were completely different books.

    Did it work? Yes and no. I’m not sure that much of the existing market or fanbase is willing to give it a shot but it was certainly an artistic success. I felt much prouder of the books and feel like they’ve reached their full potential as both action stories as well as social satire. Plus, they more authentic. If you’re going to write cyberpunk you should write cyberPUNK. That means when someone is shooting at you, you’re going to drop some f-bombs and shits. I actually realized how much of a book it was to be proud of because not only did I get my co-author’s praise but cyberpunk fans reading it gave me compliments on its edge (as well as never suspecting they were more Hunger Games once than Neuromancer).

    It was an experiment that required quite a bit of time, money, and effort but I’m glad I did it. It’s not the first time I’ve rewritten an existing book (I added casts of characters, glossaries, and new chapters to both Cthulhu Armageddon as well as Wraith Knight) but it was definitely the most extensive. I also feel like this is something that more authors should be willing to do. Stephen King rewrote the stand and Ed Greenwood rewrote the Spellfire trilogy. Sometimes you ned the benefit of experience and polish to reach your top game. Other times you need to write a world of flying cars, guns, and punks on the street to critique the man.

    Will these books get re-releaded on audiobook? Eventually, but first I have to see about getting it the audience it deserves.

Purchase Dark Destiny

Purchase Destiny’s Paradox

Tales of Supervillainy: Cindy’s Seven is now available on audiobook!

Hey folks,

I’m pleased to say that TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: CINDY’S SEVEN is now available for purchase on Audible! I’ve been waiting a long time for this book’s release and am extremely happy about it finally being out.

Cindy Wakowski a.k.a. Red Riding Hood is the second-most feared villain in Falconcrest City. Unfortunately, she soon discovers that is only because she’s considered Merciless: The Supervillainy without Mercy’s favorite henchwoman. Determined to prove herself every bit her boyfriend’s equal, if not superior, Cindy assembles a team of other villains to go after the largest treasure trove in the world: the hoard of the Dragon King.

Unfortunately, things start going sideways from the start. An ex-boyfriend of hers turned eldritch horror wants revenge, other villains don’t want anything to do with her plan, and the Foundation for World Harmony has put out a death warrant on her head. Merciless has also decided to engage in a little friendly competition that Cindy wants nothing to do with. Can she steal slay the dragon and claim its treasure? Will she let her ego and impatience get in the way? Also, who is Red Sindi and what relationship does she have with our antiheroine?

Tales of Supervillainy: Cindy’s Seven is the eighth novel of the best-selling Supervillainy Saga series and the first from the perspective of its most popular supporting character!

Available here

Space Academy Washouts and Revenge of the Cyber Dragons now available!

Revenge of the Cyber Dragons (Cyber Dragons #2)

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Cyber-Dragons-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B0BNYC1CRX/

Ex-Rider Keiko “Kei” Springs was living with her adopted daughter Becky away from her previous life of crime. Unfortunately, the past is not easy to escape and her sadistic former sensei, Snake, gives her an ultimatum: perform eight tasks for him or die. The final mission before her freedom is nearly impossible, though. Snake wants her to take down a luxury resort where the super-rich are implanted with their heart’s desires, only to be brainwashed into serial killers for blackmail potential.

Teaming up with the eccentric techjack Paradise, her on-again off-again lover Case, and a Judicial Magistrate named Parvati Rao—Kei thinks she can pull it off. Unfortunately, that’s before she discovers the luxury resort is owned and operated by a nearly omnipotent AI that has it out for her.

Space Academy Washouts (Space Academy #3)

Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/Space-Academy-Washouts-Audiobook/B0BLTR7SXZ

“These are the voyages of the starship…something-something.”

Captain Vance Turbo has been struggling for the past few years, his reputation in tatters and most of his allies having turned against him. Offered a chance to go after a sinister crime syndicate at a peace treaty in Notha Space, he jumps at it. However, no sooner does he do so that he discovers that a malevolent AI and even more powerful forces are at work…ones that threaten everyone and everything in the galaxy. Will Vance somehow stumble his way into saving the universe again or will his luck finally run out? Space Academy is an all-new series from the hilarious duo of C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga, Agent G) and Michael Suttkus (I Was a Teenage Weredeer, Lucifer’s Star) that lampoons the space opera as well as military science fiction genres.

Space Academy Washouts audiobook available for preorder


“These are the voyages of the starship…something-something.”

Captain Vance Turbo has been struggling for the past few years, his reputation in tatters and most of his allies having turned against him. Offered a chance to go after a sinister crime syndicate at a peace treaty in Notha Space, he jumps at the chance. However, no sooner does he do so that he discovers that a malevolent AI and even more powerful forces are at work. Ones that threaten everyone and everything in the galaxy. Will Vance somehow stumble his way into saving the universe again or will his luck finally run out?

Space Academy is an all-new series from the hilarious duo of C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga, Agent G) and Michael Suttkus (I Was a Teenage Weredeer, Lucifer’s Star) that lampoons the space opera as well as military science fiction genres.

RELEASE DATE: 12/13/2022

Available for preorder

Space Academy cover changes

Hey folks,

I’m  pleased to announce an update for the Space Academy series. We’ve got a  new set of covers and some short stories for the Kindle editions of the  funniest series in science fiction today. Vance Turbo, HERO OF SPACE  and the worst crew in the galaxy are repeatedly called upon to defend  the Galactic Community from conspiracies, four-foot-tall fascist  squirrels, ancient alien gods, and gun-toting space rednecks. I think  these new covers capture the zaniness of my and my co-authors’ work.

They’re available on Kindle, Audible (narrated by Jeffrey Kafer), and Kindle Unlimited.

#1: Space Academy Dropouts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Q1MS51G

#2: Space Academy Rejects: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Z7QFFCQ

#3: Space Academy Washouts: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B8MXLJ1B

I hope you’ll all check them out.

Some Wraith Knight developments

  

Well my original idea for Wraith Knight was to do three books like the Dragonlance Chronicles or the paperbacks I read in the Nineties but the Game of Thrones‘ bad ending, decision to expand the United States of Monsters, and a lot of disillusionment with Ragnarok Publications caused me to not finish the trilogy.

So I decided to resume writing Wraith King because I was inspired by the House of the Dragon trailer but I had a severe problem that was not going to be easily solved: I had forgotten huge amounts of details regarding the setting, characters, events, and where I was going to go with it.

Settling down to re-read it, I ended up taking massive amounts of notes about everything I had established about the setting. Really, I just had to rejog my memory for most of it. However, when I looked at all my pages and pages of notes, I had a brilliant idea: APPENDICES! This is because adding a Lexicon and cast of characters to Space Academy dropouts was something that I think was well-appreciated (I also had one in Cthulhu Armageddon added after the fact).

In the end, I also realized I should probably re-edit the first two books as well. So, my plans on writing the third Wraith Knight book were becoming rather hard to do or at least delayed. However, it was resurrecting my enthusiasm for the project that had been so harshly hurt by Ragnarok Publications. So I commissioned the re-edit while doing all of my background work that eventually got me a detailed guide to my own creation as well as its history.

THAT’S WHEN I SET OUT TO DO BOOK 3#!

Which is when I ran into my next set of problems.

So, I settled down to do my book and wanted to start with a big battle scene that would be the opening to the story. I figured it would be about two chapters long because it would end in both sides suffering heavy casualties. However, it turns out I ACTUALLY LIKE WRITING ACTION and its expanded to about five chapters so far because Jacob Riverson being Darth Vader and tearing through the mundanes never gets old. Like that scene in Rogue One with Vader in the hallway is a lot of the scenes.

However, I also had a bunch of character beats and flashbacks I wrote independently and having put them altogether I realize…there’s no way I’m going to finish this series in 3 books.

So now it will be FIVE!

Two new book releases and good news!

I’m now pleased to say the third (and not final) volume of Space Academy is now released in Kindle form! There’s a lot of good news that comes with this volume because it is also coming with Podium and I signing a deal with six books in the series (that’s three more) to be narrated by Jeffrey Kafer! Yay!

SPACE ACADEMY DROPOUTS

I’m now pleased to say the third (and not final) volume of Space Academy is now released in Kindle form! There’s a lot of good news that comes with this volume because it is also coming with Podium and I signing a deal with six books in the series (that’s three more) to be narrated by Jeffrey Kafer! Yay!

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Space-Academy-Washouts-C-Phipps-ebook/dp/B0B8MXLJ1B/

“These are the voyages of the starship…something-something.”

Captain  Vance Turbo has been struggling for the past few years, his reputation  in tatters and most of his allies having turned against him. Offered a  chance to go after a sinister crime syndicate at a peace treaty in Notha  Space, he jumps at the chance. However, no sooner does he do so that he  discovers that a malevolent AI and even more powerful forces are at  work. Ones that threaten everyone and everything in the galaxy. Will  Vance somehow stumble his way into saving the universe again or will his  luck finally run out?

That’s not the only good news, however, because we also have TALES OF CAPES AND COWLS available for Kindle. It is a wonderful anthology containing numerous superhero stories by such awesome authors as myself, Keith R.A. Candido, Michael Suttkus, David Niall Wilson, and Matthew Davenport.

TALES OF CAPES AND COWLS

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Capes-Cowls-C-Phipps-ebook/dp/B0B1PDVDV1/

“Look, up in the sky, it’s Ultragod!”

Superheroes have conquered movies, television, video games, and (of course) the comic book. However, there’s still a dearth of fantastic superhero literature out there. Tales of Capes and Cowls is a wonderful collection of nine short stories, novelettes, and a novella about the text-based adventures of superheroes.

Inside, you’ll find stories about a supervillain recruited to kill Hitler before he wins WW2 using magic, a street level hero out to stop an insane AI, a group of young heroes befriending a powerful wizard, a daring jailbreak, and a 1960s romp with that era’s modest heroes! Works by C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga), David Niall Wilson (Hoods), Keith R.E. DeCandido (Super City Cops), Richard Roberts (Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain), and more!

Space Academy Rejects now available!


Hey folks,

SPACE ACADEMY REJECTS is now available for purchase on Kindle and Audiobook! It is the sequel to Space Academy Dropouts and I think to be one of my funniest creations yet.

“Where no one has been dumb enough to have gone before.”

Vance Turbo, HERO OF SPACE, has spent most of his hard-won officer’s career helping refugees. This ends when a star gets blown up and he accidentally ends up saving everyone. Now the captain of the E.S.S Ares, he is on a goodwill mission to Contested Space. Unfortunately, his crew is made up of people who couldn’t qualify for Space Academy but are now in thanks to lowered enlistment standards. Captain Turbo has also been charged by the Elder Races to find out who blew up the star or they’re going to destroy humanity. Did we mention the evil Notha Emperor wants to be his best friend? All in a day’s work for the galaxy’s most questionably qualified explorer.

Space Academy is an all-new series from the hilarious duo of C.T. Phipps (Supervillainy Saga, Agent G) and Michael Suttkus (
I Was a Teenage Weredeer) that lampoons the space opera as well as military science fiction genres.

Available here 

Cindy’s Seven is now available on Kindle

Hey folks,

I’m pleased to say that CINDY’S SEVEN is now available on Kindle. The eighth installment of THE SUPERVILLAINY SAGA is the latest work set in the Garyverse and shows us the perspective of his favorite henchwench, Cindy Wakowski AKA Red Riding Hood.

Cindy Wakowski aka Red Riding Hood is the second-most feared villain in Falconcrest City. Unfortunately, she soon discovers that is only because she’s considered Merciless: The Supervillainy without MercyTM’s favorite henchwoman. Determined to prove herself every bit her boyfriend’s equal, if not superior, Cindy assembles a team of other villains to go after the largest treasure trove in the world: the hoard of the Dragon King.

Unfortunately, things start going sideways from the start. An ex-boyfriend of hers turned eldritch horror wants revenge, other villains don’t want anything to do with her plan, and the Foundation for World Harmony has put out a death warrant on her head. Merciless has also decided to engage in a little friendly competition that Cindy wants nothing to do with. Can she steal slay the dragon and claim its treasure? Will she let her ego and impatience get in the way? Also, who is Red Sindi and what relationship does she have with our antiheroine?

TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: CINDY’S SEVEN is the eighth novel of the best-selling SUPERVILLAINY SAGA series and the first from the perspective of its most popular supporting character!

Available here