Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Who (author) would you meet, if you could?

So I had this great interview today on Words by Webb: http://jodiwebb.com/interviews/5ws-with-eric-trant/, in which Jodi asked me her 5Ws.

Here is the first:


WHO
If you could meet any author, who would you like to meet? Why them and what would you say?

I would meet Ray Bradbury. We would meet not in life but in some other dimension on the planet Mars, in his bionical and maniacal House of Usher II remix with the robots serving us and the great ape destroying our guests while everyone laughs. Something Wicked would Come our Way, and we would ponder how the Martians used to look and whether the Earth would blow up and if anyone would even notice, and if they did notice, would they care. I would walk with him on the wettest, driest, farthest planets, and we would launch into space while we Sang the Body Electric and drew the Illustrated Man on the inside of our visors. I cannot claim to have read or even discovered all of his works, but we would discuss every one, and he might ask me about mine and not laugh.




Just wanted to share that, in case anyone was wondering. WHO WOULD YOU MEET? If it's Vonnegut or Heinlein or Azimov or Clarke or one of similar status, let me know so I can go with you.


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Some of my other blog stops

So I really have been busy a-blogging lately, just not around here. Look below for some articles I wrote thanks to WoW (Women on Writing), email: blogtour@wow-womenonwriting.com.

Friday, July 26 @ All Things Audry
Don’t miss today’s win/win stop for Eric Trant and his new thriller Wink (#WINK)! Not only is it your chance to win your own copy of Wink, but join Eric to find out “How Writing Heals”.
http://allthingsaudry.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, July 30 @ A Writer’s Life
Talk about interesting! Join Eric Trant as he discusses “How Small Town Living Made Me a More Interesting Writer” and Win a copy of Eric’s new thriller, Wink (#WINK)!
http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 1 @ Writing is Easy
Find out why Eric says caution should be taken when branding yourself, and win your own copy of his fabulous new thriller Wink (#WINK).
http://c-c-hall.com/

Friday August 2 @ CMash Reads
Eric Trant talks about being your authentic self with today's guest post "Why You Should Be Yourself in Writing and Marketing" stop by CMash Reads for this exciting discussion and your chance to win a copy of Wink (#WINK) Print-US/Canada residents OR EBook-open to all.
www.cmashlovestoread.com

Saturday, August 3 @ Book Worm
Today is your chance to win a copy of Wink by Eric Trant (#WINK) and read his fascinating guest post: "Can a Faith-Based Person Write Supernatural Fantasy?"
http://bookworm66.wordpress.com/

Monday, August 5 @ Books I Think You Should Read
Don't miss your chance to win a copy of this great thriller and read Elizabeth Parker's review of Wink (#WINK) by Eric W. Trant.
http://booksithinkyoushouldread.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 6 @ Renee's Pages
Win a copy of the new thriller, Wink (#WINK) by Eric Trant and hear his thoughts on “Author Intrusion: Good or Bad?”
http://www.reneespages.blogspot.com

Wednesday, August 7 @ World of My Imagination
Win your very own copy of Wink (#WINK) by Eric W. Trant and see what Nicole thought after reading this fabulous thriller set in a rural Gulf Coast town.
http://theworldofmyimagination.blogspot.com/



- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Thursday, July 25, 2013

Breaking the Mold for Men and Women in Writing

So the blog tour kicked off Wednesday with an interview at The Muffin. Thursday I head over to Book Flame to discuss breaking the molds for men and women in literature.

Wednesday, July 24 @ The Muffin
Don’t miss the exciting thriller Wink by Eric W. Trant. Wink’s WOW! Blog Tour begins with an author interview and a give-away!
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

Thursday, July 25 @ Book Flame
Break the mold and win with today’s stop at Book Flame where you’ll have a chance to win a copy of the new thriller, Wink (#WINK) and hear from Eric Trant with his guest post: “Breaking the Molds for Men and Women in Literature”.
http://bookflame.blogspot.com/


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

WoW! Women on Writing Blog Tour

Thanks to Crystal Otto over at WoW! Women on Writing for putting together a blog tour for me.

WINK WoW! Tour

If you need someone to help organize an online book tour, ask Crystal!




- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Monday, July 8, 2013

The Milky Way, Einstein, Two Tweener-Teens, an Old Man, Aristotle, and Other Meanderings

The Milky Way is still up there. I have visual confirmation, along with second-hand verification from several other people. Good to know it's still there, because I haven't seen it in quite some time.

I went to Garner this past week with my family. That's Garner State Park in the Texas Hill Country outside of San Antonio. The nights were so clear I could see all the way to the edge of the universe like I did when I was a kid in East Texas. There were the stars, the constellations, and for a while I thought it was a cloud bank way up high and clear.

Then it hit me. That's the Milky Way! Holy crap it's been a while since I saw that thing. See, I've been in the city since I was twelve years old. I moved to a small town, but it was outside of Houston toward Beaumont, and all those refinery lights bled out the Milky Way. You can see the stars, but not that cluster-cloud so deep in space that you can feel it tugging at you.

I saw it and stared at it for a while, and then I called the kids over and we all looked up at it. Funny what happened next. There was this long moment of silence after I explained what it was, and then my daughter, 13, says, So I wonder if we can see Dastan's star.

I said, Nope. His star is not visible with the naked eye.

Silence. Then she said, I bet if all the stars were visible, the whole sky would be one big star.

Probably.

Then she explained how right and left were relative to the way you were standing, and she turned and showed me the MW was now on her left, turned, now on her right, but it was always in front of me and to the right of her brother.

I said, Now you understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Same thing, only he uses a lot more math to make that simple point.

I wasn't trying to be smart, she said.

You don't have to. This is what happens when you get outside the city and de-hypnotize yourself from all the advertising and consumerism and look up and see the universe. You feel it, don't you.

It's like there are strings everywhere. That was my son who said that.

What do you mean?

I mean it's like you can feel the stars tugging at you. Like there are strings.

That's what scientists used to think. They thought there was this thing called Aether that everything flows through. It wasn't until Einstein chunked that theory and developed relativity that they abandoned the Aether. Even so, Einstein and his contemporaries believed the Aether would probably come back into play later, after we evolved better theories. That's the string you're talking about.

Hmm. I wasn't trying to be smart, he said.

It's the Milky Way. It does that to you.

So we talked about Dastan, and who else we wanted to see when we died, and that got us onto the subject of God, and at that point we had to sit. So the three of us sat on a parking curb-stop and kept looking up. I saw a shooting star but they missed it. They missed the other one I saw later, too. Maybe I was seeing things.

Why don't some people believe in God? my daughter asked.

There are only two types of people in this world. It has nothing to do with belief. There are only those who realize God, and those who do not. It's like discussing whether a fire is hot or cold, but you never touch it.

Like with a tub of water, she said. Like if you never get in, you never know if it's hot or cold.

Like that. You have to experience God. You feel him, don't you?

Yeah, she said.

Yeah, my son said.

But why don't people believe when you tell them? my daughter said.

Well, it's like explaining a rainbow to a clam. They don't get it.

You think every planet has its own God? That was my son again.

What do you mean?

Like, we have our God here, but way out there is another God, and we all see something different. Like different rainbows. Like, do they see the same red we see?

That's actually a common philosophical argument. They wonder if your red is my yellow, and her blue is your green, and so on. We don't even know if we see each other the same, like does my human look like your dog, and so on. Some people believe there is either one universal consciousness, or maybe patches of consciousness in the universe. That we all seem to see the same red when we see red implies a common consciousness.

So we all have the same God.

Right. And if there is other life, which there is bound to be, we may not even be able to see each other. We'd pass by and never even know we'd passed.

Like one is a clam and the other is a rainbow. We'd have no common God and would never see each other.

Right. You know we have five senses. You know there is only one that is common to every known living creature.

Sight? My son said. Then he thought about the clams and ran through his senses with his sister. They touched their noses, tongues, ears, eyes, and finally my son said, TOUCH!

It was a eureka moment for him, and I said, Aristotle reached that same conclusion.

I wasn't trying to be smart.

It's not you. It's the Milky Way. Keep looking up. Even trees have touch. They feel gravity and the sunlight and know when it's cold and time to drop their leaves.

They like water, my daughter said.

Yep. Touch is the common link between life. Feeling. What you feel right now looking up is life. Can you feel the Milky Way?

Well. Can you?


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Happy Heart Birthday and Angelversary

So here's the deal. Today and this week and everyday between May 18 and May 22 is both a sad and joyous occasion for us.

Sad because this is the one-year Angelversary of our son, Dastan. Joyous because this is also little Aubrie's one-year Heart Birthday. Let me share their story.

Reader beware. I will not indulge you with brevity here. So grab a cup of coffee, spike it with some Jack and settle in. Here we go.

Daz is my hero. We should all be so lucky to live such a meaningful life free of grievance. He was 18mos. He had no enemies, no grudges, no hatefulness, and knew only the joy of a full stomach, perfect health and a loving family. We loved him ferociously, and still do. He would be two-and-a-half going on twenty, an old soul in a little body that frustrated him because it wouldn't do what it was supposed to do.

I show him here at our wedding on March 17, 2012. Yes, that is St. P's Day. We dressed him as a leprechaun and gave him a bucket of coins to protect, which he did. Ferociously.

He was one of those kids who skipped the crawling phase and went straight to walking at nine months, so soon we almost had to put a helmet on him because we have tile floors and his head-hole wasn't quite closed.

His temperament was one of hot-Irish charm. The birthmark between his eyes flared red as his hair when he didn't get his way, and by God you heard him when he found a mood.

His first word was not Daddy or Mommy or Sissy or Bubba. It was Daisy. That's the dog's name. His second word was Ball, the dog's favorite toy. Third was Outside, where you throw the ball for the dog. So you see the boy's priorities. His last memory before he got beamed up was running at the park by the lake and falling into his mother's arms and closing his eyes. Safe to say that boy burned hot and died doing what he loved in the arms of the one who loved him most, the woman I love the most who stole my heart as much as Aubrie stole Daz's.

And now comes Aubrie. Much of her story is second-hand, so please forgive me if I misrepresent or over-dramatize some details. We met her in March of this year for her one-year birthday. Here is a picture of the meeting. Aubrie is the beautiful one.


Do you see how she erases the sorrow? She is a sugar-coated candy drop of pure and irresistible happiness that rots my teeth and softens my heart with the kissing of her. She is concentrated joy, one drop'll do-ya.

You will notice we all are wearing green. That is for Dastan. That is for organ donation. If you want to be a Super Hero like Daz, sign up now. Seats are filling fast.

We listened to Aubrie's heart, Daz's heart, Aubrie's heart, Daz's heart, and maybe they share beats, A-D-A-D, like that. I don't know how it works, but I feel both of them thumping around in there. We all feel it. Our families merged as much as any marriage ever has, and we share one's joy and the other's grief and none of us are alone.

Aubrie had a congenital heart defect. That damned heart was too big for a newborn, and they were lucky to find an energetic eighteen-month-old's heart that fit so perfectly into a two-month-old baby girl. I say Lucky, don't I. That's a bad way to put it. I don't believe in that kind of luck. They were given a heart molded one for the other as much as we are given air with every breath and don't count it lucky that there is just the right amount of oxygen to keep us sucking onward to the next breath.

We are given. We receive. Be thankful, because these things are not lucky.

She was and remains otherwise a healthy, normal baby who displays advanced mental skills and a lady's temperament, at least when there is company. I hear she has her moments, but I suppose all women have their moments. She is a friendly, loving, outgoing little girl who loves to play, loves to blow kisses, and loves loves loves to be held.

From the time of her emergency c-section -- they did not want her breathing on her own, straight to the incubator, so her first breath was one of plasticized and decompressed oxygen -- she was in intensive care, where she remained for about six months, until well after the transplant, out summer of 2012, and then spent May of 2013 in the hospital owing to a secondary infection brought on by treatment for an ear infection.

See, they suppress her immune system so it doesn't reject her heart. That's a lot of trouble for a 14lb little girl. She has been poked, prodded, stuck, incubated, intubated, excavated, and inebriated. I do believe she has been on every machine in the hospital, and at this writing she has a feeding tube in her nostril and a catheter in her right arm going directly to her heart, A-D-A-D. Even so she is happy and well and well-stuck.

Let me say something about that little girl: she is so tiny she fills the room.

Our eyes are materialistic despots that dupe us into believing that tiny shiny baby-girl with her stick-legs and big blue eyes is somehow a fragile creature. We believe she is fragile because, well, I mean, look at her. She's not but a dozen pounds.

And yet you feel walloped when you meet her. She possesses an enormous spirit, something unimaginably strong that allows her to live each day so much more carefully than you and I live ours. Hers is not the luxury of health-for-granted. She was not cuddled out of the womb. She fights to live and lives to fight. She bears a scar on her chest and pin-prick scabs on her feet and hands from the IVs, and yet, well, look at her.


This is her blowing kisses. She has a tube in her nose, for gadsake, and scabs on her cheeks from the tape, and chafes beneath her arm from the catheter. Remember that next time you wince. That little girl just had a transfusion, you freaking ~wimp~!

Now tell me if you see anything fragile about that little girl when you really, really look.

Me, I see Aubs the Warrior Champ. I see The Almighty Aubrie, Aubzilla the Fearless, Aubie Aubie All-Star. She will run headlong into the future blowing kisses between uppercuts and jabs and the ducking of her head. She will fall and rise and fight and swing. She will never tire, nor falter, nor wane, nor complain. She will never take tomorrow for granted, nor live today to anything less than a full burn. I know this because I know her heart, and she will never be alone.

Happy Heart-Day, Aubrie. Happy Angelversary, Daz. We love you both who are heroes and giants in our hearts.



- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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\

Monday, May 20, 2013

After Acceptance: A Guest Post on Spunky!

If you want to know more about that gray area between acceptance and publication, see my post over at L. Diane Wolfe's page Spunk on a Stick!.

I think I disturbed her with Wink, which she was gracious to read even though it is not her usual fare. I hope she found it time well-spent. I thank her for the read along with the guest post, and for a special blogger award she gave me over the past year that keeps me encouraged.

Thank you all for being such good friends.

- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Thursday, May 16, 2013

~Being Honest~ Guest Post at Donna Hole's Site

So today is a guest post over at Donna Hole's site: http://donnahole.blogspot.com/2013/05/guest-author-eric-trant-and-wink-review.html.

I discussed why you should always be HONEST when discussing your work.

Special thanks to Donna for allowing me to post on her site.


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Feedly Moving to Pay Site?

So I took the advice of my fellow bloggers and moved my reading list to Feedly. Google Reader is going away, see, and we all need an alternative if we want to keep in touch.

Apparently Feedly got Greedly because I ran into a questionnaire about making Feedly a pay-site. I guess someone got wise to 30,000,000 X $1/month and said, HOLY SHIT! We could be, like, LOADED, bro!

Then they did 30,000,000 x $5/month, then $10/month.

Woof. Look at those numbers, bro. I'm getting a freaking car with mine.

Screw that, says the other, I'm getting a house.

Screw that, says another, Yo, I'm getting a freaking JET, bro! Mile-high club, baby! You guys don't, you know, like know any girls do you?

We've seen free sites gradually disappear over the years, along with a growing discontent among users for what is available not only for free but for pay. Somehow Blogger has survived, but with the demise of Reader I can't help but suspect that Blogger is on the ropes, on the mat, ONE, TWO...

I guess we see what is really important when we have to pay for it, yes? Me, I'm bookmarking all my read-sites, at least my favorites, and will add them all to my blogroll shortly. No more Feedly for me. Those cats give me the willies.

Anyway, what's your take on it?


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novels Out of the Great Black Nothing and Wink from WiDo Publishing, out now! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Wink Interview

Interview for Wink by Summer Ross: Click for interview. Summer is the one who turned me on to WiDo Publishing, and she edited Wink. Much thanks to her, and to WiDo Publishing for making Wink happen!



Buy Here on Amazon!


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel WINK with WiDo Publishing, coming May 7, 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Help! Google Reader is GOING AWAY

So I just learned that Google Reader is GOING AWAY. It's how I always followed blogs. What are you all doing instead?


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel WINK with WiDo Publishing, coming May 7, 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Monday, March 4, 2013

STRIKING OUT!




















So last week I quit my job. At least, I quit my day job. I went full-time with my own company, Trant Logistics, which I have been working at, in relative secret (at least from my old co-workers) since 2006.

Now I work from home. I set my own hours, which are 24/7, and I no longer receive vacations, but what the hoo-hah, it's worth it, right?

When I turned in notice, I said to my then-boss, You know that old Aesop's fable about the two dogs where one is on the leash, and the other is not? It goes like this, poorly paraphrased:

A starving stray meets a house dog on a leash. The house dog says, Come in, friend, and enjoy the warmth of my fire, and fill your belly on my food.

The stray dog says, I am hungry, and I am cold, but what is that around your neck?

Why, it's a leash my master put on me.

No thanks, says the stray. I'll keep my freedom.

And he walks away.

MORAL: Better to have lean freedom than fat slavery.

Remember, folks, that Aesop was a slave before a writer, and was owned, and shackled, and called someone master. So this is among one of his most personal and deepest stories, in my opinion.

So I am unshackled. I may become lean, but at least I am FREE!

Free to write. Free to publish. Free to earn more or less money as it suits me, or as need demands.

My goal is to make writing not just a pastime, but a viable source of income. I will write, and write, and write write write, embracing my freedom, and dreaming of the day, and chasing the day, and become each day closer to the day I am a full-time, well-known, world-class author.

Until then, I will rub the chafe from my neck, and heal the scar, and work to never, never again be shackled by the leash.

Because only dogs and humans view a leash as freedom.

What about you? Do you have dreams on which you have recently scored a victory, either huge or small or medium?


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel WINK with WiDo Publishing, coming May 7, 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications, or order directly from Amazon, or wherever books are sold.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I am ~FEARLESS~ (Are you?)

Are you FEARLESS? I am.

What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear? What do I have to fear?

Consider that question, my friends and word-lovers.


What do I have to fear?

There is only one answer, and it is the same regardless of the cause of the question. It is the same answer for every person, for every living creature, since the dawn of time until the dusk of time, for this time and all other eternities that come to rise.

We have only one fear. It is deeply rooted in the deepest part of our deepest self, something so innate that even the basest of life forms possess this fear.

It is this: we fear failure.

Simple. We fear that we are about to fail. Corner a wild animal, and it will fear for its life. Why? Because it fears it is about to fail to protect itself, or its young, and its life will end with that failure.

Nobody is afraid of heights. We are afraid we will fail to remain at that height and fall. Ask a jumper if they fear the fall, and the answer is No. They fear the parachute will fail to open.

Do you see? Do you really, really see? We fear failure, and failure alone.

We fear asking a girl to dance, because we fear we will fail. We fear submitting our writing to publishers, because we fear we will fail. We fear spiders, because, well, I can't explain that one. Spiders are a category unto themselves.

But for everything else, we fear failure. I say often that successful people are too stupid to realize they could fail. They are FEARLESS.

I have nothing to fear. If you know my story, you know I lost my son last year at 18mos old. My worst fear, that I would fail to protect my children, was realized. For nine months now, my courage has gestated, until this month it was borne unto a greater cause, and I plunge fearlessly into a new phase of my life. I embrace my fear. I embrace the huge changes coming. I embrace the fact that I could fail, because I could fail, and that failure, no matter how catastrophic, is a tiny drop compared to the fear I have already faced with the loss of a child.

Perhaps that is a small part of God's will in this, and his words as I read them are these:


Hope is the better part of fear. Your success depends on which is greater.

Are you fearless? Do you embrace the fact that you could fail? Do you equally embrace hope that you could ~succeed~?


- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing, coming in 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Duotrope now a pay-site!

Duotrope is now a PAID SUBSCRIBER ONLY site.

For those of you who did not use Duotrope, it is a site where publishers and agents advertise for submissions. For those who used Duotrope when it was free, you know it is a great source for writers.

I wonder if they will improve. I wonder if they will survive. I wonder if I will still use Duotrope.

I wonder what other resources are out there.

To my writer-friends, were you aware of this, and are you still going to use Duotrope services? What other FREE resources writers can use?

- Eric


Eric W. Trant is a published author of several short stories and the novel Out of the Great Black Nothing. He is currently working on his second full-length novel with WiDo Publishing, coming in 2013! See more of Eric's work here: Publications

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