Blog
Keep up with Brand Gamblin’s latest thoughts and get excerpts of his latest writing endeavors.
WiP notes from a potential “Hidden Institute” sequel
“You’re surprised, my lord?” The prime minister was nearly shouting. “You’re surprised? You put a nineteen-year-old sovereign on a pitch with half naked women dancing on the sidelines, while sixteen slavering beasts run at each other, carrying men holding giant mallets. Then, when he’s mortally wounded, you’re surprised!” The old man shook with rage, “How could I be the only person who saw this coming?” — BTW, did you know “The Hidden Institute” is available for free...
read moreGive the Devil his Due
I just finished the last round of edits, and I’ve published my Faustian short “Give the Devil his Due” on Smashwords (Amazon is still processing it). Michael was given the best deal one could imagine. Fame, riches, and no strings attached. The contract laid it out plainly. He would get everything he wanted, along with a “Get out of Hell Free” card. What could possibly go wrong? Along with this story are two of my most popular short stories: “Worse than the Disease” and “Snake Skin”. Click...
read moreHappy Birthday to me
DINGÂ It’s just past midnight on my birthday, which means I’ve leveled up. I am now a lvl 39 Neutral Good Paladin. In honor of my birthday, I’m using my last day of KDP select free promotion to give all of you wickedly handsome people (and you are looking particularly good today. How do you do that?) a free copy of my most successful book “Tumbler”. And what can you do for me? Tell you what. Buy a copy of “The Hidden Institute”, and give it to someone you love. Or, if you didn’t much like the...
read moreI fought the Doc and the Doc won.
So, yesterday I started work in a new office. I have my own cubicle, my own whiteboard, even a view out the window! I was introduced to a bunch of new people, and then I had to say goodbye because I had to get to the hospital. See, yesterday was also the day that I had to get an upper endoscopy. This is a procedure by which they take a camera, and shove it so far down your throat that they can see your intestines. Part of this process involves putting the victim patient to sleep, because nobody can sit idly by while that’s going on. The...
read moreHello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
read moreTotally Mad
See this? It’s a picture of a seven-disk collection called “Totally Mad.” It has every single issue of Mad magazine from 1952-1998. That’s over 500 issues, running all through the 60s, 70s, 80s, and most of the nineties. By reading through this, you get a taste of how America dealt with ideas like Vietnam, the sexual revolution, the rise of the Internet, and other cultural milestones. I bought this about a decade ago for about $60, and have had it in storage for a few years. Recently, I came across it and thought...
read moreBrand's First Law of Creative Works
Years ago, I was at a con, in a panel on intellectual property. At the time, I said, “If anybody out there can make a better ‘Calls For Cthulhu’ than I can, they deserve the right to do it, and I’ll help them if I can.” It was considered a magnanimous and surprising statement, and I stand by it. (Let me take a moment to explain my thinking) I consider C4C something I created. No, I did not create Cthulhu. I did not create the mythos surrounding him. Hell, I didn’t even make the puppet. However, I did come up...
read moreMy 2012 Writing Schedule
Last year, I created a writing schedule in January that I actually stuck to pretty well. Because of that, I was able to write several books last year and publish two of them. So I’m going to try it again here. This is my wishful thinking schedule for the year. If I do it right, it will let me publish four new books this year. Here we go: January – Edit Discount Miracles (DM) February – Send DM to editors. Record DM for Podiobooks. Edit Tumbler Sequel (TS) March – Record DM for Podiobooks. Edit TS April –...
read moreThe constant evolution of blog spam
As a computer programmer, I find that I’m fascinated by the evolution of spam comments. I mean, the first ones were blatant – “BUY MOAR CHEAP WATCHES AND VIAGRA!!!” After that, spam filters got better, so the commenters started avoiding obvious phrases – “BY MOAR CH3AP W4+(HES AND V1AGR4!!!” This made the spam filters broaden their blacklists, and made it harder to read. Also, spammers ran into the problem where blog owners would read every comment, and the human filter was just too good to get...
read moreSample from "Discount Miracles"
I just finished editing this section, and I really like how it turned out, so I thought I would share it with you lovely people.
read more
Recent Comments