Archive for January, 2012

Steve Umstead Scores a New Sci-Fi Fan

Posted: January 30, 2012 in Book Reviews, Fiction, Publishing
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A Review From a Sci-Fi Newbie’s Perspective

Gabriel's RedemptionMy normal reading usually consists of fantasy, horror, and thrillers, but I decided to try out the SciFi genre with Gabriel’s Redemption. After reading the first chapter I immediately grew interested in the story, while a bit confused at first with some of the technology, such as “neuretics” and “Mindseye”. However, as I continued to read further, it all started making sense, which actually made for some interesting reading. I loved the technology presented in Gabriel’s Redemption. Umstead does an excellent job of creating believable technology that isn’t too far-fetched.

There’s a lot of back story in Gabriel’s Redemption, but while some have noted that it was too slow-paced, I’m the type of reader that enjoys some good back story. I think Steve Umstead did a good job of giving me just enough back story without resulting in information overload. If you are the type who expects action from the first page all the way through the end, a little patience goes a long way. Umstead definitely rewards that patience with some great action and a satisfying ending! I finished reading Gabriel’s Redemption with a smile on my face.

My only complaint (which is a very minor one) is that I wish I could have learned a little more about the title character Evan Gabriel, but since this is part of a trilogy, I believe Umstead gave me just enough information to keep me interested. In a way, this is a positive note because I cared enough about Evan Gabriel to want to get to know him more in the story. The last pages of Gabriel’s Redemption leads me to believe I’ll be getting just that in the coming books.

I’m certainly looking forward to continuing this Sci-Fi adventure with Gabriel’s Return and Gabriel’s Revenge. All three books are also now available in one complete edition titled Gabriel’s Journey.

This series is highly recommended for all Sci-Fi fans and those just trying out the genre for the first time. You won’t be disappointed.

Gabriel’s Redemption is available for all major e-reader platforms, and now in print:


About the Author:

Steve Umstead has been the owner of a Caribbean & Mexico travel company for the past ten years, but never forgot his lifelong dream of becoming an author. After a successful stab at National Novel Writing Month, he decided to pursue his dream more vigorously…but hasn’t given up the traveling.

Steve lives in scenic (tongue-in-cheek) New Jersey with his wife, two kids, and several bookshelves full of other authors’ science fiction novels. Gabriel’s Redemption was his debut novel, published in February of 2011; Gabriel’s Return, the second in the trilogy, launched in August; the finale, Gabriel’s Revenge, book 3, hit the virtual shelves in December.

Jumping Out of a Perfectly Good Airplane

Posted: January 26, 2012 in Leisure, Lifestyle

The Bucket List

My friend D.C. McMillen posted a blog about her bucket list the other day. On that list, she included that she wanted to go skydiving. My first reaction was, “Are you nuts?” Of course, I have to admit that I came very close to actually taking part of a skydiving trip with some coworkers back in 2000 when I was working in the Human Resources Department at an inbound customer service call center.

Skydiving Not For Me

One of the escalated help desk operators had the bright idea of getting a bunch of us together to take advantage of a group rate skydiving adventure. At the time we had about 800 employees, so surely he’d be able to sucker—I mean convince—enough of us to go along with him to get the discounted rate. He recruited one of the administrative support staff to help him with this effort. She eventually got around to me and stressed how much fun it would be to go skydiving as a group. We would even get a video of us plummeting to our death…I mean they would capture all of the fun we’re having while skydiving. She stressed that we would get a great rate if we got at least ten people to go (or maybe it was eight; I can’t remember exactly). Now, I’m all for a good adrenaline rush (I’m a huge fan of high-speed roller coasters with loops), but I draw the line when it comes to freefalling from an elevation of thousands of feet.

Needless to say, I didn’t do it, and I was teased for being a chicken by those who decided to go, including the guy who organized the event. The small group of coworkers went on their freefalling adventure the following weekend. Just a mental note: if you believe in the philosophy of “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” skydiving is probably not for you.

Who’s the Chicken Now?

The following Monday morning, my coworkers that went skydiving that weekend told me all about their exciting trip and how much fun it was. One of them showed me a video of her freefall, and I had to admit it did look like fun. I asked if she had any video of the guy who organized the skydiving trip and she just laughed. Why was she laughing? This guy who acted all macho and told everybody how much of an adrenaline rush skydiving would be didn’t follow through himself. He chickened out! What’s more, is that he chickened out while he was on the plane as everyone else jumped out the plane. Yeah, I gave him hell for that! 🙂

A Perfectly Good Airplane

So, I guess part of the moral of this story is if you are going to plan some high adrenaline pumping adventure with some friends and coworkers, make sure you have the guts to follow through yourself. Otherwise, you WILL NOT be allowed to live that one down. On that note, I promise to never ask you to go skydiving with me, because of this simple fact…I will NEVER jump out of a PERFECTLY GOOD AIRPLANE!

Here’s a video I found on YouTube of people skydiving with an inflatable shark! 🙂

Video credit: joust76 / YouTube.com

I’ve Been Tagged. So Here Goes…

Posted: January 21, 2012 in Lifestyle, New Year, Social Networking


I normally don’t participate in Internet chain games, but when I read that my friend D.C. McMillen tagged me, I figured what the heck. So, without further ado, it’s time to follow through with my commitment and answer these questions. I’ll then randomly choose two friends to tag at the end of the post.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE HAPPIEST EVENT OF 2011?

I had one roller coaster of a year, so I’d have to say that my happiest moment of 2011 was 11:59 p.m. on January 31, 2011. I brought in the new year in the reception hall of a funeral home. No joke. Remember, I used to be an obituaries coordinator and advertising sales rep. One of my old business clients invited me to a New Year’s Eve party. Don’t ask where we chilled the champagne. 🙂

WHAT WAS THE SADDEST?

My grandmother passed away in September, so that was definitely the saddest moment of the year. She was 85 years old, and up until the time of her passing had never been sick enough to require a doctor in her entire life. She also had a lot of pride of never missing one day of work throughout her career.

ONE UNLIKELY THING YOU WENT AHEAD AND DID?

Respond to a “Tag” chain game. Oh, you mean in 2011. I think the most unlikely thing I did in 2011 was quit a job that I enjoyed at a company that I previously saw myself retiring from.

WHO LET YOU DOWN?

I want to say certain individuals that I worked with, but ultimately I’m responsible for my thoughts and feelings, regardless of how I feel I was treated. Forgiveness is very important in my book.

WHAT MADE YOU LAUGH?

I have a pretty good sense of humor and love to laugh, so considering that I spent a lot of time laughing in 2011, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one. Although, I can tell you my Jack Russell Terrier tends to make me laugh quite a bit by the things she does. For example, after she eats she always exerts a little petite belch. It’s so cute. LOL!

WHAT MADE YOU CRY?

After putting a lot of money into replacing the brake system and suspension in my ’81 Corvette, after a few weeks of enjoying the new brakes and suspension I stepped inside the black “Bat Mobile”, turned the key, and…well that’s when the tears began to flow. The car wouldn’t start, and I was out of money. Sigh. That’s what happens when you buy a 30 year-old car. You fix one thing and something else dies. My therapist says that it will all be okay. The withdrawal ticks should go away too.

TELL US ONE THING THAT MADE YOU PROUD OF YOURSELF.

I think my proudest moment was after leaving my career in the newspaper industry. It felt like a free fall at first, but then when I chose to dedicate my time and energy to building my own business and also focus on writing, a sense of pride filled my soul. It’s a good feeling.

TELL US ONE CHALLENGE THAT YOU OVERCAME.

The greatest challenge I overcame was quitting a job after six and a half years of employment and stepping into the unknown. I have a very supportive family and lots of supportive friends that have helped give me the courage to pursue my dream of working for myself, which has also given me much more time and energy to write.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE IN 2012?

If I could just wave a magic wand and make it happen I think the one thing I would change in my life in 2012 would be to have a successful small business and (okay, two things) have a book published that many would enjoy reading. Success doesn’t mean wealth, by the way. Although, since we’re dreaming here…I’d have a successful business that brings in millions of dollars in revenue, I’m living in a 7,000 square foot home, drive a Ferrari F-430 Spyder, and I’m dating Sandra Bullock.

And then I’m slapped back to reality where I’m poor, peddling a Schwinn, and single. 🙂

TAG! YOU’RE IT!

Okay, now that I’ve fulfilled my end of the tagging bargain, it’s time to choose two writerly friends to carry the torch. Drum roll! I’ll reveal my choices after a short commercial break…


Now that you’ve visited Carolyn’s site, bought her book, and came back here to find out who I’ve chosen to tag (drawing names out of hat)…I have selected Karen DeLaBar and Tess Hardwick. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is share your own answers to the questions posted in this blog and then tag two other bloggers (optional, of course).

This message will self-destruct in 5…4…3-

Why I’m an Author…Not Simply a Writer

Posted: January 19, 2012 in Fiction, Publishing, Writing

Defining an Author

Dictionary.com defines a writer as a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist. That’s a very simple and vague definition of what a writer is, but it does sum it up. I’d like to take that a step further, though. Writing is a lot more involved than just putting words together to form a sentence. What I do like about this particular definition is the word “engaged.” That word defines a vital part of the writing life. One who is engaged in something is dedicated and focused on that particular task. Going back to the simple definition of a writer, anyone who writes something is technically a writer, right? Wrong. This is why as a writer of fiction I like to instead define myself as an author…not simply a writer.

Let’s look at how Dictionary.com defines an author: a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of literary work, as distinguished from a compiler, translator, editor, or copyist.

Mirriam-Webster defines an author as one that originates or creates; the writer of a literary work.

Now that sounds more like it.

The Author’s Writing Canvas

Writing fiction is a form of art. It involves using your imagination and telling a story that is original and hopefully keeps your reader turning the pages. This is a challenging process because when you are writing fiction you have to remember that while you may think you have written a great scene, you may lose your reader’s attention if that scene isn’t painted well on your writing canvas. You have to figure out how to capture your audience when telling your story, and more importantly, show the reader the details of your written scene. If the reader can’t visualize what you have written then it may be time to pull out the red editor’s pen.

When assembling your story your work of art includes everything from setting, characters, dialogue, pace, sentence structure and the overall plot. That’s a lot to think about when building a story and it can be quite a challenging process, but that’s part of the fun, especially when your characters disagree with your outline and you have to rethink the whole damn story. Those voices in your head get to arguing about where the story should be heading, and as much as you want to be in control, sometimes you just have to concede and give your characters the reins.

I’m an Author Because I Love to Write

I’m preaching to myself when it comes to all of the details involved in trying to create a story that others will enjoy, and when I’m staring at my computer screen with the deer-in-the-headlights look as writer’s block rears its ugly face at me, I have to step away from my writing canvas and remind myself why I’m an author. When I get discouraged after literally putting years of hard work into a book that doesn’t sell, which I truly enjoyed writing (and enjoy reading), that’s when I have to remind myself that I’m an author because I love to write. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. If I write for the sole purpose of making a buck, then I need to stop writing.

Obviously, I hope people will spend a few bucks and dedicate some of their valuable time to read my work of art, my work of fiction, and enjoy it. However, if I don’t become the next Amazon best-selling author, or even get one five-star review, that’s okay. Why? It’s okay because I’m an author who simply loves to write.

The Author’s Thermometer

If you are struggling with your work of art and sometimes feel like kicking that writing canvas to the ground in frustration because your masterpiece isn’t selling, it’s time to take your temperature, because you may just be getting hot headed about nothing. Are you tempted to stop writing because you are entertaining the assumption that it’s not worth continuing to write because nobody is reading your work? That temperature gauge is getting too high now and you need to cool off. Just relax, take a deep breath and remind yourself of why you are an author. Why did you start writing to begin with? What is it that motivates you to continue writing? How do you measure your success as an author? Do you measure your success based on the amount of copies you sell or do you measure your success in the satisfaction of publishing a work of art? Your work of art!

Just Write!

Write because you love it. Write because you enjoy the creative process. Write because you are an author. Just write! Nothing more. Nothing less.

Sharky Teeth

You might also like:

Devil’s Nightmare by Robert Pruneda available in print and eBook formats. Click the image below for more details.
Devil's Nightmare

Huge Mistake or Best Decision Ever Made?

Posted: January 12, 2012 in Business, Lifestyle, Writing

The End of a Career and Making the Right Choices

On Sept. 27, 2011 I ended a career in the newspaper industry after six and a half years of employment. Let’s just say there were some professional differences of opinion of some management decisions and a certain situation was so poorly handled that it finally triggered my decision to part ways with the company. As the obituaries coordinator and an advertising sales rep, I basically sold advertising to funeral homes and handled all aspects of publishing obituaries for the region. Without boring you with the details of the actual job, while it wasn’t the most glamorous job to have, it was a job that I really enjoyed, particularly in dealing with my business clients (the funeral homes). And before you comment about how it must have been a dead-end job, how the people I worked with were a bunch of stiffs, and start chanting “Bring out your dead,” as an obituary writer, I always got the last word. 🙂

All jokes aside, there was a lot involved in publishing obituaries on a daily basis. There was the death verification process; writing and editing; photo scanning and editing; maintaining the daily death notices column (basically a list of recent deaths with funeral home contact information), keeping up with every visitation, prayer service, rosary, funeral and burial in a 13-county area and ensuring every one of them was published on the correct day with the correct times and locations; coordinating with the editorial department to determine space needed for obituaries; and designing obituary page(s) accordingly. On top of that there was the customer service (both for funeral homes and families of the deceased), payments and collections, selling advertising to funeral homes, (deep breath) and processing memoriam ads. Yeah, it was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it.

So, why did I leave a job that I obviously enjoyed? Since this is a public forum, I’ll answer that simply with personal reasons that many people can probably relate with when the stress level in certain aspects of the job (the professional differences of opinion…I’m being very kind there) just wasn’t worth dealing with anymore.

After leaving a company that I used to love working for and planned to retire from, I found myself unemployed and stepping into the unknown. I didn’t have another job lined up, and I spent several weeks trying to find that right job. Nothing appealed to me in this town. So, I decided to take the self-employment route.

Transitioning to Self-Employment

At the time of my departure from the newspaper, I had been working on building a home-based business (with plans on opening an office at some point in the near future) on a part-time basis. I had actually started this business venture back in 2004 with resume writing services, general small business office support (similar to outsourcing temp work), and Photo DVD production. It brought in some extra income, but I didn’t put a lot of effort into it back then. I ended up putting the business on the backburner after starting my career in the newspaper industry, but now I have decided it is time to seriously focus on my dream of small business ownership. I knew there was a lot of risk involved, a lot of trial and error, planning, and long hours of development. A friend and former manager of mine has also been building a small business since 2001 while working full-time as a human resources director. She is now self-employed and focusing 100% of her effort in building her own business. So, we are now helping each other out. I needed a regular small business client to get the small business office support services “department” off the ground, and she obviously needed the admin support. Over the past few months, things have been working very well with only minor hiccups. We have a great system going that works well for both of us. Just recently, one of my former customers from the newspaper contacted me about helping them with a project. They have a full staff, but they just didn’t have time to create all of the documents needed in house. So, they outsourced the job to me. Today I received word that the owner wants to discuss hiring me on a part-time basis. We have yet to discuss details.

So, transitioning from full-time traditional employment to self-employment hasn’t been easy and has been a bit worrisome at times, and there have been times where I thought I made a huge mistake by quitting my job. However, while I still miss my old job and my customers, the “pros” of self-employment have far outweighed the “cons” at this point of the transition. The obvious negative aspect of resigning from my position at the newspaper is the steady paycheck. While the pay wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad either…not to mention benefits (which, to tell the truth, weren’t all that great anyway). However, the steady paycheck issue may soon be resolved to some degree if everything pans out well with the part-time opportunity I mentioned earlier.

What I have most enjoyed from self-employment has been the fact that I’m the boss (although, I can be a bit of a slave driver sometimes…I worked on a project until 2 a.m. last night!) and determine my work schedule and have a lot more flexibility in prioritizing and managing projects. If I decide I want to work in the evening, so I can take care of other things during the day, I can…all while still meeting any project deadlines. Working on my terms and not having to answer to someone else’s opinion of how they think my job should be done (or even as far as treating me like I don’t have a brain) has reduced my negative stress level to near zero. That alone has been worth it!

More Time for Writing

I think one of the most significant things that has occurred ever since I quit my full-time job at the newspaper is that because my stress level has reached much healthier levels, I have been able to focus more on writing. My participation in #WIP500 has been very successful so far with over 11,000 words written in my current work-in-progress (WIP). Granted these words may not be the greatest, but the story is unfolding at a nice pace. My focus is to just get the story written and then go back to polish it up, rewrite and cut out the unnecessary fat where needed.

It feels great to be writing again and I truly believe that 2012 is going to be the best year I’ve had in a long time. I’m not talking about financially, either. I am a firm believer that money can’t buy happiness and that you can be in a job that pays well, has great benefits, but if you’re not happy, then it’s probably time to rethink your priorities. I would much rather earn less and live comfortably, than be rich, stressed out and miserable. Obviously you need money to pay the bills, and the social aspect of many jobs is important too (one thing I do miss from the traditional ball-and-chain job), so I’m not saying quit your job and become a hermit. What I am saying is that if you aren’t happy with your job, if you have the means to explore other options that will make you happy, I say the least you can do is consider it. If you have a great idea for a business that you believe has a customer base in your area, do the research, and go for it!

That goes for writing, too! If you have a story that has been floating around your head for millennia, it’s not going to write itself. Just do it! Don’t worry about whether or not you think people will buy it or not. If selling the books is your main motivation for writing, then you are writing for the wrong reason.

This brings up another topic, which I will write about in next week’s post: “Why I am a Writer…”

I hope to see you there and thanks for taking the time to read my post. Cheers!

Update: It’s now the middle of 2013 and business has been doing well and throughout 2012 I worked on my first horror-thriller Devil’s Nightmare which I published in January 2013. Leaving my traditional job was definitely the best decision I ever made. 

SCRATCH LINE

Profile Photo (Cropped)Robert “Sharky” Pruneda is a native Texan, video game “enthusiast” [addict], and fan of all things horror. He left a career in the newspaper industry in 2011 to pursue the life of a nocturnal author, brainstorming new and creative ways to creep out his readers. He doesn’t only write horror though. He also pens the occasional family-oriented tale just to keep from going completely nuts with all those creatures of the night whispering in his ears. When he’s not pulling ideas out of his twisted brain, you’ll likely find him on social media or fighting alongside his fellow gaming buddies where they all get shot up into Swiss cheese (or turned into little bite-sized chunks because of “Sharky’s” obsession with explosives). Medic!

Pursue your dreams . . . and never look back.

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Highway Patrol Complaint to USMC

Posted: January 7, 2012 in Jokes

I normally wouldn’t use my blog to share a joke I received via e-mail, but this one was so funny I had to share it. Those who may have or currently serve in the military will more than likely enjoy this one.

Two Texas Highway Patrol officers were conducting speeding enforcement on Highway 77, just south of Kingsville, Texas.

One of the officers was using a handheld radar device to check speeding vehicles approaching the town of Kingsville. The officers were suddenly surprised when the radar gun began reading 300 miles per hour and climbing.

The officer attempted to reset the radar gun, but it would not reset and then it suddenly turned off.

Just then a deafening roar over the Mesquite tree tops on Highway 77 revealed that the radar had in fact locked on to a USMC F/A-18 Hornet which was engaged in a low flying exercise near it’s naval air home base location in Kingsville.

Back at the Texas Highway Patrol Headquarters in Corpus Christi the patrol captain fired off a complaint to the U.S. Naval Base commander in Kingsville for shutting down his equipment.

The reply came back in true USMC style:

“Thank you for your letter….

You may be interested to know that the tactical computer in the Hornet had detected the presence of, and subsequently locked on to, your hostile radar equipment and automatically sent a jamming signal back to it, which is why it shut down.

Furthermore, an air-to-ground missile aboard the fully armed aircraft had also automatically locked on to your equipment’s location.

Fortunately, the Marine pilot flying the Hornet recognized the situation for what it was, quickly responded to the missile system alert status and was able to override the automated defense system before the missile was launched to destroy the hostile radar position on the side of Hwy 77, south of Kingsville.

The pilot suggests you cover your mouths when swearing at them, since the video systems on these jets are very high tech.

Sergeant Johnson, the officer holding the radar gun, should get his dentist to check his left rear molar. It appears the filling is loose. Also, the snap is broken on his holster.

Semper Fi.”

Story Source: E-mail circulation (original author unknown); images added for this blog post
Texas Highway Patrol image source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
FA/18 Hornet image source: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

My Commitment to Writing in 2012

Posted: January 3, 2012 in #WIP500, Fiction, Writing

A New Challenge for 2012

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I decided to accept the #WIP500 challenge that my friend Cara Michaels is hosting. If you aren’t familiar with the #WIP500 challenge, I’ll give a brief explanation. First of all, for those of you that use Twitter (which is probably everyone who follows this site) you’ll recognize the title of the challenge is in the form of a hash tag, so everyone interested and involved have a place to announce their successes and communicate with other writers taking the challenge. Basically, the #WIP500 challenge involves writing at least 500 words every day for your current work-in-progress (WIP). Since this year is a leap year, if you write 500 words a day, you’ll have 183,000 words written by the end of the year! That’s plenty of words for multiple projects. Writing 500 words a day seemed like a reasonable goal for me, so I jumped on board.

The last time I checked, 125 people have accepted the #WIP500 challenge with more than half of them already reporting their daily word counts. So far, for the first two days I have added 1300 words for my current project, The Devil’s Nightmare, bringing it to a grand total of 2034 words.

The Devil’s Nightmare

My current WIP, The Devil’s Nightmare, is only in its infant stage right now, but I’m excited to be writing again and working in a genre that I have always loved…horror! I’ve had this story floating around in the back of my mind for a while now and decided that 2012 was going to be the year to take stab at the horror genre. If I don’t do it now, I may not get another chance later…you know, considering that the world is suppose to end on Dec. 21, 2012. Let’s just hope the Mayans were wrong about that one!

My tentative goal is to have The Devil’s Nightmare ready for e-book distribution by Oct. 31, 2012 and then in print sometime shortly after that. This is, of course, if everything goes as planned, but you know how that goes! If I manage to hit my 500-word daily #WIP500 quota, then getting The Devil’s Nightmare published this year shouldn’t be a problem. One thing is for sure, though…I don’t want to rush through this one! I want to make sure that The Devil’s Nightmare is handled correctly, written well, edited well, and has a great cover. Thanks to the awesome writing community on Twitter that I have had the pleasure networking with in 2011, finding the perfect editor and cover artist for The Devil’s Nightmare will be a heck of a lot easier (and here come the marketing tweets and emails). 🙂

Pushing Forward

Last year was like riding an emotional roller coaster. I have a lot of great things to reflect on from last year, but there were also some events that got me a bit depressed too. However, as the new year approached I was ready to leave the past in the rear view mirror and tackle 2012 head on. I decided to focus on my goals with my head held high and a confident heart that I can and will succeed this year no matter what it takes to do so. In my next post I’ll be writing a little bit about my experience of quitting a job that I loved to pursue a dream of operating my own business and focusing more on writing.

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