500,000 Hits!

This morning, I became aware that this blog, storiesbywilliams, has just reached another milestone. Yes, after three and a half years, this humble site has reached half a million hits. And as usual, I’d like to include a few other pertinent numbers to help put this all in perspective. For example, since this blog went public, it has reached the following:

500,180 hits (as of writing this)
7041 Comments
2089 Followers
1834 Posts

Once again, I can only say thank you to all those folks who have helped make this possible. You know who you are 😉 And just for once, I thought I might let be things brief and poignant. So thanks and congrats all around, and onto the next thing!

Cyberwars: DHS Hack and “Largest Data Breach” Ever

My apologies folks for my stingy presence in the ether as of late. Been busy with house-sitting, writing, and a slew of other distractions. But now that I’m home again at the tail end of summer vacay, you can expect to hear more from me before school starts. And there are a number of stories that I have backlogged over the past few weeks and wish to write about. Not the least of which was a series of developments in this ongoing feud we call cyberwarfare.

First up, there was the major cyberattack that occurred in early August against one of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) biggest contractors. Known as the US Investigations Services – which performs government background checks – the breach involved the hacking of their computer systems, apparently for the sake of stealing personal information on a number of DHS employees.

As the US Investigations Services said on their website:

Experts who have reviewed the facts gathered to-date believe it has all the markings of a state-sponsored attack. We will support the authorities in the investigation and any prosecution of those determined to be responsible for this criminal attack.

The scope of the breach is unclear, but to be on the safe side, the DHS has temporarily suspended working with this contractor. What’s more, USIS indicated that the extent and nature of the hacking “has all the markings of a state-sponsored attack.” If true, this would be the latest in a long-series of suspected state-sponsored cyberattacks that have targeted US government services and employees.

As recent as March of this year, officials within the US government claimed that hackers linked to the Chinese military – the infamous PLA Unit 61398 – had infiltrated government servers in an attempt to steal information on thousands of federal employees with top-secret clearance. This was just the latest round in an ongoing game of blame and counter-blame, with the US and Chinese governments discovering breaches and pointing the finger at each other.

Meanwhile, the DHS and FBI are busily trying to determine what information may have been compromised and who, amongst its many employees, could have been effected. As DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said in a recent interview with the Washington Post:

Our forensic analysis has concluded that some DHS personnel may have been affected, and DHS has notified its entire workforce. We are committed to ensuring our employees’ privacy and are taking steps to protect it.

On their own, cyber-intrusions and data breaches have a way of making people nervous. But when the combatants are major governments, and the victims number in the thousands, its an especially disconcerting situation. Add to that the fact that the victims are the very people responsible for ensuring the protection of citizens, and you have a trifecta of concern. Alas, this was not the only time this sort of thing took place during the month of August…

In what is being labelled as the biggest “the largest data breach known to date”, the Russian criminal hacker organization known as Cybervor committed a cyberattack that covers an enormous number of records. According to the New York Times report, these include some 1.2 billion username and password combinations, anf 542 million unique email accounts lifted from 420,000 compromised domains.

Alex Holden, founder of Hold Security (the company that uncovered the heist), said in a statement on the company’s blog:

In the latest development, Hold Security’s Deep Web Monitoring practice in conjunction with our Credential Integrity Services discovered what could be arguably the largest data breach known to date.

And while the numbers alone make this sound like a very scary development, the security experts who gathered in Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat hacker conference earlier this month went on record to say that there was little cause for concern. Their advice, put simply, was “don’t panic”. Or, as CrowdStrike president and chief security officer Shawn Henry put it, “There’s nothing to see here, move along.”

A former executive assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with extensive experience in the world of cyberattacks and geopolitics, Henry added that he was surprised that people were shocked by the news. Apparently, the breach does not represents a single, concerted attack, but rather an “aggregate of lots of breaches, an example of fragility of the online world in which we operate.”

In that respect, Henry does have a point. As recent revelations about the OpenSSL bug (aka. Heartbleed) and the NIST SP800-90 Dual Ec Prng cryptographic program showed, internet security protocols and encryption codes are often vulnerable due to the fact that they have “backdoors” and flaws that can be exploited by those with the right kind of knowledge.

Research analyst Andrew Conway, who works for the Web and messaging security analysis firm CloudMark, also expressed skepticism at the perceived severity of the report. As he put it:

My take is that everything in the story is true. It was presented in the most alarmist possible way. The big misconception is comparing this with something like the Target breach. There’s no evidence that any financial data was involved.

A bigger concern to Conway is that SQL injection attacks are still being used at all. SQL injection attacks occur when a short, malicious script is inserted into a database that feeds information to the Web site. And these are one of the easiest coding vulnerabilities to fix, which leads many to conclude that website and domain owners are being far too lax when it comes to security practices.

Interestingly enough, there has also been speculation that this data heist is somehow connected to the ongoing conflict between Russia and the Ukraine. This remains unconfirmed, however, on-the-ground conflicts have been known to contribute to cyberattacks because law enforcement agencies – the traditional enforcers of anti-cybercrime law – are often reluctant to get involved when there are armies involved.

CrowdStrike’s Shawn Henry said that these kinds of cyberattacks, whether simple SQL injections or more advanced attacks, will continue until Russia starts taking cybercrime seriously:

If we had a host government, Russia in this case, that was actively and aggressively pursuing adversaries who are engaged in illegal activity, we’d be in a stronger place… This is not a US problem, this is a global problem [that requires] economic, diplomatic, and civil actions. This is a long term problem with no short term solution.

In the meantime, the best advice is to change your passwords. In fact, until such time as the internet has a single security agency overseeing it, staffed by an international cadre of programmers and cryptographers who are experts in their field, we might want to all consider doing that on a regular basis!

Sources: cnet.com, (2), (3), washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com

New Milestone: 500 Follows!

The good people that run WordPress have just informed me that this humble blog o’ mine has reached an important milestone. As of 3:00 AM this morning (Pacific Daylight Time) I received my 500th follow! Combined with followers from Facebook, Yahoo, and Twitter, that brings the grand total to 2,091!

I’m especially happy about this because for some time now, I’ve had trouble breaking the 2050 mark. It seemed that with every new follower, I would lose one, and that’s never nice. Sounds greedy, I know. But it seems that the more people you have willing to listen to you, the more concerned you are about keeping that following.

Naturally, I want to thank all those people who have signed on to follow Storiesbywilliams. This past March marked its third anniversary, and for those who have chosen to stick with me over the past few years, I am especially thankful. The support and encouragement I have received since deciding to go public with my writing have made quite the difference.

Not only has it helped me to bring my written work to publication by giving it the feedback and constructive criticism it needed, it has been the difference between toiling in anonymity and making meaningful connections with people. This is why I began writing in the first place, and knowing that there is a receptive public makes all the difference.

Here’s to three years more and (fingers crossed) another 500 followers! And to those I’ve been following myself, I hope I have managed to make a similar contribution to your work. None of us is alone on this journey and we all need to know that we are doing matters to others. May it lead us all to somewhere joyous, fruitful and (God willing) profitable as well!

A Kinder, Gentler Internet: Youtube Algorithm Screens Comments

There’s scarcely a soul among us who hasn’t watched a video on YouTube. But have you ever stuck around long enough to read the comments section? It’s like a leper colony for the mind, a vindication for misanthropes everywhere. And after many years of being at the forefront of rudeness, racism, and generalized dumbassery, the YouTube comment section is getting a clean up.

Whereas the old system worked by placing the latest comments at the top nearest the video, regardless of their relevance or lack of redeeming content. The new system will employ a series of algorithms to determine what each viewer will find most relevant. This includes comments from your friends, from the video creator, and from “popular personalities” (i.e. celebs of one type or another).

But it doesn’t stop there. Currently, since comments are displayed as they come in, making the act of following a conversation difficult at best. But from now on, the site will feature threaded conversations, which is consistent with Google policy, the site’s now owners. As for private conversations, the new platform will be powered by Google+, allowing users the option of deciding who they want their posts and videos to be visible to.

Additionally, there will be a sort of cross-posting between YouTube and Google+. If you post a YouTube video on Google+ and some one comments on it there, the comment will show up on the video over at YouTube, too. Alternatively, they could choose to have their comment only show up on YouTube, or only show up on Google+. There’s a lot more control.

But perhaps most importantly of all, there are new filters that will be in place. As it stands, YouTube commenters enjoy total anonymity, which allows them to post racist, sexist, homophobic and vitriolic comments without fear. And while content creators can choose to allow all or no comments, or manually approve each comment, this is completely impractical for videos that garner millions of views a week.

But now, YouTube is introducing filters that will make it easier. The new filters basically allow content creators to not only be able to assign people to an Approved list or a Blocked list (which will auto-approve or auto-reject comments, respectively), they will be able to add keywords to a Blacklist. This will flag comments that contain those words and send them into a special list which can be reviewed and approved/rejected later.

The threaded comments feature and began to be put into effect a little over a week ago. Filters were made available at the same time for channel pages only, but in the months to come they’ll become available for every individual video, giving content creators and commenters more control over the conversations they participate in. Basically, it will still be YouTube, but with some Facebook-like privacy and content filters.

And while many might deplore these new rules as an example of heavy handed “internet censorship”, there are many more who believe this change is overdue in coming. And given that the control rests with the users, who have the ability to share or be private, and to filter specific kinds of content, the basic spirit of a democratic, open forum remains.

Source: gizmodo.com

Leibster! Leibster! Rah-rah-rah!

It seems award season is upon us again, and I’ve received a nod from a respected colleague who decided to send a nomination my way! So thanks to Rami Ungar the writer, and best wishes on the Quiet Game as it goes into its third month since publication. And now, getting to the rules of this award, I must share the following 11 details about myself, make my nominations, and answer 11 questions. Here goes…

I am an Aquarius
I was born in Ottawa Ontario on a Saturday during the depths of winter
I have a natural resistance to cold, being burly and furry, but have trouble with heat
For the first twenty-five years of my life, people though I was older than I actually was. Now it’s the reverse! For some people, this may sound like a good thing. But for me, its just plain weird!
I never really fit in with crowds. I always tried to, but found that I was destined to either stand on my own or make up my own social circles
I have a natural thing for animals. Doesn’t really matter if they are cats, dogs, or a wild creature. We just seem to get each other
I don’t get out to the theater much at all anymore, which seems nuts since I’m more invested in new movies than I ever was before
In the space of a year (Dec 2006 – Aug 07), I traveled to southern Mexico, Europe, across Canada and visited New York City. It was a crazy and awesome year!
Unlike a lot of indies, my desire to write and share goes beyond the desire to express myself creatively. Much depends on it for me, and the prospect of not succeeding is frightening to me
I am very susceptible to germs, seeing as how I get sick with the seasons like clock work. You’d think a teacher would have better immunities. Sadly, no
I love kids, but am not sure if I would ever want to have some of my own. But as I have been told many times, no one is ever really ready, so I don’t worry about it too much

Alright, that was deep. Now here are the 11 questions Rami came up with for myself and his other nominees to answer. A word of warning, I was not brief!

1. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?

Yes I do. While I so often find myself railing against organized religion for its excesses and abuses, I have never been an atheist, nor do I consider it a likely possibility that we live in a universe devoid of any higher order. I guess I’ve always been a monist/deist, a person who believes that the universe is guided by a conscious force that underlies and connects all things, was responsible for its creation and the laws that guide it, but does not intervene or exercise direct control over things.

2. If you could meet any historical personage, who would you meet and what would you say to them?

Tough call. But if I had to choose, I’d say Montezuma II, the last emperor of the Aztec civilization and people. And once the troublesome problem of translating from English to Nahuatl was worked out, I’d give him one very simple bit of advice. “Kill the Conquistadors on sight!”

3. What scares you the most in the world?

The idea of something bad happening to someone I love, and that I couldn’t be there to stop it. Either that or that I could, through negligence or inaction. be responsible for something terrible happening to someone else. Don’t think I could live with myself either way.

4. Morning, afternoon, or evening person?

Definitely evening. Not an early riser by nature, and my most creative and active time is always late at night. Were it not for this incessant need to get a good forty winks a night, I’d work til the wee hours of the morning all the time!

5. What was the worst job you ever had the displeasure of holding?

Again, tough call. There was the two summers during school that I worked for the city doing maintenance on public parks and parking garages. For those unfamiliar with job-speak, that means you clean up garbage. During the months I worked there both years, I cleaned up a ton of puke, feces, urine, and disposed of I don’t know how many used needles, half-smoked joints and even a bottle of heroine. I also got solicited by a few prostitutes, and was accosted by several homeless people.

But then there was the few months I taught in a remote community on the west side of Vancouver Island. Out there, joblessness, idleness, isolation and the problems of drug abuse, suicide, broken homes and behavioral problems create a very tough challenge for teachers. I was there for three months, replacing a teacher who went nuts and ended up suing the school board over a nothing issue. That kind of hostile work environment and the politics of the dude’s lawsuit and how it effected work for the rest of us led to many people quitting and the school almost imploding. I slept very little for those 11 weeks, got sworn and freaked out at almost every day by the kids, and was happy as hell to get out when I did!

I’d say it was the teaching gig. No job was ever that bad before or since.

6. If you could dress up as anything for Halloween this year, regardless of price, what would you dress up as?

If price weren’t an option, I’d go as Iron Man. And the exoskeleton would be real!

7. What’s your dream job?

High-paid author, article writer and traveling guest-lecturer. Basically what I’m doing everything I can to become right now!

8. If you could be somebody else for a day, who would you be? (This could be anything from an actual person–President Barack Obama or Vera Farmiga, for example–or it can be anything as simple as “a dancer” or “a music producer”)

I would love to be Chris Hadfield and go around talking about science, technology, and what its like to go into space. And then I’d unleash a guitar riff on my classic guitar!

9. What is your favorite color?

Rainforest Green. That’s the kind of deep, dark green that puts me in mind of driving across this here island, breathing clean air, and then staring out at the ocean as the high waves pound against the cliffs and the sandy shore.

10. What do you think you’ll be doing in 10 years?

With any luck, living in a nice home in Victoria, writing novels and articles for an obscene (okay, decent) amount of money, and living with my wife and our cat and a dog. She will be working in government with a senior position, the animals will be happy and rambunctious, and we will be busy contemplating what’s next for our family 🙂

11. If you had to brave some sort of apocalypse or natural disaster in your city/town/village, who would want to brave it with?

Tossup. There’s my wife, the natural choice, but if we’re venturing into the realm of the fictional, I would say Daryl Dixon. He’s a good man to have around in a fight, and underneath his tough, redneck exterior beats a good heart.

Alright, that’s me done! And now we move on to my nominations and the questions I would like to see them answer. First, here are the people I would like to nominate for this award:

Dangerously Daydreaming

The Wandering Gourmand

And here’s the questions I’d like all of them to answer:

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would go and what would you do there?
If you had a million dollars, what would you do?
If civilization were to end tomorrow, what would be your first priority? Securing a source of food, water and energy? Procreating to ensure the continuation of the species? Or preserving the knowledge of mankind?
Would you rather have:
A. A puppy
B. A kiss from your sweetie, or
C. A well formatted hard drive?
Describe your perfect relationship partner
Who’s your favorite superhero and why?
What was the best science fiction, horror, fantasy movie or television series you ever saw?
If you had a chance to go to another planet, what would you take with you?
Favorite pet (cat, dog, bird, etc.) and why?
What stands out as the single greatest experience of your life?
If you could do just one thing before you died, what would it be?

Thank you again, Rami, congrats to all the other nominees, and hope everybody is having a good week and looking forward to the weekend. Hope to hear from y’all again soon, and stay tuned for more on my end!

300,000 Views!

Oh dear. It seems a milestone was passed this week, one which slipped under my nose once again. Ever since I hit 200,000 views, which seemed like forever ago, the milestones have been fewer and further between. You tend to stop keeping track of noticing when they roll around. But when the stock ticker hits a number with five zeroes behind it, you suddenly find yourself taking notice.

And when I did, I noticed some other important milestones had also slipped by unnoticed. For example, back in March Stories by Williams celebrated its second anniversary. That alone was reason to celebrate, but since that time, the site also surpassed 2000 followers, 5000 comments, and 10,000 likes. Oh yes, and I also passed 1000 posts by a significant margin (1148, as of this posting). Awful lot of number here!

Oh yeah, it was also since the second anniversary – roughly one month later in April – that Whiskey Delta was published and sold over 1300 copies. A special shout out to all those who helped make it possible – Rami, Audrey, Carla (my darling wife-editor), and of course, Mr. Max Brooks himself!

Looking ahead, there’s always plenty more to do. First, I want to publish part II of the zombie-fiction series, Papa Zulu! And of course, there’s a few anthologies to take care, such as Yuva and Flash Forward. And then there’s the ongoing Revengers saga that’s been growing some serious legs of late. And I imagine there will be plenty of science, tech, and pop culture news to share in the meantime…

Dealing with Spam

I’ll say it right off the bat, I hate spam. No, let me express that properly: I HATE SPAM! And not the cheap, spiced ham that comes in a can. No, that at least has some comedic value, and the Monty Python troop made such good fun of it that the name has a permanent place in my heart. No, I refer of course to the useless adverts and unwanted solicitations that appear in your comments section whenever you log on to your website to see who’s stopping by.

Seeing as how feedback, especially the kind that lets you know you are reaching people, is so encouraging, is it not the most annoying thing in the world to find yourself beset by these uncaring, fishing, and indifferent messages? Sure, we all have been forced to accept that such garbage is simply the price we pay for using an unregulated internet, where its an open sea and you can expect to find your share of trolls, scammers, pirates and thieves. But lately, it’s becoming a total nuisance for me!

In fact, it’s gotten so bad that I’ve actually had to delete a post just so I would stop getting the free flow of useless comments that its come to attract. It was named “Anatomy of the Xenomorph”, and it contained a simple video clip that explains how the Alien costume designers have tinkered with the concept over the years. Don’t ask me why, but something in this article sends up the green flag for people looking to sell me Gucci, Cartier, glasses, handbags, running shoes, sexcam membership, free credit checks, and no credit check loans.

Because of this, it no longer appears on this site, mainly because I sank it in the hopes that it would take the rats down with it. Weeks of this stuff and I still wonder why these buggers were targeting it specifically. I’m sure many of you have seen the stuff I am referring to, either on your own site or one you cruise by regularly, so tell me is these ring any bells…

One of the most recurring are ones that come with the name “lista de emails”, and they usually contain some nonsense message that lauds your post in such generalized terms so as not to give away the fact that they don’t have the slightest idea what you wrote in it. Others are less subtle, advertising their product directly in the message, cramming a whole of lot poorly formatted verbiage about deals and discounts and even services you can use to improve your website.

Seriously, do these sound familiar? Is it not just me getting hit up by these desperate bungholes? If so, what are you doing to dissuade these people? More than once, I’ve actually approved a comment from a repeat offender just so I could write back and tell them to F off! And now, I’ve deleted a post so they wouldn’t find that open door when next they come around. Do I need to modify my spam filter settings? Because seriously, far too much garbage is getting through here.

Oh, and if any spammers happen to be reading this, do NOT take this opportunity to solicit me, post how much you love my site with an advert link, or tell me I need to upgrade to some service of yours. Seriously deadbeats, back yer sh*t up! Not interested, don’t care, and trying to run a serious, refuse-free site here. So look for a sucker somewhere else!

Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Good morning people! Today, I will be participating in the NBTBH, thanks to my good friend and fellow author Melanie Edmonds who was nice enough to invite me to participate. As some of you may know, Mel and I are members of the Writer’s Worth group, an indie writer organization that is dedicated to the betterment and promotion of new and aspiring authors.

In addition, she’s one of the people taking part in the Yuva anthology and one of its chief contributors. Look for her story Swan Song in the collection just as soon as it’s available. And you also click the following link to learn more about her work: http://writer.apocalypseblog.com

So, what is this blog hop thing all about? Well basically, its a thing where I and my fellow authors, in their respective blogs, offer people a sneak peak at our works-in-progress by answering ten questions about it. We’ve also included some behind-the-scenes information about how and why we write what we write: the characters, inspirations, plotting and other choices we make. I hope you enjoy it!

Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and questions. Here is my Next Big Thing!

1. What is the working title of your book?

Well, there are a few. But in this case, I’d have to go with Whiskey Delta, my first attempt at zombie apocalypse literature.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

Actually, interesting story, it came from two place. I began working on an idea for a near-future story about a militarized border between the US and Mexico, as part of a Climate Change-fueled dystopian scenario. But at some point, with all the talk of fencelines, borders, military units, and blockades, I became convinced it would be cooler with zombies. And an idea was born!

3. What genre does your book come under?

Tricky, but I’d say horror since zombie lit tends to end up in this category. Post-apocalyptic would be an equally appropriate category too, since the greatest theme of the work is how disaster of such proportions turns people against each other and forces us to put survival ahead of all else.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I’d say Adam Beach or Lou Diamond Phillips as Sergeant Dezba, Stark Sands as Lieutenant Braun, either Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence as Corporal Saunders, and

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

In the sun-baked lands of New Mexico, the Rattlesnakes live by a singular philosophy: “Leave none undead!”

6. Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

Self-published, like all my works thus far. However, that may change with time and a little promotion. We shall see!

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Roughly six months. But then again, once you got a working idea, zombie lit pretty much writes itself!

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I would have to say World War Z, since the focus is on the zombie apocalypse, though more concerned with the aftermath than the way it happened. And of course, the graphic novel of The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later, which were big inspirations for me.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Watching Generation Kill was a big boost, as it gave me a really good feel for the kinds of antics, military lingo and problems faced by today’s grunts. Studying up on various zombie franchises, from 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead, to Dawn of the Dead and The Walking Dead, were also a big push. My own passion for military history also played a role, as it helped me to understand things like grand strategies, unit tactics, and the way wars are planned and carried out. And of course, playing lots of Modern Warfare also helped to get me in the shoot-em-up, blow-em-up, action-packed mood to write all the action scenes.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Plenty of speculation as to how a zombie virus (the Ambulus Mortus strain, in my story) would work, where it would come from, and the effects it would have on the infected. I explore a good deal of the long-term effects in my story, and the race to find a vaccine and/or a cure is central to the ongoing series which I have planned.

Who’s next on the NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP?
So glad you asked! Below you will find authors who will be joining me by blog, next Wednesday. Do be sure to bookmark and add them to your calendars for updates on Works in Progress and New Releases! Happy writing and reading!

Rami Ungar: Without a doubt, he’s my first nominee. He has several irons in the fire, some of which I have had the honor of reading, and I know he’s hard at work and would like the chance to share about his process.
Khaalidah Mohammed-Ali: My second-in-command over at Yuva and an indie writer in her own right with An Unproductive Woman. I know she too deserves to share her writing and anything I can do to bring it to a wider audience, I will.
Goran Zidar: Another major contributor to Yuva and an indie writer of renown. I’ve been reading his material for some time and very much enjoy his techno-savy, grit, and realism. I know for a fact he’s got works in the works, so I say let’s hear about em!

1000th Post! Yaaaaaay!

Gee, I don’t know what to say here… Aside from the fact that this post coincides quite nicely with the 2nd anniversary of this blog, which just came and went, and comes what I can only assume will be a week before the site reaches the milestone of 250,000 hits. So I guess there are a few reasons to celebrate. And at times like this, when we take the time to look back, I also like to look ahead and see about what goals need to be set.

Well, in the last year I wrote two zombie stories which still need to be edited and released. And on top of that, I’ve already begun plotting the third and final one in the trilogy. When they are complete, I hope to release them individually and as a box set, so zombie fans can decide for themselves just how much reading they want to do! Trust me, I’m not sparing with my use of words, but I do like to think I keep them interesting.

Then there’s Yuva, which is coming along nicely, but needs a big push to get to the finish line. And who better than yours truly, el editore-en-hefe (that’s editor-in-chief for those who don’t speak mangled Spanish)? Of the sixteen stories in the anthology (we started with twelve), fourteen are spoken for. Not bad, but as the editor, I need to whoop some butts to make sure we make our summer deadline!

Ah, which is itself a bit of news. After talking it over with my co-editor and inspirational muse, Khaalidah Muhammed-Ali, we decided that a hard deadline was needed. Some people specifically asked for one when initially signing on, but I’ve left that somewhat open, as I’m kind of loosely-goosey when it comes to timetables. I’m more of a flex-hours kind of guy, task-oriented rather than time-oriented. But as it stands, summer of 2012 is when I hope everyone will have their homework in!

And of course, Data Miners had just come out, and it’s proposed sequel, Data Pirates, has been sitting on the shelf for some time. DM took me three years to write, so naturally I’m hoping for a speedier turnover on this one! And whereas the first one focused on the subject of “white-hat” hackers, people who believe in freedom and information, Pirates will focus on the darker aspects of hacker culture, on the so-called “black-hats”.

Assuming I can get all that done in a timely manner, there’s the matter or revisiting a very long-term project, one which I’ve been working on since late in 2009. As some may know, I released a novel called Source some time ago. Almost immediately after I finished writing it, before it was even published, I began work on the sequel, entitled Fortress.

As part of the dystopian, distant-future collection, it’s a old-school sci-fi romp that is dark, gritty, and has lots of war, struggle, and mysanthropic impulses. However, I decided to commit to some sequels to it in order to ensure some measure of a happy ending. No dystopian story, unless its purpose is to issue a stern warning (see 1984 or Brave New World), should offer its readers some slim ray of hope (see Catch 22).

Yeah, I design covers before the work is even complete. What can I say, I like to see how a book will look, long before it’s even finished! Hopefully, these covers will pack a good 40,000 plus words in between their two folds. Oh, and if anyone knows a good editor who works for cheap, I could sure use their help! I like to write, I do multiple projects, but when it comes to my own work, I suck horribly!

And of course, there’s the editing that needs to be done for Rami and other friends, still yet to be completed. And always, the research into the future and what course it will take must continue. Always, always continue. The world is not slowing down and neither is the future, despite what some weirdos might say! 🙂

Happy 2nd Anniversary, Stories by Williams!

I got a friendly little notification this morning. As it turns out, it was two years, twenty four months, and one-hundred and four weeks ago that I started this blog and began sharing my writing and inane thoughts to the general public. My apologies public, but we’ll get to your grievances later. Right now, I want to put those two years into a perspective using a few numbers I gathered.

As the song from Rent says “Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes… how do you measure, measure a year?” Well, up that to two years and you’ve got one-million, fifty-one thousand, two-hundred minutes, and the following numbers, according to my latest stats check. In the past two years I’ve managed to gather:

238,972 hits
8,778 likes
4,461 comments
977 posts
And most importantly of all, 1,945 followers!

I have to say, those are some nice numbers and they make me smile! And so does the prospect of doing this for the foreseeable future. There’s still a moment that I feel I’m building towards, some kind of climax this site and what I want to accomplish with it hasn’t quite met yet. Don’t know what that is yet, but I’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, I’m pretty happy with how this site has worked out for me. People always start writing with a purpose, and they take all that public once they’ve decided they want to share it. As for me, I guess I just wanted to say something relevant that mattered to people, and to know that the message was received. Thanks for being on the receiving end folks! And please feel free to keep tuning in! The show’s just getting started…

Stories by Williams

Classic sci-fi books, reviews, and the best of from a dedicated fan and author!

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Happy 2nd Anniversary, Stories by Williams!

Classic sci-fi books, reviews, and the best of from a dedicated fan and author!

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