Speculations Over Time

Maximal Reserve is in the 2011 STL Distribution Spring Catalog

2011-01-05T06:38:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

You know it's close to coming out when the distributor is sending catalogs that advertise your book to all the bookstores in the country. Page 12 here.

T-Minus 25 days!

Back in the "Writing Saddle"

2010-11-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I posted here. This is mostly because of my commitments to a number of other things in my life. Back in January I was asked to help our youth group at church as a youth leader.

“How hard could that be?” I thought. Silly rabbit…

I made a choice that outside of my work as a programmer for Microsoft during the “day hours” I would use my talents for the Lord and build something for our youth group on the web. This turned out to be one of the most amazing and most rewarding things I have ever done and it’s like a cross between a digital bible and a social network. While it’s a closed environment (on purpose) it’s my hope that someday all Christians will have access to a tool like this. This project essentially consumed every moment outside of work, family events and finishing the editing for my next book.

During the summer I managed to get Maximal Reserve, my next work, edited with Rachel Starr Thomson and ready to go for a February 1, 2011 release. I just saw the typeset version and I must say that it looks great. I am so excited about sharing this story with you all. It’s very different than Wayback – a different premise, a different set of heroes and villains and more contemporary in its approach.

This morning, after dropping my daughter off for a drama practice at school I headed to a local college library to continue writing on the long awaited sequel to Wayback. It’s a quiet environment that gives me the concentration that I need to write.

I have struggled with the working title for this book and it’s lurched from various titles such as The Pact of the Fallen to Mid-Cycle (it is the second book a three book series) and finally have arrived at the title that I am happy with: Insurrection. It’s a single word, like Wayback, not a lot of books with this title exist and it has dual meaning, much like Wayback did (going Wayback and finding a Way Back).

I am now referring to Insurrection as “The Big Scary.” This is a term that I saw Tosca Lee (the author of Havah and Demon: a Memoir) use for her upcoming story of Judas Iscariot, which is coming in 2012. “The Big Scary” is a good way to describe a book that you know will challenge yourself—not just the mechanics, but in the big ideas that it challenges in both yourself and your readers.

Why call it “The Big Scary?” Well, this is the third time I am rewriting this story. I really thought I would bring this sequel to market before Maximal Reserve, but some early readers were disturbed by the content. After more than a year of research into the concept, I was blown back to the drawing board. As you know, research is a key part of my books and I like to educate on the way to entertainment. I shelved the idea and kept researching coming to the same conclusions that I had early on, but with new ideas for the approach to take to get the idea across.

This idea will be controversial and in the months ahead I will share my raw research with you and we can talk about the conclusions that I have come to in the two and half years since I started this manuscript.

Until that point, think about what your feelings are regarding the following:

• How advanced was man before the Flood?
• How advanced was their technology?
• Was any ruin left that might give us a hint of how advanced man was before the Flood changed the face of the planet?
• Did man get help from another source with this technology? If so, what was the payment for the exchange of this information?
• Why did God have to destroy the entire human population of the planet, including animals that breathe through their nostrils?
• What did God mean by the phrase that “Noah was pure in his generations?”
• What does the mysterious set of versus that frame the reason for the flood in the early part of Genesis 6 mean?

Summer Blahs and an update on Maximal Reserve

2010-07-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's hot--I mean "out of control hot" here in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Corridor. The lawns all look like the moon and I haven't had to mow the lawn in a few weeks now.

I am in the midst of the final edits on Maximal Reserve with Rachel Starr Thomson, the same wonderful editor that worked with me on Wayback. We've already made some big changes and reordered some chapters to make the story read better and get to the action as soon as possible.

I'm also finishing up getting endorsements for the book. I'm so happy with the list of authors who have agreed to write a blurb about the book even after reading early manuscripts that don't have all the polish to them.

I was interviewed on PID/BlogTalkRadio last week and you can listen to the interview here.

I also got a great review from Kerry Neitz, a fellow Christian Sci-Fi author and fellow Microsoft Alumnus. I reposted his review here with his permission. Grab one of his books - A Star Curiously Singing has received huge accolades and is doing very well in the marketplace. When I get a review like this from a fellow author it makes me happy :) Oh, and you can pre-order Maximal Reserve on Amazon now.

Wayback is a fun novel that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I love the way it reads--like a Michael Crichton thriller, both educating the reader and challenging him to think outside the box. In fact, I would say it has a more wide-open worldview than most Crichton novels, since it allows for both the secular approach and that of a reasoned faith.
Nazi experiments? Time travel to the time of Noah? Why not! Wayback has a cool premise, and the story itself is executed nearly flawlessly--again reminiscent of Crichton at his best. I was so tickled with the idea as I read, I kept wondering why I hadn't thought of it! Big kudos to Sam for bringing it all together.
Really, I can find little to criticize here. The only thing I wonder about is whether the secondary time travel plot--while thoroughly entertaining and well written--was even necessary for this story. There were so many fun elements in the main story; the secondary plot could've almost been saved for a second novel. (Which I'm sure I would've enjoyed too.)
Wayback is an awesome first effort by Mr. Batterman. I'm excited to see what he has in store for us next.

Final Cover for Maximal Reserve

2010-05-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

Book Covers for Maximal Reserve

2010-04-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

As soon as I got back from The Gathering last week, I got an email with possible cover concepts for Maximal Reserve from my publisher.

I polled dozens of people and even the youth group at our church that I'm involved with. The runaway favorite was #3 with the barrels at the bottom. The first one, while more accurate with the elements of the book, would likely be troublesome as so many people don't know what Israel looks like geographically. To them, the abstract shape might look like a rusty knife with a droplet at the bottom (blood? oil?) - too many design concerns to deal with. #2 seems like more of a non-fiction book and while it's a super clean look and feel I don't think it conveys the suspense and intrigue of the book.

Hope you enjoy these!

Sam

Book Club, Signing & The Gathering 2010

2010-04-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Late last summer I made an important connection. As it turns out, it was providential. Sara Peters, the Bookstore manager of Southeast Christian Church, got a hold of a copy of Wayback that I was sending across the country trying to stimulate sales and the market for Christian techno-thrillers and quickly became my biggest cheerleader. The book flashed through the staff and is a good seller in their amazing bookstore.

I met Sara last year in Denver at ICRS and after she invited me to attend the Gathering, I knew I wanted to be here. The Gathering is just that--a collection of the owners and operators of Chrisitan bookstores from around the country (there were even proprietors here from Hawaii). Sara did an amazing job of organizing this mega event and it went very well.

While I had heard of "Mega-Churches" before, I had never really experienced one. Having gone to Bob Jones University, one of the largest Christian universities in the country, I thought I understood what big was.

I was wrong.

Southeast is enormous -- multiple sanctuaries (even one for weddings), multiple fellowship halls, a building for the youth called "The Block" and even a fitness and ministry building. You need a Segway to get around the campus. I'm not kidding!

While Southeast has hundreds of ministries and thousands of volunteers their compassion and friendliness are unmistakable.

The bookclub had me in for a presentation and discussion. There were at least 120 people there and we had a great time. The topic of my presentation was Christianity and Science Fiction - should we be involved with this stuff? The presentation went well and I had great conversations and questions about many of the subjects in Wayback.

It's so encouranging as an author to meet fans and put faces with the people that are "friending" you on Facebook and commenting on your blog site and sending you reader's email. The booksigning for the retail owners went very well - over 100 books were signed and I met some other authors who have had experiences similar to mine. One was a writing couple: Dave and Diane Munson. Now retired, Dave worked as an undercover FBI agent and Diane was a federal prosecutor. They write suspense novels such as: Hero's Ransom. It was interesting comparing notes about their writing journey and their impressions of the industry.

One thing that happened during this trip was the encouragement of fans for me to get the sequel to Wayback completed. I'm about 60% of the way done and this trip really lights a fire under me to get it done.

Here are some pics of the book club as the room is still filling up. Sorry I couldn't get one with everyone in it. Since I was speaking I was concentrating more on my discussion than being a photographer.

Gratuitous picture of me in front of a display stand of Wayback in the Southeast bookstore.

At the Author Autograph party for the Gathering. Met some great authors.

Blessings,

Sam

Maximal Reserve was picked up by Deep River Books!

2010-03-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Maximal Reserve, my second novel, was picked up last week by Deep River Books. VMI, one of the imprints of Deep River, published my first book Wayback last year.

Timelines are still a bit sketchy and it looks like I'll miss the all important Christmas holiday season (unfortunately). Right now it looks like Maximal Reserve (MR for short from here on out) will be published in early Winter or Spring (January-April 2011).

I'm working on endorsements and getting loose ends cleaned up on the manuscript.

Stay tuned for more info!

New Review from Book Reviews by Buuklvr81 (Molly Edwards)

2010-02-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

Molly Edwards has written up a nice review of Wayback on her site. By permission, I include it below:

My Review:
This is not a book that I would normally read, but I am so glad that I did read it! Wow! When you read about the book, you think, oh man...a science fiction styled book. But it's so much more than that. The author blends Christians and their beliefs with non christian's and their beliefs in such a way that you would think you were sitting in on an actual conversation.

As I sat reading this book, I realized there are many aspects to this novel: it's thrilling, it's realistic, it's full of Godly happenings, and full of great characters. It is a book that will have you thinking about things. It is a bit of the sci-fy type thriller, but not in a way that will turn you away from reading it. When you open the book you are immediately pulled straight in, learning of the Flood and technoligies. Batterman mixes that sci-fy thriller type, with God and Scripture, and uses thoses things to make the characters even more realistic and get your mind to thinking.

I give high recommendations to this book. I think everyone will benefit from this book in one way or another. It is perfect for book clubs, or discussion books. It is a truly great book with a thought provoking plot, and characters that you won't forget. Batterman's writing style will not disappoint! So, if you like Christian novels, thrilling, page turning events, and thought provoking situations, please grab a copy of this five star worthy book!

Thanks for the nice words, Molly!

How's Wayback doing?

2010-02-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

One of the questions I get asked a lot is "how is the book doing?" This is a question that's hard to answer. Do you mean "Have I made a million dollars yet?" or do you mean "Is it selling enough so that you can write another one and get it published because of Wayback's track record?"

Well, I haven't made a million dollars, but I do think that the Lord has blessed my efforts (and lets face it - it happens only because of Him in the first place). I got some news a few weeks ago that made me smile.

And here it is: after nearly nine months of chasing Logic's End in the Futuristic Bestseller's list on STL Distribution's site (STL is Wayback's Distributor across the USA), Wayback is finally on the top. For the broad, general fiction spot for my publisher I keep horse-racing with Ahriman Gate by Tom Horn for the first slot.

Here's a map of where the readers live in the world (or at least where they hit the web. It's amazing to think that someone in South Africa is reading or has read Wayback.

Reviews continue to come in and I continue to get email from readers. That's why I do this. This week I'm heading to Denver for Jerry Jenkin's Writing Conference. I'm armed with proposals for my next book and looking for an agent and/or a publisher for Maximal Reserve.

Mike Dellosso Reviews Wayback

2010-01-24T09:36:00.001-08:00

Mike Dellosso, the author of Scream, The Hunted and the forthcoming Darlington Woods reviewed Wayback on Amazon:

Intellectually Stimulating Thriller

Batterman's WAYBACK is more than a thriller . . . it's an education. Meticulously researched, this book is an intelligently written, thought-provoking, yet action-packed ride. It gave me much food for thought without taking from the entertainment value.

I've often wondered what it would be like to go back to the time of the Great Flood. To see Noah's ark. To experience life as it was lived before the deluge. This book satisfied my curiosity. Time and time again I found myself sharing insights and ideas from the book with my wife.

If you're looking for a story that will satisfy on a number of levels, stimulate you intellectually, hold your imagination captive, and keep you turning pages, WAYBACK needs to be at the top of your list.

Out of the Blue

2010-01-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I get a great email from a fan out of the blue. The best ones (to be honest) are when they come from someone that you've never met and what you intended to communicate makes a pure connection with them - like telepathy.

Here's a note I got on Facebook from a reader and it made my day:

In Wayback, author and software engineer Sam Batterman does something I've been waiting for for a long time: he writes a compelling, well-written, fast-paced, yet fleshed-out sci-fi story based on Truth. This is Batterman's first published book, and I can only imagine what he will be able to produce after this awesome "first round" of practice.

What if everything you thought you knew about History, Science, Archeology, Origins, and the supernatural were actually lies with just enough Truth and repetition thrown in the mix to make it plausible? What if the whole world beleived these lies, and felt comfortable and complacent within their bubble of generally accepted pseudo-truth? What if the few knew that the continuation of the biggest lies in History suited an agenda that was millenia old?

In Wayback, Batterman spins a story of a group of scientists from several specialized fields who come together to travel back to the antediluvian world utilizing WWII German wormhole technology. The novel is truly a thrill ride covering topics like, time travel, megaliths, Noah's Ark, Nephilim, angels, wormholes, descriptive geek tech, meteors, ancient goddess worship, human sacrifice, and even Jerusalem in 1967 during the time period of the Six Day War. The best part is that he does an incredibly good job of weaving all of these elements together to tell an entertaining, yet important story. While it is a work of fiction, the astute reader should take note of many of the points Batterman makes within its pages, and consult the 3 page bibliography Batterman used to research the book located at the end. What these scientists witness is paradigm shifting, and life-changing.

I found this book to be enjoyable because I am an avid science fiction fan, and also a Christian. It is my belief that Christianity and Science are not opposed to one another, but that Science in general as it is practiced today shuts itself off from discovery by denying the most important element behind all science - it's Creator.In Wayback, Batterman makes a worthy attempt to explain this through fiction. The characters are believable, and the science fiction is a ton of fun. For once, I have had the opportunity to enjoy sci-fi without that bittersweet ache in knowing that nearly all good sci-fi is created within the paradigm of an anti-god agenda. Students of the Bible will recognize subtle detail, and quiet nods.

I'm thankful to have come across this book, and will be first in line to pick up Mr. Batterman's next release. If I'm lucky, there will be a sequel, and it will delve into eschatological events.

This is what makes all the time and pain worthwhile...thanks sending me this note, it made my day!

2 New Reviews

2010-01-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

Greetings! Hope your new year is going well.

Alisa Wagner has posted a review of Wayback and an interview of yours truly on her fabulous blog: Faith Imagined. Alisa has poured countless hours into her blog site and the number of people following her on Twitter and as Google followers shows she's having an impact. Check out her site.

Andy Anglea posted a review on his site as well after reading Wayback over Christmas break.

If you're a writer and are planning on attending the Christian Writer's Guild in Denver, Colorado make sure you look me up for coffee. I'll be there trying to find a publisher and agent for my next novel, Maximal Reserve. I'm just finishing the 5th draft and it's 90,000 words - that's around 350 pages. Some early readers that have read it have even said they think it's better than Wayback.

I guess I should be getting better over time. That's the whole idea, right? :)

Please pray for the poor souls in Haiti struggling to survive amidst the devastation of the earthquake that hit there two days ago. Also, consider making your faith and prayer more concrete by sending money to a respectable humanitarian aid organization like the Red Cross.

Blessings to you,

Sam

Another good review of Wayback

2010-01-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

Mark Buzard of Thoughts of a Sojourner has posted a review of Wayback. You can visit his site and register for a signed copy of the book over the next 10 days. Here's the review (with Mark's permission to repost):

Sam Batterman, the author of Wayback, emailed me recently and asked if I would be interested in reviewing his book. I read about it - it sounded pretty good, but it is not from a big Christian publisher, so I was a bit dubious, but I went for it, and am glad I did.
This is a time travel book, but is the best one I have ever read - and I have read a few. I found it entertaining, fascinating, and even educational. A team of experts in their fields is sent back in time to just prior the Flood. Though the book is the author's idea, based on the Bible and help from Answers In Genesis, I still was intrigued by the description of how things might have been.
The author uses a fictional story to show how intelligent design and Creationism have to be right. Through discussions with the characters in the book, he presents the proof for Creationism. Some on the team are Christians who believe completely in God and Creationism, while others are not Christians and embrace the theory of evolution, until they take the trip of a lifetime.
I really, honestly enjoyed this book. It came in the mail today (Saturday), and I took it, climbed in the recliner, pulled a blanket up over me, and quickly got pulled into the story. This was one of my "one sitting reads" - when a book is so good that I read it in one sitting, except for bathroom breaks or an email check. I learned that a book doesn't have to be from a big publishing company to be quality fiction.

Bookmark his site - he's got a lot of great reviews up there.

Blessings,
Sam

2010...and no flying cars (yet)

2010-01-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, can it really be 2010? It seems like just yesterday everyone was worried (needlessly) about the Y2K bug and its civilization damaging effects, and now, ten years later we hardly remember what all the fuss was about.

2009 will always have a special memory for me. The year my first book, Wayback, was published, the year my daughter started playing sports competitively on JV teams, the list could go on and on. New Friends made, friends that have gone on to Heaven, friends moving away. It's a swirl of happiness and sadness all melded into one.

Maximal Reserve is now going through its third revision - the spelling and grammar errors that pockmarked the first draft are now gone and the story has been cut here and elaborated more there. It's gone from a meandering walk in a park to a sprint down a city street.

It's definitely better.

In February I'm going to the Christian Writer's Guild (a writer's conference that was started by Jerry Jenkins) and I plan on talking with publishers and agents about the manuscript then. I will also be posting it on Christian Manuscript Network to see if it gets any action beforehand.

One of the neat people that I became acquainted with in 2009 was Mike Dellosso. Mike also lives in Pennsylvania and he writes Christian Fiction that has a hint of horror and suspense. Can such a genre really exist in the world of Christian Fiction (you might ask)? The answer is wholeheartedly "Yes!!!" I read Scream and ripped through it in a day and a half. He's an honest writer and a master storyteller.

Finally, thank you to all my readers that took time out of their busy, hectic schedules and read Wayback. I much much appreciate each and everyone of you.

Blessings to you and yours in 2010,

Sam

Book Signing at the Alma-Mater

2009-12-07T07:23:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 4, I had the opportunity to do a book signing at the college I graduated from: Bob Jones Univeristy. It was successful in as many ways as you could measure:

100 books sold in 2 hours
got to see the faculty members who gave me my great education
saw old and new friends
spent time with my sister, who works down there.

The young lady in this picture is the daughter of my Youth Pastor from high school, Randy David.

Here's me and my Computer Science professor, Dan Wooster. He's a huge supporter of my work and has sure encouraged me over the last year.

In closing off this post, Glenn Young over at his excellent blog: Faith, Fiction, Friends included me in a list of books he describes as the "Best Books he Read in 2009."

Here's his Fiction List...spin over to his site and check out the other categories:

Fiction:
· Providence by Chris Coppernoll
· Dogwood by Chris Fabry
· Chasing Francis by Ian Cron
· Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove
· Lost Mission by Athol Dickson
· Return Policy by Michael Snyder
· The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
· Summer of Light by Dale Cramer
· Wayback by Sam Batterman

Blessings,

Sam

The Alien Relic

2009-12-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Stephen King once referred to the first draft of any novel as an "alien relic." I couldn't agree more.

As I plow through the manuscript of my next novel, tentatively called Maximal Reserve, I am face to face with adverbs (words ending in -ly), broken and grammatically, mangled sentences, mismatched character names and redundant paragraphs that seem to indicate I was smoking an illegal substance at the time of the writing.

To make it worse, I have some early readers providing me thoughts and feedback. I need feedback! I need validation, but this process is exceptionally (look, another adverb!) humbling.

It's a good thing I have great friends!

I also see a lot of places where the plot needs to be tighter and more connected for the reader. This part reminds me of the medieval torture of being drawn and quartered. There is so much tension in the book and the chapters are so intricate in feeding information out as needed that I feel like the whole thing will fly apart.

One of my friends said that she found it interesting to see a book at this stage--fresh from the brain. That pretty much sums it up.

People may like sausage, but no one really wants to see how it's made.

Thankful

2009-11-26T07:12:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. As life gets hectic and crazy-busy heading toward Christmas, here's a holiday that literally forces the breaks onto my "run-away" life and makes me turn inward for a moment and reflect on what God has done for me. I'm thankful for so many things: my wife, my children, my church , my friends, my job and for writing.

Being a published author affords me many opportunities that I would never had experienced before. In the last month I've met three authors that are struggling through the same "find a publisher--finish the book" experience that I went through over a year ago. It's a frightening process that's very alien to people not working in the publishing industry (like me). It is great to share my experiences with them and try to encourage them to keep going. I hope they will.

A fellow author (and college alumnus) reviewed Wayback recently and posted it on his fine author blog. By permission, I'm re-posting it here. Adam is the author of Fatal Illusions, a thriller that takes place in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (or the UP as the natives call it). I hope to have a review on it soon.

My Review

I was delighted to read this new novel by author friend and fellow BJU alumnus Sam Batterman. I have always been fond of time travel stories and was especially interested to see how Sam would treat this classic but somewhat worn plot device. (From H.G. Wells to Michael Crichton, we've seen a wide spectrum of time travel sagas, not to mention numerous movies and TV shows.)

What I discovered was a novel that is really a carefully executed balancing act between suspenseful plotting, scientific research, and biblical truth. This technique is risky. Does the scientific information weigh down the plot? Are the biblical ramifications of what the story's characters experience lost in the plot? I thought Sam did a good job of striking the right balance, and he certainly put some hard work into this project. The list of sources Sam consulted for his bibliography is nothing short of amazing. This guy did his homework, and it shows!

Beyond the obvious creationism message, I was especially intrigued by scenes that describe the garden of Eden and Noah's ark. I've often wondered what the inside of Noah's ark looked like; Sam does a good job of giving readers an inside look. The main storyline of researchers sent back in time to the time of Noah's flood gains further complexity by a group of terrorists who plan to alter history in an unexpected way. I won't give away the subplot or their diabolical plans; you'll need to read the novel for yourself. The ramifications of their plans and how Sam probed the possible outcome of choices unique to two time periods definitely gave a new spin to the time travel concept that I hadn't thought of before. What a fascinating, thought-provoking read! With just enough hooks to keep the story moving forward while taking readers down a path of new possibilities and into a world we've read about in the Bible but only imagined, Wayback is definitely a worthy, suspenseful, and educational read. Definitely check it out!

Additionally, there should be a few other reviews coming in the next month or so.

I will be at Bob Jones University Campus Bookstore on December 4th for the "Light the Night" event and signing books from 7-9PM. If you are in the area, please stop by and say "Hi!"

I've started the second re-write of Maximal Reserve, my newest thriller, which I hope will be published in 2010. I have some early readers digging into it and I'm sure the story will only get stronger after they feedback to me. This novel is longer than Wayback and in some cases more complicated. I still have work to do, but I love the story so far. Can't wait to share it with you.

Blessings,

Sam

Engineering a Book - Maximal Reserve

2009-11-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the first draft of Maximal Reserve is done. This means the general story, characters, chapters, length (and depth of the book) and basic tone of the book are complete. This doesn't mean that the book is finished, but it does mean that how the book starts, runs and ends is essentially done.

Unlike Wayback--where, to be honest with you--I had little to no idea what I was doing until the edit stage, Maximal Reserve started with the foundations that I learned along the way with my first book. I tried to take the criticisms of Wayback and my strengths from Wayback and combine them. People generally liked the story of my first book and the scene descriptions were called out as strengths with character development and dialog being areas that some felt could use work.

I agree. So, on Maximal Reserve I focused on Characters--characters that I now love. In Wayback, the science team was the protagonist (or perhaps Jim Spruce was depending on who you ask) - in Maximal Reserve you get to know the protagonist, warts and all, from the very beginning. It has the same twists and turns that my first book was known for and additional dimension -- better relationships, better romance, better emotion--better everything.

People ask me what it's like to write a book and I suspect each one is a bit different, but now I focus my answer on what I relied on for the last seven months--structure and engineering.

How can art be engineered? It has to be to work. Fiction has structure - whether it's conventional, contemporary fiction or literary fiction - there is a formula that must be considered. It's not enough to have a good start or prologue--is there enough "ummph" to make it 80,000-100,000 words?

For me the challenge is around 30,000 words where the transitions occur and the middle of the book feels like it's sagging. It takes focus and rewriting to tame a manuscript and get to the resolution in a meaningful way.

Here are some things that I kept asking myself all through the writing of Maximal Reserve:

Is there tension - everywhere?
How are the transitions handled between Act I and Act III?
How does the protagonist grow during the book?
What is the relationship between the antagonist and the protagonist?
Do the subplots slow down the story, or support it?
In my case, does the science overwhelm the story, or support it?

So, with 90,000 words in the bank, I can now share the synopsis of Maximal Reserve...more news will be coming...What's next? Well, I have a whole raft of early readers and critics lined up to shred the manuscript (from a critical perspective).

Will the story change as a result? Undoubtedly. This is an early look at how the book will be perceived by the rest of the world. I can't wait to hear what they think...good or bad.

Phillip Channing was just an ambitious college graduate who wanted to make his mark on the world. He didn’t know that mark would be the greatest oil discovery of all time–in the wrong place. Phillip finds the largest oil reserve in history, dwarfing the lucrative reserves in Saudi Arabia, and threatening to change the balance of power and wealth in the favor of the most unlikely country of all.

New Interview on CWW

2009-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

A new interview is up on Christian Writer's World -- Characters who grip your heart. This site is run by Lena Nelson Dooley, who has dozens of books to her name. It's a great site and I'm happy and humbled to be a part of a group with such great authors.

As to Wayback news, I will be doing a book signing at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina on December 4 from 7-9P at the campus bookstore. That evening they have a special event called "Light the Night" where they turn on the Christmas lights for the season -- there are typically over 10,000 people in attendance at these events.

My second novel, tenatively called Maximal Reserve, is now hovering around 80,000 words. The first draft is done and I'm having some close friends take a reading of it and shred it. Another couple of drafts will likely insue as I get it to the best place as I can. Keep coming back to find out publishing news and date of release.

Blessings,
Sam

CHRI Ottawa Family Radio Interview

2009-09-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

My interview with Ali Misener on Sept 9, 2009 is up.

Download it for your MP3, iPod or Zune Player here: MP3

Internet Audio Interview on BooksALatte.com

2009-09-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Internet Audio Interview I did last week with Takiela Bynum is up check it out:

http://booksalatte.com/2009/09/10/wayback/

You can click on the Audio File here and play it on your Media Player or download it for your iPod or Zune:

New Reviews and More News

2009-09-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

I hope you're enjoying the fall weather that is sweeping over the landscape. The weather here in Pennsylvania has been absolutely beautiful. I love the crisp, clear mornings of September.

The bookstore of my Alma Mater, Bob Jones University has Wayback prominently displayed. It's great to have their support. Here's a pic that my Computer Science professor snapped and sent me:

A great review came in from Jill Williamson, the author of the new fantasy novel By Darkness Hid, and editor of Novel Teen Reviews. Jill is an amazing author and her first book is doing quite well in the marketplace.

Here's the review, but make sure you visit her site - she has an excellent collection of literature that's suitable for the Youth and Young Adult Literature set in your life.

Review by Jill Williamson

Two Roads Corporation has been busy. They’ve discovered a way to transport people back in time. But an expedition to 100,000 BC ended in disaster as if such a time never existed.

This leads Two Roads to believe that everything modern-day science believes about how old the earth is could be mistaken. The company plans to send another team to a time period that might answer some of their questions. The team is recruited and sent to 2300 BC, the time of Noah’s Ark and the great flood. What they discover will change science forever.

I adore books that present theories of Intelligent Design and Creationism. Men and women willing to stand up against the “proof” that Evolutionists claim is so absolute are brave. I think the public should view science like a jury views a man on trial. Unless it can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it is not fact. And as of right now, no scientist can prove how the world came to be beyond a reasonable doubt.

This book was a joy to read. It starts out with the gripping premise of time travel and takes us to earth, 2300 BC, before the flood. I enjoyed reading what earth might have been like and experiencing how things might have happened. This is a book I will keep around for my kids to read as they get older, to keep their minds open. This book has some great characters from all spectrums of scientific beliefs, which brought great conflict to the story. I liked the antediluvian city and people. I liked that they were advanced and that the Garden of Eden was still there. There were so many interesting ideas presented here. It was so interesting.

The book shifted characters a lot. I prefer a few main characters to follow that I can really grow to care about. Also, the first few chapters simply explained how everything worked. I supposed that was necessary, but it slowed down the story in the same way Michael Crichton’s scientific descriptions tend to go on and on. So if you loved that about Crichton, you’ll love that about Batterman. Once the team went back in time, I was hooked. I recommend this book for anyone looking to open their mind to a Biblical view of creation and the flood. It was well-written, well-researched educational entertainment. Very fun.

Age Range: 16 and up
Genre: Science Fiction
Part of a Series: No
Pages: 315
Publisher: VMI
Released: 2009

I also had an Interview with Takiela Bynum of BooksALatte.com - it's an audio interview and it should be up very soon.

Next week I have an interview with CHRI - Family Radio of Ottawa, Canada on September 9 from 4:40-4:45pm.

From a sales perspective, Wayback has climbed (crawled?) to 2nd place in the Futuristic Fiction category on the STL-Distribution site. This is across all publishers in the Faith Community that STL services, so I'm pretty happy about that.

I am continuing to work on MidCycle, the sequel to Wayback. The word count is around 80,000 words and I'm still going. MidCycle will be a longer book than Wayback.

The book will explore the following areas that I just barely touched on in Wayback:

Who were the men with sloped foreheads – why were they in positions of authority?
What happened to Cameron and Alicia and why couldn't they come back to the present for 30 years?
Why the USS Liberty was spared – and the implications of that action.
The map that was found in the Ark library, what were the other cities like?

I'I' I'm also working on a book called Maximal Reserve (tentative working title). This is not related to Wayback and it's a pure techno-thriller. That book is hauling along nicely and I'll share more details about it as the fall comes into focus.

BleBlessings!

A Nice Review from Beth Murschell on Facebook

2009-08-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

I just finished Sam Batterman's debut novel, *Wayback*, a futuristic Christian novel published by VMI which hits the finish line at 315 pages.

The plot: Indiana Jones meets Stargate Atlantis meets Jurassic Park meets Noah's Ark meets the Time Machine. Seriously. An evolution/intelligent design/creation debate is framed by a plot-driven time travel device.

The gist: A team of specialists travels back in time to witness key moments in the earth's history. What they find changes everything.

What I liked: unique plot, memorable moments/visuals, and concrete detail (seemingly authentic--either an impressive amount of research or a fertile mind, probably both).

The early chapters were a bit text-heavy in part because of the debate material, but by the last several chapters, the pace had quickened.

Characterization was a bit sketchy in favor of plot. Understandable, as there's a LOT of plot. :-)

In the main, he resists the impulse to over-spiritualize the way many Christian authors do. I may quibble with the occasional premise, but there's a lot of food for thought here. John Morris of the Creation Research Institute gives him props for authenticity.

On the whole, I'd say Sam has a good first outing, and I look forward to reading his next book, whatever it may be. Go get a copy of Wayback and see what you think.

http://www.amazon.com/Wayback-Sam-Batterman/dp/1933204877

Reposted with permission from http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=123838111458&ref=mf

Happenings in August - Reviews (Good and Bad)

2009-08-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, this summer has flown by. Wayback seems to be doing pretty well. It's bouncing around on Amazon like a ping pong ball, but when I look at the other titles that are adjacent to it, I feel like something is going right.

I'm also starting to get emails from people finding the book on chain bookstore shelves like B&N, Borders and others. That's a good thing.

Three more reviews came in recently. Dave Mincy wrote a nice review here.

Sam’s excellent background research, plausible plot, and well-developed characters make for a time-travel adventure I found to be both exciting and thought-provoking. While entertaining, this book also strongly confirms the biblical record and magnifies God’s Plan for the universe. The idea of being able to go back in time and see Noah building the ark, real dinosaurs, and the wickedness of an unexpectedly advanced civilization…what an amazing journey that would be! If you’d like to know more, I highly recommend reading Wayback.

Congratulations, Sam! I’ll be waiting for the next one.

Dave is a muscian (and married to an artist - so imagine the art program in that household!). Here's a link to his newest CD. We have his first work and can't wait to hear this new one.

Another review came in over at the Near-sighted Bookworm:

This new author contacted me to see if I would be interested in reading and reviewing his first release. It was not a disappointment. From first page to last page, I was kept wondering about what was going to happen next. The research that went into this book is amazing, which makes me excited to see what he writes next! If you are looking for a book that will make you think and keep your attention, this is it!

Those are the easy ones to share. Sharing bad reviews...not so much. I struggled about whether I should share this. In the end I decided that baring my soul would be a bit cathartic.

One of the things about being an author that's most difficult is taking criticism. When you first start writing (or painting or driving or anything), you get feedback. This feedback can be jolting and even just plain rude, but your attitude is the all important player here when you get that kind of feedback. No one has arrived. There is not a single person doing any kind of activity, be it business, school, athletics, or otherwise that can't attempt to do these tasks better with more refinement and better skill. If you look at the sports world (an area I'm not an expert in) people like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and others all talk about pursuing excellence-getting to the next level. It takes hard work.

The hard part of the journey is that some people, even with all the hard work you put in, won't like your stuff. Early on I wanted people - all people - to enjoy my storytelling. I wanted everyone to be excited about Wayback, the way I was. In the end I learned you can't please everyone and in the end you have to write to the population you hope will enjoy your story and wait for your next work with baited breath.

So that brings me to the review at ChristianFictionReview.com. This was an important place for me as an new author to get a review. I was confident in my product; having had hundreds of readers to this point and good reviews to this point.

I wasn't prepared for the review and it blew me back quite a bit.

In the end, I'm convinced God allowed this happen to keep my pride in check - to make me small again and to allow me to receive criticism in a way that I can apply it to my craft and get better where I can and not worry about a group of people that may disagree with the messages of the books I write.

The message underlying the book is important, in my opinion. I know there's a debate in the Christian writer's community as to how overt to make faith and the message of the gospel in the books we write. We don't want to come across as "bible-thumbers" or lunatics or crazy people, but in the end, in a Christian fiction novel, the reader needs to have something to connect to the words of hope we find in the Bible, otherwise you should publish the book to the secular market and widen your reading audience.

I believe that your worldviewpoint will be imprinted on your work whether that work is a "normal" 9-5 (does anyone just work from 9A to 5P any more?) job and doing that job excellently as to the Lord, or writing a novel or even a facebook status. What we are and who we are comes through.

Let's change subjects. I'll be at a booksigning at the Gifts from Above Bookstore in Scranton, PA on September 17th from 6-8PM with 16 other authors. I don't know who the other authors are yet, but when I know, you'll know.

A read a book while on a business trip the other day and literally raced through it in about 24 hours. The book is Havah, the story of Eve by Tosca Lee. I had to read this book. It deals with the story of the first woman in a first person form - through her eyes. Since Wayback has some dealings with the Garden of Eden 1600 years later I was interested in what she would explore in this novel. I was not disappointed. As a male reader I was not expecting to get drawn into the emotional side of the book like I did. I never really thought about what enmity (Gen. 3:14-15) really meant in Genesis until I read this book. Again, going back up this blog post. A good Christian fiction book makes you think and review and go back to the Bible to think about the subject being written about.

Havah does that.

For the record, Tosca does take some "artistic license" that may be controversial to some. For example, she uses a storm in the Garden and rain to create a very dramatic flight out of the Garden. The Bible is rather clear that the water cycle was quite different before the Flood. The storm does heighten the the situation in a very dramatic way, it was a calculated risk to do it (and I'm sure she knew that going in). Based on my experience above, I suspect she'll get some mail about that choice. It's still a great book.

This book is not for the younger set (17 and younger in my opinion). It contains sexuality in terms of a husband and wife - nothing graphic mind you - but you do have a naked man and naked woman in a pefect garden setting. Hello! Things will happen in that situation. If you read this book, I'd be interested in your feedback...

MidCycle, the tentative title for the sequel to Wayback, continues to plod along. The first draft is almost complete - around 75,000 words right now (Wayback was 94,000) and I still have a ways to go. It will definately be bigger (word count wise) than Wayback. After that, the rewrite begins to get everything accurate and tied together and then an initial edit. So, there's still a ways to go. I'm also working on another novel that's unrelated. I'll talk a bit about that in a few weeks.

Thanks for your time.

Blessings,

Sam

ICRS 2009 Denver, Colorado

2009-07-15T16:36:00.001-07:00

It was nice to return to the state I grew up in. I had forgotten how much I love mountains. ICRS – the International Christian Retail Show—is the largest Christian Bookstore show in the world. Bill Carmichael, the president of VMI Publishers, invited me to represent them with two other authors. From the moment I received the invitation to ICRS I was conflicted – excited about seeing what the business was really like and a bit scared about being the “low man on the totem pole.” After a day of making it out to Denver, I met Bill Carmichael for dinner with his lovely wife, Nancie Carmichael, who has a huge list of books to her own credit, and the two other authors I would be signing with.

Michelle Rae Eich has written an interesting novel called Wolf Boy: A Case of Mistaken Identity. It’s a modern day allegory and it takes a very creative approach. I instantly liked the idea upon hearing it. Dr. David Gustafson was the other author. He’s a Senior Fellow and a scientist at Monsanto in St. Louis and his book was called Reaping the Real Whirlwind: A Christian Response to Global Warming. (You can hear an interview from David here). Regardless of your views on this very controversial subject you owe it to yourself to hear his viewpoint.

One of the things that’s neat about ICRS is seeing the “famous” authors signing and walking the floor. For example, Josh McDowell (Evidence that Demands a Verdict), Oliver North, Terri Blackstock (my sister is a huge fan and it was cool to get a signed copy for her), Jerry Jenkins (he wrote a little series called Left Behind) were all there—even Marie Osmond made a showing (Whoop-dee-stinkin'-doo).

I was able to do two interviews – one with the Dish Network and one with Destiny Internet Radio. Destiny will be up in a few weeks and I’ll provide a link from this site once it’s available.

I gave out 24 copies of my book to influencers and bookstore owners from all over the United States and my signing gave out another 100 or so. It was neat to tell people the pitch of Wayback and watch their expressions as they began to imagine the world contained in my first book.

Here are a few pics from the show...

Here's Terri Blackstock and yours truly

Josh McDowell of "Evidence that Demands a Verdict" fame.

The man who changed it all - Jerry Jenkins of "Left Behind"

My Signing Poster

Sara Peters and the gals from the Living Word Bookstore in Lousiville, KY - they are some of my biggest fans! It was so cool to finally meet them in person.

Waiting for the line to form - will anyone come?

Me, Michelle Rae Eich, Dr. David Gustufson, Coach Bill McCartney

...and then they came. *Whew*
...100 books gone in 45 minutes!

What did I learn?

As I’ve written here before, I really enjoy the storytelling aspect of writing. I love the research, the plotting and developing the characters ... and I really enjoying hearing a fan or reader tell me what they liked - as if they have mentally gone to the place that I did in the book.

But – and that’s a BIG but!

It has to sell to allow me to write more books. This is a business that’s insensitive to new authors and isn’t really trying to acquire new, un-proven talent. Publishers are staying with the big bets – authors that sell thousands of copies in a predictable fashion. So, now it’s up to the author to do a great deal of their own marketing and brand management. That means developing a fan base and an audience for your work. This won’t happen for me instantly – nobody yet knows me in the author capacity, so I have a long way to go. I am learning on the go how to do marketing, promotion, salesmanship and how to develop myself as a brand. It’s hard work and no one has the exact formula for success.

God helping me, I am going to continue down this road. Hope you enjoyed this post.

Blessings,

Sam

A Quick Summer Update

2009-06-17T05:30:00.001-07:00

We are now officially into the summer and while Pennsylvania is getting a lot more rain than normal, it's been a good one so far.

Last Monday night, my wife and I enjoyed our first book club meeting where we discussed Wayback with Pat Webster's friends. We go to church with many of the members and it was a fun night. It was really neat to see how the scenes that had originated in my gray matter over two years ago came alive to those that read the book and to find out what they liked and disliked. It was very energizing.

Reviews are continuing to come out and you'll want to keep your eye on a "big one" coming from Christian Fiction Review over the next few weeks - Wayback will make an appearance there. Good reviews also continue to come in on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The Facebook Fan Site is also continuing to grow at a healthy pace.

I am diligently working on the sequel to Wayback, tentatively called MidCycle. I'm about 80% of the way done with the first draft and I like where it's going so far. Someone once said that a sequel must be similar to the original work to be considered a sequel and different enough so that it really is a different book. That's a challenge.

I will be in Denver on July 12,13 & 14 to attend the International Christian Retail Show, representing STL Book Distribution with Wayback. This is the largest Christian Book Show in the world, so I plan on making the most of it (looking for an agent, looking at different publishing houses, networking and even meeting some of the best Christian Fiction authors).

As more news comes out this summer, I will post it here. Enjoy your summer!

Blessings,

Sam

Book Sightings!

2009-06-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

While my book has been available on-line for over a month now, it's finally starting to show up on physical book store shelves around the country. I received an email from a reader in Michigan who found one at Barnes & Noble and I got a note that Master's Mercantile was beginning to carry it. On Saturday, June 6th, we loaded the family into the mini-van and drove over to the local Master's Mercantile and found four copies.

This is the kind of stuff that puts a fire under me to complete the sequel as fast and best as I can. If you find a copy on a shelf and snap a photo send it to me and I'll post it here (sam at sambatterman.com - replace at with, well, '@')

Blessings,

Sam

A few early reviews from the Blogosphere

2009-05-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Now that we are a few weeks out from the launch, I have a few reviews that are staring to roll in. Here are three that I thought I'd share:

From Tammy Litke at Three Different Directions:

One can tell just by reading the first couple of chapters, that a lot of research went into this book. Some of the topics discussed kind of went over my head a bit (lol!) from a scientific point, but the writing is very good and kept me engaged throughout.

The book includes lots of action, a good plot and a great dose of science fiction all told with a creationist perspective. It's like Indiana Jones meets Stargate meets Answers in Genesis. Really!

Batterman's first novel can be considered a success. His writing skills should make him a popular author in the future. I'm sure we'll be seeing many more of his speculative fiction books to come.

Here's another from Glynn Young at Faith Fiction Friends...

"Wayback" by Sam Batterman is a novel, a thriller and a movie all rolled into one. I haven't had this much fun with a book since "Jurassic Park."

Utilizing work developed by Nazi Germany as it was collapsing, a group of American scientists has succeeded in creating the means to travel in time. They've run into a problem, however; trying to go earlier than about 3000 B.C. ends in spectacular failure, with the deaths of the crew. More recent times don't represent the same problem. And so they confront a question -- what if the earth didn't exist before 3000 B.C.? Could the account of creation in the book of Genesis be accurate after all? So the scientists assemble of a team of experts, and travel to the approximate time of the biblical account of the flood.

Enter some terrorists, bent on changing history -- recent history. They're aiming for the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel smashed the military of Jordan, Syria and Egypt. The terrorists would like to change what happened.

The two stories track and parallel each other, as the tension mounts in both and the reader is propelled into the action. Batterman has an extraordinary gift of describing settings and landscapes -- the reader can see and almost smell what's going on. And it doesn't matter if the landscape contains a gigantic boat or rows of fighter jets and tanks in the desert.

The research undergirding the novel is mindblowing -- not only the sciences of geology, botany and physics but also the history of the Six-Day War and the speculative description of the antedeluvian world. The research makes the novel come alive in a way that's extraordinary. And "Wayback" would be a great basis for a movie -- it's that visual.

What a story! And what a storyteller!

Here are a few more impressions from his great blog...

Here's a nice one that was posted on Amazon:

I picked up this book the night before boarding a 6 hour flight to the West Coast from back East. I literally had it completed 2 hrs after landing. My main complaint is that I started the night before the flight and did not get much sleep as it was such a page turner. It is a rare book these days that keeps you from turning out the light when you are exhausted.

In my opinion the "time travel" theme can be very campy, however this novelist did not get lost in the technology or predictable plot line of many science fiction genre writers.

Very unique story, and strong character development make this a great summer vacation read that will appeal to those that desire a good fiction escape with a healthy dose of a positive message.

At the end, you find yourself wanting more story (in a good way), and desiring to find out what happens NEXT. Clearly Wayback and the main characters have some franchise potential if done properly by the author. If you want a book that literally makes "time stop" while you are reading, pick this up and it will not disappoint.

There are more on the way, but wanted to share these out.

Blessings,

Sam

What's going on?

2009-05-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

Wow - it's been a busy two weeks since the books starting shipping. I've sent about a hundred and fifty influencer copies into the world (literally - some going to the Caribbean, Australia, Canada, etc.) and I hope to start seeing both reviews and "influence" on blogs, Facebook sites and even major Christian Fiction Review Sites.

The economics side of the book publishing process is very different from the solo-creative part that preceded it by over two years. It really is all about networking. Finding people who have a bazillion friends on Facebook and are willing to spread the word about your book, or finding that Reviewer that reaches thousands of people --- these are the people that can seriously impact book sales.

I'll keep you posted on reviews and such over the next two weeks or so as they start popping up, but hey, what about you? Will you write a review on Amazon for Wayback? Perhaps consider joining the Wayback Fan Site - it costs nothing - while you're at it, suggest it to your friends - again, totally free.

I had my first book signing at my church last Sunday night. I'm blessed in that my Senior Pastor, Scott Wendal, at vfbt.org is a big supporter. They are carrying it in their church bookstore.

Is yours carrying it? If not, drop me a line to find out how to remedy this: sam@sambatterman.com

Blessings,

Sam

It's Here!

2009-04-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

After two long years, the day I have dreamt about is here. Wayback is now available to the public. I hope you enjoy it, but perhaps more to the point, I hope it creates a lot of discussion.

Today had a strange sense of finality to it - somewhere between the graduation of high school and college and less intense than the birth of a child. This is the end of the creation process and the beginning of promotion and sales. The book ended up better than I could have hoped.

Here I am opening the first box of influencer copies...

Two dozen "Waybacks" all nestled together!

The gratuitous "author and stack of books shot."

I even had a well-wisher on-line from my editor, Rachel Starr Thomson

Blessings,

Sam

The Timeline for Writing Wayback

2009-04-24T08:14:00.001-07:00

Since this blog over time becomes a kind of diary, I wanted to post the timeline of events that led to Wayback being published. I know that during the process I always wondered what was next and how long that particular task would take, so perhaps this will help other writers who are curious.

Oops, blogger doesn't give us much space here - here's an enumeration of the events:

May 2007 - Manuscript started, originally titled "Chronology"
May 2008 - Manuscript submitted to Manuscript Submission Network
July 18, 2008 - VMI Publishers extends contract
Endorsements - from Aug 2008 to Nov 2009
Edit - from late November 2008 to Feb 15 2009
Web Site development - from December, 2008 to Feb 2009
Typesetting - March 2009
Printing - April 2009
Available to the public May 1, 2009!

Blessings,

Sam

All Systems are Go! T-Minus 8 days!

2009-04-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

I just got a note from the publisher that the books are almost done with printing and will be shipping out to warehouses and booksellers on May 1,2009 (which was the originally planned ship date).

If you've not already ordered your copy you can go to any of the following sites to order it...

...and many, many more.

If you'd like a signed copy you can click here.

If you enjoy the book, consider supporting me by doing any or all of the following...

Send an email to your friends and encourage them to read the book.
Write a review on Amazon.com
Have your local church bookstore or private school library get some copies for their shelves
Ask you local Christian bookstore dealer to carry some copies
Join the Facebook Fan Site and socialize with other fans and read fan reviews.

If you enjoy the book, send me e-mail (sam@sambatterman.com), I'd like to hear from you!

If someone needs ordering information (a bookstore proprietor, etc.), here it is...

Contact STL Distribution (http://www.stl-distributio n.com)

Phone: 1-800-289-2772

Fax: 1-800-759-2779

Be sure to check back often at www.sambatterman.com for news of other books and how Wayback is doing.

Blessings,

Sam

Covers - what might have been

2009-04-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

It's always interesting to consider "abandoned" paths in life - as long as it doesn't cause discontent and fixation on that path.

Since the cover is now done and the book is at press I thought I'd show everyone what the covers could have been...I'm very happy with the "Blue Concept" choice that we ended up with...but the others are interesting too.

Enjoy,

Sam

Full Color Cover of Wayback

2009-04-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

This is it! The book is off to the presses!

Here's the full color cover...

Blessings,

Sam

The Galley Arrived!!!

2009-03-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

The "Galley", which is the official term for the typeset and edited manuscript ready for the press, arrived in email yesterday. This is my final chance to proofread it and look for any last minute defects (spelling errors, glaring issues, etc.).

I'm amazed how much the typesetting impacts the look of the page. I think it turned out great!

Just a quick check and off to the presses...

Blessings,

Sam

Wayback is going to Press!

2009-03-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

I just got the email from my publisher informing me that the book is preparing to go to press. After a quick pre-production run, thousands of copies will be run off for warehouses, bookstores and websites to move to the public.

Here's a shot of how many versions preceeded this "real" run - the manuscript changed a lot in two years time and I can truly say that the end result is better than I could have hope for when I started.

Blessings!

Sam

What's it like to write a book?

2009-03-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

Over the last two years as I have worked on my book and discussed it with others, I hear the same questions over and over - "How did you do that?" or "What's it like to finish a whole book?"

That's a hard question to answer because there is so much to the answer. I'm not classically trained in writing, so much of Wayback emerged from what I read and observed that work well in the thriller genre (thank you Michael Crichton!)

I came across a video the other day that while not a perfect analogy somewhat shows the process of writing if I were to compare it to painting.

So, take five minutes and watch the video and then let's continue the conversation...

Here's the finished product - "Above the Timberline"

By all accounts this painting is an amazing vision, but look what it took to pull it off. The artist talks about a lot of tasks that occurred before he painted - the creation of the main character, pencil studies, research into polar bears, composition - this doesn't just happen - it was well planned - well executed. The artist even talks about the "camera" - something you don't hear about in painting - Viewpoint, yes -- camera, no. He talks like it is a movie or a book in his head and he is bringing it to life - an act of pure artistic creation. But the parts of the video that I really like are when he stops and does more research - more investigation for a glint or reflection on a goggle or a specific shape or brush stroke that he applies to a polar bear.

He talks about "anchors" that help him feed off that element visually - bold and subtle. Plot is like this - but so are characters and even scenes. It is like this in writing - what is finally published has almost no bearing to early drafts, or possibly what was originally envisioned or planned. Yes, I like to work with an outline, but the "sketch" of the story allows me to venture into wild territory and discover things that make the book more interesting. Unlike painting and drawing where you are filling in a physical canvas, writing entails sentences and paragraphs that can be almost infinite in detail - sometimes going deeper or holding back to get an idea across is the hard part. Sometimes I have to stop completely and research something over and over from many different perspectives. In Wayback, that involved lots of looking into what the Antediluvian world would have been like, what would the Flood have felt like and looked like, even the modern portions of the book that entail the Six Day War or a private think tank building an amazing machine took rework and research. The words don't just fly out of your fingertips (at least for me) it is a slow and arduous journey, but very rewarding and fun!

Blessings!

Sam

P.S. the typesetting process for Wayback should be done this week.

T-Minus...61 Days

2009-02-28T04:22:00.000-08:00

The countdown is on...only sixty one days until Wayback hits bookstore shelves. The book is currently going through the typesetting process, which should take 3-4 weeks. I'll post more information as I get it.

A nice review from Rachel Thompson

2009-02-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a neat blog entry from Rachel Starr Thomson regarding her adventure with Wayback.

Sam’s book is a Crichton-esque scientific thriller that transports readers back through time with an intrepid team of scientists, businessmen, and soldiers assembled by TRC, a think tank with unusual ties to Christianity. Their destination? Mesopotamia, just before Noah’s Flood. Throw in unexpected discoveries, terrorists, serious spiritual questions, and a Flood that’s coming much faster than anyone expected, and you’ve got a humdinger of an adventure!

Blessings,

Sam

Dan Bressler makes a new creation called "The Conquest"

2009-02-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

Dan Bressler, the wizard of music that created the soundtrack to my landing page, has posted a new piece called "The Conquest".

Take a listen.

Oh, and if you haven't bought Wayback's soundtrack yet for MP3 player - it's only a dollar.

Wayback appears in STL's Spring 2009 Catalog

2009-02-12T12:34:00.001-08:00

Check out Page 10.

See the whole catalog:

http://www.stl-publisherservices.com/docs/catalog_summer.pdf

The edit is done!

2009-02-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

This is very exciting - just got an email from Rachel Starr Thomson, my editor, that the edit is done!

Now we are going into proofreading and promotion. After almost two years this baby is almost delivered.

Blessings,

Sam

Rachel Starr Thomson - My Editor

2009-02-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

The edit for Wayback is now drawing to a close. I was fortunate that VMI Publishers assigned Rachel Starr Thomson to me for my first novel. She has been an outstanding advisor and friend through this process.

Editing was something that I was a bit nervous about. Actually, it's really not the editing that scares writers, in my opinion. It's criticism. I have found my taste and thirst for validation has increased substantially since I started writing Wayback nearly two years ago.

What do people think of the book?

Do they like the characters, the plot, the twists and turns?

Is it intense enough?

Is there too much tell, not enough show?

I suspect validation is something I will always struggle with, but Rachel made this process easy and even fun. We focused on making the manuscript the very best it could be. I tried to drop any reservations and listen to her comments and advice openly and readily.

As she likes to put it, "she wields a mad red pen, but nicely." Yes, she did all the "normal" editing stuff like punctuation and style, but she also pushed me, in some cases, to completely rewrite full chapters. She made me "show more than tell" and after I was done "showing" I had to admit she was right - it made the book stronger, more lively and more interesting.

One of the things I really appreciated was that she read the book deeply-perhaps more deeply than anyone else-and knowing that there is still time to make it better she did that. What remains from this process that we started together in early December is a much stronger, more readable and more enjoyable adventure story with a richer plot, characters with texture and, well, more character and scenes that are more vivid.

During the process, I learned a lot about myself - what I'm bad at and what I seem to excel at. She taught me some of the things that I need to look out for as I head into other writing adventures. She did all that without scolding me, schooling me or just trashing the pages with red marks and comments. I think she has a magic touch because she isn't just an editor, she's a writer herself, and I think she understands the mental gymnastics that goes on when submitting your work for improvement to another person.

Now that the edit is getting behind me I'm looking forward to reading some of her work, which you can find here. Join me in saying thank you to Rachel by picking up a few of her books and supporting her.

Rachel, I hope we can work together again in the future. You are a large part of any success that this book enjoys.

Blessings,

Sam

Fun with Fossils

2009-01-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome back. I wanted to continue a bit regarding the web site, which is now up and running at about 95%. I still have some tweaking to do, but I'm pretty happy with it. The fossil background was also done by Justin Gerard of Portland Studios. While we focused much effort on the Garden of Eden landing page, the fossil page is important because it's the background for all the other pages in the SamBatterman.com experience.

First off, I wanted this background to scream controversy!

Wayback is about a group of scientists visiting the Antediluvian world. The Great Flood is anathema to the scientific establishment. So, I wanted the background to be a mixture of things that should not go together.

The background for the piece that I gave to Portland was a fossilized dinosaur or trilobite along with ancient Sumerian stone tablets and modern technology that was left behind by our travelers.

Here is the stream of Justin's thoughts during his creation of this piece...

...I am exploring this strata, and I find this ancient Sumerian writing, Wow, that's exciting, so I keep going, expecting maybe to find more writing, or ceramics or something, when whoa I find dinosaur bones, which shouldn't be here in this period of strata, so that is kinda weird. So I keep going, and as I chip away a bit more rock falls off to reveal a petrified circuit board in the midst of all this. Which is of course, really really strange. And so the image, is trying to catch the moment of profound strangeness that I as an paleontologist would be feeling as I see this, the very moment after I have uncovered this circuit board within it...

I think his thought process says it all. Here's the progression of the idea...

The things I wanted to include in the composition:

Justin's first cut at fusing multiple things together using Photoshop...

First sketch...

Final...

I hope you enjoyed this fun ride. You can download this artwork on my author site, www.sambatterman.com. Just flip the pages of the book to Downloads and follow the instructions there. You can also download Dan Bressler's soundtrack.

Blessings,

Sam

Working with Portland Studios

2009-01-25T16:02:00.001-08:00

When I began working on my author web site during Christmas break 2008, I decided to commission the backgrounds of the web site to Portland Studios, a Design Studio based in Greenville, SC. My experience with this company was nothing short of exceptional.

I first became familiar with Portland Studios though the incredible artwork of Justin Gerard, an amazing artist with an already legendary style and following to match. You can see some of his artwork here. Some of my favorites are To Chain the Beast, Christian and Apollyon, and Nehemiah and the Wall.

When I envisioned my web site, I knew I wanted something very different than the typical table/grid layout that most author sites follow (no offense). I wanted something that would allow a visitor to loiter and savor the art, the sounds and the atmosphere of the site.

Portland Studios has a number of web sites that inspired me, but their Beowulf site clearly impacted me the most. Alas, at the end of the day, I could only afford the art, not them doing the whole site for me.

More on the web site development will be posted later, this post is about the development of the landing page - The Garden of Eden.

Like most things, the designs started with Justin, Matt Silver, the account manager, and I getting on the phone and discussing what I was looking for.

Upon arriving at my site (www.sambatterman.com), I wanted a visitor to think about the overall theme of Wayback, which deals with the time period right before the Great Flood, approximately 1,600 years after creation. The Garden of Eden is still there, but it's overcome by the effects of the curse and off limits to human beings. The two trees are still there...The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I specifically asked Justin to stylize both the trees...and make the Tree of Life otherworldly and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil almost immortalize that fateful decision of Adam and Eve to disobey God. We played with idea of the "gardeners" placing paving stones around the trees, as if they "played" with the danger before actually committing the transgression. Something I think that I do and everyone else does as well...it's human nature.

So, I mailed some initial sketches that I made to Portland. Here were my original ideas.

From a viewpoint perspective, I was looking for a view through the overgrowth to the center of the Garden. The effects of the curse should be very noticable. Thorns, massive trees, even lurking dinosaurs would be cool...

The trees...this sketch influenced the end product with the notion of "subtle" faces in the trunk and twisting the tree to almost frame out where the fruit was "plucked" from. Justin and I both knew that the truck and root systems would provide a lot of character.

Bonsai trees have a lot of the properties that I wanted the Tree of Life to have. In the end, the idea from Justin that the Tree of Life is a sapling, as if it is immune to the effects of the curse and impacts all the plants around it.

The design flow was rapid with the design moving from sketch to final in less than two weeks.

The initial sketch showed the angel with the sword, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil along with the overgrown garden with tones of gray.

Once this was approved they moved to a more detailed line drawing. It was here that the Tree of Life took on it's unique view and I think Justin nailed it.

Finally, the end result arrived in the style of an oil painting. More perfect than I could have hoped for.

For the web site, I added a number of particle systems in Flash to animate the Tree of Life growing fruit, leaves falling from the aging canopy and the sword of the angel flaming. I played with the idea of sinister eyes glowing in the subtle faces of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but in the end, decided it was too cutesy and obvious, so I cut it.

The final piece of icing was the addition of the background soundtrack that my friend, and college room mate nearly twenty years ago, Dan Bressler created. Dan is one of those guys who is remarkably talented-a literal savant with music. After reading the manuscript for Wayback he knocked out the soundtrack for the landing page in a night - yes, one evening. Amazing.

Hope you enjoyed the back story of the landing page.

Blessings,

Sam

Learning to say "Thanks"

2009-01-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

When you are rearing children you work hard to establish good habits and polite manners. One of the main tenants of politeness is that of thankfulness.

When you go through the effort of getting a book written, accepted by an publisher, edited and sold in the marketplace you learn that it takes the effort of a multitude to make one person get noticed.

When I started writing Wayback, nearly two years ago (Summer 2007), I didn't know where it would go. Could I even finish it, was the story interesting to anyone other than me, was the grammar right, did I use the right literary mechanisms, would people like it, or even read it?

These questions haunted me and still do.

As the story began to come into focus I decided to "Open Source" the story a bit. To give it some sunlight and see what people thought. This was hard for me. Exposing something that comes from your mind in the form of writing is different than showing someone a drawing or a painting.

As least to me it is.

Responses ranged from raw curiosity to great feedback and encouragement. Some people read the manuscript and never responded at all, while others gushed about it. If you add this schizophrenia to the earlier points about questioning everything about my own story you get a true mental illness. :)

What I learned was that when you write you write something that interests you, and in the case of writing for the Christian market, you write something that you believe will please God and communicate some truth from His Word.

Nothing else matters.

That said, I've wanted to post this particular entry for a long time and while there is a page in my book to say "Thanks" I wanted to start a bit early.

My wife, Susan, far beyond anyone else was my greatest encourager. In fact, she was surprised to find that I wanted to be an author initially. Not that I hid it from her, it's just that family, career and everything else pushed itself ahead of my desire to write.

My sister, Marnie was one of the first to read my stuff and encouraged me every step along the way. We've always been close and this was a special thing to me. I then included my mother-in-law, Donna and sister-in-law, Bonnie. Both of them continued to encourage me and while I don't think it was their "cup of tea" they accepted me - that was important.

After my sister got done reading the earliest work and didn't respond with a "it really stinks" or "don't quit your day job" I asked my parents for their opinions. What can I say, they're parents. They loved it and jumped on the band wagon. This was nothing new, my parents have always supported me and stood behind me in both my good and bad decisions.

As I got feedback from my immediate family, I pushed beyond them to my closest friends. Chris, Beth, Tim and Carla. All of which supported me and cheered me on. How important are great friends? VERY.

The person who started all of this was next on my list. My high school teacher, Mr. Robin Maples, who I had lost track of over the twenty years since graduation. Back in tenth grade I won a creative writing contest that I entered at the spur of the moment. I was not a writer, I wanted to be a programmer and I really didn't like English and Language very much. Mr. Maples (I still have a hard time calling him "Robin") said one simple phrase to me after reading my first place entry around the topic of "Thanksgiving" - "you might have a gift there - do something with it." That might not be an exact quote, but look how important it was. It simmered in the back of my mind for over twenty years. Words are important and sometimes we say them quickly without thought. His quote after reading the Wayback manuscript was "count me a fan."

Being a book that focuses on the first six chapters of Genesis, I looked to my pastors for their opinions of the writing. The pastors at my church, Valley Forge Baptist Temple weighed in on many of the questions I pestered them with - especially Scott Wendal and Lamar Eifert. They had nothing but encouragement in their responses. Pastor Randy David, my youth pastor also enjoyed the manuscript and sent me his thoughts.

Grammar being the worst of my sins in the creation of this manuscript; I sought out an editor to scrub the early parts of the work before I submitted it to publishers for consideration. Cindy Ley, a professional editor, took evenings and weekends to look at every sentence and every word. Thank you Cindy, who knows what would have happened without your work?

Over the past year, literally dozens of people have read the manuscript...to all of you, I say a huge "Thank You."

Dave Caldwell, Dawn Pleasants, Ben Coulton, Jenalee Good, Paige Martin, Dave Davis, Earnest Grooney, Matt Maney, Nathan Gifford, Chris Lovett, Dan Bressler, Dan Wooster, Joe Hicks, Rory Bond, Troy Bond, Jeff Rapp, Lois Rall, Matt Wendal, Beth Capelletti, Kelly Unruh, Phil Spense, Pat Reeves, Joe Poley, Pastor Dave Jones, Carol Cobb, Charles Cobourn, Bert Arrowood, Jeff Hamm, Andrew Harrod, John & Mary Bergstrom, Rebecca Levis, Joy Caldwell, Jamie Aylestock, Jan W., Rebecca Misiura, Jodi Kappel, Nate Gray, Philip Martin, and Henry & Thea Miller.

In short, writing a book and sharing it with others does two things: one, it make you grow rhino skin and believe in your own ideas and two, it makes you learn to say "Thank You!"

I hope this didn't bore you. I had to do this - it was cathartic!

Blessings!

Hi! Welcome to my Site

2009-01-18T15:45:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad you visited my web site. Writing is a new adventure for me and I'm learning all kinds of new things that are very different from my "day job" as a Software Enginner working for Microsoft.

My first novel, Wayback, is due out May 1, 2009 published by VMI Publishers out of Sisters, Oregon.

I'm currently hip deep in the final edits of the manuscript and working with a wonderful editor, Rachel Starr Thomson (http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com) and at the same time trying to get my author web site (www.sambatterman.com) up on its feet. It should be running by February 1, 2009. You can find a link to this blog and more information about Wayback there.

Thanks again for visiting and please check back soon.

Blessings,