Let's Chat! with Simon Archibald

Welcome to our blog again, dear readers! In the spirit of sharing we have decided that it's imperative you know more about us, J. Rose and Simon. So, the reporter in J. Rose sat down with Simon and had a little chat. 

Ok, it was email. Sue us. 

J. Rose: Tell us about yourself?

Simon: I make mostly chicken barley or pork neck lentil soup.

J. Rose: How did you meet me? 

Simon:In the Kearny high cafeteria they had these amazing chocolate chip cookies that would be sitting all warm and melty on a tray. On many a cold day the children of school would skip lunch altogether and instead just grab 3 cookies and eat them in the hallways.

J. Rose: How did you come up with the Apathetic Avengers? 

Simon: “Come up?” What are you implying? These are important historical documents!

J. Rose: Who is your favorite author? Why? 

Simon: Not a fair question and you know it.


J. Rose: Who is your favorite Apathetic Avenger? Why?

Simon: Rachel Rae Hingis is funny, dangerous and my top pick in a conquer "alien civilization landing party" draft.

J. Rose: Why do you enjoy writing?

Simon: I can wear whatever pants I want while I do it. 

J. Rose: That was such a guy answer. 

J. Rose: What is your quest? 

Simon: I am currently scouring the earth for a copy of the After Hours score.

J. Rose: Do you have any works that you're planning to publish solo? 

Simon: No, but my good friend Aurora Zahni has a few things up her sleeve.

J. Rose: After you finish faction, do you forsee another collaboration with me, J. Rose?

Simon: Just about every single casual comment I make to you leads to notes for another project. You can try to run, try to hide, but the story traps have all been set. No escape.      
              FX: the sound of rattling chains can be heard... 

J. Rose: What is the air speed velocity of a coconut-laden swallow? 

Simon: 47 x 3.

I can't make this stuff up, people. I don't have to. You can see it right here on your screen. Have you ever tried to work with someone who can turn an off-the-cuff phrase like, "I don't think aliens drink milk" into a complex, mind-altering story? It's like working with a chipmunk or squirrel. He never shuts off. The notes we have.

My, God. The notes. 

Up next, Mr. Archibald interviews me. Yup. 

Meanwhile-- Take a look! 

Smashwords for Kobo, Sony Reader

Amazon Kindle 

Barnes & Noble Nook

So, you're not sure if "Apathetic Avengers" is for you.

Well first, welcome. Pull up a chair, have a seat. We'll talk. Tea? Twinkies?

You're not sure if you would like to read our masterpiece, Apathetic Avengers? Let's find out if it's a match for you! We'll start with some questions. 

Question 1:
Do you read?
Yes- Wonderful please continue.
No- I'm so sorry. Please, enjoy a twinkie.

Question 2: 
Are you able to read English?
Yes- Fantastic, we're on common grounds already!
No- We'll admit it, we're mystified how you've made it to question 2...

moving on.

Question 3: 
Were you ever a teenager?
Yes, I was-- Congrats. Glad you made it to adulthood. Therapy sessions are Monday and Thursday and we serve punch and cookies. 
Yes, I am- Hang on, man. You got just a few years until life doesn't seem to suck quite as much. 
No, Not yet- Might want to wait a few, then. Stuff's a little dark and a touch mature. 
No, never- Uh... I um... Are you from Jupiter or something?

Question 4: 
Do you enjoy a good adventure story? 
Yes- Nice! Keep going!
No- May I recommend The Oxford Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language instead?

and, lastly Question 5: 
Did you ever think it would be cool to have magic/powers/superpowers/a letter to Hogwarts/the Force? 
Yes- I sense we are kindred spirits! Read on!
No- May I recommend the Idiot's Guide to Aquariums? It certainly helped with my fish.

Well, you've made it this far! Wonderful, wonderful, we have many points in common. We've written this story for you, for people who need a little escape, who remember being (or are currently busy being) a teenager, and people who like to read. 

Are you still not convinced? Well here are some points to consider. First, it's only 126 pages. Really not that long, and when you divide that up into chapters, it's quite digestible. Second, it's on eBook and it's cheap. Really cheap. Like, $.99. Spend a buck, man. And third, if you're one of them old fashioned "books are only good on paper!" people, chill. It's coming; it takes a lot to do the print version. 

Still? You're still not convinced. Ok, well here. Here's an excerpt for you. Try it on for size:

“You didn’t just invite us out here to rip on us did you Hingis?” Edgar was already beginning to lose his patience.

“If I recall correctly, I didn’t invite you to jack, Ferngully. I invited my new bff Popejoy here for a little discussion of a certain Federal Agent who seems to know everything about us.” Edgar thought she was completely ready to dismiss him to another table. She shook her head, “But since you’re here and so eager to chat, let’s hear your take on the mysterious Agent Catton.” Rachel stared Edgar down, waiting for an answer.

“I dunno…,” Edgar shrugged. “He seems like the real deal, but I still don’t trust him. He didn’t really know all that much about me or whatever you-know-whats I may have, unlike Alex.” Edgar whispered the last part of the sentence.

“You-know-whats? Are you serious? You’re paranoid too?” Rachel chuckled. “For the last time, no one is listening or following us, so there is no need for euphemisms. And for the record, Catton knew everything about me, including all of my powers.”

As Rachel uttered the last word a dark figure appeared out of the corner of their vision, made a beeline for their table, grabbed Rachel’s limited edition Sesame Street tote bag and ran off towards the back of the theater building.

“Hey!” Rachel exclaimed as she jumped up to give chase with Edgar and Alex right behind her. They chased the dark figure through the plaza and back out the door they had come in only a few minutes before. He was easy to spot in the not-so-dark twilight outside the small mall; he ran across the street to the strip mall and ducked between two buildings.

Rachel ran full tilt into the darkening alley way, screaming, “Gimme that bag back, you jerk!” Alex and Edgar found they actually had trouble keeping up with her she was running so fast. But it only took all of them an instant to realize following the thief into the alley was a bad idea.

All three of them pulled up short and looked around at where they were.

“Rachel, I’m sorry about your bag,” Alex said, backing up, “but I’ll replace it if we can just get the hell out of here.”

Rachel was reluctant. There were things in that bag, like a notebook of spells she had been looking up, as well as her pendant. There were house keys and all the money she currently had in a wallet. And, she liked that wallet. But the bad feeling was overwhelming and after a minute, she started to back up with Edgar and Alex. “Yeah, I think I can agree to that as long as you throw in a new wallet.”

“Deal,” Edgar said.

He backed into someone, who grabbed him by the shoulders. “Going somewhere kid?”

 And now you need to read it to find out what happens. 

See how that worked. Ha. So get a copy! 

Barnes and Noble- Nook ebook
Amazon- Kindle Store
Smashwords - for Kobo, Sony Reader and more!

We look forward to seeing you in Volume 2!

Welcome To Downing City

The Faction Stories, Volume Two

Being a teenager is hard enough without putting on a mask and making mortal enemies. But when you have both, and a part time job, things are little more complicated.

Edgar, Rachel, Alex, Celeste, Laura and Susan joined forces to save the their classmates at Red Bug Regional High School from a sinister group that was picking the students off one at a time. The team worked a little better than they had expected and now, they’re stuck… as the Apathetic Avengers.

With the FBI as their secret backers, they begin to discover that Red Bug, Downing City and Freemont County, Iowa, are not nearly as innocent and naïve as they thought. And they weren't the only ones who shouldn't have been in the playground…

Coming Soon on Nook, Kindle and Smashwords! 

Estimated arrival date, February 5th! Keep your eyes peeled...

Once Upon a Time, in a Town Called Kearny...

I've been writing since I was knee high to a grasshopper, as they say. I was known for it in high school. "Hey, J., written any more of that story?" "J., how's that story going to end?" "Where do you get these whacked out ideas?" 

Wasn't really a shock to anyone that I went to college for English. Lit was really the only choice, but a minor in Journalism came in handy when I graduated. I went to write for a newspaper, and then became a news assistant at a bigger paper, then a layout artist at the big paper. Then I got stuck and changed careers. 

(Trust me, the story's not really that simple... but the whole thing would take me at least three chapters of a book, and --- snooze...)

The new career took me away from here. To places I thought I wanted to go, but didn't really. I missed the old places. And I missed it so much that I signed up for Facebook. 

Yeah, remember? Facebook wasn't S.O.P for everyone once up a time, so it was novel. Woot, woot, look at me being all hip and with it. Yeah. 

Anyway-- there I was down in Places Too Far Away to Mention and I got a text message. Or was it a bbm? 

Yeah, that was a thing too. 

Whatever it was, up pops an old schoolmate from Kearny. Simon, it turns out, is into writing now as well. Pssht. Whatevs. Well, he sends me what he's writing and by jove, dude CAN write. Delightful. Takes me a while to warm up to the whole idea of talking to someone who doesn't give me weird looks or question my sanity about things that I'm saying, writing, doing. But I do and we chat. A lot. 

At first, we try collaborating on something that very quickly either bellyflopped or got ignored for something else were both writing. One day, he came at me with: 

"Hey. I had this idea about these teenage superheroes..." 

What now? I like superheroes. I like writing. I'm not a teenager, thank God. I'm in. 

At first, our Apathetic Avengers were way, way, WAY more Apathetic than you'll find them to be. I mean, one of our first scenes (written out of order as any good writer is apt to do) was Rachel sitting on a cop car, peeling the nail polish off and flicking it away. I believe that Celeste didn't even have a mask on, and may have been spinning a wig on her finger like she was some Globetrotter. 

But as we went along and other stories began to pop up, they started to take a more serious bend. When we hit the story with our first death (not theirs), I knew that we had to take everything more seriously. 

And so did they. Er, uh and so we did. 

See, that's the problem with writing. You don't know where you end and your characters begin. They become people in your mind and you can have conversations with them. I know more than once, Rachel and I have argued about something. 

No. That's not weird, thank you. 

I'm editing Book 2 with an eye of having it live on Jan 5 st (as you can see by the previous post, I'm working feverishly!), no later. Meanwhile, please, enjoy Faction Volume 1: Apathetic Avengers
For Kindle
And  Nook

Tell your friends! Buy them a copy! Enjoy a little escapism. 

And if you have questions, email us.


~~J. Rose

Good news!

Good news, people!

We've uploaded to Smashwords.com! What does that mean? Well, if you're one of the people out there who doesn't have a Kindle or Nook, you can buy the book now! This includes: Apple iPad/iBooks, Sony Reader, Kobo, Palm Readers and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, and Adobe Digital Editions. It's also available to read online! You can read a sample there. 

We wanted to include everyone in our availability, and it came to our attention that nook doesn't really have a market overseas- you Brits and Aussies prefer your Kobos. And Smashwords can offer you the right format.

So, please: Check us out, and better still review us! 

Apathetic Avengers - Smashwords 

What Editing Looks Like

Technology is an awesome force. And Simon and I do better with the use of it. We had no idea we were spelling villain wrong and would have been blissfully unaware if not for spell check and auto-correct.

Because, honestly, I just spelled it wrong again.

However, when all the writing, back and forth, and discussion is done, there is nothing as satisfying as taking a red pen to the paper and marking the ever-living crap out of a printed page. 

Having been in the newspaper biz, editing loses something when it's done on a screen. There is something satisfying about seeing those red marks on a page, knowing each of them moves to improve the story. Hopefully making more enjoyable -- or at the very least, readable!

Check us out, see if you agree!
Apathetic Avengers - Kindle
Apathetic Avengers - Nook 

Welcome to Red Bug, Iowa

I guess we should give you a little more information about the story we have going here, right? I'm sure someone out there is going to have questions. 

You've met the first of our books: The Apathetic Avengers, and you're probably wondering why it's subtitled "The Faction Stories" and why we're calling the blog "Faction: The Downing City Chronicles"-- Well, lucky for you by the end of the third book, you'll understand. I don't want to put too many spoilers out there just yet, but suffice to say our heroes are dynamic. 

You're thinking: "Third book. Isn't that the end of the story?" 

No, my dear readers, is it not. It is merely the end of their summer. Our first section in this story covers only the formation of the Apathetic Avengers, their summer before Junior Year and part of the school year. 

Don't sweat this though. The way we've set this up is: each volume is actually a collection of chronological short stories. If you check out The Timeline Page over there ~~> you'll see we have a guide of what's happening when. As we finish each division of our stories, we'll update with newest and where they fall and what volume there in. 

Each of our Parts -- Year One- Part 1 and 2, Year Two- Part 1 and 2 -- will have no less than 2 volumes and no more than 4 (...we hope).

What we have up right now is Year One- Part 1. We're finalizing Year One- Part 2 as we speak. We've also got enough writing and story arcs that we're probably going to offer up a "Lost Stories Volume" at the end of Year One- Part 2. 

Why short stories? 

Because we like our characters. We like to play with them, and mess around with them, and put them in awkward situations to tease out their characters and quirks and foibles. We also have WAY too much fun with Rachel and Edgar interacting. We think there are enough situations to put them individually that we would lose half, or better, of the really fun stuff -- the danger, the personal challenges, their interactions, the chance to develop -- if we put them in a single novel. Or even in two. 

So you get short stories. Makes it easier to put the book down and go to bed, too. Most of them have distinct resolutions to the immediate story even as we work on moving our story arc and characters forward. You won't go to bed wondering if Rachel is actually going to turn Celeste into a toad. 

At least, in that story. 

So, read and enjoy. 
And please-- Review us!

Kindle Edition

Nook Edition

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