The stories of Bryan Young

We all have different methods at getting us through those dark, dreary days of a first draft. They're not so dark, I find I actually have a lot of fun writing, otherwise I wouldn't do it, but sometimes you get stuck. When you get stuck, the worst thing you can do is just to give up. I'd never have completed a single manuscript if I gave up every time it got hard. Over the years, I've come up with little shortcuts to help me get through those times that are harder than others like we all do (or should do.) My brain sees stories as movies playing in my head. I came from a world of screenwriting and I'm a very visual, cinematic writer. That method of writing poses its own challenges since you can't just follow a logical chain of events in a novel the same way you would in a movie. At my most recent writing critique group (With Janine Spendlove and Aaron Allston ), I was torn a new asshole because of all of the random POV shifts in the rough draft of my manuscri...

I had the chance to do an exhaustive interview with the author Max Allan Collins about his new book from Mickey Spillane's manuscript, The Consummata . It's a fantastic read and a sequel to the top selling Delta Force. For the portions of our interview regarding Spillane and The Consumatta, those will be appearing on The Huffington Post. For the portions of our conversation that had to do with Collins's time at DC Comics and writing Batman, they will be appearing on Big Shiny Robot . I'll link up to them as soon as they go up. This portion of the conversation had a lot to do with writing and the state of the book publishing world from a writers perspective, so I felt this was an appropriate forum for it. Bryan Young: How much of your time as a writer do you divide between producing collaborations with Spillane’s work, which are popular and excellent, and your own work which I think is just as unique and important for a reading audience? Max Allan Collins: I’ve...

I did an interview on Park City TV's Mountain Views with Portia Early about my books and my upcoming projects. It was a great spot and I hope you guys check it out. We talked a lot about Man Against the Future and Lost at the Con , but we also talked about the book I have coming out next month, God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut, and my next two novels.

I've put out another pack of short stories for the Kindle and the Nook. For $2.99, you'll get: The Shadow of Dream - Protecting your children can sometimes be a nightmare. Bryan and the Case of the Disappearing Playboys - A true story from my youth. The Cruel Kids - If you found out a kid you mistreated in your past killed someone, would it change you? Hungry - Sometimes you can still be a kid and have lived through horrible things in this story from World War II. The thing that unifies these stories together in a way I think makes sense for a collection is that they've all got an element of lost innocence to them.  People don't often talk about the darkness in the lives of kids these days, and these all shine a light on that in some way or another. You can get The Cruel Kids for the Kindle or the Nook .

One of the projects keeping me busy is recording (with the help of renowned musician Mark Dago ) the audiobook of my first novel, Lost at the Con. We'll be done with the final product by the end of the month and it should be available by the beginning of November, but we have Chapter One finished and I wanted to share it with you guys for free. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD (or listen) TO CHAPTER ONE of LOST AT THE CON, as read by me. If you like what you hear, you can pick the book up at the Lost at the Con website (click the "Order Now" button to buy signed copies, or there are links to the digital copies). If you'd prefer to wait for the rest of the audio book, you can preorder it by clicking the link below. There are two options, one for digital download and one for having a CD shipped to you. The CD will have the eBook copies included. It should ship by the first week of November.

I will be signing copies of Lost at the Con , Man Against the Future , and The Colossus at Dr. Volt's Comic Connection on Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 12pm - 3pm. Dr. Volt's is located at 2033 East 3300 South in Salt Lake City, Utah. Also signing will be Tyler Kirkham (who is working on Green Lantern: New Guardians) and Jake Black (Ender's Game, Supergirl, and he's written episodes of Brave and the Bold and Ben 10). I hope to see you guys all out there.  The staff at Dr. Volt's has been a big supporter of the books and have been carrying them since day one.  Since everything is on sale, this is the best time to pick up comic books, graphic novels, and get books signed by the three of us.

Some of you might know that I have been hosting a weekly Pub Quiz (along with Shannon Barnson from the Geek Show Podcast ) for the last couple of years. I write forty questions a week and I didn't realize how much material I'd come up with until I put it all together. Writing trivia is a learned skill and I can definitely say that I've gotten better at it. In my early days of the Pub Quiz, I looked high and low for resources I could go for trivia questions and no good options existed. Now an option does exist. I've divided all of the Pub Quiz trivia questions I've written into 4 books of trivia questions now available for the Kindle and Nook. The books are as follows: Pub Quiz Trivia Volume 1 - History and Current Events ( Kindle and Nook ) Pub Quiz Trivia Volume 2 - Wildcard Rounds ( Kindle and Nook ) Pub Quiz Trivia Volume 3 - Geek Trivia ( Kindle and Nook ) Pub Quiz Trivia Volume 4 - Film Trivia ( Kindle and Nook ) I'll be compiling all fo...