Audioholics' Tom Andry Publishes First Novel - and Gives it Away!

[FirstReflection]

Oh, I'm darn sure I still missed some comma errors and a spelling mistake or two. I literally found at least one comma placement error every single time I read a draft! Didn't help that Open Office didn't always save every change I made though

I hate commas. Out of all the punctuation in the world, they are the trickiest. Worst of all, various style guides don't even agree! I go with the "don't use a comma unless you have to" method. But man, Tom sure loves to put commas before "and" and leave out commas before "but" Must be how he learned when he was going to school. My education was the exact opposite: hardly ever a comma before "and" and almost always a comma before "but".

I focused the actual technical proofreading mostly on tense though. Tom will back me up on this, we spent A LOT of time on making sure the tense used in each paragraph was correct. I'm a stickler, and Tom chose a rather difficult narrative style where the main character was the sole narrator and he was essentially describing events as they happened, but he would also give information about characters or the setting in asides. The events all used past tense, but Tom wanted to maintain the sense that the events JUST took place a moment ago and Bob was merely narrating as things went along. So the asides were told in present tense, to retain the feeling that what is happening to Bob is "in the moment". We could have simply changed everything to present tense, but that tends to read a little strangely and it hits the ear wrong. It was tough, but Tom and I were both diligent and I'm ALMOST certain that the tense was correct throughout

- Rob H. aka "Grammar Rob"

 

[FirstReflection]

I like the question about why Bob calls his ex-wife "Gale" rather than Wendy.

Bob definitely prefers to call supers by their "normal" name. Like Tom said, it's a bit of a "power" thing, since most supers try to keep their identities a secret.

To me, Bob calling her Gale indicated that Bob feels more submissive towards Gale - something closer to powerless. It's also a matter of distance: Wendy was his wife, Gale is just another super.

The one thing that bugged me a little and didn't quite sit right - and to be fair, I never mentioned this to Tom because I didn't think of it before the book was published - was that Medico refers to her as Wendy at one point, instead of Gale. That just didn't seem quite right to me. Medico is basically callous towards "tippys". He's really only interested in supers and he responds to his own "super" name more than his "normal" name. So that bit of dialogue seemed reversed. In that moment, I would have expected Bob to call her Wendy - Bob was sort of re-living that moment and back then, he surely would have called her Wendy, not Gale. In turn, I would have expected Medico to not recognize the name Wendy until he connected it with the "super" name, Gale.

Anywho, that's how I interpreted things Wendy is Bob's wife. So when he feels close to her or remembers her, he calls her Wendy, but when he feels distant, he calls her Gale.

 

[Tom Andry]

Right. That medico part is a bit of a stickler. As an author, I wanted him to use her real name to annoy Bob. But I justified it, to myself, as Medico and Gale being on the same super team aka The Bulwark. Plus, they've had a long history together so it made sense to me that he'd use her real name. So, Superman and Batman may use their real names with each other in private, with other supers that they don't know as well, they'd always use their super hero name.

 

[highfigh]

Right. That medico part is a bit of a stickler. As an author, I wanted him to use her real name to annoy Bob. But I justified it, to myself, as Medico and Gale being on the same super team aka The Bulwark. Plus, they've had a long history together so it made sense to me that he'd use her real name. So, Superman and Batman may use their real names with each other in private, with other supers that they don't know as well, they'd always use their super hero name.

But Wendy is a Super and as mentioned, Medico doesn't have a problem with calling Supers by their 'Super' name. Did Bob's problem with Supers start after their baby died, or did he make an exception when he married Wendy? I have to think the former, because he seems too jaded to make that kind of leap. Also, did Medico know her as 'Wendy', or 'Gale'? I would imagine 'Wendy', since she A) wasn't part of the Bulwark until after the baby died, IIRC, and B) there wouldn't have been much reason for them to have known each other before that point in time.

Am I right?

 

[Tom Andry]

Did Bob's problem with Supers start after their baby died

Correct. I believe, unless I cut it, that there is a line in there that states that Bob encouraged Wendy to "come out" with her power. That's an important point that will make more sense in later books.

Also, did Medico know her as 'Wendy', or 'Gale'? I would imagine 'Wendy', since she A) wasn't part of the Bulwark until after the baby died, IIRC, and B) there wouldn't have been much reason for them to have known each other before that point in time.

Right. While Medico knew Wendy as Gale professionally, he'd treated her as a patient long before she became a member of The Bulwark. It makes sense to me, at least, that he'd be a bit more familiar with her and thus the real name.

 

[KEW]

I hate commas. Out of all the punctuation in the world, they are the trickiest. Worst of all, various style guides don't even agree! I go with the "don't use a comma unless you have to" method. But man, Tom sure loves to put commas before "and" and leave out commas before "but" Must be how he learned when he was going to school. My education was the exact opposite: hardly ever a comma before "and" and almost always a comma before "but".

Just a bit of trivia. The comma before "and" at the end of listing a series is called the "Oxford comma". I thought this had become passe' until a 25 year old grad student commented he hated it when people omit the Oxford comma! That made my day (I guess it is the little things in life)!

Tom, thanks for a thoroughly enjoyable read!
To prepare you for future as a celebrity, here is a quick anecdote from a literary presentation with Flannery O'keefe. I'll paraphrase as best I can:

At the follow up Q&A session some Literature Grad Student asked: "Ms. O'keefe, in your books, there is often the image of a black man walking along a road, and he is wearing a black hat. Does the black hat represent the weight and oppression which hangs over African Americans?
Ms. O'keefe responded "No, I grew up in the south and black men traditionally wore black hats."

 

[KEW]

You guys are really messing with my OCD.

It is Wendi, not Wendy! Sheesh! Get it right guys!

 

[Tom Andry]

Lol. I'll have to go through Bob 2 and make sure I spelled it right.

Edit - looks like I did.

 

[highfigh]

You guys are really messing with my OCD.

It is Wendi, not Wendy! Sheesh! Get it right guys!

Man, I thought I was bad and you just made me feel a little better. Thanks.

I posted that comment from my desktop computer and read the story on my laptop.

 

[engtaz]

Very engauging story so far. Thanks for letting us read it.

 

[engtaz]

I enjoyed the book. Loved it.

 

[Tom Andry]

Glad to hear it. Just finished chapter 17 of the sequel. Probably about 4 more chapters to go. If only I didn't have kids... or a need to sleep...

 

[engtaz]

Sweet, looking forward to the next one.
Thanks again

 

[jotham]

Should be Windy not Wendi

Personally I wondered if Wendi was kind of a play on words. In the sense that when Bob was married to Wendi ("Windy") she was just coming into her superpowers but as her powers matured she went from a mild breeze to a full on Gale. Intentional or not, it made me laugh about 3/4 through the book. All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I especially liked the way it ended. With Wendi having no proof that Bob did what he did (edited for unfinished readers) but having a strong suspicion.

The world that Tom describes is very interesting with a lot of room for conflict between the supers and the typpies.

 

[Tom Andry]

You're not wrong. The Windy/Wendi thing was definitely the reason for the name. I think the 'i' at the end was a subconscious thing on my part as I can't stand it when people do that.

That said, there's a bit of a story behind the name.

Initially, I had Whisper, from the first chapter, Wendi (or Wendy I can't remember). That was more for the alliteration. But when I went back and edited the first draft, I had named both Whisper and Gale Wendi. My wife pointed it out saying it was confusing. I didn't even notice. So I had to pick one. Whisper got changed to Samantha (Samantha Soft - alliteration still in place and sounds sort of catlike and stealthy) and Gale got Wendi (for Windy).

 

[highfigh]

You're not wrong. The Windy/Wendi thing was definitely the reason for the name. I think the 'i' at the end was a subconscious thing on my part as I can't stand it when people do that.

At least you didn't dot the i with a little heart.

 

[darien87]

I've only gotten as far as Bob getting the fireball off of his crotch by the dude that looked like a girl, (I'm currently reading another book and only get to yours when I have some free time), but I'm liking it so far.

Was it difficult to come up with superhero names? It seems like all the good ones are taken already. I liked Cindar.

 

[Tom Andry]

Was it difficult to come up with superhero names? It seems like all the good ones are taken already.

It's nigh impossible. I figure as long as the name and the powers don't match to their comic equivalent I'm fine. So no Batman with a utility belt but a Batman that had sonar and could fly would be OK. But it isn't like I consulted a lawyer or anything. I basically stay away from any names I know and try not to research anything I think is original.

Cindar's name came out of the text. I didn't have a clue what to name her until I wrote the "being burnt to a cinder" part. Then I just went with it.

 

[its phillip]

Bought mine on amazon, it arrived a couple days ago. Haven't got a chance to read it yet though

 

[darien87]

I liked it. It ended a bit abruptly though, but it's WAY more book than I could have ever written.

But ultimately a good story, great concept with TONS of potential.