THE BLACK SKY by Timothy Minneci - Book Character Trailer #3

Interview at The Write Way about The Black Sky

My interview at The Write Way is now up. Thanks to Lieze Neven for the opportunity! Talked about writing inspiration, process, and more.

Here's a snippet:

LN: Who is your ideal reader? 

TM: Someone who enjoys Neal Stephenson and Dan Brown. Is that impossible? I mean, I do. I want to read nine hundred pages of intricately researched and dense science-fiction, and then switch over to a short popcorn thriller. I don’t like to stay in one lane when it comes to what entertainment I consume, so maybe there are other people out there like me. Do you like a good story? Do you like twists? Adventure? Action? With some heart? But with helicopter chases? I want 2001, but I also want Die Hard. But not at the same time, that wouldn’t work (or maybe it would, who knows).

THE BLACK SKY - Book Character Trailer #2

THE BLACK SKY - Book Character Trailer #1

Five months from today - The Black Sky arrives.

Here's a sneak preview - the first of three character trailers.

Trailer two drops April 28th and trailer three on May 28th.

Pre-Order

At Amazon

At Barnes & Noble

At Porchlight Books

At Book Depository

At Indigo

At Books-A-Million

The Black Sky Excerpt And Giveaway At Captivated Reading

Wanna sneak preview of THE BLACK SKY and have a chance to win an advanced copy?
Click the link to Captivated Reading to read an excerpt and learn how to enter the April book giveaway with exclusive promotional items.

THE BLACK SKY Book Trailer Is Live

The trailer for The Black Sky is officially live. Make sure to watch to the end ;)

FINALLY

Jan 2019 Update - The Black Sky, V2

At my personal blog at the end of 2018 I posted by year end review of goals and goal setting for the new year. I also included this bit about the book:

The Black Sky moved forward in a big way, but then took a step back. Here's the gist, as I don't want to go into too much detail: in January, one of my query letters landed me representation with an agent at a large NYC literary agency. This was a dream come true, I was on the proverbial cloud nine for days. We talked on the phone, went over the particulars, the time frames, the (realistic) expectations and such. Immediately the manuscript started going out to publishers and then... well, kinda nothing for months. That's how it goes, waiting to find the right home. I outlined the sequel, and waiting to hear something. Every couple of months, I'd check in and get a short but courteous "we're in the process, it takes time, be patient" response. By the end of the year, after I had a call with my agent and later learned about some issues at his agency, we ended up parting. To be fair, he sent out the manuscript to the folks I would ecstatic to get to read it, and provided me the feedback he received, but it was clear he wasn't going to be reach out to smaller publishers, so at this point I've taken The Black Sky back under my wing and am looking for another option in 2019. I'm also considering a revised title.

So that happened. What this doesn't include is that I got some extensive feedback on the book that gave me pause. This is my first novel, and I didn't pretend that the first draft was best. I sent it out to some friends at first, who gave me things to fix here and there, but it wasn't dramatic. I knew I was on the right path overall. But the new feedback I received made me realize there was a bigger task ahead - starting from the beginning, tearing it all down, building it back up.

I used to watch of number of auto restoration shows, and often they would pull a classic car into their shop, which was maybe in okay shape, but clearly needed some work, and just tear it apart. Why? Because the frame, the bones of car, were good, and upon that, the car could be made even better than initially appeared. The bones of The Black Sky are good - story, characters, theme, etc. - everything to build upon. But I made a few first-novel mistakes, and I aim to correct them.

That doesn't mean going in with a red pen and making a few changes, that means stripping it all apart and starting over, but with the bones in tact. We'll see how this goes, I had a 500 a word day minimum for the original writing excursion, and I'm hoping to revisit that daily goal.

Update: 8/10/18

Quick Update: While the book is out making the query rounds, I've started the very long process out loosely outlining the sequels that have been in my head for the last year. I'm not going to lie, like the book itself is influenced by my childhood movie viewing as much as my reading, the thought of sequels immediately landed me on a trilogy inspired by the ebb and flow of the original Star Wars trilogy. What does that mean exactly? It doesn't mean there will be space battles or mystic powers that get magically retconned in prequels. But, there is definitely a much darker chapter to follow (interpret that as you will).

Music: Brian Eno

During the writing of The Black Sky, I posted about music I was listening to at the time that provided inspiration. I didn't get to all of the music, as my playlist became massive - almost 2,000 songs by the end. However, one I failed to mention that really deserves a post is Brian Eno.

I didn't start listening to Eno with the writing of the book. I actually started months before, as I was searching for morning music while I worked at my regular job. I found music with lyrics early in the morning to be jarring and distracting, and searched out instrumental ambient music to put on while I was groggily sifting through emails in my inbox or working on Excel and Word docs. I had heard about his ambient series, specifically Music for Airports, and decided to put that on one morning. I believe that became my morning routine for several months after. If you checked my Spotify profile and what I was actively listening to, you'd think I was stuck in a loop. In retrospect, that was appropriate.

Once I started on a regular daily writing schedule with The Black Sky, I explored the entire Eno discography, including his collaborations with Cluster, Harold Budd, Moebius and Daniel Lanois. All of the music became essential in the creative process, as I have found that silence is a killer for me when writing. I need some sort of "other" going on in my brain, and Eno's music did and does that. It's subtle and unobtrusive, activating my subconscious in a way I cannot explain. Music for Airports, Neroli, The Drop and other Eno albums work in all situations for my writing purposes, whereas other artists and albums I might use as inspiration for specific scenes (i.e. more uptempo or dramatic music for an action sequence).

The Black Sky Gets The Wonder Plan Treatment

Recently made the acquaintance of fellow Buckeye, author/illustrator/speaker Jason Tharp at a local school event. Afterward we had coffees and talked publishing, and Jason was super nice to put together this in about five minutes - does this look like the cover a novel or what?

It's That Time - Query Letters

Like so many unpublished writers, once the book is written, and rewritten, and edited and revised, and molded into something your friends say is worth reading, I have now entered into the dread time known as "sending out query letters."

Fact is, I've been down this road before. I spent ten years in an independent rock and roll band. We sent our demos, then complete recordings, to record labels and got nowhere. We got a sniff or two, a call, someone from a regional indie came out to see us, but nobody bit. In the late '00s, I wrote screenplays. Most were bad, some were okay, maybe one or two where good. Still, I sent them out, even entered them into contests, but generally got rejections.

My first book, Power Ballad, was sent to a few folks, but I knew it was niche, and the feedback I received confirmed that. I didn't bother with my second book, Small Stories, because that's not why I wrote it. It was a personal thing, getting it published didn't matter.

But The Black Sky is different, so I'm taking a different approach. I'm being methodical, I'm being thoughtful, and I'm focusing. Sending out 100 queries to every name I can find is not the goal. The goal is locating folks who I can find common ground with in my story, and who have a track record with this sort of material. Maybe it will lead to the same dead ends, but I won't know until I start hitting send.

Update 8/30/17

The first batch of reader feedback has come in, and I’m excited for the progress, but I’m still looking for more readers, so here’s the deal:

I can’t afford to pay anyone at this point, so if you’re willing to take a chance on this project, I would love to get your feedback on the book. I can offer you a personalized copy of the book when it comes out, as well as a thank you in the book itself. If near-future sci-fi dystopian action adventure is your thing, send me an email at timminneci at gmail.com, or hit me up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and I’ll get you copy to read.

Update 8/10/17

So, after quite a bit of revision, cleaning up, fixing, mending, etc., I gave it to some folks with reading interests I felt would align with the genre and style of the book. I’ve started getting feedback, and it’s just what I hoped for – incisive, attentive and most importantly, confirms I’m on the right path with the overall story and world created. More to come.

Update 5/1/17

Revision, revisions, revisions. In the not-so-fun part, fixing grammar issues, ironing out bits and pieces here and there, but the overall story is solid. For those interested, here is the Spotify playlist I created for when I was writing that collects the various bands, musicians and albums mentions, plus hundreds more. No joke, currently this playlist is almost 2,000 songs and over 170 hours.

 

Music: Cliff Martinez

I first discovered the work of Cliff Martinez when I saw Drive in a theater in 2011. The music paired perfectly with the film, and I instantly sought out the soundtrack. As much as I enjoyed the tracks by Kavinsky, College & Electric Youth and The Chromatics, the score by Martinez was the real draw for me.

That same year, the film Contagion was released, featuring music again by Martinez, this time for frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh. The next year The Company You Keep and later another Soderbergh collaboration, The Knick, all featured excellent scores that have been added to my writing playlist.

Update 4/5/17

Quick update: The Black Sky is now complete. Thanks to everyone who read along and kept me pushing through.

Update 3/26/17

Sunday Funday! Two new chapters (#20 & #21) written for The Black Sky and two new songs on Soundcloud. Read, listen, feedback, thanks.

Update 3/13/17

New chapter (#19) and song are posted! Getting closer and closer to the end.

With all of Decker's mapping going on this chapter, I had to actually break out a map of Manhattan quite a bit. Well, I to be fair Google Maps has played an important role quite often, but this one in particular I was bouncing between tabs on the my computer.

Update 3/4/17

Getting close to the end! Another new chapter (#18) is ready for your eyes with corresponding music for your ears.