TKO Creations

Not that I made all that much money through Paypal donations (all $1.05 worth… and yes, someone who was paying attention donated $.05), but I have decided to eliminate all donations through the Paypal site.

The origins of this decision stem from a post on a favorite site of mine, Exiern, which can be found here.

Now, I personally do not have terribly explicit sexual content in the stories I write.  Not necessarily out of any prudishness as I find they don’t offer anything to the story themselves beyond empty fluff to titillate mindless readers.  It’s probably why I average 80 views a month, but I digress.

Drowemos Eseotevahi has produced a remarkably thought provoking comic that challenges the nature of gender roles, and yes, in his members only section he has what amounts to R-rated material that both offers fanservice for extra dollars as well as playing to the greater point of his concept.

It’s rather amusing that Paypal has effectively decided that a comic that challenges gender discrimination is “obscene.”

Well, you know what I find obscene?  When a company uses broad brush terms to push an undefinable agenda for arbitrary reasons.  I understand its their right to do whatever they wish, so don’t take this as some form of protest or demand to take action against Paypal.  But it’s also my right to have nothing to do with a company that doesn’t represent my goals and beliefs.  So I’m done with Paypal.

In the meantime, I recommend that anyone who wants a good read visit the Exiern webcomic.  No matter what Paypal says, it’s not obscene nor is it offensive.  It’s imaginative, it’s as original as stories get in this modern culture, and it’s worth the time to absorb.  I think any reader here would like it as much as I do.

I understand that I’ve been picking up quite a few new readers lately; and in lieu of me rearranging the site to help these people (something I seem completely incapable of doing, the time I tried today I managed to crash the entire site and blog), I’m going to make a more temporary solution.

For all those stopping in, I would first recommend reading the first five short stories listed here.  These shorts help fashion and shape the background for the first novel.  It’s not vital, but I think it helps.

From there, you’re ready for The Second Gate.  It’s honestly not nearly as daunting as it first looks.  Sure, it’s nearly four hundred printed pages, but I have been repeatedly assured that it reads very quickly.  Besides, it’s not like you have to absorb it all in one sitting.

After that, you can return to the Short Stories section, and read the next clump of shorts that serve as the bridge for the upcoming second book of the series, The Endtimers’ Legacy.

But if after all that, if you want more to read, you can always check out unrelated stories I have either done on my lonesome or in conjunction with other writers at the page here.

Thank you for your patronage, and I will keep doing my best to put together a more reader friendly site… if I can do so without breaking the Internet.

~Thomas Knapp (chemiclord@gmail.com)

Meanwhile, in other news, my editor (and apparently one or two others), have seen fit to create a TVTropes page for my work.  It’s a bit flattering, and a wee bit frightening, in all honesty; but it wouldn’t do but to thank him for his support and the hard work he put together to make this very thorough index possible.  Give it a look here, and feel free to tack on what you think we may have missed, as well as linking it to other pages.  The more the word spreads, the more people look, and the more people look, the more people read.

And that, really, is the end goal to all this.

Every November is deemed National Novel Writing Month.

It’s a rather hectic and fun experience that helps people stretch their creative muscles a little bit, and run by the same organization that heads the Young Author’s Association.

For the last two years, I had taken part in the festivities, the end result of one of those years can even be found on this site; Project Freeflow, co-written with my good friend Mary Ebert.  Another one, titled Redemption, might find its way onto the site at some point in the future.

Unfortunately, I really don’t have time for NaNoWriMo this year (thanks to the no longer super-secret Megatokyo: Endgames project I’m working on), but I invite anybody who reads this blog to check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and perhaps entertain taking on the task themselves.  If you’ve ever entertained writing, it’s a worthwhile thing to attempt!

And even if you don’t, they’re always looking for donations… surely encouraging their efforts to expand the world of literature is worth a few cash dollars, right?

Good luck and good days ahead!

Well, as anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows, I’ve had a super secret super awesome project that I didn’t want to say much about.

At last, I am comfortable enough to discuss it in a bit more detail now that the ball is actually rolling forward.

Fred Gallagher of MegaTokyo fame has enlisted my help in developing the story for his Endgames manga.  I don’t want to get into too much detail, but to say that yes, this is the super secret project that I had been mumbling about.  Cross your fingers and hope I don’t fail too hard!

Failing would kinda put a huge dent in any future opportunities.