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#4401242 - 01/21/18 07:10 PM Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... let's publish a novel!  
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HeinKill Offline
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Have had a lot of good times on SimHQ over the years and just had an idea for a way to give back.

Have started a 'novel style' story in the AAR forum and it's rolling along nicely so I thought ... what the heck, maybe we could turn it into a book with a bit of polish. I'm experienced publishing stuff on Amazon, so if some SimHQers are happy to help knock off the rough edges with some good advice along the way, I think we might have a product!

I donate proceeds from all my writing to charity, so I'd be willing to give say 20pc to SimHQ and the rest to other causes. Last year I raised about 8,000 USD for charity this way - not megabucks, but every bit counts right?

Here's the setup for the potential novel:

It was an offer 'Mini-Boss' Lieutenant Commander, Alicia Rodriguez, couldn't refuse: to set up a covert Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) base in the Bering Sea between Alaska and the Russian Federation, with a reporting line directly to the Commander, Naval Air Forces. Prompted by a sudden Russian strategic pivot to the Far East and massive economic expansion, the task she had been given sounded impossible - to recreate the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a cavern 300 feet under the surface of Little Diomede Island. But after five years, she was finally only weeks away from the base being declared combat-ready. And she thought five weeks was going to be plenty of time - until until two AGM-158C PIKE long range anti-ship missiles buried themselves deep in the guts of the Russian Supertanker Ozempic Tsar and detonated their 1,000lb blast-fragmentation warheads.

[Linked Image]'

And here is the thread, feel free to join in! Anyone who helps out with tech advice and so on would of course get their name in the credits!

http://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...a-difference-bering-strait-ucav-campaign

A couple of disclaimers/explainers:

a) this is just for fun. Any glaring technical errors pls feel free to point them out or have an opinion: technical points/debates, advice from vets etc welcome!

b) my idea here is to explore the idea of what a future war involving UCAV and piloted aircraft could look like if the war fighting potential of the UCAV was taken to an extreme. Also take a look at how far politicians might go if they are only sending machines to war, not flesh and blood. So none of the weapons I'll refer to here actually exist yet, which is also part of the fun. What I have done is look for any reports/data on 'next gen' systems and then just used my imagination together with sim combat inspiration from Flaming Cliffs.

c) like I said; work in progress. You'll be reading it in near real time as I write it.

Cheers and (C)

Fred 'Heinkill' Williams

PS For those who don't know me, I've been an editor here for years off and on, so no, it isn't some sort of scam smile

Last edited by HeinKill; 01/22/18 08:58 AM.

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#4401251 - 01/21/18 08:07 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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- Ice Offline
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I'm a bit confused..... are you going to turn it into a book for SimHQ members to buy? Or are you asking us to help build/make/read/critique the book-to-be?

Either way, the story sounds interesting! smile


- Ice
#4401259 - 01/21/18 09:07 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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I think Heinkill mostly means for the later though members could buy it if they wanted to help support SimHQ. He mentioned self publishing on Amazon so that's where it will probably be sold and made available to the public and then 20% of the selling profits go straight to supporting SimHQ while the rest goes to Heinkill's charities. Seems like a worthwhile volunteer and community project that could support SimHQ in the process. Any significant contributors may want to know what the other charities are just as a courtesy.


John 10:1-30
Romans 10:1-13

#4401270 - 01/21/18 10:00 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: - Ice]  
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HeinKill Offline
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Originally Posted by - Ice
I'm a bit confused..... are you going to turn it into a book for SimHQ members to buy? Or are you asking us to help build/make/read/critique the book-to-be?

Either way, the story sounds interesting! smile


Yes to both. Good critique will make the book better!

Originally Posted by Coot
I think Heinkill mostly means for the later though members could buy it if they wanted to help support SimHQ. He mentioned self publishing on Amazon so that's where it will probably be sold and made available to the public and then 20% of the selling profits go straight to supporting SimHQ while the rest goes to Heinkill's charities. Seems like a worthwhile volunteer and community project that could support SimHQ in the process. Any significant contributors may want to know what the other charities are just as a courtesy.


Yep, you got it! Any reader and community input welcome, and book to be sold on Amazon. First few chapters already written if you’d like a flavour!

http://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...a-difference-bering-strait-ucav-campaign

PS

I support Doctors Without Borders. (Medicins Sans Frontieres). Nothing political.


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#4401297 - 01/21/18 11:56 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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- Ice Offline
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I'm in for a good story!


- Ice
#4401342 - 01/22/18 08:38 AM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: - Ice]  
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HeinKill Offline
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Originally Posted by - Ice
I'm in for a good story!


Awesome! What I'm particularly in need of is help with improving authenticity: critique of future tech and tactics, military command structures (US and Russian), jargon, first hand knowledge of US carrier flight deck operations in particular.


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#4401348 - 01/22/18 10:35 AM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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Take a look at the naval simulation forum, the people into Harpoon and the like are certainly very knowledgeable about realistic air and sea ops.

#4401360 - 01/22/18 01:50 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: VF9_Longbow]  
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Originally Posted by VF9_Longbow
Take a look at the naval simulation forum, the people into Harpoon and the like are certainly very knowledgeable about realistic air and sea ops.


Thx, I'll drop in there with an invitation too.


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#4401368 - 01/22/18 03:47 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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How many novels have you published in the past?

#4401369 - 01/22/18 03:49 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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If you want to make tons of cash just write one of those romance novels with Fabio on the cover.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4401376 - 01/22/18 04:34 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: Mr_Blastman]  
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Originally Posted by Mr_Blastman
How many novels have you published in the past?


Five, all published via Amazon. Won a couple of writing prizes. So I've got the writing and publishing part covered I think, but would love some help from the community on the tech aspects so this project has max authenticity.




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#4401387 - 01/22/18 05:09 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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That's awesome dude! Congrats!

I've written two full-length sci-fi novels in the last few years but haven't published yet. Still need to tweak them both and beta readers are sometimes... slow to provide feedback. I hope to begin again soon, as they're both trilogies and they are itching to be continued. One of them is so big though... at 255k words. Epic stuff... that definitely could use a little shrinking. After this next pass, I'll likely send my second out to agents and see if I can find any interest.

#4401399 - 01/22/18 06:44 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: Mr_Blastman]  
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HeinKill Offline
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Originally Posted by Mr_Blastman
That's awesome dude! Congrats!

I've written two full-length sci-fi novels in the last few years but haven't published yet. Still need to tweak them both and beta readers are sometimes... slow to provide feedback. I hope to begin again soon, as they're both trilogies and they are itching to be continued. One of them is so big though... at 255k words. Epic stuff... that definitely could use a little shrinking. After this next pass, I'll likely send my second out to agents and see if I can find any interest.


Cool! Get it out there ... no sense gathering digital dust on a hard drive! You can also get feedback via a platform like Wattpad.com by posting a few chapters.


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#4401461 - 01/23/18 10:44 AM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Originally Posted by PanzerMeyer
If you want to make tons of cash just write one of those romance novels with Fabio on the cover.


Only if you buy one ... for your wife of course wink


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#4401883 - 01/25/18 09:13 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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And the story is rolling ....

http://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...ucav-campaign-updated-26-jan#Post4398385

Do readers here prefer ebooks (Kindle etc) or print, just wondering...


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#4401997 - 01/26/18 07:43 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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Someone suggested that I do this with my AARs for wjat was primarily Jane's F/A-18 Operation Persian Freedom and one or two other campaigns when I was posting them back in 2006 or so (You can still search them on SimHQ and one episodes was actually a feature on SimHQ along with Cat crossing over our story lines). I think the main problem was copyright issues with EA since it was heavy on the screenshots, then with others as LOMAC and Novalogic's Delta Force BlackHawk Down got added in.

v6,
boNes


"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
#4402025 - 01/26/18 10:07 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: bones]  
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Originally Posted by bones
Someone suggested that I do this with my AARs for wjat was primarily Jane's F/A-18 Operation Persian Freedom and one or two other campaigns when I was posting them back in 2006 or so (You can still search them on SimHQ and one episodes was actually a feature on SimHQ along with Cat crossing over our story lines). I think the main problem was copyright issues with EA since it was heavy on the screenshots, then with others as LOMAC and Novalogic's Delta Force BlackHawk Down got added in.

v6,
boNes


Shouldnt be an issue, no sim content used ...

T


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#4402219 - 01/28/18 01:26 PM Re: Fundraising idea for SIMHQ... [Re: HeinKill]  
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This is the strategic background for the novel ... in the not too far distant future a world running out of water ... droughts in california and water restrictions ... lakes drying up in Europe ... cities in the Middle East and Africa running out of water. It’s already happening today:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-28/day-zero-looms-for-cape-town/9368540

Zero day. The world goes to war over water, with drones.

Cheerful thought of the day! smile

http://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads.p...a-difference-bering-strait-ucav-campaign


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