Pandemic Dawn

Well, Pete’s house is nearly completed on our land in second life.

We are in a 12 sim post-apocalyptic sim known as ‘The Wastelands’, specifically we are in ‘The Junkyard’.

I am not done with Pete’s house as of yet, but I got his house up, and the shed in the back as well as a small garage with an old truck in the driveway.

I have also placed a lot of debris and garbage around to really get the feel of the post-apoc setting.

Here is the link to Pete’s house.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Junkyard/153/202/73

I am also working on adding a basement to the house, and hopefully Pete’s mother.

After checking the house and property out, feel free to check out the entire 11 sims if you have an afternoon to do so.

Well, pete’s house is nearly completed on our land in second life.

We are in a 12 sim post-apocalyptic sim known as ‘The Wastelands’, specifically we are in ‘The Junkyard’.

I am not done with Pete’s house as of yet, but I got his house up, and the shed in the back as well as a small garage with an old truck in the driveway.

I have also placed a lot of debris and garbage around to really get the feel of the post-apoc setting.

Here is the link to Pete’s house.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Junkyard/153/202/73

I am also working on adding a basement to the house, and hopefully Pete’s mother.

After checking the house and property out, feel free to check out the entire 11 sims if you have an afternoon to do so.

Well after searching high and low for hours, I finally found the perfect sim…or should I say the perfect 10 sims!

I found a Post-Apocalyptic area that is 10 sims big, and one of the largest and oldest on SecondLife!

It didn’t take any time at all to contact the owner and hear back from him.  After some quick negotiations, he made an awesome offer of land, and I purchased it.

So, I know have a location in a HUGE post apocalyptic world for Pete’s House!

Years ago I was on SecondLife and became quite adept at building adn selling things, and made a little money, so putting this together will be pretty easy for me.  But mostly, it is going to be exciting.

To visualize the novels, and see some of the characters and locations come to life in a  virtual world is going to be amazing.

Pete’s House will be the hub to all things pandemic in Second Life, and visitors will be able to check out many of the novels locations and characters from that hub.

I have already started sculpting the land and building the basement, and I look forward to building the house.

So far, Karl ‘Lunk’ Taylor is the only avatar I have created, and when he is finished I will post some pics of him.

Next on the agenda, after the house is built, is creating Pete and his mother…don’t worry, she will be chained in the basement.

Well I started establishing Pandemic Dawn on Second Life.

I am making a few of the characters from the book, and setting up a shop in a post apocalyptic sim there.

I will post more about where the sim is located for anyone who is on SecondLife and would like to go check it out.

I am going to build Pete’s house, and that will be a shop as well as a storefront for the Pandemic Dawn novel series.

Players will be able to buy items from the novel series, as well as avatars and props from the book, and even a digital copy of the novel itself.

There will also be links to the real world website and stores to purchase books.

More to come!

I just finished speaking with my publisher about my latest book, The HOFC Minister’s Manual, a guide for new ministers in the sacraments and ordinances of the church, and I am awaiting the first proof which was sent to me today.

Once the proof arrives and I give the OK, it will go to print and be available in our online store almost immediately, and on Amazon.com shortly after.

I’m not going to push this one in the bookstores though.  It’s more of a specialty book, and I hate to pay extra for publicizing it when it really has a small audience that would actually be interested in it.

But if someone is really interested, they will still be able to pick up a copy from Half-Dead.com, Amazon.com, or here at BruceShields.us

I am trying to find the time now to finish my research for my second science fiction novel.  I’ve been dying to get back to writing it.

I decided to turn my GMS 1500 suburban into the ultimate survival truck.

I began by removing the lame stereo and replacing it with a Pharos GPS535+ PDA with windows mobile and TomTom Navigator.

Well I finished the HOFC (House of Faith Church) Minister’s Manual for new ministers, and submitted it to the publisher along with the cover I made.

I decided to go with a plain black cover with a leather texture because I wanted to keep the outside of the book plain in case seminarians wished to use it during the actual services.

The book is designed to help new ministers understand the ceremonies that they will be performing, and gives many examples of actual services that I had performed.

Weddings, funerals, communion and baptisms.

I think this will be a great aid in the services that they will be rendering to people.

Now that is finished, I can get to writing the second novel in the Pandemic Dawn series!

I will be releasing more secret info about the next novel in the upcoming weeks.

Well the process has finally completed, and my novel ‘Pandemic Dawn’ is now available in most bookstores.

It took time for the process, as there are millions of books being produced each year, and it really bogs everything down.

Here is a partial list of where my novel can be purchased, each bookstore logo is lonked to their “Store Finder” so you can locate a bookstore near you.

Click here to check out the Barnes & Noble Bookstore locator.

Click here to use Books-A-Million 's Bookstore locator!

Click here to find a Powell's Bookstore near you!

All of these stores also offer my novel in their online stores as well.

My novel’s are also available on Amazon.com, Half-Dead.com, and of course right here at the Official Pandemic Dawn website at http://www.Pandemic-Dawn.com

My daughter turned 6 on March 3rd. We decided to wait and have her actually birthday party on Saturday, March 6th because it is so much easier for people to attend a party on the weekend.

As I posted before, as soon as I started talking to her about her birthday, she immediately put in her three most important requests.

1. A deathstar pinata

2. A Jabba the Hutt birthday cake

3. To marry Luke Skywalker…

Although I can not allow number three for too many reasons to list, I am convinced if she met him, she would probably change her mind once she realized he is no longer the young stud from Tatooine he was back in 1976.

Star Wars has become her favorite movie, although she does enjoy the occasional Return of the Jedi, and Phantom Menace.

I have not finished the deathstar pinata as of yet…but time is running out since her party is tomorrow.

I did, however, finish the Jabba the Hutt birthday cake.

You can see the pictures here.

I first gathered as many reference shots from the internet as possible and looked them over.  Then deciding which characters I was going to add adn what objects I would also put in the scene, I did a quick sketch.

I built the base out of cake, with a fondant cover, and Jabba himself is made from rice crispy treats covered in fondant.  Be sure to use real butter when making things, it makes all the difference in the world.

The smaller objects (Salacious, the worm, bong, etc..) were all made in fondant.

My son is already designing his birthday cake, which I will be making in October.

I’ll be sure to post more pictures.

Well my daughter turned 6 today, and she requested that I make her a few things for her party on Saturday.

Being an avid Star Wars fan, I’m not sure where she gets that from…* wink, wink * I agreed to make her what she wanted.

She wants a Death Star Pinata, and a Jabba the Hutt cake.

So…I went and picked up a few things and started working on it.

I will post pictures as soon as they are completed…but here is a link to check out my fondant version of Salacious Crumb.