Updates Abound!
Hello friends!
I have some updates to share on all of my ongoing projects, so let’s get right to it!
First, The Bards are excited to finally share our cover of Hopeless Wanderer with you! As of today, our rendition of the Mumford & Sons song is available on all streaming platforms. Enjoy the harmonious sounds of our voices!
Second, beta reading for my next book wraps up this week. I'll be using the month of April to consolidate feedback and make improvements before sending it to an editor in May. After that, I'll shop it around to literary agents this summer. I would love to get this next story in front of as many people as possible, and a literary agent can help do that by representing the story to major publishers. Fingers crossed!
Third, back to the musical side of the house: be on the lookout this Friday for a special announcement from The Bards! You'll find it on our Instagram page: @thebardsband
We've got some exciting news to share... you won't want to miss it!
Until next time!
JB6
Zombies & Mumford & Sons
by John Bachkosky (3/22/2022)
Five years ago, in the depths of a basement in Severna Park, MD, with the lights low and the pizza half-eaten, zombies fell around us in droves. The horrifying moans and cries echoed as Kevin, Greg, and I muscled our way through the most intense puzzles and gameplay Treyarch Studios had to offer in Black Ops III. Hours passed. We slogged through round after round, intently staring at our screens until finally, finally, the cutscene rolled. We had successfully completed another classic zombies “Easter Egg”.
Thrilled at completing our challenge, we took a break and played some music. Kevin picked up his guitar, and we bounced around a few song ideas until we landed on one we all knew—Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford & Sons. Kevin played, I began to sing, and then Greg picked up the vocals in the chorus. We quickly fell into a comfortable three-part harmony without any prior discussion, and by the end of the song, the buzz of beating a video game challenge was overwhelmingly overpowered by the hum of what we had just done. No notes, no preparation, just music.
This was the birth of The Bards. Though we didn’t know it yet.
Two years ago, in the throes of the pandemic, Kevin, Greg, and I sat in separate locations across Maryland, once again playing zombies and once again challenging Treyarch’s puzzles, this time in Black Ops IV. While it wasn’t a “new” challenge, it was a comfort for us and a way to connect and have fun at a time where that was the real challenge. During that evening, we decided to write songs, and The Bards truly came to life.
Now, having released our first album late last year, we are very pleased to announce that we are bringing to you the song that started it all! Our cover of Hopeless Wanderer will be coming to a streaming service near you in the near future!
Keep an eye on our Instagram (@thebardsband) for the official announcement and check out our YouTube page (linked above in the website header) in the meantime for some other live cover performances!
Until next time!
JB6
The Story of My First Story
By John Bachkosky (3/15/22)
Hello again!
This week I wanted to provide a writing update (which will come at the end) and talk a little about The Last Wizard and Kingdom’s End. Let’s start there!
I had already written The Last Wizard when the pandemic started over two years ago. The idea came from reading—and enjoying in other mediums—so many amazing stories. As I mentioned in a previous post, my list of inspirations is a lengthy one. Somewhat out of boredom, and in between books I was reading, I decided to try my hand at writing a short little story of my own.
That didn’t last long.
The Last Wizard just kept growing and growing until, months later, I had written over 100k words…and the story didn’t feel even close to done! I decided to cut the story off at a certain point and set the rest aside for later. I took what I had sectioned off and really focused on the details, massaging it into what became my first ever completed draft. At that point, I showed it to a friend, who told me that while the story and characters were engaging, my writing skills lacked. I was unsurprised by this feedback. I went to school for engineering, not writing.
After getting a little bit of grammatical and editorial help, I published The Last Wizard on my own in 2020. It was a truly awesome feeling to have something with my name on it out there for people to read, but the book still had some technical shortcomings. As I began work on the sequel, Kingdom’s End, I decided that if I was really going to keep doing this, I needed to get better at the whole “writing” part. I had cool ideas I wanted to write about, but if it wasn’t done well, the ideas would flop. I wanted to do them justice.
I searched around for a while before finding that Brandon Sanderson, who is one of my favorite authors, is a professor of writing science fiction and fantasy at BYU, and his entire lecture series is available on his channel on YouTube. So, in an ironic twist for anyone who knows me and my education history, I “took” his class on my own. I learned a lot about writing novels, and along with a ton of resources I found for improving the more technical aspects of my writing, I gained a whole new toolbox to use for Kingdom’s End.
Going back to the draft I had started, I began applying my newfound skills and realized that The Last Wizard was going to be left behind by its own sequel! So before I finished the draft for Kingdom’s End, I went back and rewrote The Last Wizard. It was tedious work, but the story was far better off and matched up much better stylistically with its sequel.
When Kingdom’s End was released in October of 2021, I breathed a massive sigh of relief. Not that it wasn’t an amazing experience, but it was just so nice to be done with developing that story. Not only had I written two books, I had rewritten them many times over and taken a lot of time to improve personally as a writer. I started writing The Last Wizard in late 2018, and three years later, the whole—nearly 200k word—story was available for everyone to enjoy.
I know that as I write more, my skills will continue to improve, and one day I’ll look back at these two books and notice things I can’t see now. For now though, it’s onwards to my next book!
While I don’t want to reveal it just yet, I will say that this next book will be shorter than either The Last Wizard and Kingdom’s End. My third book will be a standalone fantasy novel set in modern day, inspired by a story I created with a friend a long time ago. I’ve written the first draft, and I’m currently getting feedback on it. I hope to have it ready by the end of the year! Stay tuned!
As always, thanks for reading! A more musical update is coming your way next week.
JB6
From A Certain Point Of View
By Phil Richardson (3/8/2022)
Note from John: This week’s post is guest-written by Phil Richardson, a close friend of mine. Phil has provided critical, constructive feedback on each book I have written so far. Kingdom’s End is dedicated to him in thanks for his efforts.
To begin with, I suppose I should explain how I know John. We first met as coworkers where we bonded over our mutual love of video games and literature, having many lively conversations about all topics from film to politics. That relationship persisted after we both moved to new jobs, and we still speak almost daily about all manner of things.
A couple years ago, John asked me if I would like to read a draft copy of his first book, The Last Wizard, and tell him what I thought. I could hardly pass up the opportunity to be a part of the creative process while not actually having to do any of the hard work, so I gladly accepted his draft and dug in with my red pen.
John’s rough draft was, like all rough drafts, rough. John is an engineer, and by his own admission, at times he wrote like one. I, myself an engineer and making no claims to literary genius, questioned everything from plot to grammar to character development. John defended his writing while, to his great credit, remaining open to what I intended to be honest and constructive feedback. My questions and comments became the basis for many an enjoyable conversation. We spent many hours discussing the finer points of his lore, ironing out plot twists, tweaking dialog, and even restructuring entire chapters to help him express his vision as best as possible. John didn’t always take the advice I offered, but he always listened, responded thoughtfully, and was as gracious as ever in the face of my criticism. Even when I was perhaps too insistent, dare I say, obnoxious? Working with John has been truly enjoyable.
Shortly after The Last Wizard came a draft for its sequel. Cue yet another round of debate, even more text dissection, and minute analysis of dialog. And then came more drafts of more stories. I won’t spoil anything, but to say that John has more irons in the fire will surprise no one who knows him.
Note from John: This is where I want to point out that Phil and I’s conversations turned into humorous “what if” scenarios now and again, some of which led to the “Outtakes” found at the back of Kingdom’s End.
The thrilling thing for me has been to see how immeasurably John has grown and developed as a writer. When TLW released, I was proud of my friend merely for having succeeded in what he had set out to do. To write a novel set in an original world with unique and engaging characters, to follow through multiple rounds of edits, and to eventually self-publish requires at the very least an immense determination and great persistence. John set out to achieve a dream and saw it through to the end—something anyone should be proud of. But even more than that, I saw how much John had improved his skills with the draft of Kingdom’s End. Having worked with him through editing and seeing his thought process, I appreciate how much his approach to his stories and how he weaves a world together has matured. The next (hitherto secret) draft is better yet.
That, I think, is the greatest part of this experience. While I do enjoy the books themselves, the most rewarding part of the experience of editing with John has been to watch him set and achieve goals, while simultaneously honing his skills and growing as an author. If he continues to write future works with the same determination and dedication to improving his craft that he has shown so far, then I can’t wait to see what new worlds he creates.
The Man Who Makes Me Look Good
by John Bachkosky (3/1/2022)
Hello again!
For those of you that took the time to scroll around on my new site, thank you! While exploring, I hope that you noticed some of the artwork. All of the art for the projects on this page—both book covers as well as the album cover and logo for The Bards—was done by one man: Anthony Celli.
In 2020, when I released The Last Wizard, I put together a cover that I thought looked pretty cool using a picture I took of the moon. (There was, at one point, an idea to ask readers to "moon" me with their copies of the book via social media, but I’m glad that idea was shelved.) When I went to do the rewrite a year later—after taking some time to learn how to write a novel properly—I decided that the book needed a fresh and more professional look.
Enter Anthony.
I sent him a copy of The Last Wizard, and he came back with some incredibly inspired sketches that I thought would have worked well on their own as covers. When we picked one and he fully illustrated it, I was blown away. Anthony brought to life the words that I put down on the page. In his own words, “While I was reading The Last Wizard, I could vividly see the events in my head as they unfolded.”
Naturally, a few months later, I had to make sure that the cover for Kingdom’s End was done by the same man. They had to match, and we agreed on keeping some elements from the TLW’s cover to tie them together. See if you can find them!
And then along came The Bards, who had just completed their first album and were in need of an album cover. Who better to turn to than Anthony? I sent him the songs and once again the sketches he produced were art in their own right. Along with the album cover, Anthony also designed our logo for us, based on a horrible slap-dash idea I put together in MS Paint. As evidenced below, Anthony is a master of turning not only my words into art, but also my horrible attempts at visual mediums into professional-level branding.
So, thanks to Anthony, everything I have created looks far better than it has any right to. With The Bards going “on tour” in the coming months (check the Tour Dates tab for show locations and times), I am especially grateful for Anthony, who has helped us look as good as we (hopefully) sound!
These days, Anthony spends parts of his days working on commissions both big and small. In between those, he works on his personal projects and is also learning new creative software like Live2d and Blender. If you want to check out his incredible work, you can find him on Instagram at: @ant_jams
That’s all for now!
JB6
In The Beginning…
Becoming an “author” has been a fascinating journey, and for those interested, I’ll provide plenty of details as time goes on.
by John Bachkosky (2/22/22)
Hello! Welcome to the very first post on JBachBooks.com! Thank you for being here and for supporting me as I grow in this venture. Becoming an “author” has been a fascinating journey, and for those interested, I’ll provide plenty of details as time goes on. First and foremost, however, I wanted to outline what this site is all about.
JBachBooks.com is a page dedicated to all of my written projects, from The Last Wizard duology (ha, this editing software doesn’t think that’s a word…maybe I should write a third book then…) to future books, short stories, and blogs! Along with that, this site will also play the role of host or advertiser of other projects I am a part of. More on that in a minute.
Becoming a writer was never something I really envisioned for myself. I went to school for aerospace engineering, earning my Bachelor’s from University of Maryland, and work with “space things” professionally. Yet in the last three years, I have written two books and am working on a third! How did I get here?
(Before you ask, no that third book is not related to the aforementioned duology. That will stay a duology for the time being.)
This whole endeavor stemmed from the myriad of books my sisters and I read growing up. My personal list is full of titles and series most fervent fantasy readers would recognize: Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mistborn, Warriors, Ranger’s Apprentice…the list goes on and on. There’s a plethora of sci-fi books/series as well: The Martian, Arc of the Scythe, Skyward, etc. Some of my other favorites include City of Thieves, Project Hail Mary, the Broken Earth trilogy, and The Alchemist. I try to keep my lists up to date on Goodreads, for those of you interested.
With so many stories bouncing around in my brain, I decided to try my hand at writing one, and The Last Wizard was born. It was originally a short story I penned in a day, but I quickly found that the more I wrote, the more I wanted to write…so I just kept going. Now there’s two books to my name available for the world to take in, and I think that’s kind of cool. To all you prospective writers out there, just start! You never know what will come of it.
I guess that’s it for now…if you haven’t gotten your hands on The Last Wizard or it’s sequel, Kingdom’s End, go and read it! I hear people like it, and not just fans of fantasy books. Don’t believe me? Check out some of the awesome reviews on Amazon.
Oh, about those “other projects”…
You may have noticed another tab labeled “The Bards” up above. Check it out! You may like what you see…or hear!
Until next time,
JB6