Imre Z. Balint, BSc, MPM, MBA

Well here I go again! I just finished Rave Girl: Change My Mind , and I've already started on a new sci-fi / fantasy web novel, Protostar: Error in Transmission . This is my first foray into this arena, but I'm hoping it'll have some benefits. First off, this book is currently free to read! So click the link above or the book cover below, and have at it. Second, this book is incomplete. Only chapter one is done, and I'll upload the rest as soon as I'm done writing each one. I'm aiming for a chapter a week... we'll see how that goes, but I should be able to pull it off. Anywho, below is the description. I think this'll be a fantastic story and merges the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, in a hopefully fun and entertaining way. Enjoy! ***** Captain Kane St. James never expected his post-service life to be as exciting and outlandish as this. Leading the IFS Protostar, a retrofitted frigate now scout vessel, St. James and his crew of five would commonl...

As some folks might know, woodworking has been a hobby of mine for ages, and recently, I took to making some slingshots (for sale in my Etsy Store ). There are a couple of varieties I've created thus far, but the latest one has to be one of my favorites. It's an asymmetrical, over-the-top (OTT) no-tie type. I'll likely create a few more like this, but using different types of wood to mix things up. Here are a few pics:

Luckily, I'm better at finishing full-length novels than I am at updating this poor blog! In any case, I'm shamelessly plugging my new science fiction novel, Rave Girl: Change My Mind ! It took me about two years (very on and off) to finish this one, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. So if you enjoy fast paced action / adventure sci-fi with a large helping of humor / comedy, then you're gonna enjoy this! Below is a synopsis and the book cover (which I designed using Blender 3D and finished up with GIMP). Give it a try and leave me some feedback, or better yet, a review. Us indy authors need all the help we can get with the exposure. Synopsis: Allegra could never have imagined how different, how extraordinary, her life would become, just by being in the right place at the right time after a rave. Who could’ve thought that after a long day of dancing and euphoria, she’d end up saving the life of an extra-terrestrial? Or did her ET bestie, Kay’k, save her? After y...

I’m ecstatic to say that my sci-fi novel, Circulum, is ready to be enjoyed on Kindle or Kindle Unlimited! Click here or the thumbnail image of the cover to snag your copy today! Trent needed change. He was fed up with his dead-end security job and needed to escape; especially after a nasty reminder of his duties. His escape would come to him in the form of a lucrative contract that would take him off world. Trent swore to himself that he’d never leave Earth after that horrid day left him scarred forever, but in the end, circumstances would prevail. At least the job would be quick, and the credits would help him start a new life, putting distance between him and the Chief. But if only Trent knew a fraction of what he was getting into... Follow Trent on his exciting journey to a strange world as he dances with death, grapples with his sanity, meets a special lady, and discovers that there is more to him than he could ever imagine. Contains some explicit language and scenes...

I'm quite overdue for a post! I've been keeping wonderfully busy with my novel, which has now surpassed fifty thousand words. Chapters twenty-five and twenty-six are in the works currently. That puts me roughly at about the mid-point. Woohoo! I also took some some shots for my Making Professional Longboards book, so that one is inching very close to completion now. So that's your quick update from me, but I also wanted to add some additional value to this post. For those of you who are also budding authors like myself, there's a buzz phrase that's quite important to follow: Show, don't tell. If fact, I gave up on a sci-fi novel recently because it did exactly the opposite of this mantra. It told me the story. Now I'll be nice and I won't say which novel or author, but here's an idea of what went wrong, and then I'll give you an idea of how this problem can be corrected. The scene in this particular novel was that of a mugger cornering a woman in...

I'm overdue for a post! I guess I've been far too busy writing my sci-fi novel. I'm really close to twelve thousand words, five chapters more or less complete. Overall the progress is going well and I'm sticking fairly close to the plan, with a little bit of deviation. Although I'm not surprised at this. The plan is merely a guide to keep the story, the plot, timeline, etc. on general track. However, as I write, I find new methods to deal with the winding road that my protagonist endures. Things like how he reacts to situations or how how I introduce new characters. Interestingly though, the deviations still haven't affected the scenes much. I see this as a good sign that the plan holds it own fairly well; it did take my nearly two months to construct it. And the surprises don't end with this wonderful process of writing. I've already researched many different topics related to my novel, from those scientific to those related to grammar (ok, a lot of t...

I've just finished the planning stage of my novel... for now, and I've finally begun writing the first chapter! It's a wonderful feeling. Planning out all the scenes might have taken several weeks, but it's well worth it. Several twists and turns evolved during this process, but I know this will add value to my story and characters. I'm also glad that I used Microsoft Excel for this, a suggestion from some of the books I mentioned in my previous posts. It made it a snap to add, remove, and rearrange the scenes. Although the planning will help when fleshing out the novel, my path is still going to be long and winding. Breathing life into characters that exist as nothing more than mere words on a page will be both art and science. However, I will ensure that I put maximum effort into this task. I need those characters to come to life in one's mind, along with the story world. Readers must experience the same pains, joys, fears, confusions, anger, and love on the...

Binary Graphite is no more. For quite a while I've been planning to make a change over to my name, and today was the day this was done. I'm sure I'll loose a few hits, but overall it'll be worth it. I've posted all of my updated links at the bottom of this, so that you can update your bookmarks or make notes on the changes where ever you keep them. As for my sci-fi novel, it's coming along nicely. My backstory and character bible is nearly complete (especially the stars of the show), and some new additions have been made in regard to organizations and vessels. I'm glad I'm taking the time to plan this out as much as I am, for there is a lot to remember and I want to ensure I get the details right. These details have also spurred new ideas, which have added a few plot twists, among other details. My scene list has grown to over 20 now, and what a wonderful tool this is. It's so easy to catch issues with the flow of the story, as this succinct time...

I'm having a blast writing. My book on how to make longboards is about 85% done. Most of the text is there, but I still need some images of decks being glued up, along with those that have a design. As you might guess, that means I actually need to build those decks. Good news is that I have three sanded down nicely, awaiting for their graphics to be applied. That's definitely easier said than done, but I'm hoping my brain will come up with something to adorn those boards. Then I can finally take a few more photos, and finish up that opus. But being one of those people that can't seem to keep busy enough, I've already started on another project. I've always wanted to write a work of fiction, and have finally dug in. This is actually not the first time I've attempted writing one though... in fact, this is my third attempt. Writing a strong work of fiction is by no means a simple feat. My first two attempts failed, as I simply lacked the knowledge required...

My "Concepts of Photography and More" ebook is now available! Well, I actually self-published it back in November 2019, but I figured I should really update my blog I once kept so regularly manicured. Before I spew more text onto the page, here's the link so you can check it out and grab yourself a copy: Concepts of Photography and More It's quite scary to see how time passes by. My last post before this was in 2014, in which my life took a lovely twist. That year was special, as I started teaching at a local polytechnic school. I love my job, the school too, but does take away from one's free time. No complaints though, for I am employed, and times are tough, so I am grateful. Nonetheless, I managed to spend what time I could between my busy schedule of marking assignments, helping with home renos, and building longboards (yup, I do this too), in order to finish my first book. Really cool journey, and an even greater respect for all authors. Two years o...

Ever visit a website where if you start to scroll then certain elements on a page will stick to a particular location, like a navigation bar that stays put at the top of the page? Sometimes even a link will also appear from a side of the document which allows the user to jump back to the top of the page with a single click. Well that's what this tutorial is about. In fact the concepts I'll be discussing can actually be taken a step further and you'll be able to create other "sticky" elements on your page (like a social media link list that can slide into view). With this walk-through I'm assuming you're somewhat familiar with jQuery and CSS, so as with pretty much all things jQuery please download the library if you want to try this for yourself. Overall this example is really easy, so even with minimal experience it should be a snap to get this working on your site. First let's take a look at how this works. Click here to view the example and ...

Not only is it a full moon today, but it's also Friday the 13th. So it's only fitting that I tackle a scary topic: CSS only dropdown menus that work on mobile devices! Ok, so really it's not that scary and I'll try to make it as painless as possible... don't mind the machete. First off, it's nice to see what we're trying to accomplish. Because this example is geared for mobile type devices only you should be viewing this example on such a platform, or if you are using a desktop computer, pretend that you can only "tap": http://www.imrezbalint.com/blogexamples/csstargetmenu.html The actual presentation of the example is not critical; you can create your own design in pretty much whatever manner you wish. The focus here is that on a mobile device one can tap a menu to see the dropdown list that will then stay open until the user taps another menu item or the "Close Menu" option. Secondly, I have not bothered to create media queries ...

This is the first of hopefully many Web technology related blog posts I'll be writing. More specifically these articles will be involving JavaScript / jQuery and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In this tutorial I will be using JavaScript to analyze which Web page a user is viewing and then apply a CSS style to the relevant menu element to provide the audience some visual feedback. Please download jQuery as it is requited for this example. I often use the library to simplify parts of my code and to gain some benefits like not having to worry as much about coding cross browser compatibility. First off, let's take a look at exactly what we're trying to do (click the pic for a larger size). Take a look at the URL bar. You'll see that it contains the text, "www.imrezbalint.com/videos.php". Now look at the navigation bar of my site. See how the VIDEOS link is highlighted? Well that's the work of the script we're about run through. Now you're pro...