I'm in a New Anthology

Blank Tapes is a collection of 17 odd, dark or quirky short stories that don't quite fit in anywhere. It is available for preorder now - click here - only $2.99.  It will be released on April 9th.

In other news...

High Barrens, the print version, has been held up while I mess around with the maps. They came out as small smudgy squares in the front of the book, so I've obviously done something wrong. 

The 3rd book in the Asher Blaine series is coming along. I was a bit baffled as to why the murder occurred, but luckily I've figured that out.

And speaking of that, time to get back to writing.

A Lot Going On!

I am not quite in panic mode because of all the great stuff going on right now, but it's close!

Alex Storer is working on a cover for Gleanings. I've seen the drafts and it is amazing! I can't wait to do the reveal for it. I'm working on setting up the reveal with SFFWorld. More exciting news. I don't have a date yet. But as soon as they get back to me I will post it here.

James at Curious Cartography is working on a map. It's just in the preliminary stages, but I am super excited about that, too. I have wanted a good map for this world since the first book. And I have had plenty of requests for one. Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Lethal Seasons will be included in the Apocalyptic Fears III boxed set, slated to be out October 1. David Van Dyke/Reaper Press has been very easy to work with. This is a new adventure for me. Fingers crossed that it brings in new readers.

In addition to the usual box set of novels, David is putting together an anthology of short stories for Apocalyptic Fears 6. It's in the works now. I submitted a short story that hints at the beginning of the disaster that turned into A Changed World.

I hadn't looked at that story in a long time. When I wrote it, I was very proud of it and shopped it around. It racked up one rejection after another. I couldn't understand their comments and just took it to mean that it wasn't right for those editors. Looking at it, with a few novels under my belt, I saw lots of problems. Most of which stemmed from not getting all the information out of my head and onto the paper. It only took a few tweaks to make it a much better story...I hope.

In October I will be dropping the price on Facade and doing a limited run of free for Lethal Seasons. Sign up to my newsletter and I'll let you know when it happens.

A Loss of Standards

The latest flu is a killer. To stop it from spreading, the government will shut down the city for three days. Dolan can't abide the thought of being trapped in his apartment, alone, for that long. He hit the bars the night before looking for someone, or two, to keep him company. The next morning, hungover and hazy, he discovered a very unexpected house guest.

Available for $0.99 on Kindle or for other formats at Smashwords 

I had fun putting this cover together. I'd love feedback on it. Does it catch the eye? Entice? Confuse? Turn you off?

Giving short stories a second chance

I've never been a big fan of short stories. I think I was traumatized by them in my late teens. I got a book, I believe it was Hemingway, (there was a bull and a matador in one story). The book was a collection of short stories, but I didn't realize it. About halfway through I was getting very confused. How could all these characters meet up? What plot line could possibly pull them all together?

Then I took a good look at the cover. I felt betrayed. It wasn't a story, it was many stories. Damn.

Lately, I have been following the trends in epublishing. New authors are putting out short stories for free as a sample. A wonderful idea, like having a taste of cheese before you buy it. It never occurred to me to troll for new authors in short story collections. Brilliant! I have so many new (to me) authors on my to-read list that I'm going to need a better way of sorting them.

So, I guess I'm giving short fiction a second chance.

What was I thinking?

I've stressed myself out with things that don't have to be done!

For Pete's sake. Short story submissions seemed like a real possibility, until I tried to work it into my schedule. I'd already shoved in researching marketing and markets for the mystery. Which ate up some of my writing time, so my final (hopefully) revisions got stalled. And of course there's those other things like grocery shopping, cooking, weeding... I don't know why I do this to myself.

I need to finish the mystery and lay it to rest so I can tackle the tome without distraction. I thought I had already laid it to rest, but the group wanted a better ending. Part of me says to just shelve it and another part of me can't bear to not finish it in the best possible way. But to what point?

Self satisfaction is one point, I guess. I want to feel proud of it, regardless of where it goes. Even into the closet. I also want to know that I have finished a polished and publishable manuscript. That's a giddy feeling. And I feel a bit pompous saying it. But if I think it's ready to be submitted to an agent, or editor, then it should be polished and publishable.

Just finishing a project I have set myself is important, too. I have a lot of manuscripts lying around. They could all be something, if I sat down and worked at it. But they aren't. They are just gathering dust on the shelf.

Maybe that's what drove me into thinking about submissions again. It would be really nice to have a few more sales. A bit more proof that I have the chops. It's going to be months before the tome is edited down into book one and ready to go out the door. And sometimes you just need a little more carrot and a little less stick.

Ready to start the rounds again

When I started writing for real I followed the old school recommendations of publishing a few short stories before trying to publish a novel. I submitted to Writers for The Future every quarter and made the rounds of Asimov's, Science Fiction and Fantasy and a few online magazines. It was hard work. I don't like short stories, they're too short. I made a few Honorable Mentions and a Quarter Finalist at Writer's for the Future, which felt pretty good. Every Day Fiction took 2 of my flash stories. (see links)

Then I had to admit that I really should be spending more time on the tome. That was. . .yikes. . .years sgo. I have rewritten the tome twice and turned 2 screenplays into novels and rewritten them several times.

Novel writing is so time consuming!

Don't get me wrong, I love it. But with short stories you can finish them, polish them and send them out pretty quickly. This last rewrite on my mystery novel took me a year to finish, polish and get through my critique group.

Not sure why, but the submitting bug has hit me again. I went back into Duotrope (best database ever!) and printed out some magazines to research. It's been awhile since I looked at some of those rejected stories. Maybe my new skills will help with additional polishing.

Wish me luck!