Interview over at Rebecca Snow’s Place!

Rebecca Snow was nice enough to invite me over to her blog so I could answer a few burning questions.  I managed to survive my encounter, she only stabbed me once…ok, maybe twice.  Click here to head over to the Cemetery Flower Blog where Rebecca stalks those who dare to enter!

The Journey II: Out From the Shell

Growing up, I hated to talk in public.  I still do, but I’m more comfortable with it now.  Before I started writing for real, I really just liked to stay locked in my shell and go through life quietly.  Most of this I believe is due to my really bad self-esteem issues.  This part of our journey together is about how my opening the doors to the written word has help to bring me out into the light.

I know I’ve said this a million times, but every time I look back at a story that was accepted for an anthology, I still doubt myself.  In my mind I try to think of ways to justify my work seeing print above other people’s tales.  I never have found a good enough answer to satisfy my unsettled mind.  The past has seen many things be put to the page by me like song lyrics, a few story starts, and some comics a couple of us did the words and art for in school.  All these things would all be tossed aside and eventually the tides of time would wash them away like the sands on the beaches.  Was the stuff any good?  Hell no.  In middle school I drew a comic about a guy who looked like Gambit named Weezer and his mechanical bird Biff.  Terrible stuff, but did I enjoy it?  Yes, I did.

This is where my personal issues began.  Other people wanted to see it, but I would stuff it back in my folder and never take it out again.  The songs I wrote?  Gone.  Each piece disappearing in silence because the words were never uttered aloud or read outside of me to myself.  Why did I do this?  I always loved to create, but I was always afraid of what everyone else would think.  I didn’t want them to hate it and mock me or point fingers and laugh.  This is why doing the writing has helped me grow out of that protective sphere I built around myself.

Today…do I care what others think?  Nope.  Learning to put myself out there for the world to see has been very hard for me, but the more I do it, the easier it becomes.  Each piece I send to an editor was easier to send out than the last one was and so on.  Deep down, I still have a panic attack every time I know someone has read my work.  Breaking down the walls around me and allowing myself to be picked apart is still a little painful to my freshly hardened skin, but the wounds have healed and the scar tissue makes me stronger.  Opening up has allowed me to even read some of my work in public, twice.  I think I did ok, nobody ever tried to throw stuff at me or cursed my mother for giving birth to me.  I guess I did alright then.

Am I out from under the shell?  Yes, I am.  Every time I post here, I sweep the last remnants of the shell further away and the new me comes out to play more and more.  There are three people in the author world who have really helped me loosen up and free myself from the chains of self-doubt.  Without Armand Rosamilia, Julianne Snow, and Jason Darrick I’m not sure if I ever would have broken through the shell.  These three have been great council, readers, critics, and most of all…friends.  My wife has also been a great help and I can never repay her enough for the latitude she grants me when I’m working, or moaning, or complaining.

I never could have traveled this far without help.  To all the presses, editors, readers, and friends who have placed their feet along my path, this part of the journey is dedicated to you.

Goodnight…

Oh, “Stonewall” is no longer tied to an anthology and the rights are back with me.  I pondered how to handle the story and I’ve decided I’m writing the short story into Southern Devils so everyone will be on the same page when the book begins.  On that front, I have planned out the rewrite/edit schedule and it might be a short novel now.  The work should be done in a month before it goes out to beta readers and the next round of editing.  If Southern Devils finds a press and is released, I will either see about including the original short with it or find another means to let you read the short story.

Goodnight, again…

The Journey II: Becoming a Juggler When You Can’t Juggle

Goals.  Everyone has them to some extent, but how many do we really reach?  I know I have a few for my writing and I’m trying to meet those goals everyday…or almost everyday.  A full novel?  Started.  A short story collection?  The pieces are being assembled now.  Novella?  Done that, but I’m working on another two right now.  You guys and gals out there reading this?  The fact I’ve been able to show you my work (and I hope you enjoyed it) is very humbling.  A few years ago, I started out with the goal of getting something, anything published and I met that goal many times over.

Is the writing the hardest part?  No sir, it is the juggling.

I’m not a very coordinated guy and it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve thrown those brightly colored balls in the air, I always seem to drop them.  For some reason, if given the choice to walk or chew gum, I couldn’t take both.  Life is like that as a writer.  You really want to have your cake and eat it too.  While it would be nice to make enough from writing to live off of, it is not the norm in genre writing.  If you get into this field to become filthy rich, you made a most unwise decision.

Did I choose it to be rich?  No, I started doing this to tell the stories churning deep within the dark recesses of my mind.  Have I made a lot of money?  No.  Have you made any money?  A little bit here and there, like Dollar Menu money.  Not full Value Meal cash, but a couple of dollar burgers to celebrate cash.

This is where this is going, if I can’t make a ton of green doing it, then why do it?  I love it.  What will I do for that love?  I work full-time, I write when I get home, and still try to be a visible member of our household.  That my friends can be a lot of balls getting tossed in the air all at once.  Do some hit the ground?  Of course they do, but I pick them right back up and put them in the air again.

If it is hard to juggle and the money isn’t there, why bother?  Well, I’ll be gentle about it.  Writing is a building process.  Stephen King didn’t start right of the gate with Carrie, he sold short stories to men’s magazines and any other place that would take them.  These are the building blocks that we build our foundation on.  When I get my foundation built, I want it to be solid enough where I can work part-time and be able to make up the difference with my words.

Am I a juggler?  Yes, and while I wouldn’t mind having fewer balls to keep track off, I’d be happy writing even if I had to remain as the juggler.

Goodnight…

My Writing Pet Peeve is…

…Editing.

There I said it.  I don’t like editing.  I’d rather have someone shove bamboo under my fingernails than sit through and edit something I wrote.  Honestly, when you think about it, I don’t think I’d ever grow to gleefully take the red pen of death to my work.  While I don’t enjoy seeing my stories torn apart, I have had to learn the necessity of editing to make the story the best it can be and that was a really hard lesson.  The first few stories I had accepted for anthologies really only edited for some small grammar points and spelling.  The further down the writing road I get, I see the game change.  As I’ve moved on to more publications that are paying markets with more competition, I’ve seen the editing done to my work become more critical.  Do I dislike it?  No, because I understand it.  It has helped me really step up my game when I write and rewrite.

Editors are there for a reason, but they would like it if you did your share before you blast their slush pile with a story filled with ‘their’ instead of ‘there’ and so forth.  In the beginning, I thought the editor only wanted to turn my steaming pile into a different steaming pile.  Now that I’ve lived and learned, I know they are there for the benefit of me and the work to ensure the reader is given a good clean and more enjoyable read.

If you haven’t yet, go and hug an editor, send them a message of thanks, and thank them again by doing your part of the work before you set them to task.  It is not a job I want, but I thank those who are brave enough, or crazy enough, to do what they do.

That about sums it up, except… go and check out The Siren’s Call eZine #8 (The Men of Horror Issue).  Inside is my little love story, “Do Us Part”.  It is free to download here at their site.  While you’re there, take a look at their back issues and see what is happening with a really cool press to work with.

And on that short pimpage note,

Goodnight…

“Coming Soon to a Blog Hop Near You!”

“Coming to a drive-in near you this summer, three college students on the last night of spring break, will find out the road to Hell is paved with good intentions…and blood.”

Ah, the good old days of the movie trailer.  Believe me, there was really a time when the preview didn’t tell you the whole movie in a two-and-a-half-minute bit.  The preview teased and made you want to see the movie.  Alas, I’m afraid those days are long gone.

But fear not, thanks to D. Alexander Ward (go and check him out, this I command!) I’m here to give you a preview.  Think of it as the opening to a date with that special person.  You both snuggle together while the sun dips out of sight and the darkness creeps along the theater grounds until the projector fires up and brightens the night with its magic.  Writing really can be that dramatic and I’m here now to give you a peek into my mind and my work.  I’ll try not to lead you astray or to give away too much because to be completely honest, I want you to have questions and buy the book to see if your thirst for answers can be quenched.

So, sit back and dim the lights.  Relax and let me take your hand and give you a tour through my work, a Neverland of blood and betrayal.  Eat your popcorn and enjoy the show…

What are you working on right now?   At the moment I’m finishing up the last few chapters of my second novella, Southern Devils.  I also have three top-secret projects going on with other authors and my first full length novel set in the fictional town of White Creek has been started on.  There are also a few odd and end short stories, but I’m focusing on the big things right now.  Southern Devils is the opening of a trilogy and there are three other novellas or novels that I have written out very detailed notes on.

How does it differ from other works in its genre?  Southern Devils is my take on zombies and how the Civil War’s closing days was a battle between a resurrected group of Rebel soldiers and the Union soldier ordered to eliminate them and eradicate all trace of their existence.  The approach I took with the zombies was that they are driven by their mission.  They retain some of their humanity, but also must deal with the ramifications of what they’ve become.

What experiences have influenced you?  Since I was a child, I loved to write and make up really outlandish shit.  Once I hit about the age of 12, I was introduced to Stephen King and television shows like Tales From the Darkside, Monsters, and Tales From the Crypt.  From there the die was cast and horror became my game.  I did some writing in high school, but between everything else in my life at the time, it got away from me.  Now fast-forward almost 20 years and I’m finally taking my dream back and making a go at the writing gig.  So far, it has been a magical ride.

Why do you write what you do?  I like to explore the dark side of things.  That noise outside?  It’s a long-lost love come to give you a final goodbye kiss.  The voice in your head?  It’s the darkness in your soul begging for blood to spill so it can be released.  Horror isn’t just a genre for ghosts and vampires.  It is a genre that defines who we are deep down in the human condition.  What causes someone to go on a brutal killing spree?  We don’t really know what went on in that person’s mind, but it’s my job to be the voice of his conscious and once we start to listen to the little voice in the back of our heads…that is when the fun begins.

How does your writing process work?  Before I begin a new story, I jot some quick ideas down in one of my notebooks and I let the idea stew for a few days.  When I pick it back up again, I like to know the opening line and where I want the story to end up at.  I do admit, there have been some stories where the story took on a life of its own and became what it wanted to be.  I love those kind of stories.  There is nothing like hitting a point while writing and thinking, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming”.  As far as how I work, I sit behind my cluttered desk and I get some words in while I play on the internet

What is the hardest part about writing?   Finishing.  The hardest thing for me is finishing something once I start it.  I get involved with another project and I start to push things off and I tend to fall behind on the stuff I’m not committed to write.  I’ve been finishing Southern Devils for far too long and I get irritated with myself.  Some of my foot-dragging, I believe, also stems from the doubt issues that still creep into my head about a piece.  For example, no matter how much people have told me they loved In Memoriam, I will always think I could have done better and will mess with something until I want to rip it up because I don’t think it’s good enough.  I’m getting better about it and I’m gaining more confidence in my work with every new acceptance and every new review.  The thing that has gone the farthest in settling my mind is the other day a stranger stopped me and told me how much they loved my book.  When they followed about how they couldn’t wait to read my next one, my eyes damn near teared up.  It really put my mind to rest about my work and has really invigorated me since it happened.

What would you like to try as a writer that you haven’t yet?  That one is easy, I want to write a screenplay for one of my works or have a story of mine adapted into comic form.

Who are the authors you most admire?  The ones I admire the most are the ones who have been there with a piece of timely advice, a story about when they were starting, or those who take the time to help and encourage a new author.  In no order I admire for their words and deeds:  Brian Keene, Robert Ford, Kelli Owen, Tim Lebbon, James A. Moore, Christopher Golden, and John Everson.  Each has given me a new insight or a new way to see the field and I thank them all.

Who are new authors to watch out for?  There are three that I’m working with now that come to mind.  Each one has some work out there and everything I’ve read by them has been a fantastic read.  Go and check out Julianne Snow, Jason Darrick, and Dale Eldon.  You can’t go wrong with any of them and each one brings a distinct voice and subject matter to the horror field.

What scares you?  Failure.  I don’t want to fail in this and it drives me to keep improving and challenging myself to write better and have my work show how much I’ve grown and improved.  I also fear for the world I’m leaving my kids.  No, I fear for the world and what my kids will do to it if they have the chance…

Now, I was to give you three places to go and check out.  I’ve been tied up with work and other stuff that I can only offer you two authors to continue on this Blog Hop.  Next Wednesday, Jason Darrick and Armand Rosamilia will take the reigns over at there blogs and give you the answers to the burning questions above.

Stop back by Friday night when I give my thoughts on, The Compound,  the debut novel from Robert Ford and he stops by to enter the Arena and answers “The 10 Questions”!

Goodnight…

At Horrorfind 2011 at the signing table after my reading. Only one book and if I did it today it would be over twenty.

Some History for You…

Before we begin, the last post mentioned that the cover artwork for Hazardous Press’s Horrific History anthology had been revealed and now here it is for all to see (art is by Luke Spooner and you can go take a peek at his work at www.carrionhouse.com).  I dig it and I can’t wait for the book to be in your hands.  The tentative release date is April 19th and the line up in the TOC is amazing and I’m happy to be included with such a talented bunch of authors.

Below is the TOC (Thanks to Christian Larsen for posting the list!):

• “10 Weeks” by David Williamson
• “The Blackest Rite” by D. Alexander Ward
• “Dust” by Cameron Suey
• “The Fires of Hell and Avondale” by Julianne Snow
• “Fireweed” by Lynne MacLean
• “Giving Thanks” by Ken MacGregor
• “Junior LeBlanc & Katrina” by Douglas J. Moore
• “Lightning” by Monette Bebow-Reinhard
• “Lindisfarne” by Rebecca L. Brown
• “Lucan” by Adam Millard
• “Mud” by Pete Aldin
• “Plymouth, Born Again” by Christopher Nelson
• “Prettiest Things” by Emerian Rich
• “Scion” by Deborah Drake
• “Securing the Empire” by Jay Wilburn
• “Ship of Nighmares, Ship of Dreams” by Brent Nichols
• “Skin of Blue and Grey” by Christian A. Larsen
• “Skraelings” by Rose Blackthorn
• “Teedie and the Night Drive” by Doug Murano
• “Turning the Clock Back” by Jenny Twist
• “Under Azrael’s Banner” by Lee Clark Zumpe
• “Valley of the Dead Trees” by T. Fox Dunham
• “The Vercelli Book” by Gwendolyn Edward
• “Winds of War” by Brent Abell

“Winds of War” is the tale of how the US became involved in WWI with the sinking of a ship and our government never wanted you to know about it.  It involves vampires and they don’t love people, they eat them.  In a typical twist, I left myself open to a sequel at some point and I have scribbled a few notes which may or may not become a story at some point.  I do like the main character and there are some tales on the horizon featuring him and the Order he belongs to.

I am off to finish a rewrite on a certain pet rock’s story, so I’ll leave you now.

Goodnight…

The Journey II: Stages and White Chocolate M&M’s

 

In the last few weeks, the focus on everything has been shifting.  I spent the last two years getting my name out, writing for anthologies, and releasing that first solo work on the general public.  The time has  come for a new part of my journey into the writing world.  Last year I chronicled my experience concerning getting In Memoriam published in a series of posts called The Journey.  The next few months and years are about my new journey, the first complete novel.

In the past I’ve written some short stories and threw in some information about a place called White Creek, my fictional town where most of my work will take place for some time.  My goal is to write a series of shorts that will introduce the citizens, the town, and the things hidden in the town’s dark past.  Some tales have already been told.  In Memoriam is set in White Creek and introduces the Vineyard Church and the disgraced ex-priest who is their leader, a member of the sheriff’s department who will never be the same after the events in In Memoriam, and the bar owner who seems to be involved in most of the strange happenings in the town.  But wait, there is more to come…

That is only part of the journey however.  Southern Devils is getting ready to be sent out to pre-readers in the next few weeks.  The little white board in the picture?  It is about to be replaced with one twice that size to help me organize all the stuff I’m working on.  I have found it rather nice to have things other publishers want to read as well as the readers out there.  I am going about changing my writing regimen so I can keep all my WIP projects straight and keep myself going.

Random musing of the day:  Horror and writing are two things I enjoy and when they are put together they form an amazing thing.  When the magical bonding of the two form an idea in my mind, I love to get to work.  I also love M&M’s and white chocolate.  Unfortunately, they do not mix well and I’m heartbroken I do not enjoy the new M&M offering as I thought I would.  Thumbs down…

Do you know what I enjoy more than M&M’s?  Seeing the fruits of my labor out in the world and this past week my story “Tears of Heaven” was released in Grinning Skull Press’s From Beyond the Grave anthology.  It contains 19 tales of what happens to us when we die and what the afterlife holds for us in the end.  At the moment is available as an eBook at Amazon, but will soon be out in print.  So pick up a copy today here.

My writing life?  The first journey is complete and now I want to invite you to continue on down the trail with me.  The clouds are hiding the moon and the trail is dark tonight, but take my hand and we’ll find our way together.  The next few weeks I’m going to try to explain my self and what makes me tick, what I’ve learned, and what I still need to figure out.  This journey is about growth and here we go.

Goodnight…

 

What’s Going on in That Head of Yours?

Sometimes inspiration can come from the strangest places.  Hiking around a local wetland area for instance can give you such nice symbols like the one pictured here.  From the wooden bridge I found this on, I looked out, observed the dragonflies buzzing about, and I stared at the murky water below.  That my friends is when the muse kicks it into overdrive and earns her keep.

Really, it’s that simple, I find something that grabs me and my twisted mind takes over.  Who drew the symbol, what’s with the dragonflies, and what’s under the green algea floating on the water?  Once those questions dig and worm their way into my brain, they don’t just go away or vanish.  No, they fester until they are released from my imagination and onto the page.

The journey between the head and the keyboard isn’t easy though…

I’ve been thinking about how I develop my ideas lately and I think I need to refine it more.  When I write, I just let it go and have everything hang out.  I picture the beginning and the end, but the middle comes when I sit and begin typing.  In the past couple of years, that is how I approached a story.  So far it hasn’t treated me too bad, but in the last month, I’ve rethought how I do things.

For example, Southern Devils has really become the bane of my existence.  I love the story and I know people want to read it, but I’ve gone back and forth on it so much it kills me.  The layout for the complete arc has gone from 3 books, to 3 novellas and a novel, and last week I settled on 2 novels.  I struggled with the story and where the breaks would be until I wanted to delete the story files.  Seriously, I was at the end of my rope.  In my head, I had it all in the beginning and all of the end.  Driving through the middle…it got me.

Now, I jotted some things down to narrow the focus and I find the scattered writing has been contained.  There might be some rough spots in the first draft and I apologize to my pre-readers.  I promise to clean it up before you get to see it.  I’m going to try sketching out the stories in my head before I start writing and see where that takes me.  My first story doing this is about a pet rock going on a rampage through town.  Don’t ask, but maybe you’ll get to read it later this year…

Updates!

2013 has started pretty good for me.  I already have 7 stories due at this year and there will be more to come.  Two were accepted this year and in a few months you will be able to enjoy the ghoulish delights of “Winds of War” in Hazardous Press’s Horrific History anthology and I just found out “Tears From Heaven” will be in Grinning Skull Press’s From Beyond the Grave.  In short order, Neon Moon Press will unleash the dogs of war in the long-awaited The Blue, the Grey, and the Scarlet with my new take on the undead that spawned Southern Devils in a tale titled “Stonewall”.

In closing, I want to thank everyone again for the support, kind words, and the following that is slowly, but steadily building.  Without you, I’m pretty sure I’m just sitting here talking to myself.  I also want to thank all the editors for their acceptances and rejections.  While we all want to get the ‘yes’ letters, we get the ‘no’ ones more often.  The work an editor does wading into the slush pile, the hard choices, and the work it takes to pull a book together is immense.  So to them and all they do, I thank you.

And to close, you get one update for the “Counter of Responsibility”!  Southern Devils Book 1- 27,000 of ? (It will end when it does, I’m not putting a hard fast word count on it).  Really it’s not too bad considering how many times I’ve ripped huge chunks of the story away and trashed it.

Goodnight…

The 2012 That Was and My 10 Favorite Books of the Year!

2012 kicked ass.  Simple and awesome, it was one of the best years a person could ask for.  The writing really started to get somewhere this year and there were some great things going on along with it.  Over the course of the year, I had stories come out in six anthologies as well as a few other accepted ones that are upcoming.  I had tales in Little Stories for the Smallest Room, a short non-fiction piece in Zombie Writing!,  Short Sips: Coffee House Flash Fiction Vol. 2, Father Grim’s Storybook, Undead Tales 2,and I received the honor of closing out Ten Silver Bullets. The big moment for the year was the release of my first solo work, a novella called In Memoriam. This year also saw me give my first book blurb for my friend Carl Moore on his novella Slash of Crimson (a very good read-go pick it up).  One of the most fun things I took part in however, was the book signing with my friend and fellow author Wesley Southard in October.  I finished up work on a handful of new stories and I am in the last stretch of the first Southern Devilsbook.  If you like zombies and history smashed together, this will be for you.

Here at the blog I had interviews with Nate Southard, Tim Lebbon, and Armand Rosamilia, a few different blog hops roared through, and I had my best viewer year ever because of all of you stopping by to take a look.  The Twitter, Facebook, and blog follower numbers have all increased this year and I hope the trend continues into the new year.

2013 looks promising too.  There are more anthologies on tap and some more surprises in store for you readers out there.  But first, without any more delay…my favorite books of 2012.  There are some older books, I wanted to branch it out to the books I’ve read over the last year.  Fear not, the focus is still on this year’s releases.

These are in no order at all…

1.  Edward Lee- The Infernal Series…  For this, I read the whole series back to back and the way Lee portrays Hell as a city called the Mephistopolis was amazing.  He constructed an entire working city-scape complete with a demonic caste system and even an evil economic system.  All three books are worth picking up and reading when you think society around you sucks.  Remember, it could always be worse…

2.  Anthony Kiedis w/Larry Sloman- Scar Tissue… Yes, there is a biography on the list.  The lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers gives ua a raw and no-holds-barred look into his life and his constant battle with drug addiction.  At times uplifting, sad, and horrific, Kiedis shows the reader everything that has made him who he is.

3.  J.F. Gonzalez and Wrath James White- The Killings…  A very tightly written tale about racism, murder, and evil.  The story takes place in two different timeframes, 1911 and 2011 Atlanta.  A series of killings in 2011 mirror a series of murders in 1911.  Carmen Mendoza is a reporter who thinks they have found the link between the two sets of murders as well as a string of other deaths that have occurred in the Atlanta area over the years.

4.  Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee- The Woman… This is the third book in Ketchum’s series about a tribe of feral people living in the wilds and the bloodbath that follows them.  She is alone and finds herself captured.  The woman is being broken.  A sick man and his family have made it their duty to domesticate her, to tame her wildness.  But all the best intentions never end well and the violence he showed her is about to be repaid a hundred fold.  The Cemetery Dance hardcover also includes the bonus novella “Cow”, which serves as a nice coda to the book and leaves the door open for more to come.

5.    Kelli Owen- White Picket Prisons… A tale of justice in the town of Valley Mill where there is no crime and when Detective Mark Baker tries to track down his sister there, he thinks he finds the utopia his burned out soul has been looking for.  But for Mark, things are never what they truly seem behind the false fronts and smiles.  Something lurks beyond the happy town’s front that could be his end.  This book came along at a time when I was preoccupied with justice and how things go unpunished.

6.  J.F. Gonzalez and Brian Keene- Clickers vs. Zombies… This was the most fun I had reading a book all year long.  At first, I thought the idea sounded absurd, but it turned out to be a full-on B-Movie like assault through both author’s mythologies.  When Ob and his minions begin to inhabit the dead bodies of the Clickers, characters from both worlds cross-over in a riotous time.  This is worth it to see some of your favorite characters in positions and jobs you’d never expect them to be in.

7.  Nate Southard- Something Went Wrong…  A short story collection where each story is a great read.  Nate’s short story writing is amazing and every tale is worth reading.  My favorites in the book were, “Team Building Exercise”, “In the Middle of Poplar Street”, and “Going Home, Ugly Stick in Hand”.

8.  Geoff Cooper- Answers of Silence… The second story collection on the list is a very dark and ironic look at the world around us.  Overall a strong collection where I enjoyed every story.  For a taste of how twisted Coop can be, I recommend “Latex: Like a Glove”.

9.  Jeff Strand- A Bad Day for Voodoo… A funny romp through the day that Tyler Churchill decided the best way to deal with his teacher Mr. Click is with a voodoo doll.  When the tables are turned on him, he must survive long enough to reverse the curse placed upon him…if there’s any of him left.  At times while it’s really crazy and bloody, it packs the laughs a Strand novel is known for.

10.  Brian Keene- Earthworm Gods II: Deluge…  If I had to pick a favorite, this is the one.  Picking up where the first Earthworm Gods left off, the survivors of the great rains struggle to live through the constantly rising waters and the new creatures coming up from the deep.  The book was at first a serial novel on Keene’s website, but he re-edited it and this is the collected version.  I waited until the book came out to read it and I wasn’t disappointed at all.  The novel also serves as a lead-in to the next stage in his mythos with The Lost Level, which he working on now.

And there it is my friends, this is the end for this year.  I’ll see you again in 2013 where we’ll start kicking ass again!

Goodnight…

The Road to 2013

2012 is rapidly coming to a close and this year has been a year of loss, sorrow, and victory.  For all the tears that have fallen recently, there have been triumphs during the past twelve months that can still bring a smile to my face.  2011 only began to get my feet wet with my writing and 2012 saw a progression ending with my first novella In Memoriam being released.  There is a notable difference in my work and everything is improving.  I did not write and submit as many short stories as I wanted, but this year shifted and the novella became the chunk of my writing time.  Since I’ve been messing around with other projects, I owe you readers a new update.

The main project I’ve been working on now is the Southern Devils trilogy (a novella series setting up a full novel).  Book 1 is at 21,000 words and will be complete in a week.  Before the new year, it will be in the hands of pre-readers.  There has been some interest in this series and I hope it lives up to expectations.  The remaining books in the series are being plotted now and will be worked on after I finish another project or two.

I admit, in 2012 I was lazy at times and I didn’t get the work done I wanted to.  My 2013 goal is stop putting things off and do them.  I hope to have some shorts released in the new year as well as to finish the Southern Devilstrilogy, two other novella ideas, and some other surprises.  A short story collection is looking to be coming and I’m taking a shot at something in the graphic novel realm.

Next week, I’ll be here with my top 10 novels I read in 2012 and… wait, I hear something.

The dog is barking like mad and the boys are yelling upstairs.  I’m going to see what’s happening.  Take care and I’ll see you…