Some Random Musings…AVENGERS!!!!!

Ok, I’m going to take a moment to wax poetic about The Avengers.  Marvel Studios did an incredible job bringing their superhero franchises together in one big kick ass movie.  It helped they had this planned all along with each movie adding something toward the whole (if you stayed after the credits that is…).  The outcome was one of the best superhero movies ever made.  If you have not seen it, go fix that right now…I’ll wait…just go.  They also set events in motion for the second Avengers movie and I can’t wait to see one of my favorite comics villains on the screen.  It was funny because only a handful of us in the theater knew who it was.  I know DC plans a JLA movie, but they are getting to the party late and have to relaunch all their franchises to get it set up.  I don’t want another Batman reboot, I want a fourth Chris Nolan Batman flick! 

Enough about that and now some random thoughts.

1. Watched the new Muppet movie again tonight and in all honesty, it brings a tear to your eye.  I have some, let us say depressed, moments in my life where I let the inner darkness take hold and I spiral down into a bad place within myself.  I’ve had this issue again lately and it screws up my writing because I begin to doubt myself and what I write, like each word is testament to how bad I am.  The movie’s ending is really uplifting and I needed that message right now.  No matter how bad things get and when everything hits rock bottom, there is a dignity with pushing forward and holding your head up high.  Kermit’s speech about doing that was a badly needed pick-me-up and brought a smile to my face.

2. Pugs want to rule the world.  I believe they would already if they weren’t so lazy.  If my pug is how the rest of them act, I’m surprised they found the will power to stop eating and procreate… Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em.

3.  My experiment with writing a story with another author is going really good.  He’s liked what I’ve contributed so far and that’s gone a long way to silencing the doubt that had crept in again.

4.  Father Grim’s Storybook from Wicked East Press is now at the printer.  When it becomes available in a few weeks, I’ll be happy to see my story “As I Crossed Lincoln Bridge” in print.  The story was really tough to write and is one of my favorite pieces.  It is based on a little known rhyme and when I took it dark, I took it reeaallllyyyy dark.  As a father of two sons, the ending was the most gut-wrenching thing I’ve ever written and it haunted me for a few weeks afterward.  Putting myself in the head of the father was rough and led to the ending being what it is.  The ending in the book was not the one I planned, but grew organically out of how the story had taken hold of me.  The cover is sweet too!

5.  Don’t forget the contest if you haven’t signed up to follow the blog yet.  May 15th is the date and the winner selected from all blog followers is a signed copy of Rymfire Undead’s Undead Tales 2 with my story “The Reaper Rides”. 

Well that should do it for tonight so,

Goodnight…

The Journey: Novella Thoughts Pt.2

I sit here working on some short stuff and preparing to take the next step into a larger world.  Soon, I will begin the editing process and rewrites on In Memoriam, my first novella and really a labor of love.  Part 1 set the stage with the current stage the novella is in, but tonight I thought I would go back to the beginning and touch on how it all started.

In Memoriam started out as a short story I played around with about two years ago.  I’d just finished my first three short stories and had all three promptly rejected and rightfully so, they were bad.  They have some promise for down the road, but they shall remain on the hard drive for the forseeable future (side note: I sent one to a publisher and they accepted it until they were really rude and unprofessional, so I pulled it and I’m glad nobody will read it).

The story started out about a woman and how the consequences for her actions catch up to her.  I might sound a little vague, but I’ don’t want to give to much of the plot away yet.  I’m doing it mostly because I’m not sure how much of it’s going to change when editing begins.  The story sat around and I thought about it for quite some time.  One day I realized that her actions past and present also affect the people around her directly.  In the long run, I thought a human element was needed to run a path along side the supernatural one.  When she is now caught between two worlds and two entities full of rage, how does she react?

The story took a different path that I envisioned originally and I like the way it turned out.  Parts of the novella deal with a very touchy subject in our country and both sides take a hit in the story.  Will portions of it piss some people off?  Yes, it will.  Am I ready to deal with the pissed off people?  Yes, because I told the story I wanted to tell and if they don’t like it, they can write their own stories.

Don’t forget to join the blog to be entered in the drawing for a signed copy of Undead Tales 2, the new anthology from Rymfire Undead with my story, “The Reaper Rides”.  All members of the blog by May 15th will be entered to win.

 

Goodnight…

Back to the Grind and Ranting!

I have returned.  I return a different person, a new man.  I’ve tasted the forbidden cigars of Cuba, got smashed on rum punch while jumping into the Caribbean, and found out there is more rum in the islands then I can consume.  The last one was a tough pill to swallow for me.  Before I go any further, I would like to state a few facts and how absurd our country is.

The islands and Central American countries I visited live in a poverty most of us never, ever have to experience.  Once you leave the nice beach fronts, the reality of the local economies set in.  The jobs most of them have is to be our guides, drivers, and clean our condos.  Behind the façade of the nice sand and tourists traps lies lands with great need of food, shelter, and infrastructure to improve their country and prospects for a brighter future.  Returning to the states, I was once again bombarded with the messages from our leaders and the vile venom they spew back and forth at each other.  The parties combined will spend almost $2 billion dollars to buy the presidency.  $2 billion to pollute our airwaves with mud and name calling, dragging each other through the dirt and grime.  $2 billion dollars that could improve the lives and prospects of many other people in countries less fortunate than ours.  Would we rather see the money spent on families who live in extreme poverty so we can lift their economies or would we rather watch commercials where one candidate calls the other an asshole and the other counters back with something witty like, “well you are too!”.  No, let them do something righteous with their war chests, see if they can rise up and do something worthwhile, and let them take a stand to the world by stopping the whoring for votes.  Please feel free to discuss below, I’m very curious to see how others feel about this situation.

Now, for something lighter.

A few things are at the press and very close to coming out.  Wicked East Press’s (WEP) Short Sips: Coffee House Flash Fiction Vol.2 is at the press and should be released shortly.  The story I penned for the Cemetery Dance Amateur Writing Competition last year titled, Rivals, is in the book.  It has been updated with parts being tweaked.  I felt the need to make some changes before I did anything with it.  I posted the CD version at 4 in the morning and some items needed further clarification and fleshing out.

This weekend should see the release of Rymfire Undead’s Undead Tales 2 on Kindle and in print.  My ’zombies on a train’ tale, The Reaper Rides, can be found there.  A good little story about what happens when at the beginning of the zombie plague, nobody is sure what is going on.  Some other things might come out of this if I can stop blogging and just write.

A little flash story I wrote called Safety First was accepted for WEP’s Fresh Ground: Coffee House Flash Fiction Vol. 3.  It won’t be out until 2013, but I dedicate it all my friends at work.  When they hear it, they’ll know it’s for them.

Lastly, I am in contact with another author and we are planning to pen a few stories together for the hell of it.  I’ve never done this before and the results should be pretty good.  We are just starting to get the ball rolling, so I’ll let you know how that pans out.

Lots of stuff happening and I hope to have a novella update soon!

Goodnight…

Take a Ride on the Death Train

Well, the great news continues for 2012.  “The Reaper Rides” has been selected to be in Rymfire Undead’s Undead Tales 2 coming soon.  It brought with it the best acceptance letter I’ve ever received and editor Armand Rosamilia was kind enough to let me reprint it here.

After careful consideration, where we looked at each sentence individually for “The Reaper Rides”, submitted for the “Undead Tales 2″ zombie anthology, and read it out loud and then backwards, and decided whether it fit with the already accepted stories in the anthology, and whether or not it stood on its own merit, and whether or not the story itself would leave an indelible mark on society (both living and undead) for generations to come, and whether or not the sentence structure, grammar, plot devices, need of a train in the story, and zombies vs. living people death ratios was right, how many females were in the story, the relative age of everyone in the story, median wealth of the characters, whether or not they owned or rented housing, number of pets, blood droplets per page (printed, of course), why the story was set on the East Coast vs. the West Coast, how often pizza is mentioned or not mentioned, as well as alcohol, and whether or not profanity was needed in the story…

 

Forgot what i was talking about…

 

Oh, yeah, your story has been accepted into the “Undead Tales 2″ anthology… more info later…

 

Armand Rosamilia

He later asked me how long it took me to figure out I was accepted to which I answered a couple of sentences.  I thought at first he was letting me down gently and explaining why it was being rejected so once I started laughing at how absurd the email was, I knew I got in.  Ok, about the story…

“The Reaper Rides” is a nice tale about a group of passengers trapped on the MARC train that runs in-between Washington DC and Baltimore.  When a quarantine protocol stops the train on the tracks between cities, the group finds out the images they only thought was on the news is on the train with them and Death has a schedule to keep.

 So look for the book for your e-readers shortly with a print copy following it.  There will be a call for all to order and enjoy the 16 tales of undead zombie goodness.  To help promote the book, I’m going to hold a contest where you can win a signed copy of the book, a signed book-plate with an original little bit of fiction on it, or you can win a death in an upcoming story or book.  I will post the details when the book is released.

Lastly, I sent out some things and I hope to have some news later.  The list of stuff to do grows all the time and the board is full of dates and deadlines.  I will leave you with one last thought, I believed finding my name on Amazon was the highlight of my career, but finding it on eBay is even better!  Click here for a good laugh!

Goodnight…