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…

Cigar and a beer? Must be a new Release!

The smoke has cleared on the ocean and the great ship swiftly sinks into the waters, an apparent victim of a German U-Boat.  But was it the Germans and why did the Lusitania get torpedoed during World War I?  The answers are not what they taught you in school…

They are much, much worse…

From Hazardous Press and Robert Helmbrecht comes a collection of tales that sheds some light on various points in history and tells you the horrifying truth.  This great book includes tales by such talented authors as Pete Aldin, Jason Andrew, Monette Bebow-Reinhard, Rose Blackthorn, Rebecca L. Brown, Deborah Drake, T. Fox Dunham, Gwendolyn Edward, Aaron J. French, Tara Fox Hall, Christian A. Larsen, Ken MacGregor, Lynne MacLean, Adam Millard, Douglas J. Moore, Doug Murano, Christopher S. Nelson, Brent Nichols, Emerian Rich, Stephen D. Rogers, Julianne Snow, Cameron Suey, Jenny Twist, D. Alexander Ward, Jay Wilburn, David Williamson and Lee Clark Zumpe.

I had a ton of fun writing “Winds of War”.  I hope you have a good time reading it and the other stellar stories in this collection.  It is available now on Amazon in paperback for you old school book lovers and on Kindle for you tech-savy folks.

Paperback copies can be purchased here (buy now).

Kindle version can be sent to your hands directly here (buy now).

The book is a hell of a good time and I hope you enjoy the stories!

Goodnight…

In “The Compound” With Robert Ford

From the publisher:

Tartarus Federal Penitentiary is home to the worst violent criminals society has cultivated. It’s also a revolutionary modern-day fortress, powered by solar panels and built to be a self-sustaining environment, complete with dairy barns and green houses. It’s the perfect place to be when an experimental virus hits the American public, making the dead walk the Earth once again.

Two brothers become entwined in a deadly struggle for power among the crowd of prisoners that have overtaken the guards.

Divorced parents fight for survival, trying to find each other and keep their daughter safe from the growing number of zombies.

An old biker is a man on a mission, trying to fulfill a promise to his dead wife, apocalypse be damned. Both his will and his supply of ammunition will be tested.

As the survivors on the outside fight for their lives, their lines of fate converge, leading them through the crowds of zombies and forcing them into the hell of the prison to save one of their own.

Robert Ford has delivered a hit right out of the gate with his debut novel, The Compound.  From the beginning where a disillusioned General watches the world burn because of the Branch 14 virus, Ford takes the reader on a tightly woven tale that left me unable to put the book down until that final page.  As illustrated in the description above, the book follows the characters on their own paths as they find their way through a new and terrible world.  Without going into too much detail about the characters and their trials, each one reads like a person you know and can relate too.  A brother watching his sibling go crazy with power while inside a prison where the inmates rule, a father trying to find his ex-wife and daughter, and a man trying to keep a promise to his dead wife all grab you and stay with you long after you put the book down.

The book starts quickly with the Branch 14 virus getting loose and quickly spreading across the United States.  Once the virus is established, we are introduced to the main characters in short chapters placing them in the path of the newly risen dead.  Ford shifts the point-of-view around in short sweet chunks.  Each person gets time to grow and the chapter lengths aren’t long, but instead are small bite sized pieces that help to build the tension.  This is really used well when the action is focused on the prison as the action ramps up for its bloody conclusion.

Overall, the father trying to find his family during the zombie apocalypse has been done many times.  Robert Ford does take it and with his voice, makes it a new experience that doesn’t seem old and worn, but instead new and exciting.  The hardcover is sold out from the publisher, but it is available in eBook format (click here to purchase).  I highly recommend the book to anyone who loves zombie fiction or to anyone who wants to read a great book.

I am now pleased to welcome to the Arena for the “10 Questions”, Mr. Robert Ford…   

1.  Who is Robert Ford and how did he get here in his writing journey?

Oh wow. That is a long journey without a ring of power, I’ll tell you.
I grew up as an only child on a large farm in northern Maryland. My
parents worked a lot and my grandfather lived with us as long as I can
remember — he was the farmer on previously mentioned working farm —
and I was left to my own devices a lot. My mother kept buying me books
as a kid… I guess to occupy me and feed my imagination as well as so
she could get something done around the house. Little did she know…

I devoured books as a kid and rapidly worked my way up the ladder to
more adult fiction (a lot of which, my parents probably didn’t know I
read at the time), and one day I discovered a paperback of Stephen
King’s Carrie. That absolutely changed everything for me. I had
written short stories and poetry in school as far back as I could
remember and just kept on doing it. I was very lucky to have a string
of phenomenal English teachers that saw something in me back then and
kept urging me on.

Who am I? I am my own worst boogeyman.
I am a wearer of many hats… but to be honest, as much as I’d like to
answer this one, I’ve honestly got no clue who I am. You hear some
people say they’re really in touch with themselves and they “know” who
they are… I don’t know. Over the years I’ve started to think we’re
all fluid like quicksilver, forever changing and impossible to grasp
and maybe a little bit poisonous.

2.  The Compound takes place in a world where the undead walk and  
the inmates are running the prison. How did you research the prison  
life portrayed in the novel?

The prison in The Compound is a futuristic model, created with modern,
self-sustaining amenities to take the burden off of the American
taxpayer. To my knowledge, I don’t think a prison exists like this in
the real world, but I kept kicking around the what-ifs and arrived at
the design of Tartarus.

I looked over a lot of overhead views and layouts of penitentiaries
and prisons across the country, studying them for how secure they
might be, as well as how the hell I could break into one if I had to.
Like the old saying goes… if it’s built by man, it can be destroyed
by man.

For a while, I fell down a rabbit hole of research, reading a ton of
files and message boards and publications about… ehh… let’s say…
information that could be frowned on by the government. Thing is, I
HAD to read about this kind of thing. It’s the sort of information
that would come in handy during a zombie apocalypse. Homemade bombs,
survivalist booby-traps, weaponry, poor man’s silencers. The internet
is an absolutely scary wealth of knowledge.

3.  You are a very busy man between your writing and your Whutta (www.whutta.com 
) ad agency.  How the hell do you find time to write?

I gave up sleep about a decade ago.

It’s difficult, definitely not going to lie about that. My normal
process of research and pre-writing takes longer than a lot of other
writers I know, so it’s always been a struggle, but The Compound,
overall, was written pretty quickly for me. I hope I can continue this
trend.

4.  Samson and Denial was a fun romp through the streets of Philly  
with cults and severed mummy heads, but The Compound took a more  
serious tone dealing with the decay of society and the family.  Did  
the story always want to be a more brutal and serious novel or did  
it turn out that way organically?

Samson and Denial was completely character driven from page one and I
think Samson’s personality is truly what set the tone for that
novella. I knew it was going to be hard and fast-paced with some
twists the readers wouldn’t expect, but there would be undertones of
humor because Samson was the one narrating the story.

With The Compound, I had the opening scene from Chapter One in my head
for about six months before I knew what else happened afterward.
Without giving too much away to anyone who hasn’t read it yet, the
opening scene is supposed to be a light-hearted fun sort of moment
when all of a sudden, things start hitting the fan.

I think that’s what it would really be like if an apocalypse broke
out. I think most bad things that occur in our lives are like that.
You’re strolling along, sipping your Red Bull or playing Angry Birds
when all of a sudden, destiny throws you a curve ball and that happy
little secure pocket of safety you thought you had all along… well,
you realize that was all an illusion.

Death is always over our shoulder whether we want to admit it or not,
and in a communal life or death situation, I think we would see all
manner of breakdown in law and morality and a good portion of human
decency. There will be some who stand out, as there were a few in The
Compound that did — but whether they stand out for being good-hearted
or for utter brutality remains to be seen. I wanted to portray that
type of brutality the world would be like in a situation like that.

5.  What tops Robert Ford’s read pile right now?

This year, I have been scrambling so much I haven’t had time to read
nearly as much as I’d like to, but I have “White Picket Prisons” by
Kelli Owen, “Severance Package” by Duane Swierczynski, and a book
about Shamanism. Oh, and there’s also a tattered copy of Musashi’s The
Book of Five Rings, but that’s a gap-filler because I’ve read it so
many times.

6.  Seeing your first novel released must have been a huge high.   > What went through your mind when you came home and found a box on  > your porch from Thunderstorm books?

Paul Goblirsch is an absolutely amazing guy to work with. I really
can’t say enough about him. He was an absolute pleasure to work with
on Samson and Denial and when he invited me to pitch him some ideas on
a full length novel, I jumped at the opportunity. When I saw the
package on my doorstep, I had seen the cover art on-screen a long time
before that, but seeing and holding my first novel in my own hands…
yeah, that was a big deal. That Thunderstorm does such a beautiful job
on production and design is icing on the cake.

7.   While the characters in The Compound fought for their lives 
around Tartarus Penitentiary the Branch 14 virus was spreading.  Are 
there any plans to return to another area during the outbreak or  
have you said your piece on the subject?

Ahhhh Brent, this question made a smile appear on my face. Here’s the
thing — I had never really intended to write a zombie novel at all. My
fiction has always tended to be more about human monsters, with a
little twist thrown in for good measure. But the idea came to me and I
thought it would be fun and it took off. Along the development of The
Compound, the character Calvin popped into the story out of nowhere—I
hadn’t had an idea of him at all until the day I wrote him onto the
page—and he became one of my favorites.

There’s a lot of things I’ve got lined up first, but I definitely
can’t rule out revisiting this world. As things were wrapping up in
the final chapters, I kept wondering what Calvin’s motorcycle brothers
were doing elsewhere. I don’t know the answer to that question yet,
but if I ever find out, maybe you will too.

8.  What does Robert Ford have coming up for the readers to devour  
next?

I’m finishing a novel right now that’s out of the horror genre titled
No Lipstick in Avalon and it’s a huge departure and for a very
different audience than what I normally write. It was just one of
those ideas that came to mind and a character that wouldn’t shut up in
my head so I sat down one day to write a page or two in an effort to
quiet the thoughts down a bit on the matter. No dice. It only got
stronger and thirty thousand words later, here I am. There’ll be more
information released about that as I get closer to wrapping it up.

But next up in the horror genre, I’m working on a novella–Big Stakes
Jackie—that I had written some notes on and forgotten about. I came
across the notes a while back and laughed as I remembered just how
disgusting some of the things that take place really are. I had the
opening idea a long time ago and it never fully fleshed out until
recently.

After “Big Stakes Jackie, it’s a bit of a toss-up. I’ve got a lot of
notes and research for The Crimson Sisters, which is a novel-length
sequel to Samson and Denial. I won’t reveal a lot of what will happen,
as it’s taking some turns as I flesh it out, but I’ll tell you the
opening line:

“The fucking midget was on fire.”

9.  This is not a question.  Welcome to “Pimp Yourself”!  Right here  
you can lay out where the good people can find and follow you my 
friend.

Haha!  I’m available on Amazon at:

> http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Ford/e/B004TA252S/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

twitter
@bobford

> https://www.facebook.com/robertfordwriter

and the blog

> http://coronersreport.blogspot.com/

10.  There are a few writers who stop by here on their travels 
through the writing world.  What bit of Bob advice do you have for  
them tonight?

If you want to be a writer, then write. That novel/screenplay/short
story/novella isn’t exactly gonna write itself and if you really do
want to become a writer, you’ve got to heed the advice given to me by
so many others in the field: Ass in chair. Write. Repeat.

If not, you’ll end up being that person years from now telling someone
“Yeah, I had a great idea for a novel once.”

Don’t die with your music still in you.

Bonus Question:  Who wins in a drink-out?  Robert Ford or Ron 
Dickie?

Sweet mother of all that’s holy… I can hold my own against mortals,
but he’s CANADIAN for God’s sake! I think the only thing I could
outdrink Dickie in is probably tequila. Everything else he’s got me,
maple leaves down.  =)

I would to thank everyone for stopping by and a big thanks to Robert Ford for taking the time to stop by and chat!

Goodnight… (I know it’s day, but that’s the closing line regardless)

“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.

I Came, I Saw, I Killed…

Evening creepers and peepers!  Tonight I bring you the future and love.  In Surreal Grotesque issue 9, the ‘Twisted Love’ issue, my story “The Becoming” makes its appearance.  It is a special treat for that someone you love this Valentine’s Day.  Granted it is not the world you know, but a bleak future where humans live in the underground and returning to the surface for extended periods of time are the things science and nightmares are made off.  So, the issue is free to check out right here.  Go give it a read and share with all you hold dear!

The contracts are all signed and returned for “Stonewall” (The Blue, the Grey, and the Scarlet, Neon Moon Press), “Tears of Heaven” (From Beyond the Grave, Grinning Skull Press), and “Winds of War” (Horrific History, Hazardous Press).  All three books are in the editing and proofing stages now and should be ready to give you nightmares in a month or so.

Soon, I will have a new story posted here on the blog for the first time.  It is part of another project with another press and I will warn you ahead of time, it is vulgar and sacrilegious.  The little tale is for ADULT audiences only and I will post a warning before the story when I put it up.  What would you do for the love of an abandoned fallen angel?

Plenty of other things going on with the finishing chapters of Southern Devils being worked on, the Top Secret Project getting ready to take off, and a new project with a couple of my Canadian friends.

On that note, if you’ve read In Memoriam, please feel free to go and like it Amazon and leave a review.  Be honest, I can take it I swear.  No, no matter what else you’ve heard I can really take it…

Goodnight…

Tonight’s Guest…Armand Rosamilia!

If I were to name one of the biggest helps with getting my writing career off the ground it would be this guy, the man with the wicked goatee, and the zombie guru… Armand Rosamilia.  His work lately has branched off into the world of spies and from what I’ve read, he’s made the spy genre his own.  Of course, there is still ‘Zombie’ in the title…

Now for your pleasure, I bring you a few words from the man himself.  I do admit, my mother is not a big fan of what I write either, but she’s not the intended audience.  Sorry mom, that’s just how it is.

Miami Spy Games

 Even Your Kids Can Read This

 Armand Rosamilia

I tend to write adult stories. OK, I write really adult stories, with plenty of profanity, sexual situations and violence. Most of my work my own mother won’t read, especially the Dying Days series. She’s a huge horror book fan, but more old school like King and Koontz. I’m sure if she read a chapter of an Edward Lee book she’d pass out. And my mom is pretty damn hip.

I can’t help it, either. I once tried to write a fun story about a pirate for my kids when they were little but he ended up being a scary and bad man who enslaved children and did horrific acts of violence against captured sailors. Needless to say, they didn’t get to hear it. Come to think of it, though, I need to find that one. It might be worth a rewrite.

But with Miami Spy Games it was fun, because I approached it as if I were writing television episodes. I imagined watching the show and writing an extensive synopsis, if that makes any sense. I also became very cognizant of profanity and over the top sexual situations. A couple of times I had to stop and do a quick rewrite of a part when I devolved into showing more than I figure you can show on TV, even HBO or Starz.

It became a fun exercise to use innuendo instead of simply telling the story like I’m used to telling the story. And maybe something my teenaged kids could actually read. I wonder if kids still read, though…

Now, when I say your kids can read this, I’m not talking about your six-year-old. Let’s try to be good parents here. But a high school kid would find it exciting with plenty of zombies and machismo fist-pumping killing action and super-hot chicks wearing nothing but… OK, need to calm it down again. It’s a good story. Trust me.

If you have any questions about the Miami Spy Games series, I’d love to hear them: armandrosamilia@gmail.com

Armand Rosamilia

Miami Spy Games on Amazon Kindle only $3.99!

Miami Spy Games: Russian Zombie Gun

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…

Goodbye KnightWatch Press, We’ll Miss You. UPDATED!!!!!

The beginning of 2013 starts with a death close to me and my work.  In the last few days, David Naughton-Shires announced he was closing KnightWatch Press.  Like most small presses in the current climate, it became to much of a draw on his personal finances.  David and crew recently published four of my 100 word drabbles in Little Stories for the Smallest Room (you can buy a copy here before it disappears).  KnightWatch was also slated to release my short story “Stonewall” in another anthology.  Every dealing I had with David and the fine folks at KnightWatch was always professional and they will be missed greatly.  I have the utmost respect for David and I wish him well with his other endeavours.  Good luck sir!

On the flip side, “Stonewall” has struck again.  For those keeping score, this is the second time a press has folded before the story got to print.  It was my first accepted story and after a long wait, the press it was with folded.  I updated parts of the tale and it was accepted by KnightWatch.  Elated, I waited for it to see the light.

But again, it was not to be…

I am left with a big question now.  The rights to the anthology it would have appeared in are now with another press (there is not a signed contract, so the story is free to leave if I wish it).  The press is new and untested, but the man in charge has left a decent impression on me (he’s also working with some other great people to get the book out).  I’m to the point where “Stonewall” needs to see print ahead of Southern Devils and I need some flexibility with the story.  I want it in a book, but if I want to use it in the first Southern Devils book,  I don’t have the luxury of waiting for the rights to revert back.  Things are pretty fluid with the situation right now and once I weigh the options and decide, you’ll be the first or third to know.

Well, 2013 has already started off with a few touches of the bizarre and I’m trying to buckle down to complete more projects than last year.  I have updated the Biblio page with some new stories coming later this year.  A few of them are listed by just the title as I am waiting on some things before making the formal announcements.

Thank you all for the views in the past year and I hope to have a more successful 2013!

Goodnight…

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!

KnightWatch Press has just been announced as a new imprint for Fringeworks Press.  There will be new anthologies under the new imprint and KnightWatch name and all KnightWatch books not passed off to other presses will remain in print now.  I wish the very best of luck to KnightWatch’s new direction and also to Fringework for letting KWP live on.

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…