Updates, the Counter of Responsibility, and the Next Big Thing

Good evening my friends and readers, it has been a while since we could sit back and talk a bit.  Things are beginning to get rolling again over at Wicked East Press.  It’s a good thing to see and is a very good press to work to work with.  The delays have been settled and the anthologies Chained in the Attic (with my story “Amos’s Song”) and Fresh Ground: Coffee House Flash Fiction Vol. 3 (with “Safety First”) should be getting the last touches and off to the printers soon.  I am waiting to iron out the details, but it looks like the month of December will see me debut in a magazine.  It is an e-zine, but I’ll take it.  A print mag is still a goal however.  October 2013 will also see another story published and there will be more on it once we get closer to the release.  So the wheels of progress are moving into the 2013 year.

Now that In Memoriam (and if you haven’t picked it up yet go here to get it)  has been released, I’ve been slowly getting back to the grind.  The plate has been filled with many short story projects and I’m loading up on longer works as well.  Tonight, I’m going to start a weekly counter to show what the progress for the novellas and novels looks like.  As you may know, Southern Devilshas been a project that has continually kicked me in the balls.  It started out as a novella, turned into a possible novel length idea, and now after reworking and cutting the crap out of it… it has turned into a novella trilogy with a follow-up novel.  If you like the Civil War and zombies, this is for you!

Southern Devils Bk.1- 17,000 out of 30-35,000 words.

Next on the list is a novella that has the potential to turn into something longer.  The world could be bigger, but if I feel the tale is told enough in the novella, I’m calling it a day on the subject for some time.  I would tell you some things about it, but it might give too much away.  There is a man who has blocked out his memory of everything before the car crash that killed his wife and daughter.  When he starts to experience weird visions and notices he is being followed, he embarks on a journey to expose the mysteries of the Red Veil and try to remember a life forgotten.

The Red Veil- 3,000 out of 30,000 words

I have two tales set in White Creek in the works including my first novel.  The novel builds on the themes touched on during In Memoriam and makes the history of White Creek come calling during the bicentennial celebration.  The other is a novella about two key characters appearing in the novel and will be nice lead-in to the White Creek mythos.  For years, evil has seeped out of the soil and it has possessed many of White Creek’s residents.  A state policeman stationed in his hometown of White Creek must come to grips with his past and how it relates to a copycat killer who seems to be the reincarnation of the killer he escaped from twenty years earlier.  And what about the dragonflies?  Both will really lay the ground work for the next few years worth of projects including a short story collection based on the town’s residents and legends (this is separate from the other non-themed collection I’m working on now).

Sins of the Fathers (working title)- 4,500 out of 80,000 (goal-might go shorter)

Wings of the Dead- 2,500 out of 25,000

There you have it, what I have going on for the time being.  Every week I’ll update the progress and you can yell at me if you see me getting behind.  If you ever want to know more, please feel free to ask.

I will have a post on Wednesday as I have been tagged in the Next Big Thing blog hop (thanks to Wesley Southard for the tag!).

So for now, good night…

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…