Dark Discoveries and other Jiggy Wiggy Hoopla

Nice cover, yeah? I just sent the contract back to Dark Discoveries! My story got bumped up to the next issue (18)! This one! I’m so thrilled. I’m going to buy some extra copies and give one away in a contest after the first contest I have for two of The Bag and The Crow tees(one male, one female) which I’ll be posting about pretty soon. I also need to finish interview questions for Jassen Bailey, the proprietor of The Bag and The Crow (as well as the review site The Crow’s Caw), because he’s a great guy selling great work and damn passionate about the genre and life.

I passed both of my tests for the new job and got my temporary license! I’m stoked. Can’t wait to get the official license in the mail and be a professional whatch-a-ma-call-it! I used to get so frustrated when I couldn’t get what I wanted (but I really, really don’t think I knew what I wanted when I was younger so that could explain it.) Things keep falling into place the last few years. Weird. Lol.

Currently reading Robert Dunbar’s terrifically funny, intelligent and tragic novel WILLY. Next up I’ll be reading and reviewing Mark Gunnell’s collection Tales From the Midnight Shift. Like Shaun Ryan, Kevin Wallis, Ken Wood, Cate Gardner, and Ben Eads, he’s a champ building his name and I think he has a lot of potential.

Also have a review of Tom Piccirilli’s noirella EVERY SHALLOW CUT up on The Crow’s Caw. Loved it (not that I expected any different. He hits deep emotions with his stories; a lot of it how every day failures add up until their combined weight is enough to crush us.) Chizine is publishing a lot of great work. I’m going to approach them about a short story collection at some point (just starting so I gotta wait until I get my rights back on a lot of stuff that recently sold or is forthcoming! Lol.)

I need to get to work on the next guest blog “With the Help of Your Friends,” for my buddy Ben Ead’s website. They’re fun. But time away from the internet is always something I crave. I think it’s the difference between writing a little and writing a lot. If we could monitor all the time we lived online I think it would shock the hell out of us. Plus walking away from the net allows me time to reflect, process things and just be still, which is nice.

NURSERY RHYMES 4 DEAD CHILDREN is going to be in people’s hands before we know it! My debut novel! I remember what Lee Thomas said in one of his columns (A lot of writers think selling that first book is the goal, but it’s only the starting line) and I totally agree with him. What a dream come true even though now the real work begins. It’s a book I’m very proud of, especially since it’s layered and complex (at least for me at the time. I blame Gary Braunbeck.) The sequel that expands and delves deeper into that town, those characters (John McDonnell, Michael Johnston, Red Piccirilli, Frank Gunn, etc) and the mythos I’m creating will be finished by the end of summer! I think they’ll all work well as standalones, but collecting all of them--three novels and four novellas--will be quite the experience. I’m learning/developing my voice a lot this year and it’s been a real eye-opener. I think each book will be better than the last. That’s the goal anyway. I’m lucky I have people who encourage, believe in me, and show their support in so many ways. If I die tomorrow, know I’m touched. I think about how no one owes me anything every day. It’s mind blowing. Thank you for your time, for spreading the word, for spending your hard-earned money, for your time, and faith. I always want to give back but don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give back enough.

Also down to the last two scenes in my new book IMMERSION! This is one wicked ride but like a lot of my favorite work it has some tenderness in there too. And a lot of truth. (But it still gets ugly and brutal.) The opening lines are deceivingly simple, which I like:

I grew up where woods bordered bog, where air was thick and heavy and hot, where bugs were fat and hungry enough to consume recently slaughtered bodies.
My father was a butcher.
My mother was a seamstress.
We shared each other’s troubles.
Blood slakes demon thirst. That’s what the Church of a Thousand Nights professed.
Me and Keri were happy until they murdered her.
This isn’t just a tale of vengeance.
It’s a tale of truth.
Darkness Creeps.
Light is sudden.
Love is Fierce.