Empty Cradle is now available through just about every online retailer, and as an eBook from Amazon as well. Now that it’s out there and for real, I’m headed out to tell people about it. I am planning some home-town events some time in late September or early October, once I’m sure my local stores have EC in stock, but in the meantime I’ll be attending Con*Stellation XXX in Huntsville, AL, on September 16-18. It’ll be my first convention as a participant rather than a costumed spectator. I wonder if I should dress like a scav? In any case, please stop by my table in the dealer room (yes, there should be a real live Empty Cradle; TUDoCS selling table!) and say hello. Don’t worry; I am probably more afraid of you than you are of me.
Search for Strange
So…after a long march, I stand on the brink of actually publishing a book. Of course, since it’s self-published, some folks would say that it’s not really publishing, but I’m not going to let that make me any less happy. The fact that the industry has shifted and changed to the point that it’s possible (depending on your goals for your book) to bypass the gristmill of agents and publishing houses and produce a book that’s yours and yours alone, unaffected by concerns of market positioning or mass demographic appeal is a good thing.
And my goals are quite modest. If I manage to eke out a hundred book sales, I’ll consider it a success.
I think it’s that certainty which has made me contemplate the labor-of-love aspect of self-publishing. There have been endless re-reads and re-writes, dozens of beta readers and careful editing to create as polished a product as possible (without spending $1600 for a professional editing job, that is. Maybe next time.), followed by the hunt for artists to create a cover, and a few months of back-and-forth work making that perfect as well. Things that I, as a distracted writer, never considered, like interior fonts, cover bleed and proper margins, all came into play. It was like planning a wedding. It was, for all intents and purposes, a part-time job. (Note: as an unpublished author, I already have three of those.) Fame and fortune are highly unlikely. I’ll consider myself lucky if I make back the money I’ve spent on the project so far, to be honest. Ten years ago, this would’ve cost me more than a new car, so I’m just grateful that the self-publishing process has gotten more affordable, as well as a bit more respectable.
But, hey, here I am, on the cusp of having an actual, physical book that I wrote, sitting on the bookshelf.
Yeah, that’s pretty cool.
Dallas’ Lizard Lounge hosts a couple of noisy-stuff nights a week, under the name The Church. On Thursdays and Sundays, the DJs spin neo-gothic, industrial and electro (that’s according to The Church’s website) tunes in one of the cooler club environments I’ve experienced.
Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey
I’m having a hard time putting my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book. I loved Blue Highways, Least-Heat Moon’s solitary journey through the forgotten backroads of America. Though Roads to Quoz is very similar in content, and the flowery prose is both creative and entertaining, the book itself failed to draw me in. Perhaps it’s a lack of a feeling of authenticity? The sense of navel-gazing is much stronger this time around, and the travels in this story were undertaken ostensibly to feed this very book, whereas Blue Highways had the feeling of being a personal odyssey that would’ve taken place whether there was a book deal in it or not. I don’t know if this is actually the case or not, but there’s something below the surface that makes Roads to Quoz feel more cynically mercenary at its heart.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
Christopher Moore has yet to write a book I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. His stories are ridiculous and elegant, tightly-controlled bundles of absurdity that somehow never manage to jump the shark. Lamb keeps that streak going, with its story reportedly inspired in part by the question “What if Jesus had known kung fu?” according to the author’s afterword. In truth, though, Lamb comes across as a surprisingly thoughtful consideration of religion and history, and of the process through which both are created. Of course, it’s also got concubine-eating demons, an angel who thinks that everything on the television is real and a passel of hilariously clueless apostles, so don’t let the philosophy distract you, if you don’t want it to.
The Leland City Club is the first club I ever went to, and quickly went on to become the nighttime place that I unashamedly call home. City Club’s not like any place else, for better or worse.
The club is ancient (it’s been open since the 1980s), and single-purpose. It exists at the whim of the Leland Hotel’s owner, which means both that it does not particularly need to make money, and that it can be only one thing. City Club is only open Fridays and Saturdays (and occasional holidays), and only as a goth-industrial club, unlike most other nightclubs which rotate through different-themed nights during the week. As a result, the place has a comfortably shitty, lived-in feel to it. There’s a good chance that it’s haunted, and the condition of the building mirrors the decay of Detroit in spite of recent minor renovations. And in a way, that’s part of its charm. If the speakers didn’t occasionally short out, if the heat worked on twenty-degree December days, it somehow wouldn’t be quite the same place. More than one regular calls it “Shitty Club,” but they still keep showing up, generation after generation of punk, goth, rivethead, cyber, electro, lolita and emo kids. Gay, straight and anywhere in between are present and welcome.
Okay, so here’s another version of the story that’s been posted at my other blogs: while it’s fun to post my writing where one or two people might be moved to look at it, Looking for Strange has, generally, been pretty sterile and not all that special as far as writers’ websites go. So I’m going to try to make it more special. The writing challenges and occasional inclusion of others’ work is just the beginning, ha-HA!
Basically, I’ve got three blogs at the moment: a fiction blog, an automotive-writing blog, and a general life-blog. To focus my efforts a bit better (and to make things more personal in the process) I’m killing off the life-blog and letting more of me come through in the other two.
What that means is that Looking for Strange is going to expand a little. The fiction will still be here, but you’re also going to find the “club reports” that I’m in the habit of making as I wander around the country visiting goth clubs and hearing new music, and perhaps some of the more interesting places that I visit. Oh, you didn’t know I spent the better part of the last two years living in a motorhome and wandering around the U.S.? Well, there’ll be more about that as well; I’m not in the RV at the moment, but I do tend to get around. Sometimes I might even blog about my writing process, or do book reviews and movie reviews. Or whatever. What you’re going to see here, in addition to the fiction, is more of the chronicle of my own personal search for strange. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
Okay, so here’s another version of the story that’s been posted at my other blogs: while it’s fun to post my writing where one or two people might be moved to look at it, Looking for Strange has, generally, been pretty sterile and not all that special as far as writers’ websites go. So I’m going to try to make it more special. The writing challenges and occasional inclusion of others’ work is just the beginning, ha-HA!
Basically, I’ve got three blogs at the moment: a fiction blog, an automotive-writing blog, and a general life-blog. To focus my efforts a bit better (and to make things more personal in the process) I’m all but killing off the life-blog and letting more of me come through in the other two.
What that means is that Looking for Strange is going to grow a little. The fiction will still be here, but you’re also going to find the “club reports” that I’m in the habit of making as I wander around the country visiting goth clubs and hearing new music, and perhaps some of the more interesting places that I visit. Oh, you didn’t know I spent the better part of the last two years living in a motorhome and wandering around the U.S.? Well, there’ll be more about that as well. Sometimes I might even blog about my writing process, or do book reviews and movie reviews. Or whatever. What you’re going to see here, in addition to the fiction, is more of a chronicle of my own personal search for strange. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
It only took two months longer than intended but Liz’ novel is now up for sale in e-format! And hey, at least we finished it before 2010, right? Um…right.
Once again, it’s got a lovely new cover designed by Lex Machina Photography, aaaand…this time that’s not all there is to offer, because unlike Red over Black, the whole book is NOT available for free here. So, if you read the first half of Scent of Cinnamon and want to know how it ends, the whole story is available on Smashwords. Its title has changed (on account of there being another book called “Scent of Cinnamon”) to 12 Steps and A Razor. Please check it out and tell anyone who might be interested!
Also, there are just ten days till the current writing challenge closes. Want to send in a story? The best ones will be run on this site, and I’ll link to your writing site as well.
That’s right, if you made your way through Red over Black and really enjoyed it, you can now own your very own electronic copy! Or, if you don’t care for e-books, you can purchase one and consider it a donation to the Please Don’t Let The Author End Up Eating Cat Food fund. Anyway, self-promotion not being my strong suit (and, I would imagine, your patience for same being equally limited), it’s located at Smashwords and it’s got a really cool new cover as well.
If you’re enjoying Scent of Cinnamon and don’t want to wait for it to slowly finish up over the next three or four months, it will also be available on Smashwords shortly. Unfortunately there’s already a book called The Scent of Cinnamon, so mine will be retitled 12 Steps and a Razor. Otherwise it will be unchanged apart from minor editing.
Just dropping a note to say hello (and thank you) to current readers and welcome to new readers. Comments (positive or negative) are welcome and encouraged and I try to answer any correspondence.
First, a bit of news: interest in Looking for Strange and the noises within is strong enough that I am considering the possibility of making electronic and print versions available for sale. A Looking for Strange bookstore would most likely contain at least one of the finished books that appears here, as well as completed versions of the serialized stories, and possibly a book or two that’s not available anywhere online. If you would be interested in an electronic or print copy, please scroll to the bottom of the page and give your contact information to the “Get Notified” widget. I’m not affiliated with anyone, and am running this website out of my RV; I have no intention of selling your name to a spam list, or even a “marketing partner” since I don’t have any.
And just for being kind enough to sit quietly through that paragraph of housekeeping, here’s a sneak peek at the next story that will pop at Looking for Strange in a couple of months: Comfort Zone.
