Saturday, May 30, 2015

A Book by Any Other Name (or Cover)...or Price

Bride of the Living Dead is that book for me. I keep trying to explain it, like those mothers of troubled kids who plead, "He's a good kid, just misunderstood." I vented about What to do when your book is "complicated"? Peggy Elam, at Pearlsong Press is helping me out by letting me change the cover--See below--the new cover and price are on the Pearlsong page Bride at 99 Cents in June New Cover for Kindle edition

Thursday, May 21, 2015

At long last, a short story...FREE for your reading pleasure!

Once upon a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I dedicated my life to writing fiction. I started by trying to write science fiction short stories. I followed Heinlein's 5 Rules for Success in Writing.

Rule 1. You must write. Got it. I could do that.

I got hung up on Rule 2. You must finish what you write.

I could not finish writing a short story to save my life. I was pretty messed up in my personal life in those days--trying to get out of a religious cult without losing my religion, drinking too much, alternating dieting and bingeing, doing temp work and walking around talking to the wall a lot. My best friend told me, "You say you want to write, why don't you write down what you say when you talk to the walls."

I did. Three years later I finished my first novel, a sensitive story of disillusioned youth. Totally unreadable. I would blush to even tell you the title--even that was beyond bad. But I finished writing a novel and I liked writing novels. I had found what I was meant to do for better or worse. I've since written nearly a dozen novels, many of which have been published.

I've also written lots of short nonfiction. (Even ghost wrote a nonfiction book, although I signed a contract not to talk about it.)

But I would have sworn that it was beyond me to finish a short story. It seemed like in the time I wrestled with a short story I could have gone ahead and finished a novel.

Until last week.

Somehow I wrote and finished, and published a short story Valkyrie in the Demon Realm! It's free on Amazon and in other formats. Check it out if you feel like it. What the heck, the price is right! It's based on the short novel Gravitas: Valkyrie in the Forbidden Zone.

I'm writing another short story (vampires this time) very close to finished.

It took a few decades, but I feel pretty good about that.

I to prove that sometimes less really is more.

Monday, May 4, 2015

My Review of Fat Kids: Truth or Consequences

Rebecca Jane Weinstein has put together an important book that consists of reports from the front lines of the War on Fat Kids. Here's my review on Body Impolitic Here's the book on Amazon.