OCTOBER GIVEAWAY UPDATE
Congratulations, winners!
All of the October giveaway prizes were shipped yesterday
and should reach their destinations soon.
A special thanks to everyone who entered, shared, and commented during
the giveaway. During October, I had over
3,000 visitors to the blog—that's huge.
There will be more chances to win fun prizes soon. Subscribe to the blog so you never miss a
story or a giveaway.
AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER UPDATES
The kickstarter is over.
While we did not meet our goal of $5,000, we managed to end with an
amazing $2,324! It's mind blowing the
amount of interest, and it's all thanks to everyone who has helped talk up the
anthology and share the news about this amazing project. The stories included are amazing, and as
Alisha and I work through the final edits, I can't help but feel like a proud
parent.
Even though we did not meet the monetary goal, the anthology
will be released Mid-December. Soon I will
have links for pre-orders for both soft and limited edition hardcover copies.
We've been getting more of the art that will be featured in
the collection. While I cannot reveal
them here, I assure you that they are something wonderful. Images within images, sometimes frightening,
sometimes whimsical—Will Jacques has done a wonderful job with his
illustrations.
BROTHERS IN SOLITUDE UPDATES
As I'm #closingcircles and working on BROTHERS IN SOLITUDE, I've
cleaned up a bunch of errors originally occurring in the original manuscript,
both technical and conceptual. Like most
of my work, this story has evolved over many years, so there are loose threads
and sloppy narrative from my younger days along with the precious gems I am
trying to polish out. I've really
enjoyed coming back to Chad and Drake.
Their desolate existence stirs up so many personal things for me. The book is, after all, a story for my
brother, Steven.
If you're not reading it yet, why the hell not?
The most current version of the beginning is RIGHT HERE.
I'm posting this as I finish sections in order to giver readers a look inside my writing process. I'm trying to get the chapters as finished as possible as I work, but there may be some changes before publication. If you find any obvious errors in the material, please let me know in the blog comments. Make sure to subscribe to the blog so you never miss a post.
I'd like to tell you some of the secrets of this tale:
*While Chad and Drake are loosely based on Steven and
myself, I've jumbled up our characteristics so that neither one is me or
him. Each one is a composite of us
growing up. Their names come from good
friends when we were young. Chad is
named after my chum Chad Killion, and Drake is named after Steven's friend
Blake. My brother was and is into
dragons, so I changed the B to a D as a nod to his medieval interests.
*Originally it was set in Panama City Beach, Florida, but
the town has changed so much since I started writing this ditty that I decided
to alter the location to the fictional Port Wallace, named after my writing mentor
and friend, Lynn Wallace. I've also
changed the brother's street name from Hilltop Avenue (our childhood home in
PCB) to Lister Avenue, named for another of my major writing mentors, Michael
Lister. Most of the streets in the story
are a corruption of the South Lagoon neighborhood of our youth, now cloaked
with names of dear friends.
*The prologue was written last month. I'm thinking about adding a detail concerning
Mom, heightening the terror before they flee the campsite. If I do, I'll post a new version of the
prologue.
*I don't think the newest version of what I've been posting
has mentioned Ambertown yet, but I've changed the original manuscript's Ambertown
into Amberton, but I'm changing it back.
As I got to writing, I wanted it sound more natural, but as I dug
deeper, I decided I was right the first time.
Crazy how that happens.
*Throughout the story, there are numerous nods to many other
works in the zombie genre. Keep an eye
open and feel free to call me out in the blog comments when I drop one of these
Easter eggs. I'm interested in who is
paying attention. I hide a lot of things
in my stories. Those in the know…
*The Megacenter is Wal-Mart on Front Beach Road, but I am
wary of branding in my work. I try not
to use any brand names if I can help it.
My writing is not a billboard for corporations, so I'd rather make up a
product than try and sell it to readers.
I will, however, name drop bands, movies, books, and other artsy things I
am hopelessly in love with. More on this
topic in a later post.
All right, cats. That's
a look inside the new book and all the updates I have at the moment.
More soon.
Cheers.
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