Happy New Year?

Hi, everyone. Long time no see. This is my first post since November.

When last we spoke I was posting my audiobook version of 8 Tales of Noir, my pulp/crime collection, to all the online audiobook retailers and libraries. The thing is, that even though I published over two months ago, Audible and Amazon are still delaying posting. I have not received any word as to why. And I'm hearing that a lot of other authors are having similar issues. It's very frustrating, especially since I have promised a portion of the proceeds to charity.

Nonetheless, it is available through numerous retailers including Apple, Chirp, Kobo, and Google. Here is a link that will take you to all of the currently active online pages if you'd like to check it out.

I have also recently begun work on my first endeavor to write in the horror genre. The working-title is The Name is the Thing. It comes from the following quote from The Rule of Names by Ursula K. le Guin:

"Because the name is the thing," he said in his shy, soft, husky voice, "and the truename is the true thing. To speak the name is to control the thing."

I don't want to spoil too much, but I'll say this, it's a sort of neo-zombie story in the tradition of Pontypool and Ravenous (Les Affamés,) but on a larger scale. Here is the cover idea I'm working with.

If you're a fan of the genre, and want to be a beta reader when it's ready, keep watching these posts. I'll be sending out the call when the time is right.

In the meantime, I've entered another mystery/crime story promo. All of the books in the promo are free, and they can be yours for the price of an email address. You can find all of the available titles at this link. Enjoy.

Kick-Ass Women

If you enjoy women who kick ass, then you're sure to find something you'll love in the Kick-Ass Women Promo over at Story origins. All of the stories in the promo feature female cops, detectives or just chicks with a grudge or a point to make, and all of the eBooks are free or 99 cents. I've included my  own permafree offering, Extreme Unction, a Lupa Schwartz Mystery.

The promo runs the 15th of November thru the 19th, and this is the perfect chance to beat the Cyber Monday crowds. You'll find the promo at this link all weekend long.

Wit & Wisdom

Who doesn't love a good lawyer joke? The law is not usually considered a funny thing, but the more serious a thing is, the more farcical it becomes; and what's more serious than jurisprudence? From The Bon Fire of the Vanities, to My Cousin Vinny, the humor in the law and its absurdities is always just under the surface.

All year long, I have been telling you about promos I have been running for my site, DoubleCross Lit. The promos have each featured two genres with books entered in the promo representing either of the featured genres or both. This month's promo will be the site's swan song. The Wit & Wisdom promo features humor and legal stories, and you can find it now through Sunday night at doublecrosslit.com/promo.

Go Wide or Go Home

I've put my thriller novel, On the Side of the Angel, into a promo on Story Origins website called The Go Wide or Go Home Sale. The sale runs November 11 thru the 19th, and all of the titles in the promo are available at a variety of retail venues. Stories in the promo fall into a number of genre categories including supernatural, sci-fi, alternate history, and action-adventure.

You can find the promo, and links to all the retailers at this link all week long. Enjoy!

Cover Reveal

As you know, I'm currently re-podcasting the stories that appear in my short story collection, 8 Tales of Noir. I slapped together a cover image for the podcast of the remastered stories that had previously appeared episodically over several seasons of the podcast. But we're getting closer to the day when I will release the audiobook version, so I sat down and designed a more slick cover.

The original, which I'm using on the podcast,  featured my daughter using a photo I had shot of her for her senior high school portrait. This one features a professional model photographed by Nayara Dinato from Pexels, a royalty-free stock photo site. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll have a release date to announce, but for now, here's the final cover for the audiobook.

I was going for a sort of postmodern pulp cover feel. I hope you like it.

Monsters and Madmen

We all know Stephen King is the master of modern horror, but isn't "Under the Dome" a science fiction novel? Isn't "11/22/63" about time travel? If "War of the Worlds" isn't a horror story, then neither is "A Quiet Place." Science and scientific exploration are all about the unknown, and what's scarier than not knowing what's going to happen next?

It's October, and what better mix for the haunting season than Sci-fi and Horror? The sale this month runs Friday October 18 through Sunday, October 20. So click on over to promo.doublecrosslit.com and check out the great 99 cent deals.

The Podcast Returneth

After a hiatus for much of the summer, The Thrills and Mystery Podcast is back for season 7. Although this season has a different purpose. 

In the past, I've used the podcast to promote myself and other authors by producing audiobook quality podcasts of short stories. Then last season I changed things up and produced PG Wodehouse's classic, The Inimitable Jeeves, in episodic form. After the season concluded, I released the entire collection of episodes as an audiobook through Findaway Voices. This season, I'm doing a little of each. 

I'm re-releasing remastered versions of the original stories I previously produced for the podcast which I authored, and later published in my collection 8 Tales of Noir. Each of those stories originally aired with royalty free music courtesy of Incompetech.com. However, I have decided that I am going to produce an audio-book version, and I wish to change out that music for original music by my late friend, Mark J. Miller.

Mark was a writer, a musician, a singer, and a teacher. He died last year after a brief illness which was never properly diagnosed, but which quickly spread to his blood causing sepsis. His loss is still jarring. So in Mark's honor, I got permission from his family to use music he recorded for his one-man project which he called Dreamcrush. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity he was involved with called Team Mojo.

Team Mojo is an NPO which provides music lessons free-of-charge to underprivileged youth. You can learn more about them by visiting their website at teammojofoundation.org. 

This podcast version of the cover features a photo-manipulation I made of a photo I shot of my then teenage daughter. The ebook cover also featured a photo I shot of my daughter, or at least her left arm. 

​Anyway, for the next several weeks, I will be podcasting the stories again, each re-leveled, cleaned up, and featuring the music of Dreamcrush. The first episode is available to listen to now.