In Case You Hadn’t Noticed…

Posted on August 2, 2015 by admin

             

…both these Ebook titles remain 1.99. Helping you to stay informed, I am.

Posted in Reading itself | Comments Off on In Case You Hadn’t Noticed…

Never Leaving the House. Except to go to Alamo.

Posted on July 26, 2015 by admin

 

So, I watched a few clips from ComiCon 2015 (San Diego, of course) and here’s what’s coming:

1. The Punisher is joining Daredevil. And the Gladiator returns, as The Gladiator. And Elektra show up. Elektra.

Oh, my God.

2. The Deadpool Movie. I am so touching myself.

3. Suicide Squad. I am no fan of DC Comics, but this! This!

4. Into the Badlands. Bad. Ass.

And that’s just the top four. Here’s others:

1. Batman vs Superman. Again, DC, and it’s Superman so what are we talking here, about a two minute movie? Oh no, not at all. And, may I say, Wonder Woman? A real kick-ass Wonder Woman?

2. Supergirl. Am I kidding you? No. This looks excellent.

So, here’s my schedule: eat, movie, TV, sleep. For the rest of my life.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Never Leaving the House. Except to go to Alamo.

Free Beer!

Posted on July 12, 2015 by admin

At the Michigan J. Frog show. Not here.

But tomorrow, 13 Jul 15, these books are free. At Amazon:

1. The Ship to Look for God

2. The Last Man in the World Explains All

3. The Moonlight in Genevieve’s Eyes

Remember, a beer lasts ten minutes (or thirty seconds, depending on your mood.). A book lasts forever.

Posted in Reading itself | Comments Off on Free Beer!

But Wait! There’s More!

Posted on July 5, 2015 by admin

Yeah, yeah, I know, nothing but shameless promotion these last couple of posts. But, at least the covers are pretty.

Here’s one:

and another:

So, why these two covers?

Glad you asked: along with The Ship to Look for God, both collections are free on July 13. It’s like a Ginzu Knives promotion, but no one loses a finger (well, a couple of people lose a lot more than that, but you’ll have to read the stories to find out what).

To summarize:

1. Three books are free on 13 Jul. And 13 July only. The aforementioned Ship, The Moonlight, and The Last Man.

2. The Ship Looking for God is now available as a pre-order, for 1.99. Released 14 July.

Think of it: free stories. The first Ship for free. Then the second Ship for almost free…

C’mon, $1.99? You can’t even get one Ginzu knife for that.

Posted in Writing itself | Comments Off on But Wait! There’s More!

The First Hit of Crack is Free

Posted on June 28, 2015 by admin

It’s here.

Well, not quite. The only place it’s immediately available is CreateSpace, but you should hold off because I’m planning a few things.

I’m going to make The Ship to Look for God

free. For just one day. The Ship Looking will be 1.99 for the three days following, then will go to its normal price of $5. BUT, Ship to Look will be permanently reduced to 1.99.

‘Cause, ya know, after one hit of crack, you’re hooked.

I’ve already sent out some ARCs for Ship Looking, and I’m going to do a Goodreads giveaway of both. I’m looking to do all this around 10, 11 July. Just gotta get some things arranged first, so stay tuned.

 

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing itself | Comments Off on The First Hit of Crack is Free

The Adventures of Gracie the Wander Cat: Fishing with Fredo

Posted on June 14, 2015 by admin

Gracie here.

Yes, yes, I know, been awhile. Well, I’ve been busy.

See, summer’s almost here and I have much to do.

Especially since this past winter put me way behind schedule.

So, gotta get to it. The outside work:

And, when it gets too hot, the inside work:

Wait. What did you ask? What about…who? Russell?

Russell, Russell…oh, yeah.

Him.

He’s uh…on vacation. Yeah. Vacation.

Anyways, I AM busy doing things, like whipping the new scratching post into shape:

Check it out. It’s even got a break room.

A secure one, thank God, so I can get away from this:

Traumatizing.

Wait…

…did you ask about Russell again?

Look. He’s on vacation. He went…fishing. Yeah, fishing. I saw him off myself.

So, stop asking. Just. Stop.

 

Posted in The Adventures of Gracie the Wander Cat | Comments Off on The Adventures of Gracie the Wander Cat: Fishing with Fredo

Before and After

Posted on June 8, 2015 by admin

The backyard in February:

After a little bit of work, the backyard now:

The garden. Eggplant, tomato, pepper, pumpkins (which just showed up uninvited), spaghetti squash, cucumbers, strawberries, cantaloupes, watermelons, gourds, and even hops:

Son approves:

as does Gracie:

Posted in Life in the Shenandoah Valley | Comments Off on Before and After

Awe. Some. Con.

Posted on June 1, 2015 by admin

I went to AwesomeCon 2015 because I’d never been to a reaaally big con as a vender (vendor, whatever) and, well, you only live once. As far as we know.

I showed up on Thursday, a day before the official opening, to set up, which was great. If you’ve ever had the joy of trying to reach a venue in DC during rush hour on the morning of the event, you know just how great. They even had volunteers unload my truck and cart everything over to my table. Nice.

The con was held in a place big enough to store two or three aircraft carriers:

and was a bit empty on Thursday:

That changed over the next few days:

Place got mobbed. This was my set-up:

right across from this guy:

That’s Ron Wilson. Freakin’ Ron Wilson, Marvel royalty, member of the Bullpen.

While I was genuflecting, another guy showed up:

Scott Edelman.  Freakin’ Scott Edelman, Marvel royalty and another member of the Bullpen. He was on a panel and heard that Ron Wilson was on the floor so stopped by to reminisce. I geeked out:

That was not my only Brush with Greatness. I was hanging out a bit with the guys from MOLDS. They invited me to tag along while they did a podcast with Brian O’Halloran. I schmoozed with O’Halloran’s minion whole this was going on, and had fleeting contact with Ming Chen and Walter Flanagan in the process. Yes, I genuflected.

The 501st was there in Force (get it? get it?), under the command of their Empress, Anna Mitchell:

They are throwing CapitolCon in a few weeks. You didn’t know that? The Trekkies do:

That’s Abby, who was Countess Zorro and Frederica Kruger in previous cons.

Lambert and Ash from the Nostromo:

That’s Claudia and…crap, I forgot his name…who are also attendees of previous cons. Your name is Claudia, right?

Cast members from the web series Starship Farragut. Except the woman in the middle. She’s not.

Carbonite, when you need to protect your computer and Millennium Falcon pilots:

Lego Avengers:

Ladies, please don’t do this:

Instead, please do this:

Captain Britain:

Captain America:

Captainess America:

Hawkeye:

Wolverine and Storm:

Storm on her day off:

Another Storm. Or, wait, the White Witch. No, it’s Storm:

Pizazz:

Yes, she is.

Me and Mario down by the schoolyard:

The Lizard:

who became:

and then became:

Obviously, a chameleon.

Kids, eat your vegetables, And your brains:

so you can grow up to be Ezio:

or a Space Marine:

Gossamer:

So, despite some weirdness:

a great time was had. Even old enemies were reconciled:

Posted in Pros and Cons, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Awe. Some. Con.

Games, Guns, and Motorcycles

Posted on May 17, 2015 by admin

During ID4 Con (see below), I met Dave Fisher, who runs a game store in Martinsburg, WV called Your Hobby Place. He invited me to a BBQ that his store and several others were hosting on May 16th and, well, BBQ, who can resist? So, I went.

Turned out to be quite the todo:

with the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, the West Virginia Citizen’s Defense League, and the Blue Ridge Rocketeers, among others, in attendance.

Heck, if I had known it was a 2nd-Amendment-and-firepower kind of day, I’da brought my .45. Or my .357. Or my .44. Something.

This was my setup:

in front of Dave’s store:

right next to the truck park:

There was even a band:

Quasi-Flannel, and they were purty good. Hire them for your next bar mitzvah.

It was hot, damn hot,  fortunately relieved by an excellent breeze and, later, by a series of insane thunderstorms (avoided by the skin of respective teeths). Casting a glance to my right, I noted an impeccably dressed young man decked out in suit and tie, and broiling to death in the full sun so I sez, “Hark, young stranger, perforce to move your table right up against mine and sell your wares in relative comfort.” ‘Cause I’m just that kind of guy.

That’s how I met Victor Nieves, shown here getting a proper man hug:

By this time, he had come to his senses and shed coat and tie. He is the author of this book:

Epitaph: Reveille. Military scifi. Get it.

Brave guy, too. Not only did he show up to a MC Club and Gun rally in a suit and tie, but hurled after this dog:

when it broke free and plunged into some nearby woods. He rescued the dog from an anaconda or an a alligator or something. Story’s a little muddled.

For some reason, our cozy little shelter became quite the popular hangout, even Swamp Rat, the President of the local VVMC chapter coming by to sit for a spell:

I got to meet a lot of cool people, including a recent grad of the Naval Academy (hi Zach!) and a recent USMC member (which is silly because once a Marine, always a Marine,) a couple of members of Stribling’s Battery who knew people I knew, and a couple of drunks. I sold a lot of books, got a pork BBQ sandwich out of the deal, and this game:

Yeah, I’m a geek.

 

Posted in Pros and Cons | Comments Off on Games, Guns, and Motorcycles

Stick a Fork in It

Posted on May 12, 2015 by admin

The Ship Looking for God is done.

Three full revisions. I could probably do at least one more, or two more, or thirty more but, you know, stop. You can revise until death, seeking the perfect. It’s not perfect. But it’s ready.

I found myself doing at least three reads of each chapter during each revision (hmm, three seems the operative number). So, let’s see, 37 chapters, times 3, then times 3 again, carry the two…333 times I read the thing. Wait, 999 times, ’cause it’s three times for each revision, and there were three full revisions. Right?

This is why I’m not an engineer.

At any rate, the three reads of each chapter were necessary. During the first one, I was so thrilled with myself that I just went “Wow, this is great!” and then, you know, came to my senses so through it again and, Holy Hannah, this thing needs some serious work! I sometimes revised individual sentences up to twenty times before they were right (yes, I’m obsessive. Or anal. Pick your word.) Then another run-through to make sure it all held together and, Holy Hannah, did I just make a massive structural error!  For example, I inadvertently added an extra deck to the ship. That took some major scrambling to fix.

All of this took a while. But, no wine before its time. I owe you that.

So, now, a cover, some formatting, then a Goodreads giveaway and maybe some things on Amazon.

And a release party at CapitalCon.

Posted in Writing itself | Comments Off on Stick a Fork in It