New Hallow Mass Cover

Amazon

 How New Is This Cover You Speak Of?

Quite new. For now, I present only the ebook version. But the paperback cover awaits the formatting of a manuscript I like to call Edition Two. 

I've trimmed about 4k words from the 2016 book and think it reads considerably quicker. 

Why Go To All This Trouble?

Excellent point. As of today, I'm writing the second volume of a trilogy. I hope to have it up in ebook and paperback by June. Afterwards, I intend to dash off the third volume. That should see the light of day by Christmas. Ambitious? Well, I'm nothing if not that. 

In any case, I desired a uniform look for the covers. Progress continues. 

Running Once Again

 

dailyencouragement

Back in November, I really hurt my knees. Overtaining and incorrect running form combined to knock me onto the couch for two months. Last week, I was able to slowly run three times. Humbling. And not like I haven't been here before. Naturally, my weight ballooned thanks to a combination of relentless work load and no exercise. 

Lost ground must be recovered gradually or I repeat the whole discouraging process once again. 

USMC and the Yellow Footprints

USMC League

MCRD San Diego Back in the Day

Everything must begin somewhere. And in the United States Marine Corps, my enlisted tour commenced with yellow footprints. Drawn on the asphalt of the recruit depot with heels close together and toes angled out to 45 degrees, they are where I, along with seven other guys from our suburban Chicago neighborhood, stood to begin military service. Then we marched somewhere, boxed up our clothes and mailed them home, coming to the realization that our new life would be different from drinking beer behind a bowling alley.

The Vietnam War was winding down, at least for the United States, though the North Vietnamese would launch a huge attack against South Vietnam toward the end of March as we conducted infantry training at Camp Pendlelton. (In September, now a Private First Class, I would find myself in an Army hospital called Camp Kue on Okinawa, sharing  a ward with American advisors who'd been wounded helping the South Vietnamese forces stop the communists.)

In 1991, I visited the footprints on a vacation to San Diego with my girlfriend. (Now My Fine Wife or MFW.)

In 2002, I stood on a hill in Vietnam called Con Thien with a Vietnamese guide who told me about the obliteration of his village by B52s, bombing the NVA advance.

In 2008, I was back at MCRD finishing up a marathon with Team in Training.

But on a Friday night, January 14, 1972, I stood on yellow footprints. Oh, right before we boxed up our clothes, this happened:
(The following scene is rather accurate, except there's no C&W music. Just buzzzzzzz.)

h/t: amp1776

Note 2020:

On this 48th anniversary of my enlistment, I pay my respects to Tom Poto and Steve Lovell, two of my comrades who are no longer with us. RIP, bros. Hard to believe we were once young together.

Note: 2021

Yikes! 49 years ago; one removed from a half-century. I'll write no more on the subject.
    

The Miskatonic Review Examines "Dagon and Jill"

 What the Deuce Was Said?

A great many things in a very thorough examination of the lead-off short story in my new anthology, Death Honk. So you know, The Miskatonic Review is a site dedicated to "lovecraftian story reviews from the Bibliothecar" (or librarian, if you insist.) My tale involves the business dealings between a sinister warlock from the haunted village of Dunwich, Massachusetts and a naive Los Angeles publisher. 

 The Bibliothecar opens the hood and shows the wiring. My favorite line was:

"I can't say it ["Dagon and Jill"] will be for everyone, as Lovecraftian stories are pretty niche to begin with before approaching Lovecraftian humor . . . ."

(Though the story has brought smiles to non-Lovecraftians.)

Read the whole thing.

Meeting Dagon

MeWe Makes Me Giddy

In a good, wholesome way. (After years working in magazine publishing, I still can't pass on alliteration.) Nevertheless, back in November, I wrote that Facebook sucked. It does. I still have no idea when I'll be able to access my Author Page. Sporadic. Inconsistent. Eternal redirect. 

What Will This Man Do?

It's done. I've opened an account on MeWe. They have Author Pages, too. I messed around for awhile today and it found the experience pleasant. Visit me at my page. Make me a friend or chum or contact. I've yet to learn the MeWe lingo, but would very much like to master same. More t/k in this new Year of Our Lord 2021. 

Tough Guy Israeli Robot

"Dad, I'm being bullied at school."

"Son, your old pop might just have the answer."

My friend Ken sent me this amazing footage. Look for a model soon on Amazon.

 

Anti Digital Heroin Hacks

StudyBreaks.co

Some people consider web surfing an Internet treat and not a horrid, greasy bug eating your time with knife and fork. I just spent yesterday off-line and feel particularly virtuous right now. 

THREE THINGS THAT WILL DAMPEN YOUR WEB SURFING

1. Clear your cookies at night. 

2. Erase your history. 

3. Pick a day of the week to shut off the computer.

"Can't do it."

"Impossible."

"Why?"

From my review of Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: "Neither luddite nor scold, Carr reasons calmly that our technologies are changing us to better adapt to their nature."

Cell phones, surely, are fine.

I reviewed Tomas Kersting's  book Disconnected where he noted that excessive screen time erodes focus, increases anxiety, and leads to social retardation.

Yesterday, I read a book old school style, sitting in a chair holding a physical object, giving my eyes and my focus time away from staring at a screen. (This after five weeks of publishing ebooks and paperbacks where I did nothing but lock eyes on a screen for hours each day.) It felt delightful.

I also recommend viewing a documentary called The Social Dilemma, in which web pioneers explain how their good intentions and technological developments led to web consumer becoming the product.  

Experiment at limiting your on-line time, if so inclined. Let me know the results.  

Thoughts on My 2020

A Land Remembered Journal

2020: I thought last year's post below was pretty comprehensive. Sadly, running—and weight loss—didn't pan out as I'd hoped. Back in November I injured my knees by forgetting everything I knew about chi running and attempting to "boost" my locomotion with extra force. And I'd been doing so well. In October I ran 48 miles for the month—the most since February—including 5 and 6 mile days. I had recovered from my spring Chinese Covid slump enough to enter a Virtual Challenge and was crushing it. Plus my wife and I were signed up for a 10k in Mesa, Arizona slated for February 2021. (We're going to Mesa anyway, just not to run.)

Self-inflicted running injuries are the absolute worst. No one to blame but yourself and I HATE blaming myself.

As for writing, it blossomed as in former days. I finished several short stories, including a whopping 12k word job. Sending them out wasn't resulting in sales, though the rejections were generally polite. So I assembled this year's crop along with stories dating back to 2009 and published the lot—all nine—in ebook form. Death Honk is out now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, and more. The paperbacks will arrive in January. This is the first fiction book I've published since 2016. I bask in such warm accomplishments.

But writing is only a fraction of the battle for the indie author.

Unlike previous book launches, I obtained a few reviews in advance. Also, unlike previous launches, I bit off a good chunk more than I could chew. By attempting ebook and softcover launches on Amazon and Draft2Digital, I found each platform operates with different rules. So four sets of formatting required attention, eating up time with an appetite most voracious. Because my wife and her vast publishing experience were unavailable—I never interrupt her paying work—I was forced to hunt in the freelance veldt. The woman who proof read Death Honk was outstanding. The man who formatted the print version less so. As mentioned elsewhere, the cover designer rocked. 

No audio version for prostate, but I think that line has been jumped by Death Honk. We shall see how 2021 shapes up. I'd like publish a second edition of Hallow Mass with a new cover, add it to Draft2Digital, then write the second volume. Plan meet life. And for the second time in a paragraph I'll say: we shall see. 

This November marked fifteen years of blogging. Over 2k posts with entries topping 100 for the first time since 2012. Not that my traffic is that hot. But inconsistency carries a cost. I've really come to loath social media. (Do watch The Social Dilemma.) But I should examine which platform provides the most pop sales-wise for an author's effort. 

Canva proved a useful took in developing my own promotional materials. Even a digital butter fingers such as myself was able to figure it out. I highly recommend the website.

I end 2020 in reasonably good health, awash in efforts to publish two separate paperback versions of my anthology and eager to see what the future holds. 

And a Happy New Year to you!

The Express

Ryan Long Slags On Corporate Advertising

 As 2020 drags to a close, a little fun at corporate expense courtesy of comic Ryan Long. 

Ryan Long

A Matter of Credit

 The collage banner atop the page includes:

1. Photo of a man's head and eyes by Gage Walker on Unsplash

2. Big fish swimming to lens by Jen Theodore on Unsplash

3. Whites of the eyes boy by Jakayla Toney on Unsplash

4. Man with bandaged head by Armin Lotfi on Unsplash

5. Black man in shadow by Joel Mwakasege on Unsplash

6. Doll head by Tomasz Sroka on Unsplash

7. Devil Clown by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

8. Whites of the eyes woman by Alex Iby on Unsplash

9. Winged skull face by Donovan Reeves on Unsplash

10. Woman's hand on textile by Shane on Unsplash

11. Open-mouth man by Photo Boards on Unsplash

12. Woman screaming by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.

Assembled using Canva. 

Death Honk Launches on Draft2Digital

 

theimaginativeconservative

Pre-order is ended; pay full price. Not much. A buck more. But if you fancy shopping at Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, or any store not named Amazon, then now is your opportunity to pounce upon a fine collection of creepy short stories. 

My day will be filled with imploring various individuals to review the book. Like moving from one apartment to another, you must ask three or four times as many people to get one. Such are the days of an indie author.