This year was my sixth at Balticon, and boy was it a crazy time. If you’re not familiar with Balticon, that’s okay. It’s held every year in Baltimore, Maryland during Memorial Day weekend. While it’s technically a “sci-fi/fantasy” convention, the podcasting community made serious inroads nearly a decade ago. Since then, it’s been very friendly to the so-called “new-media” endeavors like podcasting, YouTube, and the like.
When I first attended Balticon, the first presentation of Closet Treats was wrapping up. I had made a number of connections via social media to both patrons and other creators. Therefore, the con, for me, wasn’t about being on panels. It was more about meeting all the folks I’d fanboyed over as well as the listeners that helped me find my footing in the podcast/writing community.
Continue reading “Essay: Balticon 50–All That Was and Could Have Been”
The Science Of The Black
Vex Mosaic invited me to write an essay about the research required for The Black. If you’re interested in the way I constructed the story, and what made it difficult, go check it out.
Also, you should bookmark VexMosaic.com. It’s a great site run by great people with fantastic articles (even if they published mine).
A Little “News” From The Darkness
As I approach that special moment of sending The Black: Outbreak to my publisher, it’s time I owned up to something. I have in the past few weeks mentioned that I was hard at work on a secret audio project. Well, it’s time to reveal that secret, especially since it won’t be finished in time anyway.
Last year, I mentioned that The Black: Arrival was probably the last audiobook I would ever narrate. It was supposed to be the last, the very last, except for anything having to do with The Street. However, circumstances have forced my hand.
When I released The Black on audible, it quickly made a lot of money. “A lot” being commensurate with “more than a few bucks.” It didn’t seem to matter that the audiobook was released long after the actual book came out. Listeners flocked to it and I was both surprised and elated by its sales. I considered hiring someone to narrate The Black: Arrival for me, but I was trying to make a deadline and it would have been impossible. Turned out I needn’t have bothered. Arrival took a long time to finish and put on the Audible store. I swore to myself I’d hire a pro for the third book. And then I looked at the sales.
Arrival hasn’t sold nearly as well as The Black. In fact, its sales are downright dismal by comparison. Based on that data, I decided that instead of spending $1500-2000 to have Outbreak narrated, and lose money on it in the process, it would be better if I sat my fat ass in the chair again and babbled into the microphone. Thus, here we are. Continue reading “A Little “News” From The Darkness”
Alert! Alert! Special Cover Reveals Coming
It’s been a damned long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter. Why? I was waiting for the stars to align and they didn’t. Since the last newsletter, the Closet Treats audiobook has debuted, the Daemons of Garaaga audiobook has debuted, and I’ve been working my ass off on getting The Black: Outbreak finished. In addition, we’ve had some delays in getting the Closet Treats trade paperback out. I was waiting for that to happen before I barraged inboxes and then had to barrage them again if the stars DID happen to align.
But, it’s time. Therefore I’m sweetening the deal. On Sunday, March 20th 2016, I’ll finally release the year’s first newsletter. What’s going to be in there?
- Cover reveal for the Closet Treats paperback and ebook re-release
- Cover reveal for The Black: Outbreak
- Information on how to get free Audible promo codes
- Scheduling prognostications
Yes. I’m giving away FREE Audible codes so you can go and grab a copy of one of the audiobooks, listen, enjoy, and then give it an honest review. Why would I do such a thing? Because I need more reviews. And those of you that subscribe to the newsletter deserve some special content. Early cover reveals? Free codes? Perhaps a snippet from an upcoming work? Yeah, those kinds of goodies.
So if you want to subscribe to the newsletter and gain access to all this loveliness, look on the right-hand sidebar, put your email in the text box, and slam the “Sign Up” button with a mallet. And on Sunday, you’ll get access to subscriber only content.
As if I haven’t made this completely clear, I don’t spam my patrons. That’s why these newsletters only hit when there’s actually news about new releases and the like; it’s the only guaranteed way I have of letting you know about them before the general public. And that’s the only reason the mailing list exists.
See you Sunday.
Cheers.
Essay–The Problem With Horror
Genres. If you go to any book store, online or brick and mortar, or, Garaaga forbid, even a library, you’ll find shelves (virtual or real) marked with “Science Fiction,” “Fantasy,” “Thriller,” “Romance,” “Literature,” “Drama,” “Classics” and tons of others. And I’m just talking about the fiction sections. Notice what’s missing? That’s right. “Horror.”
Well, it’s not really missing so much as it is hidden amongst the stacks of more “popular” genres. Last time I darkened the doors of a Barnes and Noble, the so-called “horror” section was a single fucking bookcase filled with only the best known authors. None others need apply. Is this all there is when it comes to horror? Hell, no. So where are the horror stories written by the not so famous?
Continue reading “Essay–The Problem With Horror”