Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Updates, updates, updates!

A few exciting things have happened.  First, I'm happy to say that I was just recently interviewed by a fellow author, Jason G. Anderson, who just put out his debut book, THE VAMPIRE DRABBLES.  He said his book came to be after reading LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES, which I take as a huge compliment.  I've always said that if it wasn't for David McAfee and his excellent collection, the LESSONS books would've never existed.

Feels nice to be able to return the favor for somebody else!

You can check out the interview by clicking here.

Also, be sure to check out THE VAMPIRE DRABBLES by Jason G. Anderson.  I've had the chance to read a couple of them and he's done a great job.

Onto other news, I've finished the rewrite of A GNOME PROBLEM (a novelette), and so far I'm very happy with it.  It's still going to be a little time before I release it to the public.  I've gone through it a few times already, but as any writer knows, it takes a helluva lot more than "a few times" before you can even think about releasing it to the general public.  Still have some work to do, but it's getting closer and closer every day.  I'm excited.  It was a fun story to write, and I really hope you all enjoy it when I do publish it.

IN DECLINE is going to get a new cover sometime soon.  It's time.  I think I have an idea that'll represent the stories a lot better.  Stay tuned!

I'm still hearing wonderful things from readers who have read my LESSONS books, which makes me happy.  I'm glad that people have been enjoying them.  They were fun to write.  I know not everybody will like them, as with anything else, but so far I have to say the general reaction to both books have been extremely positive.

That's all for now.  Will keep you posted!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Progress on A GNOME PROBLEM (a novelette)

Well, even though I've been slacking with my blog, I haven't been slacking with my writing.  I went over a short story that I had written last year called, "A Gnome Problem."  Re-reading it, I forgot how much fun I had writing it.  It was even more fun to read it.  By the time I finished it, I decided that it was time to go back and do a re-write.

I also realized that this was one of my longest short stories.  If you've read any of my stories from IN DECLINE, you'll notice that for the most part, I keep my stories pretty short.  I don't do that on purpose.  I just make a story as long as it has to be in order to tell the story.  This one, however, was quite long.  Over 6K in words.

That's when I realized that maybe I can turn this into a novelette.

A novelette, from what I've read, begins at 7,500 words and the max limit is somewhere around 14,000 (as that would be a novella).

On the rewrite, I'm not even close to finish, and I'm already over 5,100 words.  I'm pretty sure I can reach 7,500 without any problems.

Why am I doing this?  Well, I think it'd be neat to have something other than a short story.  Short stories are fine and well, but maybe if this ends up being a novelette, more people might give it a try.  Plus, the story is an odd one.  I don't think I could ever include it in an actual short story collection, unless I came up with several other stories with the same theme.

So, I've been making a lot of progress on A GNOME PROBLEM.  This time I might use some beta readers to get a feel of how people will react to it.  It's an odd, odd tale.

Lots of cursing, too.  Hope that won't bother people.  Well... I'm sure it will, but nothing I can do about that.  My characters have potty-mouths at times, and I'll be damned if I'm going to censor them!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Nothing new to report... so that's what I'm reporting!

Sheesh... I've been slacking with this blog again.  Sorry, sorry, sorry!

I wished I had a lot of exciting updates for you, but I really don't at the moment.  There are a few cool things going on.  I'm 9 away from selling 500 books since July, which is amazing, being that I don't even have a novel out yet!  Not too shabby for a short story writer.

The LESSONS books are still doing very well.  I've been hearing a lot of good things about them from people, so that makes me very happy.  IN DECLINE, while it may not be seeing LESSONS numbers, is still doing well by itself and even got a wonderful review on BigAl's Books and Pals.  You can read the review by clicking here.

My favorite part of the review:


Crane has a talent very few writers have. He can find the humor in a dire situation or find a way to sympathize with the most dismal characters. Some say that to read fiction requires the reader to “suspend disbelief.” That’s not the case here. These stories ooze truth.

So, how can one not be happy when they get an excellent review like that?  :)

That's about it for now.  I guess I did have a few things that were worth reporting after all.  Imagine that!

(Just don't expect me to make a habit out of it!)