Ahhh 2011 ...where to begin???
The gifted Jeff Jones passed away this year. I broke my favorite "battle ready" sword, and I didn't finish my sequel.
I glanced back over the blog and pondered what I had posted here.
Writing-wise I have sold quite a few stories that I thought would see print this year...and are waiting to be printed next year. But
Fistful of Tengu,
Curse the Child,
The Hand of Fate,
Fangs of the Dragon and the first chapter in my dark fantasy serial
Midnight Sons in the local Utah UGeek Magazine, were all released. Perhaps the other stories I am waiting on will build up and make it look like 2012 finds me a supremely prolific writer.
I am still way behind on the rewrites for my second novel,
Blood of our Fathers, the sequel to
Heroes of the Fallen. But I'm working on it and hope to get it turned back into my editor soon.
Life can be topsy turvy, so between a big move and numerous personal and family health issues sometimes you just can't get things done that at one time seemed so simple. But the battle continues.
A number of other mostly finished projects will only help it appear that 2012 is my super year.
Looking over my reviews I read more books than I remembered off the top of my head-most of them were pretty good, lot of indies. But my standout favorites would be Mike Mignola's Hellboy graphic novels. I am in the midst of the latest installment - vol.11 The Bride of Hell
I read a lot of history books (usually rereads) that I didn't bother to blog about but when it comes to non-fiction I think my favorite read this year was - The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring-Gould, the guy who also wrote the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'. Though this might sound like fiction it was a collection of the strange and true horrifying things men do/did-much of it borders on people who thought they were werewolves and or vampires, and then there was always that hint that there may be things that just have no rational explanation and may be supernatural.
I also read a lot of books by folks that I count as friends, practically too many to list off the top of my head and not forget names-and I still have a number of others to catch up on.
I blogged more about movies this year than I ever bothered to previously and following the trend my favorites were the indies- like Ironclad, Kill the Irishman, and 13 Assassins. I sincerely hope this quality storytelling continues.
So summing up, I have very high hopes for our new year, lot of writing to be done, things waiting to be published and lots of things I have yet to turn in or am able to blog about yet. Made some good new friends, and am living where I grew up-I'm excited to able to share that with my kids-jagged mountains, dark forests, vicious wild animals, don't worry Honey, etc etc. I actually hate resolutions but I am gonna try harder to be better than I was before-gotta turn that try into a 'Did'.
Hope the New Year finds you well-have a good one.
My latest collection of Sword & Sorcery is live! and today only I'm pushing the kindle version like a street hustler for .99
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