"Scavengers" Chapter One on Audio!

Hey guys and gals!
Not only has Scavengers hit #1 bestseller, my good friends Jason King and  Zach Bjorge even went and surprised me with an audio reading of chapter one! Check it put!

and if your so inclined Scavengers is still on sale for .99 cents for the next 48 hours.

Listen Up: There was a Woman Dwelt by a Graveyard

Inspired by both M.R. James and Robert E. Howard, I wrote a collection of western themed ghost stories told in a bizarre mashup of those two writers titled Whispers Out of the Dust.

I loved James way of bringing you in to the English countryside and telling you about this very true story told by an old man or validated by this manuscript found in a musty library. As much as I loved those stories, there was an aspect I could never duplicate; I didn't grow up in 19th century England, I don't know that place as well as others for the sake of truly bringing you into that space, but I do know the American west and that ties me closer to my favorite writer Robert E.  Howard.

Howard was a Texan and wrote about what he knew (and so much more) and I could relate to that.
Jumping off from that I know the American west, so I found an intriguing place that was perfect for my backdrop. A real old west ghost town drowned beneath the waters of Lake Mead. - St. Thomas, Nevada. It was founded by Mormons (like me) and gave me a great place to start from because I know that history like James knew the Church of England, like Howard knew Texas boom towns.

So Whispers Out of the Dust has a score of shorts and among them was a piece inspired by James that was in turn inspired by Shakespeare - There Was a Woman Dwelt by a Graveyard.

My good friend Jason King shared it for a flash fiction Friday and then surprised me with a audio reading of it.

So one of the few audio formats of my work out there yet - here is "There Was A Woman Dwelt By A Graveyard." Enjoy



I plan on making sure more of my books become available in Audio this later year. I suspect that market is just going to keep growing, just like I listen to more audio books myself each year.

The Big Things in Life

I've neglected my posting for a bit now, but you know I have some good excuses.

My newest daughter (she's my fourth!)was born just three weeks ago. Her name is Athena Eve West, I wanted
something feminine and powerful and unique in that when she is in school there won't be a passel of others kids with the same name, That's my own hell with a good  but incredibly common name -I can't tell you other writers out there how many times I  pondered using a pen name for that very reason but at the same time I want everyone to know that I am me = ego wins.

That all said, despite the many sleepless nights (giving my wife all the breaks possible) this has been my most productive writing summer I have ever had. I don't have an exact count but I have probably nailed down about 70K words just this summer. And that is my personal all time best I believe. So progress has been good and I am working at keeping that drive and progress up and running.

Coming up very soon is Salt Lake Comic Con and I so hoped to have my latest quick project out but it won't quite make it - instead it will be available in time for October, which is fitting considering its ghost stories. Largely inspired by the weird tales I love by Robert E. Howard etc but also by a new favorite ghost story writer M.R.James, I'mm nearly thru all of his tales and think they are magnificent. His are all very English but I am borrowing a lot of his framing devices though set in the American West rather than the English countryside, a whole lot of found letters and the like  and a lot of this is really true, type verbiage. I'll have Whispers Out of the Dust available shortly.

Black Friday ~ RED COUNTRY

"A choice between killing and dying ain't no choice at all."

Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie
is likely my favorite fantasy fiction read to come out of the Big publishers this year (Orbit) I still mean to read a few more from TOR and PYR, but this will be pretty tough to beat.
Anyone else I really liked (published this year) is almost certainly indie.

I don't like giving away spoilers, but there are a few caveats to Abercombies books. The three standalone novels, Best Served Cold, The Heroes and Red Country could be read without having read the First Law Trilogy, but would be much better appreciated IF you have read them. A lot of back-story could be understood, but the true appreciation and context just won't be there.

They are rough, called Grim Dark by some, but I never felt like it was as nihilistic as others have claimed. Brutal perhaps, but in my mind no more so than Unforgiven and not even as terrible and gut wrenching as another favorite of mine =Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.

In any case, Red Country is absolutely a western set within Abercrombies fantasy world. It works as any western should, minus the gunpowder. Every scene and confrontation on the plains or saloon easily felt like it belonged in that American tradition.
Living in the Inter-mountain west, I caught quite a few nuances showing Abercrombies research and attention to detail that I think could have easily been passed over by other storytellers, but for me - it fit. It showed how close and true he worked to make this a great western with realistic touches ~ you have to be realistic.

Without spoiling too much, anyone that has read the books knows that the character laying the biggest mark in Abercrombies universe is Logen, 'The Bloody Nine' Ninefingers, and we've been missing him and wondering what happened to him for the last couple books.

He is back-anyone with any sense will know it is him in the first couple pages, so that's no spoiler. But he has tried to put his past behind him and everyone knows him now as "Lamb" the coward.
But when his step son and daughter are kidnapped, there is gonna be hell to pay and the sleeping giant is awakened.

It was just a little slow going in the beginning (not unlike The Heroes) but once things started to happen-Did they ever.
So many scenes and chapters erupting in my head that I'd love to mention but just can't yet, so many that made me want to cheer and laugh. Abercrombie has a wonderful knack for setting things up that make you so sure on how they will turn out and then turning them on its ear and twisting it upside down. Highly, highly recommended.

I so wish I could get my hands on the UK cover (above) these US covers are seriously lame, I wish a marketing rep could see that, all three of the US stand-alones have terrible covers, why is it so hard to just keep the brilliant UK ones? This US cover tells you nothing, shows nothing, and a basket-hilt rapier swung two-handed? Give me a break.

Abercrombie is a little slower on getting books out, The Heroes was released in February of last year, but I am so anticipating the next one already even if it will likely be 2014.

Unlike some of Abercrombies other books, this had a map-that only made me anticipate a wider travelogue than we  received, not a big deal except for the tantalization of what might occur where - I kept expecting something to go on in the rock formation (canyon lands) The Three Emperors, but nothing did, just my being map happy I guess.

Now I've got a hankering to watch some of my favorite westerns while finishing up my Thanksgiving pie and turkey.

Have You Missed the Katon University Series?

I got a head start on these before they were released. My friend Andrea Pearson is launching several novellas she has titled The Katon University Series, (look at that name again)

This initial trio is the first year of the University stories and are all based loosely on older short stories by such as H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James but with a fresh teen approach and twist to reach a YA audience. Delightfully creepy but not gory, more atmosphere and suspense than anything. I actually like her ending for The Music of Anna Morse better than Lovecraft's finale for The Music of Erich Zann.

There will be three to six novellas for every year of college for the three students at Katon University: Anya, Austin, and Lizzie. After the novellas for each year are finished, Andrea will write a full-length novel, tying themes from the novellas together.

Britnell Manor

Austin receives a photograph in the mail and quickly discovers something about it isn’t quite right: every time he looks at it, there are changes.
And the changes aren’t good.

Loosely based off an MR James ghost story, Britnell Manor is a novelette in the Katon University First Year series.

Kindle, Nook, Smashwords



The Music of Anna Morse

When Anya, a talented cellist, goes to Ohio to sharpen her skills with wind magic, she has no idea her studies are about to collide with terrifying creatures and people from another dimension.
Based off one of HP Lovecraft’s popular stories.

Kindle, Nook, Smashwords



   

Whistle, and I'll Come

Lizzie doesn't know the old whistle she found in a deserted trapper's cabin is possessed. She blows on it, accidentally calling back the spirit of a dead goddess consumed by the desire to snare the person who called her.

When the goddess arrives in the form of a statue, the stillness of Lizzie's mountain retreat is destroyed. Based off a story by MR James.

Kindle, Nook (link coming soon), Smashwords


The stories can be read in any order, and I enjoyed all three. And I am digging the 'Eye' on the cover of Anna Morse that James Curwen did. Thanks for letting me be an advanced reader Andrea, I look forward to the next year.