Two new stories out

Happy holidays everyone! To help you celebrate- while you decide which books to buy as gifts this season- here's a couple of new stories of mine you can read for free.

Thanks to Tell-Tale Press!

“Registry”

“The Push”

More Shows Coming Up and New Story Sale

Hello again- it's a busy time this season, with so much happening!

First up, I'll be attending the book launch of Ray Daniel, for his latest mystery, Hacked.
Thursday June 08, 7:00 PM, at the Barnes and Noble, 1 Worcester Rd, Framingham, MA.

Update: writeup and pics of the event here.

Ray's a terrific writer and stand-up guy. To see an interview with Ray, click here.

After that, I'll be at the Society of Independent Publishers and Authors  (SIPA) meeting, speaking about how authors can produce audio versions of their books.
Thursday, June 15th 6:30-7:30 pm in the CCA Conference Room, Chelmsford, MA.

Just sold a story to Mystery Weekly Magazine! Can't wait to see that get published.

And then the booksignings!
First is the Chelmsford Public Library. Saturday, 6/24,  2-4 PM.
Come and meet local authors and pick up some great summer reads!

And then July! Save the Date: 13th Annual Books in Boothbay: Saturday July 8,  9:00 am - 1:00 pm!
Maine's Summer Book Fair will be held at Boothbay Railway Village in scenic Boothbay, Maine. Dozens of authors from around the state will sign their books, discuss writing, and meet fans.

Later that afternoon, Saturday July 8, I'm cruising on to the 35th Annual Moxie Festival- to sell books with the Horror Writers of Maine.
We'll be signing our latest anthology, Northern Frights!

And the Summer caps when I'm teaching classes on Mystery Writing and Thriller writing at the Cape Cod Writer's Conference. 
Want to learn better ways of writing and selling? This conference is for you!
The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, Massachusetts, August 3-6.

Last night I received my print copy of another anthology I'm in,
Busted! Arresting Stories from the Beat.

Pretty cool of writers to be with.

  Oh yeah, and soon will be the publication of my fifth Zack Taylor mystery, A Sharp Medicine.

News and Number 600

Happy Summer- or Solstice, or however you term the season.
Lots of things happening- and just wanted to note that this is the 600th blog post! That's quite a record, as many start a blog, but fall off along the way. We're still going strong, and in fact will move the platform to a Wordpress site soon enough, to keep up with the times.

First bit of news- later this week we'll interview author Cheryl Hollon.

The excellent crime magazine Thuglit will soon be closing it's doors after a terrific eleven-year run of the best stories around.
I'm honored to report that my tale "Forever Amber" was accepted as the last story ever- for the upcoming final issue:

I'll be taking part at the Boothbay (Maine) Festival of Books on Saturday, July 9, along with the Sisters in Crime.

WEMF radio will interview me on July 14th. Tune in for a good time!

Then I'll be signing books with the NEHW at the Seacoast ComiCon in Kittery, ME on July 23rd.


So yeah- busy Summer ahead, and it's just started! See you soon!

Happy Holiday Weekend

Greetings- haven't posted a lot lately, as have been busy with mostly mundane matters of little interest to anyone else. Here are a few items I can report.

The audio for my latest book, More Fables and Fantasies is now out, narrated by the talented Julie Hinton. It's great, and at a bargain price!

Got a story acceptance from a great magazine- more details later, when I get an OK.

Working on another story for the NEHW anthology of Wicked Witches.

And of course, still working on the latest Zack Taylor novel (#5), A Sharp Medicine. 

And a few other projects of non-fiction ...

Can't wait to become an overnight sensation!

Latest News- Story Sale, Audio, Big Public Event

Howdy- hope you're all enjoying the summer. It's been a busy one so far.

Big news in the story department- my tale "Automat" has been been accepted by the Level Best people for this year's Rogue Wave anthology. Level Best publishes THE big anthology for New England mystery/crime writers, so this is a huge step. It should be out in November, in time for Crime Bake.

You can see my Crime Bake ad (with the awesome image for the cover) for the next Zack Taylor mystery, A Certain Slant of Light, here.

And in audiobook news, I've posted the first three Zack Taylor mysteries up for bids for narration on ACX, which publishes the finished works on Audible.com

Here are my works that are available now on audio.
And I'm told the finishing touches are being done for Shadow of the Wendigo, so that should be out soon.

Mark your calendars for the huge New England Author Expo, coming to the Danversport Yacht Club on Wed, July 30th. I'll be there signing books with a few of my friends and fellow authors.

Another Story Sale! Our view confirmed! Big BBC Sci-Fi Show Coming!

Well, I've just sold my story "Dead Man's Hand" to a publication on my third continent! Voluted Tales, out of Australia, joins publications in North America and Europe as places that have accepted my stories. The remaining ones may be tougher to get into...
Should be up within the next month- will send out the link.

In other news, our guest post on Giving Our Way to Success on Joe Konrath's influential publishing blog gets confirmed on another big blog from Joanna Penn today, on Why Indie Authors Need A Team. Absolutely right, and one of the things we were pointing out in our post. Joanna Penn is one of the people we give a shoutout to in the post as one who helps other writers with her information sharing.

And this Saturday, the BBC America channel is showing The real history of science fiction, a 4-part series. I believe it starts at 10. Check it out- looks awesome!

Why I Love the Writing Game- Part Whatever

Ever have one of those colds on a weekend where you couldn't get anything done? Yeah, like that. Have felt awful, and worse about not getting any writing down. Have a terrific start to one novel, and another one planned out and ready to write. But nothing doing with this rotten sick feeling.

Cherry on the sundae-  a bloody surprise snowstorm. Sigh.

We won't talk about the Pats not showing up for their game against Denver...

So I'm at the end of the weekend, feeling bad, and suddenly an email comes through. A response to a story I submitted back before Halloween. The editor loves it ands wants to put it in the inaugural issue of Trysts of Fate magazine next month.

Wow. Nicely done. First story sale of the year!

The cool thing is I can be sitting at my desk and get notice of another royalty payment, or book sale, or opportunity, or someone who liked something I wrote and wants to pay for it.

Speaking of which, my newly-released audio books are selling like hotcakes. Check them out on
Audible.com

Once in a while, you get a lift when you need it.

Top Ten Twice, Another Story Sale

The first Zack Taylor novel, A Memory of Grief, hit the Kindle free lists Top Ten in two different categories.

 

 

That's #6 in Mystery > Hard Boiled, and #7 in Crime Fiction > Murder.  Woo-hoo!!!
Out of the thousands of books out on Kindle, this one's tops-- on a couple of different lists!
Up for free for a little time more-- if you know anyone who likes mystery novels, send the word along.

And sold my flash story Encounter to Beware the Dark, a British magazine.
Publication date To Be Announced.

Am working on more novel publications.
November's going to be a busy month-- have four scheduled signings, library talks, a mystery convention, a TV interview to film, and jury duty.

Did I say how much I love the new world of writing and publishing?
Mwa-ha-ha-ha...

 

More Story Sales

Wow- been a great writing and selling month so far.
Started the month with a story sale to Fiction and Verse, which was published.

Then I got my anthology invite story accepted for Nightfalls, a collection where all the proceeds go to a charity.

Wrote an all-new story for the new Fungi anthology, and just got news of acceptance of that one.

And another story sale, to Over My Dead Body. I'll link when it's up.
They published my story "The Mousetrap" last August.

And my story Heartsounds, which was published in Jan of 2011 was just selected for inclusion in a new anthology The Best of Every Day Fiction Four.

Also just got word I'm a finalist in the contest “50 Great Writers You Should  Be Reading” on Author Radio.

Loving it! Now I just need to write more stories.

And write more books. Have to get Book #3 of the Zack Taylor series, A Shadow on the Wall out as soon as possible. People keep asking when it will be out.

Ah, the wonderful pressure of success-- "When's the next one?"

Another Story Sale

Hey there- it's been a busy time, with work, family, and writing books and stories.

But it's paying off- just a little. Just sold another story, a 1000-flash piece to Fiction and Verse.

Will let you know when it's up.

Back to work...

Another sale- and books are in!

Yahoo! First, I'm gazing fondly on a box-- chock full of my novel "A Memory of Grief." Wow. It's real. Lots of beautiful copies that I can sign for people.

So you say, "Well, how could this night get any better?"

With a story sale, that's how. Just sold "The Mousetrap" to Over My Dead Body.
Will post the pub date when I hear.

Anybody got some champagne?

Another Story Sale

Had another quick story sale, as "Moose Tracks" became the latest story to be accepted, this one by An Electric Tragedy. Should appear in next month's issue.

Still waiting on the print version of "A Memory of Grief." Will send word when that's out.

Over 200 posts to this blog now, in the just over two years it's been up. Nice to have a book to talk about now.

Another Humor Sale

Spent awhile yesterday sending out submissions, and it paid off quickly-- just sold another short humor piece, this one to Eric's Hysterics. This is an interesting "market." It's actually a guy's blog, but he's listed as a legit market, and he pays, out of his own pocket. Publishes one funny thing each Monday, on the premise that we should start the week off with a laugh. Good for him.

Here's the new way of doing things. Someone provides a regular value print or online mag, or in this case, a blog, and gets contributors at a bargain rate. People submit via email, and as it's a one-person show, he got back to me within 24 hours, resulting in another sale. Cool.

It's why I have no patience for the many places that take weeks, or even months, to respond to a submission. Sure they get a lot, but limit your submission periods, and only reopen when you've got through the pile. Duh. Nope, some just put out the word and get overwhelmed, then a story sits in limbo for far too long. Then they send out a "we're too busy, and we lost/threw out/gave up" and you've wasted too long on them. And yeah, this includes the "pro" markets, who are often the worst offenders.

So I support the little guys, if they make an effort. Win-win all around.

Another Story Sale

Cool beans for Halloween! My flash piece (very short story) was accepted by Every Day Fiction, to go up soon.

This is my first non-genre, mainstream story. See, I'm versatile!

Happy halloween everybody. Stay safe.

Downer

Am very down tonight about the state of trying to get a novel published. I've written three, and good ones, and it seems very unlikely in this environment to go with traditional publishers. Mostly because they'll never see the novel to see if it's any good.

Of course it would help if the gatekeepers, the agents, would actually respond to professional queries. If a business solicits queries, they then have a duty to respond, and those who don't are just jerks who shouldn't be in the business. If you want a list of names, I can supply them. Too busy to reply? Then post a frigging notice on your website, dipstick! Don't waste our time.

For all the hours I've wasted preparing manuscripts and queries that never got answered, I could have written many more books. But agents can't be bothered until you're already famous and will make them a lot of money. Nice racket.

The traditional publishing business is getting it's collective ass kicked by the explosion in other methods of publishing, and mostly responding by whining rather than doing anything. Well, in chaos there is opportunity.

Another Sale!

Yahoo! Just got word that the editor of Dark Valentine loved my tale "Kamikaze Hipsters," and is accepting it for publication.

Number 14 and counting. Almost enough for that story collection!

Another Story Sale

Wow- the fastest turnaround EVER on a story. I submitted "Bootleggers" to Short-Story.Me last night, and it was read and accepted by 4 today! Makes me pretty happy, and I needed the boost. Still kind of stunned at the speed in which it happened.

This was a story I rewrote several times, from different points of view. I finally got it to where I was pleased and proud of it, and am happy it has found a home. Within a few weeks you'll be able to read it.

So this goes to show that those many magazines which take months to decide on a story, are just plain lazy. This place is certainly unusually fast, but it shouldn't take more than 3 months for some editor to read a short story!

Well, I'd like to write more, but my daughter has a school band concert tonight. I'll keep you posted on further developments.

Another Story Sale

Great way to start the new year- my short story "The Little Guy" has just been accepted by Sorcerous Signals for their February issue. Yee-haw! This makes my tenth sale. I'm signing two copies of a 2-page contract- sounds impressive, but the payment will barely net me a venti at Fourbucks coffee.

Another piece is being considered by another publication, and has made it to the third round of consideration (yes, they have a long process).

Am feeling happy but rather tired- we went cross-country skiing with some friends, excpet my skis did not glide- they stuck to the snow like it was sushi rice. So I kicked them off and walked. Gliding across the snow is a lot easier than trudging through it.