O Toothpick Tree

Nothing says Christmas like a tree made out of Styrofoam balls, green paint and toothpicks.

My wife won this last night in a silent auction.  In her defense, however, it was covered in Scratch-It Tickets.  We won $17 but now we're left with this eye sore and potential hazard to our 1-year-old.  I imagine we'll disarm it this weekend and properly dispose of it before he decides to try and eat it.

Although, when I first saw the tree, I couldn't help but think of the Comet Spaceship that Superman's dad used to send his son to Earth after Krypton was destroyed.

 Next year maybe we'll make a Superman Comet Tree!

Tailing The Police

So I’m driving to the train station today and as I approach a 4-way stop, I notice a police cruiser as it pulls up to the stop sign on my left.  He reaches his stop well before me so being a law-abiding citizen I allow him to make his left turn.  Shortly after, I proceed forward and end up a little ways behind the police cruiser.

He reaches the next 4-way stop and is making another left turn, I pull up behind him and I too need to make a left turn so I switch on my blinker and wait for him to head through the intersection.  He does and I pull up to the stop sign, count to 3 (I’ve actually received a ticket for not stopping long enough at a stop sign so now I always count 1-one thousand, 2-one thousand, 3-one thousand before going past a stop sign) and again end up behind him.

At this point, I recall an urban legend about police officers tailing a driver and how they are only supposed to tail you for three blocks before they have to turn so as not to intimidate.  I’m wondering if our roles have been reversed and if this police officer is thinking that I’m tailing him.  It’s just a fleeting thought but it provides some mild amusement for a Thursday morning.

At the third 4-way stop, the officer goes straight – as do I, chuckling to myself.  At the fourth intersection, he is turning left and I just happen to need to turn left too.  As I switch on my blinker in my amused delusion, I envision the officer sitting in his car radioing to HQ that he’s got a stalker in a white pick-up truck who won’t stop following him.

“Have you gone three blocks or more?” says the dispatcher.

“I have!  I have and he won’t stop tailing me!  What do I do?” says the nervous police officer.  He looks into his rear view mirror and sees a slightly overweight, middle aged guy with a graying beard jamming out to AC/DC.   “I’m pretty sure he’s crazy!”

“Ok, if he keeps following you after the next intersection…there’s only one option,” says the dispatcher taking in a gulp of air.  It’s a tense moment and she knows it.  “Stop the car and run!  Run I tell you!”

We reach the fifth intersection, which happens to be a blinking stop light, he turns on his right blinker but I, unfortunately, need to keep going straight.   He goes his way and I go mine.  Crisis averted.

“Is he still following you?” asks the dispatcher, white knuckles gripping the radio.  “I repeat, is he still following?”

“No,” gasps the officer.  “I faked him out and made a right turn, he kept going straight.  I think…I think I’m okay.”

“That was a close one, Bob.  Too close,” she says.

“I know, Janine.  I’m still kind of shaky,” Bob says.  “I think I’ll take the rest of the day off.  Go home.  Kiss my wife, hug my kids…”

“I think that’s the best thing to do…” Janine says somberly. 

SpeckLit

I seem to be having a bit of luck with very short stories these days.  I just had two 100-word shorts (also known as Drabbles) picked up by SpeckLit.  SpeckLit is a website dedicated to these types of very short stories and it's a great website for a quick and interesting read.  I've indicated below when they will appear on the site, plus the title of each piece.  If you have a Drabble or 10 that you'd like to share, check out their submission page.  It's also a paying market so win-win!

Upcoming Drabbles

Ankle Biters (10/27/14)

A Secret Exposed (12/08/14)

I will post updates and links when they are published on the site.

Author Of The Month

I'm a regular lurker at the Absolute Write forums and I stumbled across a horror writing contest in the non-paying markets forum.  So I cleaned up a copy of "Blood Donor" and sent it in and not only did they like it but they made me their author of the month!

Angstadt Content Development

It sounds like my story will appear in an upcoming horror anthology but they're still looking for more contributions.  So if anyone has a horror story (9,000 - 15,000 words), send it to Jay and his crew and you could be the next author of the month and appear in their anthology.  They're also doing a romance anthology but who likes mush when you could have blood and guts, right?

And the frosting on the cake has to be the free promotion!  They're promoting my book "Vampire Savant' on their site so that's pretty cool!

Anyway, I'll post updates as they roll in.

The Little Monster (On Kindle!)

Not to toot my own horn...but I finally placed the children's story I wrote and illustrated onto Kindle.  I've been considering it for a while now and they sealed the deal with a new program they're offering exclusive for children's stories.

It's called the Kindle Kids' Book Creator and it's dedicated to taking illustrated books and making them look great on Kindle.  You can even add pop-up text to your story to help young readers see the important words in larger print.

Anyway, The Little Monster (Who Didn't Like Baths) is about a little blue monster who...you guessed it...didn't like to take baths.  He loved to get dirty and play but when "bathtime rolled around, the little monster could not be found".  I wrote it for my little monster, PJ, and figured other parents might enjoy it too.  I tried to keep it economical but the lowest price I could list it at and still have it on Kindle was $1.99.  Of course, friends and family need but send me a request and I'll make sure you all get a copy for the reduced rate of FREE!

I will admit it's not the greatest illustrations but I think they get the job done so please don't judge the book by my unskilled artistic talent.  It was just a project I started working on when my wife was pregnant and while I was waiting to meet my little monster.

As always, I'm open for feedback so feel free to drop me a line via email, Facebook, Twitter or even here at the old blog.

Postcard Shorts

I received some awesome news today.  A short story of mine has been picked up and published by "Postcard Shorts".  It's a very cool website that only accepts stories at 250 words or less (which can be quite a challenge to tell a fully developed story in such a short length).  Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news and if you would like to read my "postcard short" it's called Fried Chicken.  It's about a lowly chicken fryer who spends a little too much time alone.

An interesting tidbit about "Postcard Shorts", it started out as a challenge from a science fiction magazine editor to Arthur C. Clarke (among other authors) and he came up with a 250-word short story called "Quarantine".  You can find it on their website.

They are always looking for submissions so if you have a story you'd like to submit, why not send it along to them?

Write On Con

So I'm attending a writer's conference this week...but I'm not going anywhere!  It's an online writer's conference that starts on Tuesday (although writer's can post their work earlier) and it's called Write On Con.  The catch?  It's dedicated to writer's of children's literature but that includes picture books, middle grade, young adult and new adult so it's a broad range and includes every kind of genre imaginable.

The best part about this conference is they have some "ninja agents" who will be dropping into the forums and scanning the threads looking for some authors to represent or just provide some constructive criticism.

So if you're a writer of children's books with a manuscript that is complete (or almost there), this might be the conference for you.

I've submitted my latest work, "The Wizard Next Door" so if anyone would like to give it a read, you can find a few pages on those forums.  Links listed below.

Cheers and good luck!

The Wizard Next Door (Query Letter)

The Wizard Next Door (250 words)

The Wizard Next Door (First 5 pages)

No More MMOs

After doing some tinkering around with RPG Maker VX Ace for a couple of months, I finally came up with a game that is at least "demo" worthy.  I have posted it on the Steam Workshop if anyone would care to give it a try.  It's not the most mind boggling of games but I think it's a fair start.  I'm not sure that I'll expand on this idea anymore...at least anymore than I already have.  It really was a project that I put together to break my addiction to MMORPGs (hence the name) and I think it accomplished that as well.

Anyway, let me know what you think and enjoy!  Here's the LINK.

P.S.  I believe you will need to have RPG Maker VX Ace installed to play the game.  Sorry.  :(

This is me...wooing you!

UPDATE:  Vampire Savant is back up for sale and it looks like 86 units were "sold" during the free 5 day special.  Hopefully I'll get some feedback from readers in the not-too-distant future.

Now that I've gotten your attention...I'd just like to tell everyone that for a limited time, VAMPIRE SAVANT will be free on Kindle!  So if you were timid about giving it a read, now's the time to dive right in. The free promotion starts tomorrow (August 7) and ends Monday (August 11).

And after you've read it, if you feel like providing a critique or just some comments, I would really love that!

Otherwise, I've also been busy with a forum that I recently created for fellow authors to submit their works in a safe environment.  It's called Beta Books and while it's still in its infancy, I have high hopes.  So if you're looking for a place to submit your book to get some constructive criticism before you send it out to the masses, Beta Books might be just the thing you're looking for. 

Rejected!

Today I got the form rejection from the same agent who requested a partial last week.  She was very nice though and while I had high hopes, this whole experience gave me some new insight into the book. Fortunately, I am staying busy with other writing projects and what not.

Here are some fun sites I stumbled upon for fellow writers/readers:

Postcard Shorts (Arthur C. Clarke wrote a story that falls into this category)

SpeckLit (I am hooked on these 100 words stories...really gets the creative juices flowing)

Shortbread Stories (a taste of short stories from the UK)

And if anyone would care to read "The Wizard Next Door" before it becomes a highly sought after novel that only the most prestigious and wealthy can afford...look me up and I'd be happy to send along the manuscript.  I just ask that you don't share it with anyone else or try to pawn it off as your own or print it out and use it for toilet paper.  Oh, and a critique would be nice too if you don't mind.

Got a nibble!

Forgive the fishing metaphor but a writer trying to land an agent, who in turn is going to try and land a publisher for said writer, is a lot like fishing.  And the bait is called a query letter.  Anyway, I got a partial request (ok, first five pages but it's a minor victory nonetheless) from a literary agent for my 2nd book "The Wizard Next Door".  Otherwise, I've been busy with work, getting ready to audition for "Little Shop of Horrors" and revising my query letter.

Here's the latest effort:

"If he thought about it and focused really hard, 13-year-old Jake Rinehart could change the direction of the wind.  His Dad told him that once upon a time...before the Great Betrayal.  However, when his father leaves the family for another woman, Jake's world comes shattering down around him and the only shred of hope that Jake can cling to is this idea of magic.  But it's silly.  Magic doesn't really exist...

Jake's anger gets the best of him and lands him in hot water at school and eventually leads to him seeing a therapist who recommends writing exercises to get his anger under control.  But Jake wants to focus on the wind and on that feeling of freedom and wholeness he felt when his Dad was not the Great Betrayer.  It's this thought that he carries with him as his mother picks up stakes and moves them across the country to her hometown in Southern Oregon.  But something is following them, something born from children's nightmares and bent on destroying Jake and his little brother.

The Rinehart family sets down roots at a low-income apartment complex and it is there that Jake finds a new mystery to unravel.  He discovers that his neighbor, a weird old man with a creepy black cat, might be more than just eccentric.  He sets out to prove that the old man is behind the mischief at the apartments - dead mice found in a perfect circle under the floorboards, neighbors mysteriously losing their voices, strange symbols that appear and disappear.  But when his brother goes missing - along with the other children from the complex - Jake becomes entangled in a plot to release an ancient evil from another realm.  With no else to do the job, Jake realizes he must put a stop to it - even if that means accepting that his father was right about magic and taking a chance on THE WIZARD NEXT DOOR.

THE WIZARD NEXT DOOR is a contemporary fantasy novel at around 130,000 words.  If you would like to read more, I'd be happy to send along the completed manuscript.  As for me, I have been writing fiction for over twenty years with several short stories published in Battlespace Anthology, Weekenders Magazine and Kzine."

If you're a fellow author with a query letter you're working on, why not give Query Letter Hell a try on the Absolute Write forums?  The name is very fitting but the pain and anguish is worth the finished product you'll get after it's been ripped up on side and down the other.

Wishy Washy Writer

I've decided to broaden my range and cast a wider net to try and attract readers to "Vampire Savant" so I'm now releasing it again on Nook and for the first time on Smashwords.  I may add some other eBook sites as time goes on so wish me luck.  If you haven't picked up a copy, please do so and let me know what you think!

Otherwise, I just finished a contemporary fantasy novel entitled "The Wizard Next Door" which I've been querying to literary agents.  No bites yet but I've just dangled my toes into the water so I'm hoping to hear some good news on that front in the near future.

And since I can't just sit idly by, I've started work on a novelization of the short story "Connections".  It's going very well (maybe, too well).  It's a different type of project especially since I'm writing solely in first person narrative.  I hope to have that done sometime in 2015.

Anyway, that's the best I can do for a writing update.  I'm about 1/4 of the way through reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (and posthumously by Brandon Sanderson).  I'm almost finished with Book #4 "The Shadow Rising".  Overall, it's a great fantasy epic and I'd highly recommend it if you're into that sort of genre but be warned...it's 14 books long.

Connections Now Available in Kzine Issue #9

I'm excited to announce that one of my short stories Connections can now be found in Kzine Magazine Issue #9.  It's a Kindle exclusive publication.  So take a look and definitely read the other entries in this unique magazine.

Here's a little teaser of the story:

That’s me. I’m the guy standing there in the tan leather jacket and shredded jeans. My name’s Jasper Kennedy— all right, that’s not my real name. But, my real name’s not important— what I do is. I hang around malls and I watch people. I’m a people watcher. Like that song “Girl Watcher” by the O’Kaysons— except I watch everyone. Dammit, now I have that song stuck in my head. Standing here next to the Cinnabon in the Burnsville Mall and I’m humming, “I’m a girl watcher, watching girls go by. My, my, my...” Although the first time I really heard that song was on a commercial for Wheel of Fortune and the tune had been changed to, “I’m a WHEEL watcher.” Not very original but it must have worked because I’m twenty-seven and I still remember it.

The smell of assembly line cinnamon rolls wafts out of the blue brick shop, making my stomach grumble and reminding me that I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I don’t have any money to buy anything and I’m no thief. I’m no beggar either so I ignore my stomach and continue watching people. See, I can tell things about people just by looking at them. It’s a knack I suppose. I prefer to think of it as my superpower.

And here's a brief review of the story too:

“Connections” by J Thomas

Jasper Kennedy can see the light, the light that connects people, say a mother and her child. But not all connections are good, such as the one from the pervert playing with himself while watching the mother breast feed. Like “Time to Play”, this treads the line between pleasant and uncomfortable but definitely lands on the side of the latter. Good stuff.

Heart Of Darkness

I recently stumbled upon a writing group in the St. Louis area.  Although calling the St. Louis Writer's Guild a "writing group" is probably a major faux pas.  But I digress.  I was very excited to find such a group here where I now call home and I was able to attend their May workshop last Saturday.  The theme of the workshop was "Inside The Heart of Darkness:  Exploring and Creating the Layered Villain" and the speaker was a local author and vice-president of the Guild, David Alan Lucas.

In the workshop, he challenged his fellow writers to come up with a villain that was not paper thin.  At one point, we had 30 seconds to write down as many villains as possible.  I thought that would be pretty simple but when the timer started counting down, I could only come up with these five:

 Dracula - I chose him mainly because Mr. Lucas was wearing a Dracula t-shirt but also because I had a deep-seated fear of vampires as a kid.  Although the Twilight series has definitely helped to dull the edge of fear that the vampire once presented, I still think of Dracula as the grandaddy of all villains.

 Hannibal Lecter - again, a no brainer.  I'll admit I saw "Silence of the Lambs" and never read the book, but I did read "Hannibal" and through that novel, I think Hannibal became less of a villain and more of an anti-hero.  But the reason I chose him is because he's charismatic, intelligent and most importantly scary as hell.

Mother Brain - that's right, from the Metroid game series.  She's just a giant brain in a jar but I'll be damned if she didn't pop into my head during the exercise.  I tried to examine why and I think it comes down to the evil of logic - the idea that only one way can be the right way and those who are not right must die!  Maybe I'm over examining this but she was my number three pick.

Lestat - Anne Rice's vampire with the golden mane was a character of fascination for me in high school and beyond.  Although he really was only a villain in "Interview With The Vampire" and later became an anti-hero in her following books.  But, he was a sassier version of Dracula - probably better looking to.

The Devil -  He probably should be at the top of the list since he is the ultimate villain and while he debuted in such memorable books such as "The Bible" or "Faust", the idea of the devil for me is that little voice on your shoulder telling you to do bad things.  He is the evil in all of us and so to call him a villain is in a way saying that we are all villains, right?






Lucas talked about the duality of the hero and villain and cited Batman and the Joker as a prime example.  But I was stuck on another idea and that was the anti-hero.  At one point, another writer brought up the TV series "Breaking Bad" and how we watch Walter White descent into villainy.  I almost cried foul since that series was on the tip of my tongue.  Anyway,  I kept thinking that his story featured the same hero and the same villain namely Walter White.  It was the epitome of the line from The Dark Knight "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain".  Certainly not mind blowing stuff here but I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.

If anyone has thoughts or other villains they'd like to share, I'd be interested.

New Cover for Vampire Savant

Like George Lucas releasing the "Special Edition" of the Star Wars trilogy, I too cannot help but tweak and rework something that probably is better off left alone.  Plus this gave me a chance to re-familiarize myself with Adobe Photoshop (which is a program I need to know how to use for my new job).  Anyway, I've redone the cover for "Vampire Savant" which is still exclusively available on Kindle.

For those of you without a Kindle (like myself), there is a free app that will allow you to read any book available on Kindle.  This means anyone with a smart phone, tablet or computer can read books via Kindle by going here.

Here's what the new cover looks like.  Let me know what you think or better yet, read the book and post a review (good or bad, I don't care!).  Thanks!

The Little Monster (Who Didn't Like Baths)

I've stepped out into a new world with a children's book I put together.  I recently sent it out to a potential publisher, Chronicle Books.  They're the same folks who did Darth Vader and Son.  If you haven't read that book (which if you're a parent and a Star Wars fan, I'm sure you have), you should give it a read.  It's really funny.

Anyway, my story is about a little blue monster who doesn't want to take a bath.  It focuses on what kids like and what kids don't like and that it's okay to not like things but sometimes we have to do things that we don't like because they're important.  I started putting it together (and I say "putting it together" because I drew and wrote the storyboards) before PJ was born but it's definitely dedicated to him.  On that front, the little man is starting to growl just like a little monster which is ironic, don't you think?  It's quite amusing and a little creepy at times.

So wish me luck on the children's book and hopefully you'll see it on a bookshelf near you someday.  Here's some samples though to sate your appetite.

Vampire Savant (only on Kindle)

If you want to read a book about a vampire who goes to see a shrink to stop acting like a vampire...then look no further.  And now the book is ONLY available on Kindle!  After some debating, it seemed like the logical choice especially since they offer the Kindle Select program which help promotes your book.

I also discovered that a Work-In-Progress, The Trinity, is still available for viewing on Kindle.  It's only the first chapter or two but if anyone is interested - it's available for FREE!

Otherwise, busy with CBS News Radio, the family and another novel (and a short story too).

Vampire Savant

I also decided to give up the pen name on this project.  I think it might be too confusing since I've been previously published by my birth name.  My wife says I'm wishy-washy and she's probably right.

The Trinity (WIP)

Update on Vampire Savant

If you haven't grabbed a copy of Vampire Savant for 99 cents, time is running out.  On February 23rd, the ebook will go up in price and become an exclusive on Kindle.  So click on the links to the left if you'd like to order the book about a vampire going to see a shrink in order to stop acting like a vampire.

(this is not the vampire I'm talking about)