Eric Garrison's Blog, page 17

Mario Marathon 6!

An insanely fun way to help out Child’s Play Charity. Click on the picture to watch LIVE starting NOW… it’s gone over 100 hours in a row the last few years, so it’ll be going all weekend and into next week!

Hydra Publications Summer Bash!

Reality Check, my science fiction novel of dimension-hopping adventure, will be given away FREE on July 16th and 17th as part of the Hydra Publications Summer Bash event! Please help me out by joining and sharing this with friends. I’ll be asking again closer to the date, so that as many people can read my book as possible!

Note that this is a virtual event, not an in-person one, so schedule conflicts are not a problem!

Four ’til Late Cover Reveal!

See the details on the Seventh Star Press release here:

http://seventhstarpress.blogspot.com/2013/05/four-til-late-cover-reveal-with-eric.html

I’m so excited!

Get Blue Spirit before it’s gone!

Minnie Celebrates (Nell Williams)

Blue Spirit’s days are numbered.

It’s true. I’ll be taking down Blue Spirit from the Amazon store entirely sometime before the end of June. The only way you could get a copy after that is to buy one of the quite limited number of paperbacks I have in stock.

Why? Well, it’s all Seventh Star Press’s fault.  They liked my Road Ghosts trilogy so much, they offered me a six-book deal. Since Blue Spirit is a spin-off of that series, it’s included in the deal.  So when Four ’til Late comes out next month, I have to take Blue Spirit down.

What’s that mean? Well, each book is being rewritten and put through the editing wringer… I worked with SSP’s Josh already with Four ’til Late, and let me tell you, he won’t let me get away with anything. As a result Four ’til Late is a MUCH better book than it used to be, and I am proud of what’s come out of this process.  Sinking Down is already off going through that same process, and I’m both excited and nervous to see what comes back to me to fix. I’m hoping Sinking Down will be out this summer, before Gen Con.

One surprise though… originally Me and the Devil, which is the third Road Ghosts book, came out next. I’ve decided that chronologically, Blue Spirit happens before that book, and so it will be back out again by fall, also rewritten and smartly polished.

Oh, another thing, since it’s a six book deal, and since I like trilogies, this means that Blue Spirit has two sequels in the works, and they’ll come out the last Road Ghosts book, Me and the Devil. A working title for Skye’s series as a whole is “Tipsy Fairy Tales”. Got a better idea? Let me know.

If you’re interested in a signed paperback of the original edition of Blue Spirit, contact me with the form below.  There aren’t a lot left, so I’m asking $12 plus shipping. I accept payment through paypal. Oh and click the picture of Minnie to the right if you want to buy the Kindle edition for just $2.99.

[contact-form]

Fandom Fest!

I’ve added a new convention to my calendar – Fandom Fest! I have never been to this convention, so it’ll be a thrilling new experience for me. I wasn’t going to go, but BOTH of my publishers (Seventh Star Press and Hydra Publications) will be there, as well as many of my Indiana Horror Writers friends.

So I figured, why not?

By that time, I will certainly have Reality Check and my first Road Ghosts novel, Four ’til Late, on hand, and possibly the second book, Sinking Down (fingers crossed).

I hope I haven’t overextended myself with conventions this year, but it’s gonna be a big debut year for me… 4 or 5 novels published in a single year!  I doubt I’ll ever top that. So, there’s no better year to get myself out there.

Do you think Shatner would like a copy of Reality Check?

See you in Louisville!

The Beginning!

Writing the beginning of a story makes me more anxious than any other part. For one thing, it’s my only chance to grab the reader’s attention. Many slush readers decide on the first page whether they’ll pass on a story.  Some say the first paragraph or even the first line. No pressure!

Short story and flash fiction writing have been great practice for me in learning to discover the true “inciting incident” that sets everything rolling. I like to start with a bang or a laugh and try to pique the reader’s curiosity.

I know I’m not alone.  The beginning is a huge sticking point for many writers. I’d advise others to just write whatever to start with, and then keep in mind that later, it will probably be changed or may even fall to the cutting room floor. I find it helps take pressure off so I can get a story out. Then I’ll only have the smaller problem of fixing the opening at the end, rather than having a blank page while dithering over the perfect beginning.

Mo*Con 8

Mo*Con 8

I will be at Mo*Con 8 this Saturday!

What is Mo*Con? Wellll, that’s a little tricky. It’s a smallish (

It’s a great chance for me to meet and greet with others in my community and to see friends from far away that come here for this purpose. This will be my third time, and I’m looking forward to it!

Depression / anxiety

Okay, this is a break in the writerly / publicity posts.  This is just me talking about something personal.  I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life. Depression turns out to be easier for me to deal with, I just sleep more or lose myself in a book, become someone else for awhile.

Wouldn’t it be great to be someone else, just for a day?  Their problems aren’t yours. You won’t have to worry about that oil change you’ve missed for weeks now, or that awkward social event coming up. Or feel guilty for being behind on work or promised projects or for not blogging enough or for wanting to just blow off EVERYTHING and crawl back under the covers.  Maybe peer out enough to watch a Doctor Who Marathon.  Doctor Who makes it all better, right?

I know I’m not alone in this, and when I do summon the guts to ask for help, people surprise me. People I don’t hear from often appear out of nowhere to say nice things and express concern and offer hugs. Even virtual hugs help more than most people realize. Being thought of, being sought out, without me having to ask for attention or time, means so much to me. Being missed, being thought of, these are huge to me, and make me feel loved more than any other words.

So thank you to my friends for sticking with me through being clingy and sad and paranoid and panicky. Thank you for still thinking I’m worthwhile. I need you all, and I hope the love I give you makes it all worth it.

Troll or Derby 99 cent sale! April19-22

My friend Red Tash is having a sale!  Troll or Derby, normally $4.99 is just 99 cents today  through Monday!  Grab it here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

I’d take part, but I already own the paperback and a Kindle copy. Yeah, I’m kinda a squeeing fan.  You can be too, for under a buck!

———

Debra Wheeler seems like any other high school reject: at fifteen, she’s more into roller skating than boys, and Mom plays favorites with big sister Gennifer, the homecoming princess. With little to love in ultra-rural Bedrock, Indiana, Deb’s counting down the days until she can skate away to join the roller derby.

When Gennifer is kidnapped, Mom’s breakdown forces Deb to take charge. With no clue where to start and thugs on her tail, she turns to the only adult who has ever helped her out in a jam: Coach, the owner of the skating rink. So what if he has tusks and might be a troll? Coach gives her a pair of magical skates and sends her off into a world that reveals a magical, if somewhat sinister, nature. Deb soon discovers that beneath the “glamours” of everyday life flit a million fantastical stories–and her own might be the juiciest gossip in town.

The Midwestern lifestyle every teenager loves to hate is turned inside out as Deb careens through Rumspringa, biker gangs, flea markets and tractor pulls–all teeming with fae. The valiant troll Harlow tries to intervene before Deb strays from her mission into romance and roller derby, but will they join forces to save Gennifer, or be lost to this strange new realm, forever?

Readers will find Deb a smart and witty narrator who–like them–says the wrong thing, wishes she could be someone else, and falls for the wrong person. They’ll be drawn in by a girl who is independent and street smart, and they’ll fall for her destined BFF, the whimsical troll loner who guides them through this quirky dark fantasy romp.

About the Author

Red Tash is a journalist-turned-novelist of dark fantasy for readers of all ages. Monsters, SciFi, wizards, trolls, fairies, and roller derby lightly sautéed in a Southern/Midwestern sauce await you in her pantry of readerly delights. Y’all come, anytime.

A Character Interview from Horizon Shift

Please welcome my guest, Lyndi Alexander, author of the Horizon Crossover Series! We met at the That Book Place Authors Fair last month. I’ve asked her to write an interview with one of her characters, and she’s graciously provided it for your entertainment. Enjoy!

- Eric

 

In the novel, HORIZON SHIFT, when Captain Temms Rogers ends up on the far side of a wormhole, his ship shot to hell and most of his crew dead, the second priority after patching all the holes in his hull is to rebuild his crew.

 

While he has a couple of engineers that survived the passing, when he goes to the labor hall, he finds a young man named Benzi Quinn and hires him in spite of the fact he’s got a very bad attitude and just got fired from his last position—

 

“Now hold on an effing minute, there. Ain’t nothing wrong with me.” The sinewy black-haired fellow straightens up and eyes us with that piercing sapphire gaze. “Never wanted to serve on that ship anyway, not with Them aboard.”

 

“Them? Who’s Them?”

 

“You know, Them. Those what ain’t like Us.”

 

“Us?” A little confused. “Well, I’m a woman, you’re a man… we’re not really alike, are we?”

 

He smacks his forehead. “What are you, dense like my effing mother? Sprechan’s balls. Not human.”

 

“Oh, that.”

 

“Yes, that. Rogers, now he promised me if I hired on, I’d be chief of engineering. I liked the sound of that, being chief. Sounds important, right?” He scowls. “Important, hell. Didn’t tell me he already had a bloody department head. A woman, no less. And a wog second in command.”

 

“Wog?”

 

He rolls his eyes. “Not. Like. Us.”

 

“Oh, yeah. But look, aren’t you on a spaceship? In space? Going around to different planets? You’d think that would be a prime place to find aliens.”

 

“Don’t mean I want to work with ‘em. Can’t be trusted. They steal what belongs to you and never give it back.”

 

An odd look crosses his face, and he suddenly appears much younger, almost lost. But he quickly covers it up.

 

“Don’t matter. I’m better than anything Rogers has now. He’ll see it sooner or later.” He smirks a little. “Besides, I got something on him, Mr. High and Mighty Captain.”

 

“What’s that?”

A crafty look. “Don’t you worry about it. Let’s just say I know who’s looking for Rogers, and all I got to do is pick up a comm and send out a quickie. So he’d best be good to me. Cause I can bring him a world of hurt.”

 

“Wait, you’re saying after he practically picked you up starving on the street, you’d turn on him? That’s cold.”

 

“Cold? You know what’s cold? That navigator he hired on. Can’t be but eighteen, but you could freeze water on her ass. I was just trying to be friendly, you know?” He chuckles. “Liang’s cute enough, thought she might want to keep company. But…” He shrugs. “Who needs her?”

 

“Exactly. She’s probably better off—”

 

He eyes me, and I see that jackrabbit temper I’ve heard about flash to the surface. He’s hot enough I take a step back. Last thing I need is getting bashed in the face. “You’re better off too,” I assure him. “Who needs a chick that doesn’t want you, huh?”

 

He mutters something about none of the chicks wanting him, but quickly chews his mouth shut. “Who needs ‘em? Any of ‘em? I’ll show ‘em all!”

 

Showed my old man, didn’t I? Never thought I’d make anything of myself. See me now, Pa? Remember them nights in the old house by the river? Wind howlin’ through the window cracks and Pa just sloppin’ down them ales to keep himself warm. He come after me one time too many…

 

His cocky self-confident look restored, Benzi just grins. “Been on my own since I was fifteen. Guess I know my way around without anyone’s help. You tell Rogers he’d best expect great things from me. I bet someday I’ll even save his damn ass, his and the whole ship with him. Then we’ll see who’s indispensable around here.”

 

***

HORIZON SHIFT is a new science fiction/space opera release from Lyndi Alexander and Dragonfly Publishing, Inc. http://www.dragonflypubs.com/dfp/horizonshift.html   Find out more about this book and the rest of the series at the blog home of Lyndi Alexander! http://lyndialexander.wordpress.com/the-horizon-crossover-series/

Buy HORIZON SHIFT at any of these fine retailers:

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