Luke Alistar's Blog, page 3

Kindle Book Sale – June 5-12

I’m participating in a big indie book sale! 39 books, including mine, are all on sale for 99¢ from June 5-12. In addition to getting lots of great books for just99¢ each, you can enter for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card from this giveaway on Rafflecopter.Spread the word and enjoy your […]

Impressionistic Taxidermy

The deer head on my wall is smirking at me. I sit here at my computer, trying to ignore its glassy stare, but some inexorable compulsion forces me to cast occasional fleeting glances at it. I have often considered disposing of it, but it was my first deer and I feel that the sentimental value […]

Christmas for the Ratcatchers

You may remember that I ran a short story contest back in December and January, and the winner was my cousin Juliet Lauser. Now, at last, here is the winning story, after I provided her with a critique and she edited it. Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter One – Walking In the Snow It was […]

Chasing the Sun, Chapter One (tentative title)

This is the beginning of a new novel I’m co-writing with a friend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is music in the dark, far below the streets and shimmering buildings of the city, but it is hard to find. Much better music can be found in the city above, but not everyone is allowed to live there. Katalina […]

Burning Time, City Of Rain

It’s a beautiful day in the city of rain The clouds are all gone for a while Traffic is bad and parking’s a pain I might have to walk for a mile But with nowhere to go and some hours to kill It’s a nice day just to sit still To grab a notepad and […]

One Year Since…

A year ago today, I ran my first free promotion on The Unseen. The Kindle ebook was downloaded just over 11,000 times in a single day, causing the sale of 90 copies overnight after the free promotion ended, and more than 200 additional sales in the next ten days. I earned almost $1,200 in those [...]

He is Verbing

Today let’s pick apart a technically correct piece of writing to see how it can be made better: I opened the door, and saw that he was sitting on a chair in the center of the room. “You found me at last,” he said First, your point-of-view character must see something in order [...]

My Fairlady

The other day I received a phone call from my rich city-dwelling friend Merlin Sinker. “Greetings, Matt,” he said. “I have a question about my fair lady.” I couldn’t imagine what advice Merlin would ever require from me regarding ladies, so I responded with my typical redneck “Eh?” “Well, you sort of know about these [...]

Chapter one of an unnamed novel

True to tradition, here is the complete first chapter of the most recent novel I started. Many of these first chapters are for books I’ve abandoned, some temporarily and some permanently. The response I get to the first chapter has a large part to play in my continuing the book or not. ———————————————————————————– No one [...]

The Cascades

Listen to the rhythm of the constant rain, Drumming on the roof above my head. It pours for days and it never seems to end Here in the foothills of the Northwest Cascades. Rain, please go away and don’t come back, Until I’ve had some peace, Some time to find my place And wake [...]