Matt Medlock's Blog

Sweatin' on the Eve

It’s that time of the year! That’s right, time to go outside wearing shorts and a T-shirt because it’s over sixty degrees outside! I live in the US Midwest, and I’m not even kidding about this.

But forget about woolly winter warmth, because it’s also Christmas Eve. As usual, I have several good deals going on for loyal readers and newbies alike: multiple novels are half-priced (including the first book in the newly redesigned/re-edited Blood-Dimmed Tide series), and several short stories/novellas are 100% free. Head on over to my Amazon author page to check ’em all out. The sales/giveaways will last through the end of the week, but why wait?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Old Books, New Looks & Harry's Swan Song

Took longer than I expected, but at last, I have finalized and published the re-designed covers for the Blood-Dimmed Tide books. The cause for the delay: 1) technical issues and back-and-forth games getting the files submitted and approved on KDP, and 2) I also went ahead and did a “speed edit” of each book, making little changes here and there for a smoother read. (No plot points were changed, but a good number of phrases were modified, especially the incomplete sentence stylizations, which I decided were laid on a bit thick at times.)

[image error]If you’re wondering why blue, red & black again, the answer is in the prose.

So, if you need a copy, head on over to my Amazon page to get them. If you already have the Kindle versions, don’t forget to update the files so they look nice and shiny in your library. I may someday soon redesign other covers, if the inspiration strikes, but we’ll see.

With that settled, I can now revitalize my focus on the last Hopeless Harry story. I’ve made a start, but probably no further than the one-quarter mark, so it looks unlikely that I’ll be able to publish before the end of the year. Barring some unforeseen issue, however, it should be all finished by January.

That’s all I have right now, but there will be a Christmastime sale (as usual) that I’ll announce soon enough, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up to the mailing list at the top of the page (if you haven’t already), and feel free to reach out to me on the social media links up there as well. Cheers!

Hail the Wicker King!

Actually…you probably shouldn’t hail him. Not unless you really love wicker. Like, really love it. Enough to commit your entire life to its glory. Because the Wicker King is not a very nice dude, and if you say an unkind word about wonderful wicker (the strongest substance known to man, doncha know?), he may make you walk the weave! (A lot worse than it sounds, trust me.)

Why all the Wednesday wicker talk? Simple. It’s because today is the day that Hopeless Harry: To the Wickered Go the Spoils is finally available!

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It’s the fifth and second-to-last Hopeless Harry novella (it would have been the last, but it was getting way too long to handle–that’s what she…well, you know–so it got split up into two episodes). Anyone who has been following along with his adventures so far will know that Harry was in a stickier than usual jam at the end of the last episode, and yet he somehow comes out okay because he’s the Cheesen One (that won’t make sense to anyone not caught up yet, but trust me, it will all become clear).

Just shy of 29,000 words, this is easily the longest Hopeless Harry story yet. His earliest adventures were at the low end of the novella spectrum (around 15-18k), but since they had chapters, I qualified them as short novellas instead of long short stories, or even “novelettes,” since that’s kind of a weird word (rarely used outside of writers’ circles), and I’m sure Harry wouldn’t know what it even meant–it’s best not to confuse Harry lest he become cranky.

I had hoped to finish up with Harry before the end of this year (in fact, before now), but sometimes I can be as hopeless as he is when it comes to getting stuff done. I’ve already started work on the next (last) story and am cautiously optimistic to have it done before the end of the year, but we’ll see. I’m also sneaking in that redesign of the Blood-Dimmed Tide covers, which will probably be the next thing I announce.

But first, in celebration of this new release, the blurb and a few things you can expect:

Don’t you dare close your eyes, because Harry is now in a whole new world (well, universe, really). Everyone’s twelfth or thirteenth favorite imbecilic space adventurer is back, but he’s definitely a little out of sorts this time. Venturing into the unknown to find Maxine Fingus’ sister, Ariane, Hopeless Harry finds that this alternate dimension is quite similar to the one he came from, and yet…just different enough to confuse the heck out of him (though, to be fair, shampoo bottle instructions confuse him—how many times is he supposed to repeat??).

It doesn’t take long before Harry is captured by a band of merciless, wicker-loving pirates. Can Harry escape and reach the distant planet of Ellux Aja where the secrets of Ariane’s location may lie? Can he answer even one question right on the universe’s most popular mobile game show? Can he tell the difference between Renaissance artists and cartoon ninja turtles? Can a blinkobot get a little action? All of these questions will be (sort of) answered in “Hopeless Harry: To the Wickered Go the Spoils”!

This story (like each of the others in the series) contains what some people call “rude humor” and “strong language,” and what others call “dick-and-fart jokes” and “cussin’.” I should stress that this is not the overwhelming tone of the story or series. If you’re just looking for potty humor and four-letter words, you’ll be left wanting most of the time. This is a sci-fi comedy about a likable loser who means well but is kind of an a complete idiot. Most of the jokes focus on how clumsy and stupid he is, on satire/spoof of science fiction tropes and themes, and on references/comparisons to current news, trends and pop culture tidbits. (The volume of the latter seems to increase with each outing; looking back at the early stories recently left me surprised how much the style of humor and storytelling has evolved over the years.) But, yes, sometimes it gets profane and/or raunchy, largely because I enjoy many types of humor, so if something amuses me, I try to find a way to stick it in there somewhere (that obvious double entendre would not have been ignored).

So, I hope you’ll go and check it out (or the earlier episodes first, if needed); heck, you might just enjoy it! Here’s a brief sample from Hopeless Harry: To the Wickered Go the Spoils to whet your appetite:

[Harry and two willowboys–pirate-like servants of the Wicker King–are sitting around a campfire; one of the willowboys is considerably younger than the other, yet they have many similar physical features]

Deciding to change the subject, Harry asked them to share a bit about themselves.

“Not much to tell, really,” said Ector. “Once you fall in with the willowboys, it’s a life of wicker for ya, jinker!”

“Most of us have sad stories to tell,” explained Nast. “That’s what drew us to Wickeropolis, to a wicker way of life.”

“True,” nodded Ector. “I was married once, even had a kid, but it didn’t end well.”

Nast said, “I never knew my family. I was kidnapped by slavers when I was just a little thing…”

Continued Ector, “Slavers ruined my life, too. Killed my wife, took everything else. I’ve spent the last twenty-five years searching for my kidnapped son. Bastards stole him when he was a toddler. I’ll never stop searching.”

Harry glanced between the two very, very similar-looking men, wearing a fittingly solemn expression.

“Never knew my father, my mother,” Nast waxed sadly. “But I’ll always wonder if one or both are still out there.”

“If I just knew my son was alive, if he was okay, I could sleep easy. Not knowing, though…” Ector started to tear up.

Harry’s mouth fell open as a thought occurred to him. “Oh, Space Christ…I-I have something to tell you, a feeling, a suspicion.”

They both said, “What?”

Harry leaned closer. “Something that will change everything for you both. Forever.”

They leaned in as well. “Yes?”

“Your son is obviously dead,” Harry told Ector. “You need to just let it go.” Then he looked at Nast. “And I don’t think your parents love you. If they did, surely they’d have found you by now.”

Ector and Nast slumped back, morose and drained of color.

Harry nodded with a thoughtful purse of his lips. “My work here is done. Better get some shut eye.”

Gruesome Gifts, (Not So) Scary Harry, and Other Halloween Treats

Happy Halloween! I am doing my best to avoid issuing Crypt Keeper-style puns, but it’s tough. They’re so obvious, so corny, and so prevalent. It’d be like not eating turkey on Thanksgiving or not going to second base with a tree on Arbor Day. Some things are just tradition!

Anyway, guys and ghouls (told you, it’s tough), in honor of the horrific holi-slay, I have made all of my horror short gore-ys on Amazon free to purchase for today only. Need a good, creepy tale to read after fright-fall? Why not fry one of these? Or, only mildly sin-terested in scare-raising stories but just plain like free swag? Good enough! (Severed) head on over to my Amazon author page and pick ‘em up (or just select from the links below).

Down Ravensclaw HillScare MeDo You Believe in MonstersNo More Teacher’s Dirty Looks

In addition to giving away stuff for you to read on the Kill-ndle (okay, I’ll stop), I’m also pleased to announce the release date for the fifth entry in the Hopeless Harry series, Hopeless Harry: To the Wickered Go the Spoils!

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I had previously debated on how to proceed with this one since it was turning out to be way longer than expected. Not only did I take what was supposed to be one final story and split it into two, but the “half” story wound up being far and away the longest of the Hopeless Harry novellas so far (just shy of 29,000 words, almost double the length of either of the first two releases).

The novella is set to be released on Wednesday, 11/6, but it’s available for pre-order if you want to secure your copy today. And just like each of the other novellas in the series, it’ll only run you 99 cents, so what are you waiting for? Fans of comedy, science fiction, and wicker furniture are sure to love it!

I’ll go into more detail about this new silly space adventure (and the final one to come) in a few days, so keep an eye out for that update. In the meantime, before I sneak away to steal candy and buy $200 worth of toilet paper for, um, research purposes, just for fun, I thought I’d go ahead and give out five suggestions for a spook-tacular movie to enjoy this evening in the spirit of the season. If you like a good chiller and haven’t seen ’em all, maybe give one a try? Enjoy!

Note: I ignored all the obvious ones that most people have already seen or know plenty about (Halloween, The Exorcist, Night of the Living Dead, etc.) and picked ones that I thought were neither obscure nor overworn.

1. Session 9 (2001)

2. The Innocents (1961)

3. Hereditary (2018)

4. Tales from the Crypt (1972)

5. Curse of Chucky (2013)

Hopeless Efforts…But Looky the Pretty!

Well, finishing the Hopeless Harry series continues to be delayed, and it’s mostly my own fault. Okay, entirely my fault, but I still prefer abandoning dignity over copping inadequacy, and I really want to just accuse Mark Zuckerberg. Why? Because, let’s face it, he’s an easy target, he has it coming, and finally, why the heck not?

So, here’s basically what happened. I wrote about 15,000 words and then scrapped most of it because it was too plot-heavy (and with something as cheerfully inane as the Hopeless Harry stories, that actually is a problem). There was too much prose devoted to describing things, shuffling characters from point A to B, and just being not very interesting. Other than keeping the introductory passages, I pretty much started back at the beginning.

Then I wrote about 16,000 words and realized that the story made almost no sense, the new characters and locations were so poorly developed that they were practically random entities, and there was no sense of actual progression. It was just a long string of one-liners, gags, and non-sequiturs. I might as well have been writing some aimless horn-of-plenty filled with word vomit (the Tristram Shandy of whacked-out sci-fi comedy). I thought it was funny enough overall, but only because I could make sense of it; I doubt that anyone else would be able to do so without struggling, and they’d (wisely) bail early.

Back to square one again. And then I got there. I passed 20,000 words, reviewed it multiple times, and was mostly satisfied with the narrative/silliness ratio. Good on me! Unfortunately, I was beyond 20,000 words (the previous longest Harry entry was just shy of 21,000), and I still had quite a ways to go. Meaning that I am now at a crossroads: split the last story into two stories and make the entire saga a hexalogy instead of a pentalogy*, or I start trimming scenes/jokes to squish it all in and avoid making the final chapter an overlong slog. Decisions, decisions…

Taking a brief breather while reflecting on this choice, I went ahead and did something I’d been meaning to do for a while now: redesign some book covers. I’m tackling the Blood-Dimmed Tide series first, so I cranked out a few mockups, picked the one I liked best, and got to work. Below is what I currently have for the first book, Alive, Aware and Dangerous (it may still be tweaked, but I expect it’ll at least look pretty close to this in the final version):

[image error]I’m Blue (Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die)

You can compare the new one with the original look on the Amazon page.

As with the original design, each cover will be a different color–blue, red, black–representing the colors of the New Confederacy of the Innocents’ flag. They’ll also each feature the same sort of stylized character depiction–Eve for part 1, Eve and Darian for part 2, Eve vs. Alice for part 3. Not sure when these will roll out, but not too long I imagine. Probably shortly after I solve this Harry conundrum.

Well, delays have been a bitch-and-a-half, so no point standing around now, pondering the liar’s paradox and creating weird smells. Back to it!

(And as always, don’t forget to join the mailing list and connect on the ol’ social media platforms; links at the top)

*which is not to denote it’s some kind of pretentious myth cycle…no, no, it’s all still a bunch of nonsense. If you even used the word “myth” around Harry, he’d think you had a lisp and insist that he is, in fact, a man.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Chicago Deep Dish

New science fiction short story has arrived: Gleam of Moonlight–release date 8/2, pre-order available now.

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The bleak slumland of Junktown is in the grip of two terrible scourges: the affliction of a rare and fatal disease in children and the influx of a mysterious new narcotic known as Moonlight. The only known cure to the illness rests in the hands of black market physicians inside a neighboring citadel, but no one gets inside those walls without their business being known by the telepathic Searchers, who will turn away, incarcerate, or kill anyone that dares to attain that illicit remedy. But the desperate father of a sick boy is convinced that he knows the way in, but first he’ll have to visit an uncanny Junktown doctor and discover the dreadful secrets behind that seductive stimulant called Moonlight.

Okay, so, it’s not a laff-a-minnit lark. That should be obvious. But that’s okay, because as previously mentioned, the last entry in the Hopeless Harry series is not too far off, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, if you got a buck burning a hole in your pocket, you can get yourself a grim and grungy aperitif called Gleam of Moonlight (chase it with motor oil to have a good time*).

*Do not drink motor oil. Just…just don’t.

Little Wasp

My window was open. The screen was closed. The only things that could get through were dust and wind. Yet there he was, buzzing and spinning in the air.

Little
wasp, go away now.

The
fly swatter was within reach. Yet I stayed my hand. I made a pact
with the pest. I told the little wasp, “Leave me be and I will
leave you be.” But I was nervous the little wasp would not listen.
I was afraid the little wasp would not understand.

Little
wasp, go away now.

The little wasp kept its distance. It buzzed and spun and left me be. It danced against the ceiling overhead. It wandered and wrecked against window and wall, but never did it bother me. So I did not reach for the swatter.

Little
wasp, go away now.

It
careened into the window screen. The outside world looked big and
beautiful but it could not escape. I pitied the pitiable thing.
Perhaps I should reach over and pull open the screen a little bit.
Then it could be free. Then I would worry about it no more.

Little
wasp, go away now.

But I was anxious. What if I reached for the screen and the little wasp felt threatened and attacked? What if opening the screen would cause more intruders to enter my home without invitation? No, I decided, it was too risky. The little wasp managed to get inside somehow. Let it retrace its steps to get back outside.

Little
wasp, go away now.

Night fell and I lost track of the wasp. I slept without a care in the world. The next day, the little wasp was back, crawling against the screen, wanting to be free, wanting to rejoin the big and beautiful outside world. But I was not moved to act. The risk, I reminded myself, never forget the risk. I also reminded myself of the bargain I struck. “Leave me be and I will leave you be.” That deal worked both ways. I wanted it gone but I would not interfere.

Little
wasp, go away now.

The
third day it was there, too. Crawling across the screen, slow and
weary. It could not get out. But I was a man of my word. To interfere
was to break my bond. I saw it and I did nothing. That was the right
thing to do, proper and true. And on the fourth day, I heard no
buzzing and I saw no crawling. I only saw the little wasp on the
window sill, motionless and dry. It never escaped. But it kept its
word. And I kept mine.

Little wasp, gone away now.

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The Remains of a Life

I’m pleased to announce the release of a new short story, Remnant, available as an e-book from Amazon. It officially “drops” tomorrow 3/29, but you can pre-order it now.

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Isolated, depressed, and estranged from her spouse, Cassandra Stone is given an unexpected gift to distract her from the all-consuming melancholy–the Narcissa, a device that allows the wearer to experience an alter-reality. While asleep, she is no longer lonely, empty Cassandra; she is Rita, wife and mother and part-time librarian. Rita’s life may not be thrilling, but Cassandra finds herself fascinated all the same, to the point that it becomes an obsessive escape from her own life into the life of a complete stranger. All of Cassandra’s pain and sadness is forgotten the moment that the Narcissa is activated, the moment that she leaves it all behind to live inside Rita’s mind, inside her very skin.

But the more time she spends in Rita’s alter-reality world, the more Cassandra begins to wonder if it will bring her the satisfaction that is missing in her own life or if it will reveal unpleasant, even terrifying truths about both Rita and herself that cannot be so easily forgotten.

Contains mild adult themes and LGBTQ+ characters.

So, if you like shifting narrative and moody mindfucks, this should be right up your alley. At about 9,500 words, it’s closer to “novella length” than a proper short story, but it’s meant to be read in one sitting (once you get to the end, you’ll see why). I hope you’ll check it out and, as always, feedback is appreciated!

See you next time.

Putting Down the Sword & Sorcery, Shooting for the Stars

Last time, I mentioned that I had dusted off an old story I wrote many years ago in the high fantasy genre, and was in the process of going through it to see if it could be salvaged for a “smoothing” rewrite. After doing so, I have arrived at the decision that I will not pursue it…at least not right now. And the reason is fairly simple:

This story (called The Kingmaker from Badrin Falls) is, in fact, something of a spin-off of a much larger work that I had never completed. That much larger work was a six volume fantasy epic; restlessness and distractions caused my work to peter off in the early stages of the fourth book. I realized when reviewing the Kingmaker material that if I wanted to pursue it, I would first need to reconcile issues with that unfinished opus. Not issues with stilted prose or sloppy storytelling or anything like that. No, the issue is that thanks to a certain (similarly unfinished) chef-d’œuvre by George R. R. Martin–and the hugely popular television series adaptation–it is impossible to hope anyone would overlook the elephant in the room: certain elements in my world and story are not merely stale in comparison, but reek of derivative nigh-plagiarism. (I assure you, this was not intentional; I developed the world/plotline almost twenty years ago, before I ever picked up Martin’s books and long before the show premiered.)

Example: my books featured a kingdom whose northern border separates its people from a wintry, forested land of savage clans. No, there was no “wall” doing the separating; instead, it was a huge sloping escarpment stretching from sea to sea covered in spike traps, pitfalls, earthen machicolations, and the like. Nevertheless, the whole thing is WAY too similar to what was created in A Song of Ice and Fire, so it would need to be revised or removed entirely. That is just one of several instances where I simply could not proceed without reducing myself to Sword of Shannara-level hackneyed imitation. (Not claiming that everything else is purely original, but I could name a dark-hearted warlock Boralis, and very few would catch on to that “steal,” but if I named a master swordsman Luncelot or an honorable smuggler Daros, no one would let me get away with that–being assimilated so thoroughly in pop culture have rendered details like these untouchable without risking integrity wounds.)

The putrid scent of these problematic plotpoints and geographical details rarely waft their way into Kingmaker; the scale and breadth of its story stays focused on a small segment of its world and politics, and since it follows a lowborn character rather than a monarch or general, little of that world and those politics is ever even mentioned. However, if you’re going to “go for it,” you have to “go all the way.” I don’t want to trap myself into not being able to explore that world further afterward. Therefore, I must first re-shape everything pretty much from the ground up. And that is a truly daunting task. One that will take a lot of time. Which is not to say I’m unwilling to invest that time. But when it comes to daunting tasks and devotions of time, at this very moment, I’m a bit more eager to first tackle the sci-fi epic I mentioned in a previous post than this fantasy one.

So, I’m setting aside Kingmaker for now and will focus more on outer space adventure, alien plagues, waygates, militant colonists, interplanetary warfare, deserters and archivists and assassins, oh my. I’m developing all that when time and passion allows, but I do have at least a couple more things to knock out first. A short story before the end of the month and my final Hopeless Harry story, already partially written. Not to mention Godlight Quakes the Electric Sky–no, I haven’t forgotten about that. Plate so full, jeeeeez.

Anyway–more to come, beginning with that shorty (Remnant). See you then.

Peeking into the Future

Now that I think I’m finally in the habit of writing ’19 instead of ’18 (oh, who am I kidding, that’ll happen in April, at best) and all grandiose New Year resolutions have been discarded (I’m never going to learn the bagpipes…), it’s time to look ahead at what’s in the pipeline for this year:

Godlight Quakes the Electric Sky: This post-apocalyptic adventure novel is still in limbo, but rest assured that it’ll see the light of day eventually. When, however, I cannot answer. As any writer worth a spit can tell you, there’s no such thing as a final draft, just the latest draft. It’s at the “late” stage where it could be released right away or I may do another round of fine-tuning. I’m just not sure. I’ll update with anything further, but for now, it’s sitting nice and pretty and (im)patient.

Hopeless Harry: Anyone who read the latest Hopeless Harry novella is probably wondering what the heck happened there. Without spoiling too much, it all ends rather abruptly; right when the story finally seems to be kicking into gear, in fact. No, it wasn’t all the bastardization of a shaggy dog joke; it’s a pause, not a conclusion. The fifth and final chapter in the shambolic saga will be coming later this year. I plan to package all five into a full anthology of sorts and release that as a paperback prior to rolling out the final story individually as an e-book. Stay tuned for all that later in the year.

The Kingmaker from Badrin Falls: This is a fantasy story I wrote many years ago and had shelved before I ever started publishing. I’m currently in the process of reviewing the material and deciding what can be salvaged, scrapped and improved. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll go all the way with it; I may choose to toss it back in the bin rather than pursue it any further at this point. Or I may go all the way and have it ready by the end of the year. Again, I will update when updates are available.

Untitled Outer Space Epic: I’ll go into more detail about this one at a later date (I know, I keep promising rather than delivering in this post), but this one is still in the very early stages. Not counting Hopeless Harry above (which is too liberally connected and egregiously silly to be considered a “full story”), this will be the first multi-volume project I’ve worked on since my first published novels, the Blood-Dimmed Tide trilogy. No matter what happens with the other projects, nothing in this topic will see the light of day this year, but it’s in the proverbial workpile.

Additional Short Stories: Most likely, the first new release from yours truly coming in 2019 is a short story/novella called Remnant (about 9000 words). I have two other short stories in late-stage development, as well. One or both will also come out the same year. All three qualify as science fiction, though they’re each of different breeds. Remnant is set in a near-future world and deals with technology, dreams and melancholy. As for the other two, one is set in an alt-world and the other takes place in a less-recognizable future; they loosely explore memory and identity respectively, packaged as drama/thriller narratives.

Lastly, lest I be condemned as unaccommodating (perish the thought!), I feel that this is a good year to start imparting my literary arts wisdom upon my audience. Why not start right now? You’re welcome.

2019 Indisputable Writing Tip #1: When one feels the need to break the narrative fourth wall, an air chisel or reciprocating saw does the job better than sledgehammer alone. Always wear goggles and gloves while doing so.