Michael C. Bailey's Blog, page 65

Weekly Update – December 4, 2018

As of this morning, the audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening is still in final processing. Hopefully I’ll be able to announce its release this week.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: The latest draft of book two is complete, draft three of book three is in-progress.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Final draft in process. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – The event has relocated to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for 2019, but now people signed up for the dealers room are waiting to hear if their space has been downsized or eliminated altogether, because apparently the space for the room is much smaller. Some panels might also get cut.

MISC.

[image error]The Final Summons is on pre-sale now through all major book retailers! Get your copy now and then go to TheFinalSummons.com to collect your free swag, including laptop wallpapers and a collection of short stories by the New England Speculative Writers group.

The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – November 27, 2018

[image error]So there I was, my cursor on top of the button to approve my audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening, and then I saw the little notice that informed me it would take seven to ten business days for ACX to approve the files.

So much for getting some Cyber Monday sales.

But I’m not going to dwell on the learning curve of producing an audiobook screwing up my plans. I’m instead going to be thrilled that my first audiobook is done and almost ready for purchase! When it’s available, I’ll post about it here and on my social media outlets, so stay tuned!

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: The latest draft of book two is complete. Going to give book three a little more breathing room before I tackle a fresh draft of that.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Final draft in process. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – The event has relocated to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for 2019, but now people signed up for the dealers room are waiting to hear if their space has been downsized or eliminated altogether, because apparently the space for the room is much smaller. Some panels might also get cut.

MISC.

[image error]The Final Summons is on pre-sale now through all major book retailers! Get your copy now and then go to TheFinalSummons.com to collect your free swag, including laptop wallpapers and a collection of short stories by the New England Speculative Writers group.

The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – November 20, 2018

[image error]The Final Summons is on pre-sale now through all major book retailers! Get your copy now and then go to TheFinalSummons.com to collect your free swag, including laptop wallpapers and a collection of short stories by the New England Speculative Writers group.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: The audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening is almost done! Just waiting on final retakes and then it’ll be good to go.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Final draft in process. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – The hotel situation at Arisia has been addressed. The event is moving to the Boston Park Plaza Hotel for 2019, but now people signed up for the dealers room are waiting to hear if their space has been downsized or eliminated altogether, because apparently the space for the room is much smaller. Some panels might also get cut.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – November 13, 2018

[image error]The Final Summons is on pre-sale now through all major book retailers! Get your copy now and then go to TheFinalSummons.com to collect your free swag, including laptop wallpapers and a collection of short stories by the New England Speculative Writers group.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: Audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening is nearing the end of the recording process. I’m sneaking in listening sessions as the files come in so I can give my notes to the narrator ASAP so she can make any necessary changes. Other goal for the week: finish a new draft of book two.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Final draft in process. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – As of today, Arisia is up in the air due to an ongoing hotel workers strike that could force the event to relocate or, in a worst-case scenario, cancel for 2019.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – November 6, 2018

Election Day! Hope everyone has already voted or is taking care of it later.

Last week I wrote at length about the situation over at Arisia regarding rape allegations against the board president. In addition to ousting him, there is a major leadership shakeup happening, so it seems like the effort to rectify this issue is serious and ongoing. You can stay up to date by following the event’s Facebook page.

In light of this situation I decided that when I vend at the event, I will sell all full-length novels for $15, with $5 from every sale going to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC).

I’m taking that one step further. Starting last week, all print editions of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening sold through this website will sell for $15 and $5 from every sale will be donated to RAINN and BARCC. Click on the Buy Now tab to get your copy.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: Audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening in production, and hooray! Draft one of book three, Endgame, is finished! I’m going to work on some other stuff for a while and let my brain cool down before going back to work on the next draft.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Final draft in process. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – I’ve been accepted into the dealers’ room, so I’ll be there selling books once again, and I hope to hear about any panel assignments soon.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – October 30, 2018

Happy Halloween Eve, everyone!

This week I’m thrilled to announce that The Final Summons, the New England Speculative Writers group’s first anthology, is officially available for pre-sale at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes, with Amazon pre-sales to begin next month.

[image error]

Visit the official website for more info on the anthology and its contributors, and to place your pre-order. The collection is scheduled for a February 5, 2019 release.

[image error]This is one bandwagon you’ll want to jump onto, because the book is already hitting the charts. Within hours of pre-orders going live on Kobo, The Final Summons was the #1 title on three lists. Check it out!

Now, on a much more serious note…

Last week I came very close to withdrawing from Arisia 2019. I won’t go deep into the details, because it’s a very ugly account, but it became public knowledge that a past Arisia participant was allegedly raped by the president of Arisia’s board of directors. After looking into the allegations (which I personally believe are credible), the board returned this man to his position, which happened to put him in place as the man ostensibly in charge of safety and security at the event.

I viewed this outcome as grossly unacceptable on many levels. I wrote directly to Arisia, shared the situation on social media, and encouraged others to do the same. I also announced that if the president remained in his position, I wouldn’t do the show as a merchant or panel participant. I just couldn’t support an event that so badly mishandled such an incident.

Late Friday, Arisia announced it had removed the president and would take steps to prevent a re-occurrence of the situation. I think a lot more has to be done here, but I do believe this is a good first step for the organization.

However, I don’t want to go back and pretend it’s business as usual. I’d like to try and do some good here, so at Arisia I will be selling all full-length novels for $15, with $5 from every sale going to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC).

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: Audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Fourth draft written. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – I’ve been accepted into the dealers’ room, so I’ll be there selling books once again, and I hope to hear about any panel assignments soon.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – October 23, 2018

The Final Summons, the New England Speculative Writers group’s first anthology, is gearing up for its big pre-release publicity push! The website is about to launch and we’re going to be hitting the media hard in the hopes of landing the collection on the USA Today best-seller list.

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: Audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening in production. I should be getting the raw audio files soon for initial review! Meanwhile, the first draft of book three is almost done! I’m hoping to finish it up by the end of the month.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Fourth draft written. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – I’ve been accepted into the dealers’ room, so I’ll be there selling books once again, and I hope to hear about any panel assignments soon.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – October 16, 2018

Let me tell you a story.

Last week I was working on draft two of Well-Behaved Women – Transition. I hit save after finishing a passage — when I write I save obsessively — and MS Word locked up, which it sometimes does. It usually clears up after a few minutes but this time MS Word totally crashed.

I restarted the program and tried to reopen the document. MS Word said (paraphrasing), “I can’t find that file.”

That’s because MS Word deleted the whole thing.

Let me make this clear: it didn’t delete all the work I’d done that day; it deleted the file entirely. I lost two weeks’ worth of work.

I have never come so close to actually flipping a table in rage.

Fortunately, I kept my shit together long enough to think to look for an auto-saved copy, which I found. All my work was there and I was able to salvage the file.

So how was your week?

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: Audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening in production. The current draft of book two is almost done and ready for test readers.

The Going Rate for Penance – Editing phase complete, on-track for a February 2019 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Fourth draft written. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – I’ve been accepted into the dealers’ room, so I’ll be there selling books once again, and I hope to hear about any panel assignments soon.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Weekly Update – October 9, 2018

WRITING PROJECTS

Well-Behaved Women: Audiobook version of Well-Behaved Women – Awakening in production. I’ve jumped back to work on book two after FINALLY figuring out how to patch a nagging plot hole.

The Going Rate for Penance – Editing phase complete, on-track for a February 2019 release.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich: Audiobook in production.

The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – book four: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage: Fourth draft written. Tentatively scheduled for a February/March 2019 release.

Action Figures – Issue Nine: Hell Hath No Fury: First draft in progress.

Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins (audiobook): Review completed, final editing in progress.

APPEARANCES & EVENTS

Arisia 2019 – I’ve been accepted into the dealers’ room, so I’ll be there selling books once again, and I hope to hear about any panel assignments soon.

MISC.

[image error]The New England Speculative Writers group if offering not one but two free books to new newsletter subscribers. Simply click on this link and sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll receive e-book versions of the two collections pictured here, featuring novel samples from NESW members. The fantasy collection includes the first two chapters of The Adventures of Strongarm & Lightfoot – Scratching a Lich.

If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss any news from me, remember that I have a weekly newsletter that features some of the stuff you see posted here plus new, newsletter-exclusive material. Click this link to sign up.

Action Figures – A Series Overview

What’s it About?

The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he falls to Earth.

Her adventure begins after Carrie and her mother Christina move back to Christina’s childhood home town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and Carrie meets four teens with powers of their own: superhero fanboy Matt Steiger, who owns a pair of magic gloves that can produce any object he can envision out of thin air, like a living cartoon character; Sara Danvers, a telepath and telekinetic who is afraid of her own abilities; the easygoing Stuart Lumley, who possesses superhuman strength; and Missy Hamill, an adorable motormouth with enhanced strength and reflexes.

The teens form a superhero team almost on a whim, but soon find themselves fighting for their lives against very real super-villains – much to the dismay of Kingsport’s hometown hero Concorde, leader of the super-team The Protectorate.

Who is this Series For?

Fans of superhero comics, TV shows, and movies in general, but particularly of titles featuring teen heroes such as Young Justice, Teen Titans, Young Avengers, and Champions.

The tone is generally lighter than a lot of YA books out there now. While there is drama and conflict, and some later stories deal with darker issues, I try to keep the series fun, upbeat, and optimistic.

Is it Suitable for Young Readers?

Action Figures is a PG-13 series that contains mild to moderate profanity, non-graphic violence, some mature themes, and later on in the series mild sexual content.

An added word about the violent content: while the violence is not graphic, the consequences are not downplayed. This isn’t sanitized Hollywood violence. People get hurt just as they would in real life and do not easily shrug off injuries, and in some cases the characters have to deal with the emotional trauma of their experiences.

What are the Books in the Series?

[image error]Action Figures – Issue One: Secret Origins – Carrie and her new friends in the Hero Squad (yes, they know their team name is awful) find themselves caught in the crossfire as the deadly mercenary Manticore comes to Kingsport, on the hunt for the rogue artificial intelligence known as Archimedes.

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Two: Black Magic Women – The sorceress Black Betty threatens to raise hell – maybe literally – as she pursues her vendetta against the Protectorate’s resident paranormal expert Dr. Enigma.

 

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Three: Pasts Imperfect – Missy’s life is turned upside-down when she learns the truth about the source of her powers, and her connection to the bloodthirsty killer Buzzkill Joy.

 

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Four: Cruel Summer – Sara finds herself in the crosshairs of the mysterious hero killer the King of Pain, but to save herself, she might have to sacrifice everything she holds dear.

 

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Five: Team-Ups – The Hero Squad, still reeling from their devastating encounter with the King of Pain, get a little help picking up the pieces from their friends in the Protectorate and the Quantum Quintet.

 

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Six: Power Play – The Squad finds itself outnumbered and under-powered after one of their members goes missing – and at the worst possible time as foes from their past reappear, more dangerous than ever and ready to exact revenge.

[image error]Action Figures – Issue Seven: The Black End War – On Earth, Carrie Hauser is a hero, but on the far side of the galaxy, she’s just another soldier on the front lines of an interplanetary war against the terrorists in the Black End.

Action Figures – Issue Eight: Crawling from the Wreckage (spring 2019) – Carrie returns to Earth to reclaim her life, but life has moved on without her. Does she have a place with her team, her friends, or her family anymore?

How Long Will the Series Run?

The series is plotted out to ten books but might run one or two books longer. In any event, it will come to a firm end at some point and not run on indefinitely.

Where Can I Learn More?

Read can read sample chapters from Secret Origins, short stories set in the Action Figures world, buy signed copies, connect with me through social media, and get regular updates at my website: innsmouthlook.com