Rare Writing/Word Count Update

Lest anyone think me idle, I’m about 22,000 words into writing a new novella/novel, my second.

It’s titled TERROR MANNEQUIN: Awwwwwwwwwwww Yeah!

I began writing it after getting invited to submit to a Halloween-themed short story anthology last year. I'd intended to produce a yarn of roughly 5,000 words or so. But at some point not long before the submission deadline, I realized I was going to have at least a novella-length piece on my hands when all was said and done.

“Well, what the heck is this thing about, slice?” you are (or are not) asking yourself right about now.

In a very general sense, it’s a Halloween story. Basically, there’s this guy who has to take his two “freak” nephews out “reverse trick-or-treating” every Halloween. Reverse trick-or-treating, of course, is when you walk door to door and give candy to people instead of people giving candy to you. If said uncle-protagonist doesn’t take his nephews out reverse trick-or-treating each year, the townspeople will kill them.

Now imagine that the famous screaming guy from Edvard Munch’s The Scream fathered a tiny little son who looked exactly like him. Well, aside from his sombrero, one of the nephews looks just like that. The other nephew is some sort of weird sentient membrane named, appropriately enough, The Membrane. Oh, and the last house that the trio must visit for reverse trick-or-treat is Fallingwater—built on a natural waterfall, Frank Lloyd Wright’s world-famous architectural masterpiece is now abandoned and allegedly haunted by a malevolent, murderous entity known as TERROR MANNEQUIN…

So, yeah. For better or worse, that’s what I’ve been up to.

As publishers haven't shown much interest in publishing my work (not a complaint, just an observation), I’ll likely self-pub this one just like I did with my last two books, which is fine by me. In fact, earlier this summer, I had grand plans of finishing this book and self-publishing it by or around Halloween of this year. Heh! Yeah, that’s definitely not gonna happen. But look for a release later in the year, hopefully.

Also, as a message to all my dedicated fans out there (all five or six of you): don’t be put off by all this Halloween/trick-or-treat talk. This book is not straight horror or even horror comedy. C’mon now, my tiny little HALLOWEEN BATS!!! You know me better than that! This one should be just as recklessly absurd and off-the-rails batshit insane as anything else I’ve ever written.

Sincerely,

D