What's going on (and not)
Some of you have asked, "Where the heck is Quincy's Curse?" I had intended to get this published in October, but time ran away from me and I decided to put it off until December. It just needs a little fine-tuning here and there and should be ready later this month.
I did, however, get Valley of Monsters published in November as planned. Hurrah!
So what else is going on? My agent, Whitt Brantley, asked me to complete the Island of Fog screenplay I had started a long time ago. I forget why I didn't finish it back then, but anyway, Whitt suggested I finish it off because a screenplay will probably "speak" to TV and movie producers more than a novel will. I should be done with that by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, I've been plotting Island of Fog Books 8 and 9 for next year's double-whammy release. It's one big story in two distinct halves, but rather than end the first half with a huge cliffhanger and keep everyone waiting, I decided to write and edit both together and release them within a month of each other.
This story will mark the end of the Island of Fog series. Ha! I've said that before, haven't I? It's become an in-joke. Anyway, I suppose I should say that this marks the end of the series for the foreseeable future. That said, there are various spin-offs I'd like to do, so the Island of Fog world will still exist no matter what. We just might be following the adventures of other characters instead of Hal.
So, what's on my To-Do list?
2013 (ie, this month):
Finish my Island of Fog screenplayPublish Quincy's CurseAlso this month, look out for Wonderstorms: A Fantasy Anthology featuring my short story "The Cosmic Ark" (among others). See below.
2014
Unearthly Tales #1: Sleep WriterIsland of Fog Books 8 and 9Possibly Unearthly Tales #2: Robot BloodBrian Clopper and I had planned to write Fractured Part 2 as well, but while we're both interested it getting stuck in, we've decided to wait until the first one takes off a bit more first. There's no sense in pouring a lot of effort into a sequel when other books are "more important" to us right now.
Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I mentioned "The Cosmic Ark" above. This is a short story written for Brian Clopper's Wonderstorms anthology. I'm one of five contributing authors, and my story is actually a "pilot" for my upcoming Unearthly Tales series that will be starting in 2014. The 11,000-word story was neat to write and really helped me with my world building for the new series. By the time I start writing Sleep Writer, the characters will be all fleshed out and ready to go. So look out for this anthology in December.
Oh, and did I mention it will be FREE? At least it will be free on Apple and Kobo, and $0.99 on Amazon to start with until they price-match it to $0.00. As usual, it will be priced on Barnes & Noble because they don't price-match nothin' (cuz they're party poopers).
Finally, just a quick word about the Island of Fog series again. Recently I altered a few keywords, trying to place my books in a perhaps more suitable category. When you really get down to it, there are only a few to choose from:
Kindle eBooks
> Children's eBooks
> Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories
> Fantasy & Magic
Coming of Age
Mystery & Detective
Paranormal & Urban
Sword & Sorcery
I was already in Swords & Sorcery though not placed very high. Why that category, though? Well, specific keywords get a book placed in specific categories. I use both "dragons" and "magic," and these keywords automatically place a book in Swords & Sorcery. That's not great since my books feature neither swords nor sorcery, but two of the alternatives are worse.
However, Coming of Age is appropriate for my books. I went ahead and added a keyword that would place me there -- "preteen" -- and lo and behold, my books showed up there right away. Because this category is not so saturated, my books are currently placing fairly high (as I write this):
You can see Island of Fog at #2, Valley of Monsters at #4, and Chamber of Ghosts at #6. Also, not seen here are Roads of Madness at #14 and Lake of Spirits at #15. Not sure where the others are! Click here if you're interested, although it will quickly be out of date.
Anyway, that's all for now. Got a brand new fantasy adventure called Quincy's Curse to edit and a couple of Fog books to plot.:-)