Pulp, Glue and Words....

The time has finally come to unleash my literary...ahem...fury on an unsuspecting world.  (Unsuspecting because there were a whole lot of folks who didn't even know I'd written the damned things.)  So, I'm proud to announce that I'm releasing my first two novels via Createspace (Amazon's publishing arm.)

Book 1 - Memories of the Children of Death:

Description: God’s conscience tells him to leave. His lapses in memory make him a danger to himself and everyone else.  Kato’s faded out.  Pixie and her robot, Bill, have been attacked by roving gangs of vampires and clowns.  And Io loves him, but just wants out. The more God thinks, the fuzzier things get, and the fuzzier they get, the more it makes him sick.  On the rollercoaster of endless nightlife in this city of the future, a fuzzed out brain was the order of the day…but as the frivolity passes, the truth sneaks out of the shadows to spoil the party.

Memories of the Children of Death follows a group of friends who, as their worlds drift apart, pursue the truth behind the shadowy figures and strange occurrences that tug the  strands on the web of roads and train tracks that flow between the superstructures that truly touch the sky.

(Available Here! and on Amazon)

Book 2 - Rubber Finger #11

Description: Magnus Freelyson has problems.  Only, he didn’t used to.

Magnus had been a quiet cog in the massive machine, the Giant Rubber Monster Inc., that owned half of the world.  When the company’s head, Fred Freely, appears to have died mysteriously, Magnus suddenly finds himself in the captain’s chair. But it’s not just running things that he’s going to have to get used to.  For one, he now knows that Fred’s his father, and that’s just the start of his new family problems. Betaville, owner of the other half of the world, has already begun to clamor at the gates in search of a conquest that will end the decades old stalemate of consumption. But smack in the middle of it all is the path of red herrings, bizarre plotting and a host of clones and doubles that Magnus must unravel to find the true Fred Freely… who might not be quite as dead as everyone thinks…

(Available Here! and on Amazon)

At Long Last...Little Candy Hearts...

A few years ago, for a grant competition, I wrote a short for my friend Seaton Lin. From there...well I'll skip the saga of the ups and downs of how the project finally came together...the important thing is that cinematic thunder was captured, cut, and released for you enjoyment. The film's been starting its way out onto the festival circuit, but here's your chance to catch it sans ID card and lanyard. I hope you will like it...if you don't, remember that budgetary restrictions cut all the explosions and Seaton's relentless monkeying with the script and all, that is what ruined it.

And on with the show! Take me to...LITTLE CANDY HEARTS...(Click It!)

Ever Been in a Cockpit, Jimmy?
"Where to, sailor?"

Being in the driver's seat of one's life must feel great. Before then though, I'd just like to get a rein on and a direction in the creative work I've been doing. (Getting paid...well...getting paid consistently for it would be the next big milestone.)

Anyhow, my contract with Southern California has been renewed for a least another six months. Now the question is how to make that count.

I've spent the last week gathering together my materials to start making submissions to literary agents on my second novel. Now that's not to say that I don't hope to sell the first or the third one, I just think that No. 2 is the most accessible, well written, and potentially marketable. (The first one's an enormous beast, and the third's a prequel of sorts to a much larger book I plan to write at some point.) It's been a bit of labor to get all the various elements together for what each of these agencies want for submissions, and I've about got all of them written up. My only concern (as I'm more than a little on the impatient side) is that while my query letter might get a response in as little as a week, once I send them the book, it could be several months before they side if they want to sign me up and push this thing.

Also, while I consider the book more of a satire than anything, it does take place in "the future"...sort of. A lot of the places that sound like they might go for my kind of material often state that they don't do science fiction. Well, Kurt Vonnegut never considered himself a science fiction writer despite the sci-fi elements in many of his books...but unfortunately, I'm not Kurt...or one of his kids...or the guy that mowed his lawn. So we shall see...

Next, I'm still wrestling with what to do with my fiction blog. I've decided to try to do another 100 entries, and come up with a short serialized novel. The problem is that I've got so many other projects swirling around in my head, I haven't had time to come up with a concept for it. Lately, though, I've been missing the discipline of sitting down and either warming up or cooling down after a day of working on other stuff by writing my one new page of fiction. That's one thing I've learned about blogging, like most things extra-curricular (exercise, painting, etc.) from career: It's easy to maintain if you keep yourself doing it, but the minute you fall off, it can be really hard to get back on the horse.

I will, however, be trying to pull together that anthology of the first 100 entries. After all, it's nice to print something out and hold it in your hands...even if it's not got a price tag and a glossy cover at the corner Borders.

Ok, ok, I'll also admit that I do miss writing the occasional poem...haha...something I never thought I'd feel. And call me aggro, but I can't remember the last person I met who called themselves a poet that I didn't want to punch in the face. Of course that leads me onto a whole thing about how it's mostly the rich and/or in some ways privileged who actually get to make a living at playing artist these days.

Anyhow feel free to send in any comments and suggestions about what you think you might like to see.

I've got one idea for the serialized novel...but I'm a little worried that it's a little too "dirty" to be out there in the open on a bright screen. And I thought about playing down the more shocking elements...but...haha...suppressed filth, especially half decently written suppressed filth tends to be oh so much dirtier than just out and out filth.

What a wonderful world.

Cheers.

Will Said Skills Pay the Bills?
A study in...well...what I do all day...

I’m the busiest person I know that isn’t currently earning any money.

I like to look at it as fame and fortune in the potential sense. Just like putting a ball at the edge of a table where it might tip off represents some form of potential energy. Or something like that. I never said theoretical physics were my strong point.

Seriously, though. I’m working hard. In between doing the occasional job search, and sending out a resumé or two.

First off, so many new creatives seem to keep getting found through blogs. This one hasn’t done me much good in terms of fame (though I’m always impressed by how many folks read it), and my original one didn’t have the powers that be knocking down the door. Secretly, I suspect it was my twenty page analysis of the Italian space opera Starcrash that caused that blog to jump the shark.

So I’ve started my new one: the fraction of new fiction nearly every day of the week. I’m nearly ten entries in to my goal of one hundred, and so far so good. Although, I’m wondering if it’s a bad sign that I’ve already dipped into the bag of tricks for the poem. Anyhow, it’s a fun exercise and it gets me warmed up (and closer to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) each day, before I...

Work on my new book. Yes, I’ve started a new piece of fiction, and it’s going pretty well I’d say. Granted, those of you who know me might ask yourself, "Who the hell is he writing these things for if he never sells any of them?", and you’d be 100% correct. Oh, because that’s the other thing I’m doing: researching agents and publishers. Hopefully in the next few weeks, I’m going to start carpet bombing the publishing world with my text...OR, try to figure out how to get them edited to just publish them myself (with less typos) if all else fails. Anyhow, I try to hack off a few pages of that every day, before I...

Go out for a walk to the Barnes & Noble that is nearby to research usually one of two things: the aforementioned publishing world, or web design information. Some of you may say, "can’t you find this stuff on the internet?" Well, yes and no. I’ve found that most publishing info on the net can be anywhere from vaguely helpful to disturbingly spurious, AND everyone seems to want a little cash up front for what might be bogus info inside. As for the web design...some stuff helps and some stuff assumes you already know a lot, and my catalogue of info’s too hodgepodge. Mostly, though, it’s an excuse to get out of the house, it just helps that it allows me to peruse information in books that I either wouldn’t buy or are too expensive to buy right now. So that all gets done, before I...

Well, usually between my break and dinner, I work on other small projects. It might be some experiments with the web stuff I’ve been reading about. It might be some work on some design-oriented artwork I’ve been working on. It might be working on one of the short scripts I’ve been juggling for a couple of friends. But, primarily, now, it’s been the new feature screenplay I’ve cooked up. This was largely due to the realization that I’ve let my feature work slide too far to the side, and I need a new calling card screenplay to try and get me an agent or something like one. I’ve usually got something worked out on screen or on paper, before I...

I’ve been gettin’ skinnier from all this walking back and forth to the B&N (along with other exercise I try to fit in)...but also from my largely vegetarian light diet I’ve been munchin’ on. I didn’t mention lunch above...but I eat it too. Also, during these times of sustenance, I usually watch the Daily Show, read some blogs or websites, peruse more job listings, watch movie trailers, and so on. So, it’s a little dinner and some entertainment, before I...

From dinner until the time I go to bed, I’ve been painting. I used to have the worst time shifting gears between writing and painting, but necessity is the mother of invention. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned (and gushed about), I have a piece in a show in April. I’m excited about that, and I’m excited about doing more artwork for the first time in a long time. I’m actually inspired. I’ve got a running list of ideas for work, when in the past, I only thought of something one at a time over considerable stretches. Problem is, I don’t have enough of a catalogue of work (anyone remember the Great Flood?)...and the kind of stuff I’m doing takes a good while...however, I’m doing what I can and chipping away at it a little bit every evening. I just want to be ready.

Will any or all of this pay off? That’s the million dollar question, and what I’m waiting to find out. I’ve got lots of little apples floating in the sky in terms of potential income...and I’m looking for a real job...and representation...and trying to shore up my body of work for all of the above. So I’m feeling pretty positive that something’s going to pay off...and hopefully sooner rather than later.

(Don’t worry...Professor Positive here will find something to b!tch about...probably within a day or so...)