The Early Years: Jim Is A Singing Snitch

I’m not sure if this checklist considers “Tells On Other Children” to be a good thing or a bad thing.  And “Participates Freely in Singing”?  I find that hard to believe!

Blast from the Past: Response Times

The other day, I was poking around my old web site in The Internet Archive looking for some information, and I happened to notice my “Response Times” link. This was a report that could be spit out by my old Manuscript Tracking database and which I used to upload from time to time just as a point of interest to show how long it was taking to get responses to submissions. Obviously this information is now completely out of date and utterly useless, but I thought it would be interesting to post its state as of the last time I updated it, over ten years ago. And so, here it is, in all its retro Web 1.0 glory:

November Scene-Of-The-Month: The Wolf

The votes are in and once again the winner for “Scene of the Month” is The Wolf. We’re up to about page 24 of about 100, so there’s plenty of werewolf fun still available, but it’s starting to become clear that this will be the first book to be removed from the “Scene of the Month” list due to running out of material. And now, here it is, the next scene!

Random Rejection: Marietta Publishing

This week, I reached into my vast collection of rejection letters and pulled out this double-sider from Marietta Publishing:

New Version of “Flock of Crows” Available!

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been working on a new edition of A Flock of Crows is Called a Murder that, among other things, restores the infamous missing epilogue, plus fixes various issues with the layout from the most recent edition, which was a scan produced by BookSurge of the original DarkTales edition of Crows.  This edition is now available at my Lulu storefront and should become available at Amazon.com and other outlets over the next few months.  I also plan to do a Kindle edition once the ISBN and distribution is finalized.  In the meantime, please visit my Lulu store and check it out there!

“Dragon Stones” Now Available On Kindle

The Kindle version of Dragon Stones is now available!   There was a slight delay while I satisfied Amazon.com that I am, in fact, the author of and have electronic rights to Dragon Stones; no doubt this process was tightened up somewhat after the 1984 fiasco, when Amazon allowed a publisher without distribution rights to sell 1984 in the Kindle store, then reached out and deleted it from customer Kindles when the mistake was discovered.  They certainly don’t want a repeat of that; plus I wouldn’t want someone else peddling copies of Dragon Stones to Kindle users, so I guess it’s a protection for both Amazon and authors/publishers.  (But we know who Amazon is REALLY protecting.  Nudge nudge wink wink.)

I’m pretty happy with how Dragon Stones turned out for the Kindle,  so I’ll probably do this with the other books I have electronic rights for.  At the moment that’s just Long Before Dawn (Hard Shell Word Factory, which is in the process of being acquired by Mundania Press, has electronic rights to Night Watchman), but I am working on a reissue of Crows through Lulu.com which will, among other things, have the missing epilogue restored, along with a new cover, and without any missing pages (thanks for reporting that, Mango’s mom!).

Anyway, I’d encourage anyone with an Amazon Kindle to check out Dragon Stones.  As with other Kindle books, you can get a free sample, and text-to-speech is enabled because unlike some publishers, I don’t mind if you want to have your Kindle read to you in the car. The more opportunities for reading the better, I say.

Don’t forget to vote for the November scene of the month!

October Scene-Of-The-Month: “The Wolf”

The votes are in and once again The Wolf is the reader’s choice for scene of the month! Continuing with the way I’ve been doing it, this is the next scene in sequence from the last one, rather than a random scene. Enjoy!

Adventures in Kindling

This weekend, I decided to spend a little time formatting one of my books (Dragon Stones, natch) for the Amazon Kindle.  The Kindle, of course, is an e-book reader notable for its built-in “Whispernet” wireless client, which allows the user to shop and buy books and have them delivered directly to the device without ever having to connect it to a computer.  I got a Kindle 2 for my birthday this year and it quickly became my preferred way to read books.  But this isn’t a post about the Kindle, it’s a post about creating Kindle content.

The Early Years: Zippy Rocket Shoes

From the “Was This Really Homework?” Department:

Review: “District 9″

So over the holiday last week, we watched the movie District 9. Originally my wife had declined to screen this film, but after hearing from several friends about how good it was, she agreed to go see it. I had also told her it was supposed to be good, but apparently, after suggesting she might like Hellboy because it was made by Guillermo del Toro (she is a huge fan of his Spanish-language movies like The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth), suggesting she might like Kung Fu Hustle because because it was “probably like a Jackie Chan movie”, and trying to convince her that Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is a classic of 80s filmmaking, I lack credibility. Go figure.