It’s no secret that my writing productivity hasn’t been great for the last couple of years. There have been months that the only writing I’ve managed to complete is my weekly newspaper column (of which I’m starting my fourth year).
The problems that have kept me away from the keyboard (and which I thought were resolved a year ago) seem to be more manageable now.
After I finish a long overdue project this month, I will write a long story about a licensed character that I have a lot of fondness for. My pitch was approved yesterday.
Once that’s done, I embark upon a new novel with friend and frequent collaborator David T. Wilbanks. This isn’t a Dead Earth novel. It’s a standalone horror story and I’m excited about the premise. I expect this one to be finished in the Fall.
There’s also another novel I want to finish. That will happen during off days on the Untitled Collaboration.
I always want to do more, but I think that’s a healthy 12 months of work in what I hope will be my Catch-Up Year of Writing.
The first review is in for Dead Earth: Sanctuary, courtesy of Hellnotes. You can read it here.
And since I've run the cover of the book several times in posts, I have opted to give you a photo of a kitten with an automatic weapon.
Or you will, when you click this link.
Dead Earth: Sanctuary is the third book in the series written by David T. Wilbanks and me. The first was the introductory novella Dead Earth: The Green Dawn. The second was Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road. Both are available by clicking on the titles.
For those who don't relish scrolling down a few entries, here's the book's description:
After stopping a madman who controlled an undead army and barely
surviving the destruction of the aliens responsible for the plague that
decimated humanity, Jubal Slate leads a small band of humans across the
shattered landscape of America, fighting off the forces of the living
and the dead. The group races north pursuing a legend, a
post-apocalyptic fairy tale: a town protected from the walking dead.
Tired of the war and his nomadic life, Slate follows the path to
Sanctuary, even while doubting its existence. Along a journey filled
with hordes of zombies, Slate and his companions face new enemies and
find themselves pursued by the final weapon of the vanquished necros. Is
sanctuary even possible on a dead Earth? And if so, is the cost more
than Jubal Slate is willing to pay?
Even after alien invasion and zombie armies, Slate will discover that the worst horrors are home grown.
Here are some other Dead Earth: Sanctuary links to make it convenient for you to purchase the book in whatever format you prefer:
Paperback
Kindle
Nook
Audiobook
Kobo
I hope you enjoy the novel, which is chock full of action, blood and guts and zombies, and maybe--just maybe--some nice character moments. As always feedback is appreciated.
The little zombies 'n' aliens series that keeps on giving is back. Or, will be back soon.
I don't have a release date, but Audible lists the audiobook as being available on March 26.
Here's the description from Amazon:
After stopping a madman who controlled an undead army and barely
surviving the destruction of the aliens responsible for the plague that
decimated humanity, Jubal Slate leads a small band of humans across the
shattered landscape of America, fighting off the forces of the living
and the dead. The group races north pursuing a legend, a
post-apocalyptic fairy tale: a town protected from the walking dead.
Tired of the war and his nomadic life, Slate follows the path to
Sanctuary, even while doubting its existence. Along a journey filled
with hordes of zombies, Slate and his companions face new enemies and
find themselves pursued by the final weapon of the vanquished necros. Is
sanctuary even possible on a dead Earth? And if so, is the cost more
than Jubal Slate is willing to pay?
Even after alien invasion and zombie armies, Slate will discover that the worst horrors are home grown.
Yowzah!
I'll let you know when the book is available for pre-order.
Now back to writing the next Dead Sheriff.
At the request of a few people I’ve put together an easy to access index of some of my books for your online Christmas purchasing pleasure. These would be for the horror lover on your list, although the Dead Earth books certainly have a lot of science fiction elements, too.
Just click the highlighted text to browse or order.
Let’s start with my latest, The Dead Sheriff: Zombie Damnation.
Here’s my collection of stories and novellas (including the long-out-of-print Deadneck Hootenanny), Looking at the World with Broken Glass in My Eye. And the Kindle version is still 99¢. Zoinks!
Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road in print.
And the audio version.
If that person on your list is a reader of ebooks, Dead Earth: The Green Dawn is till free.
Finally, to give you a reason to stay up on a cold winter night, here’s a book of scary holiday stories I edited called Appalachian Winter Hauntings.
Obviously, it’s too close to the holidays to sign books but if you buy one and want it personalized after the Christmas rush, drop me a line.
As always, your support means the world to me. Thanks!
I realized that there has only been one post this month, so here’s a very brief update.
A couple of weeks ago, Dave Wilbanks and I signed off on the edits for Dead Earth: Sanctuary. It’s done and waiting on its slot in the Permuted Press publishing pipeline. When we have a publication date, I’ll let you know.
Here's a new review of Looking at the World with Broken Glass in My Eye.
I have other projects in the work, though nothing is far enough along to announce.
To everyone’s surprise, my weekly humor column continues to appear in a local newspaper. You can read it online. I’ve had a promotion to page 2.
Finally, another Pod of Horror is in the works. I should have more information in about a week. PoH is something I love and the thing I have the least time to produce.
P.S. I HATE the new Blogger interface. The need to “improve” things until they are nearly unusable is an endless source of frustration. For example, see the large space after the book review link? It doesn't appear in the posting window and I have no idea how to fix it. If you have to contact tech support to type a few lines, the system is fucked.
While it’s still up, here the link to the current edition of the Ashland Beacon. My weekly column is on page 9, and it’s sort of about Chiller Theater, the monster movie showcase that ruled the Saturday night’s of my youth.
Also, I have a new column up at Horror World. You can read it here.
Our editor on Dead Earth: Sanctuary has returned the first round of suggestions on the novel. I’ll be going over those this week.
I’ve had an issue this week with my eyes which requires medication. It’s interfered with my reading. When I can read, I’ve been perusing graphic novels, a mixture of new and old stuff.
The old is mostly made up of my favorite era in comics: 1970s Marvel. It was a time where some incredible work was produced with apparently very little editorial supervision. That’s very much the opposite of how the big two seem to operate these days, where nearly every story beat seems to be planned out by executive committee. Both periods produced some real dreck, but the current era seems to be more craptacular. Of course, I’m old. So take this for what it’s worth.
Reboot/restarting an entire line of comics (as DC did last year, and Marvel is rumored to be doing) seems like such a cop out. I can’t argue with DC’s great success with their retooling of their books, yet rather than say “We’re in a rut. We have no good Superman stories left to tell”, why not find creators who are excited to take a shot at those iconic characters? You should never run out of good stories. Find better writers. Turn them loose. Tell your editors to take the broomsticks out of their collective ass, and have some fun again.
Here’s a cool bit of news.
As a holiday gift to you, Permuted Press is offering the e-book of Dead Earth: The Green Dawn for free. You can download it for Kindle, Nook, iPad and iPhone and ePub. Here’s the link. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find our little book.
I had a great time writing this with Dave Wilbanks, and I’m happy it’s now available again to anyone who would like to read it.
By the way, look for the third book in the series, Dead Earth: Sanctuary, sometime in 2012 from Permuted Press. The manuscript has gone through the stringent Mark & Dave revision process and is in the hands of the editor.
Thanks to everyone who has picked up a copy of my collection Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye. I appreciate the feedback.
Speaking of feedback, if you would leave a brief review at Amazon, I'd be grateful.
I still don’t have a firm release date for The Dead Sheriff, but Evileye Books assures me it will be sometime in Spring of 2012. Work proceeds on the sequel.
One more brief day of work, then I’m on vacation. It’s the first real vacation in what has been a very long year.
Here’s my vacation plan:
1) Don’t get up at Oh God o’clock every morning.
2) Help Norma with whatever needs to be done to prepare for Thanksgiving (including–but not limited to–being the official taster. Oh, what a burden I bear). This year I have more to be thankful for than at any time in my life and I want to take the time to properly appreciate that.
3) Write. I have to finish two non-fiction pieces, one overdue short story, a final edit on Dead Earth: Sanctuary and continue with the second Dead Sheriff book.
I thought about adding “eat leftovers” but I think that is assumed.
I hope you have a good week.
Here’s what’s been going (or hasn’t been going) on:
Writing
Dead Earth: Sanctuary is being revised. Dave Wilbanks and I want this manuscript to sing before we turn it in to the publisher. When I sent it to him, it probably sounded closer to William Shatner than Tony Bennett. I’m sure when it returns to me the pitch will be closer to perfect.
I have begun the second Dead Sheriff book for Evileye Books. It’s a bit difficult to talk about it, since the first book isn’t out yet (and I don’t know the release date), but I can share the opening of #2:
The Indian youth screamed when Arlo Belcher bit into his shoulder and ripped away a mouthful of flesh and muscle and blood.
“Damn it, Arlo, I ain’t even got the fire built yet,” his brother said.
“Cain’t help it, Billy,” Arlo said, around a mouthful of meat. “I was hungry and this here Injun tastes good.”
I have a couple of short stories in various stages of completion, and another novel I will be writing as soon as The Dead Sheriff #2 is finished. As always, my writing schedule and productivity waxes and wanes with the demands of my full-time job and personal life.
Reading
For my birthday, Norma got me a number of books by Jack Kirby and others featuring the work of Kirby and his partner of many years Joe Simon. I’m working my way through these slowly, a story or two at a time, so I may savor the experience for as long as possible.
I’m also reading Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman. Or, more precisely, Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues: A Jesse Stone novel by Michael Brandman. This is a continuation of the popular series from the late Parker. Brandman is a writer/producer on the CBS Jesse Stone movies. His style is not very close to Parker’s, and the novel reads in places like a first draft, but I’ll stick with it and see where it goes. Parker’s Spenser series is also being continued by mystery writer Ace Atkins.
Next up in the queue: The Affair by Lee Child and Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke.
Pod of Horror
I hope to have another episode up this month. Other than that, I don’t have much to report.
It’s official. The next Dead Earth novel will be called Dead Earth: Sanctuary. Permuted Press will again be the publisher. I’ll announce the publication date when it’s locked down. I would expect it to be Spring 2012.
Meanwhile, Dead Earth: The Vengeance Road is still available in paperback and ebook formats. Thanks for all the nice reviews.
Speaking of reviews, I could use them at Amazon for Looking at the World With Broken Glass in My Eye. If you read the collection, please consider leaving a review.
You can still sign up for a free, signed copy of the book at Horror World.
The other big news (well, big for me) is the arrival on my doorstep of In Laymon’s Terms. The anthology, a tribute to the great horror writer Richard Laymon, includes my story “The Red Kingdom”. It was my first professional sale, made all the way back in February 2003. It’s nice to see it finally in print.
And for those who care about such things, I'm now on Google+.
