Nightmare Escapade has a new edition!

I've never been happy with how my book covers turned out, for various reasons. Recently, I resolved to rededicate myself to my writing, which is why my postings here have slowed down so much. As part of that, I decided to do new covers for my two existing books, serving as a sort of relaunch as I work to complete my next novel. Today, I'm happy to announce that my first book, Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology, has a brand spanking new, 1000% cooler cover! As always, you can buy the book here, and if you buy the paperback, the ebook edition is free! You can check out the cover below. If you do buy a copy, I hope you enjoy it, and please leave an honest review afterward. Reviews sell books, plain and simple, especially for small-time indie authors like myself. That's it for today, but stay tuned for more news in the near future!

Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel is coming in October!

Anyone experiencing deja vu? Seriously, don't worry, I've taken extreme measures to ensure that such a catastrophe doesn't occur again. Having to re-write a nearly-complete novel is not a joyful experience. I figured I'd spare myself having to re-write the original blurb as well, and present it to you again here, with a few slight alterations where appropriate:

One of the most popular stories in Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology was the tale that 
introduced Grant Mercer, a former detective whose search for a missing child takes a horrific turn when he stumbles upon the underworld of supernatural beings who are pulling everyone's strings from behind the scenes. Without spoiling things for those of you who have not yet read
the story, things take some unexpected twists and turns, and by the end, the breakout character
of the book was born. Almost every reader who gave me feedback on the book began with how much they enjoyed that particular story, and wanted to see what happened next.

It was my plan all along to launch Grant into his own series of novels, so naturally, I'm very happy that readers responded so well to his introductory story. In October, Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel will pick up right where that story ended, delving into the supernatural empire that we've only glimpsed. Grant has only dipped his toe into the water; in Apex Predator, he gets tossed right into the deep end!

As a bonus, the story from Nightmare Escapade that introduced Grant will be included, so new readers won't have to buy another book to "catch up." With that inclusion, it seemed appropriate for that story to lend its name to the novel, since it picks up immediately following those events. Apex Predator is only a few short weeks away! For now, enjoy the debut of the (slightly tweaked) cover art, and give Nightmare Escapade another read to help you prepare!

I also have something very cool in the works to coincide with the release of Apex Predator, so stay tuned! 

Nightmare Escapade is now available on Smashwords!

My first book, Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology, is now available via Smashwords! Your purchase of the book gives you access to it in various formats, so it'll work on most any electronic device you may have, including your Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Ipad, smartphone, etc. You can get it right here! Of course, if you prefer to get a physical copy of the book, you can always order the trade paperback here, and get the Kindle version for free!

Just for fun, here's a screenshot of Nightmare Escapade on the Smashwords front page:

New interview!

A new interview went up a few days ago, you can check it out right here!

The print edition of NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE is now on sale on Amazon.com!

As noted in this post Monday, Nightmare Escapade is now available in print. Amazon.com got it up on their site a few days earlier than expected, so you can now order from them right here! You can still get it from the link in the previous post too, of course. I'll earn a bit more money from each copy that way, but if you prefer to order from Amazon.com, which is certainly understandable, you now have that option. Expanded distribution of the print copy, including overseas territories and libraries, will be coming in the next few weeks. I've also enrolled it in the Kindle Matchbook program, so if you buy the print copy, you can then download the Kindle version for free! I think that's a pretty great program, so expect to see that for all my books going forward. If you have a Nook or an Ipad or a Kobo reader or something and prefer read in that format rather than via the Kindle app, I'll have you covered there as well in a month or so. Stay tuned...

My New Year's Reso-- er, writing goals for 2014

For various reasons, I just didn't get as much done last year as I wanted. There were many factors that lead to that, and not all of them were my fault, but the fact remains that I didn't publish anything new, and this blog was largely neglected during the second half of the year. Unless I spontaneously combust or the world blows up or something, we're not gonna see a repeat of that this year. These are my goals for this year.

Finish APEX PREDATOR

This is the big one, and the one currently getting most of my attention. I was nearly done with it a few months ago when disaster struck, as you may recall. I was so sick about the whole situation that I wound up taking a break from it for a month or so, though I did work on some other things during that time. I recently dove back into it, and it will be released this year. I'm not sure about a release date yet, and that will obviously depend on when I finish it, but my goal is to have it done by the end of March at the latest. The issue with backing up the file more often is now moot, as I setup Skydrive to automatically sync the file whenever I use it, so it's automatically backed up. Reeeeeaaally wish I'd known about that last year, but there's no use in fretting over it now. What's done is done, and all I can do is charge forward.

Publish print versions of my books

This one has actually happened! I spent the first bit of the year working on getting Nightmare Escapade ready for printing, and it went on sale Monday. Now that I've familiarized myself with the process, it should go much more smoothly when it comes time to publish future books. In the meantime, just having an actual physical copy of my first book sitting on the shelf feels pretty amazing.

Get the local bookstores to carry the print versions of my books

Pretty self-explanatory. We have two bookstores in town that have sections for authors from our region, so hopefully it won't be too tough to make this happen.

Get better at self-promotion

This one is really crucial. My sales are not where I'd like them to be, and the brutal truth is that I'm just lousy at promoting myself and networking with people. I need to really double down and make some serious effort to change that. 

Post on this blog more often

This is a problem I tackled last year as well, and I made a big effort to post at least once a week. I stuck with it for a few months, but eventually, things just got in the way, and I began posting less and less. So, I'm going for it again this year. Hopefully I'll do better this time. 

These are not all the goals I have set for myself for this year, but they are the major ones. If I can accomplish all of them, I'll consider 2014 a rousing success! If not, well, I figure any year in which I don't die is still a pretty good one. ;)

NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE print copies are now available!

Been enjoying your Kindle ebook copy of Nightmare Escapade, but wishing you had a print copy of it to display on your bookshelves, give as a gift for Valentine's Day, smash bugs with, and whatnot? You're in luck! You can now order your very own old-school printed-on-paper copy of Nightmare Escapade! It will be available on Amazon.com in about a week, and via other channels a few weeks after that, but if you can't wait, you can order a copy right now if you click here! (I'll make another dollar or two per copy if you buy it via that link too, so, there's that.)
Tell your friends! Tell your enemies!

Rant Ramblings: Week of 6-28-13

My first book is now available for the Nook, Kobo, and Apple devices, as well as the Kindle. You can download it here, and you'll receive a zip file containing Nightmare Escapade in mobi, epub, and pdf formats, so you'll be able to read it on pretty much any device. Go check it out, and spread the word!

Weird Al did an AMA yesterday! Go check it out, some good stuff in there.

There have been plenty of "I found a sealed safe!" posts on Reddit, but here's a photo album from someone who actually followed up, opened it, and photographed the contents!

That's it for this week! Just haven't had the time to put together a larger post this week, between working on my next book and the usual stuff. (Although, I've been working on it long enough that it probably is part of "the usual stuff" at this point.) Anyway, everyone enjoy the weekend, and I'll see you next week!

Nightmare Escapade, my first book, is free until June 13!

For the next five days, you can download Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology for free! Get it here! If you don't have a Kindle, Amazon has free Kindle apps for pretty much any device from a PC to an Ipod, so if you're reading this page, there's an app that will let you read the book. Once you've read it, taking a few minutes to leave an honest review will be much appreciated.
Now, back to work on my next book...

Rant Ramblings: Week of 3-8-13

My birthday is coming up on Monday, but I'm giving YOU a gift! I've made my first book, Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology, free today through Tuesday. If you still don't have it yet for some reason, now is your chance! If you would then take a few minutes to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, it would be much appreciated. Spread the word on Twitter and Facebook, and tell all your friends!

I was finally able to start playing The Simpsons Tapped Out last week; even with the release of the Android version of the game, it still was not available in Amazon's app store, so I had to sideload the game to be able to play it on my Kindle Fire. It's been a lot of fun building my own version of Springfield and populating the town, and the St. Patrick's Day update that came out yesterday added a couple more things, including the 50-foot magnifying glass and the leprechaun. You can check out some photos from my Springfield right here.

Via Reddit, here are some instructions on how to easily block a certain IP address that will stop all the annoying buffering on Youtube videos, returning it to the kind of smooth experience that was the norm several years ago. This post explains why this fix works.

The Big Lebowski, one of my favorite movies and a bona-fide cultural phenomenon, is turning 15. There are too many features and such celebrating the anniversary for me to run through here, so check out this link that'll let you pick and choose what you like.

I've been playing Saints Row 2 this week, after making my through the third game some time ago. There are definitely a few things the third game had that I miss in this one, but it's basically the same solid gameplay at its core, enhanced by the irreverent attitude that I love so much in the third game. It's already clear that the main story is going to be much longer in this game, but I think the third one made up for its brevity with the presentation and implementation of the missions. I just don't seem to enjoy many of the missions as much as I loved the main story in SR3. The game is still lots of fun all the same, and I'll be seeing it through to the end. The community seems pretty evenly split between those who like SR2 best and those who prefer SR3; ultimately, it mostly comes down to whether you prefer SR2's more even mix of zaniness with mostly straight-laced action and storytelling, or the balls-out insanity of SR3. For my part, I'm enjoying SR2 quite a bit, but SR3 was an absolute blast all the way through. I played through SR3's main story twice, but I don't see myself replaying this one once I've finished it.

Yesterday, DC announced that Kurt Busiek's Astro City is returning in June with a new ongoing series. For anyone who has read this book in the past, this obviously fantastic news! It's been far too long since we've had any Astro City, and we'd grown accustomed to only getting miniseries and one-shots, at that.

That's it for this week; download my book, and have a skeery weekend!

Rant Ramblings: Week of 2-1-13

As many of you are aware, it's gotten increasingly tougher to keep this blog updated regularly over the past year or so. Between writing, various work and puttering around, and all the goofing off that is so very dear to me, it can be difficult to find the time to put together a post. I'm not about to let the blog fall by the wayside, however, so my solution is this weekly-ish column that will serve as a catch-all for whatever I'm up to at any given time, mostly items of interest that aren't worthy of an entire post of their own. Long posts devoted to a single topic will still appear; they'll just be fewer and further between, as has become the norm.

First of all, how the hell crazy is it that the entire month of January is already gone? On a related note, how about the nearly 80-degree days we've been having in the south? That's bad, even for the area. Anyway...

I've been sick with some kind of crud since this past weekend. This is really the first time I've been sick in about three years. Thankfully, I bounce back quickly, so I'm already basically over it. That's good, because I felt crappy enough for a few days that I didn't get much writing done. I don't think I've mentioned this here before, actually; my new book will be a novel starring Grant Mercer, the protagonist (some would disagree with the use of the word "hero") of the story Apex Predator, from Nightmare Escapade. I'll be doling out more information as the book nears release.

Here is a wonderful story about video game studio Bungie brightening a little boy's day after he had major surgery. Get your tissues ready.

If any of you haven't yet seen the thread documenting the series of prank calls 4chan perpetrated against the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop seen on the TV show Pawn Stars, here it is. It gets better and better as it goes. You might need tissues for this, too; you'll be laughing pretty damn hard.

Reddit threads of note from the past week: Redditors share secrets they have sworn to take to the grave, since it's semi-anonymous on the internet. Be warned, however: the thread has over 24,000 replies, so the rabbit hole runs deep. This one is about the strangest things you've gotten someone else to believe. Clearly, I was over-qualified for that one, so I chose one at random. Here is one of my favorites from that thread:

And, as always, you should check out r/todayilearned at least every couple of days to stumble across all kinds of handy and fascinating information.

I came across this video last week. It's a panel with Neil deGrasse Tyson, so you know it's good. Skip to about the 15 minute mark to get to Neil.

My Halo Oddyssey
I've been on a Halo kick lately. You could be forgiven for calling me a veteran of the Halo series, as I picked up the first game along with an Xbox about two months after they were released about this time in 2002. Going through the campaign cooperatively with a couple of friends(though only one at a time, as four-player coop wasn't introduced until Halo 3 in 2007) are some of my greatest game-related memories. All told, I must have played through the campaign at least a dozen times. The multiplayer didn't see as much action, since we were limited to two-player splitscreen. I was the only one of my circle of friends who had an Xbox, so system link multiplayer sessions were out.

Skip ahead to 2004, when Halo 2 was released. I was anticipating it as much as anyone, but lacked the disposable income to pick it up as soon as it came out. I was lucky to come across a used copy in Blockbuster for $6.99 a few months later, however, and took it home to fire it up. Unfortunately, the friends with whom I'd played the game a couple of years earlier no longer lived in town, so the experience just wasn't the same. I put it aside for a while, resolving to pick it up again at some point and finish it.

In 2007, as the release of Halo 3 neared, I figured it was as good a time as any to dust off the old copy of Halo 2 and give it a go. I restarted the campaign, playing it on my Xbox 360 this time. I got killed a couple of times on one level a little over halfway through, and figured I'd take a break and resume my game a little later.

As so often happens, I got wrapped up in other things and kinda forgot about it. As the spinoff and prequel Halo games were released, I thought about how I needed to finish Halo 2, but I never actually dug the game out to do it. Then, toward the end of last year, Halo 4 was released.

I was officially three full games behind. Yeah... time to catch up.

And so it was that, eight short years after I bought the damn thing, I finally beat Halo 2 last week. I wound up restarting the campaign after loading my save made it clear that I had no idea what the frig I had been doing. It was a somewhat repetitive level that consisted of many corridors and rooms that looked the same, and I couldn't remember where I had come from and where I was supposed to be going. I'd forgotten much of the story from the first half of the game anyway, so I just restarted.

It was fun. Such a well-made game, from top to bottom. I remember the endless howls of rage over the cliffhanger ending, but knowing that the conclusion of the trilogy is a trip to Gamestop away softens the blow considerably. And for all the bitching about spending only about half the game as the Master Chief, I really enjoyed playing as the Arbiter. Oh, and I still really hate the fucking Flood.

So, with that game finally finished, I can now move on to Halo 3. I have managed to avoid spoilers for more than five years, so if any of you know what happens, so help me Grodd, you best keep it to yourself.

Coincidentally, Reddit is organizing a weekend-long return to Halo 3 multiplayer on Xbox Live this coming weekend. I've never actually played Halo online before, so I'm looking forward to participating.

That's it for this week. Enjoy the weekend, everyone, and watch out for the drop bears.

NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE is free today!

My first book, Nightmare Escapade, is free today for the Kindle. If you lack a Kindle, have no fear! Amazon offers free Kindle apps for pretty much any device, possibly even including your old TI-35X calculator from high school. Go and get it, and leave a review!

The tree is up!

I put my tree up a couple of days ago. I don't have much space, so it got stuck in the area between some shelves against one wall. Here it is, for your viewing pleasure.

Lots of Simpsons ornaments, as usual. A couple of Batman-related ones as well; those Brave and the Bold mini-figures convert to tree ornaments nicely. The bag of ornaments that included my Masters of the Universe ornaments has gone mysteriously missing, so no Skeletor or Mer-Man this year. Some lanterns representing the various factions in the Green Lantern universe were added once I realized their little handles made them perfect for hanging on the tree. Since Macho Man Randy Savage served as the tree topper last year, I gave the Nature Boy himself top billing this time around.

Here's a side shot in which a few more ornaments can be seen, including a Terminator endoskeleton peeking out.
Thanks to Cindy, I also have a nifty extension cord for the lights with a built-in floor switch. Sadly, my blue lights are in the bag with the missing ornaments, so I only have clear ones this year.
As usual, right click on the pics to embiggen them.

Read my new book NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE for free this weekend!

It's not just a clever title! My new book, Nightmare Escapade: A Horror Anthology, is free for the Amazon Kindle this weekend. Don't have a Kindle? No worries, download a Kindle app, available for pretty much any device: cell phone, tablet, PC, toilet paper holder, you name it. After you've read (and hopefully enjoyed) the book, I would greatly appreciate you taking a few minutes and writing a review on its Amazon page. Also, clicking the "like" button on the page and tagging it will make it easier for people to find.
You can get the book (and leave a review!) here.

31 Days of Halloween?

Longtime TMR readers are familiar with my annual practice of posting about something Halloween or horror-related at least once every day in October. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time this year. That doesn't mean you won't see me posting anything at all regarding this Halloween season; it just won't be a daily thing this year. I always needed a bit of lead time to ensure I didn't miss a day, and I was denied that due to working on Nightmare Escapade, which just happens to be on sale now! ;) I'm already hard at work on my next book, which is going to be a novel featuring one of the characters who appears in Nightmare Escapade! I won't say who it is just yet, since many of you still haven't finished reading it, so finish up and make your guesses! And if you don't have the book at all, what the hell are you waiting for? Go buy it!

In the meantime, you can always review the plentiful Halloween entries from years past by clicking the "31 Days of Halloween" tag at the bottom of this post. Enjoy the buildup to the greatest holiday of the year, and vaya con monstros!

NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE is available now!

My first book, Nightmare Escapade, is on sale right here! Go get it, and enjoy!

AN ODYSSEY OF TERROR!
At some point, we have all had a fear of the dark… and the things that lurk within it! In these eight stories, people are forced to confront their personal horrors, and no one emerges unscathed. The little boy who is convinced that something sinister stalks him; the weary soldier who runs afoul of a terrifying stranger; the man whose vacation is disturbed in a most unwelcome fashion; the former cop who finds himself searching for a missing child despite his status as a civilian; the young woman who finds herself trapped in a dark cellar following a tornado; these people, and others, each embark on their own dark journeys within these pages. Join them, won’t you? There is always room for one more on the Nightmare Escapade!

Video trailer for NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE

I spent some time last night figuring out how to use Windows Movie Maker so that I could make this. Some of the images are my art, and the rest are public doman images. All of them underwent some alterations before I used them in this video. The music is from archive.org. I decided on an October 2 launch date because I am hell-bent on waiting until October to put it on sale, even though it's finished. I'm still very impatient about it, though, so I'll be uploading it to the Kindle store after midnight this coming Sunday night/Monday morning. Books can take up to 24 hours to appear in the store, so while it may be on sale later in the afternoon or evening on Monday, who knows when, exactly? By Tuesday, it should definitely be in there.
Anyway, I'm really excited about it, in case you can't tell. This video won't be winning any awards, but I think it turned out okay considering that this is the first time I've ever messed with any kind of video program. Hope you enjoy!

Finished!

Yep, my first book, NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE, is finished! I completed proofreading early this morning, then collapsed into a sleep that seemed hell-bent on separating itself from me. To say I'm excited would be a tremendous understatement! As for what comes next, I have to use the Kindle direct publishing guide and open the manuscript in Word 2010, then go through and make sure that all the formatting is correct. Once that's done, all I have to do is upload it! At that point, it should show up in the Amazon Kindle store within 24 hours. I will be waiting about a week before I upload it, however; I want my book of horror stories to come out in October!
Thanks again to everyone who has supported me even a tiny bit1 I can't wait to start hearing what people think of it!

NIGHTMARE ESCAPADE cover

Here it is! This is the completed cover for my first book, Nightmare Escapade, which will be available on Amazon next month.

The art is mine, and the logo is hand-drawn. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, aside from the rather large space between the E and the S; it's not a huge deal, but it annoys the hell out of me every time I look at it. I don't know how I didn't notice it until after I had inked the logo in full. I always enjoy drawing jagged, drippy horror-style letters, and I like how the skull that dots the I serves as an inverse version of the skull in the woman's eye. The white letters were added after I scanned the art; the font is AR Julian, which is in the public domain.

Anyway, I hope you all like it, and I hope you like the contents of the book even more!