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!

New interview!

Forgot to post about it here, but I had another interview go up a week and a half ago. You can check it out here!

Apex Predator is on sale now!

Why are you reading this? didn't you see the title? Go get it! Or get it here if you have a non-Kindle e-reader!
There is a bit more news, actually. If you've been waiting for the print version, it's just become available here!

Additionally, remember the "pre-order the book and get a copy of Nightmare Escapade for free" promo that ran for the past week? I'm extending it through the weekend! So if you messed around and didn't pre-order, you have until 12:01 a.m. Monday morning to take advantage of that offer! Same rules apply, just tweet or DM me a screenshot of your order confirmation for Apex Predator, and I'll email it to you!
After you read it, the biggest favor you can do me is taking a few minutes to leave an honest review. Reviews sell books, plain and simple.

Apex Predator launch week begins today!

Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel will be released a week from today, and you can pre-order your copy right now! (And yeah, I'm still waiting for my proof copy of the print version to arrive. It should be here in a couple of days. Barring any problems-- I've already proofed it digitally and the printed proof is a formality, so there really shouldn't be any-- it should be available the middle of next week. I'll keep you all posted.)

As an extra incentive to pre-order, send me a tweet or direct message on Twitter (@WorldofWaylon) with a screenshot of your pre-order to get a free copy of Nightmare Escapade! Getting lots of pre-orders will help a book gain a lot of visibility on its launch day, so every one helps! With this offer, you'll be getting two books for a lousy $1.99, so click on over and take advantage of it! Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Let's make the launch of Apex Predator bigger and better in every way!

Apex Predator is available for pre-order!

Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer Novel doesn't release until the 24th, but you can pre-order your copy right now! You can get the Kindle version right here. If you need it for your Ipad, Nook, Kobo, or what have you, it will soon be distributed to those stores via Smashwords; in the meantime, you can grab a copy directly from them here. 

As for the print copy, I'm still waiting for my proof copy to arrive! Once I've inspected that and confirmed that everything is all right, it will be available as well. Rest assured that I'll keep you posted! (Keep in mind that my books are part of Kindle matchbook, so if you plan to get the print version, the Kindle version will be included for free!)

I'll have some special stuff going on in the next couple of weeks to celebrate the book's launch, so check back tomorrow for more on that! 

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!

Bad news, everyone!

Today is the day that Apex Predator was supposed to go on sale. So, where the hell is it? My PC has been having stability issues lately, crashing on me abruptly and freezing up with some regularity. A few days ago, it happened to slap me with the blue screen while I was putting some finishing touches on Apex Predator. Computer restart, and WHAM! File corrupted.

Yeah.

Thankfully, I'm not totally up shit creek here, since I had backed up the file on a flash drive. Unfortunately, I had not been as vigilant about that as I should have been, so that backup is a couple of months old, and needs a lot of work done to get it to the point the now-corrupted file was at. So, I guess you could say that I am up shit creek, but at least I've got a paddle.

So, the book is still coming. I'm not sure exactly how long it will take me to re-complete it, though I'd be shocked if it were to take me more than a month or so. Not sure if releasing it smack in the middle of the holiday season is the best timing, so I'll likely hold onto it for another month or two after I finish it before it actually goes on sale. I'll have to play that bit by ear, but have no fear; I'll keep you all posted. Hopefully, this won't affect the release of the book I have planned to release after Apex Predator. I've already done some preliminary work on it... but it's altogether too soon to start talking about it. all I'll say for now is that it is not another Grant Mercer novel. (More of those will be coming eventually, though.)

Anyway, apologies for the entire debacle. I gotta get back to work. That book's not gonna re-write itself!

Rant Ramblings: Week of 7-12-13

Big news this week! In case you missed it, I announced Tuesday that my next book will be Apex Predator: A Grant Mercer novel! Check out that post for the details.

I finally picked up WWE '13 during Xbox Live's summer sale last week for $15, so I've been busy re-making characters in it when I haven't been working on Apex Predator. I only "upgrade" with this series every 2 or 3 years, so the changes are plentiful from the 2010 version I was accustomed to. The changes are mostly positive, although a few quirks in the character creator are annoying. If I come up with a way to capture decent gameplay videos without buying any new equipment, I'll post some videos in the coming weeks.

Here is a chronicle of the art created by a restaurant server who decided to do something special with order sheets. Pretty cool stuff.

Hold the mushrooms and onions, please.

We have AMAs by David X. Cohen (the head writer of Futurama) and John Malkovich, so get reading!

That's it for this week; I've gotta get back to writing!

My next book will be APEX PREDATOR: A Grant Mercer Novel

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 September, 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 two short months away. For now, enjoy the debut of the cover art, and give Nightmare Escapade another read to help you prepare!

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 3-1-11

Between finishing my first book, promoting it, working on my follow-up novel, and general life stuff, I've fallen quite a bit behind on my comic reading over the past few months. Sure, there are a handful of comics I always read each month, but by and large, they've been piling up on my tablet. I resolved last week to catch up, and I've done just that! By the time this week's comics went on sale yesterday, I had tackled the 100+ comics that were on my tablet and whittled them down to 8 issues of Groo. (I always keep a few issues of Groo on there, don'tcha know!) I still have a good bit of work to do on my next book, so its likely that I'll fall behind again, but I'll try not to let things get quite so backed up this time. (And speaking of my next book, there should be a big announcement about it soon. Just be patient!)

There is a huge sale on all sorts of games on Xbox Live until Monday, so go check that out if you have one. There've been some good deals, but nothing so far I want but don't already have.

There were pretty huge happenings in yesterday's issue of the always sublime Batman Incorporated, which were very obnoxiously spoiled by an official press release a day earlier. This kinda crap has become increasingly common in recent years. We all understand that this leads to a significant sales bump, but would it kill them to wait until the day the issue is released so that the people who read these books regularly have a chance to read the issue without having it spoiled? Reader rage aside, here's an essay by Grant Morrison that reflects on his seven year run on the Batman books, and here is an interview with Batman and Robin writer Peter Tomasi regarding how the events of yesterday's Batman Inc will affect his book. Be warned that clicking the links above, obviously, will tip you off about what happened.








My nephew recommended the HBO series Life's Too Short to me over the weekend, so I checked it out. It's presented as a reality show about actor Warwick Davis, but he plays himself as an egotistical bastard. Fellow show creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant pop up in each episode, as well. There are plenty of celebrity cameos, and the show is thoroughly hilarious. Here's one of my favorite bits:

Reddit threads of note: I don't give two shits about Nascar, but find it cool that Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson did an AMA earlier this week. We also got one from Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand. This one from a college student who teaches GED courses to prison inmates is pretty interesting. Here's one from someone who works in a chocolate factory!

You can't top getting the inside dope on chocolate, so that'll do it for this week!

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.