Current Status: My Writing Efforts

Just as a quick note, since I can no longer submit blog articles to the FWA Royal Palm Literary Awards, I submitted two unpublished short stories - one involving vampire bikers, and a sci-fi flash fiction - for consideration instead.

In the meantime, my trip to last weekend's Sunshine State Book Festival yielded zero sales for Funny Locations or any of the Strangely Funny anthologies I had on display. The guy on my right sold seven of his books, the guy on my left sold four. 

/deep heartbroken sigh 

I gotta work on my marketing skills ('cause I don't have any).

Will blog later tonight.

Official: Strangely Funny IX Now Available

To all nine readers of the blog here, if you don't follow the librarian/writing one, I want to inform you that the latest volume of the Strangely Funny humor-horror anthology is available via Amazon!

(I know, some of you are philosophically opposed to Amazon, but Kindle Direct is one of the few ways small-press publishers can get the work out there, so be kind...)

Yes yes, they've heard that song...

My short "The Brides Of Wi-Fi," a modern-day take on the vampire brides of lore, is part of Volume IX, so if you enjoy humorous takes on horror tropes, the entire series should be a good read from Volumes I to now.

If you need to know which other volumes to peruse:

"I Must Be Your First" in Strangely Funny

"Minette Dances With the Golem of Albany" in Strangely Funny III

"The Pumpkin Spice Must Flow" in Strangely Funny V

"How a Vampire Gets a Tan" in Strangely Funny VI

"War of the Murder Hornets" in Strangely Funny VIII

Also check out "Why The Mask" in Mardi Gras Murder and "The Secret of the Battle of Los Angeles" in History and Mystery Oh My! 

I shall resume some political angst blogging shortly. But in the meantime, please, BUY MY BOOKS. ;-)

From The Long Dark Reach of 2020, the Murder Hornets Will Enter the Literary World in 2021

Good news, fans! That short story I wrote about MURDER HORNETS got accepted for the upcoming eighth volume of the Strangely Funny anthology!

From the story: The face of a Murder Hornet meant business, and that business was MURDER.

I asked the editors to allow me to revise the submission to include the red lighted foamy-looking hazmat suits for the Murder Hornet Squad. These were details I was not aware of when first I submitted it.

Updates on when and where the eighth volume will get published are forthcoming.

Personal News: The Latest Story Is Published!

On a personal note, Strangely Funny VI is now out, containing my latest short story "How a Vampire Gets a Tan." I got the print copy from the publishers today!

If you want, please do purchase a copy (also available as eBook!) through Amazon. Please also leave reviews because it will be nice to hear feedback not just for my story but all the other authors included in the anthology. Thanks!

Getting Published In 2019: Strangely Funny series

You may notice I have a side gig as a short story writer, having gotten published in a few anthologies, most of them in an ongoing humor-horror series called Strangely Funny.

Volume VI (of VII, yeah it gets complicated) just dropped on Kindle ebook. It's got my latest short "How a Vampire Gets A Tan."

Click here please and thank ye.

Hopefully it's funny enough to warrant interest from this blog's seven readers. Do me a favor if you purchase a copy, PLEASE leave a review on Amazon about it. Those reviews do help. Danke.

I'll get a novel finished someday, hopefully before George RR Martin does. I wanna prove I can write faster than you, George!!! /argh

Heads Up, Peeps. Getting Published in Strangely Funny V

As some of you know, I try my hand at writing and I've gotten a handful of stories published in anthologies. So right now I've got good news about the latest volume of Strangely Funny:

It should be coming out late May with my story "The Pumpkin Spice Must Flow", so keep your eyes open, I will post links for it as soon as possible.

And someone checked out my "Surviving the Age of Obstruction" at the library so it's all good (and pssst it's still on sale online and stuff).

Previous volumes of Strangely Funny - "I Must Be Your First" in Volume One and "Minette Dances With the Golem of Albany" in Volume III - that include my stories are on sale as well.

Shameless Self-Promotion: New Anthology Stories for All Seasons

Just cross-posting from my writing/librarianship blog:  my local writers' group Writers 4 All Seasons decided to work on a group project, getting our own anthology based on a specific theme published.

Stories for All Seasons is themed around seasons, and story order placed by chronological order.  As such my Christmas-timed story "Where the Snow Is Grey" is towards the end.

It's currently Kindle-only as an ebook (print is well, expensive to produce) but I will ask about EPUB format, hopefully we will have that format soon as well.

I'm feeling a bit buzzed, getting published again with a short in a nice anthology that I hope all 7 readers of this blog can enjoy... ;)  Makes me wanna finish those damn novels I keep blocking over /headdesk /mutter /grumble

Hope you're having a better weekend than the Republican Media Elites. ;)  And to the 3200-plus people who used my drinking game for last Thursday's debate, I hope your livers and hangovers forgive me.


Update 8/12/2015: it's selling rather well, I saw it ranked as high as #91st on the Amazon sales list for Short Stories.  By comparison, my individual stories like "Welcome to Christmas in Florida" is around 1,378th in the Short Reads > Teen & Young Adult, and Last of the Grapefruit Wars highest ranking is 37,949th in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Short Stories > Single Authors.

Personal Note: Getting My Writings Published

Just to note that a new anthology History and Mystery Oh My! is out on the market for ebooks.

Amazon has it listed for their Kindle.  Barnes and Noble has it for their Nook and anyone with an EPUB reader can get it via Smashwords.

My story "Dread Secret of the Battle of Los Angeles" is about the real-life event in 1942 when the West Coast was rattled by the post-Pearl Harbor fears of more Japanese attacks.  I make a few guesses, put in a few sarcastic remarks about Hollywood, and add a few references to Star Wars, Flash Gordon and the Rocketeer to boot.  Hope you like it!

P.S. Got Another Story Submission Accepted!

Mystery & Horror LLC accepted a short story for their upcoming Mardi Gras Murder anthology!

Bring me the finest cheeses and non-alcoholic beverages in the land!

Slightly Off-Topic: Getting Published in Anthology

Just wanted to note that within the last 48 hours, the editors of the Strangely Funny humor-horror anthology got their publication up on the ebook markets for Amazon.com and Smashwords!

And just to explain why I'm so keen about this getting out there on the market... they accepted and published my story submission "I Must Be Your First."

(insert Snoopy dance here)

I've been mentioning it a lot on my writing/librarian blog but I'm not sure if the traffic I get here crosses over to there... so... CROSS-POSTING!

Also, YES!

It feels great to have a story published by someone other than yourself.  :sheepish grin: