Scarlet Letters

I wrote an entry last night about finishing the line edits on YELLOW ROSES, and Blogger ate it without my knowledge. Is this a sign? The end is nigh and I am sharpening the stake. The line edits are done. There is one scene to write (and it'll be a doozy), a handful of things to change and clarify as a result of that scene, and finis . It feels like I'm reaching the top of a very, very deep well and starting to glimpse the sunlight. Hey, I love this book. I think it may be the best thing I've yet written. I love it with a passion that is unholy for nonliving objects. I also have had this book in my head since the beginning of time. Okay, not that long, but I wrote the sucky novella version in 2004. I wrote it again in 2006-07. It's now 2008 and time to get it the hell off my desk and on its way to New York, where it will become an instant bestseller and cement my place as the preeminent voice of horror in my time. Um. I might have gotten a little carried away there. I...

What, you haven't discovered this gem of a small press? Go forth and do so immediately. -ekd Hello faithful friends and readers. Circle Dark Publishing opened its virtual doors on March 1, 2007, making the same date in 2008 our very first birthday, and we want to make it special! So special, in fact, we think we can fill up nine days worth of fun. That is why we are proud to announce our “Nine Days of CDP” birthday celebration! From February 22nd through March 1st, there will be giveaways, announcements, maybe a chat or two, and even more surprises! And since you never know what we’ll come up with, and because we do have some very exciting things planned, it’s a good idea to keep checking back with us for more updates. Circle Dark Publishing Better yet, start celebrating with us now by participating in our giveaway. Do you want to win one of the great surprise prizes CDP has to offer? Simply send in your full name, legal age, and mailing address for your chance to win. But be sure...

It's been three days since I finished YELLOW ROSES, and I am truly at a loss what to do next. • The Super Sekrit Projekt needs some attention. Low enthusiasm. Best chance of actual ca$h. • There's a short(ish) story that might be a lot of fun. I've never really delved into sisterhood, the true biological sense as opposed to sisterhood-by-choice. I think that story would really draw it out. • The Second Super Sekrit Projekt needs real attention. Like yesterday. And there's a woman out there shouting, "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" Someone drive her to the cathedral. :) Really, I should chuck it all and work on promoting the editing business. If I'm going to make enough cash to keep my convention schedule, it's not coming from royalties. Or the Cafepress shop. Or direct sales. Wait, why am I doing this again? Sigh.

Abaddon is a remarkable book and the Nocturnal Urges series are some of the best fiction novels I’ve read in a while. Elizabeth Donald is an author of superior caliber who crafted a multi-faceted story with socially relevant themes and characters that I will remember for a long time to come. These people were very real to me and I felt genuine emotion for them and for what they were experiencing. One thing to note, this story is a departure from the others in the series in that it is horror fiction. There is no romance in Abaddon as the romance elements were the subject of Nocturnal Urges and A More Perfect Union. Ms. Donald is now an auto buy author for me and I am quite looking forward to more from her Nocturnal Urges series. http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/2007/November/Misa-Abaddon.htm

It's heeeere! This anthology is the first offering from Circle Dark Publishing, and with a cover like this, you gotta know it's good. It's an e-anthology, and folks, it looks like my little story is the happiest, most positive story in the bunch. Given what you know about me, what does THAT say? So go forth and buy! Now!

Go to http://www.longandshortreviews.com and see my post about procrastination! It's your last chance to enter the drawing for a free copy of ABADDON! If you get the chance, too, thank the kind folks at Long and Short of It for featuring me. It really has been an honor. Also, don't forget tonight's release party chat for TWILIGHT AND THORNS! Such a pretty cover. I can't wait to read the rest of the stories. (I already read mine.) The chat is at 7 p.m. CST. Go to http://www.circledarkpublishing.net and scan down to the chat link. It is a Java-enabled chat, so you'll need Java to participate. See you there!

Wait, that's me. The Long And the Short of It kicks off its week of featuring MOI in the author spotlight today! I've tried to be quasi-entertaining in my little chats - a new yammering by me will be featured each day. Best of all, enter each day for a chance to win a copy of ABADDON! Even if you have zero interest in my ramblings, please drop by and give these folks hit counts. ALSO: Circle Dark Publishing is holding a chat party Friday night beginning at 7 p.m. CST to celebrate the release of TWILIGHT AND THORNS. The anthology includes a short story by yours truly, so I'll be there with bells on! (Or, you know, sans bells.) Let's have a good showing!

Another day, another couple of characters killed. I apparently broke the internets, since Zokutou's word meter is missing and others suck. So you'll just have to take my word for it that YR stands at 73,924 words. My goal was 80,000, and I'll make that easily, but longer is better, I suppose. Some publishers are starting at 90K for a first novel these days, though I wouldn't want to go over 100K. Not until they knows me better. :) Today was a day of failed research. I sought a protection spell, reading up in MONSTERS by John Michael Greer and firing off emails to people who might know, but I haven't found what I wanted and I don't know if the scene will be in the book anyway. I also took a stab (pardon the expression) at courthouse security research, but that scene is already written. Still, I hope the attempt gains some fruit, since I'd like to catch any egregious errors at this phase. I've been ultra-paranoid about language lately. A bit of constructiv...

69,416 / 80,000 (86.8%) Holy crap, I did a lot today. And I freaked myself out rewriting the library scene. I don't know if it'll make the readers crap their pants, but I feel like sleeping with the light on. Today's Research: • Ten-codes vary widely from department to department. However, a Ten-Double-Zero is nearly universal for "officer down, all units respond." This is a better choice than "Ten-Thirty-Five," which is just "major incident." Duh. I have been listening to my Yellow Roses mix while I write the rest of this book, but for the library scene I switched. First Solus ad victimam by Kenneth Leighton, then Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique . The march to the scaffold is truly freaky. Often while writing, I have felt that the stories I want to tell are ill-served by my talent. I knew the ending of THE COLD ONES long before I began to write the book, and yet when I finally wrote the ending (and rewrote it, as is my wont) ...

That would be moi. The Long and the Short of It , a fiction review site, will be featuring me as their guest author all next week! Drop by all week to hear me blather on insanely, or at least to support people kind enough to consider my work worthy of their time. Links will be forthcoming each day next week! Now to come up with something quasi-coherent to say....

I wonder what it says that I keep cackling to myself and muttering, "Ain't I a stinker?" That said, one of today's scenes rawtha smells. I've tossed it to the First Readers, and I guess I'll see if it stinks as badly as I think. I need to slow down, I know, but it's been so long since it was this much fun... 56,868 / 80,000 (71.1%) The Latest Research: • A hook is a type of punch in boxing. You turn the core muscles, swinging the arm at a 90-degreee angle into the opponent. Usually aimed at the side of the head, but can also be used for body blows. A cross is a more powerful hook, thrown by the rear hand horizontally. • Ghost hunters would use a digital thermometer probe for the most accurate testing of cold spots.

We're zooming now, folks. Of course, we're in the fun part. All that grief, agony and pain. Yum. 47,951 / 80,000 (59.9%) Research has included: • The background and history of the Wildey Theater , as well as a personal visit to the interior of the Miner's Theater. Both are wonderful old turn-of-the-century stage-movie houses, and both are allegedly haunted. • Everything Nick spouts in all his scenes is from my research into ghosthunting and paranormal investigation as it currently stands. I am not soaking St. John's Wort in olive oil for two months just to see what it looks like, though. • Dillinger was allegedly shot and killed outside a Chicago theater by the FBI, led by Melvin Purvis. There is an ongoing theory that the Feebs accidentally killed the wrong man, but the official version is that Dillinger got plastic surgery right before his death and that's why his own father didn't recognize him. The "oops" theory doesn't account for...

I rather thought Shelfari was cool when I signed up for it. Any online community built entirely on books must be great, yes? Until I had a friend request on it, and I clicked the wrong button. Instead of just accepting invitations, it sent an email inviting my entire address book. That address book had my editors and reporters at the newspaper. My colleagues at Cerridwen Press, Ellora's Cave, New Babel Books, Circle Dark Publishing... It had editors at publishing houses and magazines to which I've submitted, added to my address book automatically so their responses wouldn't go into the spam filter. Clients from my editing service. Fellow writers. Friends from college. Long-lost relatives. 394 NAMES. I hereby declare that those "invite your entire address book" programs are evil, and they must be destroyed. My apologies to any and all I accidentally invited. I tried to send an apology to my address book, but Yahoo wouldn't let me. Ironically, it seems they don...

Apex Magazine is having a subscription drive for the best of all possible reasons: to increase its pay rate for authors. The more subscriptions it gets in the course of the drive (through Nov. 30), the more it can raise its rates to writers. Apex is one of the best horror/sf markets out there, and it is absolutely worth your time. They publish good stuff, by established and new writers alike. A one-year subscription is a very reasonable $20. Go forth and subscribe! Help keep a good market in business and support markets that are dedicated to paying a quasi-living wage to hardworking writers. If nothing else, you should subscribe to support that goal.

Tonight is celebrating her three (!!) October releases in a chat. Drop by! I will unfortunately be working, but I'm in awe of her productivity. When: Monday, October 29, 8 PM, Central Where: Angel's Chat Room. and click the "Enter my Chat room" link Why: to promote "Raising the Dead," "Shifting Back" and "Ain't No Easy Run" Why should you come: fun! Frolic! free e-books! Also, M.R. Sellars is getting serious ink today. Actually yesterday, but I had no time to read the Sunday Post. Murv is a helluva guy, and he makes good book. Seriously, when I was a barely-published hack with two e-zines to my name, he sat down with me and gave me some of the best career advice ever, and made me a fan. He also writes the terrific Rowan Gant mystery series, in which his detective is a witch of the real-life Wiccan variety. He also is a witch, and he began writing the series in part because he wanted to see a realistic portrayal of Wicca in genre f...

"This story is gripping and raw with intense emotion and great characters... This vampire world and its characters are created so realistically you almost expect to hear about them on the evening news, and not be able to sleep afterwards." -- Coffee Time Romance* http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Abaddon.html * Warning: Mild spoilers in the full review. Now don't you want to buy it? Sure you do! http://www.cerridwenpress.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419911224

Enchanting Reviews has this to say about ABADDON: "This story is not a romance by any means. But it is a story of loss and revenge. A story of love and a hate that has lasted for a hundred years and that will not be denied. It is a story of fire. The fire of the human and the vampire hearts. A story of a hate that must be stopped or the vampire and human friendships that are barely holding on will be shattered because vampire consorts are being killed and someone wants the vampires to take the blame.... ...a storytelling ability to rival that of Stephen King." Wow. Thank you!

Because it came up about 3846921 times in last night's chat, here's the official status of the Sanctuary universe. As most readers know, there are three published Sanctuary stories, all in the SETTING SUNS collection (available now from New Babel Books!). From what I've heard from readers, they were among the most popular stories in the book. I enjoyed writing them, and was pleased that so many people seemed to enjoy them enough to ask me (constantly) when they can get more Sanctuary. The first book is written. And rewritten. But the current version was written before NOCTURNAL URGES or my subsequent three books. I look at it now and cringe. I am actually glad the one agent to whom I submitted it turned it down - it would have tanked (and been blasted by reviewers) in its current incarnation. It needs work. Enough work that I simply don't have time to do it right now. See, it's all about cash flow, folks. The 2007 convention season is over, but 2008 is looming and I...

Thanks to everyone who came to the Therapy Chat! My computer unfortunately barfed the trivia contest, so that part ended fast. But it was great to hear everyone's thoughts and predictions, and even better to hear that people are enjoying ABADDON. Seriously, the best part of all of it is to hear from someone, "I really enjoyed your book." Even better is "Damn you, woman, you made me cry!" It seems the parts that needed to work did, and the parts people were supposed to notice they did. Creatively, I'm happier with ABADDON than anything I've published to date. It's almost enough to believe in. Heh. Now back to work... And remember, if you liked the book, TELL SOMEONE!

You asked for it, you're gonna get it. Since so many readers have told me they need therapy after finishing ABADDON, we're gonna give you another chat to let out your feelings. Oh, and celebrate Halloween with your fellow lunatics. WHO: All you characters, god help me WHAT: Therapy/Halloween Chat! WHEN: 7-9 p.m. CST Tuesday, Oct. 23 WHERE: The Wilderness Chat Room (directions below) WHY: To discuss ABADDON and/or throw things at the author, plus celebrate a horrorific Halloween! The usual prizes and silliness, only the trivia questions will be about horror movies and novels, not just my stuff. You know you wanna. Wilderness Chat Room a) Go to http://wilderness.homeip.net/wilderness/connect/bean/index.html. b) Wait while it loads. This can take a minute. You may see a little coffee cup thinking. c) If it asks you if you trust the applet, you say YES. d) You'll see a little black screen. Click File and go down to Connect. e) It will ask you for a login name and password. You ...