In the above photo you can see a Christmas decoration that depicts Emily and I kissing. This year we shared not a kiss, but coughing and hacking. (We're much better now, although there are other family members who would use good vibes.) Last year we shared Covid. Basically we didn't feel up to putting up the tree and decorations either time, so we didn't. However, I do have a Gilmore Girls "Luke's Diner" Christmas theme on the TV, so there's that.
Emily's birthday will be about the time you're reading this. She got her present early, but of course I wanted something to give her something that day, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I have reason to believe she's going to hate it. If I disappear, check in the big freezer in the garage.
She'll appreciate the effort, though. I hope.
Here's Emily with our house guest from earlier this year, Watson.
Between my Seasonal Affected Disorder and the way my brain naturally freezes when it comes to any kind of present shopping, added to the bronchitis/sinusitis thing, I have no confidence that I'll recover when it comes to the gift giving business, I'll try! Meanwhile, maybe I'll cook something for her. Or maybe that would just make things worse.
In any case, this will probably be the last blog from me until after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a great holiday. Our family get together might not come until after the New Year--but we'll still be together.
There's a nice Christmas tree at work, anyway!
Don't forget, we've got Coming Attractions and two other books for free until the end of the month, here:
Once again we're giving away Coming Attractions on ebook, as part of the Smashwords 2024 End of Year Sale. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the end of this particular year.
So starting
December 12th and going on until January 1st (of what I'm sure will be
as better year) get my novel Coming Attractions on e-book for free! That's a 99 percent price cut.
I think 99%. I became a writer because I hate math.
The
catch: Since its a Smashwords sale,
let's face it, you have to get it on Smashwords. The other catch is that I won't make any money, but if it attracts attention to our other books it's what sales people call a loss leader.
You can find the promo here: https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos starting, as mentioned, on December 12th. This is also a great chance
to get the books of other authors, for free or at a promotional discount
(after you get mine).
You can get Coming Attractions
(and the two anthologies) on epub, mobi, and pdf formats, or as
an original document, so it should be readable to anyone with an
e-reader, cell phone, or computer. The print version, sadly, is not part
of the promotion.
This is indie author paradise, and indie authors could
always use the help. So please, check it out and share the promo with
your friends and family, and anyone looking for their
next favorite book.
Happy reading!
Meanwhile, we and our books can still be found ... everywhere:
It occurs to
me that time is running out to convince you to buy our books for
Christmas. Okay, time actually has run out, depending on how you take
delivery, but there are New Year’s presents, of course. It’s traditional
in many parts of the world to read a book New Year’s morning while
nursing your hangover.
I use this photo a lot because it’s handy to remind me about that one book I always forget when listing them.
Say, maybe I could sell more
books by lying! After all, that’s what fiction is: Making up stories. Some people would say that’s what advertising
is, too. Advertising is also short, so I’ll just give you a tasty
sample, as if the books were made out of chocolate. (They aren’t—don’t
try it.)
At the bottom of this blog, as always, are sites where you can find our books and/or find us. I use "us" in this case because without my wife/editor/cover designer/setup person/IT Department/butt kicker Emily, most of these books would have never seen the light of day.
Have
you ever wished your history teacher stopped lecturing, and did a standup routine making fun of the subject, instead? That's Hoosier Hysterical. I've started taking notes for a sequel.
Imagine you attended a summer camp, and it turned out to be a series of disasters in which you and your friends must become heroes and save everyone. It's like getting a taste of what Harry Potter and his friends do over summer break, only funnier. That's The No-Campfire Girls.
I used to write a weekly humor column for some small town newspapers. Being paranoid, I wrote a bunch of columns in advance so I wouldn't miss a deadline. Not being paranoid enough, I didn't see it coming when the papers were bought out by a larger newspaper. They went in another, not funny, direction.
So all those unpublished columns ended up in a book. Later I collected some of the older published columns and put them in another book, so you can read Slightly Off the Mark and More Slightly Off the Mark without getting newsprint on your hands. And that saves soap.
My first published novel, Storm Chaser pairs a disaster photographer with an overprotective cop who just wants to get rid of her. In real life the whole thing would have led to arrests and protective orders, but this is romantic comedy land. Much to my surprise, it's now a series, including the short story collection Storm Squalls, a spin-off with the cop's sister, The No-Campfire Girls, and The Notorious Ian Grant, currently being prepared for republication. There is, of course, another sequel in the works.
As I said, in real life most romantic comedies would end in legal action of some sort. "She's stalking me!" "He's trying to destroy my world!" Coming Attractions involves an actual legal battle, to save a drive-in theater. I put the climactic scene in a courtroom right here in my home town, and although it's completely unrealistic, it's also a lot of fun.
Sadly, there are no (current) plans for a sequel, although just for fun I did once cross this world over with Storm Chaser in a Christmas short story.
Storm Chaser and Radio Red were originally released by the same traditional publisher. After that publisher was bought out, I got the rights back to the Storm Chaser stories. Radio Red doesn't get as much love because I don't have those rights back yet, and in my opinion they have the e-book price set too high for seven year old book by an unknown author. You're welcome to spend the $3.99, of course! And I had a lot of fun writing Radio Red, a romantic comedy pairing a small radio station owner with his new air personality.
But am I an unknown author, really? Well, according to official sources there are some 50,000 book authors traditionally published in the U.S. Including self-published works, about four million new books are published every year. So yes, unknown, just like everyone else. This is why I'm begging working for an audience.
Finally we have Images of America: Albion and Noble County and Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or So With the Albion Fire Department. They were a lot of work, but well received by anyone who's read them. But both are local history books, which by nature are usually of interest only to local readers. My newest local history book, Haunted Noble County, Indiana, is with the publisher right now, but should come out late in 2025.
So that's it ... for now. But I have--brace yourself--no less than ten other books in various stages of production, from initial note taking to submitting completed manuscripts to publishers. Meanwhile here's a list of websites where you can peruse books, buy books, or just ponder my genius or lack thereof.
