Exile Is Coming

I have sent Exile out to the proofreader. Teddi Black is working on the cover design.  I believe I will be able to publish Exile on Amazon sometime in October, 2013.  Though they are not a formal trilogy, Heroes, Smoke, and Exile do feature a lot of the same characters.  In a sense, they are three parts of the same narrative. You will see how I resolve some of the issues from Heroes and Smoke in Exile. I think it makes the most sense to read these three books in order.  Until you finish Exile, you won't fully understand Heroes or Smoke.  Keep watching Amazon and checking back here. I will post when Exile is available for download.

A New Website

So, a friend told me about Google sites. I went there and put together a website that is rather limited.  I will need to make it more user-friendly and informative. But, at least it is up.

Swing by if you like.

Detroit Goes Bust

All the headlines proclaim that Detroit has gone bankrupt. The b-roll footage shows block upon block of abandoned buildings, a cityscape that slipped past dystopia and into irrelevance.  All bankruptcy means, I think, is that Detroit has too much debt to pay back.  But these legal proceedings are not what is noteworthy. This filing probably could have been done ten or fifteen years ago. What matters more is that so little remains where the once-thriving city used to be.  Scholars can debate forever what caused this to happen: decline of the auto industry, freeways, riots, white flight, corruption, mismanagement.  All of these played a role.  Regardless of how much you take from Column A and how much from Column B, the total is still the same. A huge tract of land left in something less than even ruins. What is the next step down? What happens between when the last of the markers of civilization fall but before the archaeologists appear? What is this? Some sort of purgatory of not existing yet not quite gone.

Pity the town that needs Heroes.

New Cover For Heroes

I am close to putting up a revised version of Heroes on Amazon. In the meantime, I changed the cover.  The new cover was designed by a wonderfully talented woman named Teddi Black.  I hope you like the cover.  Look for the revised version of Heroes within the next couple of weeks.  I will announce it here.

Thanks.

Smoke Now Available on Amazon

I have a new novel available for download from Amazon. It is called Smoke.  It features some of the same characters in Heroes.  The two main characters from both books are Chris Garvin and George Hofmann.  The action in Smoke takes place earlier in time from Heroes.  Smoke explains why Garvin is so hesitant to get involved in the homicide investigation detailed in Heroes.  I hope you will enjoy this new novel.  I invite comments and questions from readers.  

As time permits, I will provide more insights into the novel.

Happy Reading.

In The Beginning

I remembered that I had an old paper copy of Heroes.  I thought it might be of some trivial interest for people to see what it looked like when I first printed it out.   So, there you have it.  I have printed versions of all of my books.  I don't think these prints have any written notes in the margins. At least, none that I wrote. Still, if there is ever a dispute about if a copy if legit, you can refer back to these pictures.

I need to start thinking about getting Smoke ready to publish. I think I might go with Smashwords this time. I was thinking I might have Smoke ready by summer. But, now it might be the fall.

Any preferences between Amazon and Smashwords?

Looking Back In Wonder

I have been correcting some typos in Heroes. I hope to have a second edition out sometime this spring. It was so odd to read back over parts of the text. I wrote Heroes about 18 years ago. That fact alone astonishes me.  As I read the text, I find that I don't recognize any of it, really. It's like reading a book that somebody else wrote. There is nothing I can do about it now; I don't have the energy or time to substantially rewrite the book.  I would not want to, either.  I think one interesting thing readers will find as I publish over titles is how my style changed.  Heroes seems to me to be the most conventional book I ever wrote. By the time you get to Exile,for example, my writing is a lot different. I'd like to think it was progress. Maybe it was just age gently tugging away at the will to put so many words in a row. I don't know.

BTW: It look like Heroes has moved up to 775,000th on the best seller list at Amazon.  No holding me back now.