The Headless White Horse: My New Short Story Compilation

Well, it’s finally here.  The short story compilation has arrived, and thanks to Jack Johnson I have a fun promotional video to show it off: The synopsis of each story in the collection is as follows: “Rust” – Mars is now a prison mining colony where each prisoner has their own mine…and their own robot

Use Everything to Promote Everything

There is a solid reason I haven’t released my short story compilation recently.  In fact, I’m brushing on some finishing touches before it is released very soon. The fact is, I was ready over a week ago to release it, but after talking to a friend who had one of his brilliant ideas I realized

Cover Reveal: The Headless White Horse

Sometime after Christmas I will be releasing a collection of 10 short stories in the vein of Creepy Pasta.  I am working with the most fantastic cover designer who has created the following cover for the compilation.  The picture below is the full wrap-around cover with the author blurb on the back. His name is

3 Writing Tips Gleaned from Ambrose Bierce

Right now my students are reading Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge“.  The short story always brings forth different reactions from my students, mostly that some of them see the ending before it hits them, but this is because Bierce is dropping hints throughout the text that illustrate the fact of the surprise

Friday Fiction: Bahamut

The heat from the white dunes caused a mirage effect on the construction site as Harold wiped his brow again, taking a long swig from a jug of water and letting out a quickly drying breath. The wind, like the unforgiving blast of a hair dryer, did its best to absorb any leftover moisture on

5 Tricks to Keep a Modern Reader Interested

I can’t count the amount of indie books I’ve started but haven’t finished.  I read everything on Kindle now save a few of my favorites like those in my Tolkien collection (I have all hard-bound editions of those).  If I want to figure out whether I want to read a new book, I download a

My New Short Story “Rust” Is Published in Literary Juice

I’ve been waiting to announce this, but a science fiction short story I wrote a while back entitled Rust has been published in the online literary magazine Literary Juice.  I’m so excited to be published by this excellent magazine, and now you can finally read this story that was the stuff of my nightmares. Find the story

When Do You Hit Your Stride?

Writing a novel like writing anything is hard work.  It takes determination, skill and careful planning to get a novel off the ground.  It is definitely not like writing a short story or a poem because of the sheer amount of words necessary, the characterization, the subplots and all of the other bells and whistles

The Core: What Drives a Novel?

I’m currently smack dab in the middle of my current WIP, and it usually takes this long to figure out exactly what the theme of the book might be.  I know.  I should have a theme when I begin, but as I have found out, the purpose behind every novel shifts and changes as it

Building a Platform: Short Story Submissions

This past weekend I attended Soonercon, a local science fiction/fantasy convention, and while browsing around the con dressed to the hilt as John McClane from Die Hard I happened upon a fellow novelist who was happily selling his hard work right next to my good friend artist Jerry Bennett.  I spent a little time talking to