Beneath the Blue Dusk and the Sea

Lots of new stuff going for me and I'm enjoying every bit of it.

First I have a new book out, a collection of short stories, half new, half previously published in various anthologies. The collection is called Beneath the Blue Dusk and the Sea and was great fun to put together.

The collection contains 8 stories and 8 poems.
All the poems except one are brand new, never before published.

Next, I have designed a new cover for my science fiction novel, Pale Zenith. I'm quite happy with it. Much better than the first.

New cover for Pale Zenith

And speaking of Pale Zenith, I have one short story and one novella, both set in that universe, that I am now re-editing. They will soon be put out in a book which will be a companion book to Pale Zenith. The book will be called Moltenrose, and I am finalizing the book format now.

Another project I am working on is a collection of some of my previously published vampire short stories. The book will be called Bitters and I plan to have it out before the end of the year with a nice, enticing cover!

And not to be forgotten, my new poetry book, Turn Left at November, will be coming out from Eldritch Press in November of this year. I'm very excited and as soon as I have a cover to show I will post it here.

I have plans to begin a new novel. Nothing specific yet because, well, I'm a seat of the pants kind of writer. I write "into the dark" and that is why I enjoy it so much. I have found, after much trial and error (and some success) for decades that giving myself permission to just play on the page (and never to someone else's expectations or specifications) has produced some of my best work.

You know, people have accused me of "having stars in my eyes" because I say I enjoy writing. Some people don't even "trust" writers who say that. But I've worked long and hard at my craft, more than 30 years of practice, millions of words. I'm no newbie. I have created an environment both physical and mental that is like a writer's toybox wherein I lift things out and play all day (when my travel-for-work season is over,) losing all sense of time. If I'm doing it all wrong, so be it, I don't care. I've spent years unlearning so many writer-myths that I could write books just about that. As a result of all that, no more blocks, self-censorship, self-criticizing. This is for me. I work at the craft I love stress-free. Any sales to magazines, anthologies and publishers I've made is, really, just the extra cherry.

If you have read this blog before, you know I write poetry ALL THE TIME. So here is the first part of a four part poem about rain I wrote last night. (I mostly write just before I go to sleep...sometimes I fall asleep with my journal pen in my hand.)

I Am Rain

1.

Rain

taps

haunting the window

wanting into

my mind

to slide its cold-moss thoughts

helm my dreams

liquid and alive

letting clouds walk into me

for awhile

I’m a shattered lake

drifting on

mouths of air

I contain

shimmering mirrors

pools where the moon laps me

briefly unfolding its wide circle

to let me see inside

I hear

the lone weeping of stars

as I fall

More free stuff: For today only (Oct. 27, 2014) my erotic romance The Foundling is free on Kindle until midnight. Enjoy!


Upcoming: I will be at Mystery and Imagination Bookshop in Glendale, CA for a book signing at 6 P.M. November 6, 2014. The signing is for the long-awaited iconic anthology A Darke Phantastique edited by Jason V. Brock. My short story "I Keep the Dark that is Your Pain" appears within.

My next blog will be an interview with the wonderful poet David C. Kopaska-Merkel.