Dispatches from the Front

Anyone who follows me on social media could be forgiven for thinking that my writing career has ground to a sudden and spectacular halt. But that’s what happens when you spend six-and-a-half months writing a novel – particularly a novel as detailed and immersive as the one I just birthed. But there have been many significant developments, and more fresh projects on the horizon. Here then is a brief round-up of what’s new …

AT THE CROSSROADS OF MADNESS. Last week I completed a novel-length version of “Mr Johnson & the Old Ones”, my contribution to CTHULHUSATTVA: TALES OF THE BLACK GNOSIS, an anthology of Lovecraftian short fiction. AT THE CROSSROADS OF MADNESS features bluesman Robert Johnson in a surreal adventure that spans the cottonfields and jook-houses of 1930s Mississippi and leads, via magickal intervention, to an alternate reality called the Nightland where free Black men fight a Civil War against fog-shrouded monstrosities while white slaves pick mantis-weed for distillation into an infernal hallucinogenic mescal. The ultimate destination, the City of the Pyramids, is the home of the Old Ones, where Great Cthulhu slumbers in the Blue Temple. The project was an all-consuming affair, involving weeks of research and outlining prior to diving into the actual writing. Topping out at 60,000 very carefully-chosen words, a finished draft was uploaded a few days ago to an agent who expressed interest.

GHOST BOSS. I published a short story in the new noir crime ‘zine Crimson Streets. I had a great experience working with editor Janet Carden and the portableNOUNS team to prepare “Ghost Boss”, sequel to my 2011 short story “Soul of the City”, for publication. Both stories feature the adventures of a magickal detective named N who works for Thaumaturgy Squad, a group founded in an alternate jazz-age Chicago to handle crimes devolving from the turf war between Capone’s gangsters and demons eager to seize a piece of the Windy City action. “Soul of the City” appeared in the April 2011 issue of Crossed Genres. There are more stories waiting to be written about N and his adventures, if I can find appropriate (and interested) markets.

GAVIN’S WOMAN. I have received word from KindleWorlds that the contract approval process is moving forward for GAVIN’S WOMAN, sequel to my 2015 novella GAVIN’S WAR, which is part of Steve Konkoly’s Perseid Collapse universe, a post-apocalyptic world Steve is allowing other writers to help him populate. A number of my friends – guys like Alex Shaw and Sean T. Smith to name a few – have pitched in to help flesh out Steve’s ambitious (and fun) vision. The GAVIN series takes place amongst the coastal islands of BC. GAVIN’S WAR is easily my most successful publication to date, with a stream of healthy royalties continuing to roll in. It’s great to have a chance to work with the KindleWorlds team again. I’m eager to return to that world and continue the adventure.

ECLIPSED SEASONS. A short, furious sci-fi/fantasy tale set during the Blitz, “Eclipsed Seasons” is one of the shortest but most difficult stories I’ve ever had to write. It has been grabbed up by a pro market and I am working with the editor on a few tweaks. (I’ll announce the market once the sale is finalized.) This story was an opportunity for me to exorcise all the usual personal demons that come from being raised by a survivor of the Battle of Britain. It’s difficult to describe. You’ll just have to read it (something you will hopefully be able to do soon).

CHICAGO LAKESHORE. As constant readers of this blog already know, I have been collaborating with Ann Sterzinger and an unnamed Hollywood director on developing a TV show called CHICAGO LAKESHORE. Billed as “ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK meets ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST”, CHICAGO LAKESHORE recounts the trials and tribulations of Lena, a suicidal writer who has been committed, and Gus, the healthcare security officer with whom she strikes a fragile alliance. Based on the personal experiences of Ann and myself, the project was successfully funded via Kickstarter and we are moving forward with plans to finalize the pilot episode script and shoot Episode One (“You Can’t Handle the Truth”). Ann and I are also working to develop the story arcs and episode plots for the rest of Season One. The whole process has involved lots of phone calls and e-exchanges. Fortunately, Ann and I are strange creatures that more or less subsist on text, irony and coffee, so don’t worry about us. We got this.

While all this was going on, I decided to sell my mobile home and switch from a four- to a five-day-per-week schedule. So I’ve been busy.

I turn fifty in four days.

Onward.

Daddy Loves His Work

I was saddened by recent exchanges with two writers, both of whom expressed dissatisfaction with their careers. One says she no longer wishes to write at all while another, frustrated by a lack of commercial success, speaks frankly of killing herself. A third friend with a book coming out has complained to me privately about how the publisher is handling the release. And a fourth lamented that he still does not consider himself a “pro” (whatever that means) despite a very impressive set of publishing credits. All four of these are writers I respect a great deal, and who have achieved more than I with their work, and yet they are unhappy. Understandably so. This is a tough racket, and many writers have walked away …

I can’t.

I would not consider myself a particularly visible or well-known author, even within the genres (SFF) to which I have devoted myself since 2009. I am no great commercial success, by any means. I can’t live off of what I do (although I have hopes it may supplement my retirement income nicely). But the option of walking away is just not there for me. It never has been. The prospect of life without the words is as unimaginable to me as losing  eyesight or hearing and just as terrifying. Laura Dern explained it so beautifully in THE WEST WING episode “The U.S. Poet Laureate”: “This is how I enter the world.” The act of writing is, simply, how I experience and process my existence on planet Earth. I would still be filling notebooks and cranking out fiction even if I never sold a thing because I simply don’t know any other way to live.

Two new projects are reminders for me of the real joy I take in the process of writing and publishing.

My short story “Mr Johnson & the Old Ones” will appear in the forthcoming anthology from Martian Migraine Press CTHULHUSATTVA: TALES OF THE BLACK GNOSIS. This is my first piece of Lovecraftian horror fiction, and is the point of departure for the next stage of my career, which will focus mainly on writing mystery and horror. The story combines my twin fascinations of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert Johnson and has the two meeting in a jook house in 1930s Mississippi under surreal circumstances. I found the process of exploring that world so fascinating that I am now adapting the short story into a full length novel. Meanwhile, it’s been a real pleasure working with MMP C-in-C Scott Jones to bring the short-story version out and get it to you. Look for CTHULHUSATTVA to drop in late May.

I am also engaged in contract negotiations with Amazon for GAVIN’S WOMAN, a sequel to GAVIN’S WAR which came out last year. Although we’re still ironing out the details, the project as been green-lit and we are a go. GAVIN’S WOMAN picks up four years after the events of GAVIN’S WAR and features the return of known characters Iris and Salazar along with several new ones. Researching the piece has me learning much about the BC coastline, various types of military helicopters and the U.S. Army’s famed Nightstalkers. I imagine the novella will see daylight some time this summer. Stay tuned for further details on that front.

Recent events in the United States have caused me to reflect on World War II. While watching the mini-series FLEMING: THE MAN WHO WOULD BE BOND, it occurred to me that I’ve always wanted to write a story set during the Blitz, an event that had a great impact on my father’s family. The time has come to write that story and, in so doing, perhaps come closer to an understanding of my father, a man with whom I had a complex and very uncomfortable relationship. I’m not entirely sure I really want to explore that region of my past and psyche … which merely serves as confirmation that I must. Again: writing as my way of processing life on Earth.

And so the words roll on.

Mishima once said that life is a line of poetry written with a splash of blood.

I have to agree.

UPDATE

Much ado about writing …

Just received my invitation to the release party for LICENCE EXPIRED, the new anthology of James Bond fiction featuring my story “Daedalus”. Unfortunately the party, like the book’s publisher ChiZine, is in Toronto but it’s the thought that counts. “Daedalus”, set between the events in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY and THUNDERBALL, has Bond journeying to Leichtenstein on personal business. But his vacation is interrupted by an unexpected reunion with Pussy Galore, who convinces Bond to help her take down the rapacious German financier and SMERSH cut-out Von Horgen. ChiZine’s LICENCE EXPIRED drops 17 November.

Permuted is planning an October roll-back of my zombie novel just in time for Halloween. KEZZIE OF BABYLON will be going for just $.99 the last week of October as part of this promotion:

Horror week is coming soon.

Final preparations are underway for the December release of my post-apocalyptic novel THE BOOK OF ASHES (Permuted Press). This will be my second appearance with Permuted and I couldn’t be more pleased. THE BOOK OF ASHES, set on Vancouver Island, explores apocalypses both personal and global …

The Night Plague devastated humanity. Vancouver Island is a feudal wasteland ruled by the Hell’s Angels. In a trailer by the forest, retired school teacher Cory O’Neal composes a history of the plague. But the more he writes, the more his history resembles a confession.

Beautiful, haunted Joanna Ward was the most brilliant and gifted student of Cory’s career. During a troubled year in a dysfunctional private school, they forged a bond that led to accusations of improper conduct and Cory’s departure. But in the intervening decades, Canada has become increasingly rocked by civil unrest. The RCMP suddenly evacuates Cory’s town and a mysterious epidemic explodes from a lab where the adult Joanna works, leaving unsettling questions:

What really happened between her and Cory that final year?
How does the rise of a sinister cult relate to the spreading chaos?
Will the events that ended Cory’s career also end Mankind?

THE BOOK OF ASHES is scheduled for a 15 December release.

Received word from my editor Felicia that ECHO, the first book of my five novel arc, the “Echo Quintet”, is next up on her schedule. This is a re-release (third edition) of a novel first published in 2011 by the now-defunct Drollerie Press. Look for ECHO, which concerns the descedants of a marooned human starship crew struggling to survive on a harsh and inhospitable planet, in May, 2016.

I am plunging ahead on my next work in progress: WHITE NIGHT. It’s a detective novel, but one completely unlike any you have ever read before. I’m reluctant to venture into too much detail except to say that my research for WHITE NIGHT has me reading up on nuclear warfare, twins, criminal psychology and the biographies of several early Twentieth Century magicians.

Meanwhile, GAVIN’S WAR continues to sell quite well. Several pieces of short fiction have been short-listed, including my first Lovecraftian effort “Mr Johnson & the Old Ones”, tentatively slated to appear in Martian Migraine Press’s forthcoming antho CTHULHUSATTVA. My work-room continues to be a constant hive of activity.

Onward.

Gavin’s War

GAVIN’S WAR has been green-lighted to become part of Steve Konkoly’s Perseid Collapse Kindleworlds universe. I am very excited to join Steve, Bobby Akart, Sean T. Smith and the other writers who have contributed to Steve’s ambitious, collaborative multi-volume post-apocalyptic project. I look forward to sharing my work with new readers and introducing some of mine to Steve’s world. Look for a release some time this autumn.

He was an old man who lived by himself on an island in the channel, working as a game-keeper. After the Event, when the Foundation – along with everything else – was destroyed, he just stayed on, his life more or less unchanged. Lu and Steve, a refugee couple expecting their first child, have learned that a Chinese naval force is prowling the strait, preparing to invade. Gavin knows an armada’s passage will jeopardize the ecosystem and leave his beloved wild creatures vulnerable. Reluctantly, he must set aside his hermit’s ways and join Steve and Lu on their journey from island to island to spread the news and convince the paranoid, fractious communities of Canadian survivalists to unite and make a stand.