Monday, July 15, 2013

Bad Parenting, Comic Con, and Me

My new book, a short story collection, is now available for Kindle and as a trade paperback on Amazon. It’s my first undertaking using the resources Amazon provides authors to get their material on the market, sans publisher. I learned a lot in the process, mostly that I’d rather a publisher was doing all the publishing work, but what I didn’t expect to learn was that I might be a bad parent. Let me explain: It was about 105 degrees out when my daughter and I shot the cover photo for Blood, Gridlock, & PEZ. As you can see she had to lay her arm on the hot asphalt (which I did water down) but apparently I grossly under estimated the heat conditions. She kept saying her arm was hot. I kept saying, keep still, and stayed focused on getting the shot. We took dozens of pictures while her arm was sizzling. Had I known what was happening we’d of stopped, but she is a tough kid, and didn’t complain much. When we finished she had blistering burn marks all down the back of her forearm.

There goes my father of the year award.

Her arm healed in a few days with no permanent marks, but I still feel rotten. My daughter forgave me, and I promised her that if she needs a body part model willing to burn their arm or foot for the cover of her novel, she only has to ask.

Comic Con is next weekend, and although I won’t be there, signed copies of my novel Night of the Living Trekkies will be available at the Quirk Booth (#1636). Stop on by and meet some of the creative folks at Quirk Books, and pick up a copy of their latest geeky incarnation William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. 

Been on a short story roll as of late with sales to Blood Bound Books, Apokrupha, and JWK Fiction. My flash piece The Fall of the Feast will be in JWK Fiction’s Barnyard Horrors, coming out later this year. Apokrupha’s flash fiction anthology, Dark Bits, will feature my story, The Delivery, possibly available this month. Coming out in the summer of 2014 the third installment to Blood Bound Books, Night Terrors series, Night Terrors Volume III, will feature my story, Home Care.


I should have a new novel out this fall. It’s a middle grade horror comedy, but more on that later. For now, good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.