Writing Update: The Developmental Draft of Stealing Freedom is Done! A Call for Beta Readers

Greetings all,

What the heck is Stealing Freedom? Ok, I just changed the name of Worth of Words. You see, with The Power of Words anthology a full go, I felt the title was just a bit too similar and, honestly, presumptuous.  This anthology has four fantastic stories, and I don’t want readers to feel like there’s one story with three others, but four stories that match one important theme.

As usual, the next draft is a beta draft.  This means I’m wondering if anyone would like to read a free story and provide some feedback.

If you’re  a fan of speculative scifi and you like a good heist story, you’re exactly who I’m looking for.

Here’s a blurb if you’re interested:

In the year 3753 on the planet of Leznova, all forms of communication are extremely regulated. Drones patrol the skies, seeking out gestures and expressions, executing punishments to any who violate the Communication Act of 3748. Every person over the age of 7 is fitted with Communications Monitor Collars, which send progressively stronger jolts of electricity into any who speak without permission. Should any wish to speak, they must purchase words at increasingly higher fees.

Ardelia Sabine wants it all to stop. She’s simply a mother who doesn’t want her daughter to be forced to stay silent. Formerly a monitor, a police investigator, she’s developed a plan to corrupt the server that regulates the policy and keeps the world silent. She leads a team of brilliant criminals, one of whom is the man she married after capturing him ten years ago. This band of thieves, led by one who used to chase them, must get into the most guarded server room on the planet. They do so knowing it isn’t likely they’ll all survive the effort. To make matters worse, a rival from Ardelia’s past seeks to make an example of her and her betrayal of the monitors. He’s fixated on stopping her, and he’s confident he’s already derailed the most critical part of her scheme.

END BLURB

What I need. I have a form that I send beta readers asking them to rate a group of categories for each chapter or segment of the book.  I’m asking readers to get feedback to my by June 1. I’m anxious to get the anthology finished and laid out so I can get it published by Oct. 1. I’d need your help to do that. I will say that both my alpha readers and my editor both had some wonderfully nice things to say about the story. I’m obviously biased, but I think this is a real treat if you like the above stories.

Please feel free to email me if you’re interested.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

 

Writing Update: I’ve finished the Alpha Draft of The Worth of Words

Greetings all,

I’m happy to report I’ve finished another draft of The Worth of Words.  I’d like to take a quick moment to thank my Alpha Readers: Ben Duke, Grace, and Eduardo. Your feedback was invaluable, and I’m so glad you all liked this version. Your input made it possible to take this story one step closer to being what it needs to be.

I’m awestruck with WoW. It’s a thrill to see where I was and where I am now, and stories like this help me feel like I’m on a level I hadn’t previously reached in my time being published. When I get the story out, I hope you all feel the same way I do about it.

I’ll send WoW off to Sara for a developmental edit. In the meantime, I have two new submissions for The Power of Words anthology to edit and make a decision on. I also have another draft of a previously signed author’s contribution. That’s how I hope most of February goes. I’d like to get the Beta Draft of Repressed done by the end of March.  If I maintain this pace, I should be working on Betrayed (Oneiros Book Two) in June. I’ll step away for the anthology, but there won’t be that much more once I select the last few authors and start layout and design. If you’re still interested in contributing, please feel free to send a submission. I won’t close submissions until I’m ready to go into layout and design.

I just wanted you all to have a quick glimpse regarding where I’m at in this passionate pursuit of mine. I hope to have one of my usual book reviews up next week, but the timing worked out to put this update on Wednesday.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Three Authors Confirmed! The Power of Words anthology is taking shape!

Greetings all,

There’s only one month left till the (hopefully final) deadline for The Power of Words update. If you’re interested and want to know the requirements and submission method,  please feel free to click here or just send me an email.

I did have a chance to review the submissions that were sent in so far, so I’m happy to announce that three authors have been confirmed for the anthology!

The contributors so far are:

TW Iain:

Here’s his bio. Writing is an escape, and an outlet.

The job, the family, the things that make up a normal life — these are no place for wild, dark ideas. And so, in the quieter moments, TW Iain emerges. He taps away on a laptop, or on a phone, sometimes at a ridiculously early time in the morning, and gives these ideas their freedom. When he’s not writing, he’s lurking in the shadows, thinking about the next story.

Maybe he’s always existed, in the school-boy who filled exercise books with stories. Maybe he was there one winter, when a first novel emerged around shifts at a four mill (a first novel, like many, that does not deserve to see the light of day). Maybe. But he came to the fore at the start of 2015, and work on these stories became serious.

Since then, TW has published three novels and other shorter works in the Dominions series of dark Dystopian thrillers, and the first novel in a new sci-fi/horror series, Shadows. He also posts a free short story every fortnight on twiain.com.

Image taken from TW Iain’s Amazon Author Page.

TW’s story is called Ghost Stream.  Here’s a summary:

In the Citadel, everyone listens to the Voices, and it is Cass’ job to monitor this, swimming in their streams. But then she stumbles upon the mythical ghost stream, and discovers how this can be used to influence the Voices. With attacks to the north, and a silent protest in the heart of the Citadel, those above her are not happy. And when she works out how to add her own voice to the ghost stream, she knows they are after her.

But is staying silent ever an option?

 

You may recognize the name.  His book Expedient was featured in one of my Book Cover of the Month brackets. So I was just thrilled when he sent a submission. His story went straight to the theme of the anthology. I was excited to read the submission, and I’m happy to say I just received his revisions.

Richard T. Drake:

Here’s his bio. Richard T. Drake is the author of the Hollow World series of Epic Fantasy novels.

At age seven, in the dungeon-library of his 19^th-century boarding school, Richard discovered the classic fantasy gamebook The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and became so lost within the infamous ‘Maze of Zagor’ that he needed to draw a map to find his way out. His love of epic adventure and fantasy has been growing ever since.

Image taken from Richard T. Drake’s website.

He graduated from gamebooks to tabletop role-playing where, as game master, he would invent worlds, draw maps, and weave adventures for his friends. As heroes fell and legends grew, Richard discovered a love of epic storytelling.

Over the next few years, he set to work crafting an original fantasy universe, envisioning a vast array of planets and galaxies bound together by powerful magic, ancient covenants, and the schemes of primordial gods. Finally, the Hollow World was born.

When he isn’t writing, Richard keeps busy with the other staples of a heroic fantasy lifestyle: dressing up in superhero costumes, playing MMORPGs, and collecting an absurd number of action figures and comic books. He’s also a black belt ninja.

You can learn more about him and his work at www.richardtdrake.com.

His submission is called Catalin’s Gambit. Here’s a summary:

In a shadowy tavern in the slums of Syrentium, one meeting will decide the fate of the city.

Catalin Ruic, a young woman raised in the throat-cutting alleys of the docklands, is about to come face to face with the most powerful and dangerous man in the Circle of Kingdoms.

Her plan goes beyond bravery; it is practically suicide.

But the stakes are too high for half measures. Catalin is the last protector of the lives of her people, and perhaps the very soul of Syrentium.

This is a clever negotiation story I felt had great tension and conflict. It’s clever because lots of authors use fighting for tension. It takes a lot of skill to build tension in a simple conversation. Richard has done that. He’s currently working on revisions based on my initial feedback.

Heidi Angell:

This is particularly awesome as Heidi is a friend of mine I met during my online adventures as an author. She and I did a few panels together, and I’m pretty sure she’s a mind reader. We don’t really disagree on much. She heard about the anthology and was kind enough to send the first book in a new series she’s working on. She’s someone I respect enormously, and I’m honestly flattered she decided to join in on the fun.

Image taken from Heidi Angell’s website.

Here’s her bio. Heidi Angell is a bibliophile, lexicomaniac and wordsmith. She is the author of The Hunters Saga, The Clear Angel Chronicles, The Hell School Series and Survivalist Bible series releasing Fall 2017. She also created Royal Prince Vince, Creative Exercises to Inspire, and A Penslinger’s Ponderings. When she is not reading and writing, she can be found spending quality time with her family. You can learn more about her and her work here.

Her story, Survivalist Bible – Genesis, is a fun zombie outbreak tale. Where most zombie stories feature people who are ironically suited for such things, her story features a character with no business surviving such an event. What does it have to do with words? Well, our square-peg-in-a-round-hole main character is writing a journal of events for others to reference in order to survive. This is more in line with the prompt of the title than the First Amendment, but that’s just fine. It fits the theme.

Here’s a summary:

Gabriel Llewellyn is a writer. He’d like to be happily wooing women during the off hours of a writing conference. Instead he’s leaping out of windows and fighting off people who’ve suddenly decided to tear apart anyone near by. However it’s happened, he’s left a message in hopes that people will be able to look back at these events and remember. His first words are:

Hello, 

My name is Gabriel Llewellyn. If you are reading this, then I am probably dead. Or infected. Or maybe I dropped it while fleeing the infected. I suppose it is hard to say. I hope it’s the latter. 

He’s not suited for survival in this world, but someone comes along to help him survive every time he’s supposed to end up dead, but how many times can he be saved before he has to step up?

---

I’ve already talked about my contribution here. I’ve already had a few alpha readers get back to me, and I’m pleased to say they liked it.

That makes four stories so far. I’ve had a few people reach out to me and say they intended to submit. I’ve had some stories I just didn’t feel were right for the project. My intention is to select four more stories, so please feel free to send in something if you think it fits the theme. I’d love to see it.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

Writing Update: The First Draft of The Worth of Words is finished! A Call for Alpha Readers

Greetings all,

I’m happy to report I’ve finished the first draft of The Worth of Words! Technically speaking, this is actually the second draft, but this is the first draft I actually let other human beings look at.

That means I’m looking for alpha readers.

Worth of Words is essentially a science fiction heist story.

Here’s a blurb for the story:

In the year 3753 on the planet of Leznova, all forms of communication are extremely regulated. Drones patrol the skies, seeking out gestures and expressions, executing punishments to any who violate the Communication Act of 3748. Every person over the age of 7 is fitted with Communications Monitor Collars, which send progressively stronger jolts of electricity into any who speak without permission. Should any wish to speak, they must purchase words at increasingly higher fees.

Ardelia Sabine wants it all to stop. She’s simply a mother who doesn’t want her daughter to be forced to stay silent. Formerly a monitor, a police investigator, she’s developed a plan to corrupt the server that regulates the policy and keeps the world silent. She leads a team of brilliant criminals, one of whom is the man she married after capturing him ten years ago. This band of thieves, led by one who used to chase them, must get into the most guarded server room on the planet. They do so knowing it isn’t likely they’ll all survive the effort. To make matters worse, a rival from Ardelia’s past seeks to make an example of her and her betrayal of the monitors. He’s fixated on stopping her, and he’s confident he’s already derailed the most critical part of her scheme.

END BLURB

As with all alpha drafts, what I’m looking for most are people who will point out plot holes and inconsistencies. I’d be very grateful for anyone with experience in writing heist stories. I’d also appreciate anyone who understands hacking to any degree, as one of the characters in the story is supposed to be a renown hacker, and I’d like to avoid looking foolish.

I’d like about 10 alpha readers. If you’re interested, please email me. I’d like to receive feedback by Jan. 5. I’ll be working on a new draft of Repressed by then, but I’d like to jump right back into Worth of Words once I finish those revisions.

I’m honestly very proud of this story. I’ve been talking about this as well as The Power of Words, the anthology this story inspired, for about two months now. I honestly believe the Holy Spirit filled me as I crafted this story. I had the idea, and once I did, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think about anything else until I started writing it. Then, once I started, I finished this project (20,000 words) in a very short period of time (I think it might have been less than a week).

I teach journalism. I believe in speech and the protection of the people’s right to speak freely. This story was inspired by the fear of what would happen if people in power began to think the answer to problems is limiting speech.

So what’s next for me? Well, the editorial comments on Repressed aren’t due for a few more weeks. My next priority will be reading the other contributions for The Power of Words. I’ll be making my own editorial comments on those four stories and working with other authors who volunteer to be part of the anthology.

As always, I’m thrilled to know there are so many people who are interested in my work. Each story I finish feels like its own reward, but knowing there are people who are as excited about these stories as I am is a whole new level of euphoria. Thank you.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

A Power of Words Update! A deadline extension

Greetings all,

It’s Dec. 1 (as I type this) and that means the deadline for The Power of Words has come and gone. I’d like to update everyone on where things are.

At this moment, I’ve had four submissions. Those submissions as well as my own story  add up to about 58,000 words. I have not had a chance to get to read any of the contributions. I’d always intended to start looking at them once the deadline passed. However, I feel the best course of action here is to extend the deadline.

My reasons:

Simple value. A print edition of a work only consisting of 58,000 words isn’t quite sufficient as a stand alone in my opinion. Anthologies I’ve seen usually have quite a lot more. I’d always intended to have eight total stories, and if I receive three more submissions, that should get the book to a size where the cost of printing and production are more appropriate.

Readers demand more. Anthologies are about giving the readers a diverse set of quality stories. I love reading them specifically because they introduce me to new authors I might not otherwise try.  I don’t tend to buy anthologies that only have a handful of authors because I want to meet a lot of authors.

Finally, I still believe in this with my whole heart. I feel strongly that others out there will find inspiration as well. My hope is more time will let others participate.

So, for those reasons, I’m going to extend the deadline for The Power of Words to Jan. 31. This will allow authors who want to participate to work on their stories. While I write every day, I am aware of the holiday season. This means travel. I want to make sure authors can work in a reasonable timeline. I will begin reading the other contributions and contacting those authors regarding this extension. I’m hopeful they feel as I do that the anthology should happen, and it should contain quality stories from at least eight authors.

In regard to how to progress from there, I think I’ll present some options to the other authors regarding the rest of the process (additional edits, work-shopping). I’ll consider it more as I contact those who’ve already submitted. I’ll post another update once I’ve reached out them.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

 

 

Some Questions Regarding The Power of Words Anthology

Greetings all,

The deadline for The Power of Words anthology is approaching. I’ve received some submissions, but I don’t have seven, and I’d certainly like more to choose from. So what I thought I’d do is ask a few questions.

How many of you are actively working on a submission? You may email me or even comment below. This is a project I’m truly inspired by, but I’d like to know just how many people are working to participate.

The above question is the one that matters most. If only a few of us are interested, then those who’ve shown interest can discuss the best way to move forward. However, if more of you are interested, there may be some other factors. So, if there are more of you interested …

Will you be able to meet the Nov. 30 deadline, or do you need more time? I want this project to be successful for all related parties. I don’t want to rush anyone; however, I also don’t want to simply work with the “I’ll finish eventually” timeline. So if you do need more time, I guess the next logical question is how much more time do you need?

In my previous update, I wasn’t too worried about the number of submissions because I expected to receive the bulk of the contributions right around this period. Now, as the deadline approaches, I’m concerned that there just might not be that much interest. This is fine. Those of you reading this who are authors might have projects of your own you’re trying to pursue.

That’s why I felt it appropriate to send out a feeler and see what else might be out there. For those of you who have submitted, I promise I’m still hoping to do the anthology. Some who’ve submitted are authors I’ve already learned about through other projects and blogs. That’s amazing!

It’s still my intent to communicate with all who’ve submitted on the way forward. I feel strongly that eight stories is the minimum number for an anthology, but that’s just a personal sense. Regardless, I’ll send word with the situation and options once I learn more from this post and once the deadline passes.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Writing Update: The Alpha Draft of Repressed is finished!

Greetings all,

As the title indicates, I met my goal and finished this draft of Repressed. I’m happy with how it turned out. Before I go over some administrative notes, I want to make sure I thank my Alpha Readers.

First is Ben. He’s always first. He’s my best friend, and reads every first draft I throw his way, even while working a full-time job and helping my sister raise two wonderful, but active, children. Well…the Senior is all grown up, but I digress. Ben pointed out a few of the logistical conundrums this story had, and offered some advice I’ll account for when the book is completely finished.

Next is Grace, who I met at a convention. She liked Caught and wanted more. She was kind enough to not only send some general comments, but she also sent a document that highlighted some of the more egregious typos. She could have just sent an email, but she took time out of her life to give something I wrote a degree of detail I felt was above and beyond. I can’t thank her enough.

Whenever I write something, I try to stretch my abilities.  I knew that since this book featured Kaitlyn, who’s 16 at the time of this story, the novella would fall into the YA category, which I’m honestly not a huge fan of. But art and entertainment can do so many wonderful things. I’ve always believed that not liking a person or thing has more to do with understanding it than it being bad. So trying to write this story was a way of approach the genre. However, I’m not going to pretend I know everything about everything. I reached out to the Slush Brain, and Chess DeSalls answered the call. She was my “YA” expert, and I was very happy with her feedback. She’s a successful YA author, and I’ve even reviewed one of her books.

Peggy has not only read every book I’ve published, she’s also helped me sell more books than anyone else. She read my call for alpha readers, and decided to get some advanced reading done. Peggy, Grace, and Ben were particularly helpful because they’ve all read Caught, which I’m honored to say spent a few days on the Top 100 for its category (psychics) for a few days this weekend, and I was very concerned about keeping these elements together.

The reality is anyone can write up a book and get it published. I don’t want to just throw crap on the digital wall. I want stories that inspire and entertain. I want to write stories people enjoy. These alpha and beta (two drafts away) readers are critical to making that happen. They provide honest, direct feedback that lets me make the stories better.  I can’t do this without them.  Thank you!

So what’s next? Well, I’m going to take the rest of this weekend to watch football and read Oathbringer (probably not the whole book, but a LOT).

Monday, I’ll begin the First Draft of The Worth of Words, my contribution to The Power of Words anthology (Happy to report I’ve received yet another submission by the way). I’ll update you all via Twitter and Facebook on my progress there. Sara and I have began talking about how long she’ll need for developmental edits. If I finish the First Draft of The Worth of Words, I’ll start world building and outlining Betrayed (Oneiros Book 2).

That’s what I’ll be up to through December. Again, I want you all to know what a blessing it is to have anyone even remotely interested in my ramblings. It’s amazing! I’ll keep working hard to believe blogs you enjoy and books you can’t put down. As always…

Thanks for reading,
Matt

A Quick Power of Words Update

Greetings all,

I’m hard at work on the Alpha Draft of Repressed, which is a little more than halfway done. I’m going to make a huge effort to finish this draft and get it sent to Sara by the end of the weekend. That’s honestly an ambitious goal, but it is feasible.

Finishing that will mean I get to do another draft of Worth of Words, which means it’s time to just keep the word going about the Power of Words anthology.

I’m happy to say I’ve received a few submissions already. I honestly didn’t expect many to come in this early, but they have. I’m still hopeful to get a lot more. My intent is for the anthology to have seven stories. What I imagine is a lot of you are like me. You have the tendency to submit closer to the deadline.

I want you to know that’s completely fine. I’ve told those who’ve already submitted that I won’t start reading until the deadline. This is so I can give this project the attention it deserves. I’m a man of momentum, and I don’t do well when I have to shift gears that quickly. I like to have a project “in waiting” and a project “in progress.” For instance, right now Repressed is “in progress,” and Worth of Words is “in waiting.” This keeps me busy while I’m waiting for edits. I might have to deal with shifting gears, but if I’m reading submissions, I’m more likely to be able to do that than if I’m editing my own work. My hope is to read submissions while drafting Betrayed, Oneiros Book 2.

I hope you’re all having a proactive month of writing, and I truly hope to see your submissions during the end of the month.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

NaNoWriMo: The Spirit of the Month I Never Actually Participate in

All stock art from Pixabay.

Greetings,

As November approaches, which is a pretty big month for me, I’ve seen quite a few NaNoWriMo posts, and that got me thinking. I’ve written some 10 manuscripts in my life, and I’ve never once participated in NaNoWriMo.  I’m not going to participate actively this year either. However, that doesn’t in any way mean I don’t appreciate it.

The spirt of November is to get people writing. I have quite a few conversations with people who say they want to be writers, but sure enough, whenever I ask what they’re working on, they never do. NaNoWriMo is a beautiful idea designed to force people who say they want to write to actually write.

When I’m drafting (the portion of the writing process most directly related to NaNoWriMo), I end up writing at least 1,000 words a day, and I average 2,000 on the weekend.  So let’s see, that would equate to about 38,000 in a month. So I can’t proclaim I write 50K or have ever written 50K in one month, but I feel confident I’ve done it. At one point while drafting New Utopia, I’d written 10K in a single day just to see if I could. New Utopia is a ways down the road as that’ll need extensive revisions. The point is, I commit to writing everyday.  Oddly enough, that makes me think of Christmas or one of those heritage month celebrations.

I honestly love Christmas. It is, in fact, my favorite holiday, but I promise there’s a correlation.  I get upset during heritage month celebrations because they always feel like pretense to me, which is offensive. It feels like, “Today is the day we’re going to acknowledge that people of different races, nations, or sexual orientations are important.” Meanwhile I stand there and wonder why we can’t just be respectful every day of the year? Why can’t we carry on the spirt of Christmas all year?

Do I claim to be perfect? HA!  Not remotely. However, I do make a serious effort to be generous whenever possible. To me, generosity is the spirit of the holiday known as Christmas. I also happen to feel personally that it was the day my savior was born, but that’s a different subject.

I also try my best to actually ignore differences. At work, I’m very unconcerned with what color you are, where you’re from, or who you sleep with. All I care about is your ability to perform your job. I love culture. Maybe not “experiencing” so much, but certainly “understanding” it, so I’m prone to asking blunt and endless questions. If I meet someone who’s been to or from another country, I tend to pepper them with questions. I remember when a dear friend of mine became Vegan. I was amused on one degree, but also curious. You see, culture is what makes each of us special, but I’m a firm believer that when someone points out differences, you’re creating segments. So I make it a point to focus on what we all have in common (the work).

So here comes NaNoWriMo, and a bunch of people will sit down and finally start writing.  (Hopefully they’re writing their submission for The Power of Words.)

My feeling, personal though it may be, is that NaNoWriMo takes away excuses. It’s beautiful. I’ve never needed a reason to sit down and write, but if this is what gets young writers in front of keyboards, then I love it.

No, I’m not going to try to write 50K, but I am going to try and get another draft of Repressed done (getting Bob’s second edition on shelves takes priority). That brings me to the spirit of NaNoWriMo, and in that spirit, I offer any first-time participants this advice.

Commit to a word count, but start small in the beginning: This is all the more important if you’re cold starting. Someone who has a few books written or has at least grown to writing every day probably don’t need to worry about this step, but beware overextending.  If you say you have to write 1,700 words a day, and that first day you only manage 700, you’ll feel defeated and quit.  You will gain speed and word count as you write every day. Don’t panic or quite if you only get a few hundred words out the first week. The more you write, the more momentum you’ll generate and be able to write. I promise!

Ironically, this image of my students was taken during a failed attempt to teach capitalization as an active-learning exercise.

Write, but just write: I see my students fall into a trap. They want the thing they’re writing to be perfect on the first try. That’s impossible. I’m releasing the second edition of Bob Drifter and even that won’t be perfect, but it’ll be better. There’s more to it, but the relevant part of this is that when I draft, I don’t revise or edit. I just go. It took me, oh, I’d say two years to learn to let go of the desire to be “perfect” when I draft. The first book I ever finished writing went through 21 additional complete rewrites. Each time, I felt more and more defeated. There were many problems, but my biggest hangup was that I kept thinking, “This draft will be perfect.” I don’t think writers ever finish a book; they just run into deadline or realize they have to let go. I leave it to you to decide how many revisions and edits you should do, but if you never write the darn thing in the first place, you’ll never publish anyway.

Make every month NaNoWriMo: Never stop. I don’t draft nearly as much as I write, but I always push forward. Lately, I’ve done a better job of committing to a project. I finished Sojourn before I worked on Bob’s second edition.  When I sent that to the editor, I drafted Repressed, and even accidentally drafted The Worth of Words. Now that I have Bob back, I’ll get it on shelves (hopefully by the end of November), and then I’ll turn my full attention to Repressed.  But even when I send that out, I’ll shift right over to Worth of Words. My point is, I’m always working. I motivate myself by finishing projects, and having that project I want to get to planned. It sort of tempts me. You see, I’m excited to write Betrayed (the sequel to Caught). That means I can’t wait to finish those other projects so I can get to this one. The more you do, the more you will do. So have fun out there. I may not be with you in function, but I’m absolutely with you in spirit.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

The Second Edition of The Journals of Bob Drifter is In Review!

Greetings all,

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted. After some careful editing, careful design, and some rather comedic fights with Pages and page-number formatting, I’ve just turned in the PDF of the 2nd Edition of The Journals of Bob Drifter.

I can’t make this more clear. This is not a sequel! One of my readers thought that, and I don’t want to mislead anyone. I had some editorial issues with Bob that I wanted to hash out. More importantly, I needed more control over pricing, sales, and distribution. When I realized I was going to re-release Bob, I made a few decisions.

1. Get the price down: The original price for the soft-cover of Bob Drifter was $28. Which is almost more than a hard cover for some larger books. That’s never sat well with me. Doing this let me bring the cover price way down (12.99). There won’t be a hard cover for the book, but hard cover books just don’t sell, at least not for me.
2. Make each part available. I’ve already shown you the covers for each individual part of Bob Drifter. This lets readers try each part out with out the price commitment of the whole story. An Unusual Occupation (Part One of the story) should come out about three months after the full version. Yes, it also puts more books on my shelf, but the main reason is to let people pay for what they want and read what they want. Buying the full version up front will probably be more cost effective, but people like paying for only what they want.
3. Change the category. There is a magic system for Bob. I promise! But people just don’t see it as an urban fantasy novel. Putting it in the Supernatural and Paranormal categories is simply a better fit from a marketing point of view. Here’s hoping that leads to more sales.

The other good news is this means I’ll have new copies of Bob available when my convention tour begins in 2018.

I don’t have a release date. I also need to contact Archway to cancel the contract with the first edition. I’m a little worried about how that might go, but it shouldn’t be a big deal. (What worries me is if it’s made into a big deal.)  Once I get a release date, I’ll update you all.  The Ebook will be relatively close behind the paperback edition, and I’ll keep you all updated on that when I have news to offer.

In other news, I’ve heard back from three Alpha readers. All thought the Repressed was good. I’ve identified a few things I want to emphasis before I send it to Sara for editing, but so far, it feels like this was a very solid first draft.

This was a big benchmark for me. It lets me focus my attention on the future, which means Betrayed (Oneiros Book Two) isn’t too far from getting started.  If you liked the psychic military action in Caught, you’ll love Betrayed. Dom has a much larger role in that novel, as does Kira and Kaitlyn. The team will have to face a lot of tension on a lot of different battlegrounds. I look forward to getting on that. I’ll finish Repressed and Worth of Words.  I’m still not remotely sure how many entries I’ll get for that anthology, but I have heard from at least three people who said they’re going to submit.  That’s encouraging.  Big things are on the horizon in my neck of the woods. I’ll always keep you posted. I still can’t thank you all enough for your interest and support. I hope to keep delivering you stories you enjoy.

Thanks for reading,

Matt