"All Hope Lost" Blog tour

Update 10/01/11: New appearance announced!

Throughout the month of October, I'll be blog touring to talk about my upcoming novelette, All Hope Lost. For those unfamiliar, a "blog tour" is the electronic version of a book tour. Instead of dressing up and driving to a bookstore to illuminate the fawning masses, I get to do it from home in my unmentionables (I know, too much sharing). Here are some of the places you'll be able to find me:

October 3rd: Clarion Writers Craft Blog
October 5th: The Literary Handyman
October 11th: Tracy S. Morris
October 19th: Immortyl Revolution

Thanks to all these wonderful writers for hosting me. Please stop by their blogs and say hello.

More sites to be announced. Stay tuned!

"All Hope Lost" cover

Here it is, the cover for my upcoming novelette, All Hope Lost:

Isn't it beautiful? You can buy it on October 10th from Escape Collective Publishing.

Novelette release

I'm finally ready to announce the news I've been sitting on for (what feels like) forever:

My novelette, All Hope Lost, will be published next month by Escape Collective. The release date is October 10th. I should have cover art to post soon. If you or any of your friends are into Lovecraft, horror, and/or detective stories, check it out!

Woo!

Context

This weekend I'll be attending Context 24. This will be a laid-back con for me; all I'm committed to is the Broad Universe Reading on Sunday at 1:00. If you're around and you enjoy Lovecraftian detective stories, stop by for a listen.

Booklamp vs. Novelist

I was just reading about a "new" idea in matching readers with books. It's called Booklamp, and the developers describe it as "Pandora for books". (FYI, I'm familiar with Pandora but haven't used it myself.) The idea is, Booklamp takes data from the books you love, analyzes such data as plot, characters, etc., and based on those analyses provides you with some other titles you might enjoy. It's a great idea. That's why Novelist has been doing it for years.

As far as I can tell, the difference between Booklamp and Novelist is that you need a public library card to access Novelist. And since I'm a public librarian, I'm going to plug Novelist right now for those library users who aren't familiar with their libraries' wonderful database collections. If you've got a public library card, visit your library website. You'll probably see a button on the main page that says something like "Premium Resources" or "Databases". For example, on Columbus Metro's Page you'll see it in the dropdown menu under "Reference".

When you click that tab you should see a number of resources. Scroll down until you see Novelist. (Disclaimer: of course not every library webpage is arranged the same way, so the process at your library may be a bit different.) When you click it, you'll probably be prompted to enter your library card number and possibly your pin, so have those handy. Now go to town. If you're lucky enough to accessing Novelist from your library, the friendly librarian there will help you with any questions, but you should be able to navigate it pretty easily.

And if your library doesn't have Novelist, call them up and ask them what the deal is.

Seriously, Novelist is pretty cool. I just used it to discover Algernon Blackwood based on my preference for H.P. Lovecraft. I'll be checking him out soon.

But back to the original topic: Booklamp. Has anyone used it? (I understand it's still in beta.) Anyone used both Booklamp and Novelist and have a preference?

Inboxitis

I'm deep in the grips of inboxitis. That's where I obsessively check my inbox several times a day, holding my breath, waiting to see if I've gotten a response on a submission yet. I never do. Then I experience "the wave", the second-long period of unfulfilled anticipation, mixed with relief that I haven't been rejected yet.

I think I've got it because I'm in a funky transitional phase right now. I have two projects circulating that I haven't heard back on, no upcoming publications, and am in a sketchy place on my new project. I'm antsy. So I hold my breath, check my inbox, and wait.

Anyone else get this?

Thoughts from a first-time slush reader

Working as blog editor for Loconeal Publishing has been a pleasure. I've gotten to talk to some great writers who have shared their insights on the writing process.

Recently, I've also gotten the chance to read through the slush pile for Loconeal's upcoming anthology. I encountered some well-written, thought-provoking work that I can't wait to see in print. I also saw some stories that were almost there. With just a little tweaking, they could have gone from good to great.

Over at the Locoblog I go into detail about some common errors I ran across, and how they can be fixed. Please head on over and check it out.