Truths, triumphs, and tragedies of an independent writer.
Yes, you read the headline correctly. Having just wrapped up the Book Launch Weekend with successful events at Barnes & Noble and the OSFEST Science Fiction Convention, my brain pickled by sake, shochu, scotch, and sing-alongs, I’m offering the book for FREE on Kindle. So get your free copy while you can! Spread the word with signal fires, taiko drums, smoke signals, telegraph, and Pony Express.
Sam Knight is an author from the Colorado Front Range, and he experiments with all sorts of genres, from SF to horror to weird tales to children’s books. I met Sam soon after I moved to the Denver area myself, and found an incredibly rich community of working professional fiction writers at various stages of their careers, from a few early sales to established pros. The number of areas that rival the Colorado Front Range in sheer number of writers could probably be counted on one hand. Sam is an active, friendly part of that community.
Do you remember what I said last week about meeting other authors at conventions. I served on a couple of panels at Denver Comic Con a few weeks ago with Bryan Young, an up and upcoming writer from the Salt Lake City area. He has creative irons in a number of fires, as you’ll see below, from fiction to film-making to screenplays to editing to journalism.
As so often happens in this line of work, I met Christopher M. Salas at a convention. In this case, the convention was COSINE 2013, a local science fiction convention in Colorado Springs. Christopher Salas writes horror and science fiction from the Colorado Front Range area. He is also a volunteer firefighter, martial artist, and purveyor of comic books. If that doesn’t pique your interest, I dunno what will.
Work on the next Ronin novel is coming along on schedule. The text is entering the final phases. Within a couple of weeks we’ll have a complete design, inside and out. All the artwork is also finished. I’d like to give you a little taste of that. Here is Alan M. Clark’s awesome cover painting. Here is Drew Baker’s painting. This will appear on the back cover of the hardcover edition. Thanks to the great success of the Kickstarter campaign, this book will also have interior illustrations by Drew Baker. I’m really
Like everyone, I’ve been hearing about digital publishing, e-books, self-publishing, etc., for some years now. This week marks the first that I step into this realm. I’ll be putting out a short story called Legs as a standalone across all e-reader formats, with even a chapbook-style print edition. This is a little scary, because it’s all new territory, and there’s somewhat of a learning curve. Thanks to fellow writer friends jim pinto, Guy Anthony DeMarco, and Quincy J. Allen, who helped grease the tracks on this little train, Legs will be available any minute now across all e-reader formats. I’ll put
I have some great news to report. The Kickstarter campaign to fund Sword of the Ronin has been successfully funded. Thank you to all the friends, colleagues, podcast listeners, and readers who have backed the project thus far. That’s the good news. Now, the better news. There’s still two weeks to go! Stretch goals are now in place to raise this project to a higher level. I have brought artist Drew Baker onto the project now to produce additional artwork. If you’re familiar with the Legend of the Five Rings universe (a personal favorite of mine since 1996), you’ve likely
For a long time I have been steadfastly against self-publishing my work. I have seen far too many self-published books that look like amateurish crap on the outside, and then when I open them up and read a few pages I find that it is sadly true on the inside, too. As much as writers often resent what we perceive to be the gatekeepers in the way of our dreams, traditional publishers and literary agents do provide a value. They filter much of the good stuff from the chaff, add value to the product with professional editing (at least in
I have been tagged in The Next Big Thing, a series of interconnected interviews where writers talk about their current projects. I have tagged three fellow authors below, and you can follow the links to their web pages, but in the meantime, here is what I have been up to. 1) What is the working title of your next book? Death Wind. 2) Where did the idea come from for the book? It’s the adaptation of a screenplay that I wrote with my friend, Jim Pinto. Jim and I collaborated on a metric ton of roleplaying supplements, so a few
It’s here! The Wild Boys storm the publishing world! Well, not really. Too much hype… The Wild Boys will change your life! Sigh, still too much… Maybe I’ll dial it back just a little. I am proud to announce that my Young Adult horror-thriller novel has just been released by Damnation Books. And look! Just in time for the holidays! “A fast-paced novel about love, loss, and the unforgettable scent of once being human, The Wild Boys is impossible to put down.” – Shelly Li, Scholastic Award-winning author of The Royal Hunter: Throne Under Siege “I recommend The Wild Boys
So maybe you’ve been thinking about grabbing a copy of my horror novella, Snakes, or better still, a copy of my YA horror-thriller The Wild Boys when it comes out on December 1st. Guess what! Now you can get 25% off cover price direct from the publisher, and this applies to e-books and trade paperbacks. Just go to the Damnation Books website and order direct. Click here for Snakes. Click here for The Wild Boys. Coupon Code for 25% off! – 12PE9NGO4MDS And thank you for your support!
Goodreads Book Giveaway Snakes by Travis Heermann Giveaway ends November 05, 2012. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win