Death IS Getting A Book

Hey Folks!

Yeah, I'm still here. Things have been quiet for awhile. However, there is some news on the writing front to share so let's get you all up to speed.

First, BRATS IN HELL is still in a holding pattern waiting to be reviewed by a potential publisher. There is not much more I can say about it other than that.

In the time since I completed the BRATS IN HELL, I've had two short stories released in the State of Horror Anthology series published by Charon Coin Press. State of Horror: New Jersey features my story Pork Roll, Egg and Sleaze. It has the honor of being the first story in the anthology and has been getting exellent feedback.  In the State of Horror: Illinois book I have a story entitled  In Chicago, The Dish is So Deep, No One Can Hear You Scream. The title maybe longer than the story but I still had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you will check out both.

While we are on the subject of the State of Horror anthology series, I am also able to announce that I have been officially accepted into one of the books for the next round of releases. State of Horror: North Carolina will contain my tale of fowl poop entitled Chicken Bingo. You may ask how this story (loosely based on a true personal experience) about chicken crap can possibly be horrific? You will have to wait for the new release from Charon Coin Press to find out. Be on the lookout early 2015.

Finally some new business that I am happy to announce. Over the summer I embarked on a new career (the one that pays the bills). My new job absorbed a lot of my time between new hours and intensive training. Needless to say, my writing suffered somewhat. I was able to keep writing but my output slowed severely.

Fortunately, I am through the most difficult part of my training. Also, the work is very seasonal and going into the fall and winter months, I will find myself with more and more time to dedicate back to writing.

With that in mind, I wanted to focus on a new novel length work. My decision was to dedicate an entire book to the subject of my first published work and the most praised character I've wrote to date. In short:

EVERYONE LOVES DEATH

Death, from Death Gets A Life is getting his own book. The tentative title: DEATH GETS A BOOK.

On October 1st, I started writing for the book. The model is the same as BRATS IN HELL, 50,000 words in 50 days. The story will not be one linear story but more a collection of various length short stories around the character Death. There is a bit more to it than that but that is the nuts and bolts of the idea.

So if you were a fan of Death Gets A Life, stay tuned here to get updates on Death and his new book.
As always you can look over to the right hand side and check on the progress of DEATH GETS A BOOK by monitoring the word meter.

Thank you for your continued interest in what I'm doing. I really hope that 2015 can bring not one but two books for you and thus the start of something great. Until there are plenty of short stories to check out in SCARED SILLY, The State of Horror Anthologies, Strange Fucking Stories, Strange Versus Lovecraft and of course, Armand Rosamilia's STILL DYING 2.

Little Victories

It's been awhile since I checked in with you all. The first draft of BRATS IN HELL is now 75 percent complete. It's also May1st which means only 20 days remain to complete my goal in time.

Can I do it?

Oh, you betcha! I'm a little more than 37k words into the story. The goal is 50k by May 20th. So at my current pace of 1k words per day I should cross the finish line with a few days to spare. Certainly, I won't stop dead in my tracks there. If there is more story to be told obviously I will go until it's done.

Have I been honest with myself and suck to writing a minimum of 1k per day? Honestly? No. BUT... by and large I have and then some. Even on days where I have come up short, I've always written something. I think my worst day was still a little more than 500 words. Plus, weekends have proven fruitful at times where I've pumped out over 3k words over the course of two lazy days. In the end, it's all even out pretty much.

The story itself has just reached the end game. The battle for Hell is about to go down. The most exciting part is that someone has to die, I'm just not sure who yet. I have to wait for the story to tell me. That had been the most fun part of all this. No matter how much I plan, outline and jot down notes, the story doesn't really play out until I actually write it. Often the story has given my outlines and notes the middle finger. The story says "F You! THIS is how it goes down!" That is when is been strongest too.

To round out this update with a bit of happy news, I've had two short stories accepted into two different anthologies. Just before I started to write BRATS IN HELL, I wrote these two stories. They are both for a series of anthologies called STATE OF HORROR. Each anthology focuses on one of the states. The first two are for New Jersey and Illinois. I managed to get a story into each. Look out for them this summer!

I imagine my next post will come when I cross the finish line. I'll talk to you all then.

FJE