Writing Update

It's been awhile since I've provided an update on my diverse writing projects, so here goes.

I'm still shopping around my novel Harlem Smoke, the first draft of which I finished around a year or so ago (a few months back I completed the third and final draft). Hopefully it will find a publisher soon: things are still in the works but nothing is set in stone yet. When that time comes, I hope to commission my friend CL Martin to provide the cover art. Some of her work may be seen here: http://clmartinfineart.daportfolio.com/

Inspired by the recent self-publishing endeavors of Mark Samuels, I'm also toying with the idea of self-publishing The Killing Game, which is the first volume of my Trinity fantasy trilogy (or Metatron's Arch, to use the proper name of the series). Obviously I don't expect to make any money doing this, but I do like the idea of having it available for the curious to read, as I still think it's an entertaining book.

Although I have written very few short stories these last three years (mainly because I've been busy with the Trinity books and also Harlem Smoke), I did recently complete a new story, "XYschaton," which hopefully will appear in an upcoming anthology (more details on that to come). It is my intention to one day have a 3rd short story collection, but I still need to write at least 8-9 new stories before I can get to that point.

My first novel, Confusion, which I self-published in 2006, remains out-of-print. For those who wish to read it but are unable to find it elsewhere (as far as I know, no copies may be found online through out-of-print/secondhand dealers, making it all but impossible to get), you can always just e-mail me at rexpop@cox.net and I'd be more than happy to just e-mail you the Microsoft Word Document of it.

Currently I am not working on anything new, mainly because I've been busy trying to get Harlem Smoke published. I have a feeling that once that happens I'll get back into the swing of things. I just don't want to be one of those writers who has tons of unpublished manuscripts lying around!

Long-delayed writing projects update

Hard to believe that it's been so long since my last update in terms of my writing projects. Maybe because I've just been too busy writing. Anyway, here goes.

 



A few days ago I finished writing my fantasy novel Metatron's Arch: A Ternion Emanation (also known as the Trinity book). It came out to a little over 1000 pages long. My plan is, over the next few months, to see if I can get any literary agents to look it over. It's written in a more mainstream style than my short stories, so hopefully it'll be more marketable. Certainly epic high fantasy is more "in" these days than Lovecraftian weird fiction (though I haven't abandoned the latter). I was careful to write this book in such a way so that, while I left a few loose threads in it in case I ever feel the itch to write a sequel, at the same time it works as a stand-alone novel. I'm trying to avoid finding myself in the same situation that George R.R. Martin is currently in, toiling away at a seemingly never-ending fantasy series with thousands of fan boys on his back, clamoring for him to hurry up and finish it. In other words, were my book to ever be published, I'd be sure that there would be no mention of a "Book One" anywhere on the cover.

Speaking of short stories, I also need to find a publisher for Autopsy of an Eldritch City: Ten Tales of Strange & Unproductive Thinking, my second collection. As of now, this book will be illustrated by my friend O.B. De Alessi: http://www.obdealessi.com/ This is the collection I finished last fall, which for some reason I forgot to mention on this blog. Its table of contents will include "The Cursed Quilts," "Tir-Na-Nog," "Iridophobia," "The Snow Globes of Patient O.T.," "The Yellow Notebook," "The Fire Sermon," "Dyad," "The Aphotic Zone," "The Demons in the Fresco," and "Planet Earth is Going to be Recycled."

My short story "The Withering Echo"  (the bonus story at the end of my 1st collection Grimoire) will be included in the upcoming anthology Mighty in Sorrow: a Tribute to David Tibet & Current 93, edited by Jordan Krall. This book is due to be published sometime this year. Here's the table of contents: http://griffinwords.com/2014/02/03/mighty-in-sorrow-table-of-contents/

and the cover:

 

 

In my last update (July of 2013), I mentioned how a remixed, rewritten version of my self-published 2006 novel Confusion was in the works. That project is now most likely abandoned.

 

So, for the future I'll be trying to get my fantasy novel and my second short story collection published. I have ideas for a few new stories that might be useable for a 3rd collection at some point in the future, and I might write those over the spring. For now I'm taking a break from novel writing, though this summer I hope to maybe start a new novel: perhaps the gay Tom Clancy book I'm always talking about.

 

I've also been writing some gay porn (erm, "erotica") as of recent, just for fun, and because it's nice to write non-horrific short stories. I might start up a separate blog for those, for the curious...

Update on writing projects

It's been awhile since I updated this blog with news of my writing projects: odd, as I've gotten quite a bit of writing done this year.

First off, there is a chance that at some point in the future (either late this year or sometime next year) an enhanced and remixed version of my first novel, Confusion, might be published. More details to come as that unfolds.

I'm still hard at work typing out my Trinity fantasy trilogy. Book 1 is mostly complete (though much editing and rewriting remains to be done), and I'm almost halfway through typing out Book 2. I would like to finish typing out Book 2 this year, then do Book 3 next year.

Work is almost nearing completion on my second short story collection, which I intend to be my final collection of horror/weird fiction/supernatural stories. I hope to finish it this year, and maybe seek out a publisher for it next year. It is much shorter than Grimoire, my first collection, and will probably consist of 8 stories or so, 7 of which are mostly complete. The names of some of the stories I have planned for this collection include (in no order): "The Aphotic Zone," "The Demons in the Fresco," "The Yellow Notebook," "The Snow Globes of Patient O.T.," "Iridophobia," "The Fire Sermon," and "Dyad." I don't have a name for the 8th and last story yet. I'm still undecided as to what name to give to this collection, but some potential titles I'm playing around with include The Revolting Science of God, Strange and Unproductive Thinking, Sabaziorum, & Opus Contra Naturam.

Confusion er daudur

In 2006, I self-published my first novel, Confusion, through iUniverse. Recently this year, they made it available as an eBook for devices such as Nook or Kindle, but they totally fucked it up (for example, they neglected to italicize words that should have been italicized). That was the last straw. Last month I sent them a letter requesting they cancel the book, and today I got mail from iUniverse saying that they had granted my cancellation request for Confusion. It is no longer available through the iUniverse website or Barnes & Noble (though the botched Nook eBook version still is: not for long though). The book is still up for sale on Amazon in both print and eBook versions, but again, not for long. Now that all rights have reverted back to me, I can begin the process of rewriting it (as I was never satisfied with the finished product and rushed into self-publishing it way too soon), and then try to find it a better home.