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 I just don't want to be one of those writers who has tons of unpublished manuscripts lying around!
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Writing Update: "Harlem Smoke" 1st draft complete
Yesterday evening, at 7:24 PM, I completed the first draft of Harlem Smoke, my new novel, while listening to the song "Azathoth" by Arzachel (the "end credits" song for the book's "soundtrack," incidentally). The first draft came to 290 pages and 126,036 words. All in all, the book took around 159 days to write, from August 14th, 2015 to January 20th, 2016 (a little over 5 months: I first conceived of the idea back in August of 2014). Presumably the 2nd draft might be a tad longer in terms of pages, but I'm not even thinking of the second draft right now. The relief of finally typing the word "FINIS" is satisfaction enough. I now also once again have a chance to repost one of my favorite J.K. Huysmans quotes, from a March 1887 letter to Camille Lemonnier, on the only rewarding aspects of writing:
“I have just written those felicitous words: the end! You know what that means! It is the only really good literary moment in one's life, I believe, given that, the very next day, disgust with what one has written sets in. But still, there has been at least one minute of happiness.”
Later on this year I hope to begin shopping it around to publishers (always my least favorite part of the writing process, but it goes with the territory).
The novel is set in the year 2015 and the location is the city of Providence, Rhode Island. The "plot" revolves around a black homosexual painter, formerly the member of a Lovecraftian horrorcore hip-hop band back in the 1990's, who finds himself haunted by his old creation when a number of local women start to turn up brutally murdered, the crimes seeming to match the lyrics of the one and only album he recorded back in the day (the name of this album being Harlem Smoke). Essentially, it's a mix-up of Frankenstein, Lovecraft, the TV show Hannibal, and a whole lot of other things. I certainly wouldn't classify it as a conventional Lovecraft horror novel, though.
There are a few other projects that might be in the works, but it's still too soon to tell. I'll provide updates in relations to them in the future, however, as things progress.
“I have just written those felicitous words: the end! You know what that means! It is the only really good literary moment in one's life, I believe, given that, the very next day, disgust with what one has written sets in. But still, there has been at least one minute of happiness.”
Later on this year I hope to begin shopping it around to publishers (always my least favorite part of the writing process, but it goes with the territory).
The novel is set in the year 2015 and the location is the city of Providence, Rhode Island. The "plot" revolves around a black homosexual painter, formerly the member of a Lovecraftian horrorcore hip-hop band back in the 1990's, who finds himself haunted by his old creation when a number of local women start to turn up brutally murdered, the crimes seeming to match the lyrics of the one and only album he recorded back in the day (the name of this album being Harlem Smoke). Essentially, it's a mix-up of Frankenstein, Lovecraft, the TV show Hannibal, and a whole lot of other things. I certainly wouldn't classify it as a conventional Lovecraft horror novel, though.
There are a few other projects that might be in the works, but it's still too soon to tell. I'll provide updates in relations to them in the future, however, as things progress.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Writing projects update
It's been awhile since I updated this page with an update on my writing projects, so here goes.
My long short story/novella "Chaoskampf" will be appearing in Marked to Die, a tribute anthology to the work of Mark Samuels that will most likely be published in the spring of 2016 by Snuggly Books. This book is edited by Justin Isis and features a large roster of very exciting contributors. More information here:
http://www.snugglybooks.co.uk/marked-to-die/
Aside from writing "Chaoskampf" I've been kind of lax in writing short fiction this year. I'm slowly (very slowly) working on another story entitled "Black Noise" that's inspired by the music of Maurizo Bianchi. No idea when it'll be done. I do have ideas for other short story titles (such as "Alien Existence"), it's just a matter of coming up with appropriate ideas for them (I find I often come up with the titles for stories before the actual story idea).
My long short story/novella "Chaoskampf" will be appearing in Marked to Die, a tribute anthology to the work of Mark Samuels that will most likely be published in the spring of 2016 by Snuggly Books. This book is edited by Justin Isis and features a large roster of very exciting contributors. More information here:
http://www.snugglybooks.co.uk/marked-to-die/
Aside from writing "Chaoskampf" I've been kind of lax in writing short fiction this year. I'm slowly (very slowly) working on another story entitled "Black Noise" that's inspired by the music of Maurizo Bianchi. No idea when it'll be done. I do have ideas for other short story titles (such as "Alien Existence"), it's just a matter of coming up with appropriate ideas for them (I find I often come up with the titles for stories before the actual story idea).
Thursday, July 25, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Writing Update
I'm finally almost done writing out the first draft of "The Yellow Notebook." Hopefully I'll finish that one this year. Then it's just a matter of typing it out, then submitting it to the usual genre magazines. One of my goals for 2011 is to try to write at least one short story a month, and to try to get some of those short stories published. As it is, I have plenty of ideas for stories at the moment, though some of those ideas consist mainly of titles that I think sound cool (such as "The Evil Animators").
On the novel writing front... when I initially found out that Grimoire was going to be published, I decided that I wouldn't start any other major projects until it was actually released, aside from working on the occasional short story. So it's my hope to start work on a new novel next year. In the meantime, to keep from getting rusty, I've been working on The Marble Index, which is book two of my Trinity fantasy trilogy. It's been nearly a decade since I finished book one, so I figured this one's time had come. I started work on it on August 4th of this year and now I'm nearly 240 pages into it, with only about 40 pages to go, so I hope to finish it in January. It's been hard work because I've been writing it all out by hand, in the fashion that I wrote all those old books back in high school and college (see my earlier Previous Works/Juvenilia entry). But it's satisfying to me to finally be finishing book two, and even though I have no intentions of publishing this one it's a nice way to remind myself that I can still write novels when I put my mind to it (ever since I finished Confusion in 2006 I've been kind of lax on the novel writing front, though I did have some failed attempts, such as a novel set at Warhol's Silver Factory during the 1960's, or a short novel about a retail worker employed at a bookstore job he hated). I'm just not sure what my next "official" novel is going to be about.
On the novel writing front... when I initially found out that Grimoire was going to be published, I decided that I wouldn't start any other major projects until it was actually released, aside from working on the occasional short story. So it's my hope to start work on a new novel next year. In the meantime, to keep from getting rusty, I've been working on The Marble Index, which is book two of my Trinity fantasy trilogy. It's been nearly a decade since I finished book one, so I figured this one's time had come. I started work on it on August 4th of this year and now I'm nearly 240 pages into it, with only about 40 pages to go, so I hope to finish it in January. It's been hard work because I've been writing it all out by hand, in the fashion that I wrote all those old books back in high school and college (see my earlier Previous Works/Juvenilia entry). But it's satisfying to me to finally be finishing book two, and even though I have no intentions of publishing this one it's a nice way to remind myself that I can still write novels when I put my mind to it (ever since I finished Confusion in 2006 I've been kind of lax on the novel writing front, though I did have some failed attempts, such as a novel set at Warhol's Silver Factory during the 1960's, or a short novel about a retail worker employed at a bookstore job he hated). I'm just not sure what my next "official" novel is going to be about.
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