by john | Dec 7, 2012 | Real Life, Vampires, Writing
I get distracted easily. By shiny things, loud noises, Magic cards, eBay, Craigslist, Facebook, the like.
Pretty much anything.
And lately I’ve been distracted by looking for a job.
It’s not that the writing thing isn’t working out, it’s that the writing thing isn’t working out quite well enough to support me. We’re not starving (which is evident from my waistline) or in danger of losing our house, but we’re eating through our savings a little more quickly than I’d hoped, so I’m probably re-entering the workforce. It’s not a huge deal, I have skills that people are willing to pay for, and I have an interview on Monday.
So that’s happening.
And I finished most of my Bubba work for the year, except the super-secret Skeeter Christmas story that I’m working on that should release next week, just in time for some ho-ho-hilarity.
Guess that’s not much of a secret anymore, is it?
So that’s kinda what’s going on here. I’m looking for full-time employment, or part-time employment, and working hard on resurrecting a local theatre advocacy organization, and writing a bit, and playing Magic. Now it’s time to go work on the rewrites for Paint it Black.
You know, that fourth book in The Black Knight Chronicles that you guys have been waiting a year and a half for? Yeah, the first draft is done, the revised draft is due to my publisher around the first of the year, and hopefully we’ll get that in your hands early in 2013.
Merry Christmas!
by john | Nov 5, 2012 | Book Spotlight
I met Selah Janel at Fandom Fest this year, and loved her as soon as we met. She’s a truly awesome person, and then she submitted one of the best vampire stories I’ve EVER read for The Big Bad. This is her new book, which you should all check out as soon as you can. You won’t be disappointed, she’s amazing!
Cute, too. 🙂
When In the Red was still a vague short story I still knew one set-in-stone fact. It was a story about a guy who wanted to be a rock star, and it was going to be set in a rock n’ roll world. It pains me that this genre has been somewhat forgotten, kicked around, and who knows what else in favor of pop, dance, dub step, and whatever other new subgenres show up every five minutes. I get it. New times, new tastes. Yet many musicians today always seem to cover or pay tribute to those awesome rockers who have come before. Concepts like backstage hijinks, trashed hotel rooms, super-fans, groupies, and interesting substances are a part of every music genre in the performance realm, but they seem to be forever linked with a rock n’ roll world. Besides, there’s something instinctively soul-wrenching about a really great guitar riff, a really killer bass line, a badass drum solo, and a singer who can really wail. For many of us, these are things that get an immediate, visceral reaction. There are idols in every area of music, but since the story also deals with a sundry deal with dark forces, rock music felt right. Not only is it the genre I grew up with (I love all music, but I’ll always favor classic rock and eighties metal), but it has the best stories.
At some point everyone has seen or heard some ridiculous story about some rock star livin’ it up. Whether you’ve been on Snopes.com, read books like Rock n’ Roll Babylon, or get your kicks from movies like Almost Famous, you probably have somewhat of an idea of what I’m talking about (and how hard of a guest post this will be to write without describing some of the better incidents). In my book, Jeremiah signs on with Jack Scratch and Voland Entertainment and instantly, easily becomes a superstar, supposedly destined to bring rock music back from the dead. He’s encouraged to play hard because he’s worked so hard for what he wants (or so he thinks). And he definitely plays hard. He’s in good company, too. Whether it’s The Who trashing hotel rooms, Led Zeppelin discovering new uses for fish, or Mötley Crüe discovering new uses for telecommunications devices, stories about decadence and debauchery have long followed rock. It’s almost expected at this point.
Sure, a lot of these (like the Rod Steward rumors) are very much inflated, and probably not even about him or any other person in question (you can substitute at least five people into that story, and the same anecdote has been told about all of them). It’s probably a failing of mine that things like this amuse me so much, or maybe it’s because I’m a very boring person, myself (All those who know me can stop laughing at that one, thanks). It was fun to make up my own rock urban legends and put Jeremiah through that sort of hazing, especially since shyness is one of the few qualities we share. It was also a little nerve-wracking, knowing that people I know would actually read this book and discover that part of my imagination. At the end of the day, though, I decided to suck it up and get past the nerves, because those little asides and vignettes really make the first part of the book for me.
However, there were other stories that I wanted to touch on that were just as much fun as thinking of what a bassist could hide under a bar table or what kind of hijinks a band could get up to during a recording session. We’re at the point where rock n’ roll and its earlier forms have a long and rich history, and with it comes its own brand of folklore. I didn’t want to directly include the Robert Johnson story in the book, but I did want to allude to it and use elements of it. For those who aren’t aware, the basic story is that Robert Johnson went out to a local crossroads and met a stranger there (the Devil), who taught him how to play guitar better than anyone in the entire world, and he ended up dying to fulfill his contract. Now, in real life there are quite a few holes in that story, but it’s an interesting concept. There are also a number of stories of more recent rockers who supposedly sold their souls for a chance at fame and fortune. After all, everyone has something that they’d give up everything for. A lot of people would do a lot for that kind of attention…and to have security of that position to go with it? Priceless.
In the Red translates things a bit differently. There is a shady deal, though it takes a while for Jeremiah to realize just what he’s gotten himself into. There are magical objects, demons, and plenty of groupies and fans to encourage Jeremiah to play up his alter-ego J.K. Asmodeus to the fullest. There is a crossroads, but it shows up at a different point and ends up being more of a battle of wits than a learning opportunity. There’s plenty of decadence and bad behavior floating around the pages, plenty of questionable activity, and plenty of occurrences that may or may not be real…it just depends on what you believe in.
And thankfully, there’s also plenty of stage time and good ol’ fashioned rock n’ roll to go with it all, because really, it’s the music that makes everything else possible.
Blog – http://www.selahjanel.wordpress.com
Fandom Scene Column – http://www.fandomfestblog.com/blogs/selah-janel
Facebook Author Page – http://www.facebook.com/authorSJ
Facebook Book Page – http://www.facebook.com/intherednovel
Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5622096.Selah_Janel
Amazon Author Page – http://www.amazon.com/Selah-Janel/e/B0074DKC9K/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1346815995&sr=1-2-ent
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/SelahJanel
by john | Oct 26, 2012 | Appearances
Hey y’all –
I don’t know about you, but I’m just now getting back into my groove after Dragon*Con and NY Comic Con. That’s certainly one reason I don’t think I can do both of those cons in a year again – they’re just a little too close together for massive cons like that. I know there’s six weeks between them, but I need more. Anyway, nobody cares about all that.
Here’s where you can find me at upcoming events for the next couple weeks. When I’m not at these places, I plan to be nose-first in my keyboard because I’m going to do NaNoWriMo this year and I really intend to blow it up. I think I should be able to easily hammer out 50,000 words in about two weeks, so this bitch better be done by Thanksgiving!
Tonight & Tomorrow Night (and Sunday @2:30, Nov. 1-3 @ 8PM, Nov. 4 @ 2:30PM, Nov. 7-10 @ 8PM, Nov. 11 @ 2:30PM)- 8PM – Theatre Charlotte, In the Heat of the Night. Great play, come check it out. The cast is going to Philosopher’s Stone tonight after the show, you’re welcome to join us and tell us how awesome we are.
Sunday – UNCC Cone Center – UNCC Guild Game Day – this is where the gamer geeks come hang out, play Magic or other games, and I set up my little display table and try to sell books. Worst case I’ll play cards and hang out.
November 14, 7-9PM – I’ll be signing the Black Knight Omnibus at Park Road Books. Faith Hunter and Kalayna Price will be joining me. Come by and say hello. Maybe we’ll grab a beer afterwards. Well, let’s put it this way – I’m going to get a beer afterwards. You’re invited.
November 15 – Time Warner Cable Arena – Madonna. Don’t judge, I’m a married man, and I owe her this. I will be intoxicated. That is all.
November 16-18 – Charleston Convention Center in North Charleston, SC – Magic Grand Prix Charleston. I’ll be playing Magic: The Addiction all weekend long, but if you want to come say hello, I’ll probably have books in my bag if you want to pick one up.
November 22 – Thanksgiving at Mom & Dad’s. There’s always plenty. If you can find the place by lunchtime, drop by. We have extra. Just say you’re Cousin Ralph. No one will notice, but you’re in charge of the cranberry sauce. And it better be that gelatinous crap with the ridges from the can left in it. None of this real cranberries bullshit for my family!
November 24 – New World Comics in High Point – 4PM – 6PM – I’ll be doing a signing in a comic shop. Sounds like I’ll be spending more than I sell again. But I’ll have a great time doing it!
Then December 16th, join me for the Charlotte Comicon at the new location. No I don’t remember where it is, go to the website. It’s the best one-day con in Charlotte. It’s awesome!
Yeah, except for the thirty-seven appearances I have this month, I’ll be writing. No friggin’ wonder I never get anything written. I got more done when I had a day job. At least then I had a lunch break. Whine, whine, whine, grumble, grumble, grumble. See ya in the funny papers!
by john | Oct 24, 2012 | Theatre
Not really, but since I’m performing In the Heat of the Night at Theatre Charlotte starting Friday (get your tickets now!), and I’m nuts-deep in tech and dress rehearsals this week, I figured I’d at least try to knock out a blog post for y’all.
This show is a bag of awesome, and I’m having a hell of a good time working on it. It’s tough, and there’s one costume change in particular that I barely make each night, leaving me panting a little when I come back onstage, but the acting overall is very, very good, and I’ve enjoyed getting back onstage in a show that makes me stretch a bit.
I don’t act much. It’s not just a time thing, there are a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is that I know I’m not the best actor in my age range in town. I’m pretty good, and I work hard, but I don’t have as much innate talent as some other folks. Which makes auditions a little tougher. Once directors work with me and understand that I work my ass off on a show, I can get cast. But auditioning for a new director is hard. It doesn’t help that I’m overweight and have long hair, both of which tend to narrow my “type.” I shaved for this show, though, which I hope shows a willingness to alter my appearance that people weren’t aware of.
But the fact of the matter is that I’m a very good lighting designer, and I can usually find plenty of work doing that to keep me busy. And it pays, while most folks in Charlotte are acting for free. So lighting gigs take precedence over auditions. But I love acting, and I love getting the chance to stretch myself as an actor, which this show does.So if you’re around Charlotte for the next three weeks, I hope you’ll come out and tell me how I’ve done. And feel free to mock my clean-shaven mug. I do.
by john | Oct 19, 2012 | Business of publishing, Writing
So the new Bubba the Monster Hunter story is out. You can check it out here. It’s the culmination of the storyline between Bubba and his psycho father, but at the end of the story I’m a bit of a dick.
I know, big surprise.
Remember, the only thing writers enjoy more than torturing characters is torturing readers. And I get to do both in one shot.
I leave you on a bit of a cliffhanger, but you won’t have to wait too long for a resolutions. I plan to pick back up with Bubba stories in January. So just a couple of months to wait.
But here’s the current plan for Bubba publications.
Shorts 1-4 are collected in Monsters Beware.
Shorts 5-8 are collected in Monsters Mashed.
The next collection will include Sixteen Tons, Family Tradition and Final Countdown. It will be called something like Monsters Everywhere, unless y’all give me a better two-word title starting with the word “monsters.” This will be a $3.99 ebook, a discount over buying all three books individually.
Then I’ll release a collection of all of the Bubba stories to date. It will be called Scattered, Smothered and Chunked: Bubba the Monster Hunter Season One. It’ll be on sale soon as a $9.99 ebook, which is cheaper than buying all eleven books individually.
Bump in the Night is the current Bubba print collection, collecting stories 1-8 for $15. It will go away, never to be seen again. I will soon (probably early next year) have a print edition for Scattered, Smothered and Chunked, so it’s easy for readers to get the whole story in one place. It’ll probably be about $20.
Then next year I’ll work on getting even more adventures of Bubba, Skeeter and Agent Amy. Assuming they all live through Final Countdown.
Just wanted to give y’all a publication update on everybody’s favorite redneck, so you know where we are with things. Lemme know if you’ve got title suggestions or any other feedback on the stories. They’re a lot of fun to write, so I’ll likely keep turning them out on the order of one about every month, with a little break now and then.
by john | Oct 18, 2012 | Travel
So here’s where I actually bitch and moan about NYCC, the Javits Center, New York City, and major metro areas that have no idea how to host a real convention.
In my other life I went to a lot of conventions. Some of them, like the NC Theatre Conference, were very small, maybe a couple hundred people some years. Those have certain challenges to organizers, but once you find a venue, the attendees pretty much have no idea that there are any issues. Some were large, like Lighting Dimensions International (I wave hello to my lighting industry friends who are gathering in Vegas this weekend). These conventions have their own issues, and it doesn’t take much to make them noticeable, because any glitch will affect thousands, or tens of thousands of people. Then there are the huge shows, like the National Association of Broadcasters show, which fills the entire Las Vegas Convention Center every year. These have no room for error, because they are on the biggest stage. NY Comic Con is that kind of size. The size that if there’s anything off or goofy, it could affect the population of a small city.
Like I said, I’ve been to a lot of conventions in a lot of places, and I’ve seen some towns that really understand how to host a convention. Las Vegas and Orlando really understand what it takes to host a convention.
New York City has no clue.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate New York. I wouldn’t want to live there for very long, I don’t like cold weather and I don’t like crowds that much. But I like New York. And going into this adventure I figured it would be no huge hassle to get everything loaded in, loaded out, make commerce happen, what have you.
That was when I assumed New York knows how to host a major convention.
I think I know why NYC doesn’t understand how to host a major con or trade show – population density. If there were 110,000 people at NYCC, probably 80,000 of them were from the greater NYC area. If there are 90,000 people attending NAB in Las Vegas, 80,000 of them were from outside the Las Vegas metro area.
This lack of outside guests means that New York doesn’t have one of the most important things any city must have for a convention center – a convention hotel. I’ve never been to a convention center anywhere in the US where there isn’t a hotel within a short walk. And I don’t mean a New York short walk, I mean a Kansas short walk. More than two blocks is not a short walk. And there’s no major hotel near the Javits Center. None.
There’s also no subway stop close by. The nearest subway station is right outside Penn Station, which is about 3/4 of a mile away. Not a huge deal under normal circumstances, unless you’ve been standing on concrete in boots all day, or are wearing an elaborate costume, or are just friggin’ tired, or want to start your day at a con looking fresh! Yeah, yeah, I know – there’s one under construction. But here’s the thing – the Javits Center ain’t exactly new! It’s been open almost 30 years!
Then there are the cabs. Yeah, I know, take a taxi. Sure – if they’ll stop. There was no cab stand outside the main exit for the convention center, and none of the cabs we saw in the evenings outside the convention center were on duty. Contrast this with the Las Vegas Convention Center, where there are huge lines of cabs with cab attendants pairing people up to cab share so the lines move more quickly and people can save cash on cabs.
All of these things combined to make Comic Con just a less pleasant experience than it could be if it weren’t in one of the largest cities in the US. In almost any other city, the influx of 100,000 people for one event would get the entire city’s attention. Red carpets would be rolled out, cheap hotel rooms would be flowing like water, and every cabbie in the city would be salivating at all those tourist dollars. In New York, they call that Tuesday.
So until there’s a convention hotel near the Javits, or a subway stop right outside, or someone is willing to foot my bill for cab and car fare all weekend, I’ll be sticking to the smaller cons. Like Dragon*Con, which only has 50-60,000 people. 🙂
I am planning my convention schedule for 2013, so if you’ve got a great con in your area that you’d like to see me at, drop me a line and we’ll see what we can do.
by john | Oct 16, 2012 | Appearances, Comics, Travel
Because when there’s over 100,000 frigging people at a convention, it gets more than one post! And yes, there will be photos. And yes, most of them will be of hot chicks in skimpy outfits.
Let’s start with a quick overview. If you’ve been to many fandom-based conventions, like MidSouth Con, ConCarolinas, even Dragon*Con, you ain’t seen nothing like Comic Con. It’s way more of a trade show than a con. What I mean by that is that people mostly buy their Comic Con tickets for the exhibit hall and the autographs, and the panels are kind of an afterthought. There were exhibits from Xbox, Marvel, DC, Legendary Pictures, Dark Horse, Chevrolet, Craftsman Tools.
Yeah, I said Chevy and Craftsman had booths at Comic Con. Now do you get what I mean by this was a trade show and not a normal con? Craftsman paid someone to write and draw and custom comic book with their superhero in it to promote their Bolt-On series of tools.
Take a minute and go there. The first time I saw “Bolt-On Tool” I went there. Couldn’t help it.
So it was a very different environment for me than most cons. I kinda knew what to expect, having done the Heroes Con for a couple of years. But this was way, WAY bigger. Like 4X bigger. And that meant that it was easy to miss stuff, like a small book booth. Or like Artists’ Alley, which I never set foot in all weekend. Or the panel rooms, which I never saw.
And missed out on a chance to meet Kim Harrison, which was a bummer. But there will be other cons, and hopefully she will attend some of them. But I did see Richard Kadrey and had a nice chat with him on Sunday, so that was nice.
But I sold almost everything I took with me. I had about a dozen books left when the show was over, so that was good. I was mostly pushing the Black Knight Omnibus, because it’s new and shiny. And looks amazing!
I took 50 copies of the omnibus with me, and sold 40 of them. I sold out of Genesis and The Chosen, and had 2 copies of Bump in the Night left at the end of the weekend. So it was a good weekend for sales. I even sold a couple of Read Recklessly t-shirts!
But I won’t be doing NY Comic Con again any time soon.
It’s a really expensive show, because everything in New York is expensive. And it’s not a wonderfully organized show, and there aren’t really very many opportunities for me to really connect with fans, other than pitching them a book. And while that’s fun, it’s not as much fun as sitting on a bunch of panels and talking about the craft.
And I’m trying to cut back (a little bit) on the number of shows I do. I’m already committed to nine cons next year, with a couple of other maybes, and that’s a bunch. It gets expensive, and while some of the cons I can split rooms with folks and ride share for gas, I can’t always count on that. The only way I was able to afford NYCC was because my awesome friend Tamsin let me sleep in her spare room for the weekend and shepherded me around the subway. Otherwise it would have cost half again as much as Dragon*Con!
But I had a good time. I met some awesome folks, a couple of whom have already dropped me a line on Facebook or email, so I hope I can get scheduled into some smaller con in the Northeast soon. Just not a con with 100,000 people. That’s way too big for this old country boy!
But check out some of the costumes! 
by john | Oct 8, 2012 | Real Life
I has it. I’ve been called on it more than once in my internet life, but it’s too late to stop now, methinks. So if you’re not interested in learning way too much about the mental state of your favorite redneck urban fantasy author, you should click over to something else.
Still here? Sick voyeurs, aren’t you?
Well, here’s the reason my word count has sucked for the last six weeks – I’ve been depressed.
Simple as that.
Nope, no good reason, no inciting incident, nothing has gone off the rails terribly, in fact a lot of things have gone right for me lately.
It doesn’t matter.
You see, for those of you who haven’t dealt with it, depression isn’t sadness. Sadness typically has a reason behind it. “My cat died – I’m sad.” “I lost my job – I’m worried and sad.” “A schoolbus ran over my foot – I’m cursing in pain and I’m sad because now there’s blood all over my new shoes.”
Depression doesn’t need a reason, it invents them.
I only sold two thousand books last month, I must be worthless.
I didn’t get the lead in the play I auditioned for, I’m a terrible actor.
I only brought in an extra thousand dollars working crew for the DNC, I’m a terrible provider.
Please note that all of those statements are actually good things – but depression takes the good things in your life and spins them into crap.
Instead of thinking “I got cast in a play in only my second audition this year. The cast is great, the parts I got are awesome, and I’m having a lot of fun working with this team.” I got spun into other crap. For the record, I am in a play. The cast is great. I didn’t get the lead, but I’m the wrong age and race for the leads, and the parts I have are awesome and I’m having a blast in the show.
But depression lies. It’s a lying liar and it lies.
I know this. I’ve battled depression since high school. And I’ve always won. You know how I know I’ve won?
I’m still here.
My uncle battled depression. He lost. I miss him.
So I’ve spent the last month or so in a funk of not much activity, not much writing, not much promotion, not much of anything except going to a few rehearsals, teaching a few classes, and generally muddling through. I managed to shower most days. I managed to not fight with my wife more than once most days. I managed to do the bare minimum to keep moving forward and meet most of my responsibilities most days.
Which means that I won. Again. I started to feel myself pulling out of it a few days ago, and I can only imagine that it’s like getting pulled out of quicksand. The huge sucking weight of it wants to pull you back in, but you fight it, and you pull. I’m not back to normal yet, but I’ve had enough practice dealing with this bullshit that you’ll never know it on the street or hanging out with me in a bar.
I’ve dealt with my depression this way for most of 25 years now. I muddle through until eventually it passes. This was a medium-length episode, about six weeks. The longest one lasted for most of 2002. The worst ones were back in high school, when it felt so dead inside that I cut myself to remind me what feeling something felt like. I’m happy to say I haven’t done that in two decades.
I deal with my depression by reading. I deal with it by talking about other crap on the internet to people. I deal with it my way, but mostly by just putting one foot in front of the other.
I didn’t post this to be some kind of inspiration to others. Most folks with depression have it way worse than me. And if you’re feeling bleak, like nobody gives a shit and nothing matters, if you can’t hear the truth of the world through the lies that your mind is telling you – get help. Find somebody that makes it worth moving forward for. Find the person or thing that makes it worth putting one foot in front of the other for.
Mine’s cooking lunch right now, so I’m going to go be with her. Because I won. Again. And I’ll keep winning.
And my prize for winning this time is a trip to New York Comic Con. Come out and say hello at Booth #2167. I’ll be there all weekend!
by john | Oct 5, 2012 | Appearances, Real Life, Travel
I’m here. I know, I start a lot of posts that way, don’t I? I haven’t been on here in a while because I’ve been swamped in my new obsession, Magic:The Gathering. And I’ve been using that to distract me from some other issues, namely dismal book sales numbers for the past six weeks. Things have been bad since the middle of August and I’m hoping they pick up, otherwise I’m looking for a McJob to fill the gap come the first of the year. That wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing in the world, but it wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun, either.
But on the bright side, the Omnibus is out, in print and on Kindle. It will be hitting the Nook and all other ebook formats soon, just waiting for it to get processed. You can order it from Amazon here, or if you’re going to be in the Big Apple next weekend, come by Booth #2167 at the Javits Center and say hi. I’ll be up there with my friend Tamsin for NY Comic Con. This is my first time hitting that show, and I’m very excited. And a little terrified.
I’ve been teaching workshops each weekend on writing and publishing, and that’s been a lot of fun. My classes are getting larger and larger enrollment, and that’s good, since I get paid on a tuition split :). The classes have been getting favorable reviews, too, so if you’re in the Charlotte area, come on out and spend a Saturday morning with me! Tomorrow I’m teaching marketing and self-promotion for writers. And now I’ve got to get back to writing the outline for that class, so I gotta boogie.
by john | Sep 25, 2012 | Uncategorized
Yep, the omnibus is finally here! And for just nine bucks, you can download the first three Black Knight Chronicles books. These are heavily revised editions, re-worked with a lot of extra details, better character development, all that good stuff. Think of it as “the author’s preferred edition.”
No, you don’t have to buy them all over again.
It’s not that I don’t want all my readers to read these new versions, but it would be pretty rude of me to make you pay twice for a book you’ve already bought, wouldn’t it? So here’s the plan – within a few days I will upload the revised editions to Amazon in the individual books. If you’ve already bought the Black Knight novels, all you’ll need to do to get the new editions is delete the old file from your kindle, and download it again. The new download will be the new books, and you’ll get the revised editions without having to pay for the books again.
This will only work on Amazon, and will only work on ebooks. I can only manipulate the universe in so many ways, sorry. But since the vast majority of my readers have bought the book on Kindle, this should get 95% of you the revised books at no cost.
It won’t hurt my feelings if you go out and buy the omnibus, but you don’t have to. Welcome to the digital world.
In other news, I had a great time teaching my Next Step publishing class last Saturday at Carolina Learning Connection, and am offering a new set of Writer Services as an outgrowth of that class and the Self-Publishing class I’ve taught a few times. If you’re a writer and are looking for developmental editing/book doctoring or just need someone to help with ebook creation and upload, click the tab for “Writer Services” at the top of the page.
And if you’re interested in learning more about Self-Publishing or Marketing for Authors, check out my other classes at Carolina Learning Connection.
