Have you ever heard of the gods Czernobog and Belobog? These were old Slavic gods, a Black God and White God respectively, who were responsible for bad things and good things. In some myths they were brothers, in others the same being who changed with the seasons (a common motif). While there’s still research going into understanding the beliefs of the Slavic peoples these gods come from, the point is that these figures represent one of the earliest points in world religion where there was a definite good god and a definite evil god. There was an angel and a devil, a light and a darkness, and you could always count on them to be responsible for their chosen deeds.
Before that was chaos. One day your crops might get rain, because the gods have deemed it so. The next day savage predators might sweep down from the mountains, kill all your livestock, and cripple your son because the gods have deemed it so. The gods were to be feared and placated, and their favor curried, but there were no labels put on their actions. Whether they were helpful or harmful the gods did as they pleased. There was no good, and there was no evil; only power.
My story “Little Gods” takes that sort of old-world chaos and sets it down in Chicago’s seedy underbelly to play in the muck.
What’s Compelling About That?
The story’s premise is simple enough. Warlock-for-hire Richard Blackheart is given a job by a disgraced Santera to help her steal the mantle of the little god of murder. If she can usurp the Hook Man’s place in the pantheon of the city then she’ll gain immortality and power, finally able to leave mortal flesh behind and step into the demimonde where mortals can only tread on little cat’s feet. She can’t do it without one of the city’s occult heavies backing her play, but The Bad Luck Man has motives of his own when he agrees to help her.
Why should you want to read that? On the one hand it’s a dark modern fantasy that steps off the path and drags you through the dark forest alongside the wolves instead of to the path to grandma’s house. Also because without a hero or a villain you’re left to make your own decisions about what’s right and wrong, what’s deserved and what isn’t. In the absence of a white knight (or really any sort of knight) every reader has to decide for themselves what the story means. Or if in the end it’s another of the myths we tell where there is no hero or villain; only the gods throwing rocks into the little mortal pool and making the ripples that shape our world.
I just wanted to toot my own horn here for a minute and thank Deirdra over at A Storybook World for giving this little corner of the interwebs a Brilliant Writer Award. It even comes with a cool badge thingy, see?
I really appreciate the kudos from Deirdra. It’s nice to get these little attaboys from out of the blue, it helps remind me that I’m not completely screaming into the void when I post here.
I also want to take a quick second to thank everyone who retweeted, posted on Facebook or otherwise helped spread the word about my free books to vets and active military promo for Memorial Day Weekend. I gave away over 50 ebooks to veterans and active-duty servicemen and servicewomen, and it made me feel good to do something for the people who do so much for me.
I’m getting geared up for ConCarolinas this weekend! I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends, making some new friends, and probably being an opinionated jackass on at least a couple of panels. I doubt I’ll get a new episode of Literate Liquors up before the con, but I’m going to try to get several episodes in the can during the con, so we’ll have plenty of content for the summer. I enjoy doing the show, it gives me another excuse to drink! And there will be a live version of the show taking place at Fandom Fest in Louisville at the end of the month. I’m doing a panel with Jackie Gamber, who I stole this whole idea from. She does tea pairings with book selections, so we’re going to do tea pairings, then liquor pairings of the same books, then we’re going to end up getting drunk. If you’re planning to be at Fandom Fest, definitely check that panel out!
Alright, kids, I’m gonna go do some more work on the new Bubba story, which I hope to have out early in June (no spoilers, but there’s a lot of shooting in this one!). And the Bubba origin story is coming, but I’m not sure yet how to craft it. I haven’t decided if it works better as a series of stories, or as a novel. I know that the current storyline will remain a series of shorts, but I’m not sure yet about the origin. I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out!
Check out the widget for the winners! Entering enough times to flood the system certainly worked for JK, who picked up one of EVERY PRIZE! Thanks to everyone who entered, I appreciate your help in spreading the word about my work. I’ll be doing another giveaway in the next few months, so stay tuned for that! All the books will go out by mid-next week, because I leave for Vegas at the end of the week, and want to get all that off my plate before I fly.
I’m still adjusting to life without a day job. I still sit in front of a computer for most of the day, and it still starts at about the same time, but I will admit that there are days that I don’t put on pants until well after noon. This being one of those days. It’s a perk, I’ll admit it. I broke down and bought a new MacBook Air, which I love. It’s crazy fast, and all my stuff transferred over almost seamlessly using Migration Assistant. The only thing it looks like I lost was the saved games in Zuma’s Revenge, so I guess I’ll just have to make my little frog burp up a lot more balls and reclaim my accolades.
Still working on the weight thing – I’m cutting back on portions and cutting back on sodas, so I think I’ve lost a few pounds. Nothing spectacular, but it’s a slow process. I figure in this time of life change if I can lose a couple pounds a month that’ll be a miracle, especially as much as I’m traveling over the next few weeks.
To that end, here’s a list of where I’ll be the next few months if you want to say hello. If you live in any of these areas and want a hard copy of a book, let me know and I’ll pack some, even if I’m not coming to a book show. And I’m always happy to meet folks in a bar or casino to chat about writing, the characters, whatever. If you’re interested in meeting me and hanging out, please don’t be shy. I love to talk about writing, literature, all of it.
April 13-17 – Las Vegas, Nevada – National Association of Broadcasters. I’m staying at the Excalibur and plan to play the Venetian Deep Stacks on Saturday and Sunday. Then I’ll be pitching my new marketing firm at NAB during the week. I’m totally available for drinks in the evening.
April 20-22 – Batesville, Arkansas – Pulp Ark 2012. I’m driving for two days to get to this convention featuring the best new pulp writers and fans in the nation! Come on out if you’re in the Mid-South area. I’ll be stopping in Nashville on the way, so if you wanna get a beer there, let me know.
April 27-29 – Wilkesboro, NC – Merlefest. The only exception to the “I’ll bring books anywhere” rule. I’ll be on a mountain listening to boogie. You’re welcome to listen with me. And chat. But there’s no booze at the festival, and I’ll conduct no business there. It’s a family vacation, and a semi-holy spot for me. You’re all invited, it’s a great time. But no business that weekend :).
May I’ll be buried in a couple of theatres. I’m designing 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Theatre Charlotte, then I go straight into the theatre for the Blumey Awards, a new awards show the big performing arts center in town is hosting to celebrate regional high school theatres. That’s got me booked most of the first three weeks of May.
June is back on the con circuit, kicking off with ConCarolinas here in Charlotte June 1-3. I’ll be hanging out with my Magical Words friends and plenty of other cool folk, so come on by! It’s an excellent mid-sized con for writers.
June 22-24 I’ll be at the Charlotte Convention Center for HeroesCon 2012, one of the largest comic book conventions in the US each year. I’ll be sharing a table with Stuart Jaffe and Tamsin Silver, so come say hi! I’m counting on them to wrestle me to the ground and keep me away from the other vendors so I might actually make a profit this year instead of spending all my money on comics.
Then at the end of June I’m heading to Louisville for what is shaping up to be one of the best cons of the year – Fandom Fest. Stephen Zimmer is putting together some of the best panels I’ve ever seen at a con, and the guest list is super-badass! With guests of honor like Richard Kadreay (Sandman Slim), Ernest Cline (Ready Player One), Robin Hobb (too many to list), Jim Hines, Julie Kagawa and others, not to mention media guests like Bruce Campbell, James Marsters and Sean Astin, this is going to be an awesome show.
That gets me to the July 4th weekend, when I plan to collapse for a few days. I’m currently only scheduled for one con in July and then DragonCon, so I might be looking for a beach house to hole up in and write for the month of August. Hope to see you around one of these events!
Rafflecopter makes running blog giveaways ridiculously easy by integrating a random number generator into the plugin, allowing me to pick the winners super quickly and easily. So that’s what I’ve done – I’ve picked the winners, easily.
First Prize – Alex Aguilar
Second Prize – Sam Kamens
Third Prize – Sandee Barry
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered! Don’t forget to enter the March is for Monsters giveaway where you can win a Kindle Fire!
I’ll have a StellarCon report coming before too long, then I’m off to Chattanooga for SETC for the rest of the week.
I’m not an official book-giver-away-er-er (I just made that up), but I do have books, and I’ll give some of them away today. I just made this up when I saw that it was World Book Day, so there’s no notice. Sorry, I’m a bit of a flake. It happens. Here’s the Rafflecopter Giveaway!
I know it’s really still February, but I’m starting the giveaway early. Today through Friday, you can get Monsters Beware free on Amazon.
Yesterday you could get Love Stinks, the newest Bubba the Monster Hunter story, free right here. Today it’ll cost you a buck on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
As always, there’s other cool thriller and horror freebies over on Epic Kindle Giveaway!
And it now seems that I signed up for a table for StellarCon, which I completely forgot about, so I’ll have a table and will be around to sign stuff and sell books all weekend. Stop by and say hello. Did I mention that Patrick Rothfuss is the Guest of Honor? Did I mention that Patrick Rothfuss has written two of the best fantasy novels I’ve ever read and that I’m totally a fanboy of his? Did I mention that I ordered his books in hardcover for the express purpose of getting them signed this weekend, regardless of the fact that I’ve already read them electronically? I might be a little excited to meet him. In case any of you were wondering, we writers still have our favorite writers that we get all squee over, and Rothfuss is one of mine. So I’m more than a little excited.
I’m less excited about going to the dentist tomorrow, but I totally need a cleaning, and I think I need a filling, and I need to get both of those things done this month while I still have dental insurance. The dental insurance plans that I’ve seen suck – they’re something like $80/month, with a max annual coverage of $1,000. If I’m going to have to pay almost a grand a year to have insurance, and that insurance only pays a grand in benefits, then I’m still screwed. So I’d not going to have dental insurance after this month, so I’m trying to get anything done by the end of March, when my coverage ends.
Hope to see you at StellarCon,or if not there then at SETC next weekend, or at MidSouthCon the end of the month!
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