New(ish) Release: HIDE AND SEEK

 

For museum curator Andrew Allison, the sleepy little Maine village of Safehaven has always lived up to its name—until now. Fleeing an abusive relationship, Andy has returned to Safehaven for a few weeks while he figures out the future and helps his elderly Uncle Cuthbert run his antiques shop. But when Andy arrives, he learns Uncle Cuthbert is in the hospital, critically injured, the victim of a late-night break-in.

Worse, one of the first messages on the shop’s answering machine is from Marcus, Andy’s ex, demanding to know Andy’s whereabouts.

Nor does the bad news stop there. It seems whoever broke into Time in a Bottle is still looking for that mysterious whatever. Something they didn’t find the first time. Something they now believe Andy has.

Something worth killing for?

The good news is former bad boy Quinn Rafferty, Andy’s high school crush, is back in town and interested in renewing their acquaintanceship.

Quinn is not a man to run from things that go bump in the night, be they mysterious midnight prowlers or a relationship-shy, fish-out-of-water museum curator.

But Quinn has a few secrets of his own…

 

 AVAILABLE THRU:

Amazon

Smashwords

Google

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

AUDIBLE

COMING SOON! Fatal Shadows: The Collector's Edition

 

Some of you will recall my January 2021 post regarding the fate of the 20th Anniversary edition of Fatal Shadows. In that post, I revealed the cover art, shared a bit of what would be included in the collection, and tried to guestimate when I might eventually release the book. 

Wellll, obviously it took longer than I'd hoped, but the final coda has at last been written (it's almost seven thousand words long, the length of a short story)! 

In addition to illustrations, all the AE character interviews and codas have been gathered, and we have Chapter One of Fatal Shadows rewritten from Jake's POV. There's also an abandoned short story (from Jake's POV) that I started for the Millivres Prowler Group way back in the day. 

All in all, there's about 30,000 words worth of bonus materials! Which, if you're a longtime fan of the Adrien English series, is a lot of fun extras.

The book is now with my editor and after that, it goes to the SO for formatting. It will only be available in print--there is no plan for a digital version. The idea is to put it into hardcover. Hopefully, that's not cost prohibitive. We'll see. 

I'm not doing preorders. I'll let you know when the book is available for purchase, which hopefully will be within the next couple of weeks.

NEW IN AUDIO: Scandal at the Salty Dog

 I've been a bit distracted lately (as I'm sure you've noticed) so I forgot to mention that THIS HAPPENED.

SCANDAL AT THE SALTY DOG is now available in audio. The wickedly talented Matthew Haynes returns to narrate the latest adventures of Ellery, Jack, Watson, and the Silver Sleuths. ;-) 

Murder Stalks the Cobbled Streets of Pirate’s Cove

 

After elderly recluse Juliet Blackwell suffers a mysterious fall in her spooky old mansion, she insists the ghost of long-dead pirate Rufus Blackwell has come to avenge himself on the last member of his treacherous clan.

Bookshop owner and occasional amateur sleuth Ellery Page doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he knows fear when he sees it, and it’s clear to him his eccentric customer is genuinely terrified.

Who or what is haunting Miss Blackwell, what, if anything, does it have to do with mysterious goings-on at the Salty Dog pub—and why is any of it Ellery’s problem?

According to Police Chief Jack Carson, it’s not Ellery’s problem, and just maybe Ellery should stop asking awkward questions before it’s too late.

The book is also in print! 

 

What's Black and White and Read--Uh Oh!

As previously warned, most of my print list is now pretty much unavailable as we begin the process of moving everything from Createspace/Amazon to IngramSpark.

Why are we making this change? Because, generally speaking, bookstores do not--and will not--stock Createspace books.

Why would this be the case?

A - Most indie print titles don't sell enough to make it viable for bookstores to stock them, and B - Most bookstores view Amazon (Createspace) as their mortal enemy.

Why am I complicating life for readers by turning to IngramSpark when most of my print titles will be sold online anyway?

Because I refuse to hand over complete control of my writing career to the Zon--even if it means taking a financial hit in the short term. Or even in the long term. I just won't do it.

When will my print backlist be available again? Hopefully by the start of 2019 everything will be moved over and back into circulation. We've already started moving titles, but the holidays are coming and life gets complicated. Not just for me personally, but for the entire publishing industry.

So I am sorry for the inconvenience (I've been warning this would be coming for the past three months) but the good news is I have not abandoned print, and if all goes well, my print titles will actually be more widely available and possibly even less expensive.

About That Super Secret Special Holiday Project…

I guess -- before anyone gets too carried away by possibilities -- I’d better pull the sheet off and show you what lies beneath. Some of you will love this idea. Some of you will hate it. A number will think I’m crazy. And one or two people will throw a fit because it’s print only. 

Yes, it is going to be print only because it is not feasible, with the technology I currently possess, for this to be an ebook. Sorry. I’m not saying we won’t get there one day, but for now. Print only.

And what is this crazy print only endeavor I’m cooking up? It’s called Stranger Things Have Happened, and…well, it’s an Adrien English gamebook. As  in a Choose Your Own  Adventure novel. Only we call it a Write Your Own Damn Story novel.  

The gamebook is based on Fatal Shadows. It does not in any way tamper with the end of the series OR even the end of Fatal Shadows -- unless you choose for it to do so. If you want to follow the pre-existing plot for Fatal Shadows, it shall be so. But if you wonder what might have happened had Adrien skipped lunch at Claude’s and been in Cloak and Dagger when it was ransacked…well, you can choose that storyline. OR what if Adrien had decided to go sleuthing at the Ball and Chain leather club that Riordan frequented? You can choose that storyline. Or maybe you wonder what would have happened if a pirate ship had suddenly appeared on the horizon? Yes, there is that storyline too. 

Now as in any CYOA story, these are just brief explorations of possibilities, but I think you’ll find them as amusing as I do writing them.

I'm hoping to have it available for order in time for Christmas. Buuuut things are starting to get pretty chaotic at Chez Lanyon (and we haven't even made it through Thanksgiving yet). So...mid to late December is probably the reality.

 

Here’s a taste:

 

Cops before breakfast. Before coffee even. As if Mondays aren’t bad enough.

 

After last night it’s not a total surprise.

            Oh, but first things first. You are a thirty-two-year-old Los Angeles bookstore owner. You’re reasonably successful despite the fact that these are hard times for indie bookstores, and you recently sold your first novel Murder Will Out to a small press. That’s about it for your professional life. Your personal life…well, you don’t have a personal life, let’s face it.

            Your college sweetheart walked out years ago because you’ve got a bum ticker and he didn’t want to take a chance on getting saddled with, well, you. Not that he didn’t love you and everything.

            Did I mention you are gay?

            Anyway.

            Cops. Standing outside Cloak and Dagger Books at this very second—crowding the welcome mat and leaning on the buzzer.

            For God’s sake. It’s not even seven in the morning. Whatever this is, it’s not good news.

You stumble downstairs, unlock the glass front doors, shove back the ornate security gate and let them in: two plainclothes detectives.

They identify themselves with a show of badges. Detective Chan is older, paunchy, a little rumpled, smelling of Old Spice and cigarettes as he brushes by you. The other one, Detective Riordan, is big and blond, with a neo-Nazi haircut and tawny eyes. Your gut clenches as you meet those cold, light eyes. Call it instinct. Call it premonition.

            “I’m afraid we have some bad news for you, Mr. English,” Detective Chan says.

     You already know what he’s going to say. His face—that professionally neutral expression—is a giveaway. You don’t risk another look at Riordan. He makes you nervous though you’re not normally the nervous type. You head for your office in the back of the bookstore, and you keep walking as Chan finishes, “…concerning an employee of yours. A Mr. Robert Hersey.”

            The cops tell you that Robert, who in addition to being your employee is your oldest—and once closest—friend, has been stabbed to death in the alley behind his West Hollywood apartment.

            That’s the bad news. There is no good news. They start asking you questions about your relationship with Robert. You stick to the bare facts as much as possible and volunteer no information. You’ve been selling mystery novels long enough to know that much.

“Were you lovers?” Chan glances at Riordan. Riordan must be the guy in charge.

“No.”

“But you are homosexual?” Riordan never blinks, his gaze never veers.

“I’m gay. What of it?”

“And Hersey was homosexual?” In a minute they’re going to bring up the argument at the Blue Parrot. You consider refusing to answer any more questions without your lawyer present. But that’s liable to look guilty, right? That’s what the cops on TV always say.

You keep fencing and they keep probing, trying to find the weak spot in your defense, and then finally—FINALLY—they leave, promising to keep in touch. That’s copspeak for you’re not fooling anyone, English. Before he walks out the door, that asshole Riordan picks up an empty Tab can and throws it in the wrong trash bin. Well, when you own the entire fucking planet, you don’t need to worry about recycling.

 

 

 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_________________________________________

 

If you decide to immediately call your lawyer, turn to page 10

If you decide a shower and some coffee would be a good idea, turn to page 14

 

 

 

What do you think? Even the simplest decisions might now change the fates of Adrien English and Jake Riordan. YOU DECIDE. 

And just to add to the fun and festivities, the wonderfully talented Catherine Dair is supplying art for the cover AND a few illustrations. Here’s a peek at the gorgeous cover panel.

 

 

Confessions of a Small Business Owner

It's surprising to me, though it really shouldn't be, how much time I'm spending on the business -- the busyness -- of writing even though I'm not writing.

I think that's maybe one of the hardest jumps for writers to make -- even writers who hope and plan to make money at their writing one day. It's hard to move from thinking of yourself as a creative person -- an artist -- and start thinking of yourself as a business. Not that you're not still an artist just because you become commercially successful, but it's definitely a different skillset.


When I originally anticipated going on sabbatical, I was sort of vaguely thinking I would just pull the plug and disappear for a year. But that's not practical, given that I earn my living writing. Oh, the books will continue to sell without my doing much, but they sell more when I'm out there twittering (I am such a BAD twitterer, aren't I?) and Facebooking and Goodreading and blogging. That's just the reality. It pays to advertise. So disappearing really wasn't an option, and frankly, I'd probably have got a little bored anyway by the total solitude I initially thought I needed. Still, I have pulled back a lot and there are days when I don't do much more than check my email.


Anyway, the business of writing. Last week is a good example. I was coordinating getting cover art for the three titles that revert in June, I was coordinating the different files and formats I would need for the titles reverting in May. **Stop! That reminds me. May is when the rights to Fatal Shadows and A Dangerous Thing revert to me. I plan on breaking up that omnibus and selling the first two novels separately again, so I want to make sure that word goes out on that. It was a very nice deal for readers, and I hope everyone (well, not EVERYONE) took advantage of it while it lasted. 


Back to the busyness. There were signed books to send out, a newsletter to put together, the question of Japanese translation rights. Which reminded me about those Dutch translations rights. I needed to send a letter to Liquid Silver that I wanted THOSE writes back. I investigated getting audible books made (and, yes, maybe I've found an answer on that one). There was email to answer (that doesn't count though because we all have email). There was setting up a CreateSpace account and starting to get these reverted titles into print.


You see? I'm on sabbatical, but that just means I'm not writing. Every day I'm working. This is not a complaint, although maybe it sounds like one. I'm running a small but thriving business and I can't just go on an indefinite holiday and hope it all works out. Even if I never write another word again, there is still this business to run.

I sort of always knew that, but now it's more firmly established in my mind.

And then lo and behold, the night before last, I actually devoted a few hours researching "A Perfect Day." I told myself I wasn't going to write anything, that it was still too soon to be thinking of that, but the research always seems to stimulate imagination.

Speaking of which, I was struck again by how time-consuming research is. Well over an hour disappeared while I tried to figure out the exact right yellow wildflowers that might be blooming in Eugene, Oregon in May. Why does the exact flower matter so much as long as it's in season? I don't know. But somehow it does. Have I always been this obsessive? I fear so.

It was such a relief to remember that it didn't matter how much time I was taking -- no deadline is involved. Maybe I finish this story for May. Maybe I never finish it. It just doesn't matter.

But then yesterday I woke up and I thought...well, I'll just fill in a few of the blanks. And 2,000 words later, I realized I had been writing. And enjoying it.

But what I most enjoyed was that when I was tired and wanted to stop, I could. I could close the file, turn off my computer, and go pester the SO.

It felt good. I can still write. That's a relief. And, er, I can stop anytime I want to.  That's a relief too.

Roll the Presses

It must be a weird convergence of planets or colliding stars or something, but in the past couple of weeks I've had three or four readers pointedly asking about print. One guy suggested I hated Capitalism and one gal seemed to think I'm the one who stuck the knife in the unsuspecting back of legacy publishing. Why are people trying to kill books? she asked in (judging by the frowny face emoticon) all seriousness.

So, for the record, despite my youthful Socialist ideals, I'm pretty much as big a Capitalist as the next successfully self-supporting writer AND I am not trying to kill books. I'm not even trying to wound books. I love books. I love ebooks and print books and picture books and graphic novels and I even have fond memories of a weird little cloth book I had as a toddler. Which I think I loved so much I may have actually eaten.

But I digress.

I respect the passion for stories and reading that leads people to get riled because they can't find the books they want to read in the medium they prefer. That is indeed annoying, and I am sympathetic because I remember quite well how frustrating it was to find stories I wanted to read only available digitally in the days before I had an ebook reader.

I understand and I sympathize and obviously the more books I can sell, the more money I make, and I like that. (See cap·i·tal·ism. noun \ˈka-pə-tə-ˌliz-əm above.)

So we're kind of all on the same side here.

The thing is, I don't always control whether a book goes to print or not. Some -- actually most -- of my publishers retain the print rights on the titles I sell and that means it's up to them whether the book goes to print. I don't have any objection to any of my stories going to print. And most of my stories ARE in print.

And of the ones not currently in print, most of those will be in print as the rights revert back to me and I republish the books myself. Pretty much the only titles that won't be in print are the ones through Carina Press. And even those will eventually be in print although it will be a few years before I get those particular rights back.

So hopefully that answers that. Pretty much everything is eventually going to be in print. The fact that all my titles are not currently in print is not because I have anything against print publishing.

Now the fact that all my work will eventually be in print doesn't mean that you'll be able to walk into your local bookstore and find Fatal Shadows on the shelves. It doesn't work like that. In order to publish in print I'll be using print on demand technology (POD) and those books are rarely carried by bookstores. You'll be able to special order them usually -- just as you do now -- or you'll be able to get them through various online retailers.

The other thing to be aware of is that POD books are almost universally trade paperbacks, and those don't come cheap. They're usually ten bucks and up. Again, that isn't something I can completely control. I have to be able to make some modest profit on print books. I'd at least like to break even.

Anyway, hopefully that answers that and we can now return to the previously scheduled complaints about why authors choose to write short stories.