2016 Year in Review

Well, 2016, thank goodness I'm not a celebrity because I might just die before I finish writing this aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh.... [Insert vision of a fat bald man slumped over his desk *here*]

Better now. Last night's pizza, don't you know. Gas bubble. Huge. I fainted.

Anywhooo, all jesting aside, apart from a very fugly, life-sucking presidential campaign (which went on way, waaay, waaaaay too long IMHO), 2016 was pretty darned cool!

Splits

On 28 Dec 15, I published my first novella-length work, titled Splits--it didn't really start selling until the next month, so I'm counting it as part of 2016. So there. The larger publishing houses aren't too interested in novellas (unless your name is Koontz or King), so hello Kindle Direct Publishing! Over three thousand copies of this little bugger went out the door in Oct during a five-day span, so I was pretty happy about that. Reviews have been decent, too. For those of you who asked for a sequel, well...stay tuned. ;)

The Phoenix Descent

In February, I started seeing some of the early reviews for The Phoenix Descent, and boy was I happy. When the book launched in March, I'll admit it wasn't quite as exciting as when The Gemini Effect first came out (first book and all), but I was still pumped! In the weeks that followed, I watched Phoenix rise (get it?) to #1 on the US and UK Kindle best seller lists for post-apocalyptic science fiction, and even #1 on the Australian Kindle best seller list for dystopian science fiction. G'Day, mates!

The Argus Deceit

In May, I signed the contract for my third book with 47North, titled The Argus Deceit. This book was a BLAST to write, and I hope my readers will like it as well. The first early reviews should be out in January, so keep your eyes peeled. Oh, did I mention you can pre-order a copy right now? No? Well, you can pre-order a copy right now. And one more thing about this book: You can pre-order a copy right now. ;) Official release date is 9 May 17.

Vetust Vex

I had so much fun writing Splits, I decided to drag another story that I'd been working on for a couple of years out into the light of day. I released Vetust Vex on Halloween, and I really like the response so far. It's a horror story, plain and simple, so if you haven't read it yet, be forewarned. And, like the book description says, be careful what you touch. Mwah hah hah.

So, what did I read this year? I read a lot of stuff (mostly when I should've been writing my OWN stuff), but one particular set of books really stood out. I discovered Sam Sisavath's Purge of Babylon series, and BOY was I HOOKED! I highly recommend this series if you're fan of post-apocalyptic science fiction. Start with The Purge of Babylon, and then hold on tight through the next eight books!

Sam's characters are great, his "ghouls" are terrifying, and I couldn't stop reading one book after another! Sam is also a nice guy...I wrote him to tell him how much I liked his books, and he responded immediately. Give his stories a try!

So as 2016 draws to a close, I have to say it's been a great year writing-wise. I'm looking forward to the release of The Argus Deceit in May, and then hopefully a couple of months later we'll [REDACTED-I CAN'T TALK ABOUT IT YET] and that'll be cool! Right now, I'm working on another novel, tentatively titled The Erinyes Wave, that will hopefully find a publisher in 2017. Fingers crossed!

As always, I want to thank YOU, my readers, who make all the hours I spend at my laptop worthwhile. Keep reading, and have a wonderful New Year!

- Chuck

Great Interview with Mark Gottlieb from Trident Media Group

For everyone out there who is trying to land an agent, listen to what Mark Gottlieb from Trident Media Group has to say. Great advice for writers, and great insights into the differences between self-publishing and the traditional publishing process.

Loving the response for Vetust Vex!

So far, my novella Vetust Vex has garnered some great reviews! This little sucker has sat in my "to do" pile for a long time, and I'm glad I finally finished it.

If you haven't read it yet (and I hope you do), here's a little "heads-up" info: If you’ve read my short story Release (part of Scattered Bones), you know that story also deals with evil residing within an object. At the end of Release, I added a blurb that surely applies to this story as well: 

My wife and I sometimes like to browse through antique stores. We always end up with itchy, swollen fingers & runny noses from the dust (and God knows what else), but we enjoy it just the same. Personally, I like to look through the stacks of old pictures and wonder about the people staring back at me—surely long-dead and forgotten, but still alive in the form of a photo. What were their lives like? What did they do for a living? Were they good people? Or, maybe not so good? The stories those faces could tell.

I also appreciate the old books, not so much for the stories they contain, but more so for the people who have held them, tuned their pages, and escaped for a time within the printed words.

Pictures & books, all inanimate objects. Old, discarded, and for the most part, destined for the rubbish heap. But . . . are they really all that harmless?

A friend once told me a story about a painting she’d acquired, a somewhat creepy scene of a grizzled sailor and a lighthouse. It was a gift, so what does one do with a gift? One hangs it up, right? She did.

And that’s when the nightmares started.

Strange, upsetting dreams, unlike anything she’d ever experienced.

She got rid of the picture, and the nightmares stopped. Just like that.

Coincidence? It was, after all, just a painting. Oil on canvas, nothing more. But what if there were something more to it?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my fifty-plus years, it’s that we don’t know nearly as much as we think we do. Who’s to say the painting didn’t carry with it some of the less desirable qualities of its painter? Or, maybe the painter himself was trapped within the swirls of oil paint, radiating the twisted thoughts and dark intentions that guided his actions in life. Hmmm . . .

 

So again, if you haven't read it yet, I invite you to give it a go . . . but be careful what you touch.