New Horror Anthology Coming in Hot

I’m pleased to announce that my story “After Birth,” inspired by the Black Sabbath song “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” is included in this new anthology Symptom of the Universe, coming out in September. That’s next month! Whoa.

All proceeds go to the Dio Cancer Fund. It was an honor to be able to contribute to what will be an outstanding collection of stories and authors.

From the publisher:

Dark Moon Rising Publications

Available for Pre-order

Releasing September 18, 2024

A worldwide gathering of award winning horror authors have come together to craft a collection of dark fiction stories covering every album and every era of Black Sabbath. Each story is inspired by one of Black Sabbath’s greatest songs from the biggest hits to the most obscure album tracks. SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE: A HORROR TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH is an immediate classic for rock fans and horror fans alike. Featuring the talents of Stewart Giles, J. Rocky Colavito, Sidney Williams, Tom Lucas, Thomas R. Clark, Ezekiel Kincaid, Neil Kelly, Tony Millington and many more, curated and edited by J.C. Maçek III with a foreword by Martin Popoff, Symptom of the Universe will whet your appetite for horror and rock at the same time.

All proceeds are being donated to the Dio Cancer Fund

Trigger warnings: Themes of addiction, mental health, and self-harm

Are you ready for a rocking read??

Amazon Pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDJPL9CV

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Grab my latest book for only $.99

I’ve never tried the book newsletter promotions before, so here goes. I’m promoting the book on all the discount ebook sites. Let’s see if it moves the needle…Starting today and through Sunday, 2/25 — the ebook version of Research Randy and the Mystery of Grandma’s Half-eaten Pie of Despair is marked down from $3.99 to only $.99. If you have been thinking about picking it up, this is a better price than you can even get at a dollar store.

It’s a steal and you can find it on any bookseller site (not just you-know-who).

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An Evening with Tom Lucas at the Kerouac House

The video from my recent author talk is now available!

Put together by the awesome John King (the Drunken Odyssey podcast), this evening at the Kerouac House (Orlando, FL) gave me the opportunity to revisit previous works and read a little from the new book, Research Randy and the Mystery of Grandma’s Half-eaten Pie of Despair.

(Which could use some reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, if you are so inclined)

Although no one sat in the front row, I assure you that there was a room full of people in front of me…at least I think so.

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Cover Reveal Time!!!!

Wow, I’ve been sitting on this one. Very pleased to present the cover for Research Randy and the Mystery of Grandma’s Half-eaten Pie of Despair, coming out Halloween 2023.

Pre-orders for print and e-book available on Amazon as well as most booksellers.

ARCs and press kits are available for book reviewers and book bloggers. Leave a comment below and we’ll set it up.

Book Description:

The stars of a beloved series of children’s books, the clever Research Randy and his supernaturally sensitive sister Charlie, solved many cases in the idyllic coastal town of Serenity Bay to the delight of many readers over the last 30 years.

But now, suddenly transported to the creepy hamlet of Effingmouth, they find themselves in a bizarre place where nothing is what it seems, people are strange and secretive, and something awful lurks in the shadows.

This might be a mystery they don’t want to solve.

Research Randy reads like YA horror and can be if you want it to be. It’s also a weird mash-up of cosmic horror, eldritch terrors, nostalgia trip and a meta love letter to Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos.

Hope you check it out!

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Research Randy Release Date Revealed

BREAKING NEWS!

FILE UNDER: NO LONGER THEORETICAL

It’s as real as my regular bouts of existential dread…Research Randy and the Mystery of Grandma’s Half-eaten Pie of Despair will be released upon the world on Halloween 2023. Finally, when people ask me when the next book is coming out, I have a legit answer. In the relatively near future expect a cover reveal, pre-order link, reviews, interviews, podcast appearance, and all manner of obnoxious promotion (self and assisted).

WHOOOOOOOOOOO DJ HORN DJ HORN WHOOOOOOOOOOO DJ HORN DJ HORN WHOOOOOOOOOOO

Photo by Thiago Miranda on Pexels.com

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New book available!

Hello all,

It’s been a while. Hope you are doing all right considering this strip-mall apocalypse of ours seems never-ending. I hope you are working, healthy (and the same to you and yours). I’ve been busy…I am back in school working on an Ed.D. and putting final edits in for a novella I will have out some time next year! For now, just a small victory for my writing: I snuck my way into the TOC of Ghost Parachute: 105 Flash Fiction Stories. Yep, 105 stories are in this collection, so there is sure to be something that grabs you and gets you thinking. There is also some spectacular art accompanying many of the stories for the more visually inclined.

Ghost Parachute has been around for a minute. As a literary magazine that publishes almost all of its content online, it’s a real treat to see it in print form and on my shelf. It’s even sweeter to be included in this curated set of fine flash fiction. Ghost Parachute has been good to me over the years (you can find links to my stories they have published on my Written Works page. Great people and well worth the support. Support indie writers and publishers — it helps keep us caffeinated and creating.

Check out Ghost Parachute: 105 Flash Fiction Stories on my Books page.

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Here’s 30 Seconds of Writer Inspiration If You Need It.

slide

The world is on fire and fevered egos threaten the utter collapse of civilization. I find each day more difficult to de-toxify than the last. Maybe if we’re lucky, a heretofore unknown meteor will smash into the earth and hasten our inevitable extinction.

Oh, and I got another rejection on my novella.

A bit of a tough morning but this isn’t a pity post.

Far from it. Whenever I get a rejection, I give myself a couple of hours to feel disappointed and then I get back to it. Whether it’s a yes or a no, the next step is starting another project.

Submitting and rejection are a part of the process. In my non-fiction writing life, I write scripts for marketing videos and they are routinely revised as they go through a company’s marketing and legal departments. I embrace it.

And this is only the second rejection for my Cthulhu vs. Encyclopedia Brown novella, and there are many fine publishers still out there. I have no doubt it will find a home.

The first rejection was much more difficult as it was a solicited manuscript. A handshake deal. After many months of waiting (not unreasonable for a small press), I was told “we are going in another direction.” I really love this publisher too. Great people, cool books, and they have mean hustle.

So it goes.

Many writers and publishers fill my news feed. On any given day, there are two things I can count on – someone announcing a book release and seeing an ad for Geico auto insurance. It can feel like standing on the side of the road watching the cars zip by. A bystander while the world moves on.

Maybe you can empathize.

I grew tired of this feeling. My solution was to set aside an hour every morning (6am-7am) for writing projects.

Anything that moves me forward, even if only inches.

I’ve been doing this for about 5 months now and have revised and added new content to a current manuscript, revitalized a few professional relationships, conducted a ton of research as I had a comic book thing taking off for a hot minute there. Currently on pause as the artist just had a baby. Of all the nerve! I’m also working on school applications as I have decided to pursue a doctor of education.

Once this manuscript is done, I’m moving to one that I have in the drawer that is already at 60k words. Also, plans for revisiting the universe of Pax Titanus in the next year or two.

In short, if things aren’t going your way, remain undaunted. Don’t ever stop.

Like sharks, we have to keep swimming.

 

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A Brief Reflection Before I Hit Send

Counting
counting IIII (cc). creative commons by marfis75

Last year was a bit strange for me as I didn’t submit anything for publication. Not a word.  It was the first year since 2011 that I didn’t get something published somewhere. Instead, I spent the first half working on a new novel. It’s something that I’m pretty excited about. Sort of a Constantine meets Ready Player One thing. When I’m done with it, I’m going to have a fun book to take to market.

I put it down the middle of summer and began research and review for a novella. That manuscript — I just put final touches on the the draft and I’m submitting it to the publisher as soon as I finish this blog post.

Man, I feel weird right now. I know I should have some sense of accomplishment as I’ve been working on this book (if you include the research) for about ten months. I’ve lived it, filled my daily thoughts with it, scheduled daily writing time for it (before or after my job and side hustle), and never let it slide to the back of the stove top.

This morning should be a bit of a celebration, but instead, I just feel spent. And that’s okay. It’s been a lot of work. Every time I have had any level of writing success, I feel like celebrating. Go out to dinner, buy something frivolous, etc.

But I never do. I just start thinking about the next thing I’m going to work on. One day, I hope to learn to be a bit more happy about it all.

So, what’s the novella about? The quick pitch is: Encyclopedia Brown vs. Cthulhu. What happens when we take a beloved kid detective (of my own creation, not the actual Encyclopedia Brown) , pluck him from innocence, and drop him into deadly, tentacled embrace of cosmic horror? Pretty cool, right?

I originally put this project together for a pitch workshop at a little writing conference back in 2015 and although the entire room loved it, the guy running the workshop (who also is a publisher that I admire greatly) did not.  Boo! It sat dormant in my brain basket until last February, when I ran into another publisher at AWP who happened to be in that workshop and they wanted to know if I had done anything with it.

I put together a revised one-page pitch for them and after giving me some notes, I got to work.

Whammo. Blammo. Here we are.

You just have to keep putting it out there because you just never know. Things have a tendency to ripple forward and catch you by surprise — sometimes pleasantly.

But, as I ready the email to submit the work, I have my doubts. Self-doubt, based on my observations, is a common writer ailment. I guess I’m normal? So many things have to be working in order for the writing to be great, and there are a million ways for it to go wrong.  So, I worry.

Toss in a little Imposter Syndrome and it’s so easy to just keep the writing in a drawer. Just don’t hit send.

I’m not good, it isn’t good, it’s going to get rejected, the story doesn’t work, what was I thinking, etc.

I’m allowing myself to go through this awful thought life-cycle but I’m still going to submit the manuscript. We all have our process and mine is to just buckle up, feel the feelings and hope that I get to the other side of it before too long.

And all that’s okay. My worries just mean that I care an awful fucking lot about the work. Passion is a necessary thing for creating. There’s no rule that says it has to feel good.

Just hit send.

Just hit send.

There.

I hit send.

 

 

 

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