DEAD AIR IN EBOOK FORMAT

Through a new arrangement with my publisher, I’ve now been able to make my novel Dead Air available as an ebook on more platforms. As of now, Dead Air is available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon (or your local Amazon outlet), as well as in epub format through Kobo and Barnes & Noble. It should soon appear in the Apple iBooks store, too. I hope this will make the book more accessible for those of you who’ve been coming to my web page all these months.

You can read the detailed blurb about Dead Air at its dedicated page here.

I’m a career radio broadcaster and I’ve hosted a morning show for nearly thirty years. It struck me that radio personalities are small ‘c’ celebrities—people feel they know us, and it’s a personal relationship to them. The dark side is that we, like other celebrities, are vulnerable. Hence the novel Dead Air, a story about a morning show host who finds his life threatened by persons unknown, and must find his own way to survive another day. It’s a mystery thriller, but it’s also an earnest attempt to get inside the head of an average man faced with an unthinkable circumstance.

Response to the print book has been great (there’s a sampling of reviews on Amazon), with most readers complaining that I’ve kept them up way too late into the early hours of the morning, a complaint I’ll gladly accept.

Although Dead Air isn’t science fiction I hope you’ll check it out. It’ll give you a rare glimpse into the world of professional radio from an insider, and a read I think you’ll remember for a long time to come.

BOOKS BY CANADIAN AUTHORS

As a member of the Canadian Authors Association I’m glad to see that the CAA has produced a new catalogue. The Bookshelf 2013: A catalogue of books by members of the Canadian Authors Association. There are some very talented writers in Canada and a lot of variety in the catalogue. There are weblinks to help you buy the books, too. My own novel Dead Air is on page two, though you can read more about here on my site. It can also be bought through my publisher Scrivener Press, as well as from Amazon, Chapters-Indigo, and Kobo books

A SPECIAL OFFER

If you’ve been coming to this page regularly but haven’t read my mystery/thriller novel Dead Air yet you can learn all about it here.

If you have read it, I could really use your help in the form of a review of the book at Amazon. So here’s a special time-limited offer: If you post a review of Dead Air at Amazon.com before November 18, 2013 send me an email and I’ll give you the link to a free sampler of my work. The ebook sampler includes two of my best published stories plus a sneak preview of my next novel, a techno-thriller called The Primus Labyrinth.

I’m not hoping to bribe you into giving a good review. I want honest reviews—online shoppers can smell a fake—so write what you really thought. But please do the review. It could really help shorten the time until you can have my next novel in your hands.

ON SPEC'S SILVER JUBILEE ANTHOLOGY

The official announcement has been made, so I can finally mention that my short story “A Taste Of Time” has been chosen for On Spec magazine’s Silver Jubilee anthology. I was happy enough to have it published in the magazine last year, but to be chosen from among 25 years of past issues is quite an honour. Unfortunately, the anthology won’t be published until August 2014! Here’s the link for the table of contents.

THE NOVEL DEAD AIR IS ON THE WAY

Good news on the publishing front these days. My radio-industry thriller novel “Dead Air” is at the printers and will be available in early October. It’s already available for pre-order through Amazon and Chapters-Indigo online. It’s the story of a morning radio guy whose life is already in a shambles when he realizes that someone wants him dead. Marked for death by an unknown enemy, he’s forced to examine what still makes life worth living.

I’ve been a broadcaster for more than 30 years, so the novel has a lot of insider knowledge.

The story’s set in my home city of Sudbury and I’ll be doing book signings here, then rolling the novel out across the country.

In the meantime, Tesseracts Sixteen has just been published and I’m thrilled to be a part of it (see some of the notable writers also included in my last posting below). Although I likely can’t make it, a number of the authors will be doing a book signing at the Bakka-Phoenix book store in Toronto on Saturday September 29^th at 3:00 pm. At least I’ll be able to do a book-signing and reading event in Sudbury along with editor Mark Leslie and writer Sean Costello October 4^th at the Vale Living With Lakes Centre.

FEATURE INTERVIEW IN ON SPEC

My newest published story has just appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic. It’s a light fantasy story called “A Taste Of Time” about a little girl who loves to pick blueberries, but something strange is going on—she knows things she has no right knowing. Equally exciting, the story is accompanied by a feature author interview with me—an extensive interview done by Roberta Laurie. Thanks for making me sound interesting Roberta!

Since On Spec is a top-notch fiction magazine that consistently presents a very high quality of writing, it’s always flattering to be a part of it, and the feature interview is great exposure.

If you can’t find a copy of the latest On Spec at your favourite book or magazine store, ask for it. Or you can buy online through their website (where they were thoughtful enough to include a link to my own website).

Next up: my story “Once Upon A Midnight” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe will be published in Tesseracts 16: Parnassus Unbound due out in September from Edge Books, along with such notables as Robert J. Sawyer, Kevin J. Anderson, Sean Costello, and Neil Peart (yes, the drummer for Rush!) The Tesseracts series has a venerable history, and I’m ecstatic to be included. And then my novel Dead Air will be published in October by Scrivener Press. Good times.

ANOTHER SHORT STORY PUBLISHED

I just found out that another short story of mine is now available in print. “Once Upon A Midnight” has just been published in the anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press, and is available through Amazon.com. The anthology consists of new short speculative fiction inspired by the stories of Edgar Allan Poe—my own story is about a woman obsessed with a failed relationship who would be better off concentrating on her job, since she works in a test facility for the deadliest of biological agents! The book has interesting cover art (see an earlier post) and gothic fonts for titles. I’m eager to read it, but I haven’t received my copy yet!

On another front, Musa Publishing has now had its official launch, including the first issue of their speculative fiction e-magazine Penumbra. My short story “Sand From A Broken Hourglass” will be in their second issue due out November 1^st.

I hope you enjoy them.

SUMMER'S END

It’s been an interesting summer, and a fruitful one. For me, the biggest news was the acceptance of my first novel, Dead Air, to be published by Scrivener Press in the fall of 2012. That’s been a long time coming. It follows a radio morning show host who finds himself the victim of harassment that escalates into attempts on his life.

But the news has been good on the short story front, too, with a couple more stories available or soon to be available in print. My story “Shakedown” appears in the anthology Canadian Tales of the Fantastic from Red Tuque Books, which can now be ordered through Amazon.ca . It’s a story about a prototype submersible the size of a virus, designed to travel the human bloodstream (yes, inspired by the movie Fantastic Voyage) except the virtual reality control system takes a terrible toll on the test pilot. “Shakedown” is a prequel to my novel Labyrinth which continues the story of the submersible Primus, and is currently looking for an agent and publisher. Here’s the anthology’s cover art to look for.

 

My story “Once Upon A Midnight”, about the disastrous consequences of a woman’s failing marriage, was previously made available on this site but has since been removed because it’s going to be included in the forthcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press. I still don’t have a publication date for that one, but I just approved the galley proof for the story and it looks good—a nice gothic font for titles etc. The cover art is interesting too. I’m eager to have a good look at both anthologies in print.

A couple of other stories have reached the final stages of the selection process on other fronts, so my fingers are crossed for those. Now, as I resign myself to the fact that the days will be getting cooler, I’m hoping that the writing career stays hot!

NEWS EVERY WRITER WANTS TO HEAR

It’s been a good week. On Tuesday I was told that my first novel had been accepted for publication. On Thursday I signed the contract.

My novel Dead Air isn’t science fiction—it’s a story about a morning radio show host who’s life is already falling apart when he begins to suffer harassment from an unknown source. As nasty pranks escalate into outright attempts on his life, he struggles to cope with the threat and find out who wants him dead. Before they succeed!

I wrote the novel while I was hosting a radio morning show myself, and the scenario is plausibly unnerving. It’s going to be published by Scrivener Press of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, a small press that does good work and has high standards. Scrivener Press is also the publisher of my friend and mentor, Sean Costello. It’s a perfect fit for Dead Air because the novel is set in Sudbury. The only downside is that Dead Air won’t be released until the fall of 2012, so you (and I) have a long year to wait before we can hold a copy in our hands.

On Sunday I was gratified to learn that my short story “Once Upon A Midnight” has been accepted for the upcoming anthology In Poe’s Shadow from Dark Opus Press. It’s a dark-humour story inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, about a woman having relationship problems while she’s working at a storage and research centre for deadly bio-agents. I’m not sure when that anthology will see print. There’s a chance you’ve already read the story—I had it available for download here on the website, but I’ve taken it down as a courtesy to the folks at Dark Opus. Now you’ll have to buy the book.

I’ve been meaning to make audio versions of my free stories available on this site for some time, and I finally got around to recording my story “No Walls”. So now you can read it online, download a PDF version, or listen to the MP3 recording. The audio is in two parts, available from the “No Walls” page. I hope you enjoy it.

Yes, it’s been a good week. Now if I only had time to get some writing done!

CANADIAN TALES OF THE FANTASTIC

The winners of the “Canadian Tales of the Fantastic” Competition have now been posted on the website for Red Tuque Books. I mentioned in an earlier post that my story “Shakedown” picked up an Honourable Mention. Congratulations to all of the winners, especially the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd prize winners: David Routledge, Marianne Paul, and Lindsey Carmichael. Publisher David Korinetz says that all of the 13 winning stories will be published in an anthology in September of this year. I look forward to it, and I hope the contest continues for years to come. If your writing tastes tend more to mysteries, Red Tuque Books also has their Canadian Tales of the Mysterious Short Story Competition underway now.

“Shakedown” is a story about a prototype nano-sized submersible intended for operations within the human bloodstream (like Fantastic Voyage but without the inexplicable shrink ray), and the peril involved when the virtual-reality control system becomes far too real. It’s a prequel story to a full-length novel I’ve written, currently being vetted by beta readers, for which I’ll soon be seeking an agent and a publisher.

I was also glad to see this week that the anthology Doomology: The Dawning of Disasters from the Library of Science Fiction and Fantasy, including my story “Tartarus Rising” is now available at Amazon.ca  as well as Amazon.com, so Canadian readers can take advantage of free shipping (always good!) “Tartarus Rising” is a tale about a disastrous invasion of our world, but from a very different source than the usual (hint: the name references Greek mythology). I got a kick out of writing it, and I hope that comes across in the reading.