Vampires and Robots

We are all storytellers. Stories are a part of us, in our blood, our hearts, our DNA. We have been telling and listening stories from the beginning. They teach, entertain, enthralled, but most of all they stick with us. Imagine sitting around a campfire with a group of friends. The flames have died to embers, crickets chirp, The moon casts mottled shadows. Everyone waits breathlessly for the storyteller. This, is my story... "Have I ever told you about the time that I was blessed with all of the mind-blowing knowledge about the answers to life, the universe, and everything? No? Well, sit back, grab an drink and be prepared to have your mind blown away by this shockingly true story of how I learned and lost it all.   You see, I was shaving my legs at the time. This was long ago, when twin blade razors were still considered cutting edge technology.  Cutting edge, get it?  Why yes, I've always had a sharp wit. It can be a double edged sword ... Ok...

   I know I've mentioned it a few times before, mostly on social media, but when the temperatures start creeping into the intolerable range, my brain turns into pudding and not the good kind. You want delicious double chocolate pudding flavored brains, look elsewhere. I get room temperature snak-pak tapioca pudding brain.     This is why my summer projects are typically something simple that doesn't require a whole lot of creative thinking. In 2013 I polished and published Dissonant, which I'd actually written years earlier. Last year I published Going Green, which was already half written as a blog challenge the previous fall. This year, I might be jumping the brain pudding shark. Introducing...    I know what you are thinking. You're looking at the image above and sliding your eyes over to the calendar to note the date. I might have deliberately chosen to make my announcement today. Okay, I did deliberately choose today because April Fool's...

If you've read any of my books, you might have noticed that I like to sneak in the occasional pop culture reference. What you might not have realized, being normal readers who aren't obsessively pouring over my works for hidden messages, is that I rather enjoy stuffing Easter eggs into every nook and cranny that I can find. I've often considered putting together a list of some of these little 'in-jokes' and well, seeing as it's nearly Easter, now sounds like a good time. In fact, the title of this post is an Easter egg . There are no real spoilers, but for the sake of those who may want to keep some mystery between us, I've hidden the bulk of this post behind the jump. For those who want to know, let's get to it...

   Oh look! It's makeover time once again! This time around I tried my hand at drawing. What you see up there is a sketch of Herbie's more dangerous cousin, Vlad. Vlad is not an A.C.R.O. unit. Vlad is a R.E.T.R.O. unit, which stands for Really Evil Transylvanian Robot Overlord.    Initially, the image you see was just supposed to be a quick sketch on graph paper to see if I could draw something resembling a robot. But I snapped a pic, fussed about with Pixlr, and decided I like the semi-unfinished look Vlad's rocking.    What do you think?

   In just two weeks, I have a new book coming out. It will be the eighth book that I've written since beginning this crazy journey a little less than three years ago. That's kind of crazy. Eight books. Granted, one is a novella and one is a novelette, but the other six are full length novels. Honestly, not to sound like I'm just piling the praise on myself or anything, but you have to understand that for decades prior, I didn't know if I had it in me to ever finish even one full length story.    Of course, I can't even begin to expound upon how much the indie publishing and ebook revolution has had a hand in making this possible. If I had to seek out an agent and send queries to publishers back when I polished the first manuscript for The Eyes of The Sun, I might still be waiting for a reply today. Even in the best case scenario, where a publisher promptly says yes, I would likely still be waiting for the debut of my first book. I kind of have to take a moment to...