Still working on my novel, Grind Your Bones To Dust. I could see the finish line, in January, but I took a vacation that gave me time to reflect, and I knew that the third part of the book wasn’t working for me, so I did that kill-your-darlings thing that you hear about if you’re around authors for too long. And I did it, man. I killed about 15K words worth of darlings, making it essentially a page-one rewrite of the third part of the book. Stung a bit, but them’s the breaks. The book will be better off because of it though, and that’s why killing those darlings is, sometimes, a must.

I did get to look at Daniele Serra’s four illustrations for the book. They are gorgeous. I’ll share them all, eventually, but for now you’ll just have to settle for one. Serra is a wonderful artist, and if you are a fan of horror then there is a good chance you’ve seen his work. Check out his site HERE.

No cover art, as of yet, but I guess I’ll finish the book, first. Novel idea, right? Pun very much intended, by the way.

Now, I’ve had a week and change to restart the third section, and it is coming along. I’m stepping away from the laptop, though, and committing to a notebook before throwing anything down in Word. I haven’t gone longhand in quite a while and it is refreshing. I have too much of a tendency to self-edit when I go straight to Word.

At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames keeps getting good reviews. This Is Horror is the latest venue to run a review, courtesy of Thomas Joyce, and you can check that out HERE. I have no idea how sales are, though, and I’m honestly better off not having any idea. Still, those that have picked it up seem to really like it. For that I am grateful.

Production is still rolling along for my next collection. I’ve seen the proposal for the cover and it looks great. Hopefully, I should have an ARC in the next couple of weeks. Nobody Gets Hurt and Other Lies is scheduled for a late-April release. It’ll be the first book that says I’m an award-nominated author. How fancy! And if you missed it, I was nominated for a Wonderland Award for my last collection, Now That We’re Alone. Alas, I did not win, as the award went to my arch-nemesis, Laura Lee Bahr. We’ll meet again, Bahr! *shakes fist at clouds*

Also, it looks like a possible feature-film production is in the future. Don Noble and I are back at our postponed horror project, and we’re working on the script, now. This will be through our little publishing company, Rooster Republic Press.

And speaking of Rooster Republic, the company is celebrating a first: The Devil’s Dreamland, a book of poetry inspired by serial killer H.H. Holmes, has made the final ballot for the Stoker Awards. That’s a big deal for the author, Sara Tantlinger, but it is quite a feather in the cap for Rooster’s horror imprint, Strangehouse Books, too.

Looks like I’ll be attending StokerCon, for sure.

For now, I must return to this book. I do like these killer donkeys and the madness surrounding them, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to finishing this manuscript and moving on to the next book. All in due time, I suppose.

Until next time . . .