December 30, 2006

I can't believe it's been over six months since I last updated this website! Time has flown by...but I've been productive. I sent Blood Of Stone to agents, got some feedback, and have spent the past couple months working on some suggestions they have offered. I'll see how this pans out, but in the meantime I'm still looking at a June 1, 2007 release for this book. I'll soon be requesting testimonials from people for the back cover, and working on the artwork.

After I finish Blood Of Stone, I'll be working on a new book, something more akin to Pariah. It'll be called The War Pigs. I don't anticipate this book taking anywhere near as long as Blood Of Stone did. In fact, I anticipate The War Pigs being finished by this time next year, possibly even released in 2007 along with Blood Of Stone, but we'll see. It's easy to say that now!

The War Pigs is about a pickpockets in San Francisco. It'll be similar to Rash & Talon in both length and style.

June 14, 2006

Blood Of Stone is finished. I have printed copies of it, very few copies, for close friends to read through. After that, it'll be turned over to a professional editor. After that, I'm likely going to go a route I have never gone, which is to see about getting a literary agent to handle it. If that doesn't pan out, I'll be self-publishing it later this year, like sometime around the fall. I would need to get testimonials for it first (those blurbs on the back cover). I'll keep you posted of the progress on this site.

I'm not sure what's next for me. I am definitely not one of those writers who suffers from writer's block. I have so many ideas, I doubt I could ever get through with them. I'll likely give myself a little break, a couple months, or so...and then after that, I think that I'd like to go back to writing a few short books roughly the length of Rash. I have a couple of ideas that'd work well in that format. In such a case, I would be able to put out a book a year, as I was doing for about four years there (2000-2003).

I have a MySpace page...actually, I've had it for a while. Drop me a line, be my "friend", or whatever. It's here.

April 27, 2006

I just now approved of the new cover for Pariah. I like it! It'll be printed and shipped within the next week. If you're interested in buying a copy with the new cover, I'm offering it at a discount for a limited time. If you live outside the United States, due to the low prices I'm charging (and always charge, by the way), I'm going to have to send your order via slow-boat "Ground"--unless you want to pay a little bit extra for it to be sent quicker.

April 25, 2006

I know I have mentioned before that Blood Of Stone will be out in the summer of 2006, but that's not going to be the case. Not for lack of trying, I promise! I work on it everyday, often times for hours...but it's coming along slowly. Nonetheless, you'll be pleased with the result, I promise. At this point, it'll be more of a fall release, it seems.

The seventh printing of Salad Days will soon be arriving, as will the second printing of Pariah (the new cover!).

I have been thinking quite a bit about what to write next. I am not one of those writers that suffers from writer's block, that's for sure. My biggest problem is choosing an idea, and since it takes so long to finish each novel, but the completion of each idea, I've usually schemed several other story ideas in the meantime! There are two ideas that I'm batting back and forth. Both are in the realm of suspense and horror. These would be shorter than my current book, Blood Of Stone (it'll be the length of Salad Days and Pariah), possibly about the length of Rash or Talon. In such a case, I could easily have both of those finished in a fraction of the time it took me to complete, and release Blood Of Stone. In fact, I don't doubt that I could feasibly have a followup to Blood Of Stone within the same year. Of course, a little break sounds good, too...

Speaking of new books, I've revisited an old idea lately. Releasing the Apolitical Manifesto, but adding more to it...sort of a supplement that I'd likely call Forever Punk. This Forever Punk (released in the same book as Apolitical Manifesto) would give some insight into some "tricks" so-to-speak on how to stay true to yourself, yet getting ahead in life, and away from a life of toil in the working class. I was able to avoid it and do fairly well for myself, and several of my friends have, too. I've talked with them and gathered some really good ideas on how someone without one minute's worth of college can get out of the rat race. I'm not talking big bucks, just a slightly better living than flipping burgers, or whatever. Trust me, it'd be cool, it'd be funny, and it'd offer some pretty good ideas.

PS - Happy birthday, Edgar!

March 12, 2006

I haven't updated this website in a while, but I plan a total revamp soon. The reason...this year I will have a new book available to the public! It's called Blood Of Stone. I finished it about a month ago, and I've been editing it very regularly ever since. It'll take some time, but I am very satisfied with this story, and if you enjoyed Salad Days and/or Pariah, you'll probably enjoy this one, too.

In other news, I have decided against my original decision to take Pariah out of print. The reason, too damn many people buy it still! So, it'll stay available, and I'll be creating a new cover for it (I've always hated its cover). The new cover, I believe, is below. Tell me if you like, or tell me if you hate it. Email.

PS - Happy birthday today, Charlie!

August 28, 2005

Editing on Blood Of Stone is going very smoothly, and I'm still figuring on finishing this in 2005! I am guessing that this book will be released in the spring of 2006 with the "official" release date being June 1, 2006--same day and month as all my other books have been. This is guesswork at this point, but odds are, this will be the case. It's been a while since I've released something, like three years, and I really appreciate you, whomever is reading this, keeping interested! I promise, this book will not let you down.

I'm very close to running out of copies of Pariah, and I'm thinking of temporarily taking it out of print, for like a year or so, to make room for Blood Of Stone. So if you haven't gotten your copy of Pariah, I would suggest you doing so. In fact, I should've posted this earlier because I'm really down to just one case left, and that's it. What that means is, I doubt Pariah even makes it to XMas before it's out of print, if not by Thanksgiving, or even Halloween!

July 24, 2005

As of tonight at roughly 11:00pm I finished writing Blood Of Stone. The best novel I have ever written...it will define me as a writer. The editing should last roughly 3-5 months. It will more than likely be released this coming spring.

July 13, 2005

I am back! I've been away from this site for quite a while, but I promise I have a good excuse! See, Becky and I bought a house at Christmas time, and it got really busy there for a while. Way too busy packing and moving to be updating this site, and then once we finally moved into the house, we came to find that this location doesn't get DSL. What a bummer! So we thought we'd wait, that maybe service for this area was just around the corner, but no. Since our wedding was coming up, we decided to just wait until the wedding was over, at which point we'd get RoadRunner. Do you see how low budget this operation is?

Anyway, the wedding was a success, everyone had a good time...pictures will be up soon.

From the time we started to buy this house to the wedding, I had no time to write. I took an unexpected hiatus of roughly 9 months to a year, but I am now back, and the novel I've been working on, Blood Of Stone, is nearly finished. Two scenes remain to be written, and those will be completed by the end of this month.

Aside from Blood Of Stone, my "time off" was a great opportunity to come up with a lot of story ideas, plus I am more motivated than ever! So expect quite a bit from me soon. In fact, I have so many ideas, I am really not sure what to write next, although it's not out of the question that by the end of 2006 that I could have TWO shorter novels completed, aside from Blood Of Stone. Or maybe I'll put them together as a double feature...

Another thing I did during my break was that I returned to music. Well, sort of. Becky and I recorded some songs, and we plan to record more soon, it turned out that well. The lyrics are in Spanish, they're very sassy, just like Becky, so this may not be the best way to learn the language, but then again, maybe it is! Mucho profanity. The style is not very punk, although there's definitely an edge (supplied mostly by Becky, really). It sounds somewhat like the B-52s mixed with the Descendents and flavored with a bit of British Invasion 1960s pop. Anyway, our "band" is called Frenetica, and although there's no plans of playing for the public, you never know! These songs will be available on this website soon. Check back soon!

In other news, Pariah is very nearly out of print. At least, it's first print. I personally hate the cover. Hate it passionately, so once these are gone, that's it for the purple cover. If you want a copy of the first print purple cover, get it now or never get it again.

October 30, 2004

At some point I plan to put some of the photographs from our UK trip up, but for now here's all I have. It's of Becky in front of Parliament in London, and I'm the one behind the camera. All we had were disposable cameras, so I'll have to scan whatever goes on this site. But…new pictures coming soon.

On a personal note, Becky and I will be getting married in Key West on June 18, 2005. For those of you who have read Talon, you can probably tell how much we enjoyed our vacation to Key West back in August 2001.

October 9, 2004

It's been quite a while since I've updated this, and although I don't have a whole lot to add right now, I thought it'd be good just to give an update. The reason I haven't been keeping up with this so well lately is because I have been very focused on completing The Blood Of Stone. Now that my trip to the UK is over, I will be focusing all of my time on this, and I anticipate it to be completely finished sometime this winter, like around February. I plan to begin working on another novel called The War Pigs (more along the lines of Pariah and Salad Days) as soon as I finish The Blood Of Stone.

Speaking of my trip to the UK, it was a great time. It was my first experience abroad, and certainly won't be my last. We went to London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Oban, Tobermory, Liverpool, Llandudno (Wales), and Bath. It was a great experience.

June 21, 2004

Okay, I've been away for a while. Been working on the second act of The Blood Of Stone, and it's coming along really well. In fact, I believe it should be finished by the end of June. I am probably going to take a few weeks off in July before I complete the last act, which will complete the book. This story is not a serial, as Pariah is. It is a stand-alone novel that will be the longest I've ever written. It's also quite a departure from Salad Days and Pariah, but such a great story.

Other than that, I've been planning my first trip outside of the USA! Becky and I are going to England, Scotland, and Wales in late September, and the excitement is just too much! If anyone reading this happens to be there, drop me a line and maybe we could meet up.

March 24, 2004

Two big things happened this past weekend for me. One, I got engaged to my girlfriend. Two, I finished the writing of Act Two of The Blood Of Stone. It will take me a month or two to edit it into a readable form, at which time it will be available HERE. Keep checking back!

Positive reviews for Pariah have been popping up in several magazines, such as Maximum RockNRoll, AMP, Fat City...if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? To see gobs of positive reviews, click on the purple book cover above. This many positive reviews, you can't go wrong!

February 10, 2004

I was born 34 years ago on this very day...

In other news, the middle section of The Blood Of Stone is coming along very quickly, and should be available for download within the next two months, probably mid-April.

January 15, 2004

For quite a while I was thinking it was best to not reveal much about film producers that have approached me about turning something I'm written in a motion picture, but I've decided I see no reason to do that! I must preface this that nothing is in the works right now, and if you have interest in undergoing such a project, let me know.

Salad Days - About two months ago the producer of the films Narc, Near Dark, Operation Dumbo Drop, and many others, requested information on the rights, which are still open. I had a few conversations with their people, but never with the producer directly. Everything is still up in the air, and as it tends to go with this stuff, I'm definitely not holding my breath.

Pariah - Roughly half a year ago I was in talks with the producer of Your Friends And Neighbors, which lasted quite a few weeks. Nothing came of it and nothing will. It definitely was not in my best interest to work with them, and everything fizzled out. They were mostly interested in the story of Talon (the center part of Pariah) with Rash more as an introduction.

Rash - Flax Glor, who was responsible for a San Diego based television program called Radiation Nation produced a script with partner Dylan Hobor, but nothing has been done with it so far. This is due mostly to disagreements over aspects of the script.

The closest thing to a spin-off or adaptation of my stuff is by a funny and ambitious young girl in California who does a comic book called Opaquem. It's not really related to anything I've written, maybe loosely inspired, but she does a really good job on her own thing and has a great sense of humor. Otherwise, that's about all there is to report. I've decided as things come up, I will post them.

January 9, 2004

This really isn't "news" about books, but I thought it was interesting. A case of life imitating art, I guess. Straight from the pages of Pariah: Rash. Click here to read this news article.

Also, the girl from this website (she's at the bottom of the Salad Days page, reading a copy) is a Suicide Girl now. Her codename is Kitten, she's the new one from Texas.

December 24, 2003

Maximum RockNRoll has just run the very first print review of Pariah. To read it, click HERE. The only complaint he has is one that I can't agree with. Anyone who can point out a single plot-hole, let me know and I'll give you a free Talon shirt! Also, for the record, Frank works in a bagel shop, not a pizza joint, but still, the review is about as gushing as they get. Check it out. And have a great Christmas!

December 14, 2003

The first act of The Blood Of Stone is now available for $2.99. Click HERE for details. To read the first chapter, click: The Blood Of Stone.

October 21, 2003

I have added a new page to this site for my upcoming book The Blood Of Stone. Check back for periodic updates, artwork, and excerpts.

August 22, 2003

Every story idea I have written, all the way up to the current one I'm writing right now, was conceived during the writing of Salad Days. After all the years I spent writing Salad Days, when I finally finished it, I was very ready for something different. Rash was one of a few ideas I had at the time, and although I don't necessarily feel it's the best concept for a book that I have ever conceived (the one I'm working on now would be that book), it was the one I wanted to approach first because I was really drawn to it for its darkness, its edginess, and most importantly--its pace. I knew that by doing something even remotely similar to Salad Days would forever limit me as "that kind of writer", and that's something I did not want. My goal with Rash was for it to read as a hardcore punk song plays. Fast and furious. I also liked the idea of doing a serial, much in the way of the old cliffhanger noir films from the 30s, where each installment was like a bombardment of harsh light and dark shadows. I think Rash is only considered horror because reviewers didn't know what else to call it. It's not your typical kind of horror. No monsters, ghosts, aliens, supernatural hexes, or homocidal maniacs. I believe what scares people with this is how real it could be. Anyway, with Talon, I wanted to take the same approach, but to bring it to an entirely opposite environment than that of Rash. I also wanted Talon to go in a direction that was not what one would expect after reading Rash. Talon is probably my favorite book, depending on my mood that day. On most days, it is my favorite. I love the way its characters interact, the depth to which I went into their lives and background, the action, the intensity…but most of all, it's where the serial's leading man really takes on the role of hero. With The Stickler, I knew that the setup was already there in Rash and Talon, and that I simply needed to go balls to the wall with telling the story. It's shorter than the other two books, has three times as many plot twists, and has the fastest pace of anything I've yet written. When you sit down to read it, make sure you have at least a couple of hours at your disposal. It's one of those that should be consumed in one sitting. Also, be prepared to have a different perspective on the characters from Rash and Talon. After reading The Stickler, Rash and Talon become slightly different stories. The motives of the characters become something slightly different as you learn more about them. In fact, after reading The Stickler, going back to read Rash and Talon again, you would find a lot of things pointing in the direction of the revelations you'll learn about in The Stickler. Plus, Rash and Talon have been re-edited for Pariah, so whatever small grammatical errors or inconsistencies (however insignificant) that were previously there have been fixed. I'm very eager to have it all available to the public. Just two weeks now…

July 14, 2003

Rash is now completely unavailable. Used copies are being placed on Amazon.com by people such as yourself as collector's items in the range of $125-$195. Good luck with that...

July 8, 2003

Just a quick little note, I saw a recent review of Salad Days on Amazon.com by someone who really liked the book, but didn't like the way the pages were all out of order. I guess some people think that this was some "creative" effect I was going for. No, actually this is a printer's error that occurred on the fourth printing of Salad Days. If you ended up with one of these very rare copies (they said that less than 5% would have turned out this way, and 5% of the 1,000 copies printed on that print-run, is of course, not very many in the grand scheme of things), let me know so I can trade you for one that's printed right. That was a major headache to deal with, and I do hope that anyone who got one promptly returned it to whomever they bought a copy from.

April 4, 2003

Rash is (as of this very day) #3 on the "Small Press Bestseller List" (by Powell's). Salad Days has been on this list several times, but this is the first time Rash has arrived on it.

February 1, 2003

Rash is now out of print.

January 2, 2003

You may notice in the very near future that Rash will no longer be considered "in print". With less than two cases left (a little over 100 copies), I am not going to give Rash a second printing. I doubt the copies will last more than a month. Rash will become available once again as the opening act of Pariah (along with Talon and The Stickler), due out this summer. There are only 1,000 copies of Rash in existence, which I know doesn't make much sense with the demand on this book as strong as it is. I feel that in time, when Pariah is read in its entirety, it will be clear why I chose to do it this way. I'm very eager for it to be available to the public. Summer 2003...

September 3, 2002

Rash won an award at the 2002 Book Expo in NYC! This big annual event is where most literary awards happen. Rash was given an Ippy Award, which is short for Independent Publishing Awards, as Best Horror Finalist. I got a nice plaque for the spare bedroom and lots of really neat gold stickers.

The next novel I will write will be entitled Blood of Stone. It's the story I've always been most excited to write. It's kind of a ghost story (of course, it's far more than that, but that's a good place to start). Not something I've done before, but it will be good, I already know. So many fun twists and turns, and presenting characters and circumstances like none I've written before. This story basically follows the path of Chasey Novak from Rash (the young assistant to the scientists), roughly 6-7 years after the events of Rash.

Feel free to send me your thoughts and questions. I answer (almost) every email!