Paul Semel Interview on Carrier, My Influences, and My Dog

Over at paulsemel.com, Media Journalist Paul Semel interviewed me about Carrier and some other stuff. Paul asked some really good questions, and some of them were pretty tough. This whole interview thing is new to me, but it’s interesting how curious people asking questions gets me to think about things I never thought about (at least consciously) or even thought about needing to answer. Anyway, check it out if you haven’t already.

The Journey Begins

I would be remiss if I failed to post here on the day that I evolved from normal human into radiating beacon of literary authority and genius, but seeing as how all that happened today was my first novel hit Amazon, I wasn’t sure if anything needed to be said.

The spirit of jest and humility aside, I’m very excited a piece of my work that I legitimately poured my love into is finally out there and ready for you to read. Be gentle. Don’t stare. Don’t say things like, “I just want to talk,” when it’s clear you want more. Be honest with her, and she will take control. It’s what she does. Just open your mind and let her slip inside. The sharp pains are her hooks. She’s going to be in there a while. Continue reading “The Journey Begins”

Deep Black Sea by David M. Salkin

Deep Black Sea

When I finished Deep Black Sea, I found myself dwelling on its strengths. Of course, not many works are without faults, but there are some really powerful elements here that I found creative, interesting, and entertaining.

One of Deep Black Sea’s greatest strengths is its foundation of plausibility. In a nutshell, the United States elects a new president who effectively guts NASA’s funding for a mission to Mars in favor of pursuing deep-water research. While such a broad and far-reaching decree in a democratic society is unlikely, it isn’t an unfamiliar point of consternation in the scientific community: the idea that we should understand our own planet before we explore others, and we still know so little about life at the bottom of the ocean.

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Kerry Alan Denney Bends Reality to Bring You Q&A

TheRealityBender

Over at Kerry Alan Denney’s website, he’s got a nice little Q&A with me about … stuff. It was a good time, and Kerry asked some interesting questions from details on Carrier to hypothetical situations intended to dive deep into my psyche. I hope those questions didn’t dive head first because they could hurt themselves in this shallow water.

Head on over to Kerry’s website, and check out the interview. While you’re at it, click around and check out Kerry’s work. That’s Kerry on the right. I had to include it here because it’s obligatory and awesome.

No, that isn’t photoshop. Yes, he can do that in real life. Would I lie to you? It isn’t like I make stuff up all the time or anything.

Carrier e-book Available for Preorder

Carrier_EbookCover_Final

We weren’t sure that we were going to be able to make it available for preorder, but here it is, and I am absolutely terrified. For sure, the prospect of you and everyone else getting Carrier in your hands and its words funneling into your eyeports excites me, but with each moment it takes further from my grasp, I can’t help but feel more apprehensive.

I’m not a parent, but I imagine this must be something akin to what parents feel as they hug their children and send them off to school for the first time. I have loved this thing and put everything that I could into it, and now it has to go out and face the scrutiny of the world.

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Visiting Permuted Press in Nashville

A number of months ago (my consciousness doesn’t have time for time), Michael Wilson, president of Permuted Press, invited any authors in his stable to come down to Nashville for Wizard World Comic Con in September. He would later confess he expected only a handful of us. He got about twenty-five.

Despite a substantial work conflict and some crazy guy in Aurora, Illinois, setting blaze to a regional air traffic control facility, I was determined to get there. So, when I got the robocall informing me that my Southwest Airlines flight had been canceled and good luck with that, I shrugged and decided to drive it. From Chicago, which is where I had to be due to the work conflict, Nashville is about a seven and a half hour drive.

Nine and a half hours later (thanks, Indiana DOT, for all the lane closures), it’s 3 a.m., and I arrive at the hotel. I feel a bit like Tom Hanks in Castaway when he returns to civilization and can’t talk to people.

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The Last Plague by Rich Hawkins

Last Plague

It’s hard for me to pinpoint the precise moment when Rich Hawkins’ work in The Last Plague won me over, but I know it came within the first fifty pages.

If you took Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and slammed it into 28 Days Later and then opened a trans-dimensional gateway for Cthulu to join the party, you might end up with something like The Last Plague. It begins like any other modern horror story in that we’re presented with a group of friends who go off for a weekend of fun. The difference here is they aren’t going off into the unknown where evil awaits. While they are gone, the world changes, and when they return to it, they find the aftermath of the initial wave of an infection.

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E-book and Electronic Cover for Carrier

Carrier_EbookCover_Final

So check this out. Isn’t it gorgeous? A couple of months back, I spent some time with artist Jack Kaiser who extracted the planet and the Atlas from my brain. It was a delicate procedure, and he was gentle.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, David Walker at Permuted Press contacted me to do the title and byline. He was incredibly accommodating and tolerant to my bad ideas and rambling.

The wrap (spine and back cover) is still to come, and when I get it, I plan to share more details about the entire process. But for now, just look at it. LOOK at it.

On The Dark Times And Finding The Light

In my time here, I’ve seen tragedy. I’ve felt sorrow. I’ve had days where I thought, “this is the worst day of my life,” and then I’ve had days that actually were the worst of my life.

The point is I’ve seen my fair share of darkness. I’ve known my share of hurt and loss. But how does that measure up to anyone else? It really doesn’t matter. It’s all relative. My tragedies are my own; they are part of my identity. That is all. They do not limit me. They empower me.

One of the things that bugs me most about people is when someone claims, “you don’t know what I’ve been through.” The statement is obvious at best, but the worst part about it is the person who makes this claim is isolating him or herself. Where there’s an opportunity to make an emotional connection with someone who steps out to empathize, the person who makes this claim is severing it before it has a chance to grow. Man, that’s tragic.

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