Monday, February 3, 2025

Winter 2025

I've got several irons in the writing fire, so stay tuned for news.

In the meantime, I want to share some of the books I've read recently. One of my teaching mantras is: "If you want to be a writer, then you'd better be a reader." Fortunately, as a writing instructor I found that my students were avid readers and well-versed in their genre. Mostly. Although I write fiction, I've always read non-fiction for inspiration and to better appreciate the world we live in.

 
 
One book that's been on my TBR pile and I finally got around to reading was Truman Capote's classic, In Cold Blood, his telling of the horrific 1959 slaughter of the Clutter family in rural Kansas. As one who appreciates crime stories, I followed the account with keen interest, wondering how I might apply some of the details in my own work and how the police investigation lead to the arrest of the killers. In today's belief that forensics and DNA are the ultimate tools that decide a case, in actuality, what leads to the apprehension of suspects is motive, circumstance, and a tip off. In this case, motive was hard to determine as little was taken. Turns out the killers thought there was a safe full of cash, and finding none, to get rid of witnesses, proceeded with sadistic zeal shotgunning their four victims in the face. As with most serious crimes, the big break was a timely lead, in this case provided by a former cellmate of one of the killers, who recounted hearing how this exact crime would take place. Of equal fascination were the interrogations of the two suspects. Pop culture leads us to believe that police, especially back then, would bring out the rubber hoses and beat out a confession. Instead, the detectives interviewed the suspects separately and let them talk, eventually tripping over inconsistencies, and then ratting on each other.

What drew me to In the Garden of Beasts were that the author, Eric Larsen, is one of my favorite writers, having penned The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake, and the story covers a period of history that I especially enjoy studying, the years leading to World War Two. The narrative is told through William L. Dodd, the American ambassador to Germany. We learn about the personal machinations inside the US State Department, often driven by petty concerns, the Dodd family dynamics, how his very social daughter cultivated dalliances with social climbers of various nationalities to include a Gestapo officer and a Soviet spy, and how Hitler and the Nazis seized power through terror and murder. The city of Berlin is a character in itself: cosmopolitan, modern, splendid, and it pained me knowing that this remarkable place would be blasted to apocalyptic ruin.

In this country, one of the driving references in our culture is the American Revolution. Like most of you, I'm aware of the events in broad strokes and what hooked me to read this book was the title: Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H.W. Brands. Violent revolutions are in fact civil wars, pitting the new against the status quo. In our history, we see our revolution as a fight against the Redcoats when there was a large contingent of colonists who felt they would be better off as subjects of the British Crown. This narrative was primarily a character study, mostly about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, although with plenty of other personalities given time on center stage. My takeaways: George Washington deserves his accolades as father of this country. The sacrifices of the Continental Army and the militias were brutally punishing. I can't imagine winter combat in the clothing of that period. What deepened this examination of history were the often overlooked contributions of Native Americans and the slaves pulled into the conflict.

During the year, I contribute a monthly post to the blog Type M for Murder. Most recently:

November 2024

December 2024

January 2025




Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Autumn 2024

The leaves are turning. The fragrance (or odor, depending) of pumpkin spice is the air. A lot of good things to share as we move into the fall. Harper Collins decided to reissue the audiobooks of the first three novels in my Felix Gomez series, plus gave them snazzy new covers. Qué chingon!

Click on the links to the audiobooks:

The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

X-Rated Bloodsuckers

The Undead Kama Sutra

Narration provided by Louisiana's own, the fabulous voice-over talent of André G Chapoy, who, incidentally, also read Rescue From Planet Pleasure and Steampunk Banditos.

Shoutout Colorado ran an interview of me where I share a little about my backstory as a writer. It wasn't all sunshine and chocolate. Give a read HERE.


The good folks at Shepherd.com, a great resource for finding both writers and readers, gave me the chance to offer my take on five best books discussing the category of my choice. The armchair historian in me decided on fiction that relates the truth in ways that are more compelling than non-fiction.


Sunday, July 21, 2024

Summer 2024

After two years of effort, with thanks to my editorial staff and the CALMA Board of Directors, the Anthology Ramas y Raíces: The Best of CALMA is in the rearview. Being me, I kept worst-case-scenario-ing every step along the way. In the final days, I lost sleep worrying about books arriving with the pages completely screwed up, or in boxes that had been run over and left in the rain. However, both IngramSpark and KDP did a great job. The difference between the two: the colors of the covers from IS were deeper, richer. Their cost, about $5.60 a copy, vs KDP, about $4.80, but with faster delivery. The Lakewood United Methodist Church graciously offered a venue for our book launch, which was SRO. To justify that my belief in bad ju-ju was not unfounded, shortly before the event, the air conditioner conked out. Fortunately, we had a spell of cool weather, plus I set up fans throughout the gallery and ran around handing out bottles of chilled water. Such are the chores of the jefe editor.

At the book launch, Manuel "The King of Chicano Noir" Ramos, reads his short story.

Moving forward. I picked up another ghost-writing assignment. Perhaps the last for my writing career. I'm almost done with a short story for a humor-horror anthology on tropes. Working title: Writing Jingles for Genghis Khan. On my next post, I'll be far enough along in my big WIP, a mystery-crime novel, to share some info.


Sunday, April 7, 2024

Spring 2024

If you're itching to dive into the world of Felix Gomez, vampire-detective, Iraq War veteran (supernatural noir at its best!), here's your chance. HarperCollins is offering books 1-5 free on Kindle Unlimited. But this offer is limited from now through June 30, 2024. Click on the titles and that'll take you straight to the deals.

                      Nymphos of Rocky Flats    X-Rated Bloodsuckers      Undead Kama Sutra

                                                 Jailbait Zombie           Werewolf Smackdown

In other news, I'm working on a couple of short stories. One is about a monster. The other, when tropes go wrong. Both should be fun, though in different ways.

Here's an update on the CALMA Anthology. We're in the final editing process and fingers crossed, by the end of April, I should have release date and news about the book launch.


 





Thursday, February 1, 2024

Winter 2024

 Lot's going on. What's coming up shortly is my first-time trip to Superstars Writing Seminars in Colorado Springs. While I've attended many other writing conferences before, this one focuses on the business of writing, a topic many writers shy away from. 

"If I wanted to talk business, I'd be a business major, I just wanna write!" 

The truth is, while fate may shine on one-book wonders like Harper Lee or J D Salinger, the rest of us ink-stained mortals need to figure out how to earn a living. Even if you've been blessed with a hefty advance, eventually, the money runs out and paying the bills becomes a challenge. Many writers leverage what they've learned into teaching but the real champions, to me at least, are those who can keep cranking out the words and using them to put food on the table.

Superstars offers panels and classes on promotion, marketing, networking, and yes, how to be a better storyteller. The faculty includes heavy-hitters in the fantasy/science-fiction genres such as Kevin J Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Jonathan Maberry, Gail Carriger, Jim Butcher, and Kevin Ikenberry, plus editors and literary agents. Since the theme is the business of writing, we'll be selling our books at the Bookstravagansa.

Previously, I had mentioned that I was the Jefe Editor for the inaugural anthology from CALMA, the Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors, Ramas y Raices. The project is moving along. We're in the process of final edits to the Advanced Reading Copy and I'm pleased to share our bad-ass cover, designed by Kathryn Renta of Latchkey Artist. Book launch, Summer 2024. Stay tuned.






Friday, November 3, 2023

Autumn 2023

What I love about autumn is that it doesn't sneak up on you like spring or summer. You go out one morning and the brisk weather says, "Autumn is here! Put away your shorts and get your jacket and gloves." Denver's first real snowfall of the season carpeted the ground with leaves. 

I'm in the recently published horror anthology Midnight Roost from WordCrafter Press. My contribution "Immediate Intervention" looks at the consequences of people born in artificial wombs. Being a horror story, it doesn't end well for the central character.

The anthology Ramas y Raices: The Best of CALMA I'm editing for the Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors is on track. We've just finished the copy-edits and are progressing into formatting, cover design, and final editing. Then we'll be sending copies out for review. Stay tuned.



Friday, July 7, 2023

Summer 2023

 Last year I was offered a great opportunity--to write short fiction for Stories of the Reconvergence, an anthology of science fiction tales and poetry. Preorder your copy here.

It was my first time penning something for a video game franchise, Random Games. The anthology's premise is the discovery of an ancient spaceship on Mars, which draws humanity into the Masson Zero, a vast network of instantaneous pathways that connects galaxies in the Unioverse. The stories add depth and backstory to both the characters and their worlds to supplement what's offered in the video game. 

Another anthology that featured a story of mine Denver Noir won a Colorado Book Award for Best Anthology, edited by the best selling author Cynthia Swanson. 


My other project is the anthology I'm editing for CALMA--Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors. We're currently raising funds on our Go Fund Me and helping out will assure good karma. Expect your next plate of carne asada tacos to be especially delicious.