I haven’t written for quitea while (obviously). Since my last post, I’vebecome much closer to God. I’v elearned much about myself as I’ve began to walk with Him.

I still don’t have a regular “career” in which to live. I wander aimlessly looking for somewhere to belong. I’ve been talking with my local Army NG recruiter and have taken steps to begin enlistment. I have hopes to get into something highly technical, but that depends on if I do as well on my ASVAB as I did back in high school. I hope it all works out so I can get my life in order.

I’ve begun keeping lists, which I plan to start posting here as well. I’ll not explain more, but let them explain themselves.

My novel that I am convinced that I have been called to write is still unerway. The original title of Whispers in the Dark is now shortened to just Whispers.  I have many different parts written in seperate files and on paper. I can’t wait to have it ready for the world.

I’m still editing, but am veering away ever so slightly. I just don’t have the desire like I used to. I’ll have to give it up anyway before I leave for boot camp anyway because I’ll likely be gone for nearly a year, including my advanced training.

That’s all for now.

It’s been a while since I posted, but I’ve been extremely busy. I just popped in to note about the Preditors & Editors Poll at http://www.critters.org/predpoll
I’ve been nominated for a few polls, so I want to share this to get people to vote. I also want to make a few notes of friends/colleagues that also have nominations.

I am listed under Book/ebook Editor, Magazine/ezine Editor, and The Bloodied Quill, the newsletter I edit for IOHP, is listed under Nonfiction magazines/ezines.

Anathema by David Greske is nominated for Horror Novel
Judgment Fire by Marilyn Meredith is nominated for Mystery Novel
“Personal Headspace” chapbook by Nancy Jackson, as well as “Thirsty” by Jodi Lee are nominated for Horror Short Story
“Seven Deadly Sins - Avoid Them” by Bev Walton-Porter nominated for Nonfiction Article
“Thirsty” by Kevin J. Hurtack nominated for Artwork
Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc, Bev Walton-Porter, Jodi Lee, & Louise Bohmer are nominated for Authors of 2007
Jinger Heaston, Kevin James Hurtack, & Paul T. Sninchak aRE NOMINATED FOR aRTISTS OF 2007
Giovanna Lagana, Jeremy Seffens, & Louise Bohmer are nominated for Book/ezine Editors
Bev Walton Porter, Jason Sizemore, & Jeremy Seffens are nominated for Magazine/ezine Editor
Lachesis Publishing, LBF Books, & Whiskey Creek Press are nominated for Print/electronic Book Publisher of 2007
Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest is nominated for Fiction Magazine/ezine
Scribe & Quill & The Bloodied Quill are nominated for Nonfiction Magazine/ezine
Scribe & Quill is nominated for Writers’ Resource/Information/News Source

Dakoda’s Revenge
by Suzi Goode

Left by her fiancé to fend for herself on a space station where women are nothing more than objects of pleasure, Odessa Grante learns the hard way that her touch hide won’t get her anywhere like it did on earth. She runs into Dakoda Harley, who offers to help her off the station. When she learns Dakoda is working for the man who is searching for her, their game of cat and mouse quickly leads them into more trouble.
Dakoda Harley is reminded of his dead wife when he looks at Odessa. When his trustworthiness is brought into question, he does everything in his power to keep her safe, even if from a distance. He even compromises his personal vendetta and nearly blows his cover. He needs Odessa to seek revenge on his murdered family, no matter the cost.
When the two both end up on the run together, they find much more than they are looking for. Will Dakoda get his revenge? Will Odessa return home?
Goode smoothly tells a complex tale that the reader can easily relate to, despite its sci-fi setting. As one question is answered for the reader, three more are posed. By the end, it’s pure torture for the reader to put the book down.

Check out at the publisher

Swiped from elementalmuse

I have a huge announcement about IOHP that pertains to books and publishing. We have teamed up with Red Engine Press, an established small publishing company, and they’ve offered us the option of running our own book imprint as an extension of their services. IOHP will completely handle every aspect of publishing books under the as-yet-unnamed imprint, but we already have a core team working with Red Engine Press (we also met with one of their reps in person on May 1 here in the Springs).

Right now we are going through a soup-to-nuts run of the book publishing process with them to get all the steps down and pat as a trial run and a learning process. Then we’ll set out to find our first potential books to publish under the brand new imprint. Because we are going through at least one dry run, step by step, with the publisher so we know how to do all the things it takes to publish books (print books, that is), the actual launch and debut of the first IOHP book is still many months off, but the process has begun. An official press release is forthcoming. We are NOT soliciting manuscripts at this point. First we have to get familiar with the book production/publishing process with the help of our trainers at REP. As you may expect, the IOHP imprint will concentrate on books that are dark/horror/speculative fiction.

The good thing about this venture is that *we* were asked about starting an imprint by the publishing company. Our instructors/trainers know what’s required to put out a book from start to finish — and beyond for marketing and such — so we aren’t going into this thing blind. In fact, we were approached last year about the possible imprint, but I told them we’d have to think about it and all that would be required. I knew that, with the focus on writing my own books and tending to my own writing career, unless we found a team that would be ready, willing and able to take it and run with it, that I wouldn’t be able to agree to such a big project. A book imprint is exciting and all of that, but I’m in this business to write my own books and continue to be a WRITER, not a book publisher or to get deeply entrenched in such a process.

Thankfully, months later, we ended up finding a person who was willing to head up the imprint and all that the job entails. Tamra, who I first met at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs as an English instructor and who wrote her Masters thesis on vampires, stepped up to the plate. In fact, she not only stepped up, she RAN for the plate. So she is heading up the IOHP imprint. Paul and I will be around as consultants and to assist in various ways, but it is Tamra who will be the IOHP book imprint goddess. I admire her as a professional and as a friend, too. I knew her professionally first, then we became friends several years later. Her production team will be made up of artists, writers, editors and other professional members of IOHP. I’m hoping to bring retsej into the fold at some level, but with his workload, it may be a limited presence. Still, he’s amazing and turns out incredible work (just read the latest version of The Bloodied Quill and you can see that for yourself!)

Like I said, I definitely will be involved, but only on a peripheral level. I’ve already got enough plates in the air and writing is my first priority, along with publishing Scribe & Quill and co-administration of IOHP. A writer writes — and a professional writer publishes — so that’s what I want to continue to do now and in the future. Part of me struggles with how selfish that sounds, but I must be true to my own goals and dreams, and my goals and dreams are primarily to write, to publish and to repeat. Oh, and to continue teaching writing to others, both offline and online.

Who knew that a year after IOHP was first established, we’d be looking at launching our own book imprint? Hell, we were just happy to have a newsletter and attract a handful of members. We’ve done much more than that and we can’t wait to see what other fantastic surprises the future holds!

I found out yesterday that this blog was nominated for a Thinker’s blog Award by Gabrielle Faust at Eternal Vigilance. Thank you, Gabrielle!

The Thinking Blogger Awards were begun by Ilker Yoldas at The Thinking Blog, with the premise “Too many blogs, not enough thoughts!” in order to encourage and promote well-thought out blog content. Each nominee must then select “5 Blogs that Make Me Think,” so I would like to nominate the following:

1: Jodi Lee Bleeds
2: Mari’s Midnight Garden
3: Shadows and Monsters
4: Scribers est Agree
5: Eternal Nightmare

Trigon:
The Riddle of the Keys

by Marc E. Robling

Genre: Young Adult
SubGenre: Fantasy
EBook formats ISBN: 978-1-59374-824-1
Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-59374-823-4
Purchase from the publisher

Taking place over a period of over 1,500 years, one would think Trigon: The Riddle of the Keys would be more of an epic. Surprisingly, Trigon is a quick read as a Young Adult Fantasy.

Centered on the battle between an ancient demon and a wizard, Emit, the tightly woven puzzle is about overcoming differences and working as a team to beat impossible odds and deceit. The story jumps forward through time with the story of each of three teenage champions: Hakim, a slave; Arin, an albino witch; and Boyd, an overgrown boy with a heart as big as he is. Each champion is swallowed into darkness by the demon and brought together in the present to solve an ancient riddle to wake the wizard from his sleep. Used by the demon to regain his freedom from the mysterious Trigon, the champions are each tested – individually and as a team – to face their fears, which only make the demon stronger. When the demon regains his freedom and shatters what little hope they have, the champions must overcome their differences or face eternity in darkness.

Robling weaves a most interesting tale, leaving the reader craving the next installment in the Essence of Time series.

I decided to share another bit of my story. This is part of a series of visions that my protagonist receives near the end of Part 1 of the novel. Enjoy!

A tall and lean man swiped the black battle sword sideways. His white robe moved with him as if made for the fierce movement. Whatever he fought, it moved back from him. He jumped over the body of something large. A dozen little creatures gathered around the facedown body. They looked like Mallek. The man ignored them as they dragged the body away.

“You shall perish for invoking the wrath of the House of Gwystyn.” The man swung the sword again in a graceful arc. A blood-stained battle axe disrupted its fluid movement. A low rumble followed the blow. It sounded like the earth itself were coughing. It was laughter – cold, soulless laughter.

A series of blows from the axe vibrated the sword, forcing the man back. He ducked and rolled to the side, his head barely avoiding a bloody meeting with the axe. A large pair of red arms wielded the axe. The shoulders connected them to a body that was easily over seven feet tall. The powerful muscles stretched the black skin to its limit. The hands were only red from the blood of men.

The face on the large creature held nothing but hatred. The large eyes were black holes shadowing the hollow nothingness inside. A faint red glow beyond the darkness could only be discerned when close enough to smell the decay on its hot breath. Its long snout resembled that of a dog, but no fur sprouted from the deep creases on the otherwise-human-looking face. The black lips curled in a mangled smile to reveal two rows of jagged dagger-like teeth.

The man took a quick glance around him. The round stone spires that circled the battlefield had what appeared to be gargoyles perched at the tops. But they were not gargoyles. The black creatures were like the Shadow, only there were more – many more. The men appeared to be losing the battle. Only a handful remained in the midst of the large axe-wielding creatures. Many of the creatures knelt to the ground, feasting on the bodies of the slain, while the small impish creatures dragged away the carcasses of the larger creatures.

Every once in a while, a piece of story falls right out of my head that I’m proud of. it seems to speak to the very core of what i want for the story I am working on. This is not often it happens in a first draft. I passed this on to my closest friends, and received some wonderful praise. So, I’ve decided to share it with everyone else that may be interested. I hope this is enough of a teaser to get you all to keep me motivated! Enjoy:

Still pondering how the weapon got there, Jake stood and reached for the strange sword. When his fingers touched the leather-like handle, electricity surged through his blood, forcing his eyes closed. A torrent of bright images flooded his mind, sending him to his knees.

Dozens of men clad in white robes stood in a giant circle, a single eye in the center of each back. They each brandished a black sword with long handle. One man in the center of them raised his hands and shouted before they all began running toward an unseen enemy.

Jake opened his eyes. He blinked a few times, not sure what the vision meant. He was certain the swords the men used were just as the one in the ground. As he looked at the black handle under his fingers, he felt a tightening, warming sensation in his chest. He pulled with all his strength and the strange-looking blade slid from the ground without a sound. It left no trace of its former presence, as if the black ground were a liquid that gave birth to a divine instrument.

Jake held the weapon straight out before him, a surge of power flowing through his body. The sword felt as if it were a part of him – an extension of himself. He swung the blade in an arc over his head. It felt unnaturally light. The awkward design made it slice closer to him than made him comfortable. He tried it again, twisting his wrist mid-stroke. It changed direction as graceful as a flock of birds redirecting direction to attack a predator.

Suddenly, all detail around him took sharp focus. Something in the back of his head seemed to tighten. He heard a soft thud, and looked up. He had forgotten about the Shadow’s grip around Mallek’s throat. The grip it had on his throat. Jake would have felt sorry if he had time.

For another sneak peak, I have an excerpt for the beginning of the story up on my website. You can read it here.

I’ve been working on a novel tentatively called Shadow of Flame since November. It was my NaNoWriMo novel that I actually hit the 50k mark, before scrapping half of it. I’ve put it up a few times, worried about it lagging in plot. The other day, I had a revelation with a dream that would make a great sequel to the novel (if only I could finish it). Then I realized, why not use that as the second half of this novel?? I began working on it again and the words have just been flying. I’m excited to have this one in progress again, since it had many inspirations that I just did not want to see fade away. That is all.

As a member of the male sex, I have to protest the message that they are trying to convey at work. One of the areas in my store just got re-arranged (as per corporate directions), and I noticed something a little out of place.

You see, the whole Lorena Bobbit thing traumatized me. This just brought back some unpleasant memories of the entire incident.
The funny thing is what’s below the condoms…

Dental products can come in handy. Even funnier is that the dental floss is placed 4 rows over. I suppose some don’t need to floss…ahem…but some of us don’t have that problem.