So here’s a little piece about publishing a novel online. This piece should not be taken as a “how to.” Why? Because although this piece is about what I’m doing, as will become rapidly clear, I am making it up as I go along.
Several people have asked my why “a writer of [my] stature” is self-publishing online. The short version is that publishing in print is shrinking fast and in awful financial shape. Fewer and fewer chances to publish anything edgy, or even much fiction at all, exist, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I have an adventurous spirit and have always been high tech. Rather than hide my head in a hole and hope that after Borders, Barnes & Noble, & the other mega-chains who killed off our thriving independent bookstore population die off like HMV & Tower Records did there is still a print publishing world out there at all, I’m embracing the new media. And why the hell not?
A brief background on this novel. I started writing it in graduate school in my very first semester, in a novel writing class. I had been writing about the main character for many years at that point, but had never buckled down and written his book. The “book” I ended up with was nothing like the other fiction I’ve written. It’s not in traditional chapters, but in short snippets. I envisioned it as a somewhat postmodern work, almost like a scrapbook, with photos and sheet music and fake newspaper clippings in it, although all I wrote was the prose story, the ancillary material all imagined. Several editors at major publishing houses read it. All seemed to really enjoy it, but none felt they could successfully publish it. Mostly because it was too long, and yet couldn’t be easily cut. I tried to cut it anyway, shortening the finished work from around 300,000 words to 220,000. Which for most commercial publishers still made it twice as long. So it sat in my hard drive until now.
I figured, why not put it on the web? My goals are pretty modest at this point. I figure rather than it sitting dormant it could:
1) at least be read and enjoyed by people
2) Could potentially earn some money rather than zero money
3) Maybe if it gets popular it will help bring readers to my other work, including actual books for sale
4) If it gets really popular, at the very least I could sell an ebook or POD version of it. (Maybe in multiple volumes, given the length.)
So, Goal #1. Get it read by people. I figured for that I need the following:
1) A website that looks nice and is easy to navigate
2) Incoming links
Continue reading →
Cocktails, sushi, and my iPhone camera…
So the one bad consequence of the fact that my iPhone went through the laundry a few months ago, other than voiding my warranty, is that the camera is blurry now. There’s probably nothing I can do to fix it, but I figured I’d post and see if anyone had suggestions out there. Everything else about the phone works perfectly, and I don’t use the camera that much, and the photos are not that bad most of the time. I’ve already tried cleaning the little “lens” with lens cleaner to no avail. It *looks* fine…
here’s a comparison though where you can really see the difference. This was taken with my iPhone camera:
(Photos of sushi and cocktails lurking under the “more” tag…)
Continue reading →
The story of writing backwards (Royal Treatment)
So, many of you know that probably my most “iconic” story — and certainly the one that has been read by the most people over the past 18 years — is “Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords .”
One of the unusual things about the story and the characters of Arshan (the dom) and Mriah (the sub), is that the entire thing, title, characters, and backstory all leapt into my head more or less simultaneously. The characters sprang forth as fully realized people. Sometimes it takes me a while to learn the quirks of my characters, but not that time. The story of “Telepaths” takes place after they’ve already been in a relationship for at least ten years.
Most writers who get taken by storm by a character (or two) go on to write sequels about them.
In my case, I’ve done it backwards. I keep writing prequels.
The story of “Telepaths” actually tells maddeningly little about the background of the main characters. There’s passing mention of the planet Continue reading →
Holiday spirit
My Xmas vampire romance story on sale today $1.99 at Ravenous Romance: https://www.ravenousromance.com/ravenous-rendezvous/seven-swans-a-swimming.php
It’s the seventh story in their “12 Days of Christmas” — so it’s the seven swans a-swimming.
As the marketing blurb reads…Continue reading →
Duck Day 2009 Menu, and other holiday stuff
First, if any of you are so inclined, please drop by this post on my baseball blog and leave your suggestions for baseball-related gifts this season:
https://www.whyilikebaseball.com/2009/12/baseball-gift-giving-your-suggestions/
And now, sorry for the delay, here is the Duck Day 2009 menu I’ve been meaning to post:
Amuse Bouche • Burrata with sea salt and a micro tomato basil salad
–sadly the burrata had gone bad! A very fine pecorino stood in for it nicely though.
Anti • Pasti
Anti:
Anchovies, salt cured and garnished with Parmesan & Lemon
Arancini of porcini mushroom
Artichoke hearts in wine and vinegar
Pasti:
Peppers, red, oven-roasted
Peppers, baby red and yellow, pickled in olive oil and spices
Prosciutto of Duck
Wine Pairing: Muri-Gries Alto Adige Lagrein Rosato 2008 (It’s a rosé)
Duck Italian Wedding Soup
duck meatballs with stellina pasta and mustard greens in duck broth
Frangelico Duck Italiano
seared duck breast, glazed with Frangelico liqueur
served on a pair of root vegetable schmears: paprika’d carrot & parsnip and celeriac root frangelico
Wine Pairing: Aglianico del Taburno Fidelis 2005
–this was the dish it took me 3 days to prep all the ingredients. It was worth it.
Duck Ravioli
handmade ravioli stuffed with braised duck, roasted garlic, and fennel and served with a marsala demi-glace
–I will post photos of corwin and Scliff making the ravioli.
Mixed Grill
Smoked duck breast, honey and orange glazed roast quail, sweet italian duck sausage with fennel, spicy italian duck sausage, and duck livers and other organs
Accompanied by white beans, and roasted kale
Wine Pairing: Vietti Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco 2006
Intermezzo
Tangerine Ice with Prosecco
Wood Fired Ducks served with roasted root vegetables, and broccoli in a lemon bath
–yesterday I threw the leftover wood-fired root veg (beets, turnips, leeks) into a pot with a leftover half bottle of red wine and two lamb shanks and it made the BEST LAMB STEW EVER.
Crimini Mushroom & Celery Salad with White Truffle
–yes, corwin finally got to serve a white truffle!
Dessert Course • Trio of Delights
Handmade milano cookies • Miniature flat cannoli • Homemade strawberry ice cream with balsamic vinegar and candied basil
Wine Pairing: Malvasia Sicilia
–unusually, I was the one who made all the desserts & their parts except the candied basil
Followed by Tea, Coffee, & Grappa
We sat down pretty much on time at 8pm and desert was served at about 2am. We used pretty much every dish in the china closet, many of them multiple times.
Photos now up on Photobucket!
99 cent ebooks today only at Ravenous!
So today is Ravenous Romance‘s One Year Anniversary!
They are having a special blowout sale, all ebooks for 99 cents! So you can now get my books that list for $6.99 for just a buck. If you’ve been meaning to pick them up, today would be a great day to do it.
What I’ve got out from them so far:
MIND GAMES
Paranormal erotic thriller. Wren is a withdrawn, solitary young woman with latent telepathic abilities. When her flaky sister goes missing, Wren hires a private investigator to help find her, only to find herself more and more attracted to him as time goes on. Derek is attracted to her, as well, and they discover that together they can unlock Wren’s suppressed talents. But what’s up with the strangely erotic yet threatening dreams Wren is having? I’ve written this one with situations of sexual jeopardy and dubious consent, which those of you who are familiar with my fanfiction I know will enjoy just fine. Wink wink.
THE HOT STREAK
Baseball romance!! This might be the most vanilla thing I’ve ever written, but it is hot and fun and is definitely ROMANCE with a Capital R. Casey Branigan is bored with her job and bored with dating, which has come to seem like a job. Then she meets a major league ballplayer and gets sucked into the whirlwind life of glamour that is being a baseball girlfriend. But there are things her beau isn’t telling her… hijinks ensue.
THE SIREN & THE SWORD (Magic University, Book One)
My Harry-Potter-esque adventure set in the magical university hidden inside Harvard. Follow the adventures of poet and college freshman Kyle Wadsworth as he discovers he is magical — and that in particular, sex magic may be his strength. Mystery, romance, and lots of sex in a coming of age sort of tale.
Plus several erotica anthologies I collected for Ravenous:
Boys of the Bite — gay vampires
Women of the Bite — lesbian vampires
Bites of Passion — het vampires
Young Studs — tales of younger men and older women
Wicked Pleasures — BDSM erotic stories
Go grab them now while the 99 cent special lasts! 🙂
Free Download of Telepaths Don't Need Safewords
So, many of you reading this blog know my very first book way back when (18 years ago, to be exact) was a self-published chapbook called Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords. The chapbook eventually sold thousands of copies, but it has been out of print for several years now.
Circlet.com is releasing an ebook edition of it now, and until the end of November, it’s FREE. You still have to go through Circlet’s shopping cart to get the download, but you pay nothing!
I figure now is a good time to do this because an ebook from Torquere Press is coming in a few weeks that features Arshan as the main character, and it’s something of a prequel. May as well remind people what that original first short story was like.
The ebook includes all three stories from the original collection:
Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords
A tale of Arshan and Mriah, an established couple attending a glitzy, decadent BDSM costume party, and the adventures and trouble they run into there. What no one there knows is that they have a secret, a telepathic bond that allows them to read each other’s thoughts and share feelings.
Cat Scratch Fever
As humans attempt to gain a foothold on an exotic and alien planet, their leader finds taming a cat-like female alien the key to establishing peace.
Heart’s Desire
A lonely domme hosts a play party, where everyone takes on a fantasy role. But reality can be so much more painful, and so much sweeter.
Download your copy in PDF form today and tell your friends!
https://tinyurl.com/telepaths
Daron's Guitar Chronicles
So far so good on the launch of Daron’s Guitar Chronicles! New posts appeared as planned on Monday and Today, and another will come Friday! New posts will be every M/W/F barring unforeseen circumstances like alien invasion or power outage that knocks us off the net.
I’ve been having fun making links to references in the text to things from the 1980s, bands and celebrities, places in Providence and Boston, and other such things, as well as embeddding Youtube videos, or at least linking to them, where appropriate. I hope people are having fun with it!
The site is here:
https://daron.ceciliatan.com
Royal Treatment cover!
For obvious reasons… just had to share the cover design of my next book with you all…
Thumbnail size:
It’s a BDSM novella called “Royal Treatment” which is a prequel to Telepaths Don’t Need Safewords. It will be out soon from Torquere Press in their “Highball” line.
Yes, that’s meant to be Arshan on the cover. Looks like him, doesn’t it? I got lucky and was able to point the cover designer at that image on a stock photography web site. Yes, I love it and am drooling. And yes, I know Arsh is a dom, but when you see what he goes through in this book… well, more on that when we have an actual book! I’ll link as soon as its available for sale!
Larger size view: Continue reading →
Oops, I Did It Again.
Okay, it’s official, I’m launching DARON’S GUITAR CHRONICLES.
It’s a serialized novel that never would have worked as a traditional print novel because it was too long.
It’s a coming of age story, a coming out story, and a period piece about the 1980s.
It’s sex, drugs, and rock and roll from the point of view of a neurotic 19-year-old closet case.
Daron: Hey! Watch it with the name-calling!
Me: What? Did I lie?
Daron: Well, no. But I’m not neurotic.
Me: Says who?
Daron: And I’m not in the closet, because I’m not gay.
Me: You just “like guys.”
Daron: Yeah.
Me: Uh-huh.
Daron: Don’t give me that look. You know it’s more complicated than that.
Me: If you say so.
Daron: Hey readers, don’t listen to her. Go see for yourself. You’ll totally agree with me once you see what’s going on.
The first few posts are up for your reading pleasure at: DARON’S GUITAR CHRONICLES.
New content will be appearing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, starting on Monday the 16th. Please spread the word! Follow Daron on Twitter to get a little reminder each time a new post appears (@daron_moondog). Meanwhile go read what’s there to get you started! Comments welcome!
And no, don’t worry, this isn’t going to take me away from The Prince’s Boy. The Daron stuff is already written — I started writing it back in grad school and finished in 2000. Many publishers have seen it and praised it, but never could figure out a way to publish it that made sense. So I’m doing it myself. Like a webcomic, without pictures…