February 22, 2020

I recently wrote a five episode webseries called Family Alone. These short scripts are 7-10 pages each. When produced, each episode is designed to run about five to eight minutes. I have adapted these scripts to "flash fiction" short stories, ranging in length from 1100 to 1200 words. The complete five episode collection is about 7600 words, which is generally considered to be at the high range length of a short story. I’ll be offering the individual title in ebook format, to be listed as a short story. It will also be included in the At Variance 4 collection, which will be published in print format in late 2020 or early 2021. For greybeard subscribers, the title is being added to the subscriber page.

February 12, 2020

I've just recently set up a page on SoundCloud, a streaming platform where creators can upload their music and audio tracks. I'll be posting audio samples of the audiobook releases of my books. While these samples are on the greybeard publishing book pages and on each book's amazon page, my SoundCloud page gathers them together on one screen. Check out my SoundCloud page, "follow" the page and "like" the samples. Thanks!

February 03, 2020

Wow. One of my books just got slammed by an ugly review. The screenplay adaptation of Planet of Stones was very well received by the entertainment industry (see below), so the review of the book came as a complete surprise. Then I checked the background of the reviewer. It turns out that she has posted reviews of exactly seven books over the last few years, and has trashed every one, giving every book just one star. Every single review. One star. I find that... suspicious. I won’t be responding of course, but this will likely impact the book. It hasn’t been out that long and other than the screenplay feedback this is the only review. If you’ve read Planet of Stones and didn’t hate it, I would appreciate an honest review. If you haven’t read it yet, I’m setting up a free promo to run today and tomorrow (Feb 3-4). You can download it for free, give it a read, and if you think it’s worth it write a few lines and give it a handful of stars. I would really appreciate it. Link to book on amazon Link to bookpage on greybeard Industry feed re Planet of Stones screenplay: "An immersive, entertaining sci-fi experience." "You create a real sense of not only discovery, but also adventure." "You capture the sense of a stranger in a strange land wonderfully." "Successfully transplants a nearly human-like arc onto a non-human character, which is a difficult task to pull off."

January 19, 2020

Some months ago I set up an Instagram Page, and then almost immediately began to totally ignore it. My bad. A few days ago I went "oh yeah, I have an Instagram page". I found the link and brought it up. So, it was set to private, had a couple of followers and a few pics. Hmmm. Looked ignored all right. I’ve decided to give it another go. I’ll make every effort to keep it current, post pics every few days, and I’ll try to keep it interesting. If you use Instagram, please check out my new Instagram page and please follow. Thank you. Much appreciated.

January 16, 2020

I finished the second episode of the Sutherland House series. "Gryphen" is a 10K story adapted from the second episode screenplay of the five episode miniseries that I’m developing. At 10,000 words, if published in paperback the title would run only 35-40 pages. That being the case, I'm publishing it in ebook format only. Info and links on the Gryphen book page at Greybeard Publishing. The remaining episodes, tentatively titled "The Summit", "Threads" and "Phoenix", will be developed and published throughout this coming year. Each will be made available individually as it is completed, and once all five are ready, I’ll be putting them together into an omnibus edition, "Sutherland House", to be available in print, large print and ebook formats.

January 11, 2020

I wrote a short story a few months ago called "The Britton Journals". The story is set in the Shylmahn Trilogy universe, takes place some twenty years following the end of "Genesis", the final novel in the trilogy. I’m making the story available in the Subscriber Page on Greybeard Publishing. You can read it for free through the document reader in that module. Whether you’ve read the Shylmahn Trilogy or are new to the books, enjoy!

December 29, 2019

The screenplay adaptation of Yesterday’s Shadows, the title story in my Yesterday’s Shadows short story collection, was recently purchased by producer/director Nawaf Al-Janahi and is to be produced as a short film. Many of my earliest short stories have been lost, particularly those written using my old typewriter, more than a few written with only pencil and paper. The short story collection contains six that survived, including Yesterday’s Shadows. You can find the Yesterday's Shadows collection on Greybeard. Follow the film’s progress through my newsletter and here on my author blog.

December 23, 2019

It looks like Amazon now allows readers to star rate a book without leaving a written review. I only recently came across this, but apparently the option has been in place for months. From what I’ve been able to find, it began first as a limited experiment, but is now available to everyone. At least, so say the comments I’ve read on google. I haven’t been able verify this myself, as authors can’t leave reviews of their own books. So if you’ve read my books, liked what you’ve read but aren’t comfortable writing a review, here’s your chance to anonymously leave a star rating with a couple of clicks. Find my books at Amazon Author Page, then select the title. Once on the book page, click the “write a customer review” button. In the past, the headline and review text boxes were required, but I believe now you can just click the stars and when the green “submitted” check displays, exit the page. From what I read, star rating without a review requires verified purchase status, so you'll need to have purchased the title from Amazon. I also understand it can take a while for the star rating to post. While star ratings with reviews offer more value to Amazon scoring and in helping potential customers determine whether to select the title, solo 4-5 star ratings will be appreciated. Please send me your experiences, I’ll pass these along to everyone, and include any resolutions to issues.

December 17, 2019

My development queue for the year 2020 is all full up, covers screenplays, novels, short stories, audio, website and games. In the screenplay category, I have a horror feature script scheduled (already outlined), as well as the second and third episodes of a miniseries and a webseries. Moving to novels, I have the final title in the Serpent’s Keep trilogy in the schedule. “The Outland” should be out in the summer or early fall. Also in the Serpent’s Keep universe… two short stories have been outlined and are ready to develop. They will be available first through the Serpent’s Keep website (coming in early 2020, now in Beta) and will later be included in my next At Variance collection title (late 2020 or early 2021). Another area I will be working includes audio. I have several audio series planned and hope to have the first few titles of each ready in late 2020. If possible, I will begin an audio blog version of my written author blog. Finally, several of the Serpent’s Keep games will be going into production in 2020. Look for progress info of these on the Serpent’s Keep website, once it goes from beta to live.

December 09, 2019

Anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy hiking our northwest mountains. Hiking my trails is good for the soul. I return home from each time out rejuvenated and ready to take on all tasks. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get out much these past months. Hikes should be at the top of my priority list and it is really hard to explain, even to myself, how they keep getting pushed down. In looking at the schedule over the beginning of 2020, it appears I may be able to get out a couple of times in January and February and then regularly beginning in March or April. Beginning in May, I plan a major hike and a short hike each month. For those interested in my northwest hikes, please visit my hiking website. The site includes a video, puzzles, and slide shows & full details of each and every hike.

November 27, 2019

I imagine you’re hearing a lot about supporting local small businesses this holiday shopping season. Local businesses are rooted in their communities, are a vitally important part of what make their local communities what they are. Well, I would like include supporting independent northwest authors in that call. Northwest authors are seldom seen, seldom noticed, hardly recognized, yet we are an integral part of the fabric of the northwest. We are very much a part of what makes the northwest unique. Please consider the work of northwest writers when going about your gift-buying this year. Here is the link to the NIWA 2019 Winter e-Catalog with new releases from northwest writers: books for everyone in the family, all genre and all formats. And yes, I’m in there.

November 12, 2019

The audiobook adaptation of Planet of Stones is now available on the three major audiobook sites. Craig Patterson did some great narration work, including an interesting voice characterization choice for Box. Be sure to check it out. Planet of Stones, novella adaptation of my screenplay, is a particular favorite of mine, and entertainment industry feedback re the screenplay agrees. The screenplay also recently completed finalist in a major screenwriting competition, up against more than 5000 screenplays. Info and all links for ebook, print and audiobook formats on the Planet of Stones book page on Greybeard Publishing.