THE LAST TRIN HAS LEFT THE STATION!

My fortune is in friends and family, not circumstances, and I’m happy to say that its lack could not stop the wheels of time from grinding forward. Now, I’m mostly up and running on my laptop, and my novella came into the light beginning on my 61^st birthday, November 20^th, and hit Amazon and Barnes and Noble on the 21^st. I was really hoping for that since the publishing process overshot my plans for an October release. Wrought with problems and processes, which I had never done without a full-package deal, was more time consuming than I knew. We live, we learn.

Many of my friends have helped in my word-of-mouth, or look-of-type campaign, if you prefer, to shake up a small part of our world with the great announcement. I am so grateful to them all! You see, I’m not an entrepreneur, or advertising genie. I’m personable. Maybe the grand promotion designs will catch up with me. I’ll watch, but my goal is to entertain, not to overwhelm with ads.

Yes, I know. The more you sell, the more people you entertain. I don’t know how intensely the public wants to know how I shook the world, or how much they pant for my ads. I am to assume they do. This is the backbone of advertising. Bug potential buyers now or they may have to live less enjoyable lives. My product, I am to say, is the miracle cure for sadness.  

Do I believe in my product? Yes! “The Last Train” was such a delight to write. My characters pulled me this way and that, sometimes by the heart, and sometimes by the hair. I’m durable, but I felt every tug. At least they let me have the last two words: The End.

As most of my writing friends say, “I love creating something out of nothing, but I hate that advertiser’s hat once the party’s over.” We are wordsmiths. We have a gift to share.

My voice has spoken up again, not for my usual nonprofit causes, not for web pages and e-Zines that come and go, but back in the world of books; lasting, precious books. Alas, that cheers my heart and I hope to catch up many others with my prose; yours perhaps?

SYNOPSIS:

THE LAST TRAIN

By Richard Alan

In this short and witty novella, Jake traverses a treacherous path between heaven and hell to reunite with his beloved Bernadette. A vacation celebrating their Silver Anniversary goes very wrong, and so the bizarre journey begins. Jake’s premature death is the catalyst for this comical, suspenseful, and thrilling page-turner. Love is the fuel that empowers his resolute stubbornness.

“The Last Train” is a romantic comedy with a symphony of twists that defy an accurate genre classification. You will face the most unusual life-after-death situations throughout. Angels and demons fight, and crazy people roam the pages. Humor and horror face our sarcastic hero, labeled “heaven’s most wanted.”

It has been described as, “Laugh out loud funny” and, “Bloody brilliant!”

Like many small packages, it contains an amazing and memorable gift from Richard Alan to you. Only 99 Cents!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/11HP8LN

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/11nOhjz

Thank You, to all my wonderful friends, and to new readers whom I have not met. Please, Enjoy!!!

The Last Train Is Rolling Again

Allegorically:

I followed a pine scented trail into rugged mountains. It began sweet with the submission of “The Last Train” to my distributor. Accomplishment shined like a sunrise. I purveyed the land from my perch on a ridge. It overlooked a valley surrounded by hills and mountain painted with three main landscapes: massive granite walls and peaks, the forest, and the snow clinging to high crevices. The morning fog settled below and revealed more of the living carpet of trees. It was majestic.

My assumption was for a pleasant journey in nature’s splendor. That was not what followed.

I stood and took a long breath of the cool, fresh air before continuing on the trail down the other side of the ridge. Storm clouds were approaching. I was prepared for inclement weather, so I continued towards my planned campsite. I had been there before and had hidden years of my written treasures in a chest. It was easy to remember where I buried it. My back would face an aged redwood tree, and seven steps towards the granite-cradled lake at the end of my box canyon retreat.

Knowing my destination was one thing, getting there was quite another. My jacket was retrieved from my backpack and on before I went to meet the storm. I kept the head cover turned down until I needed it and its drawstrings that pulled it close around my face.

The winds picked up in an instant, considerably stronger than expected. The tears of the storm began to fall all around me. High gullies quickly accumulated torrents of runoff water, mud, and rocks. My path was eaten away before me. I could not turn back to my iron steed. A bird told me it was gone. My backup steed, and my brother’s iron horse had all vanished in a day. Only my wife had hers and she was on a trip of her own.

The treacherous way ahead was becoming worse as the minutes passed. From the crumbling ground came a cyborg that knew all my codes and dependence on cyberspace. Its hand sparked and flashed like a welder’s torch and suddenly it produced my laptop. The other gripped a tree. I thought it held tight for stability during the storm.

It did the inconceivable. It crushed my laptop in its powerful hand and threw it to the ground. Then it ripped the tree from the ground and slammed it down, destroying anything left of my link to Cyber World.

I was trapped and looking up at the towering cyborg. It reached for me and upon its touch, I was suddenly inside an unlit box. It wasn’t a coffin but confined me in a small cube. I could not stand, I could barely breathe, and my body was racked with pain.  

*******

Celebrating was robbed from me. My rainy day savings vanished. Two cars broke down, one will never serve me again. My brother’s motorcycle starter went out in the absence of a kick-starter as I once had long ago. My laptop died, and my new laptop was delivered. That had the potential for a happy thought so I could fly again. Then the simplest setup projects failed at every turn.

I spoke with strangers who charged hundreds of dollars to fix the problems. The first program run on it to do an easy transfer and setup gave my new laptop a limp before it could even walk. Days passed into weeks. My car took three weeks to repair due to distant parts on order. My world crashed in around me and I could not escape. I was cut off.

Seasons come and go, and I hope this one is behind me. I finally proofed the formatted version of my book today, and it will be out in a matter of days at least on Kindle and Barns & Noble. I checked it on Adobe Digital Editions, which reads Epub. I trust I will see the sunrise again.

Glad to be Back

Greetings Family, Friends, and Fellow Writers & Readers!

A long, long, long time ago…

Short stories were rolling off my fingers like little drops of horror. Science fiction, apocalypse, ghosts, demons, terrestrial dystopian, and alien invaders roamed my pages. Letting this blog rest for seven months lent time to continue in my authorial insanities.

Many of my author friends also have voices in their heads. For us, we consider it quite normal as some well-behaved characters unsuccessfully scream and yell to drive the strange and terrible ones away. Yes, we bear the weight of our worlds on our shoulders, and work the puzzles of chaos until stories are born to entertain our readers.

A group of us concluded that coffee-stained teeth and premature balding was a consequence of our profession. The price of our time cannot be realistically tallied. Our paychecks prove many of us are the lowest paid professionals in the world. Fair wages are a hope, but for our reader’s sake, we sacrifice our sanity, our bodies, and our time. Call us word-weavers, wordsmiths, or just writers and authors. By any name, we proudly produce a kind of tangible magic for everyone’s enjoyment.

MY NEWS: I have shifted gears away from re-visioning my epic, “The Rising of Julian Adams.” Initial writing is an entirely different creature than rewriting. I am clearer on my mission by three finished drafts in “The Rising” series. I will take a fresh run through it at a later time. Not doing so now feels like I am abandoning my child. However, I have a strong love for it and cannot let it die.

“The Last Train” is a short novella that is due out as soon as I receive my copyright. Publication will begin with Kindle and grow from there into other platforms. It is a wonderful fantasy, adventure, comedy, horror, in which the sarcastic hero will do anything to reunite with his wife. The problem? He is dead.

Angels, demons, possessions, and crazy people roam the pages throughout this madcap journey. The driving force behind it all is love, but is love enough?

While I wait, I am also starting to compile a collection of short stories with Author Barry Woodham. He is a delightful Englishman with two science fiction, fantasy series available at most online bookstores. He has a wonderful imagination, and is well worth checking out.

Bless You All!

Life in the Green

Greetings Friends, Followers, and Colleagues,

The March edition of Valterra Magazine is available and with it, my short story, "Life In the Green." It's a tale about a perfect picket-fence family on the cusp of a change, not theirs, but one that will affect the Earth. Yes, my Dearies, it is a terrestrial horror.

It will become the first chapter of a novella that spins evolution into rapid leaps. My much larger work, "The Rising of Julian Adams," 2nd edition, is now underway. I will go over my beta reader's notes, consider their edits, and proceed with an epic editing project. I need to blend it better with the following three books that are now in first draft form in "The Rising" series.

I'll keep you posted on these and other projects.

For now, check out what is at...

http://www.valterramagazines.com/
Thanks for Visiting,

Richard

Whole Lotta Writing Going On

Greetings Everyone!

June was eight months ago, more than a half a year. This is enough time to fall off the planet, but I didn’t!

Let’s start from scratch. So much has changed since the last post so here’s my current standing and links to some of my e-zine stories online. I recalled “The Rising of Julian Adams” for a major rewrite, yeah, my one published book. Hence the short stories below to give you something to read while I finish up this foundational rewrite.

I received kind 5 Star reviews but after writing three more books in the series I had to return to the first and stop ignoring my own disappointment over editing and style. The 2^nd edition will be a great improvement and I hope my readers will appreciate the extra work I put into it when it returns to Kindle. For financial reasons I have to start small and expand its availability across the other platforms. An author friend just informed me the CreateSpace was also free so I might have print-on-demand available sooner than I thought! I love holding a real book, don't you?

Book 2: “Empire 13” is no longer a novella. It’s a full size book in a first draft. I can blame my beta readers for that but I fully agree with them; it needed something more. I hope to publish it this year.

Book 3: “The Great Expansion” is also in first draft form and I would be overreaching to say it will be published this year.

Book 4: “Clash of the Orders” is, yep, in its first draft form.

Books 5-7 (if my notes hold up) might wrap up this series… but I have other plans with tie-in books, maybe novellas, and two very different back storylines once The Rising series takes a rest. Then the sky’s the limit…

Now I’ll give you the keys to three other online short stories. They are in the December, February, and the coming March editions of Valterra Magazine (all are still available as PDFs)

http://www.valterramagazines.com/

I published “3 AM” in December. It’s a demonic ghost story with a message on unity.

In February, “Encounters with Trixie” was published. It’s an apocalyptic journey through horror and a little grittier than I usually write.

In March, “Life in the Green” will come out. Does life in the green refer to having money or something far more menacing? You should know by now, but let me say it hints at one and fall headlong into the other.

I also entered a Horror Flash Fiction contest. I’d never written flash fiction so it was a fun experiment that took a couple hours from reading the criteria to submitting it. It was like a creative writing assignment and I learned from many other fine authors. I didn’t win, but it’s certainly an interesting plunge into insanity. Enjoy my friends, followers, and colleagues!

 

GOD OF OBSCURITY

I sit in obscurity, composed by my last opus. Demons intimately steal my life-spark with incessant strokes of darkness. Bitterness and disgust forge my thoughts ladled from a decaying heart. Mayhem overflows my dank abode. Inside and out, my stool slips in excrement against a catacomb wall.

“Is it my own? Could I make such a mess of things?”

My feet draw to my chest. Would I not sink in search of an absent floor?

“Touch not!” Yells something inside. A familiar voice. Mine, once upon a time, now obscured in madness.

Fidgeting, I mumble to myself. No one can reach me but inhuman things.

Shadows cast butchered visions in the wake of a dream long gone. Nowhere I look relieves their torments. Be still my lips and they may pass me by. Yet they confuse my name as something profane. They always leave, I think, as I pull myself tighter on this decaying stool.

Once I was something before loathing ate all but the final piece. I am the savior of the world! I must vanish to oblivion or condemn it to live my nightmare.

This kindness redeem thee. I erase my bane.   

Moving Forward One Step Back

Greetings Friends, Colleagues, and Readers,

This may sound odd but, I am thrilled to announce that my book is off the market!

I’ve written 4 books in my genre-bending vampire epic and came to realize my one published book, the foundation work for ‘The Rising’ series, was written in a different voice than any of my other writings. I love horror, among other genres, but when that twisted distorted thing I called my first published book finally disclosed its thorn in my side it freaked me out and gave me nightmares! That’s the wrong kind of horror! Scary boys & girls!

I’ve talked too many of you about my dilemma and have been encouraged to either get past it or do something about it. I had to choose the latter and it had been the hardest and best decision I’ve made in a great many years. Thank you for supporting me, loving me, and helping me reach this wonderful place!

The rewrite is going very well, excellent actually! It takes time, oh that 4^th dimension is such a pain but we all have to work with it. When ‘The Rising of Julian Adams’ comes back I’m going to be so thrilled to share it with you all.

In the meantime I will still be here for you guys. We can still share our lives, laugh together, and I will still offer my encouragement, writing help to get out those pesky writer’s knots, beta read, edit, coach, and celebrate you and your successes. My love for you isn’t changing I’m just unpublished! Woowoo!

Wish me luck, Godspeed, and pray this will go smooth and quick. Meanwhile, Hooray for ME!!! ~:^D>

Where Does the Time Go?

Greetings Friends,

Four months have passed since my last blog because I was caught up in a tornado, as my previous world was undone my new world was spun. Part of me looked at this blog and interpreted the lack of comments as talking to myself and I have plenty of opportunity for that without posting it. The metaphor tells the quick story about everything changing and that has at least been a whirlwind.

I was redirected by the opportunity to write a few short stories while working on the novella. I’m sorry that it has at least contributed to the delay of my primary focus on The Rising series. It also so happened that in working with my first beta readers (oh how I wish I had them on “The Rising of Julian Adams”) they gave me so much more than my editor(s) ever did, and with full transparency of their thoughts, opinions, and editing I have been edged towards a new course in my writing.

What is this new course? The novella, Empire 13, has turned into book 2 as I added new threads of continuity to it so it’s a much better stand-alone piece. It is on its way to becoming book 2, or better said, it is book 2 with a bit of editing to do between myself and my wonderful betas. This also means the other two installments to the series that I’ve already written but not edited are books 3 & 4, oh my!

There’s a catch, short stories excluded. Since I have returned to my pre-first-book writing style I have seen the drastic need to edit my first book with my faithful betas and put out a 2^nd Edition! It might not excite you who have been patiently waiting to find out what happens next, but I’m excited! I realize it’s another delay but I have to build on a good strong foundation considering this project is at least a 6 book series and the foundation I have now will not do. It’s my story but it is my creative writing professor’s style, not mine. That must be remedied and my whole team is behind this choice. I don’t want to sound boastful when I tell you I am a much better writer than that version demonstrates. I still stand behind the story but it’s going to be broken down into shorter paragraphs and chapters, and while taking this journey the few mistakes that got past my editors will also be fixed; to perfection… are we not human? Of course it won’t be perfect and the thought of that term applied to creative writing seems facetious and dare I say, irrelevant. Suffice it to be the new improved version.

If you come across my short stories to appear in various anthologies and to be published independently on kindle you will see the vast difference right away. I’m the same storyteller but with a very different style. Most of the anthologies won’t come out until around Christmas or after in 2014 and I am awaiting word from the various publishers whether or not I passed their gauntlet, so here’s to hope.

Bless You my Friends, Followers, and Fellow Writers,

Richard Alan