Have a season's happy merry holiday joyful deck the noel or kwanzaa dreidel PC or MAC whatnot and the such.

Maisy and Painter

"This is True" - a poetry postcard that,

after being rejected, I have nowhere to send.

So here.

Painter posing, and then Painter's actual mood.

He wanted a hot chocolate and we told him he had to wait.

Family Picture: Maisy looking beautiful, Painter still

wanting a hot chocolate, and Ray dressed up like a yuppie.

Enjoy your holidays!

Trailer and Updates

Here's a brief update on some of the books and projects I'm working on.

For anyone who might be interested in giving Tatterdemalion a read, but who might still be on the fence about it, you can check out the trailer for the book:

Full Book Trailer (.exe - pretty and fully interactive): Tatterdemalion by Ray Succre
Book Trailer movie (.mov for Mac users): Tatterdemalion by Ray Succre

This is a full video trailer for the book with orchestration, the works. It's in .exe format because of the features at the end, which are fully interactive. When the trailer concludes, you'll find links to information on the availability of the book, Cauliay Publishing, reviews and interviews, and you can also read an excerpt from the book and even view the front and back covers in an interactive panoramic. You can also download the entire ebook and special features for Tatterdemalion from directly within the trailer, if you're so inclined. A lot of work has gone into making this, and I think you'll enjoy it. The other downloads are for simple video versions of this, for PC and MAC, and are not interactive.

Amphisbaena (pronounced AM-fis-BEE-nuh), my new novel, is complete and currently in the revision stage. Amphisbaena is an experimental romance novel about a man in a relationshsip with two women who are actually one creature, which happens to be a giant, two-headed snake. There will be more to come regarding this book shortly. The abovementioned trailer for Tatterdemalion is actually excerpted directly from the Reviewer's Edition special features program for Amphisbaena. All is coming together well. Here's a concept cover (not official or anything).

I'd also like to give congratulations to two of my friends, Elijah Brubaker and Andrew David King. Elijah has been nominated for the great 2008 Ignatz award, and Andrew is a recipient of the prestigious Foyle Young Poets Award, out of the U.K. Everyone give an ovation.

Beyond that, my son began preschool, which is a new arrangement for me. While I'm still getting used to the idea that Paint-paint won't be around for a portion of the day, I will have more dedicated time to write now, so there are many things I'm going to be adding to my plate, including more frequent posts at Blood and Ink, and a few more Interviews with the Dead. I'm aching to start a new book of poetry, so that will begin quite soon.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by. More information about Tatterdemalion and Amphisbaena can be found in the previous few posts.

Amphisbaena and Tatterdemalion

Tatterdemalion has now been out for a couple of months, and there are some new reviews coming out in the fall, as well as a couple of events I'm scheduled to attend, and information about the book tour. I'm pleased to say I've finished a new book, Amphisbaena (pronounced 'am-fis-bee-nuh'), and am putting it through the first revisions. Amphisbaena is an experimental romance novel involving the relationship between a man (Bill Sherman, a struggling calendarist) and a woman he meets while speed-dating. This woman happens to be a giant, two-headed snake, which takes on the form of two women. In order to date one of them, he has to date both of them, by their rule. It's both or none, indefinately. One woman is the alpha head, or the 'upper half', and the other plays the enticer head, or 'lower half'.

Each woman represents one of the heads of the Amphisbaena, which functions with each head working in tandem for a single goal. In their past, this was for killing and eating men, but in the book, in our current times, they're trying to cease this in order to achieve something higher, and want to understand the intrinsically human notions of beauty, trust, and at some point, love. The charmer head entices men close, tempts and transfixes them, while the alpha head delivers the killing bite once the man is entranced, though in Amphisbaena, the snake uses this same system for dating, being the only way it knows to interract with men. Much of it comes from Greek mythology, yes. Below, you'll find a teaser image of Amy, the upper half, straight from the special features I'm putting together for the book.

I've received a ton of comment on the special features I created for Tatterdemalion, and this time around, I'm throwing a lot of myself into the special features for Amphisbaena. Trailers, animation, video, 24 audio tracks, 12 features (many with numerous sub-features), articles, explanatory notes, concept art, alternate cover art, a bit of history, some hidden features... and there's even more. The project is nearly completed, as well. Here's one of the images (scaled way down) from the concept art.

That's it for now. There will be more to come on both Tatterdemalion and Amphisbaena. Hope everyone enjoyed Summer. I spent mine writing, revising, and making covers.

Tatterdemalion - News and Update

To all cavorters and general discussants of the book-reading world,

Tatterdemalion has now been officially released (as of June 15th, 2008), and is available in a variety of places, which I've provided links for below. Most bookstores can order it easily through their distributors, and there are numerous places online where it is stocked and available.

In addition to the print release, I'd like to inform anyone interested that an electronic version is also available, and is entirely free. The download of this edition is fully interactive through a specifically designed graphic interface, and contains a large assortment of special features relating to the book and its creation, including a great amount of cover and character art, introductions, history, and more about its author, as well. This edition has also been pirated, and is available through a variety of torrent sites, some of which I'll list below, as well as provide links for the dedicated download locations.

Tatterdemalion has been getting some strong reviews. The following is a list of those that have gone live, as well as any articles, interviews, or features involving the book. I'll update it whenever I learn of new material.

Unlikely Stories 2.0:
Review (Gabriel Ricard): Click Here
Interview: Click Here

Prick of the Spindle:

Review (Erin McKnight): Click Here

Publication: Click Here

Chaotic Dreams: (Note- 'Dawn Griots' at the top of the linked-to page is the name of the set of features, and not a person. 'Dawn' is self-explanatory, and 'griots' is a West African term for 'storyteller'.)
Book Excerpt: Click Here
Interview (AngelaMichelle Smith-Brown): Click Here

Neon:

Review (Christopher Frost): Click Here

Print Publication: Click Here for ordering information.

Decanto, August 2008 Edition:

Print publication: Click Here for ordering information.

There is also a nice turn of events that has occurred, in that I've been offered to do a U.K. book tour. This would be a great experience and I've certainly signed on to do it. I'll post more about this, and locations/events, as they're slated and things roll along. It's a little ways off. For now, I've got a few events lined up (to be announced shortly) that will be more local.

Back to the book:

Tatterdemalion is now stocked at many bookstores, and can also be ordered through all of these if not already stocked (ordering through your local, independent bookstore is a great thing to do). The following is a short list of other online sources that can be used to order the print edition as well:

Powell's
Cauliay Publishing
Amazon [Amazon.ca, Amazon.jp, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de]
Borders

Blackwell

Booksense / Island

Barnes and Noble
Target

BookFinder

Buy.com

Book Renter

BetterWorld

Tesco

Books A Million

AbeBooks

Word Power

Saxo

Changing Hands

Booky.fi

AllBookstores.com
Alibris
eBay

IBS

eCampus

Webster.it

HotBookSale

Lovereading
Eruditor
LibrariaUniversitaria.it

Capris.no

Download locations for the free e-book and special features edition:

Tatterdemalion - 2008 Reviewer's Edition via Daedalao: http://www.daedalao.com/downloads/Tatterdemalion.zip

Tatterdemalion - 2008 Reviewer's Edition via Fileden:

Click Here to Download

Here are a few of the torrent sites from which the book can be downloaded (not guaranteed to be seeding when you visit, but it is often available):

Mininova - Link
The Pirate Bay - Link
BitDig - Link

That's all for now. Read a review, scout around, buy a copy...

And hey, enjoy summer.

Tatterdemalion Official Release Date and Pre-Order

Tatterdemalion: Front, back and spine

The official release date for my novel, Tatterdemalion, is set for June 15th, 2008, though it is conceivable you'd be able to get it as soon as May 1st, through my publisher, Cauliay Publishing. Below is the link to the inquiry/pre-order page at Cauliay, and some concept images and other material. I have a rather unique promotional disc that I am sending to reviewers, which includes a ton of bonus material and special features, all fully interactive. The disc is also loaded with bonus features, supplemental material, and a wide assortment of media relating to the story, its publishing, and its author. These special features are entirely interactive, through a stand-alone platform that will autorun when inserted in your computer's CD/DVD drive. There is much to see, and a great amount of information on the various characters, creatures, devices, and background of Tatterdemalion. You'll find alternate cover art, concept art, author and publisher introductions, explanatory notes, small press tie-ins, even several easter eggs hidden within the menus, and much more.

I've put in just over 200 hours into creating it, and it includes a pre-release Reviewer's Edition of Tatterdemalion. Anyone interested in reviewing the book can email me for a copy: raysuccre@hotmail.com.

PRE-ORDER: http://www.cauliaypublishing.com/productssimple3.html

The story of Tatterdemalion is one of discovery, loss, fantasy, and reality, and where these meet in and beyond the mind of a man vanished within his times. Tatterdemalion moves between ample humor and a near dismantling misfortune with ease, from thought to action, and back and forth between logic and emotion, mystery and disarray, adventure and domesticity. This is the story of a frail yet unstoppable man and his modern, action-prone quest to find a jar, to be rid of enemies that live in his apartment's appliances, a quest for his own mind, under the guidance of obfuscating, heraldic dragons and a madness that aches of logic. The world shifts beneath this man, people change places, a city-wide protest breaks out against him, and even the notion of his telephone bears a cursed meaning. What is real and what is fantasy is a large part of the book. This is a world in which a person with no experience can gain employment as a surgeon, astronaut, or police officer by visiting the employment office, a world of facsimiles and fates, a modern world of juxtapositions, physical metaphor, and loss. This is an abstract world of Boston in a slow mania, and the lost man within it.

If interested in the book or you'd like to consider it for review, email me at raysuccre@hotmail.com

Tatterdemalion and a New Book of Poetry

In an earlier post, I mentioned my novel 'Tatterdemalion' being picked up by Cauliay Publishing, and also promised to give a few updates from time to time. I've been sparse, dotting various Twitter posts in my revisions and other information, but thought it was time to post here and update the two people that read this on the happenings.

Tatterdemalion is nearly complete on the publisher's end. We've got the book finalized and ready to go out, save for a couple of incidentals that we're working on right now. I've spent a huge amount of my time (all of it, really) over the last few months putting together a supplemental material package to send out to reviewers. It's huge, autoruns, and I had to design every page in it both graphically and in regard to its content. Here's a list of some of the things on the disc (which is all nicely labeled with full-color inserts... the works (and I designed all of that, too).

1. Background information on the book, including specific reasons for writing it.

2. Author's Introduction

3. Publisher's Introduction

4. Character concept art of the heraldic characters in the book

5. Cover art for the book

6. Alternate/concept covers for the book that we didn't go with (7 of them)

7. Small Press tie-ins (the Main Character sends out to real mags, and often)

8. About the Author section (this is where a bio and all that is found)

9. Explanatory Notes (on the bizarre styling, characterizations, and trickery in the book)

10. The ebook version of Tatterdemalion

11. Contact, link, and order information

And a ton more. Each one of the above 'features' has a few pages within it, full of other related features. There's video, audio, images, effects, a lot of painful design that I've finally managed to make smooth, and it can interact with the internet cleanly. The entire thing is interactive, and runs as a stand-alone program. You can email me, surf the web for details on the book, and even read the book, all while in the bonus feature program, or outside of it. You can even set up your own music playlist in the bonus features, with your own music, to listen to while you read, if your the type who likes music on when you read. Every page is dotted in various graphic art I've made for it, even as background material. There are even easter eggs hidden in the depths of the features.

I've worked pretty hard on it. Here's a teaser screenshot:



I've also been working on a new book of poetry, with an incredibly long title. All my books have had shorter titles lately, so I thought I'd go out on a limb and use a long one. The title of my new book of poetry is:

I Won't Breathe for It-- The Dull Chatter of Ends, Humping Catastrophes and Lounging Where One Sets Aside the Mind.

So yes, long. Here's a couple of images of some poems in the book. I added effects to the pictures so you won't be completely bored.

That's about it for now. I was also recently invited into the World Poets Society, and had an interview recently in Tom's Voice. No Tell Motel will be featuring some of my work in April, and there are some new spoken word tracks up over at The Adroitly Placed Word, as well.

Lately (well, continually), I am entirely enamored with my little son's antics. Being a stay-at-home dad is wondrous (though at times, it can be extremely difficult to get things done... i.e. subsequent revisions of a novel for one's publisher...) Paint-paint is talking well now, and just last night sat me down to tell me a 'story'. I'm a writer so that was poignant as hell. His story was about a ghost playing with his toys. He struck the ghost on the ass with his fist and frightened it. The ghost then ran away and hid in one of my son's Hot Wheels cars, driving slowly away.

Funny, I never took him for the horror sort.

Oh, hi there!

Dear World, Please Read My Book... Please.

I've been meaning to post here for a few days regarding the hammer of good news that hit me last week.

Yes, it's official: My novel 'Tatterdemalion' has been picked up by Cauliay Publishing and is scheduled for a 2008 release. For those of you who haven't read this blog before, I wrote a novel at the end of 2006, for which I wrote a post on. I was very excited about the novel, which was gigantic and, due to its enormous size, likely unpublishable so long as I'm a newcomer. Anyway, after I finished that novel, I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing, and in a zone, so I wrote another one. I sent the first book out to various agencies. Half of them rejected it, the other half never even bothered to respond. The second book, 'Tatterdemalion', I sent to the wonderful Michael William Molden (from here on referred to as 'my publisher'). The first book is dead in the water, but the second book was accepted by my publisher and the process of more revisions has ensued.

So, instead of being a struggling novelist, I have been upgraded to the regular kind, just really, really broke.

I'll be posting much here on the developments to come, dealings with my publisher, and of course, the release dates and where you can find the book. I will also be going through a short process of deflating my head and slapping myself around a little, to get clear.

On another note, I've recently finished another book of poetry, 'Skep', am hard at work revising 'Tatterdemalion', and getting ready to write a small series of poems for an upcoming peace conference I've been invited to read at.

New work at several publications accessible from my main page / publication history: http://www.raysuccre.blogspot.com (those at the top are the most recent).


Happy New Year to all,


-Ray