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.