I Do Things. You Do Things. Let's Do More Things.

There have been few posts here the past year or so, which is good.  This means I've been busy.  I thought I'd give an update.

I've gone back to school, aiming for the MFA and teaching credentials.  I've gone through two terms this year.  I'm headed for English.  Literature.  Creative Writing.  Teaching them.  Any and all would be wondrous.  I put in two college years in my youth, and those still count, so I'm starting out in my third year, for the most part.  While I have always been somewhat of a D student, I'm surprised to note that I've made the honor roll this time around.  Two terms now.  I suppose I can officially start showing people my All Grown Up certificate.

My son has finished pre-school and will begin kindergarten in the fall.  He's amped, asks questions constantly, and I'm endlessly fascinated with the things he comes up with.

"Hey daddy, what's your job?"

"Me?  Well, I'm unemployed... I'm a student...  writer.  Heh, I'm a writer, son."

"How much money do you get?"

[jaw clenches tight] "It's fine.  Everything.  Is.  Fine.  People... people will read."

"I don't like books."

"Go to your room."

He is highly imaginative, makes up stories daily, loves to build things and is weirdly preoccupied with symmetry in everything he builds.  Even I'm sort of baffled by that one.  While I love his particular curse of creativity, I do know he's in for a rough time.  Creative kids mature late and don't quite fit the mold as well as they'd like.  Ever.  Ask me.

I wear a watch that doesn't work and a newsy cap to be different.

Things are going well.  My brother-on-law is staying with us, which has been fun, and Mary and I are enjoying Summer as best we can in Oregon's never-Summery weather.

On to the projects:  For those of you new here, Tatterdemalion, somewhat of a psychological thriller with some comedy here and there, and Amphisbaena, my experimental romance novel, (both novels through Cauliay), are still available and some more reviews have turned up, all very positive.  I'm happy about how these books are doing.  Give one a read; I can promise you I spent a lot of time writing them, revising through ten drafts each, working them over in a variety of ways, and getting them published.


A Fine Young Day, my take on a horror novel, is currently in its sixth draft and I've begun sending it around to publishers.  Another novel, Thank You and Good Night, a fictional biography modeled very closely on the life of Rod Serling, is also finished, and is currently in its third draft.  I'll put it through a few more revisions before sending it out, so don't expect this one  anytime soon.  It's a long book, as well, so the revisions take more time.    Differentia Press put out a collection of mine, online, titled Other Cruel Things.  This one isn't fiction, but poetry.  Those of you that know me are well aware that poetry is my mainstay, so this was a nice setup.  I don't have any plans for future chapbooks or collections of poetry at this time, mainly because I prefer to break up all the books of poetry I write and send the poems around to the great mags of the small press.  I've been doing this quite a bit with the Summer.  Submitting to publications I like.  At some point, I'll probably send a collection out to someone, but I have no actual plans for it right now.

I'm starting a new novel in a few weeks.  The idea I have in mind is quite ambitious and will be difficult to put into concept, much less write.  I like ambitious.  I like difficult.  You readers are ambitious and difficult.  I like you, too.

That's all for now.  I'll try to get back here within a month or so.  Until then, read a book, or write one.  Let's hang out.

Amphisbaena Officially Released

My second novel Amphisbaena is out and available in a variety of places. Read the last few posts and you can find out all sorts of things about this experimental, surrealist romance novel, including some reviews that have gone live and synopsis.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon, which has it in stock:

http://www.amazon.com/Amphisbaena-Ray-Succre/dp/0955899273

And for anyone who received that mailout I recently sent, which outlined Amphisbaena's official release, you may have realized that the link within the email for the Reviewer's Edition is busted. My apologies, it tested before I sent the mailout to all of you, but there's been a problem with the service. I set up a new download, but now that one has problems as well. Geh. If anyone wants the special features, just let me know with your postal address (send it to raysuccre@hotmail.com), and I'll send out a disc. It's no trouble; I like doing this and I'm confident you'll like what I've put together.

Postal mail is all I have for the program, at the moment. If anyone knows of a good free service to store a file for download, by all means, leave a comment below.

For those who use torrents, I do have a dedicated torrent over at Mininova for the program, guranteed to be seeding:

http://www.mininova.org/tor/2629217

Also, feel free to contact me if you think you'd be interested in doing a review, but would rather have the .pdf, without all the features or the large wraparound program: raysuccre@hotmail.com.

Enjoy the end of Summer, and check out the book if you're interested.

A Review

A great review of Amphisbaena has gone live over at Unlikely 2.0. Check it out:

http://unlikelystories.org/blog/content/?p=133

The release date for the book has been pushed back a few weeks, but should be out shortly.

Amphisbaena

My second published novel, Amphisbaena, will be released on July 4th, 2009. That's Independance Day, here in the States. While it was written last Summer, I've been working on this book all year thus far, with numerous revisions and drafts, until complete. Amphisbaena will be released through Cauliay Publishing (who you might remember published my novel Tatterdemalion in June of 2008).

Here's the trailer:

From back cover:

"A sober disinterest in relationships causes Bill Sherman, failing calendarist, to abandon dating for many years. When pressured into a speed dating event by his brother, Bill meets Amy and decides to attempt a relationship again. He learns quickly, however, that Amy is two people: The inseparable Amy and Janine. These two women design to date Bill in tandem, both to his confusion and enjoyment. Where Amy holds Bill dear to her heart, Janine is unable to function outside of physical pleasure. Bill soon discovers that this strange predicament is only the beginning of a much larger system of rules and interraction, and the relationship changes more when Bill realizes that the two women happen each to be one half of an ancient, two-headed black snake. Amy is the alpha head and has subjugated her poison in an attempt to understand human notions of beauty. Bill is not allowed to touch her. Janine is the enticer head and may not be in league with Amy where Bill is concerned.

Can a man love if there is only appetite? Will he care more deeply for the woman he can never touch? What happens when monogamy becomes taboo and a fine-tuned machine of murder learns the human consequence of going against one's nature for a greater meaning?

Laden with whimsical depiction and a foraging exposition on gender, occupation, and dating in modern society, Amphisbaena is the story of three people trapped somewhere between nature and culture, through a humorous adventure into the biological mess of love and romance. "



So there you have it, a surreal and quite expository romance novel between a man and a two-headed snake. There's much more to it, of course. Here's a very low-resolution version of the front cover:

As with Tatterdemalion, there is a comprehensive and detailed special features package I've put together for Amphisbaena. This is fully interactive and contains animation, dozens of audio tracks, introductions... even a few hidden features (if you can find them). The special features are part of the Amphisbaena 2009 Reviewer Edition (I'll place a link to this download below). The Reviewer Edition also contains the entire ebook version of Amphisbaena for free, to anyone who wants to read it.

Included in the Reviewer Edition:

About the Author section containing images, synopses, and full publication history with links.

An interactive video trailer for Tatterdemalion, with sample chapter and links to the free download.

A themed Concept Art feature.

An Alternate Cover Art feature, exhibiting the 12 alternate covers created for the book.

An audio introduction from the author.

An animated feature on speed-dating.

An animated feature telling the story of the Amphisbaena and its mother, Medusa, from Greek mythology.

Explanatory Notes about the some of the machinations used in the book, including the excerpt system that introduces each chapter.

Information about Cauliay, an in-depth link page, much in the way of video and audio, hidden features you can hunt for, ordering and contact information, and so much more. Seriously, I spent a busy year programming this.

The entire book, Amphisbaena, free of charge in an ebook format. You can view the book from directly within the special features program, or open it in any .pdf viewer. There are links for a download of my previous novel, as well, should you decide to take a look.

How I loathe sounding like a pitchman.

Moving on, here's a link to the download (yes, it's somewhat large, but entirely free of cost and more than worth the wait): http://www.daedalao.com/downloads/Amphisbaena.zip

For those of you in the torrents, Amphisbaena and the Reviewer Edition can be found as a dedicated torrent here: http://www.mininova.org/tor/2629217

I'll post more information as the book nears print. I hope you enjoy the book. A lot of time and effort has gone into writing it.

My Novel 'Amphisbaena' to Be Published

I've received some good news recently in that my second novel, Amphisbaena, has been picked up with Cauliay for print. I'm pleased as hell right now. The release date is yet to be decided, but if my first book, Tatterdemalion, is an indication of schedule, it's likely Amphisbaena will be released sometime around the middle of June. I'll be posting various details and information as we go along, and have begun the revision and drafting tasks which will absorb me for the next few months. My first novel, Tatterdemalion, received strong and very favorable reviews, so if you're on the market for a good read, give it a shot. If you enjoy it, you'll enjoy Amphisbaena.

I'm developing a special features promotion for the book, as I did with Tatterdemalion, and will release it in the next month or so. Details (and the download, itself) will be posted here. For those of you who missed the large project of Tatterdemalion special features I put together, or have an interest in that book, any reviews, or locations where it can easily be ordered, go here:

http://raysuccre2.blogspot.com/2008/06/tatterdemalion-news-and-update.html


As with my first novel, Amphisbaena will be a print book, but my publisher and I will be creating an ebook version available to all for free. If you want to read the book (or my last book) and don't have the extra cash around (and who does, these days?), you can read it free, so long as you don't mind doing through a screen, or hitting CTRL-P and printing it yourself. I'll post more on this as it's developed.

On to a very brief description:

Amphisbaena is the story of a thirty-something calendarist, Bill Sherman, who lives with his divorced brother, two odd nephews, and an uncommunicative niece. Bill has a serious disinterest in dating, having all but abandoned the notion, and his career in calendar design is waning hard as all the major calendar presses are trimming down their production. Through the convincing pressure of his brother, Roger, Bill agrees to attend a speed-dating event with him, and finds himself unexpectedly enthralled with a particular woman, Amy. The feeling is mutual, and things quickly escalate from interest into deep-seated care. Bill learns, however, that there is much more to Amy than he at first realized. Amy has the bizarre rule that she will not date Bill unless Bill dates her roomate, Janine, as well. He can have a relationship with both of them, or neither. He is reluctant but does agree, and soon discovers that this strange dating situation is only the beginning of a much larger system of rules and interraction. Stranger still is his discovery that Amy and Janine, while appearing to be roommates, are actually a single creature, each woman being one of the heads of an ancient, two-headed snake. Amy is the alpha head, the upper half, and has subjugated her poisons in an attempt to understand human notions of beauty. Bill is not allowed to touch her. Janine is the enticer head, the lower half, and may not be in league with Amy where their relationship with Bill is concerned. Janine seems only interested in sex.

Can a giant serpent designed for killing and eating men temper it's nature to keep and love one? When offered a seemingly endless reservoir of sex and physicality, without the constraints of whim or approach, can Bill be satisfied, per Janine's theory, or will he begin craving the other? Can he love when there is only sex? Will he care more deeply for the woman he can't ever touch? What happens when monogamy becomes taboo, and a fine-tuned machine of murder learns the human consequence of going against one's nature for a greater meaning?

These are a few of the things I've tried to give thought to in Amphisbaena, but there are many more running themes involved.

Amphisbaena is a modern, surrealist romance novel describing the courtship of three people trapped somewhere between nature and culture.

I hope people enjoy it, and I'll post more in the near future. On a side note, for anyone on Facebook, I've posted some potential cover art for Amphisbaena in a photo album. Take a look and let me know what you think in the comments. I'll be adding more of them as we go along.

Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=56013&id=661626574

Also, for anyone who enjoys my books, I promise that the third book won't have a one-word title. The others just happened that way, is all.

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.