'Other Cruel Things', 'A Fine Young Day', and 'Thank You and Good Night'

Hello electronic world, I greet you in the middle of December with the usual apologies for lack of update and other, thick behavior. For those three or four of you that read these posts, I give you much information regarding several projects either underway, completed, or outright published.

OTHER CRUEL THINGS, my first and fledgling book of poetry has just been released through Differentia Press as an ebook, free for all, and edited by the always great Felino Soriano. The book compiles what I feel to be some of my best work from the past 18 months or so, and can be read here: http://www.differentiapress.com/2009/11/other-cruel-things.html

I worked hard on this one, and I hope you enjoy it.

In other news, A FINE YOUNG DAY, my third novel, is currently in my publisher's hands, and I'll let you know the minute I've heard back. I'm nervous about this book for a variety of reasons, the first and foremost being that I think it's the best thing I've ever written, which always makes one nervous. The other reasons for my shaking knees involve the subject matter, the way the book unfolds, the more poetic and sound-oriented language I let myself use, for once, and the outright disturbing things that happen throughout the book. There's no whimsy in this one. It's my take on a horror novel, and it runs both pretty and repugnant at the same time. My thanks to Andrew David King for his artwork on the potential cover.

I'm about 28 chapters into a new novel, THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT, which has come along nicely thus far. I'm having a surreal round of experiments with the biography format, and this book has much going on, beyond it's large size. A fictionalized biography modeled on the life of Rod Serling, the novel snaps into teleplay format often, has commercial breaks, and generally follows the rise and fall of Rod Serling's career. There is some real tragedy in this book, and it doesn't let up much, as well as some moments of Rod's early achievement and success. It spans forty-five years. In short, I'm writing the life of Rod Serling in a fictional style, Serling as a protagonist, and doing so as if he were a fictional character on his own famed show.

That's about all for now. I did finish another book of poetry, but have no plans to seek out a publisher for it just yet. I'm going to send the poems around a bit, see if anyone likes them for the glorious mags of the small press.

Life is busy but good. My son will be turning five in February, and my wife and I are having a great end-of-the-year with present shopping and other, various shenanigans of festivity. Hurrah!

Happy holidays to all.

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.