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.

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.

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.