Surfacing

Sorry it took me so long to get around to announcing this here. It took me almost an entire week just to get the prizes disbursed due to limited time on the computer.

Here’s the FULL list of winners for the Black Venom Launch Contest:
Black Venom: Waves of Darkness Book 4 ebook:
Kim Canalli, Jasmine DeGroot, Sandra Cooke, Frank Slayton, Stephanie Boyd, Lucille Sims, John Key, C.B. Bitton, Nathan Mejia, Eric Gibson, Chuck McWhorter, Theresa Earls, Michelle Welch, April Thomas, Samantha Smith, Adam Houston, Jason Garrett, Doug Stanford, Angie Azur, Zach Griffin, Julian W. Thompson, Rt Blake, Hunter Sylvester, and Yvonne Atkins.
Blood Curse: Waves of Darkness Book 1 audio book:
Jasmine DeGroot, Danielle Moses, Mike Young, Stephanie Boyd, Mattie McCroskey, John Key, C.B. Bitton, Nathan Mejia, Eric Gibson, Chuck McWhorter, April Thomas, Samantha Smith, Doug Stanford, Angie Azur, and Zach Griffin.
GRAND PRIZE WINNER of signed copies of all 7 titles in the Waves of Darkness: Sisters of Power story arc:
HUNTER SYLVESTER!
Congratulations to all the winners. All entrants, winner or not, will get a bonus gift of the first 6 episodes of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe, my Steampunk serial fiction.

Meanwhile, I do have some progress to report. I’ve made a little more headway on season 4 of The Adventures of Pigg &Woolfe. I’m still woefully behind on getting the episodes finished in time for publication next year, though.

I have finally started reorganizing the Smugglers Cove and Hucksters Haven pages. This will take a while, and I’ve already found 2 listings that will have to be deleted for lack of viable contact info. I can only assume they went out of business.

I finished revisions and edits on Hell’s Dodo: Waves of Darkness Book 5 this morning. Formatting will probably start next week.

Under “lack of progress” I have not started plotting the 9th book in Waves of Darkness yet.

That wraps things up for now.

Black Venom Launch Contest

Type “YES” in the comments to enter. LIKES ARE APPRECIATED BUT DO NOT COUNT AS ENTRIES.

Winners will be announced May 9th, Launch Day.

Prizes are 25 Epub copies of Black Venom: Waves of Darkness Book 4, 15 Audible codes for Blood Curse: Waves of Darkness Book 1, and the grand prize of signed copies of all 7 books in the Waves of Darkness: Sisters of Power story arc (unless the winner is international. The prize will be Epub copies of the first 4 books and the Audible code due to shipping costs. )

Black Venom Cover Reveal!

I do believe this is the best design yet I’ve gotten from Fatima. If anyone is interested in commissioning her, you can find her info here.

An Apology

I just realized today that I forgot to update the pages for The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe and for Season 3 last month. This has now been done with the March episode, Episode 27: Detective Work added and linked to its Amazon location.

I am currently working on the cover for Episode 28: Family Secrets, the April episode, which I plan to publish next Tuesday. Once it goes live, I will add it to the Season 3 page and replace the cover art and link for episode 27 on the TAoPaW parent page.

I do apologize for neglecting this site the past few weeks.

Progress

Formatting the eBook version of Black Venom is complete save for converting a copy into ePub. The print format is also nearing completion. Once it’s done, I’ll commission the cover art.

I have switched over from the old WordPress app to the JetPak app. I still can’t edit the Fashions, Accessories, and Cosplay page with it. There’s too much data on the page to load. I’ll have to pare it down into separate pages on my computer. This is my first to do after I finish up the formatting.

Just thought I’d let everyone know I haven’t forgotten.

Coming Soon

A new episode of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe will be available on KDP next week.

The formatting of Black Venom is progressing well. I’m taking my time with it to make sure it’s right the first time.

Delays

Updating the Smugglers Cove and Hucksters Haven with the new vendor info I collected at Con Nooga is going to have to wait. I am in the middle of formatting Black Venom: Waves of Darkness book 4.

I’ve made several attempts to use the mobile app to update the pages, but it is being extremely uncooperative. It takes forever to get it to load the pages for editing, then repeatedly stopping or kicking me out. I’ll have to do it on the computer instead, which means waiting until I’m done with formatting. I just don’t get much screen time at home.

Also, I think I need to split the Fashions Accessories and Cosplay page up. It’s getting too big. I plan to give Comics and Collectables their own page instead of lumping them in.

Thanks for your patience.

Captain’s Log: Con Nooga 14

Always take a picture of your badge. If you lose it, and someone turns it in, you can claim it without having to buy a new one.

Had a great time at Con Nooga this year. I didn’t expect to get table space on Authors’ Alley because of how late my application was. However, our authors are very supportive of each other. They made space for me. I even scored a rotating book rack for cheap to use next con. Only my Waves of Darkness 2nd editions will fit, though. The 1st editions and the Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe omnibi are an inch and a half too tall. I plan to pick up a tiered rack for them.

I did 2 panels on the writers track: Using Folklore and Publishing Horror Stories. We lost over half our audience on the second one. They thought it was about publishing horror fiction. Instead, it was horror stories from our adventures in publishing, both indie and trad.

I will be updating the Smugglers Cove & Hucksters Haven soon. However, it will not include all the new-to-me vendors. I ran out of time in the Dealers Room and didn’t get to collect cards on the last row.

One of the most useful panels I attended as audience was Guerilla Marketing, presented by the author of the Zombie Road series, David A. Simpson. Took LOTS of notes.

I sold 2 copies of Waves of Darkness Book 1: Blood Curse and 1 copy of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe Season Two: Turmoil in Tunilia. By the time this con rolls around again, I’ll have 3 more titles to offer.

I even ran into 3 coworkers. I have a feeling next year will be even better.

Finally, I’ve gotten much closer to getting past my stuck point in season 4 of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe. I’m almost done with the 6th episode of the season. I really need to get s4 wrapped up so I can get back to work on plotting book 9 for Waves of Darkness. There will most likely be a hiatus between seasons 4 and 5. We’ll see.

5 + 7 = 12 So I am 12 Today

Just a quick birthday update.

I have reorganized the pages for The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe under the Books and Short Stories heading on the menu. I’m currently working on the cover for this month’s episode, 26 Truth and Consequences, which will be uploaded to KDP next week.

That’s it for now.

Housekeeping and Moving the Furniture

I’m a bit behind on maintaining this site this year. About a week after Chattacon I had a head cold. I refuse to say it was con crud, because I didn’t witness anyone with symptoms at the con. Nor did this set in immediately after. I most likely caught it at work.

Anyway, due to the lack of good sleep this caused, plus the book hangover of publishing the season 2 omnibus and the first season 3 episode of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe so close together. I had a hard time getting my publisher/author mind to focus on what next. When I realized I still haven’t added a purchase link for said episode (The Canary Has Flown) I also realized I really need to reorganize the Books and Short Stories pages.

I plan to change the page for TAoPaW to a series parent page and give each season its own page. Otherwise, readers will be scrolling excessively to find the most recent episode. I may do something similar for the Waves of Darkness books, as well.

I am going to start creating the cover for the next episode, Truth and Consequences this weekend. I have also gotten a head start on the season 3 omnibus, Diamond of the Mind, putting all the episodes together in one document. I still have to place some of the bonus material. Line art of the episode covers, which didn’t exist in a proper format for the 2nd season, is making a comeback for season 3 and will be added during final formatting.

I need to replace the cover on Amazon for Turmoil in Tunilia. Found a glaring typo on the back blurb, plus I want a better name placement on the front. The current placement looks to asymmetrical for my taste. Amateurish: which can hurt sales.

I intend to start on formatting and final edits on Black Venom this weekend. I actually finished the previous round of edits and revisions at the doctor’s office the day before Chattacon started.

Speaking of conventions, ConNooga is just around the corner. While I didn’t see the sign-up form for the writing/literary track in time to secure a hallway table spot and a full programming schedule, I did manage to get on a couple of panels: one Friday and one Sunday that weekend. The convention is at the Chattanooga Convention Center, February 17-19. If you don’t catch one of my panels or see me wandering the con, I’ll probably be hanging out with Con Mommy at the info desk. That’s where I’ll park my book bag while visiting the dealer hall. I don’t have a dealer badge, therefore I will NOT be pushing my books in there. I like this con and don’t want to get banned.

In other housekeeping news. Maybe I’ll get finished taking down the Christmas tree. It’s been up since 2021.

Finally, for those of you who haven’t seen it on my other social media, I did my very first drawing of Hezekiah Grimm. I’m surprised I haven’t drawn him before, considering he’s one of the characters who have been in my head since 2006. I’m still not satisfied with the portrayal. He needs to look more weathered, given how long he’s been at sea.