I TURNED 45 years old this week, but I was honestly too busy with various deadlines to really sit back and take stock of what that means. I’m halfway to 90, I got that far in my considerations. And in all likelihood, given family history and population averages, I’m probably more than halfway through the race.
No worries – I’m not getting maudlin over this one, but there it is. Time is moving on and we only get so much to play with. I’m hoping that I’ll hit the high end of the age trend and that there are many more books to write in my future before the curtain falls. Ironically, just a couple days before my birthday, I signed a contract to write my sixth novel for Don D’Auria, my former editor at Leisure Books. The novel is called NightWhere, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It will be out next year on the new horror line D’Auria’s creating for Samhain Publishing.
I did get a bit nostalgic last weekend as I looked ahead to 45, and I used some of my “birthday money” to buy some CDs of old LPs that I never upgraded to disc before. I hit Amazon for Dire Straits, Yaz, and old Styx and Dennis DeYoung solo albums (who can fathom that 27 years have passed since Dennis released Desert Moon?? Sheesh!) But I also picked up a new Andy Bell (Erasure) solo album and a recent collection from The Donnas. So I’m not totally retro yet.
My wife got me the first season of the classic Space: 1999 series on blu-ray (now THERE’S retro for you!) as well as all the Phantasm movie sequels (which I’ve been watching this weekend).
Probably the coolest thing I got though, was this custom card from my son Shaun. I’m pretty sure that the guns shooting at the “Happy Birthday Dada” message were not meant with malevolent intent. At least I hope not.
It’s been a good week in other ways too. Notably on the Fiction Front:
More Book News:
The audiobook edition of my 3rd novel The 13th came out at the end of last month, and I finally got my copies a few days ago, which look awesome. The book was recorded and released by Audio Realms, and they gave it a new cover (the 3rd cover this book has had!) and the reader sounds great. It’s available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and through the publisher — where you can listen to an audio sample on Amazon:
Audio Realms also sent me copies of the discs for the audiobook version of Siren which should be out this month or early next. I’m looking forward to listening to this one too – I heard the initial sample chapter and it was great. I’ll post again when that’s available to hear.
At the same time as the audiobooks are coming together for my last two novels, the pre-order links for The Pumpkin Man, my 5th novel from Leisure Books, went up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. this week. That book will be out in e-book and Trade Paperback editions this fall. But you can get a sneak peek at the cover and short description now at least!
The big book news for me this year is the release of these audiobook editions of The 13th and Siren, a new Trade Paperback edition of Siren hitting the bookstores in a couple months and then the new novel, The Pumpkin Man, this fall.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a couple of short fiction pieces that will be out in anthologies later this year, as well as on the next release for Dark Arts Books, which is debuting at the World Horror Convention at the end of April. I’ll post about that book (which I’ve nearly finished designing) in a few days.
So 45 years, huh?
Seems like only yesterday I was singing “Come Sail Away” for the first time. Time’s funny like that.
Or maybe it just means I’m getting old!
