Severed Ears Are Yummy, Or: Another Brian Drake Interview

If I sold a copy of Reaper's Dozen for every interview I've done lately, I'd be rich. This one is different than the other and features severed ears so you're sure to get a kick out of it.

http://kippoe.blogspot.com/2010/07/brian-drake-interview.html

Next Ebook Cover

The e-book experiment continues with my upcoming short novel "Justified Sins" which features a character you can find in two stories included in Reaper's Dozen. An artist friend drew the cover, and charged me a lot of money to do so, but I think it's great. See for yourself.

Brian Drake Interviewed on The Indie Spotlight!

A few months ago when my e-book Reaper's Dozen came out I answered some questions from the good folks at The Indie Spotlight, which highlights "indie" authors. If any of you Kindle owners subscribe to the newsletter you've probably already seen this; if not, click away!

http://www.theindiespotlight.com/?p=2084

You Too Can Be a Kindle Millionaire....Or Not

Not too long ago, back in May, I put up an e-book called Reaper's Dozen at the Amazon Kindle store and Smashwords.Com. I figured I would give it a shot as others, some notable but others less so, weren't doing too badly with their e-books and bringing in some extra cash besides. Reviews have been kind (on Amazon); in fact, amazingly kind, as Evan Lewis was over at his blog http://davycrockettsalmanack.blogspot.com/2010/07/reapers-dozen-brian-drakes-salute-to.html.

Do note that Reaper's Dozen is a collection of short stories, and I think that's the reason sales have been so bleh since we started this. My other writing pals, one of whom is pulling in around $300 a month for her work (I could sure use that!), are doing far better, and they think it's because my book is note a full novel and readers would rather have that. I don't blame them as I myself am less likely to try out a new author unless it's a novel I can really invest in; after that, if short stories come out, I'll snatch those up, too.

So it's too early to call the Brian Drake E-book Experiment a failure, as I'm sure that once my spy novel The Eagle Intercept goes up, sales for Reaper's Dozen will pick up. Heck, my other pals have more than one title available, so it makes sense.

If not...

Well, I would rather not think about "if not" at this point, because it usually ends with my jumping off the roof.

Granted I'm only two floors up, and would cause far more embarrassment to myself than damage (what else is new?) but you know what I mean.

And if you haven't been over to Amazon to check out the action, here's a convenient link:

http://www.amazon.com/Reapers-Dozen-ebook/dp/B003OIBH8O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1279591061&sr=1-1

The Hell I Do!

Thanks for David Cramner's "Education of a Pulp Writer" site I tried this writing analysis do-hickey and have to call the whole thing bullshit. Why?

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Like hell. I do not write like Stephen King.

I did notice at the bottom, though, that there was some sort of come-on for what looked like a self-publishing racket. Perhaps that's the whole point: get suckers to self-publish because they think they write like Stephen King or whoever.

Why couldn't it say I write like a real, talented writer, who knows all the ins and outs of grammar, description, and how to construct a gripping, imaginative story? Like Stephanie Meyer, for instance. Why oh why?

FORGOTTEN BOOKS: Journey Into Fear by Eric Ambler

I discovered Ambler's Journey Into Fear because James Bond read one of Ambler's books in From Russia With Love. And I'm glad I gave it a shot! I have never read a thriller so.... thrilling. Seriously, Ambler knows how to write, and he can turn what sounds like a been-there-done-that story and plot circles around your expectations.

Journey Into Fear involves an engineer named Graham who is the target of Nazi agents because of his British business connections that may interfere with Nazi operations. I know what you're thinking: it's an Everyman-in-danger story with a Macguffin that's never fully explained and is there just gets the action going. Yes. But it's better than that! Graham is on a ship traveling home. Problem is, the Nazi agents are on the ship, too, and they very much want to kill him. But who is the assassin? We meet a variety of colorful characters, all of them well-drawn and interesting. The conversations develop the story and bring up the issues of the time and suddenly you're not reading a thriller, you're reading well-balanced political opinion and it brings a certain sense of real life to the story that other thrillers totally lack. It's not just kiss-kiss-bang-bang. But when the Nazis catch up with Graham and the kiss-kiss-bang-bang starts, Ambler knows how to get his bang-bang on.

Graham's transformation from Everyman to Action Hero doesn't happen the way you'd expect. It happens when he's finally up against the wall, about to be murdered, and he reacts with brutal animal instincts, and it really rings true. There was not a false note in the final battle and it was as well done as the rest of the book.

Journey Into Fear may not be hard-boiled, per se, but the story overflows with paranoia; the reader, like Graham, cannot trust anybody; somebody pretending to be your friend may actually be the one trying to kill you; it has a certain noir aspect which is why I include it here today. Along with your noir you get nail-biting suspense that's better than any thriller I've read in a long time. It proves that thrillers can have strong themes, realistic characters, and believable action, and that's something any thriller writer (or any writer in general) should keep in mind the next time he puts pen to paper.

Rescued by the Muse

Last post I wrote about my frustration with the current book and that there was something not right with it. I specified one sequence as a problem; however, upon further reading, more and more issues popped up--nothing specific, but I knew something wasn't right. Imagine my surprise, while out on my walk last night in a continuing effort to fight my waistline, when my Muse showed up and started giving me tons of ideas, and they don't require that the whole book go back to the drawing board. In fact, I realized what I have now is the middle of the book, and what came to mind during my walk is the beginning and the end.

I hurried home, grabbed a cigar, and went out to the deck, turning on the lights that rim the railing, which provides light to read and write by when night comes and gives me the added benefit of pissing off the neighbors (they're on the board of the Home Owners' Association, and they don't like my lights, but can't get an "official" order from the board to make me take them down). My ideas turned into four pages of notes, so now I'm going back to my original outline and fixing stuff there first. That way I have a working model of how the book plays out. Then I'll simply retype or cut and paste the existing material with the new stuff.

I'm much happier now.

There's probably only one or two of you who really care, but so what? This is one of the things I like about scribbling. When you want to throw the fracking book in the trash, your subconscious arrives like the calvary to save the day.