New Review & Interview

A new review of Succumbing to Gravity is out on the LL Book Review(Review number 245)by Carrie Hunt.

I think she liked it, ending her review with "So if you haven’t read this, you need to, and let’s see if you read the last line of the book and yell: “F#@k Yeah!” like I did."

Carrie is a talented author in her own right (write? HA! I kill me...) and also does book reviews on the side for LL Book Reviews(on her own website as well). She asked me to do an interview and I was happy to do so. It's right here.

New review

Another review for STG at fantasy book critic. Yay.

Not my strongest review, and a bit rambling and hard to follow, but over all Mahir thinks I wrote a good book that could be better. A true statement of just about everything, isn't it? (And at 'goodreads' he rated it four out of five stars.) But to be candid, I had a lot to say and STG was the best book I could have said them in at the time I wrote it.

I was also happy to see that the critic hit on several of the things I wanted to say in the book (themes....ooohh no, literaryness). STG is a story about flawed people making choices. It's about living with those choices and realizing that the choices you make don't have to define you for the rest of time. It's about relationships, it's about faith, and it's about doing what you think needs to be done, even if you know the outcome won't be in your best interest. (think 'cowboying-up')

Several of the critics also picked out the stylistic components that I was shooting for; noirish, epic themes on a personl level.

This has also been a criticism; 'angels and demons? Where's Armageddon, why such a 'small' book?'

My answer to the smallishness was that most of us make personal decisions that in the grand scheme of things are pretty small scale, they don't change the whole world, most people don't even know we have made them. But that doesn't make them unimportant. In fact the small decisions we make everyday, to show humanity, to do the right things, to be a positive and uplifting influence- rather than making the selfish or thoughtless choices, are the decisions that I think are the most important of all.

If this doesn't make sense, I suggest you read the 'Screwtape Letters' from CS Lewis, then get back to me.

iBook and Nook

STG will be coming out soon as an iBook and in Nook format. Yay.
The publisher also went through and reedited the manuscript. So all future copies (as of today) should be cleaner copies, Also Yay.

I had two reveiwers that commented on the quality of the eiditing- great book too bad it wasn't edited better. Now, before I point fingers at the publisher, these errors were in the original manuscript I sent in. One would expect them corrected, but it's hard to point to someone else for not fixing what I broke in the first place. But no more. All future editions are clean....

"Succumbing to Gravity" is a riveting read that will be hard to put down.

My Midwest Book Review review came in, and they liked it. About 20 book reviews down in the fiction review section [here]. They were also kind enough to five star me on their companion Amazon post.

Stoker?

My book Succumbing to Gravity has made the list for best first novel in the Bram Stoker Award Recommendations for 2010. Yay.

The Stoker is like the Emmey of horror fiction. Very cool. The recommendations are winnowed down to the final ballot, the winner gets a cool statue, the losers get a letter saying they are a 'stoker finalist'.

If you're an HWA member remember to vote early and vote often...

StG Now in Kindle

Thanks to the staff at Reliquary press, my Debut novel,
Succumbing to Gravity, is now out in a kindle edition!

I encourage those of you have read it to post a reveiw or 'TAG' it on Amazon (either the paperback page or the kindle page- or hey how about both?).

I am a member of the Horror Writers Association and they have a program where they pair up junior members with more senior members for mentorship. More how the biz works than the actual mechanics, but that too if needed. My HWA mentor is Dan Keohane (a Stoker nominated author- Stokers are like the oscars of horror fiction) just left a generous review on Amazon. Blurb-worthy.

Amazon Review

My first Amazon review was published today. Hooty Hoo!

Check it out here {Click Here with your mouse cursor}

I think it was pretty good, hope I can be as circumspect when I get one that's less complimentary. But that is part of putting your work out there for others to see, isn't it?

My publisher sent a note that orders through Reliquary Press will be sent out in the next day or so. They are just now getting in from the printer.

*NOTE: orders of the last week shipped Thursday 5 Aug*

Book Reviews...

STG has popped on the 'currently reading tab' at Paperback Horror! Paperback Horror is a book review blog that covers the horror genre, which Succumbing to Gravity can fall into.

Remember in a previous blog post where we discussed genre? I don't think what I write falls neatly into a genre bin, but you have to put a label on books so that they can be filed in the right section of the book store, or library, right? And I am a member of the horror writers association...so.

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror are often grouped under the title 'Speculative Fiction' or Specfic. Horror can be further split into a large number of 'subgenres'; supernatural horror, psychological horror, splatterpunk (think blood splatter) and on and on. It gets more complicated when you realize that the psychological horror novels are often also marketed as crime. Think Silence of the Lambs or the Red Dragon- psychopathic serial killers. Sounds like Horror to me.

As I mentioned, I don't think STG fits neatly into a genre, though I am glad PBH is reading it. The non-neatness-of-fit is not just my opinion. I sent it off to a number of agents before I sent the manuscript to Reliquary and a common complaint was that it didn't fit 'neatly' into a genre. Complaint because agents want big books that can be easily marketed, not untidy books that one must equivocate on the genre from the start. STG had elements of religiously or supernaturally inspired horror, dark fantasy; one agent even said after review that it seemed more urban fantasy than horror but with elements of both. (I queried around 50 agents, 20 of them asked for partials to review and almost half of those asked to read the whole manuscript. So I did get a good sampling of people who knew what they were talking about.) And here I thought it was just a little road-trip book about a fallen angel, with a heroin habit, that was just trying to get by in the world.

Anyway, I can't wait to see what the reviewer thinks about STG. Unless he pans it, of course. That I can wait for.

Hotcakes and Giveaways

Well, STG is moving. It peaked (so far) as the 65,000th most popular book on Amazon!

Admittedly it has a ways to go to make the NYT bestseller list (or to be compared to hotcake sales), but still, copies are moving and this is good. My own copies will be here from Reliquary any day now (and I can hardly wait).

The ladies (and one dude) in the book club at work were generous enough to select STG as their book for August, and they asked me to sit in on the lunch-time review. Yikes. I'm not sure how I'll stack up against Reading Lolita in Tehran, or the Kiterunner..but they also read Paluniak's Survivor and Gaiman's Graveyard book, so maybe not so bad.

So the Giveaway you ask? I loaded a picture in Amazon, and tagged the book, but I stop short at providing a review. So I leave that to you dear reader. To the first person that leaves a (generally positive) review I will mail you your own free copy of STG. Gratis. Freeeeeee. Should you have already purchased one on which to base your review, and don't want another, I would be happy to substitute a copy of Abominations: 17 Spine-Tingling Tales Of Murderous Monsters And Horrific Creatures (Shroud Publishing, ISBN-10: 098018701X) which holds pretty steady at under 200,000th most popular book. Yes, I have a story in it- BEKs.

So there you go, post a copy of your review and email in the comments section, and I will delete your email before I post it. I'll contact you and get a shipping address, and these fabulous prizes will be yours!

Succumbing to Gravity- Now available

Yes, I know you have all been waiting with bated breath for the release of Succumbing to Gravity. Well, wait no longer, here it is! (Click on 'here')

The Back cover copy:
**************************
Succumbing to Gravity
by
Richard Farnsworth
Greg used to be an angel, but that was an eternity ago. Back when he was Araqiel, part of the celestial chorus. Back before he gave in to his temptations. Before he fell. Now he roams the wet streets of a hopeless city, feeding his addictions and punishing himself for sins that cannot be forgiven. But when a desperate girl and a host of vengeful demons cross his path, Greg must choose between redemption and damnation. For him, the two may not be so different.

Author Interview

My author interview for STG is up at the Reliquary Press website. It doesn't seem to have come out too schmarmy. My interview for the Beast Within anthology is still up also, so I have 2 interviews floating around in cyberspace.

Waiting

Mike Stone is a friend and fellow writer I met through my online critique group, critters. We shared a table of contents in the GST 'Beast Within' anthology, he's a fabulous writer and is working on, what else, but a novelization of that same short story. Anyway, I found this sight on his blog that will tell you which famous author (and I am unsure how many there are) your writing resembles. Here's me, a Cory Doctorow wannabe. Could be?

The things I do while waiting waiting waiting for my proofs to come back from the printer...

I write like
Cory Doctorow

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

STG the Novel- update

My first novel, Succumbing to Gravity- is in final proof.
It has an ISBN number. (978-0-9841833-4-0)
Next it's going to the printer.
Then it will be available online at all your favorite online book buying places...

I'm sending ARCs (advance reader copies) to all my favorite book reviewers.

STG Update

So, word from the editors is that Succumbing to Gravity, the novel based on my short story in Nossa Morte will be out in the next few weeks. It will be available through reliquary press, amazon, and iBook.com. When I have the ISBN and such I'll be sure to post.

Also, keep an eye out for an opportunity to win a free copy of your very own....free...yours...

Book Trailer

A new trend in Book Publishing is the book trailer. Sort of like the little snippets of movies, but as the name implies, made for books. Check out the trailer I put together (with extensive technical assistance from my son- kids and technology) for STG.

Succumbing to Gravity- update

As I sat to type out this post I heard a tapping at the window. When I turned, there was nothing at the glass. Then a tapping, turn, nothing.

The third time I turned I saw the culprit...a mockingbird, a-tap-tap-tapping on the glass. Not so ominous as Poe's Raven, to be sure, but I wonder what the little bird could want in here? I looked square in those (little flakes of black marble) eyes of his and he flew away.

Hmmm..

Well, the novel has a new cover image with a proposed release date this summer. Exactly when this summer, I'm unsure. But let's hope sooner than later. I like it much better than the previous one. But I wonder what people will think when they see it?

I had the same thought when I finished the first draft (which was really about the third or fourth draft, with all the futzing around) of STG. I was pretty sure I'd said the things I wanted to say, that I had conveyed the messages and theme I'd meant to. I was curious to see how my small cadre of first readers and critique group members would see it. Funny the things people pulled out of the book that I hadn't intended. Whether my unconscious inclusion or the reader's projection; unexpected results.

Probably the same thing with that mockingbird. He saw his reflection in the glass and pecked at it, while I pondered the significance of his actions to my own life. Were he able to talk he probably would have said something like, "What are you looking at?"

STG the Novel

Succumbing to Gravity was a short story that I wrote for Nossa Morte. This was the first paying market that paid 'real semi pro' rates and allowed me to apply for affiliate (semi-pro category) membership to the Horror Writers Association.

STG is also my first novel. (Actually my second, the first was a practice novel that I will probably never discuss in an open forum). I floated it past forty agents and had 8 partial requests and 5 requests to read the entire manuscript. They all ended up passing and then I started in on the direct submissions to publishers.

And yay, the gentlemen at Reliquary Press requested the partial, the full, some revisions and tada, they bought it. I'm expecting a mid-summer release as they have a few others in the queue ahead of STG. I'll keep you all apprised as it gets closer and I've posted one of the early cover ideas, because I thought it was pretty cool. A little busy for me, but cool all the same. And making the publishing of my own first novel a little more real.

The image comes for the statue of the fallen angel in Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain.

Succumbing to Gravity- the short story

I thought it might be interesting to those of you new to writing, or who enjoy reading, to have some insight into how a story comes about. The second story I sold, after OB, was Succumbing to Gravity (STG). It had been sitting with an anthology called holy horrors for some time before it was released (and then HH was actually was never published).

I queried Nossa Morte. which was at the time new (and I thought a bit vulnerable to a new author like me). They liked it, but requested a rewrite. I liked their suggestions, made the adjustments and viola, STG made it into the Feb 2008 issue (http://nossamorte.com/magazine/2010/01/february-2008-issue/) . Melissa et al were a joy to work with and I am glad to see the magazine continues to put out great stories.

So, the inspiration for STG? Well I had read 'The Year of War' by Steph Swainston (ISBN 0060753870- I recommend it, except for chapter 22, what was that?). In it the main character, Jant, is a winged drug addict. I thought how very much like a tragic sort of fallen angel he was. And that idea went to work somewhere in the back of my brain...maybe anterior thalamic nuclei.. I'm not sure, but there was nuclei fermentation. Then I was doing some light reading through the Apocryphal book of Enoch and thought those poor angels, what would it be like to live in the grace of God and then be cast out?

Could you help but despair?

Could you find solace...in drugs?

And that's how Greg was born. A fallen angel, walking the earth, avoiding responsibilities of any kind and trying to find solace in drugs. More to come on this one as I liked Greg so much I spent a year writing the rest of his story. Nihilism, drug addiction, demon combat and redemption (of a sort), STG is now a novel-length tale that recently sold to Reliquary Press and should be available summer of 2010.

But the story of that story is a different story. One to be saved for later.