Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is...

Hi, guys.

So, to put it succintly, there's a lot of really exciting crap happening right now. To summarize it quickly: I'm in (slow, slow, nail biting) talks with DAW, one of the biggest  fantasy publishers out there. Always one to hedge my bets, I'm moving forward with iUniverse publishing. Spoke with the design team a couple of days ago, and I should have a sample of covers to post here within a week or so. I submitted for review today with a company called Kirkus. Some of you will know them, others won't. What's a reviewer, you ask? Oh, please; allow me to explain.

*Ahem*

Reviewers are professional ballbusters. We gleefully submit material to them, and they tell us whether we have a modicum of talent, or whether we're filthy losers that should work at a dilapidated taco shop.

No disrespect to anyone that works in a dilapidated taco shop.

If you look at the back of most books, you'll find a quote. It generally looks something like this:

 " This book is *fart sound* and made me feel like *burp*. I was staggered by *itchy balls* with each page I turned."- Gassy guy with itchy balls.

I figured "go big, or go home." Kirkus is a huge brand with a lot of clout, and has a reputation for brutality. Many of you that will read this may have read excerpts of The Black Directive, and you can all attest that my exact words were "cut my throat." Well...I'm ready to dive into the adage of "be careful what you wish for."

Besides; I like tacos. This is really a win- win for me.

Anyway, my thanks and gratitude go to each and everyone that's here. This is my first post back; my first shameless marketing ploy. Take a moment, sign up to follow. Have your friends sign up to follow. Tell your friends' friends to sign up and follow, and if your friends have any pets, have them do it, too.

There's good shit coming, people. I don't care whether you want to debate idiosyncrasies of "The Matrix", or whether "Where's Waldo?" is the most profound thing you've ever read. I dare absolutely anyone to read the first few pages of "The Black Directive" and be able to put it down.

Except for Twi-hards; I don't like your kind.

It's done; The Black Directive is completed

I'm proud (and relieved) to announce that the final version of TBD is done. It's been two and a half years and took five drafts to do, but at an utterly staggering word count of 251,000+, it's finished. How long is 251,000+ words, you ask? Pick up "The Stand," by Stephen King, "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin, or "A Memory of Light" by Jordan...or two Bibles. Yeah, two Bibles should be about right.

Now, I'm supposed to be taking a break. Everyone has told me I should take a few weeks off to relax and celebrate. It's sound advice, truly...but patience has never been one of my virtues. After taking yesterday off, I'm starting work on the second book of the trilogy this evening (Current tentative title "Of Flame and Blood: An Outer Rims Novel").

Also, stay tuned for forth coming artwork. I've reached an agreement with talented underground graffiti artist Ren McBeath for character and scene depictions. I've seen bits and peices of what she already has in mind, and I can't wait.

First Review!

Just got my first review on the full product by someone that wasn't obligated to be nice to me. Check it out after the jump!

Here's the second possible spread for the back cover. I'll probably do a couple more, and then post a poll for people to vote.

The first (almost) blurb

I should have spent the last few days working on possible blurbs (the short introduction on the back cover of a book), but a four day trip to Arizona derailed me. The following is my first submission. It's not really a blurb; it's actually the very first thing I wrote regarding this story, scrawled over two years ago. It was supposed to be the intro to the book, but as much as I loved it, it never really fit as the first page.

So I got to thinking, it might make a great blurb. It needs editing( as I said, it was the first random thoughts that I jotted down when the idea hit me), but check it out and tell me what you think. I still plan on writing a few other possibilities, but consider this the first submission...If you read this while glancing at the back of a book, would you be intrigued enough to make the purchase?

Sample Chapter

I'm going to go ahead and publicly pat myself on the back; I write amazing fight scenes. As much as I enjoy them, especially the ones in the second half of "The Black Directive," for unknown reasons, the following sample is possibly my favorite excerpt from the book. It's pretty much the last period of "happiness" before everything takes a decidedly darker turn...

Sample Chapter from "The Black Directive": Teach Me

So, I've always had a problem with most of the books that I've read.

Fantasy being fantasy, the stereotypical character archetype falls inside the lines of "Hagor, the barbarian! Ultimate bad ass, and destroyer of all things evil!"

He may be able to wipe out an entire army with a sweep of his hammer, but how did Hagor become a bad ass? What did he do? How much did he practice? Who taught him the trade?

The following sample is a chapter that shows my main character, Maqui Tomisson, when she is about seventeen years old, learning the skills that will allow her to go off and hunt a whole bunch of wicked shit as she gets older...