Reviews of the Comic Book FORTUNE

Tom Joyce, author of THE FREAK FOUNDATION OPERATIVE’S REPORT and a former reporter for the York Daily Record, recently reviewed the comic book FORTUNE which Dillon Samuelson and I published:

“Fortune” is Noir Done Right

Tom describes FORTUNE as “a fast-paced, efficiently told, wryly funny snapshot of a decidedly unglamorous criminal enterprise.” Which is exactly how I hoped it would turn out.

Here’s how you can get FORTUNE:

FORTUNE was also reviewed recently at BleedingCool.com — on the same page as reviews of Star Wars #1, Hellbreak #1, Conan/Red Sonja #1, and Ultimate Spider-Man #9. Wow.

Reviewer Cat Taylor says “the concept is rather original” and “give[s] the art a few points for originality.” (One minor note of clarification: Comixology required me to list FORTUNE as being part of a series when I uploaded it. The comic is, however, a standalone.)

My thanks to Tom and Cat for taking the time to read and review FORTUNE!

Word Crimes Podcast: Episode 22

The second episode of Season 2 of the Title 18: Word Crimes Podcast — Episode 22 overall — is out!

On this episode, Scott Detrow reads “Bliss” by Merry Jones. “Bliss” originally appeared in the anthology Liar Liar, published by The Liars Club.

Enjoy!

Download Episode 22
Show Notes for Episode 22
Subscribe to Word Crimes on iTunes and Stitcher

Did you enjoy this episode of the Word Crimes podcast? Let us know by posting a comment here, on Twitter or Facebook — or, best of all, rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks!

Word Crimes Podcast: Episode 21

The first episode of Season 2 of the Title 18: Word Crimes Podcast — Episode 21 overall — is now available!

On this episode, Scott Detrow reads “Luck” by Anthony Award-winning author Johnny Shaw. “Luck” was originally published in Thuglit (you can get it right here in Issue #1).

Enjoy!

Download Episode 21
Show Notes for Episode 21
Subscribe to Word Crimes on iTunes and Stitcher

Did you enjoy this episode of the Word Crimes podcast? Let us know by posting a comment here, on Twitter or Facebook — or, best of all, rate the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks!

Looking Back at 2014

Year-end reports have become a sort of tradition for me, at least if three consecutive years can be called a “tradition.” (Here are my looks back at 2013 and 2012.)

So how was 2014?

Tremendously fun, so… win!

New short stories were published by Akashic Books’ Mondays Are Murder (“Sugartime”), Out of the Gutter Online’s Flash Fiction Offensive (“Not My Gun”), and NEEDLE Magazine (“Alive”). And I had a new story accepted by The Big Adios (“A Decent Hand”), which should be published in early 2015.

I also made good progress on some book-length projects. Hopefully, you’ll hear about one or more of those over the next 12 months.

But, looking back, what stands out about 2014 for me were the many collaborations with friends.
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Review of the Criminal Words Audiobook

Madeline McEwen-Asker penned a great review of the CRIMINAL WORDS audiobook, which features 14 stories read by Scott Detrow.

I love the approach she took — commenting on each of the 14 stories. Check out Madeline’s review and then if you’re interested, download CRIMINAL WORDS for free.

Here’s a bit more background on CRIMINAL WORDS.

“Alive” in Needle Magazine

I’m stoked to have ended 2014 with a short story in the same issue of NEEDLE Magazine as David Corbett, a tremendous author who was also a fantastic teacher in the LitReactor class I took from him a couple of years ago.

My short story “Alive” is in the Winter 2014-15 issue of NEEDLE, along with stories by David, Sarah Askins, Jeff Barr, C.M. Beckett, Nigel Bird, Kim Bradley, Steve De Jarnatt, Paul J. Garth, Ed Kurtz, Elahzar Rao, Chris Rhatigan, Albert Tucher, and Laura Woollett. Scott Morse did the excellent cover art.

“Alive” — which borrows its title from a song by The Throes — is set in January 1953. Here’s the opening paragraph:

Grigor Dragunov remembered when Leningrad was Petrograd. He also remembered when it was Saint Petersburg. No matter what the government decided to call the seaport city, it was a miserably cold place to live at the end of January. A bone-chilling wind leaked through the thin walls of his small third-floor apartment, and the moment he stepped out of bed his arthritis flared up. He swallowed two aspirin, as advised by his doctor — assuming the fool had a genuine medical degree, which Grigor doubted — but experience had taught him a better way to dull the pain: vodka.

NEEDLE’s always a fantastic read, full of top-notch fiction. I can’t wait to get my hands on this issue. You can buy a copy here.

By the way, David Corbett’s teaching a four-week LitReactor class starting January 13. Sign up for The Craft of Character. I promise you won’t regret it.

Publishing Books on NoiseTrade

One of the things I appreciate most about indie authors is their willingness to share data on what they’ve tried, helping other authors decide if it makes sense for them. In that spirit…

This year (2014), I self-published three books on NoiseTrade, a site mostly known for indie music but which also provides free downloads of books. As the publishing industry continues to evolve, it seemed to make good sense to experiment with a relatively new service.

The only “catch” to downloading free books and music from NoiseTrade is that you have to provide a working email address in order to complete the download — which of course allows the author or musician to add you to his or her mailing list.

(The site also encourages people to tip the authors and musicians. One source of NoiseTrade’s revenue is that they keep a percentage of those tips. For my projects, I focused much more on downloads than tips.)

The first book I published on NoiseTrade was FORTUNE, a comic book I scripted with art by the amazing Dillon Samuelson.
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