Monday, May 23, 2011

"Baby Talk" Has Been Released!


Happy to report I'm the proud father of a new "baby" just delivered to the Amazon Kindle stores (USA, UK and Germany). Only the tyke in this book--"Baby Talk"-- isn't the little bundle of joy that most daddies expect. At least not to Neil Becker, the protagonist of the story.

Neil is a miserable 19 year old who dropped out of college to marry and support Annie, a girl that he got pregnant. Neil was against Annie having the baby for the start, feeling that neither one of them were psychologically or financially prepared to bring up a child, and urged her to have an abortion. But Annie insisted on having the Natasha, and, pestered by a guilty conscience, Neal decided to marry her.

But all that's back story. When the book opens, it's five months after little Natasha is born...and she starts talking to Neal.

Or so he thinks.

Of course, little Natasha never speaks in front of anyone else, especially Annie. But soon, even stranger things start happening, and Neal begins to believe the baby is "out to get him. " Annie is sure he's cracking up--she thinks his breakdown is driven by the guilt Neal feels over wanting the pregnancy terminated.

By the end of the book, Neal and the baby are engaged in a knock-down, drag out battle of wills that goes far, far over the top. Yet, readers wonder...is Neal simply imagining all this, or is it really happening? The end of the book is as shocking as that of Wild Child, and readers will know the answer.

My beta readers say that story is both creepy and hilarious at the same time: a black comedy that borders on horror. It's not for everyone--some may find the notion of a "mean baby" distasteful, and they shouldn't read the book. But, as one reader recently said, "Anyone who ever brought up kids will tell you that they can be absolutely devilish at times."

You can read a sample here.

Better yet, buy it right now! Here are the links to Amazon:


Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble
Diesel SonySmashwords

Sunday, May 22, 2011

New Green Water Video!

In this new video, I test the effects of the green water on an animal. In this case, an ordinary house cat.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Readers, Writers, and The Curse of Genre

In my 25 years of writing fiction, the most frustrating thing I've experienced with publishers and literary agents is what I call The Curse of Genre. If your book does not cleanly fit into one of the predefined categories--mystery, young adult, romance, etc.--booksellers supposedly won't know what to do with it and publishers summarily reject you.

Well, my books never fit into one of those neat little categories. I'm simply not that kind of writer.

Take Wild Child, for example. Is it young adult? Is it fantasy? Is it romance? Is it sci-fi?

The answer is, it's a little of all of these genres. When I originally wrote the book, I wasn't thinking about any of this. I just crafted the best story I could possibly write, hoping to engage and entertain readers on every page, and to keep them nailed to the book all the way to the end. The genre terms "young adult," "fantasy," "romance," never entered my mind! (It was the publishers, by the way, who Wild Child as "young adult," because the main characters are 18 & 19 years old. Wrongly, I think, because adults like this book just as much as young adults or kids.)

These genre delineations are artificial, created by the distribution and sales networks out of a need to organize what they are selling into groups. I know that many readers drive this categorization, but there are plenty of others who want more variety and uniqueness in the books they have to choose from. The worst thing is that writers begin to adapt to the genre narrowness, which limits their creative expression and tends to result in cookie-cutter books that fit nicely into certain categories but are lacking in originality.

The good news is that the advent of self-publishing and the ebook revolution are a perfect antidote for The Curse of Genre. In short, writers don't have to put up with it anymore. I no longer have to listen to that tired old line that publishers have been feeding me for the past 25 years: "Loved your book, Mike, but have no idea how to sell it." And readers can look forward access to books that are much more varied and original.

My advice to writers who are publishing ebooks is to choose the genre that seems like the best description of your story and if that doesn't work, change it.  This is relatively easy to do and on Amazon and most ebook sites and only takes a matter of a day or two before the book appears under a new genre category.  Also, most retailers allow two genre selections for each book, which also gives you flexibility.

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Friday, May 20, 2011

Thriller Author Mel Comley Signs with NYC Agent Richard Curtis


A big congratulations to my friend and fellow fiction writer, Melanie Comley--she just signed on with Richard Curtis, one of the top literary agents in NYC. Mel has sold 10,000+ copies of her Impeding Justice series of thrillers all by herself, online, and from FRANCE, no less. Check out her books http://tinyurl.com/367w5db


P.S. It warms my heart to know that I'm the one who introduced Mel and Richard to each other. :)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Video Interview on Confessions of a Readaholic

Rabiah, of the Confessions of a Readaholic book blog, just posted a video author interview I made for her about Wild Child. She asked some very good questions. Thanks, Rabiah!

Spring is Back!

It's finally warmed up today in Oxford, will go for a dip in the River Cherwell.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

There's No Such Thing as the Green Water

You have to watch this. In this 1 minute video, I prove beyond any doubt that there is no such thing as the "green water."

Watch on YouTube or below:


Wild Child Now Available on Goodreads

I've just uploaded an ebook version of Wild Child for the Goodreads ereader--didn't know they were selling ebooks on their site until today. Do any of my followers buy ebooks there? Just wondering...

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Kyle Dunlap, Jr. has Been Located

I'm happy to report that Kyle Dunlap, Jr., the protagonist of Wild Child, has been located. I'd like to say that he's safe and sound, but that wouldn't be accurate. He's pretty shaken up, deeply troubled by what happened in the last episode, and mentally preparing himself for what he knows he has to do next.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Video Interview on Midnight Reads

Bungle at Midnight Reads (a young adult book blog) was kind enough to ask me create a video interview about Wild Child, and it was posted on the blog today. Bungle asked some very good questions (there was even a fill-in-the-blank!). If you watch it, please view it all the way to the end, there's a little surprise. :)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A Big Thank You to All YA Book Bloggers!

I just want to give a big, heartfelt thank you to all the YA book bloggers out there. You people are awesome! There are so many great writers and thinkers among yourselves. I've received invaluable feedback on Wild Child, so many insightful comments and reflections, story & character aspects that I never would have seen myself, and lots of things that have really sparked my creative juices in writing the sequel and making the story into a series.

Specifically, I want to thank Halinor at Assortments, Jessica at The Tales Compendium, Becky at Becky Barmy's Book Blog, Rachel at Rachel's Book Reviews, Brielle at Awesome Bookworm, Bungle at Midnight Reads, Kelly at The Bookscape Report, O'Dell at BookTwirps, Dulcy at My Summer Girl Books, Heather at Nightly Reading, Rabiah at Confessions of a Readaholic, and Tiger at All-Consuming Books.

Thank you all so much!

Monday, May 9, 2011

This week I'm the featured author on thriller writer Mel Comley's great blog http://tinyurl.com/5rmpkvo Thank you, Mel! You're the best!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Wild Child will be a Series!

This past few days I've decided that I'm going to write more Wild Child books and make it a series. This is based on reader and book reviewer (blogger) feedback.

I plan to keep the same short, fast-paced format of Wild Child and feature more adventures will Kyle and Briana. The second book (as yet unnamed) will take up where the first book left off.

I hope to write these books relatively fast, perhaps one book every two months, or even faster.

I have already dived into the first book and should be finished in about a month.

Which means I need to stop writing blog entries and get back to work!