Thursday, July 30, 2009

First SSP Blog-Interview is up, and first IMM Podcast one day from upload.

Just a quick late night post, to say that I FINALLY got the kickoff of the new blog series on the Seventh Star Press blog site up and going, featuring D.A. Adams of The Brotherhood of Dwarves series. It is all at: http://seventhstarpress.blogspot.com

The first podcast for the Indie Movie Masters blog site is now edited and complete, and will be posted by tomorrow evening. This one features Stephen Lackey, and covers his full spectrum of endeavors, such as Captain Pixel and Cinegeek, as our blog interview of him was mainly focused on Con Trek.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

On the eve of the new SSP Blog Series.

I'm sitting here about a day away from the kickoff of the new blog/interview and podcast series for Seventh Star Press, which will be like a sibling to the similar thing I've been doing for Indie Movie Masters.

I'm really excited about this series, as it is a chance for me to put the spotlight on some very talented individuals that I have come across during my travels to conventions and events.

The first one is going to be excellent, featuring D.A. Adams, author of The Brotherhood of Dwarves series. Each of these blogs will have an interview, brief introductory article, AND a book review.

It is a very, very hard road to be a small press author or independent filmmaker. I know from direct experience. This is why I am very sensitive towards others who have taken on this hard road, and it is what motivates me to a series like this. I hope it results in producing some good showcases of some very gifted individuals, and makes their path just a little easier if it can raise awareness and interest in them.

From time to time I will also be highlighting some events and bloggers as well.

Some of the books that will be reviewed shortly include Jackie Gamber's Redheart, H. David Blalock's Ascendant, Lettie Prell's Dragon Ring, and TammyJo Eckhart's Servants of Destiny. Farther ahead, I'm hoping to cover Michael Sullivan, Maurice Broaddus, Jason Sizemore, Elizabeth Donald, Angelia Sparrow, Sara Harvey, and more on either the podcast or blog series. This should be alot of fun, and all of those featured are individuals that I have met in person, whose work I have read personally, and who exemplify what is great about the small press world. It is definitely one of the highlights of going to alot of conventions to be able to meet such individuals. I hope all of them become best sellers! ;)

Well, back to work, I've been digging away at corrections on the new medieval fantasy book, making great progress on it. I will also post some thoughts on a collection of horror short stories I'm working on, and a horror novella... stay tuned!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Hitting stride!

Last couple of days have seen a ton of progress on the manuscript of the new book. I've gotten to spend a load of hours working on the changes and corrections, and I am pleased to say that alot has been done. It is always great to get into the "zone", though time does tend to fly. We've still got a couple decisions to make at the end of the book, in terms of the exact thread sections to end it on.

I do think that we are going to look to have one section from the second book tagged at the end as a preview for book 2, which will contain one heckuva teaser for the sequel.

On another note, I'm getting ready to interview Stephen and Suzie Lackey tonight for Indie Movie Master's new podcast. Should be a great one, and I'm stoked to kick it off with Nashville's Dynamic Duo!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Progress, New Books, New Podcasts, InConJunction, and more!

The past couple of weeks have definitely been very busy on this end.

First off, as you know from the last post, my wondrous editor Amanda DeBord turned in her edits of the first book of the new medieval fantasy series to me on 7/7. I am well underway on working with the red ink. It is a very healthy process, as Amanda often saves me from myself, and she really "gets it" as far as the series and what I'm trying to do with it.

Matt Perry is underway on the artwork, narrowing down design ideas and beginning initial sketches for what we hope will be at least 10 illustrations, the cover, and a bonus illustration for the limited edition version of the medieval fantasy series kickoff. Matt has some really intruiging ideas regarding the approach that he wants to take for this series of art, and I can guarantee you that it will come out first rate.

And as if that all is not enough for you...

I do have a short story that I am sending over to Amanda for a new horror anthology that she is editing together, to be released this fall via Seventh Star Press. This story is being used by Matt Perry for a special sequential art project kicking off at the beginning of September. I'll have some news posted here about that.

This has all led to some notions that I am exploring regarding a full-blown "Books of Blood" style horror anthology. I have several stories and story ideas in "The Vault" which have some thematic continuity, and are straight out horror genre pieces. LIke the short story I am sending over to Amanda that is being used by Matt for his sequential art project, these stories are very macabre, visceral, and definitely reveal a little of my Clive Barker influence...very different from the fantasy series material in the Rising Dawn Saga and the new medieval fantasy series. Matt and I are discussing doing a full blown graphic novel-style version of a series of short stories later, once a narrative version has been released. This is slowly growing into an exciting project. I don't project more than 5-6 stories for the first release, if this all moves ahead.

Stay tuned on that one for sure!

I am hopefully going to be announcing a very exciting new short film project involving H. David Blalock's novel Ascendant. We are looking at doing a short film revolving around a pivotal fight between champions of good and evil that takes place in the book, and it looks as if we are going to move forward pretty heavily in August on this project. I will be serving as a director and producer, and will be working on the adaptation of the novel elements to the screen. I am very, very enthusiastic about this project. We are already beginning to reach out to some professional Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the superheavyweight class to look at for casting the two main fighters, if that gives you any idea of the imagery and explosiveness we want to capture in this fight scene.

I am also an acting producer on a short film project with my pal Scott Sullivan, which we hope will be shooting in late August/Early September. More on that shortly as well.

I am also going to be launching a new series of blog interviews/reviews and podcasts for Seventh Star Press featuring authors, small publishers, and the like. It will be carried at the Seventh Star Blog site. It will spotlight writers and small press figures that I have met during my adventures to various Cons and other events. I will highlight books that I would like to bring to people's attention. Jackie Gamber, Lettie Prell, D.A. Adams, H. David Blalock, Nic Brown, Maurice Broaddus and Tammy Jo Eckhart are among the first batch that I will be looking to cover, as far as reviews/interviews go. I also hope to do a piece on Meadowhawk Press and another on Apex Publications.

On the film side of things, the Indie Movie Masters blog interviews are well underway, with recent visits with the indie film site Dead Harvey, as well as Ken Daniels, the director of the Fright Night Film Festival. Next on deck is an interview with Stephen and Suzie Lackey of the Con Trek series that is currently being featured on the XboX. We will soon integrate the IMM Podcast on the Indie Movie Masters blog page, and will likely have Stephen and Suzie on the kickoff interview. I hope to soon be visiting with guests such as Jon Klement of Smerdiverse fame, Wayne Clingman of Indy Film Wisconsin, Mark Racop of the Starship movies, and more!

My journey to InConJunction did go very well, by the way. I served on 4 panels, and had a fairly smooth experience all around. The Con is more of a full media event, and as such I got to participate in a couple of panels on blogging, in addition to a couple of literary panels that were stacked with some really fantastic authors (Such as Maurice Broaddus, pictured with me in front of the Apex Publishing banner.

I finally got to hang out a bit with Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications, who is located in my home base of Lexington. I hope to be doing some work with Jason with the Imagicopter project in the near future, as well as some other activities related to promoting small press in our area.

On the film side of things, I got to meet Chuck Budreau of Indy Film News, a resource and networking group for Indiana Filmmakers. I also caught back up with Mark Racop of MagicHouse Productions, who is in the process of finishing up his new sci-fi movie Starship II. I met Mark at a DragonCon a few years back, and he participated in a film/music industry conference I ran for a few years here in Lexington, and it was fantastic to get in touch with him again. His new movie looks like it is going to be really good, with some really nice visuals, so be sure to check out Starship II when it is released.

I also wanted to mention that it was a real pleasure meeting Tammy Jo Eckhart, a very good writer (I am going to be posting a review and interview with her for her book Servant of Destiny) who also happens to be the mastermind behind The Chocolate Cult. Yes, there really is a cult of chocolate now, officially!

Michelle Gussow was also awesome, and I can't wait to see her new short film, Soldier's Song, which looks to pack an emotional wallop! (and big kudos to her as a director for having a scene with a very extended single camera shot! Nice to see someone can still execute something like that in this world of five cuts per second editing)

Also, stay on the lookout for a new book by Angelia Sparrow and Naomi Brooks. I had the great privilege of getting to read this book in advance for consideration of giving a blurb, which I was happy to do as the writing was excellent and the story imaginative and tight. I can't wait to talk more about this book when it goes public.

Well, that about sums things up at the moment! Be sure to stay tuned as there are going to be alot of updates and notices forthcoming!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

7/7 and Seventh Star! Final edit of the new book is done!

Had to put up a quick post...thoughts on my adventures at InConJunction are forthcoming, but I just realized that it is 7/7 today, and Amanda just handed in the final section of the edit of the first book of my new medieval fantasy series. As it will be out this fall through Seventh Star Press, I guess that 7's are up!

I also am happy to say that the target is spring of 2010 for the sequel to The Exodus Gate, and Seventh Star Press will also be releasing a horror anthology this fall (focus on paranormal/supernatural).

It was a great meeting today for sure!

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