The Spring of Cthulhu

Today I received copies of the first Cthulhu Mythos story I had published in fourteen years, namely Pnakotic Reaction in the excellent Fall of Cthulhu, edited by Douglas Draa.
I was pleased as punch, even after I discovered (oh noesssss) a couple of formatting errors (mine).
It happens.
I got the book(s) at @4:45. It’s 8:15 pm, and I’ve already read the whole thing.
Must say, you should have a copy. Very very good anthology. My piece, the third-to-last, is followed by a terrific poem by Frederick J. Mayer. The leadoff hitter is Wilum Pugmire.

Sweet. The last piece I had published under my byline was Parchment, in Dark Legacy, edited by Ran Cartwright and Ron Shiflet. That got expanded to 8k words and is now called Ink, and will be in Crazytown. Parchment is already in before Crazytown, which is just about to head to Amazon and (hopefully) a wider audience, after moving at the rate of a hundred or so per month while at Smashwords.

Maybe one day I’ll get a review. Heh. Then a positive one. Heh heh.
I’ve also uploaded several pieces to my newish YouTube channel, and will be adding many more in the near future, starting with those songs that have literary inspirations.

I’ve sold three other Mythos pieces, but they’re not yet slated to appear. More are on the way, one of which is a collaborative effort with a well-known and much-lauded poet and author.

Tomorrow, more words about that, and some other irons in the fire.

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Fund and Games

As an independent publisher, one of my chief joys and major headaches is in manufacturing or locating art appropriate for my books. I’ve been fortunate and have found talented artists who can and will create astonishing visuals for my front/back covers.
I combed through deviantart first, but nobody ever responded to contact attempts. Did some of my own art/covers, but I’d like to gain exposure for some people along with myself.
So I started looking at semiprofessionals and professionals. The issue is that people like that like to be paid, and I’m on the Federal tit. I write for pocket money.
Low overhead…bang for the buck.

Conundrum.
But it turns out to be okay. I just can’t front the money. The costs will be recouped fairly quickly-for example, 25 copies of Fear and Loathing In Innsmouth (@9.99 each) will pay the overhead.

So….raise the money.

The successful campaign to raise the funds for hosting/consulting for Letters from Outside now folds in to the Duane’s Books campaign. I’ve added a couple of cool incentives, to wit: free ebooks and autographed copies of books.
I’ve already paid artists Candra Hope and JB Lee for their outstanding work. Ian Sidlow was generous enough to donate a photograph for another cover, for a book that isn’t listed on the publication schedule for the campaign. (Surprises!) Killer stylists Will Jacques and Ryan Case remain to be paid. I’m still looking for one more piece, and I’ve made/am making the rest of the material, plus promo videos, audio versions, and other gizmos and gimcracks.
Whatever I can’t do myself will be crowdfunded, and others will be able to win too. That seems the best way to go about things, to me.