Category Archives: Writing

December 10, 2011 · 5:00 am

Bibliophilic Blather Redux, The Globe, GIMP, and Other Miscellany


I’ve made the big time again.  Twice in two weeks!

Karen Wojcik Berner, author of A Whisper to a Scream (Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble), has once again highlighted one of my pieces for her popular Flash Fiction Friday blog.

Last week was my Christmas tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, in which a sales clerk met an untimely end.  This week is the inevitable sequel—the solving of the crime as if written by Mickey Spillane (with a good dose of humor in the mix, of course).

The Globe—On Monday I announced the upcoming release of my latest murder mystery, The Globe, and displayed a couple of prospective book covers I threw together.  Those two covers were universally panned, so I’m teaching myself GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and seeing if I can come up with a better design before resorting to hiring a graphic design artist.  Hopefully I’ll have something to show by next week.  If not, I’ll be shelling out a few bucks to get it done correctly.

As for GIMP, so far I’m impressed.  It appears to have many of the features I’ve grown accustomed to in Adobe’s Photoshop Elements, but with one vitally important difference—GIMP is FREE!!!  As often as Photoshop Elements gets upgraded (you can go broke trying to stay with a current edition), that’s a very important consideration.

Unfortunately, GIMP also appears to be far more sophisticated than am I, and the learning curve is rather steep.  If I can get a grasp on this program, I’ll be reviewing it in a future photography blog.

And, one other thing before I go.  I have a very demanding cat named Max.  Max knows he’s beautiful, and he likes showing off.  He’s been after me to post his picture.  So, here’s Max saying, “Hi,” to all his new fans:

My name's Max. I like nature (fish & birds), piña coladas, and long walks on your back when you're trying to sleep.

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Filed under Author, Humor, Writing

December 5, 2011 · 4:00 am

Coming Soon—The Globe


I received some initially devastating career news on Friday.  My long time friend and agent has decided to pass on representing my latest novel.  At first I was crushed.  But then I decided, what the heck?  That just means I get to cut out all the middle men and put this literary wonder out as an eBook myself, as I did with Decisions.

So, what is The Globe?  It’s almost 89,000 words, that’s what it is.

Sorry.  Couldn’t resist:

The Globe—38,500 tons of ocean plying opulence housing in its fabulous apartments some of the wealthiest people on the planet.

Reynard Chevalier—The Globe’s security officer.  An expatriate American with a new name, a new country, a new life, and a past that is rapidly catching up and threatening to destroy him.

Staff Captain Katarina Giordano—Reynard’s boss during the day, his lover at night.

Jane Hanover—The Globe’s latest resident.  The fiancé from Reynard’s previous life.  The woman who has sent Reynard’s past careening on a collision course toward his all too vulnerable present.

Charles Hanover, III—Jane’s philandering husband.  A man who rationalizes his infidelities by demanding that his wife also find solace outside their marriage.

Security Officer Sarah Brighton—Reynard’s amorous Number 2.  A woman too young for Reynard and too determined to accept no for an answer.

Sterling Heyward—The Globe’s reclusive owner and Reynard’s best friend and employer.  A man whose enormous wealth was built spilling the blood of others.

The Globe Slasher—A sadistic sociopath with a very large chef’s knife and an insatiable blood lust for the rich and beautiful.  A serial killer who has reached into the distant past to find inspiration for his perverse grotesqueries.

Louis Guignard—The French police captain.  A man stationed in Saint Barts, hundreds of miles from The Globe.  A man walking Reynard through his investigation via a very tenuous internet connection.  A man who knows that it is only matter of time before the Globe Slasher turns on the one person aboard The Globe who can stop the slayings—Reynard Chevalier.

I spent the past two days working on a cover for The Globe, just to see if I could come up with something acceptable.  I’d really appreciate input from my many fans.  Should I go with one of these two covers?  Start from scratch?  Hire out the whole enterprise, as I did with Decisions?  Any ideas?  Here are the concepts:

The Globe—Cover 1

The Globe—Cover 2

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Filed under Author, Books, eReaders, Writing

December 2, 2011 · 5:07 pm

Bibliophilic Blather


Karen Wojcik Berner, author of A Whisper to a Scream (Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble), has a guest author today for her Flash Fiction Friday blog.

Is it just me, or does this piece and the author’s name look vaguely familiar?  Many thanks to Karen for letting me contribute a piece to her great blog.

I have a major announcement to make on Monday—one that is both sad and exciting at the same time.  The upshot is that my loss is your gain, and perhaps through your gain I’ll be able to salvage something from this latest setback.

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Filed under Author, Writing