- I’m moving to Florida at the end of the year. White sand beach, great weather, small town, good university (I’m studying Marine Archaeology now, too, btw).
- Yes, I’ll still be writing. In fact, I’ll be devoting much more time to it. Not sure what will come out next – still trying to find THAT project (you writers know what I mean).
Another Very Occasional Update – With a Story!
Posted: October 16, 2017 by Jason Kristopher in UncategorizedA New Year Brings New Challenges
Posted: February 28, 2017 by Jason Kristopher in Everything ElseTags: beginning, steak tartare, update, work in progress
Waaay back in June, I posted my most recent update, letting my readers know about the availability of Beginning, the third and final volume in my zombie trilogy The Dying of the Light. In my opinion, it’s my best work to date and has been well-received by readers of the first two. Plus my mom. Which is always nice. If you’ve read the book, please please please please review it anywhere you can. Here’s a handy link if that helps: http://smarturl.it/review-beginning
In that same post, I talked briefly about the project I was working on at the time, Steak Tartare: A Supper Club Novel. Here’s the synopsis:
In 1948, former OSS officer Jackson Grey just wants to run his LA supper club and forget the horrors of WWII. When he wakes up thousands of miles away on Waikiki Beach, having been left for dead with no memory of how he got there, one thing is clear: the past has a way of catching up with you.
I completed this novella at a much-shorter-than-average 42,000 words or so, and while it initially garnered much acclaim from my critique group, a trusted group of my fellow authors, it did not carry that acclaim through to the end. To wit, there was not much rejoicing. I still plan to go back and ‘fix’ it, but not for awhile. It took most of a year to write, even at such a low word count, and I need some space. Those of you who are writers or hang around writers know this is not unusual.
So, while I have stuck to my self-imposed quota of one book a year, it’s on to a new and different project for 2017! The question is… what will that project be? As I write this, I’m looking over what I call my Fiction Development Matrix – the list of my ideas for new projects – and it has 134 ideas. Most of them will never see the light of day, but it’s still a little daunting when trying to figure out what to write next.
Will it be the near-future sci-fi dystopian story, set post Cheeto-POTUS? Or the middle-grade teddy bear story? Perhaps I’ll start the long-discussed Fallen Kingdom series [epic fantasy], or the steampunk Industrial Revolution, or the pseudo-western that follows a clan from 18th-century Texas through to the far future? What about the urban fantasy set in a world where vampires and other monsters are real but are in no way magical or supernatural? Lloyd Monroe could probably use some more time ‘under the pen,’ as it were.
Whatever I come up with, I’ll share it here. I won’t promise to blog more because that’s a fool’s errand. But I will promise that, when I have something, I’ll share it with you, my loyal and ill-treated fans. Thanks, as always, for your kindness, your reviews, and your support!
So, It’s Been A While… Time for an Update!
Posted: June 10, 2016 by Jason Kristopher in Everything ElseTags: appearances, beginning, steak tartare, update, work in progress
“Beginning” Finished, Available Now Everywhere
The third and final book in my zombie apocalypse series, The Dying of the Light: Beginning, is out! Get it here:
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He awoke and, for the first time in almost twenty-five years, remembered who he was…
Twenty years after Z-Day, a handful of survivors are left in massive underground bunkers. It’s finally time to take back the surface… and yet, as always, the worst enemy is not the walkers, but each other. When a new and deadlier Z-Day threatens, will Eden Blake and the other survivors find a way to defeat it—or doom humanity to extinction?
If you’ve already read it, as I’m sure some of you have, please leave a review! Reviews are the single easiest and best way to support indie authors and small press. As to the future of the series, I currently have no plans to add any more full-length books (sorry!), but will be adding on to the short story companion volume The Walker Chronicles from time to time.
New Project: “Steak Tartare”
My current work-in-progress is a completely different type of story, and will be much shorter, I expect.
In 1948, former OSS officer Jackson Grey just wants to run his LA supper club and forget the horrors of WWII. When he wakes up thousands of miles away on Waikiki Beach, having been left for dead with no memory of how he got there, one thing is clear: the past has a way of catching up with you.
Filled with intrigue, action, and mysterious dames, this thriller will follow our anti-hero as he figures out why he’s been brought 2,500 miles from home – and how he can get out of the mess he’s in. Told in the style of a 1940s version of Travis McGee, this will (hopefully) be the first in a long series of “summer/beach” reads that are fun, interesting, and engaging. I’m already planning for books 2 and 3 (Arroz con Pollo, set in Panama, and Beef Wellington, set in London, respectively).
So far, the notes from my critique group are highly promising, with comments such as “a very Maltese Falcon feel to it” – which of course is exactly what I’m going for. Stay tuned here and on Facebook for the latest and greatest on that.
Upcoming Appearances
I’ll be on at least one panel next weekend at Comicpalooza, “Indie Panel: Self Publishing – The Ins and Outs” on Friday at 1pm. I’ll also have a table in Artist’s Alley – #2305, right next to my friend and fellow Gecko Jessica Von Braun. I’m debuting some of the jewelry I make for Rolling Dwarf Studios, but of course I’ll have copies of all my books to sell and sign!
Good news for all of my patient readers out there: Beginning is now in the hands of my editor!
What does this mean? It means we’re on track for a January 1 release date. It also means the book is now available to pre-order on Amazon and the Grey Gecko Press website. If you want to preorder the print editions, you’ll need to go direct through Grey Gecko, but if you’re a Kindle fan, you can pre-order that on Amazon.com. Here are the links
or
Grey Gecko Press (All Editions)
What do you get for being cool enough to pre-order?
BONUS #1: All preorders will come individually autographed with a special surprise bonus gift, and print orders will get the ebook free, as always.
BONUS #2: As a thank you to my loyal and oh-so-patient readers, and only for the earliest preorders, I’ll send you the ebook as soon as it’s ready to go, a month or so before the official release date (maybe sooner)!
More news! The Walker Chronicles: Tales from the Dying of the Light is now free in ebook pretty much everywhere. Here’s the Kindle link: http://ow.ly/Tb6yV
“The Dying of the Light: Beginning” Update: It’s DONE!
Posted: August 31, 2015 by Jason Kristopher in My Work, ZombiesYes, you read that right. Over the weekend, I finished Beginning, the final book in my trilogy. It still needs revision, but I’m going to bust my ass over the next month to get that done and get it out to my editor. The current release date is January 1, 2016—exactly 3 years after the previous book, Interval. We’re going to do our best to get it out before then, though.
You can preorder the book right now direct from Grey Gecko Press, and it comes with some pretty cool bonus stuff just for you long-suffering and oh-so-patient readers.
BONUS #1: All preorders will come individually autographed with a special surprise bonus gift, and print orders will get the ebook free, as always.
BONUS #2: As a thank you to my loyal and oh-so-patient readers, and only for the earliest preorders, I’ll send you the ebook as soon as it’s ready to go, a month or so before the official release date (maybe sooner)!
I know everyone has been waiting a long time for this – no one longer than me! I’m happy to be able to give you this news. I hope you’ll be patient just a tiny bit longer. I promise, it’ll be worth the wait (at least, I think it is!).
Apollocon 2015 Schedule
Posted: June 7, 2015 by Jason Kristopher in Everything ElseTags: apollocon, conventions, Genesis of Creation, George Wright Padgett, wayne basta
Like last year, I will be attending Apollocon 2015 as a guest/panelist/workshopist. Here’s the schedule of my appearances and stuff.
This year, I get to run one of my all-time favorite workshops, The Genesis of Creation: Where We Get Our Ideas. It’s very audience-participatory, there are prizes from sponsor Grey Gecko Press (my publisher), and it’s a ton of fun.
This time around, I have some great folks helping me out, including George Wright Padgett, Wayne Basta, Shannon Winton, and Jonathan Guthrie! The other panels look pretty cool, too, so come check out this awesome con!
Apollocon 2015 runs June 19th – 21st at the Westin Houston Memorial City Hotel located at 945 Gessner Road, Houston, TX 77042.