Spectricity Books

Yes, On-break Jake is back and The Odd Pizza Place is available in a new edition for 99 cents! I was inspired by my favorite yoga instructor to give away more for free. Unfortunately, I can’t give away The Odd Pizza Place for free yet on Amazon, because I have to do this Draconian price-matching ritual to get it priced at free there. But I digress…

The second 80s vampire book, Sex, Blood, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, is completed as far as manuscripts go. It’s still in editing, but it WILL be launched this winter. The official title is An 80s Kind of Vampire 2: Sex, Blood, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.

I’ve also got another Despair ‘verse series that I’m getting in shape. The series is The Spirit Gods, and the first title is Seers. That one is close to being cleaned up, and might launch sooner than even the vampire one!

For some reason I can’t quite comprehend, other people seem to want to know what I’m watching, reading, etc. So I’ll tell you. I watch a lot of comedy movies. Recently I almost killed myself watching The Naked Gun again (near death was from laughter). I also saw Yes Man for the first time. I like the new Pink Panther with Steve Martin and Jean Renu, and it makes me happy to see them working and still making projects as they get on up there in age. I hope I can do the same. I liked the old Pink Panther, too, which I must have been watching at age 3 with my young, free-wheeling parents in the mid-70s. Racist and sexist stereotypes aside, Peter Sellers was a genius of comedy.

In the world of speculative fiction, I’ve been watching iZombie with great fascination. The plot is fairly intricate, the zombies are sophisticated, the actors are compelling. But it’s not overly dramatic and emotional, which is basically what turned me off to Sherlock. See, I like a mystery. iZombie serves those up every episode, and I appreciate the consistent structure. Sherlock, it turns out, was fascinating me due to the fact that it had scraps of the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tales (which I read at some point. Who can remember). Once I realized it was the persistent genius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the mysteries that kept pulling me in, I dropped the show. I prefer mystery to a lot of soppy drama. This is why I occasionally get hooked watching Cold Case Files for a finity of time. It’s the mystery, man!

Finally, books. My friend Joe gave me an old-school vampire book called Night Thirst that is so bad, it’s good, and I’ve been reading it a little at a time. I’ve actually learned some things about fast-paced storytelling from it, so never discount any possible source of learning. Well, unless it’s asking you to pay $5000. Then I’d seek alternative means.

I’m also exploring the world of Sterling and Stone, a story studio that pumps out many, many books. I like their business model, and I’ve finally gotten around to checking out the books. I think the one I started on is called Invasion by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. I’ve been following these guys lurkily since their early days with the self-publishing podcast, and I still feel like we could hang out, have beer and peanuts, and talk craft. So far, I can at least say with certainty that their prose intrigues me more than that of Night Thirst.

Cheers!

Leslie Edens