Scary Monkeys and Other Childhood Phobias

38,864 and Wheels & Heels Against MS time...

2008-07-01T12:51:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Janet's impeccable driving to and from vacation last week, I was able to make some good headway with Lost in the Woods, bring the word count of the first draft up to almost 39,000 words. Halfway there, and seems about right, as I've reached the mid-point climax involving a gunshot to the chest. Always pleasant....

I'll probably drop a little in my word acceleration because L.L.Soares writes too fast and our novelette Nightmare in Greasepaint is back on my side of the net. This is shaping to be a pretty cool one, though. Never wrote a novella/novelette before but Lauran was right when he said this early, early short story of mine (written 20 years ago believe it or not) is long-form material. We'll see when it's wrapped up, though. Later drafts always cuts the word count down (if you edit properly).

Oh, and special congratulations to my son Andrew for acheiving the level of brown-black belt in Kempo karate. (and for getting a 790 on his Math SAT...!)

So much - news on Coach's Midnight Diner Volume 2 coming soon, containing my new story "Box". .

And I got a sneak peak from editor/publisher Michael Krug of the cover of the German edition of Plague of Darkness (Plage der Finsternis), due out from Otherworld Verlag in January 2009. I'll share it when it becomes the official cover, but it's dark, and very, very cool.

To the important point of today's entry, a special message I proudly deliver each year from my brother and sister:

Hi, everyone -
Over the past five years, I have Emailed to ask you to be a hero in the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. And, each year, you have answered that call and much more. I cannot thank you all enough for always being there.

Just to give you an idea of the financial impact you have had, our team -- Wheels and Heels Against MS -- last year received a plaque from The National MS Society stating that we had, over those years, raised over $50,000!! The award is a true testament to your incredible generosity!

These funds go such a long way toward funding the vital efforts of The National MS Society. Remarkable advances have been made these past few years, searching for a cure. The money you have donated have helped greatly in those efforts, as well as helping to pay for local education, support and advocacy programs that mean so much to those individuals battling this terrible disease.

Once again, my sister Anne Murphy defies her MS and joins her wheels (her hand-pedalled sports bike) to our heels in our 3-Day, 50-mile journey. From September 5th to 7th, we will be joining hundreds of others at the Cape [Cod, Massachusetts], proudly pushing our bodies to the limit in the fight against MS. We look forward as always to this challenge and hope that you will again
join us in our efforts.

Obviously, we are the midst of very difficult economic times and your resources are being stretched extremely thin. But if there is anything you can spare - no matter the amount - it would make such a big difference and is so greatly appreciated.

There are several ways you can help.
* Log onto our fundraising site, http://www.wheelsandheelsagainstms.com/, and make an online pledge.
* Mail a check, payable to The National MS Society, to either Anne or I. Our addresses are:

Paul Keohane / 2 Jillian Rose Dr /Oxford, MA 01540
Anne Murphy / 16 Kenneth Lane / Tewsbury MA 01876

* Forward this to others and ask for their help in our cause.

Thank you all so very much!!!
- Paul Keohane

Jack Haringa Must Die! and Dark Harvest

2008-06-18T07:35:00.004-05:00

I'm way behind in posting this first part, my apologies!

Remember back in March when I killed off one of my fellow central Mass writers in the first official Kill Jack Haringa on Your Blog Day? Well, a number of these entries, mine included, have been collected in a small paperback (104 pp) edited by Nick Kaufmann, called Jack Haringa Must Die! 28 Original Tales of Madness, Terror and Strictly Grammatical Murder. They did this, aside from the It Would Be A Hoot Factor, to raise funds for the newly established Shirley Jackson Award. Though the book is currently available from Amazon, if you order directly from the Awards Website they keep a much higher percentage of the price for the fund-raiser. You can also see the full table of contents, which includes some pretty major names (hey, I'm in there after all, lol).

Also want to give a shout to Michelle Pendgrass and her fellow horror writers over at the Indiana Horror Writers organization, who've released their first anthology, Dark Harvest, with stories from Michelle, Michael West, Marcus Broaddus, Bob Freeman, Tracy Jones, Sara Larson, Tiffany Proctor, with an introduciton by Gary Braunbeck. Ordering information for this trade paperback can be found at http://www.cairnwood.net/darkharvest.html!

Nightmare in Greasepaint, a novella I'm working on with L.L.Soares, is coming along nicely. As well, finally diving back into the novel, Lost in the Woods, after a hiatus. About 26,000 words, so still have a long way to go, but slow and steady progress forward.

No further news on Solomon's Grave's release next year in the states, or Plague of Darkness in Germany around the same time. More as I hear anything, about these or my other hapless works.

On the short fiction front, "Box" is set to be released in the upcoming Coach's Midnight Diner 2, but not sure when or who else is in it at the moment. I think it's coming out earlier as a promotional story in the next issue of Relief Journal, but I'm not listed as a contributor so not sure about that. We'll know soon enough. Relief 2.2 is set to be released this summer.

Finally, "Living by the Highway" is still slated for an upcoming issue of Cemetery Dance Magazine, maybe as early as issue #60 or the next. When i Iear, you'll hear.

OK, bye.

21,382

2008-05-05T07:01:00.002-05:00

Broke the 20K mark for new novel Lost in the Woods last week, which is pretty good considering the week began writing-less. Hate that, makes me crazy.

Remember the Kill Jack Haringa on your Blog Day earlier this year (click the link of not)? Well, there was quite a spread of stories killing off writer Jack Haringa, and quite a few have been collected into a small anthology - not yet released, so I'll keep the details to myself until Nick Kaufmann says it's OK. Stay tuned.

Fellow writer Michelle Pendergrass, who is co-editing a follow-up to the successful anthology Coach's Midnight Diner, and invited me to write a story. CMD is an interesting mix of Christian themes with horror, not soft or sanitized, no rules, hard horror but which deals in some way with faith. I did some free writing, word association, came up with the image of someone living in a box, and went from there. The result, a story called "Box". It's been officially accepted and may appear in a related magazine Relief 2.2 beforehand. Though the subject is rather grim and serious, I have to admit this had been one of the most enjoyable writing sessions I had with a piece. And, all humility aside, I think it's one of my best stories in a long, long time. Special thanks to Holly Chen, who works with my wife Janet, for getting phonetic translations of selected lines of dialogue from English to Mandarin Chinese. This dialogue adds a lot to the story, on many levels. Looking forward to seeing the final TOC for this collection.

Lost in the Woods, 17,400 words and moving forward

2008-04-28T10:26:00.003-05:00

Hi, everyone. Been quiet for a while. But I'm back from a few hundred mile driving vacation, looking at colleges for my son. It was fun, and imformative. Janet did most of the driving, for as long as my laptop's battery lasted, and because of this I was able to get some good progress once again on the new novel, Lost in the Woods. 17,000+ words. Not bad. Revised a few things as well, and had to work out some plot changes. I have it outlined, roughly, through about 3/4 of the plot and some ideas on the ending (but not exactly how it'll end, need to decide this by word 50,000 I think), but as I write the characters begin to behave differently than I expect, some things I expected to write didn't pan out, etc, so constant revisions have to be done.

In the meantime, Doomsday Key, Plague of Darkness and Margaret's Ark are out there in the world of submission again withmy US agent. Solomon's Grave seems to be still slated for 2009 with Edge/Dragon Moon, and my European agent continues to peddle it throughout the old country. The German edition, Das Grab des Salomon seems to be holding its own, and picking up the paces a bit. Got some good (and, admittedly some less flattering) reviews. Hopefully it'll do well, so the German edition of Plague of Darkness will have some leverage when it comes out.

I've gotten word that my short story, "Box", will be published in Coach's Midnight Diner 2, and may appear earlier in Relief Journal as a way to publicize the coming Diner anthology. That's nice. I really like this story, and hopefully others will also.

OK, that's about it. I'll try to keep this blog back to a weekly updating mode going forward. It'll keep me honest with my writing progress.

Dan

Roger Blain

2008-03-23T14:33:00.006-05:00

Roger Blain, 89 of Blain Road died Friday March 21, 2008 at home. He was the beloved husband of Fleurette L. (Gendreau) Blain. Born in New Bedford, MA, he was the son of the late Joseph and Elise (Goyette) Blain.Mr. Blain was the Valedictorian, Class of 1937 at Tourtellotte Memorial High School. He owned and operated of R. Blain Oil Company and later worked in the accounting department at American Optical until he retired. He was communicant and volunteer of St. Joseph's Church. He was a member of St. Bernard Council 2087 Knights of Columbus in North Grosvenordale and the Franco American Genealogical Society. He was a volunteer fire fighter with Community Fire Company for many years and served on the Board as Treasurer. He enjoyed playing cards especially cribbage, gardening and socializing.He is survived by three sons, Joseph Maurice Blain and his wife Cynthia of Taunton, MA, Michael Blain of Palmetto, FL and Paul Blain of Grosvenordale; a daughter, Janet Keohane and her husband Daniel of Princeton, MA; a brother, Roland Blain of Worcester; 8 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by a brother, Romeo Blain.

Relatives and friends are invited to visit with Roger's family from 5:00 to 8:00pm Tuesday March 25, 2008 in the Valade Funeral Home, 23 Main St., N. Grosvenordale CT. A gathering will begin at 9:00 am on Wednesday March 26, 2008 at the funeral home, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 am in St. Joseph Church, 20 Main St., N. Grosvenordale. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Community Fire Company, P.O. Box 874, N. Grosvenordale, CT 06255.

I've known few people as kind, big-hearted, gentle and God-loving as Roger Blain. It was a rough time, watching this strong man who taught me how to chop wood without losing my foot in the process, who can beat anyone at cribbage with such a wry smile that you just don’t care if you’re double-skunked, who one day had misunderstood what one of his sons meant when he asked his father to ‘take care of the dogs’ while he was on a trip with his family and subsequently had a neighbor shoot them (well, they were pretty old dogs, you can’t blame him for the confusion), who held his family together within an iron embrace through storms and sun, take his slow trip away from us. But it is so good to know that now, he’s in so, so better a place. He'll be smiling forever and kicking Saint Peter’s butt at cribbage.

I hope you know how much I love you, Roger, though it’s a love that might pale next to how much Janet and her brothers adore you. I just wanted you to know how much you’ve meant to me over the last twenty-two years, even though I’ve never said it. Now that you've left us and this broken world behind, I hope some day I’ll see you again and tell you in person. By then, of course, you’ll probably already know.

Solomon's English Language Debut, Lost in the Woods, 8000 words and counting

2008-03-14T09:34:00.002-05:00

Before I start, if you can send up some prayers and good thoughts for my father-in-law Roger Blain, and for my wife and her family as they care for this wonderful, wonderful man as he slips away from us, it would be very much appreciated. If my two daughters grow up to adore me a fraction of how much Janet does her Dad, I'd consider myself a lucky, lucky man. Also, for my friend Fran who is caring for her brother at home as he is terminally ill with cancer. Life sometimes can feel so hard, knowing there are others thinking about you goes a long way.

Breaking News: Solomon's Grave has finally reached our shores. It will be published in 2009, in trade paperback by the Canadian publisher Dragon Moon Press. They cover both Canada and the US so the book has finally come home to roost, starting in Russia, getting lost, resurfacing in Italy, then Germany, now rising over the northern horizon via Canada. No specific publication date yet. More as I know it.

Before the final update, you need to re-read a post I made last year, on April 1st. Click the link below, read, then click your BACK button on the browswer and continue....
http://dankeohane.blogspot.com/2007/04/0-or-square-one.html

So, I found this, and it reminded me of my commitment to more mainstream work, along with the fact that I found myself doing other things at lunch than returning to Plague of Locusts, much as I like the story, and how I couldn't write fast enough last year for Doomsday Key (the new title my agent & I came up with for Destroyer of Worlds, a title which felt wrong, along with other reasons it no longer worked as a title in my mind). So poor Locusts has been put aside for now (again), and I went back to Lost in the Woods, which I am enjoying and have written only 8,000 words so far, but that'll climb quickly, if I behave. I'll post weekly updates on the progress as I did last year for DK.

Thanks
Dan

In honor of Kill Jack Haringa On Your Blog Day, here’s a little something....

2008-03-06T14:40:00.010-05:00

Jack stood for a moment at the entrance to Booth’s Specialty Menswear and breathed in the familiar tang of formality and dust. Mostly dust. Sometimes he wondered if he’d become their only customer in this era of business-casual dress codes, policies adopted by weak employers to coddle lazy employees, policies which had become the death knell to the last vestiges of decent attire. He fancied himself, at times like this, that final refuge, the Last Well-Dressed Man Alive, as it was.

Today, all he needed was a tie so he stepped inside the store. Its once vast chamber of shirts and slacks, shoe polish and black socks for all occasions had been compressed to half its former size at the far end of the mall, elbowed aside to make room for a much-needed (in everyone’s opinion but his own) expansion of The Gap next door. Society may have made Booth’s Specialty Menswear nothing more than a musty antique shop, but they could never kill its pride. Its necessity.

“Hey, Mister H, how’s it hanging?” The pierced kid behind the half-counter looked up from his Wolverine comic. “What can I do you for?”

Jack rapped his knuckles on the counter, pretended not to hear the soft echo drifting through the store. “I’m all set, just a necktie or two. Going to the movies tonight, need something appropriate.”

“Ties?” Benny put the comic down and looked behind him. The tie racks had been pushed together, weeds choking themselves into extinction. “Mister Booth told me to stay clear of them. Getting restless.”

Jack had gone only a few steps in the direction in which the kid was looking, but now stopped. “Restless?”

Benny shrugged. “Dunno. That’s what he said. Or maybe he said lonely.” He looked back to the counter a moment, considering. “He was talking all funny. Said something about dogs craving attention, not being fed.” He twirled his index finger around his temple. “Think the store’s dying and it’s making him looney, you know?”

The store’s not dying! Jack wanted to scream. They’ll come back! The world will realize what they’ve lost, the respectability they all secretly crave, and they’ll come back! But all he said was, “Thanks, I’ll be careful,” and moved away.

The racks, which once held thin-striped shirts as proudly as a pin-lipped tailor, were full, but dust lines were visible along their shoulders from the hangers beneath. The smell of dust and disregard was stronger here. At the back, three racks of ties huddled like frightened children. These, too, had the beginning of dust lines, though each week when he came Jack tried to shift them a little, level out their abandonment, buy them some time.

A blue one, gentle swirl of gold woven throughout, caught his attention. He lifted it from the rod.

Me, pick me....

Silent voice, barely a whisper. The voice was weak, but with a texture he could almost feel. He looked back. Benny was hunkered over the comic, mouth slightly agape, lost in his color-paneled world. Hadn’t been his voice anyway –

No, pick me... another voice, just as weak, but a different inflection, more playful. Coming from beyond the far rack of novelty ties.

“Hello?”

Behind him Benny shouted, “You need something, Mister H?”

“No,” Jack called, not turning around. Still holding the blue woven tie he pressed himself to the center of the display, the three racks surrounding him in a triangle of presentable attire.

No one there.

A bright red power tie slipped loose and draped about his ankle. I’m the one you want, it said sternly, as if in his mind alone.

What was he thinking? He shook his head, feeling like a fool and knelt down. The tie hadn’t –

Three ties fell over his shoulders. Me, me, me....

He flung them off. They intertwined about his arms, working themselves under the sleeves of his tweed coat. The red one by his foot tightened around his calf. He’s mine! Get away!

Jack froze for a moment, trying to ground his thoughts. He misunderstood something simple, something basic. A radio, perhaps, playing overhead.

Four, then five more ties, green felt, black silk, one with Iron Man racing up to the neckline, more of them he couldn’t see leapt from the rack above his head. Buy me, wear me, I’m perfect, I can make you proud to be clothed, I can show what a man is meant to be! Dozens of voices, small, weak, dying, desperate. Jack tried to stand but Iron Man wrapped around his throat, the red tie wriggled towards his crotch inside his pressed pant leg.

Wear me! Buy me!

So many voices, crowding out thought. Panic set in, Jack unable to think or breathe. Something pulled his left foot out from under him and he was suddenly on the floor, looking up at the remaining ties as they dropped like pythons. He was gagged, blinded, feeling only the texture of such perfect compliments to a man’s wardrobe across his face and arms, squeezing, pressing in like lepers to the Lord, demanding attention, demanding love, respect, wanting to live and be more than a tool for lovemaking, wanting their glory to be restored, before it was too late.

He tried to take in air, could not. Me, me, me, me, me.....

Jack died on the floor, buried in true fashion.

* * *

Click here for more KJHOYB Day celebrations!

From The Ashes....

2008-02-22T23:20:00.003-05:00

Well, back from vacation. Nice to just get away, sleep late, use the strangely-chlorinated pool and relax. Anyway, while away I checked on the status of the Amazon contest. Margaret's Ark, even with the positive PW review and a glowing one from Amazon's top reviewer, didn't make the cut for the final 100. Ah, well. This was the tape I was sticking my chest out to reach. Thought it would be too narrow a scope for much past that, but I was really hoping for that one last nod or attaboy. Still, I was pleased with how the contest was run, and best of luck to the final 100 entries. Some of the exerpts I read were quite amazing.

Now, with a PW review, and some nice things said about the exerpt from nice people, we move on to the marketing end of things. Let's see what walls it might stick to, once flung.

The contract negotiations for the English language rights to Solomon's Grave with a small Canadian press are hopefully winding down so I can give the news offiically. And as I mentioned before, Plague of Darkness is hitting the German/Austrian shelves via Otherworld Verlag late 2008 / early 2009. Can't complain here, I guess. Things are moving on the international front. :-)

No other news to report. Of course, after a big letdown like the Amazon contest thing, I always second-guess my choice of direction - stay with Plague of Locusts or move back to the mainstream path. Wish I knew what to do, but at least now I recognize this for what it is and know to ignore the instinct to bounce like a pinball all over the place. I'll write whatever I want, and see where things fall. Obviously, one genre or another isn't really going to be any easier, so best enjoy whatever it is I'm writing and have fun with it. The rest will work itself out, or not. I may remain an obscure entry in some 21st Century in Horror tome in 2099, maybe not. Time will tell. As long as I enjoy doing it, am happy in the process (at least as I write), and do right in the eyes of God and my family, whatever that might be, I guess I'm doing OK overall, eh?

And a story I wrote... gasp... twenty years ago, about an evil clown in the basement and a boy named Billy, kept alive in spirit for years by my friend Fran Bellerive, may actually grow from a lost weed into a tree of sorts, along with fellow writer L.L.Soares. We're looking at it, and seeing if a phoenix might rise out of the neglected ashes of the old story, lost for decades (literally) in a file drawer. Time will tell....

Plagues of Locusts and Darkness, Oh My.

2008-02-13T10:55:00.007-05:00

"Lavish", my short story which inspired Margaret's Ark, has now appeared in the Hungarian science fiction magazine Galaktika (the January 2008 issue). Click on the link to see the cover. I'm sharing the magazine with the likes of Harlan Ellison, which is very cool indeed. Hopefully I'll get my author's copy in the mail soon (mail time between countries can be tricky).

Well, Plague of Locusts is the lucky winner. After re-reading up through where I'd put it aside (to write Destroyer), 25K+ words and I really like this book, especially the characters who had become very real and fleshed out for me. I've been running through what I had written thus far, revising and mostly just getting my writer-head back into the story so I can become obsessive and keep the momentum once I hit the end of the paved road and start writing new words. This book is outlined only to a point, not all the way, so I am still not sure how it's going to end. But I've decided I like how it's gone so far and will wait and see where it brings me. A different tactic from the last book, but as long as it doesn't slow me down I'll let the characters and events dictate the outcome. Again, this one's more science fiction than horror, but there are horror elements in it. A cross-genre novel if you will. Why not? Not like I'm pigeon-holed at this point into any one style.

Back on the international front: Das Grab des Salomone (Solomon's Grave) has recieved a couple of glowing reviews in Germany/Austria from some very big reviewers, as well as a couple of good ones on Amazon.de. My editor is going to translate these into English for me when he has a moment, and I'll pass them along.

And some Dan's Blog exclusive news: Solomon's Grave's German publisher, Otherworld Verlag, has just bought the German language rights to another of my books: Plague of Darkness. Looks like Plague of Darkness will be premiering in Germany later this year or early 2009.

I finished my short story, "Box". I really like how it came out. Waiting on a couple of edits and we'll see where it stands with the anthology.

The fate of Margaret's Ark with the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest will be known next week, on February 19th, when Penguin Books announces the 100 Finalists (out of the current 826 Semi-Finalists). I still only have 8 customer reviews as of this morning (thanks to those who left them, and to folks like Michelle Pendergrass who rallied on their own blogs for my cause), but that's OK. The more the merrier, but we'll see what the Finalist decisions are after Tuesday.

Woods, Plagues, Boxes and Penguins

2008-02-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

I've been outlining what I think might be the next novel, Lost in the Woods, and it's looking pretty good. However, I've also been taking another look at Plague of Locusts, which I'd put on hiatus early last year. One of those crossroads I'm at, where to go now that Destroyer of Worlds is done. I had a dream last night that I started in on one of them, or maybe it was an entirely new one - I can't remember the details, nor which book it was. I suppose that's no real help, then.

I did finish up a new short story called "Box" which I'm planning to submit to the anthology Coach's Midnight Diner. Need to read through one more time and send it out, and see if it's a fit or not, or if they even like it. Still, I enjoyed writing the story, and special thanks to Holly Wang, who works with my wife, for some key translations into Mandarin Chinese.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a review for Margaret's Ark as part of the Amazon breakthrough Novel contest. A few people told me they left a review but it never posted. Seems this has been a problem, but it has been fixed. However Amazon did not re-post the lost ones, so unfortunately they're gone. Still, I've got 8 reviews, and they've been quite kind and instructive. Penguin Books will be announcing the Top 100 Semi-Finalists in two weeks, on February 19th. These will be out of the 836 Semi-Finalists, so competition is still fierce. Fingers crossed, and prayers welcome. :-) That's my goal - to make it to the top 100, at which time Penguin editors will read the complete manuscripts. Very welcome attention. We'll see how things wash out.

Publisher's Weekly Review of Margaret's Ark

2008-01-23T11:35:00.000-05:00

Hi, Folks. Amazon has posted the Publisher's Weekly review of the semi-final manuscripts in the Breakthrough Novel contest, as well as the review given by their "Top Reviewer" which served to push Ark into the semi-finals. Again, the entry for Margaret's Ark and its excerpt is at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121WE32

I'm very happy with the two reviews. Whether these will be enough to get the book into the Finals (top 100 entries) on February 19th, only time will tell.

A number of you have posted public reviews which have never been posted by Amazon. This is happening all over the board, not just with ours. Not sure what's up with that. Overload, maybe?

Here are the two reviews:

Editorial Reviews

manuscript review by Publishers Weekly, an independent organization
Apocalyptic horror meets Christian spirituality in this update of the Noah's Ark story. When Margaret Carboneau, a widowed mother of two, has a dream in which an angel commands her to build an ark to save 30 people from the coming deluge, she brushes off the unsettling vision until she learns that thousands of people worldwide have had virtually identical dreams. Margaret constructs an ark, encountering skepticism and resistance from the locals. Although Margaret's story of faith and sacrifice forms the crux of the novel, the author adds perspective and texture by incorporating the stories of others affected by visions; some of these subplots are more deftly executed than others, but they provide plenty of opportunity to explore faith from multiple perspectives. Like the original tale, the manuscript's tone is ultimately hopeful, though it pulls no punches in its portrayal of the consequences for those who fail to believe.

Amazon Top Reviewer
This is an extremely well-written excerpt! I love the characters so far. Margaret and Jack are both very complex and interesting, with imperfect lives. I like that they are both a bit skeptical of their mission when the dreams first come to them, but begin to accept it as the dreams continue. I like the idea of modern-day people faced with a very strange religious task, and I would imagine there is a great deal of room in this story to examine the idea of faith. Although this story is well-written, writing anything with a religious angle is tricky. Much of the audience will be turned off by the very idea, and much of the rest of the audience will be turned off if the story turns into preaching instead of plot. So far this line has not been crossed; the religious aspect is presented in such a way that it does not overpower the characters in the story. I would be interested in reading more of this story, and seeing the ways in which Margaret's and Jack's lives intersect.

Margaret's Ark Needs Your Help!

2008-01-16T10:48:00.000-05:00

A couple of months back, I learned about a novel contest co-sponsored by Amazon.com and Penguin Books. It's called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest, where they would allow up to 5,000 entries consisting of completed, but unpublished novels (plus an excerpt with only the opening chapters). Of these 5,000 entries, up to 1,000 Semi-Finalists would be chosen. The excerpts for these 1,000 entries would then be posted on Amazon.com. They will also each receive a full Publisher's Weekly review of the entire manuscript. Base on these PW reviews, and customer reviews of the posted excerpts, the top 100 Semi-Finalists will be chosen by Penguin editors. Of these, 10 Finalists will be chosen. The final prize: a $25,000 book deal with Penguin for the winning entry.

After discussing this with my agent, we decided it was worth a shot. The timeline for judging is relatively short, and the prize: a contract with Penguin, one of the largest publishers in the world, bar none, was worth it.

So last Fall I submitted Margaret's Ark.

I've just been informed it has made the first cut, and is now a Semi-Finalist along with 836 other entries. The excerpt is currently posted online, and here's where you can help: the purpose of posting these excerpts is to garner as many customer reviews of the entries as possible. These will have some bearing on which is selected for the top 100 entries (perhaps how well the author can pimp... I mean promote him/herself, more than anything most likely, but they definitely can’t hurt). The excerpts can be read online, downloaded, all FREE.

My entry for Margaret's Ark can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121WE32

If you like what you've read and are so inclined, you can post a short review blurb for it. The more the merrier!

The General ABNA (the abbreviation for the contest) site is http://www.amazon.com/abna - from here you can click on the various genre categories, read and rate all of the other Semi-Finalists. Note that Amazon is running a side-contest for reviewers, customers who give the most reviews are eligible for some cool prizes (listed on the main page).

Speaking of Margaret's Ark: the original short story on which the novel was based, "Lavish", is soon going to be appearing in a Hungarian anthology of stories (translated into Hungarian and published overseas). I'll let you know when I learn more on this one.

In other news, I hear that Apex #11 (containing my short story "Ray Gun") is being reviewed in the most recent Locus Magazine. I can't find Locus in any of my local stores: if anyone subscribes and finds the review, I'd love to hear how it went.

Thanks
Dan

Checking in....

2008-01-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

Sorry, been a while since my last entry. No new news on the German edition of Solomon's Grave. It's released and selling. No reviews or stuff like that yet. Time will tell.

News on a potential English edition of SG has been stalled a bit, holidays and such. News should be forthcoming soon, I hope.

I mentioned a while ago that, with an approving nod from my agent, Margaret's Ark was submitted to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition (grand prize is a $25K contract with Penguin, so definitely worth it considering the reasonable timeframe). In 10 days they'll be announcing the semi-finalists. Out of the 5,000 entries, 1,000 will be chosen as semi-finalists and excertps posted on Amazon. Anyway, 10 days to go to see if M'sA makes it to this next milestone. (After that, 100 will be chosen as finalists, but one step at a time)

Still working on the rewrite of the ending to DoW. Aside from this, not a whole lot to report on the writing front. Some news coming soon about a Hungarian translation of my short story "Lavish" (the story which served as the basis for Margaret's Ark). Once I know it I'll let you know.

If you can offer some prayers for a woman named Jill, who's going through some serious health issues, and for my friend Michelle and her family, who have been there for her and need just as much strength and prayers. Thanks.

And I know what some of you might think, Oh Cynical One. But prayer works. Sometimes it feels we're talking to the wind, but from personal experience, I can attest the power of someone else interceding on our behalf. Because of this, I can only assume it works the other way around, even if we don't always see the results. Sometimes it's all we have. Sometimes it's all we need, when everything else fall short.

And just to end on a more upbeat note: two dogs are sitting in a field, when suddenly in the distance comes a loud BOOM! The first dog turns to the second and says, "What was that?" The second dog turns to the first, eyes wide, and says, "What the f--! A talking dog!"

Dan

Das Grab Des Salomon Released

2007-12-13T08:04:00.000-05:00

Hi, everyone. Quick note to say that the German edition of Solomon's Grave, Das Grab Des Salomon, has been officially released by Otherworld Verlag. Click on the link to see all the infomation. The sales ranking at Amazon Deutschland has already jumped. Should be exciting to see how the book does over there. Editor and publisher Michael Krug is very excited and, unlike the Italian edition released last year, this time there's a lot of support and enthusiasm behind the book's release. Looking forward to working with him to get the book an audience in Europe!

On other matters, almost done with the revisions to the ending of DoW. Things have slowled a bit on the writing front, which is fairly typical in these last couple of weeks leading to Christmas.

Ye Old Drawing board

2007-11-29T08:05:00.000-05:00

Not unexpected, or at least shouldn't be, but after some constructive criticism from two of my proofreaders, I'm poking my head back into the very ending of DoW and reworking it a bit. One twist too many. :-) I had an alternate ending in mind originally, but went with option B. I'll go back and try on my original plan A, see if it fits better. It will, I think. I should have listened to the inner voice, as they say, since the novel does progress to a certain inevitable conclusion but I changed gears at the very end, always a risk. But that's how it works, and just shows how important it is to have some front-line readers to make sure you didn't get off course. Shouldn't take too long. In the meantime, I've been slowly putting together a chapter synopsis which, if you've never done one, requires a lot more work than it would seem. Condensing the entire novel into a 2 page summary, while maintaining some sense of dramatic flow, is critical since the synopsis is a primary marketing tool when sending a novel out to editors.

The short fiction review site, The Fix, has a review of Apex #11 online online. Can't tell from reading the review whether he liked "Ray Gun" or not, but more than likely, his reaction is one I expected (even in some way, hoped) I'd get. Torn, not sure how to react. The story is meant to make the reader uncomfortable, as the main character has Alzheimer's, and there is a bit of humor, but I treat the condition itself with the, well to be honest, fear it deserves. One of the reactions I hoped to garner was, at times, a reflex to laugh at something, but not being able to, because it's simply not funny. Being from the character's perspective (unreliable narrator, is the expression), you simply can't. You will, at some of the things he says, but it doesn't feel right. So the reviewer is right on the ball with his point that some people might hate the story, other's love it, with few in between. Of course, I'd be happy if most fall into the "love" category, but it was heartening to hear this, because it meant the emotion in the story was strong enough to garner one of the two ends of the range, without any ho-hum response. Can't do better than that. :-)

Also got a nice "fan mail" from Jennifer Pelland with whom I share the issue. Doesn't happen often in this business, but when you get a "nice job" note from someone you don't know, it makes a writer's day. And that did.

First (of many I hope) review of Apex Digest #11 online

2007-11-19T09:21:00.000-05:00

There's a nice review of "Ray Gun" and its fellow stories from Apex Digest #11 at http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2007/11/review-of-apex.html . Much thanks to Jason Sanford for the kind words. :-)

Apex Digest #11 is Now Available

2007-11-07T15:02:00.000-05:00

The New issue (#11) of Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest is now available, featuring my story "Ray Gun."

Here's the news release from editor Jason Sizemore:

http://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/apex-digest-issue-11

Thanks to everyone for another knockout issue! It's amazing the amount of work that goes into making a 128 page magazine, from the writers & artists to the editors and publisher.

Fiction:

"Blackboard Sky" – Gary A. Braunbeck

"Spinnetje" – Stefani Nellen

"Ray Gun" – Dan Keohane

"Uncanny" – Samuel Tinianow

"The Moldy Dead" – Sara King

"Cain Xp11 (Part 3): Sorry About All the Blood" – Geoffrey Girard

"What to Expect When Expectorating" – Jennifer Pelland

Non-Fiction:

Interview with Gary A. Braunbeck

Interview with Bryan Smith

"Curses of Nature" – Essay by Alethea Kontis

Cover art by Nigel Sade

128 pages

And the new book will be....

2007-11-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

I hoped to go back into Plague of Darkness to work out a slight revision I worked out with the book's potential (and still undisclosed) publisher/editor, but I'd made some preliminary changes on my Palm Pilot (this is SUCH a cool tool... TOOL, not toy... every writer should have one of these, with MS Word To Go... so cool - I can work on my writing, in MS Word, in the Wal-mart check out line! How cool is that? How cool is that?)... what was I.. oh, yea, I synched the Palm onto my home pc and forgot to Flash Drive it, so it wasn't on my ThinkPad (a time traveler from 10 years in the past is reading this thinking, "Huh?").

So, after about 15 minutes of free-writing (actually I was mostly whining and venting in Times New Roman 12 point), I began to flesh out some actual plot points for the next novel - one I had no idea I was going to write. I thought the next book was going to be called Frost, with an entirely different plot, but my Muse decided I needed to write this one first.

It's called, for now, Lost in the Woods. Don't try to assume what it's about.

Lost in the Woods. I like it. Gets right to the point (except that, well, no one actually gets lost in the woods...).

That's it. Have a meeting to attend.

Dan

It's Done! (well, sort of)

2007-11-02T11:39:00.001-05:00

Just finished typing my final edits into the manuscript for Destroyer of Worlds. Man! I love how this thing ends, and I have to say Hank Cowles is the best baddie I've ever written, well, him and Nurse Charles. Felt GREAT last night in Barnes & Noble, while waiting for Amanda's dance class to end, to scribble the final edit on the print-out, and felt just as good a moment ago when I typed this last change into the manuscript.

My final changes were done on November 2nd. Two days off my self-imposed deadline. 7 months total from the day I started the outline, and I really, really am happy with the final result.

But... what I think doesn't count. Not yet. Book's not done. It's currently under the editorial microscope of three fine, able proofreaders: Mark Lowell, Fran Bellerive and Michelle Pendergrass. So far the comments coming in have been great (not as in, 'This is great!' though the response has been positive - trust me, if you're new to my world, this is not a common event.. lol.. but as in lots of very constructive suggestions). Life at home has been so busy Janet hasn't had a chance to pick it up yet, but she will. She may be my wife but she's just as ruthless as the rest. The perfect attribute for a proofreader.

Anyway, just happy with myself at the moment. We have so few of these self-congratulatory moments. Felt like posting.

Back to work. Miles to go before I sleep....

Dan

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T10:13:00.001-05:00

Today is Halloween, so I feel I should post something today. Doesn't feel like Halloween. Maybe because of the delayed end to Daylight Savings Time, still light until a little after 6:00. Could be because we've been so busy wrapping up soccer season and getting ready for indoor soccer (this time I'm the coach - poor kids). The IHN week recently wrapped up, life is hectic, always is this time of year.

The girls are excited. Maybe I will be soon enough. Perhaps tonight, when we go trick-or-treating. Andrew isn't planning on going out tonight - he'll be handing out candy instead. Sigh. Life moves on, doesn't it? The kids get older, things change. Still, when trick-or-treating is done and we've tied the kids to their beds while they thrash in a sugar-induced hysteria, Jan & I will still settle in to watch the third episode of Creepshow 2 ("The Hitchhiker" - or as we like to call it: "Thanks for the Ride, Lady"), a tradition at the end of every Halloween for years.

During our last soccer game Darryl the coach (I was assistant coach), who used to live in the Midwest until a couple of years ago, said something interesting: "Halloween is an awfully big deal up here (meaning New England), much more than Ohio." I guess so. We love this holiday up here in these parts. :-)

I really wanted to visit Salem, as scary as the place is. The air is filled with... something. But it's only an hour away... never made it. Maybe next year. Maybe next year.....

I know I mentioned there will be some news on Plague of Darkness coming, but still nothing I can mention just yet. Also, something's brewing with Solomon's Grave. Things are moving along but can't say much at this point. Stay tuned.

Won't be finishing the final draft of Destroyer of Worlds today. The last two days were spent in talks with my agent Sara about developing stuff, one of the few things I'd ever let get in my way of my daily writing. :-) Almost done with it, though. Most of my proofreaders are lovingly pouring through the prose and mercilessly slashing with red pens....

Should be good weather tonight. Pumpkins are carved and illuminated. Costumes are ready. Kids excited. Halloween 2007. Have a great one, folks.

Oh, I updated my home page with a new free story, one from 2002. "Feed the Birds." Enjoy on this festive day.

Dan

Home Stretch, and Scary People on the Highway

2007-10-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

I was driving home on interstate 290 the other day, and saw an amazing sight. Mind you, this was 'amazing' in the What the F category, but still. 290 is a 3-lane highway, 65MPH limit, just to set the stage. I was coming up the fast lane, maybe going 70, not much more, and realized the car ahead of me wasn't going that fast. I cut to the middle lane, no problem, but the car in the left lane sped up - happens all the time, the driver gets dreamy, notices someone is passing them and realizes they were going too slow (as opposed to the other ^#% people who simply hate being passed, but that's another story).

As I passed alongside, keeping pace, I see this accountant-type with his flip phone open against the front of his steering wheel, thumbing the buttons madly. My first thought, ah, he's having trouble and is calling someone for help (trouble was, what kind of trouble? His steering wheel refuses to turn right? As it turns out... anyway...). But no. Unless he was dialing Uranus, there were way too many thumb-pressings on that phone. Not only that, he was staring fixedly at the phone - not sure how he stayed on the road, must have been using his peripheral vision for such a mundane task as driving. As he began to slow down again it hit me: he was playing a &#*#&# game on his cell phone, thumbing the arrow buttons as he tried to blow apart asteroids or something. Slower, his car dropped, and based on how quickly my car pulled away from him (I was still in the middle lane so I could watch, amazed, in my side mirror and effectively becoming as dangerous a driver as this guy, I suppose) I guessed his speed in the left lane leveled off at about 60 MPH, phone still propped up, and roughly about 6 cars behind him, sometimes flashing their lights, finally curling around him.

He's obviously a complete loon.

People like that who cause accidents that hurt people. Yes, there are other things that can do the same thing, like sex while driving, or trying to eat spaghetti and garlic bread while driving, but I've seen way too many lane-swerving, last-minute course changing, cutting-me-off drivers, only to realize there was a phone glued to their ear, not to get pissed sometimes. I finally have a cell phone myself, but still find a place to pull over to make a call (granted, on the rare occasions someone calls me on the thing I'll answer while I'm driving, so I'm no angel myself, but try to keep the conversations in these cases short and at least watch the road while I talk).

Still.... I hate thatman. And I don't even know his name.

On writing, well, had an intense lunch period editing the final chapters of Destroyer.... I think I break every grammar rule with my plethora of sentence fragments, but it seems to roll through the action pretty quickly. Almost done... almost done....

"Ray Gun" is coming soon to Apex Digest #11. Das grab Des Solomon end of next month, too. Still can't tell you the Plague of Darkness news, yet.....

That's it. Just wanted to check in....

10 days Gone and What Do You Say?

2007-10-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

Sorry, been a bad boy and haven't posted in 10 days.. OK, OK, so I actually did, ended up deleting it. No one likes a whiner. Still, thanks, everyone, for the concern. It's cool, man, it's cool. I'm chillin'.... all right, sorry. Too old and pale for using the chillin' word....

Been so busy this week with the Interfaith Hospitality Network and a Hundred Things family-wise, doesn't feel like I've accomplished must. But starting to get feedback from one of my Beloved Proofreaders on Destroyer of Worlds, so far so good, with some tweaking in a couple of places. About 3/4 way through my final edits. Need to finish this one. Have a week. As long as my part's done before 10/31, I made my deadline.

Some news on the front for Plague of Darkness, believe it or not. I hadn't realized it was out anywhere, yet. More when I can mention it.

I entered the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest, sponsored by Penguin books. Talked it over with my agent Sara and we figured, why not? The timeline is shorter than some regular manuscript submissions, and, well, it's Penguin. Still time to submit something of your own - if you have a completed manuscript, mind you. I'd say which book I sent them, but they're supposed to be anonymous. But I will say it's not Solomon's Grave, obviously, and it's not Plague of Darkness, and DoW isn't done yet.

Speaking of Solomon, Das Grab des Salomon, the German edition from Otherworld Verlag, is coming out next month. Editor Michael Krug is lining up some good promotion. Looking forward to it.

Someone told me tonight that children don't have peanut allergies, or any of the new food allergies which kids in the US are getting these days, or most any other country. Seems our incessant need for anti-bacterial soap is likely one of the major culprits, screwing with the next generation's immune systems (folks: kids NEED to get sick... stop it! Let them be sick!). If Someone of Power knows this, DO SOMETHING. Scary stuff.

OK, gotta go. Thanks for stopping by. Talk to you again soon.

Dan

Oh, PS. Just finished Lee Thomas' Dust of Wonderland. What a smart, brilliantly-written book. I'm straight, and have never read anything where the love scenes were only between two men, so I had to get used to that aspect, but even then, to my virgin eyes, they were written with tenderness and passion (but yea, sorry, I skimmed those parts, was getting freaked out). One of the better books I've read this year. Highly recommend it.

Corey's World, TV, Contradictions and Searches (yea, these are mostly just random words)

2007-10-08T13:49:00.001-05:00

Sorry, a week behind on these. OK, so start:

Halfway through my final draft of UNTITLED. 4th draft, but I'm so happy with it I'm starting to get it packaged up for the proofreaders.

The book is basically broken into Part One and Part Two, and they're about equal in length (anyone reading this post a second time might notice I'd said part One was short, but come to find out, it ain't).

And no, still haven't come up with a freakin' good title yet. Sigh. However, I did decide on a couple of good quotes to stick on each Part Page, i.e. under "Part One: Corey's World" I have a quote from David Gilmour's song Out of the Blue, and another quote, same song, under Part Two..... That's not to say that when it sells I'll have the right to use it. Not sure how that works.

I'm still hoping to get my editing done by the end of the month, but with so much going on this month, including working with the families in the IHN program (http://www.ihnworcester.org/) in town next week, soccer assistant-coaching and teaching in the classes for the High School religious ed at church every Monday... well... I'm going to try. Need to get moving on the next while the proofreaders grapple with the beauty (or unsalvagle mess) of the novel.

Couple other items: New TV season. Well, I think we'll settle on the following shows this Fall, and wait for the DVD for any others: HEROES, no question there. Though not a lot's happened in 2 episodes so far. CHUCK - what a brilliant, fun show. Two shows in, and we're hooked. THE UNIT - I don't know, we'll stick with it a little longer, plus Janet likes it. Good acting, just a vague and cluttered plotline at the moment. We're going to start watching NUMB3RS again, though last season we found ourselves falling asleep during the episodes. Not a good sign.

I had high hopes for BIONIC WOMAN, but judging by the first episode, the typical NBC melodramatic touches like slo-mo walking with hair all ablow... if others' tell me it gets better, we might deal with it on DVD some day.

Over the summer we watched season 1 of HBO's ROME... what a brilliant show. The guy who starred as Lucias Verinas has his own show now, a Quantum-Leap knock off called JOURNEYMAN.. might start taping this - mostly for the star than the premise.

And of course, waiting for January for LOST to start up again, and also hope that 24 does something new, and not just write themselves into a hundred corners or bore themselves, both of which they did last season. Time will tell. I still think they should set a season in the Old West or something, see what they can do with that....

Always more on my mind, but out of room. Oh, one more thing: Congratulations to Andrew for attaining Brown Belt in Kempo. Nice job! And to Amanda, for her first successful baby-sitting venture last night! And so I don't get in trouble omitting anyone: to Audrey, for being so good at soccer her team is *almost* undefeated. :-)

See you soon, promise...
Dan

Rolling On..

2007-09-20T14:45:00.000-05:00

Finished the 3rd draft, ended up around 75,000 words, about 1500 cut from previous. I've begun my 4th draft, doing edits on paper. As I explained earlier, looking at the writing in a fresh medium brings out all sorts of problems I simply wasn't seeing anymore. What I find is these are mostly just Too Many Words... the bane of early drafts. So, likely it'll be down again to 72,000 words when all's said and done. My agent's itching to see it, so I might try something new this time, though it's a risk. I'm going to go a certain way through my editing, then beginning passing on completed chapters to my proofreaders, and as they go through, if I think the changes are enough I'll, possibly, we'll see how it goes, send the opening chapters and synopsis to the agent for marketing. Problem with this approach is, well, what if the proofreaders find some glaring plot problem?

Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter. Any interested publisher will need to wait for the final manuscript anyway... and this way we take advantage of the usual long wait times of book editors to polish the manuscript. Anyway, like I said, we'll see.

Before I started the new draft, I took a few days to go back through three stories that have been waiting patiently for some final work, and I've sent these out now and it feels good to have more in circulation. There's still one more, a co-written story Michael Arruda and I have been bandying... is that the word?... back and forth for over four years now. It's done, I think, we're just working out what to do with the last sentence. As least it's the last sentence, not the first. :-)
OK. Well that's about it. Any deep insightful thoughts I might have thought to share has, as usual, gone flying out the window as soon as I began writing this....

Here I am...

2007-09-12T10:23:00.001-05:00

Sorry. Been on vacation then trying to catch up at work, been out of touch for a while. I did manage to crawl to the 91.7 % completion level for draft 3 in... well, my agent doesn't like Destroyer of Worlds (didn't think she would, Michelle you didn't care for that yourself if I remember correctly), so back to the drawing board on that one... we're trying to think of a good title revolving around Time... any hopeless, angst ridden expressions, themes around Time, something about second chances, or last chance, or something like that (even madness), without sounding like a Patterson title? let me know...

Where was I? Ah, so almost done with the 3rd draft before I print it off, run through one more time I think before my beloved proofreaders get a hold of it (that is, if Fran's still speaking to me after the Billy the Clown incident... long story, :-)

I always think of a hundred things to write for this blog, then freeze up mentally when it comes time. However, some news: The cover for Apex Science Fiction & Horror Digest, issue #11, is done, and I'm humbled but psyched at getting my name as a headline. See below:

What's next? Not sure. There is an HWA anthology with a tight deadline, so am racing to finish final revisions to "Seeing Monkeys" so I can send it along. Gotta finish the book though... have to keep swimming or I'll drown....