I'll Be Attending Spooky Empire in Orlando 24-26 October

It seems like I just finished one convention and now I have another one coming up. On 24-26 October, I'll be sharing a table with my wife and fellow writer Alison Beightol at Spooky Empire in Orlando. The attending celebrities and writers this year are awesome, as is the weekend schedule of events.

Since Spooky Empire is author-centric, there will be numerous writing-related panels throughout the weekend. I'll be appearing on the following ones:

Friday, 24 October

6 PM -- Keeping the Bodies Fresh: How do writers keep tried and true monsters like vampires and zombies still new and exciting?

9 PM -- Sick and Twisted: This panel is restricted to adults only because of the violent and extreme content that will be discussed, and also because of the drunk writers.

Saturday, 25 October

12 PM -- Author's Network:This is where the writers mingle with the fans. A great way to get to meet and talk to your favorite writers and ask them questions.

2 PM -- Writing the Fight: A discussion by various writers on how they craft the fight scenes in their novels.

7 PM -- Down with the Sickness: A look into how diseases spread and how variations on this can be used in writing a novel.

Sunday, 26 October

11 AM -- Sympathy for the Devil: Writers analyzes the rise of sympathetic monsters/villians and discuss their place in book and movies.

Swing on by and join in the fun. This promises to be one of the best conventions ever.

Some Truly Epic Artwork

Many thanks to Mitch Hyman, creator of the upcoming indie film Bubba the Redneck Werewolf, for this epic piece of artwork that is now my computer background. Anyone who knows Alison and I really well will get the significance of this.

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Just a Reminder

Alison Beightol and I will be attending Spooky Mayhem in Orlando this weekend (30 May - 1 June) where we'll be meeting fans and signing books. If you'll be at the convention, please swing by our table and say hello.

What I've Been Up To, and What Lies Ahead

May has been a busy month for me because I've been working on three writing projects. 

-- I've reached 13,000+ words in the third book in the Rotter World series, tentatively titled Rotter Apocalypse. The second book, Rotter Nation, is with Permuted Press and should be released later this year.

-- The final edits are being incorporated into Yeitso, and the cover art should be finished soon; I'm anticipating a release date from Blood Bound Books sometime in July or August.

--  The dinner conversation my family had earlier this week about Nazi space zombies is rapidly turning into a novella. For the hell of it, I conducted some research last night while watching Warehouse 13 and the novella started to write itself. 

As for upcoming events, Alison Beightol and I will be attending Spooky Mayhem in Orlando from 30 May - 1 June where we'll be meeting fans and signing copies of our books. I'll be attending other conventions in 2014, but nothing has been finalized yet. Also, I'm talking with Emby Press about re-releasing The Vampire Hunters: Vampyrnomicon later this year.

A Long Overdue Update

I realized while writing the previous posting that it has been a month since the last time I blogged. I know sometimes life gets in the way, but I'm still going to slap myself in the nose with a rolled up issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland and say, "bad writer."

Yeitso, my next novel, is scheduled for publication in May by Blood Bound Books. It's my homage to the monster movies of the 1950s. Also next month, my short story "From Space It Came," about a giant spider from space, is scheduled for publication in Emby Press' Doomsday anthology. My publishers and I will be running contests and giveaways tied to their release.

I recently finished off several interviews or guest blog postings with various websites, including my interview with Days of the Undead; I'll be linking those here and to Facebook and Twitter as they become available.

Rotter Nation, the sequel to Rotter World, is with Permuted Press now waiting to be reviewed. After some considerable procrastination as a result of lack of creativity (i.e I can't decide exactly how to end the series), I'm about to sit down and crank out the last book in the trilogy. So keep checking my blog, because I'll probably be complaining about writer's block several times over the next few months.

I'm also hoping to hear soon about Hell Gate, my young adult post-apocalyptic novel, that is currently with an agent.

Convention wise, Alison Beightol and I will definitely be attending Spooky Mayhem in May and Spooky Empire in October. I'm looking into attending a few other conventions, and will let you know when/where I'll be appearing.

Other than that, not much new. So I'll get back to writing now, if I'm not preventing the pets from aggravating each other. Ciao.

Today Is the Anniversary of a Life-Changing Event

Exactly one year ago I was on the road taking a journey that changed my life for the better. I had retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after a (I'd like to think) successful twenty-three year career, packed up my Forester with my four rabbits in special travel cages, and set out on a sixteen-hour drive to Gainesville, Florida to be with Alison Beightol. It was one of the most momentous decisions of my life, and one I do not regret.

For those who don't know the story, Alison is a fellow author of her own vampire trilogy (Blood Betrayal and Blood Beginnings of The Primegenio Tales) who reached out to me four years ago to say how much she loved my first novel, The Vampire Hunters. Over time, we became good friends and colleagues, and Alison provided emotional support during a very difficult period of my life. We began dating in November 2011, got engaged exactly one year later, and were married on Halloween 2013 in the chapel of the Gainesville VA Hospital so Alison's father, who was in the terminal stage of bladder cancer, could give away his beloved daughter.

As I made the long journey from northern Virginia to Florida, I had no idea what would be in store for me, but my hopes were high. Sadly, fate had other plans. It has been a difficult year. The family has suffered numerous health related tragedies and setbacks. The new house flooded one month after we moved in and repairing the damage destroyed our savings because, despite having flood insurance, the insurers refused to pay out on the claim. Plus, on a personal note, three of my four rabbits passed away from old age.

Despite all the negatives, I gained much more from this move than I lost. Alison's family has adopted me as one of their own. Madeline, my stepdaughter, is a lovely young lady who thinks highly of me. Alison's boxers, Walther and Bella, consider me part of the pack (or at least the most useful member since I can open the fridge). And I have become a cat lover.

The writing front had some temporary setbacks as we tried to keep our lives from falling apart, but all that is about to change. Emby Press is re-releasing The Vampire Hunters trilogy throughout the year and, in a few months, will be including my short story "From Space It Came" (a giant spider from space) in an upcoming anthology. In the next few months, Blood Bound Books will be publishing Yeitso, my first foray into the big monster genre and my homage to the monster movies of the 1950s that had such an impact on my life. My sequel to Rotter World is with Permuted Press for publication later this year, and Hell Gate, my first young adult novel, is being reviewed by a literary agent. And I am currently involved in three other writing projects,

But the best part of all is Alison is now a permanent part of my life. She is my best friend, colleague, soon-to-be-coauthor, confidante, lover, wife, and soul mate. And tomorrow marks the anniversary of our moving in together. It was the best decision I ever made.

Good Riddance to 2013 -- Let's Hope 2014 Is Better

Any of my family and friends who follow my blog or Facebook postings are well aware that 2013 was a very stressful year for me.  How stressful?  I took the Life Stress Test the other day and, despite fudging some of the answers (in a few cases, if I was borderline on a response, I didn't count it against my score), I wound up with a stress rating of over 450.  Is that bad?  A relative who works for the VA told me that he used to admit for observation patients who ranked over 300 because of their potential for heart attacks or strokes induced by the stress factors. 

Looking back on 2013, I sometimes find it difficult to believe all that happened.  I retired from the Central Intelligence Agency after a twenty-three year career that took my around the world and allowed me to see places and things that most people only dream of (or have nightmares about), sold my house in northern Virginia, and drove down to Florida with a car full of rabbits.  After going through an arduous process getting our mortgage (if you want to know how intrusive and useless the federal government has become, apply for an FHA-backed loan), we purchased a lovely older home that flooded one month after we moved in because of poor drainage in our backyard due to decades of neglect by the previous owners.  This was followed by the joy of having to live in a torn-up house for nearly four months as we dealt with the ultimate ponzi scheme known as insurance companies (even though we had federally-backed flood insurance, FEMA felt we were not entitled to a claim) and a glacially-slow contractor who couldn't get his ass in gear to get our house back in order.  And during those months, I lost three of my rabbits, including my beloved Ruby and Cocoa, whom I had for nearly eleven years, and, on the day following Christmas, my father-in-law. 

That is not to say the entire year was bad.  I married the love of my life and my soul mate, Alison Beightol, on Halloween, and we honeymooned in Germany.  I also have a lovely daughter, Madeline, who I am watching transform from a child into a young woman, and a second family in Florida who cares for me very much.  Although I still grieve for Ghiridelli, Cocoa, and Ruby and will always miss them, three new pets now share my life -- our two Boxers, Walther (who has become my best buddy) and Bella (who only allows me to be the pack leader because I have opposable thumbs and can open the refrigerator), and our rambunctious cat, Archer (who we affectionately call Dickhead). 

On a professional level, my writing suffered because of everything that went on this past year.  I was only able to get three short stories published. I was able to finish off one novel and complete the rough draft of a second, but those are still far from being published; the completed novel, my first Young Adult adventure, is sitting with a literary agent friend who will either take me on as her client or broker an introduction to someone who will, and the submission deadline for the second novel is fast approaching, but I am far from finished with the final edits.

However, I am very optimistic about 2014.  All the issues in our personal lives that made 2014 an emotional nightmare have been left behind as bad memories or are being resolved, and I know our love will see us through whatever lies ahead.  Alison has also been encouraging me to undertake a career path that I had long since abandoned the idea of pursuing, but with her in my corner I just may accept the challenge.

As for my writing, things will pick up significantly in 2014.  In the next few months, I will have a new novel published and an out-of-print book reissued, and will have a new short story included in an upcoming anthology; both the novel and short story are a new step for me as I try my hand with giant monsters instead of the traditional zombies and vampires.  The sequel to Rotter World should be published by the end of the year, and hopefully I will have completed the final book in the trilogy by September.  I am lining up conventions to attend throughout the year, some of them will my fellow author Alison.  Looking ahead to 2015, I am hoping to start my series tentatively called OSS - Office of Supernatural Services (about the Allies battling Nazi occultism) and possibly co-author a vampire novel with Alison.  I'll be posting more on these events as they get closer.

So as 2014 begins and I try to get my head back in the game, I want to thank all my fans and friends who have supported me over the years, and look forward to having you accompany me on the journey ahead. 

Pictures From Our Honeymoon in Germany: Nuremburg

Our last stop in Germany was at Nuremburg. We stayed in a fabulous hotel just outside the old walled city, so we walked around and took photos. 

St. Lorenz Church (St. Lorenzkirche), dedicated to Saint Lawrence, was built in during the 13th and 14th Centuries around the walls of an old Roman basilica. It was badly damaged during World War II and later restored.

































Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) was built between 1352 and 1358 under the supervision of Prague's master cathedral builder Peter Parler.  Originally Protestant, Our Lady was taken over by the Catholics after Nuremburg fell to Bavaria in 1806.

I do not know which church this is (there were so many in the downtown area I forgot). But hey, it looks cool.

My wonderful bride and me enjoying dinner in old town Nuremburg.

The Palace of Justice off of Furtherstrasse where the Allied Military Tribunal held the Nuremburg Trials in 145-1946 for the top Nazi war criminals. The trials were held on the top floor where the four large windows are located.

Inside the courtroom.

The dock where the twenty-two Nazi defendants sat during the trials. It was eerie knowing that I was this close to where pure evil used to sit and defend itself.

The original benches used by the defendants during the trial.

What Nurumburg is most notoriuos for is the Nazi Party rallies. This is the remains of the Zeppelintribune grandstand, which was made famous when the giant swastika on the roof of the reviewing stand was blown up by the Allies in 1945. The columns on either side of the grandstand (shown in the second photo below) were torn down in 1967 because of deterioration.

A close up of the grandstand showing the speaker's platform from where Hitler gave his speeches.

Pictures From Our Honeymoon: Dachau

Unfortunately, Alison and I did not get to see any of Munich. We both came down with Maximilian's Revenge (who would have thought you couldn't drink the water in Europe) and spent our one day in Munich in bed sleeping. 

On leaving Munich, we stopped at the Dachau Concentration Camp (Konzentrationlager), the first camp opened in Germany in 1933. The camp was intended for political prisoners who would be used as forced labor in a nearby munitions factory. Over time, Dachau became the model on which all other concentration camps were constructed. By the end of World War II, Dachau had housed over 206,000 prisoners, 32,000 of whom were reported to have died while in camp. In an ironic but just twist of fate, following the war Dachau was used to hold SS officers waiting war crimes trials. 

The Jourhaus Gate building, the main entrance into camp.

The iron gate to the Jourhaus which bears the infamous motto "Work Makes You Free."

The main grounds of the compound. The outlines shown below are the foundations of the prisoner barracks.

The new crematorium, built in 1943. The original crematorium contained a two-chamber oven, which was not large enough to accommodate the deaths that were occurring through disease, starvation, and executions.

Three of the six chambers inside the new crematorium.


























Although Dachau never served as an extermination camp, the crematorium did contain a gas chamber. It is believed this chamber may have been used to experiment on a limited number of prisoners.

 

Inside the gas chamber. 

Next and final stop: Nuremburg.

Pictures From Our Honeymoon in Germany: Wannsee

This villa sits at 56-58 Am Grossen Wannsee in the Wannsee suburb of southwest Berlin. It was here, on 20 January 1942, that SS Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reichssicherheitsauptsamt (Reich Main Security Office), chaired the Wannsee Conference. The conference gathered together the administrative heads of various government departments to ensure their cooperation in the Final Solution of the Jewish problem. By the end of the 90 minute meeting, the plans had been developed to transport the Jewish populations of East Europe to extermination camps as well as reduce the populations in occupied territories by 30 million people through forced starvation. A transcript of the proceedings survived, despite orders that all notes from the conference were to be destroyed, and provided considerable evidence against the defendants at the Nuremburg Trials. It's horrifying to read because these men discuss the elimination of millions of men, women, and children with the same emotional detachment as if they were talking about logistics for a corporation (puts what I write into perspective). Today the villa serves as a Holocaust memorial.

This is the main conference room in the villa where the discussions occurred. This was also the location where Kenneth Branagh's film Conspiracy was filmed.

Me standing the in the Wannsee Conference room.

After leaving the villa, we stopped at McDonald's to detox and lighten the mood.  The beer they serve at McDonald's helped.

Next stop: Dachau.

Pictures From Our Honeymoon in Germany: Berlin

The first stop on our trip to Germany was Berlin. Behind me is the Brandenburg Gate. The last time I was in Berlin (1984), the gate was behind the Iron Curtain and the only way to get this close to it was to travel into East Berlin. Now it's a thriving center of activity. They even have a Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks one hundred feet from me. 

Alison and I stayed not too far from Potsdamer Platz, the old government center of Berlin. Just around the corner from our hotel was the remains of the Anhof Railway Station, once the second largest train station in all of Europe. The below pictures are what the station looked like before World War II and in 1945 after having enduring the Allied air offensive against Berlin.

The Reichstag, the old parliament building in Berlin, only a few minutes walk from the Brandenburg Gate. Stalin gave the task of taking Berlin to two of his best generals, Marshal Georgi Zhukov commanding the 1st Belorussian Front and Marshal Ivan Koniev commanding the 1st Ukrainian Front. The victor would be the first front to storm and capture the Reichstag.

This view of the Reichstag was taken from Moltke Bridge that the 1st Belorussian Front's 3rd Shock Army used to cross the Spree River as it stormed the Reichstag. You can still see bullet holes on the bridge. The 3rd Shock Army captured the Reichstag on 30 April, shortly before Hitler committed suicide.

























Hermann Goering's Ministry of Aviation, one of the few Nazi-era structures to survive the war intact.  This structure used to reside in East Berlin and was used by the Soviets as an administrative building. Today it's used as a backdrop for movies, including Tom Cruise's Valkyrie. The wall in the foreground is a remnant of the Berlin Wall. The railing in the very forefront denotes the location of Heinrich Himmler's SS Headquarters. All that remains of SS Headquarters is the foundation and a few of the basement rooms, which are visible in the second photo. 

The Reich Chancellery, which was just down the street from the Ministry of Aviation, was the seat of government and Hitler's office. The Reich Chancellery, and the Fuhrer Bunker behind it, were heavily damaged by Allied bombing. After the war, the Chancellery was torn down (with the red marble used in the subway station across the street), the Fuhrer Bunker was covered over, and the entire are remained isolated in the no man's land between the Berlin Wall for decades. This is what the Chancellery looked like in 1940.

 This is the area today. 

Underneath the grounds behind the Chancellery sat the infamous Fuhrer Bunker where Adolf Hitler lived underground for the last six months of his life as the Reich crumbled around him. After the war, the Soviets buried the Bunker so it would not become a shrine to Nazism. When they erected the Berlin Wall, the Bunker existed as a mound of dirt inside no man's land. With the collapse of East Berlin and the tearing down of the Wall, the Bunker was dug up, completely destroyed, and a residential area built on the site. Below is a photograph taken after the war showing the exit stairwell for the bunker (the box-like concrete structure on the left) and the air vent for the complex (the conical tower in the center). The bodies of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were unsuccessfully cremated in the darkened area to the right of the tower.

Below is the same view today.  The stairwell would be in the center of the photo.

Me standing at the spot where Hitler and Eva were partially cremated.

Last but not least, the Berlin Flak Towers. After the British RAF first bombed Berlin in 1940, Hitler ordered three flak towers to be built to defend the city. Each had walls over ten feet thick and enough room inside to serve as air raid shelters for up to 10,000 people (during the Battle of Berlin, close to 30,000 lived inside each tower). After the war, the tower at the Berliner Zoo was completely destroyed, and the tower in the Friedrichshain district was mostly destroyed. Only the flak tower in Humboldthain remains partially intact.

Next stop: Wannsee.

Pictures from Our Honeymoon in Germany: Wewelsburg

Over the next few weeks I'll post some of the pictures Alison Beightol and I took while on our honeymoon to Germany in mid-November.  However, let me explain in advance for anyone who notices a preponderance of Nazi-related photographs.  Alison and I are avid World War II/Cold War history buffs, and this period of history figures prominently in our books (see Alison's portrayal of Reinhard Heydrich as a vampire in Blood Beginnings and my upcoming series of novels detailing officers from the OSS battling Nazi occultism).  So it was only natural that on this trip we saw many locations linked to the people and events associated with Nazi Germany. 

One of the places we visited was Wewelsburg Castle in Westphalia in the northwest, the location chosen by Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler to be the center of the SS occult activities.  The castle was constructed in the early 17th century but eventually fell into disrepair in the 18th and 19th centuries.  In 1924, Wewelsburg became the property of the local district, which turned it into a cultural center and began renovations that fell off after a few years.  Himmler leased the castle in 1934 with the intention of converting into a center of SS ideology and research.  One of the fields of research that was followed was the occult. 

The focal point of the castle's occult studies was the North Tower.  On the ground level (just inside the doorway) is the Obergruppenfuhrersall, which referred to the original twelve highest ranking SS officers (obergruppenfuhrers). The Obergruppenfuhrersall contains the Black Sun, a dark green sun wheel built into the marble floor.  Himmler envisioned this tower as the center of his SS and Germanic empire. This room also gave credence to the unsubstantiated legend that Himmler was hoping to develop his a Grail castle with his own dark version of the Knights of the Round Table.   In the basement is the Vault, a former cistern that was converted into some type of commemoration room with a sunken center; twelve pedestals, each with its own wall niche, placed around the perimeter wall; and the Black Sun centered in the ceiling.  Himmler never divulged what the Vault would be used for (which is great, because now I can make up what I want for my novels).

This is the Vault.  You can see the sunken floor and some of the pedestals between the paintings (the paintings were added by the museum to detract from the eerie aspects of the room).  The reason this picture is so poor is because I had to take it covertly because photography is not allowed in this portion of the castle.

 This is one of the original twelve chairs emblazoned with SS runes from the Obergruppenfuhrersall.

 And this is a close-up of the SS runes.

 Next stop: Berlin.

Happy Halloween

The bride and groom who slay together, stay together.

Halloween Bash with M.R. Gott

When M.R. asked me to write a posting about what Halloween means to me, at first I was stymied. Anybody who knows me knows that I am a certified Monster Kid, and have been as far back as I can remember. I live, eat, and sleep this stuff. Most people wake up from a nightmare and turn on a light to drive the demons away; I wake up and jot down the details for my next short story. However, this year Halloween means something more to me.

Read the entire posting at M.R. Gott's Where the Dead Fear to Tread.

On Our Way to Spooky Empire

Tomorrow morning, Alison Beightol and I will be on our way to Spooky Empire in Orlando.  We will have tables at the convention all weekend.  Alison will be signing Blood of New Beginning as well as her latest novel, Blood Betrayal.  I will be signing Rotter World and several of my anthologies, and will have some exciting news about upcoming projects.   

For those who will be there for the entire weekend, check out the panels I'll be sitting on:

Friday, 7 PM:  Brains vs. Blood
Friday, 9 PM:  Sick and Twisted

Saturday, 1 PM:  Writing 101
Saturday, 7 PM:  Hunter's Delight
Saturday, 8 PM:  Apocalyptic Literature

Hope to see you all there.

I Am Now an Official Resident of Florida and am Celebrating by Having a Short Story Published

This week myself and fellow author/fiancee Alison Beightol moved into our new home. We still have a lot of unpacking to do, and hopefully will be all settled in soon.  Once we do, then I can get cracking on being a husband- and stepfather-to-be and get back to the writing. 

And speaking of writing, I just heard that my short story "From Space It Came" was accepted by Emby Press for inclusion in their upcoming Monster Hunters - Doomsday anthology.  I'll provide more details as they become available.

We Are Off to Spooky Mayhem

Alison Beightol and I will be heading to Orlando this afternoon to greet fans and autograph books at Spooky Empire's May-Hem Convention this weekend.  If you're in Orlando, drop by and say hello.  We have plenty of books to sign.

And there is only a week left in the contest to win a copy of Machina Mortis: Steampunk's Tales of Terror, Hunger Pangs, or Dead Water.  Please be sure to enter here.

So What Have I Been for the Past Three Weeks?

Writing.  I've made some significant headway on Rotter World II.  Over the past three weeks, I have written over 25,000 words, and am hoping to have the first draft completed and out to my beta readers by the end of the month.  Then I intend to spend the next few months finishing the final draft of Hell Gate (which has already garnered interest from a literary agent I know) as well as begin plotting the last book in the Rotter World trilogy and my next series about OSS officers in World War II battling Nazi occultism (yes, there will be Nazi zombies).  

Conventio wise, me and fiance/fellow author Alison Beightol will be attending the Spooky Mayhem Convention at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Florida, from 24-26 May.  Sadly, Norman Reedus had to cancel due to prior commitments for AMC, but there are still plenty of other celebrity guests.  I will also be attending the Eyecon Convention at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia from 14-16 June where the focus this year will be on zombies, in particular The Walking Dead.  And if all goes well, I plan to attend the InfectScrantion convention in September plus more. 

And check back on Tuesday with this site and/or my Facebook author's page when I will be conducting a contest to win trade paperback and e-book versions of the latest anthologies I am included in.

I Will Be Attending Spooky Mayhem in Orlando, Florida, 24-26 May 2013

It's official.  Myself and fellow vampire author/fiancee Alison Beightol will be attending the Spooky Mayhem Convention at the Rosen Center in Orlando, Florida, from 24-26 May 2013.  For you zombie fans, I will be signing copies of Rotter World and the anthology Hunger Pangs: Dark Confessions, which includes my short story "The Hunger."  Vampire enthusiasts can pick up a copy of Alison's paranormal romance/vampire thriller Blood Betrayal or, if you prefer your undead more evil and badass, my The Vampire Hunters trilogy.

We hope to see you there. 

What's Coming Up in the Future

I am taking a much-needed break from filling out retirement paperwork, transitioning my replacement, and getting the house ready to sell.  Right about now I'm thinking that surviving a zombie apocalypse would be easier.  But in a few weeks, this will be all behind me and I can concentrate full time on my writing.

So what is on the writing front for the foreseeable future? 

My copies of Hunger Pangs: Dark Confessions will be arriving soon, so be on the lookout for a give away.  I will also be bringing copies of the anthology with me to the conventions I'll be attending.  If you can't wait, you can still purchase a copy on Amazon.

Publication of Machina Mortis, the steampunk horror anthology, has been delayed because the original publishing house has closed.  However, I was assured that another publishing house has picked up the rights to the anthology and will soon be distributing the book.  I'll keep everyone posted.

I'm getting into the groove again with the sequel to Rotter World, and hopefully will have the first draft done by spring.  This novel is much darker than the first book, and will deal more with the negative effects of a societal breakdown.  But for you zombie purists, don't worry.  There will still be plenty of gut munching action and terror, as well as a sick new twist to the Zombie Virus. 

I have my beta edits back for Hell Gate and will begin the final edits on that once I've completed the sequel to Rotter World.  I am really excited about this book; I think it's my best work yet.

As for conventions and book signings, those are pretty much up in the air because of my hectic schedule.  Me and fellow author/fiancee Alison Beightol will be attending the SpookyMayhem Convention in Orlando this May.  I am also planning on returning to Infect Scranton and ZombiCon in Fort Meyers in the autumn.  Plus, once I get settled in Florida, I hope to do some book signings in the local area.

And finally, I will have a special treat coming up in the next few days, something I have not done before and that will add a touch of class to my blog. 

That's it for now.  My New Year resolution is to try and post more, but I think we all know what happens to such resolutions.