The short answer is “I don’t know.”

When I first started writing Diary, I had never seen nor read any of the Dexter stuff. All I knew was it was about a serial killer but then again there are almost as many variations on that theme as there are superhero stories in fiction. It wasn’t until I started posting Diary chapters that I realized the comparison. From 10,000 feet off the ground a story about “a serial killer who hunts other serial killers” definitely seemed a bit too familiar.

Though I think it’s quite obvious that my unnamed killer is quite different along with his perceived “motivation”.

That being said, after finishing what I felt was a very successful and well received run, I had a twist filled idea for the second season of Diary. And though I have since watched every episode of Dexter (and thought it came close to jumping the shark last season) I still think they are two very different universes, kind of like DC versus Marvel comics.

And I think if you are familiar with both you will most likely agree with me.

What it boils down to, is time. Over the better part of 2009, I have cryptically referred to another novel I was working on and have subsequently finished. This novel is the launching point for a whole brand-new franchise that is separate from anything I’ve done before (Though I think some of you Shadow Falls fans will find some familiarity) and I think my best storytelling work ever. 

This new book, whose title I am holding back for now, was created with a lot of hands on help from an editor at a major publishing house in New York and is currently “in play”. What I am beginning to learn is that, especially in these rocky times in the world of publishing, decisions are not made quickly and the glacier like pace in which things get done at that high level is showing me that I never previously understood the level of patience one has to have in order to succeed.

So, as I wait for the cards to play out I have put further development of Diary on the back burner. However, last night I did think of a way to integrate the universe of Diary of a Madman into this new franchise, possibly as one of several prequel ideas.

Very long story short, Diary is not dead, just in hibernation for now. I also have two other pretty neato novel ideas cooking and I’m starting to get the itch to work on some more longform stuff. But before I can really dedicate the time and effort I need to play out my string here on this “mystery” project, which I’m hoping to be able to talk about soon.

Yeah, I’m doing it backwards but I picked up Scott Sigler’s “Infected” for the Kindle and reading it on my iPhone after enjoying the hell out of “Contagious”. Truly, to Scott’s credit, he’s such a good writer that I didn’t need to read Infected first to fully understand what was happening in Contagious. Looking forward to sinking my teeth into this one.

Some of the books I’ve just finished recently and are definitely worth a mention are

HOW TO SURVIVE A ROBOT UPRISING by Daniel H. Wilson

We had Daniel as a guest on Radio Go Daddy and he was fantastic. Got a chance to read the book the week before and thought it was incredibly comprehensive in terms of all the ways you could actually survive a theoretical robot uprising (Transistor Rodeo 2, anyone?) Plus, the artwork is incredi-cool.

THE TRAVELLER by John Twelve Hawks

Who is John Twelve Hawks, you ask? Nobody really knows who is behind this pesudonym. Rumor is he’s actually the alter ego of 12 Hawks’ literary agent. Either way, the book, about a world where cutting edge technology is, in fact, being used to control and observe every human being and the secret society of warriors trying to stop The Vast Machine from gaining control of everything you say or do, is not only chilling in its very Orwellian tones but a pretty cool thriller as well.

So a few weeks ago I happened across, by complete accident, a movie trailer someone created for my action-packed book NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET. Here’s the crazy thing… months went by without me even knowing this existed. I think it really awesome and pretty much nails the concept using footage from other movies…

I sent it to the producer who is trying to help get this made into a feature film and he was… pardon the pun blown away. LOL.

And the “casting” of Jason Statham is brilliant. IMHO.

Check it out. You can hear N1B on Podiobooks here.

First, I have an admission to make. I don’t really listen to audiobooks or podcasts. The kind of work I do can’t really be done while listening to them and the only good time seems to be when I’m walking the dog and honestly, I prefer listening to music because most of the time when I’m walking the dog I’m actually working out some kind of story-related problem. And when it comes down to it, I much prefer reading a book and ingesting it at my own pace with no distractions. Call me a purist.

So the honest truth is that I’ve barely listened to any of Scott’s podcasts. (an embarassing admission I made to Scott in an email after reading the book) So, I had zero idea what to expect from CONTAGIOUS other than the concept of being infected with something that makes you want to kill seemed pretty cool.

I have to say that I got hooked on CONTAGIOUS very quickly. Yes, it’s a sequel but I can tell you that not having read INFECTED, I had zero problem picking up what was going on (though now I do plan to read INFECTED as soon as I have time). I’m not going to bore you with details but let’s just say that the story in CONTAGIOUS really works great. The characters are perfect for it and the way some of the scenes are crafted are plain genius. I won’t ruin it for you but there is one scene where a marked confrontation develops between two badasses, Perry and Dew that really made me realize what a great writer Scott is. For realz.

Add to that the deft way he handled doling all the technical stuff, the great levels of continuing suspense and horror and I have to say that Scott Sigler is the perfect blend of Stephen King meets Michael Crichton for my tastes and by far, CONTAGIOUS is better than anything either of them had put out over the last decade. (Yes, CELL is pretty damned close to vintage King and AIRFRAME didn’t totally suck but I stick to my words)

So if you haven’t read CONTAGIOUS and you’re looking for a very satisfying, very well-written thriller with strong elements of horror and techology–a book that really plays out like a big budget Hollywood summer action movie, you cannot go wrong by picking up a copy of CONTAGIOUS.

JC HUTCHINS hardcover debut PERSONAL EFFECTS: Dark Art is OUT NOW! Hutch was kind enough to allow me to read this thrilling novel a couple of months back and I really enjoyed the hell out of it and I think you will too. But don’t take my word for it, watch these other talented authors give their take on PE:DA.

Did I mention PE:DA takes place inside a MENTAL HOSPITAL? Seriously, imagine being trapped inside a place like this with the mind of JC HUTCHINS… PE:DA is one helluva ride.

Buy your copy today!

Information about PE:DA — http://jchutchins.net/site/personal-effects/

Other PE:DA “vlurb” trailers — http://jchutchins.net/site/personal-effects/trailers/

Order the book — http://jchutchins.net/site/order/

There are some very talented storytellers here. I would highly recommend checking out their work.

• Philippa Ballantine
  Author of: Chasing the Bard, Digital Magic, Weather Child
• Scott Sigler
  New York Times bestselling author of: Infected, Contagious, Ancestor
• Seth Harwood
  Author of: Jack Wakes Up, Jack Palms 2 & 3, Young Junius
• Christiana Ellis
  Author of: Nina Kimberly the Merciless, Space Casey
• Matt Wallace
  Parsec Award-winning author of The Next Fix, The Failed Cities Monologues
• James Melzer
  Author of: The Zombie Chronicles – Escape
• Stephen Eley
  Editor of Escape Pod, and publisher of the horror fiction podcast Pseudopod
• Mark Jeffrey
  Author of: The Pocket and the Pendant, The Two Travelers
• Mur Lafferty
• Author of: Playing for Keeps, the Heaven series, co-founder of Pseudopod
• Phil Rossi
  Author of: Crescent, Tales from the Vault, Eden
• Matthew Wayne Selznick
  Author of: Brave Men Run, Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights

FREE DOWNLOAD – Get the SuperVlurb

As they say in the islands, Big Ups to co-producer/editor Michael Bekemeyer for his editing skills. Find the first 10 trailers here.

Currently, I’m working on some new fiction. Can’t tell you what it is yet but the story is BIG and it involves the supernatural. With a little luck I’ll be pulling the curtain back for a peek by the end of summer

Also, check out my funny news video show THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK

And yes, come follow me on Twitter (@MYN).

Stay tuned!

Okay, how incredibly cool is this? The very talented Shane Lees sent me a note on Facebook about how much he had enjoyed listening to Diary of a Madman. He wanted to show his gratitude by drawing me something. This extremely cool and disturbing (in a cool way!) image comes courtesy of Shane and his pencil. I totally love it. It captures a moment in the book where our killer uses this pen to… well, I think you get the idea.

You can see more of Shane’s art here. Go check it out!

Back in 2007, I did an episode of the Wordsushi video podcast (which I will reboot later this year) on marketing your book (and your brand) with BUSINESS CARDS. It’s incredibly simple and anytime you can put a card with your book cover art in someone’s hands they’re much more apt to remember it and hopefully pull the trigger on buying it.

I’ve had people ask me since then where I get my business cards. I order from a company called Overnight Prints. I’ve used them for nearly a dozen different MYN branding projects including post cards and biz cards. The quality of their stuff is extremely high, the prices very low. What I really like is that they use a nice thick card stock (15pts) that feels very sturdy in your hands.

Plus for reasons I can’t really quite understand, they like to give away their product. I’ve used their 100 Free Cards offer a few times to try stuff out and have been very pleased.

My buddy Seth Harwood’s big debut JACK WAKES UP is out today! Seth is a very talented writer and storyteller and if you’re a fan of Hard Case Crime or any noir fiction in general, you’re gonna love JWU.

Check out some of these killer reviews!

Review
“Jack Wakes Up rocks! It’s a fast, smooth ride on a highway not found on any map.” —Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Brass Verdict

“Exhilarating . . . reads like a long-lost Mickey Spillane tale as directed by Robert Rodriguez.”
—Megan Abbott, Edgar Award winning author of Queenpin

“A cold, refreshing slap of glorious mayhem that doesn’t allow you to blink until you turn the last page.”
—Jason Pinter, bestselling author of The Mark

Stay tuned… more details to come.

This is not available in stores. it’s not available on Amazon it’s only available direct from Scott at scottsigler.com/therookie

And when you use Rookie Coupon | Promo | Discount code ALOHA you save $3 off the cover price (regularly $34.95)

That’s right, go to the link above, use coupon code ALOHA, save 3 bucks. It’s that simple.

Again, there are only 3,000 copies of this limited edition. Each will be signed (if you want) and numbered in the order in which they were purchased.

For those of you not familiar with Scott’s work. He’s is a New York Times best-selling author, knows how to write a compelling book

If you’re a football fan, no question, you’re going to eat this up.

If you don’t like football, but you like scifi, you will love this book. If you like:

StarWars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Stargate

A lot of people have said they didn’t like football before they read this book, or thought scifi and football wouldn’t work, but after reading it they actually understand the game and they loved the story.

Sigler puts out modern, mainstream horror-thrillers like INFECTED, CONTAGIOUS, and ANCESTOR which comes out next year from Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, the world’s largest publisher. You’ve probably seen Sigler’s books in the front of Borders, Barnes & Nobles and other chains.

Crown didn’t want to publish THE ROOKIE becuase it’s so different from the brand they are trying to establish. Crown let him self-publish it, as long as it wasn’t in stores, so that’s why it’s only available from his site.

He’s accepting PayPal, or Visa/MasterCard/Discover/American Express.

Don’t hesitate… get yours before they’re gone!

It has been a LONG time coming and a lot of you have been very patiently waiting for me to finally finish TRANSISTOR RODEO. Problem has been that I’ve been busy. Very, very busy with a SECRET PROJECT.

But because the Gods have smiled upon us and given me some time to finally finish it, Transisor Rodeo is now complete.

You can hear Chapter 24 of Transistor Rodeo here;

http://www.wordsushi.com/transistor-rodeo-part-2/transistor-rodeo-chapter-24.html

And of course feel free to listen from the beginning by clicking the link in the right sidebar.