Well, not so much my party, as my January break. Writing and editing a novel takes a lot out of you, and my brain just needed a rest. I struggled through the month of December trying to move forward with some new projects, but by New Year’s I realized that if I didn’t take some time off and recharge, I’d probably crash and burn. So, I decided to spend January watching a lot of movies and tearing through every episode of The West Wing (which, by the way, is something I really should have done a long time ago). But now I’m back.

In some Sewerville news, the novel is available at Morris Book Shop in Lexington, KY and soon will be at Carmichael’s in Louisville (both locations). You can order it through Joseph-Beth and just about any other local store, too, but I honestly don’t know if it’s on the shelf. One way or the other, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORES! I use Amazon and B&N just like everybody else, but there’s something about the atmosphere in the local stores that just can’t be replaced.

Aside from that, I’ve got 3 different projects going right now, in various stages of development. There’s no telling which one will be finished first, but my next book will be one of these:

Sewerville Part II: Tales from the Sewer. It’s a collection of short stories, each centered around a primary character in the Sewerville universe. Some are from Sewerville, while other stories will introduce characters who figure prominently in Sewerville: Part III, including the fictional president of the Kentucky State Senate. Right now I’m resisting the urge to release each story one at a time but I guess it’s more than possible that one or two will leak out before the book is completed.

The Long Dark Run is a horror novel,   and was teased in my short story “The Dead on Black River.”  Right now I’m using the tag line “a horror story for the 99%.” I’m not telling you anything else just yet.

Ripsnorter is another horror novel, this one about ancient evils and modern drug abusers. Like Sewerville before it, Ripsnorter started life as a screenplay; a friend calls it “Sewerville with monsters.” I guess there’s something to that. It’s a bleak gut-punch of a story, with parts that I’ve found deeply disturbing even as I wrote them. We’ll see what other folks think. (If I had to pick one, I’d guess this will be the next novel finished. But no promises.)

Anyway, I just wanted to update folks since I hadn’t posted in a while.

Ravens 27, 49ers 17.  Sorry, Kyle.

JAS