The weather is getting chilly here in the Hill Country, and I know what you want to do when it gets cold. You want to read a good book. I am blogging today over at Bard and Book, and it is a review of a novel you might enjoy. It is called An Introduction to Shadow written by the prolific Derek Elkins. It is an ebook and available at amazon.com or through bardandbook and other ebook outlets. Click here to go to the review . . .
This blog is doing double duty. It is an identical posting I made for Bard and Book, which is going public tomorrow with a major press release. It is about my newest short story, Deep Cove. The best way to read it is at bardandbook.com, but it is also available at Amazon and barnesandnoble.com as well as Smashwords.
“Deep Cove” is the name of one of the streets near our Lake house in Central Texas. The name stuck with me as I began to write an homage to the monster movies from my childhood. I remember watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon on Saturday afternoons. Even though it was campy and in black and white, there was something about it which pulled me in. A couple of years ago my family and I vacationed at Universal Studios and they even had a stage show version of it and I looked forward to see it. Sadly, I was disappointed as the show was terrible.
What I wanted to do, though, was to use the monster to set a historical backdrop from my own memory and cultural heritage. What emerged was a story about two ‘good ole boys’ who encounter a lake monster one night while fishing. A careful reader, though, ought to find t two or three other themes such as the alpha and beta relationship between the two men, their life’s goals, and the irony of fishermen being fished by the fish.
This is the initial story; but I plan others. In future stories we will see other encounters people have with it. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are not some stories located in the 80’s and possibly the 90’s as well as the legend of the beast takes hold in the community of Deep Cove.
Eventually there will be a story about the beast’s origins. However, I intend to write that one near the end of the collection. Probably, just probably, we’ll discover a mad scientist involved who experiments with radiation and genetic mutations of aquatic wildlife in the late 1950’s. But I will not promise that.
Today is the official launch day of Bard and Book publishing. “What is Bard and Book?” you ask. I know you asked it, I heard you.
Bard and Book is an innovation in entertainment for both readers and writers. I am partnering with several other writers to produce short stories and poetry on a regular basis that is available only at Bard and and Book and is only available for subscription members. The goal of the endeavor is to produce original content for customers as well as premium access to authors.
Because the endeavor is in the launch stage, the current content is free! Did you notice that: FREE! It will not be that way forever, but for now it is.
I currently have two works available at Bard and Book. One is my short story “Steve Chooses” from the my book The Haunting of Pastor Butch Gregory and Other Short Stories. I chose to put this story out because it provides backdrop for the novel, which is not yet available, I just completed. “Steve Chooses” focuses on a homeless man named Steve who hears voices. Some readers believe he is demon possessed, other readers believe he is schizophrenic. The voices tell him to commit a specific violent crime.
The second work is a poem called “The Trinity is Not Mute.” I wrote that piece about a month ago as I was pondering Pentecost and Trinity Sunday in the liturgical tradition. In order for churches to maintain orthodoxy with our past, the doctrine of the trinity needs an infusion of emphasis to withstand the anti-trinitarian voices which are all around.
In the next week or so I intend to publish on Bard and Book a 10,000 word short story I recently completed. It is in the editing process right now as I wordsmith and polish it. That particular story has a working title of “After That.” I really like it, and I hope you will too. In the future I want to work on science fiction. I have always admired the Bradbury and Asimov as creators of short stories that are poignant and about the future. Those writers, of course, come from a distinctly secular and non-spiritual backdrop. I wonder what kind of stories might flow from a redeemed perspective of the future? I think those types of stories would be fun to write and I hope fun to read.
