May is National Short Story Month

Did you know that May is National Short Story Month? Amber Book Company plans to celebrate by releasing a new volume of my short stories entitled Shards: The Omnibus Edition. Many of you know me from my social commentary posts appearing on my blog, while others are familiar with my young adult science fiction series The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer. Still others think of me as a novelist or epic storyteller, pointing to my four-book fantasy series Halos & Horns and my current ongoing fantasy series, Fangs & Fur. There are even some readers who think of me primarily as a nonfiction author because of my internationally top-selling book Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law, my two Web design books, and my Collected Essays of a Reluctant Blogger and More Essays of a Reluctant Blogger books. But the truth is, above all else, I’m a short story writer.

Shards may sound familiar to you. My first short story collection was entitled Randoms. It was lovingly crafted, published in a hardcover edition with a dust jacket. Unfortunately, the printer had tremendous difficulty printing the dust jacket. Every copy rolled off the printing press with a slightly different hue, making each book and instant collectible and the source of much aggravation and vexation. Ultimately, and with great reluctance, we replaced the hardcover edition with a paperback. My second short story collection, Careywood, was a charitable effort published in a limited print run to raise money to restore a historic mansion. Then, in 2011, almost all of my short stories were collected in a giant 450-page paperback entitled Shards. This mammoth collection included the best of Randoms, the stories from the limited edition Careywood, and a host of new short stories, many of which had been shared in public readings but never collected in print. Shards was to stand as my oeuvre: the complete collection of my short story output.

At the time, it was the largest book I had ever written… Ironically composed of the shortest of stories. But with each new edition over the course of 10 years, Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law grew to 680 pages. After I completed the four-book Halos & Horns series, the saga was collected in a single omnibus edition, The Halos & Horns Omnibus, which clocked in at a whopping 904 pages. Suddenly, the 450-page Shards didn’t seem so big any more. And in the five years since its publication, I had written a few more short stories. I wanted to gather these new short stories into a brand-new collection but the Halos & Horns Omnibus had gone over so well that it was decided to create a short story omnibus.

We began with the original 450-page Shards and reorganized the stories by theme. Then we added 300 pages of new material. That’s right, 750 pages of short stories between two covers. Or 191,523 words if you’re counting. We kept the original front and back cover to Shards and christened it Shards: The Omnibus Edition. The themes in Shards: The Omnibus Edition include man’s inhumanity to man; technology in society run amok; freedom; conformity; slice of life; fear; prejudice; revenge; the inevitability of death; sadness and depression; darkness and light; lust; love; regret; repentance; pity; debauchery and selfishness; hubris; obsession; fusion fiction; Christmas; the quest; the trickster; discovery and wonder; alienation (stranger in a strange land); and farewell.

Admittedly Shards: The Omnibus Edition is a mixed bag. Some of the tales are downright hilarious. Some are frightening. And a few are disturbing. There are stories within this volume you will treasure… and others you may wish you had never read. Good writing isn’t about repeating hackneyed memes; it’s about pushing the envelope and extending the boundaries until the reader finds himself well outside his comfort zone. In Shards: The Omnibus Edition you’ll find stories that make you laugh and make you cry; stories you’ll want to share with your children; and stories so horrifying you’ll banish them to the deepest recesses of your mind. So join me in celebrating national short story month with Shards: The Omnibus Edition.

May is National Short Story Month

Did you know that May is National Short Story Month? Amber Book Company plans to celebrate by releasing a new volume of my short stories entitled Shards: The Omnibus Edition. Many of you know me from my social commentary posts appearing on my blog, while others are familiar with my young adult science fiction series The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer. Still others think of me as a novelist or epic storyteller, pointing to my four-book fantasy series Halos & Horns and my current ongoing fantasy series, Fangs & Fur. There are even some readers who think of me primarily as a nonfiction author because of my internationally top-selling book Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law, my two Web design books, and my Collected Essays of a Reluctant Blogger and More Essays of a Reluctant Blogger books. But the truth is, above all else, I’m a short story writer.

Shards may sound familiar to you. My first short story collection was entitled Randoms. It was lovingly crafted, published in a hardcover edition with a dust jacket. Unfortunately, the printer had tremendous difficulty printing the dust jacket. Every copy rolled off the printing press with a slightly different hue, making each book and instant collectible and the source of much aggravation and vexation. Ultimately, and with great reluctance, we replaced the hardcover edition with a paperback. My second short story collection, Careywood, was a charitable effort published in a limited print run to raise money to restore a historic mansion. Then, in 2011, almost all of my short stories were collected in a giant 450-page paperback entitled Shards. This mammoth collection included the best of Randoms, the stories from the limited edition Careywood, and a host of new short stories, many of which had been shared in public readings but never collected in print. Shards was to stand as my oeuvre: the complete collection of my short story output.

At the time, it was the largest book I had ever written… Ironically composed of the shortest of stories. But with each new edition over the course of 10 years, Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law grew to 680 pages. After I completed the four-book Halos & Horns series, the saga was collected in a single omnibus edition, The Halos & Horns Omnibus, which clocked in at a whopping 904 pages. Suddenly, the 450-page Shards didn’t seem so big any more. And in the five years since its publication, I had written a few more short stories. I wanted to gather these new short stories into a brand-new collection but the Halos & Horns Omnibus had gone over so well that it was decided to create a short story omnibus.

We began with the original 450-page Shards and reorganized the stories by theme. Then we added 300 pages of new material. That’s right, 750 pages of short stories between two covers. Or 191,523 words if you’re counting. We kept the original front and back cover to Shards and christened it Shards: The Omnibus Edition. The themes in Shards: The Omnibus Edition include man’s inhumanity to man; technology in society run amok; freedom; conformity; slice of life; fear; prejudice; revenge; the inevitability of death; sadness and depression; darkness and light; lust; love; regret; repentance; pity; debauchery and selfishness; hubris; obsession; fusion fiction; Christmas; the quest; the trickster; discovery and wonder; alienation (stranger in a strange land); and farewell.

Admittedly Shards: The Omnibus Edition is a mixed bag. Some of the tales are downright hilarious. Some are frightening. And a few are disturbing. There are stories within this volume you will treasure… and others you may wish you had never read. Good writing isn’t about repeating hackneyed memes; it’s about pushing the envelope and extending the boundaries until the reader finds himself well outside his comfort zone. In Shards: The Omnibus Edition you’ll find stories that make you laugh and make you cry; stories you’ll want to share with your children; and stories so horrifying you’ll banish them to the deepest recesses of your mind. So join me in celebrating national short story month with Shards: The Omnibus Edition.

Celebrate National Short Story Month!

Did you know that May is National Short Story Month? Amber Book Company plans to celebrate by releasing a new volume of my short stories entitled Shards: The Omnibus Edition. Many of you know me from my social commentary posts appearing on my blog, while others are familiar with my young adult science fiction series The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer. Still others think of me as a novelist or epic storyteller, pointing to my four-book fantasy series Halos & Horns and my current ongoing fantasy series, Fangs & Fur. There are even some readers who think of me primarily as a nonfiction author because of my internationally top-selling book Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law, my two Web design books, and my Collected Essays of a Reluctant Blogger and More Essays of a Reluctant Blogger books. But the truth is, above all else, I’m a short story writer.

Shards may sound familiar to you. My first short story collection was entitled Randoms. It was lovingly crafted, published in a hardcover edition with a dust jacket. Unfortunately, the printer had tremendous difficulty printing the dust jacket. Every copy rolled off the printing press with a slightly different hue, making each book and instant collectible and the source of much aggravation and vexation. Ultimately, and with great reluctance, we replaced the hardcover edition with a paperback. My second short story collection, Careywood, was a charitable effort published in a limited print run to raise money to restore a historic mansion. Then, in 2011, almost all of my short stories were collected in a giant 450-page paperback entitled Shards. This mammoth collection included the best of Randoms, the stories from the limited edition Careywood, and a host of new short stories, many of which had been shared in public readings but never collected in print. Shards was to stand as my oeuvre: the complete collection of my short story output.

At the time, it was the largest book I had ever written… Ironically composed of the shortest of stories. But with each new edition over the course of 10 years, Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law grew to 680 pages. After I completed the four-book Halos & Horns series, the saga was collected in a single omnibus edition, The Halos & Horns Omnibus, which clocked in at a whopping 904 pages. Suddenly, the 450-page Shards didn’t seem so big any more. And in the five years since its publication, I had written a few more short stories. I wanted to gather these new short stories into a brand-new collection but the Halos & Horns Omnibus had gone over so well that it was decided to create a short story omnibus.

We began with the original 450-page Shards and reorganized the stories by theme. Then we added 300 pages of new material. That’s right, 750 pages of short stories between two covers. Or 191,523 words if you’re counting. We kept the original front and back cover to Shards and christened it Shards: The Omnibus Edition. The themes in Shards: The Omnibus Edition include man’s inhumanity to man; technology in society run amok; freedom; conformity; slice of life; fear; prejudice; revenge; the inevitability of death; sadness and depression; darkness and light; lust; love; regret; repentance; pity; debauchery and selfishness; hubris; obsession; fusion fiction; Christmas; the quest; the trickster; discovery and wonder; alienation (stranger in a strange land); and farewell.

Admittedly Shards: The Omnibus Edition is a mixed bag. Some of the tales are downright hilarious. Some are frightening. And a few are disturbing. There are stories within this volume you will treasure… and others you may wish you had never read. Good writing isn’t about repeating hackneyed memes; it’s about pushing the envelope and extending the boundaries until the reader finds himself well outside his comfort zone. In Shards: The Omnibus Edition you’ll find stories that make you laugh and make you cry; stories you’ll want to share with your children; and stories so horrifying you’ll banish them to the deepest recesses of your mind. So join me in celebrating national short story month with Shards: The Omnibus Edition.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

I’m sure you’re familiar with the old expression “the best laid plans of mice and men ofttimes go astray.” The quotation comes from Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse”, written in 1786. Probably the first known apology by a farmer to a field rodent, it relates his regret at having upturned the mouse’s nest while ploughing a field:

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren’t alone]

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ mice an' men

Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

For promised joy.

About that “promised joy”… Last month, with eager anticipation, I announced the impending publication of my updated and expanded short story collection, Shards: The Omnibus Edition. The book had been written, edited, and laid out. At 740 pages, it encompassed the original award-winning Shards short story collection published in 2011 and nearly 200 pages of additional brand new material. It had been sent to the printer to be published on the release date as planned. And then…

Squeak!

The best laid plans of mice and men ofttimes go astray. The printer encountered a problem. The book was delayed. Robert Burns, looking down from the heavens about to dine on a haggis, chuckled. So did the mouse.

  

Shards: The Omnibus Edition: Available now (really!) at www.amazon.com/Shards-Omnibus-Keith-B-Darrell/dp/1935971239. 

Celebrate National Short Story Month with Shards: The Omnibus Edition

Did you know that May is National Short Story Month? Amber Book Company plans to celebrate by releasing a new volume of my short stories entitled Shards: The Omnibus Edition. Many of you know me from my social commentary posts appearing on my blog, while others are familiar with my young adult science fiction series The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer. Still others think of me as a novelist or epic storyteller, pointing to my four-book fantasy series Halos & Horns and my current ongoing fantasy series, Fangs & Fur. There are even some readers who think of me primarily as a nonfiction author because of my internationally top-selling book Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law, my two Web design books, and my Collected Essays of a Reluctant Blogger. But the truth is, above all else, I’m a short story writer.

Shards may sound familiar to you. My first short story collection was entitled Randoms. It was lovingly crafted, published in a hardcover edition with a dust jacket. Unfortunately, the printer had tremendous difficulty printing the dust jacket. Every copy rolled off the printing press with a slightly different hue, making each book and instant collectible and the source of much aggravation and vexation. Ultimately, and with great reluctance, we replaced the hardcover edition with a paperback. My second short story collection, Careywood, was a charitable effort published in a limited print run to raise money to restore a historic mansion. Then, in 2011, almost all of my short stories were collected in a giant 450-page paperback entitled Shards. This mammoth collection included the best of Randoms, the stories from the limited edition Careywood, and a host of new short stories, many of which had been shared in public readings but never collected in print. Shards was to stand as my oeuvre: the complete collection of my short story output.

At the time, it was the largest book I had ever written… Ironically composed of the shortest of stories. But with each new edition over the course of 10 years, Issues in Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law grew to 680 pages. After I completed the four-book Halos & Horns series, the saga was collected in a single omnibus edition, The Halos & Horns Omnibus, which clocked in at a whopping 904 pages. Suddenly, the 450-page Shards didn’t seem so big any more. And in the five years since its publication, I had written a few more short stories. I wanted to gather these new short stories into a brand-new collection but the Halos & Horns Omnibus had gone over so well that it was decided to create a short story omnibus.

We began with the original 450-page Shards and reorganized the stories by theme. Then we added 300 pages of new material. That’s right, 750 pages of short stories between two covers. Or 191,523 words if you’re counting. We kept the original front and back cover to Shards and christened it Shards: The Omnibus Edition. The themes in Shards: The Omnibus Edition include man’s inhumanity to man; technology in society run amok; freedom; conformity; slice of life; fear; prejudice; revenge; the inevitability of death; sadness and depression; darkness and light; lust; love; regret; repentance; pity; debauchery and selfishness; hubris; obsession; fusion fiction; Christmas; the quest; the trickster; discovery and wonder; alienation (stranger in a strange land); and farewell.

Admittedly Shards: The Omnibus Edition is a mixed bag. Some of the tales are downright hilarious. Some are frightening. And a few are disturbing. There are stories within this volume you will treasure… and others you may wish you had never read. Good writing isn’t about repeating hackneyed memes; it’s about pushing the envelope and extending the boundaries until the reader finds himself well outside his comfort zone. In Shards: The Omnibus Edition you’ll find stories that make you laugh and make you cry; stories you’ll want to share with your children; and story so horrifying you’ll banish them to the deepest recesses of your mind. So join me in celebrating national short story month with the publication of Shards: The Omnibus Edition.

The Writing Process Blog Tour

Welcome to a special edition of my blog this week. Author Kanchana Ayyar has invited me to be part of The Writing Process Blog Tour, in which selected authors answer four questions on their blog. Think of it is how a writer might imagine a Passover Seder… sans the matzoh. “Why is this night different from all other nights?” So begin the traditional Four Questions asked at Passover Seders for thousands of years. In a similar vein, today you might ask “Why is this blog different from all of my other blogs?” because I’ll be answering the same four questions being put to many writers today as part of a new tradition – the Writing Process Blog Tour.

Question #1: What are you working on?

These days, writers wear several hats. When I’m wearing my promoter hat, I’m promoting my most recently published books, The Witches Cauldron and Collected Essays of a Reluctant Blogger. But when I put on my production hat, I’m designing the forthcoming deluxe illustrated collection of my four-book fantasy series, The Halos and Horns Omnibus Edition. This is probably the most exciting project I've ever worked on. This massive 900-page book has more than 60 color illustrations, a guide to the Halos and Horns multiverse, the novelette The Pandora Chronicles, and several never before published essays. It’s truly a labor of love and if you buy only one book of mine, this should be it.

Then, when I put on my editor’s hat, I’m doing the final run through on my young adult science fiction novel, The 25^th Hour, which will be released later this year. It’s a fast-paced action-adventure tale. Mackenzie Mortimer’s a typical junior high geek. He’s shy, awkward, a bit clumsy, late with his homework, and always late for class. There’s never enough time to do everything he needs to do; after all, there are only 24 hours in a day. But when Mac finds his grandfather’s pocket watch buried deep inside a trunk, he discovers his days have an extra hour. According to the eccentric inventor’s journal, the watch can add up to 60 minutes to a single day by freezing time around whomever presses its button. When a crisis looms for Mac and his friends, time is running out... but fortunately, Mackenzie Mortimer has few more minutes than anyone else.

Next, I wear my geek hat and meet with Amber Book Company’s programmer to develop a digitized version of my Issues in Internet Law: Society Technology and the Law for colleges and universities worldwide on one of the world’s leading digital textbook platforms. I look forward to being able to announce the details in an upcoming blog post.

I also don my researcher’s hat and ferret out the latest legal and technological issues to include in the next print edition of Issues in Internet Law: Society Technology and the Law.

Finally, I get to put on my writer’s hat, dip my quill into the inkwell, and write a few more chapters in the first volume of Fangs and Fur, which provides readers with an in-depth look at the vampires and werewolves they've met in the Halos & Horns saga. Fangs and Fur: Flashbacks (Book 1 in the series) should be published by Christmas. You can expect to hear me talk more about Fangs and Fur as we get closer to publication date.

Question #2: How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I write both nonfiction and fiction. In my nonfiction, unlike many writers, I take complex topics and express them in easily understood terms. One university professor shared his student’s comment about my book, Issues in Internet Law: Society Technology and the Law,  with me: “I just wanted to say I was dreading the fact I had to read a law book and wouldn’t be able to understand the law talk but I love this book! It’s really easy to understand and great because the Internet is a huge part of my everyday life.” That’s what makes my nonfiction books different. My writing style is designed to convey understanding of the underlying material, not to impress students with how smart the author presumably is.

I also write short stories and sagas. My short stories tend to be concise, insightful, and visceral. I think I bring a more literary writing style to the fantasy genre. My writing has a certain elegance atypical of most tales of vampires and demons. There’s a philosophical aspect to my writing and I explore many literary themes, including the nature of good and evil, free will versus predetermination, man’s inhumanity to man, universal versus moral relativism, nature versus nurture, loss of innocence, coming of age, death, love and friendship, the quest for power, individualism, sacrifice, and faith versus doubt. Also, I respect my readers’ intelligence and I don’t write down to them on a fifth grade reading level. When you read my fiction, you’ll come away having added a few new words to your vocabulary.

Question #3: Why do you write what you do?

Besides having to pay the bills, I truly enjoy writing. Often, I find there a lot of things that need to be said and I’ll wrap these social messages in the context of a fictional story.

Question #4: How does your writing process work?

I was trained as a traditional journalist, so I learned to compose my thoughts before my fingers touch the keyboard and write whatever it is I’m writing in one draft. If I’m writing a short piece, I’ll just do it as stream of consciousness, flowing from my mind onto the screen. However, if I’m writing a multi-book saga, or even a novel, I’ll prepare a general one-page outline of the proposed chapters. Then, I’ll flesh out the outline by creating a separate outline for each individual chapter. These sub outlines will contain a list of the characters appearing in that chapter, the subplots, and sometimes, snatches of dialogue. Once I start writing the chapter, I incorporate much of the outline but I’m also free to deviate from it. When I finish a chapter, I’ll upload it into my Kindle and proof it for errors.

Now, I must pass the author baton to the another writer who will take you on the next leg of the Writing Process Blog Tour.

 Alain Gomez lives in San Diego and has been writing since she was sixteen. She works in the field of music but has continued to pursue her passion for writing as an independent author. Though she generally sticks to writing shorter stories, Alain enjoys experimenting with a variety of genres, including science fiction and fairy tales. Her blog is at http://bookbrouhaha.blogspot.com.

Join Alain next Monday to read her answers to the same four questions, but until then, feel free to read some of my previous posts available from the drop-down menu to the left and be sure to bookmark my blog.

Creativity is Radioactive

One of things I wanted to accomplish with my short story collection Shards was to unleash my creativity and push the envelope. I’d grown tired of the same formulaic plots and stories, both in literature, and on television and in movies. I recalled writer Harlan Ellison’s tales about Hollywood producers being unable to grasp creativity. To pitch them an idea for TV series, a writer had to give them a one-sentence tagline that analogized the proposal to a previously successful show. For Gene Roddenberry to sell Paramount on the idea of Star Trek, he had to describe it in terms Hollywood would understand. Wagon Train had been a popular Western show on television at the time, so he pitched Star Trek as “Wagon Train in space.” Instead of the wagon train traveling to different towns where adventures would occur, a spaceship would travel to different planets where adventures would occur. The producers nodded and said “Ah.” Now they understood.

Today more than ever, everything in Hollywood is about taking something that was successful and cloning it. Hollywood is all about sequels and spin-offs and recreations of prior successes. Star Trek is a perfect example. Hollywood produced three more television series and umpteen movies and just when you thought they couldn't get anymore milk out of that cash cow, J.J. Abrams was brought in to re-create the show by rebooting the Star Trek universe.

The Hollywood producers do this because they are extremely risk averse. This might sound odd, considering how many millions of dollars they routinely lose on box office flops and TV ratings disasters, but they would rather attempt to re-create a successful concept than back an unproven creative work. Creativity and originality scare them because they don’t come with a track record. If a work is too different, too creative, too original, then it falls so far outside their comfort zone they won’t touch it. Creativity and originality, in their eyes, is radioactive.

What they've lost sight of is, the most successful shows had their genesis in creativity and attempts to re-create originality only result in successive degrees of mediocrity. If creativity truly is radioactive, then attempts to clone it produce mediocre work with its own inherent quality half-lives.

Creativity is often not recognized or understood. As Andy Wachowski, director of the film Cloud Atlas, said, “As soon as (critics) encounter a piece of art they don't fully understand the first time going through it, they think it's the fault of the movie or the work of art. They think, 'It's a mess ... This doesn't make any sense.' And they reject it, just out of an almost knee-jerk response to some ambiguity or some gulf between what they expect they should be able to understand, and what they understand.”

Perhaps the Hollywood producers are, in one respect, correct. Creativity requires the viewer or reader to step outside his or her comfort zone. Sometimes, the viewer or reader simply may not “get it” because the story is so far removed from that individual’s personal life experience. I remember a public reading I did several years ago, and what made it memorable was the fact it was the first time I had been booed by an audience at such an event. I was reading my short story, The Abuser, a first-person tale of a woman suffering through an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. I was only two paragraphs into the reading when the boos and derogatory murmurs bubbled forth from the crowd.

Yet, like Gunga Din I soldiered on, reading the short story to the end. The boos and murmurs had stopped midway through and turned to rapt attention. Still, I was not sure if I had won over my audience. Afterward, a crowd gathered around me and one woman approached me, complaining my story had been totally unrealistic. “No woman would put up with that,” she stated emphatically. “Any woman would have kicked him to the curb in five minutes.” She walked away, and a woman who’d been standing behind her came up to me and said in a voice barely louder than a whisper, “Don’t listen to her; she doesn't know what she’s talking about. You just described ten years of my life.”

Both women had heard the same story and walked away with completely opposite reactions as to its verisimilitude. They had listened with the same ears, but filtered what they heard through vastly different life experiences. For one woman, my writing fell flat; for the other, it had touched her very soul. That doesn't happen when you play it safe and give the reader a retread of familiar ground. When a writer pushes the envelope and boldly goes where no one has gone before, he runs the risk of alienating those who will never “get it”. But creativity is its own reward, and even those who don’t understand a creative work today may one day appreciate it when viewed through the filter of their life experiences yet to come. Beam me up, Scotty.

Keith's Awards Sweep! Two Books Honored in 2013 NIE Awards!

Beverly Hills, CA (May 22, 2013) - Shards, by Keith B. Darrell, has been named a Finalist in the category of Short Stories in this year's NIE Awards.

"I know the competition was particularly fierce this year, so I am especially pleased Shards has been awarded this honor," author Keith B. Darrell said. "This is the first time since Randoms in 2009 that we've brought home an NIE Award, and this year we received not one, but two awards, in both fiction and nonfiction categories." The 7th edition of Issues in Internet Law was the winner in the 2013 NIE Awards category for books about the Internet, also announced today.

“We congratulate each and every author recognized this year," NIE Awards sponsor Ellen Reid said. "Our competition is unique in that it takes into account all aspects of publishing that go into making a stand-out presentation including cover design, interior layout and promotional text." This national award, based in Los Angeles, CA, is open to all English-language books published between 2010 and 2013. The competition was judged by independent industry experts, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers, and professional copywriters. They selected award winners and finalists based on overall excellence of presentation, Reid said.

Shards is a 542-page collection of short stories by author Keith B. Darrell which span all genres, including speculative fiction, flash fiction, fusion fiction, fantasy, science fiction, horror, slice of life, humor, gothic, and political/sociological fiction. "Although much of my focus has been on my novels, particularly my four-book Halos & Horns fantasy saga, I have always been a devotee, as both reader and author, of the short story format," Darrell said. "My first foray into short stories was a small collection entitled Randoms, which was a 2009 NIE Awards finalist, but Shards is a much more ambitious attempt, clocking in at 542 pages with 62 stories. I hope this recognition will attract more readers to the book and provide it with the exposure it deserves."

Shards is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The 200th Post - Where's Keith?

Perceptive perusers of this periodical will have perceived a paucity of posts of late. OK, enough alliteration. I haven't been posting as much lately, so on the occasion of this, my 200th post, let me tell you what I've been up to instead.

I've finished The Witches' Cauldron, the fourth book in the Halos & Horns fantasy saga and am looking forward to the eBook coming out in late April and the paperback the following month. I've completed the first chapter of Fangs & Fur, the second arc in the series. This arc will focus on the vampires and werewolves introduced in Halos & Horns. The first chapter, The Pandora Chronicles, reveals Pandora's origin and the secret of the psychic bond she shares with Sharon Mordecai. We also learn how Pandora and Sharon became vampires and how old Pandora really is. It's a poignant and exciting flashback populated by gangsters and vampires.

I've also begun work on my long-promised Young Adult novel, The 25th Hour. Mackenzie Mortimer is a typical junior high geek. He’s shy, awkward, a bit clumsy, doesn’t finish his homework and is always late for class. There’s never enough time to do everything he needs to do; after all, there are only 24 hours in a day. But when Mac finds his grandfather’s pocket watch buried inside a trunk, he discovers his days have an extra hour. According to the eccentric inventor’s journal, the pocket watch can add up to 60 minutes to a single day by freezing time around whoever holds it and presses its stem. At first, Mac uses the watch for childish pranks on friends, revenge on the school bully, and to spy on his crush, Vanessa, daughter of the wealthiest man in town. But when deranged teens show up at school with rifles, Mac realizes every second is one tick of the clock away from his class halls becoming a kill zone. Mac saves the day, but discovers using the watch takes its toll on the holder: each extra hour is subtracted from the holder’s lifespan. He resolves to dispose of it so neither he nor anyone else will ever be at risk from it. Just as he finally builds up the nerve to ask Vanessa on a date, she is kidnapped in front of him. The kidnappers give Mac their ransom demand to relay to Vanessa’s father – one million dollars in cash, in 24 hours. Vanessa’s father refuses, saying paying the ransom will only encourage more kidnap attempts. As the only witness, Mac pieces together the clues to track down the kidnappers. Should he tell the police what he has deduced and hope they take a teenager’s detective work seriously; risk a police shootout that could leave Vanessa wounded or killed; or retrieve the pocket watch and lose another hour of his life? Time is running out… but fortunately, Mackenzie Mortimer has few more minutes than anyone else.

Additionally, I've been compiling material for Cub, my nonfiction book filled with celebrity interviews and photographs. I expect to be working on this project throughout 2014. Additionally, I'm researching new material for inclusion in the next edition of Issues In Internet Law: Society, Technology, and the Law. I've written a number of new short stories that I anticipate will be released in a paperback collection in late 2013 or 2014.

I'm about four chapters into my science fiction time travel novel, Justin Tyme. In a desperate bid to stop the government from shutting down the overbudgetted time travel program, the headstrong, young assistant scientist sends himself back in time to prove the project is viable. Unfortunately, the project crew hasn't solved the problem of bringing chrononauts back yet. Fearful Tyme might inadvertently change history, the Defense Secretary orders his own agent be sent after Tyme. Elizabeth Madison, a 26-year-old historian and martial arts expert, is under secret orders from the secretary: if Justin Tyme attempts to change history through some well-intentioned act fraught with inconceivable consequences, Madison must dissuade him if possible; interfere with his attempts to do so; or, as a last resort, terminate him. They're a time traveling team, where he's the brains, she's the brawn, and their survival may depend on each other... if she isn't forced to kill him first.

Finally, I'm working on a new urban fantasy novel featuring Esme Trout, an amoral succubus who feeds off the life essence of humans. It replenishes her strength and vitality, heals her injuries, and preserves her eternal youth. However, her meals sometimes leave loose ends to resolve.

In a somewhat ironic side note, during the time I've been posting less, my blog’s readership has increased, with older posts getting lots of new hits. Perhaps readers like the new "less is more approach". Or maybe they need their daily fix and are willing to scrounge among the archives for reruns. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea of gaining more readers by writing less ;)

Behind "The Lobster Thriller"

Searching for new markets to sell my short stories to, I stumbled across an odd little e-zine called The Journal of Unlikely Entomology. I perused their submission requirements, mentally checking off which ones I met. Speculative fiction? Check. Weird stories? Check. Avant-garde? Check. Reprints? Check. “Beautifully written fiction, characters that grab us by the throats and refuse to let go until their stories have been told, worlds that draw us in and demand to be explored?” Check. Bugs? WTF?

Ah, entomology: the study of insects. Houston, we have a problem. Did any of my stories have insects in them? I did a quick inventory and remembered my 2009 Christmas story. I write an annual Christmas story and that year it was “A Christmas Present For Ashley”, the crucifixion tale told from the POV (point of view) of a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Check.

What appealed to me most about the e-zine was its panache: a take-off on the haughty, 19^th century style reminiscent of The AcmeNovelty Library. So, using my best Chris Ware impression, I dashed off an e-mail to the publisher:

I ran across The Journal Of Unlikely Entomology and thought it might provide a suitable home for "A Christmas Present For Ashley". Until now, I had categorized this as a Christmas piece, not realizing there might be a discrete market for tales of a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Note, this would fall under the heading of reprint rights, as it has appeared in two anthologies, but I am submitting it for your consideration because it seemed the perfect piece for The Journal Of Unlikely Entomology.

Should you by any chance start a sister publication, The Journal of Unlikely Crustaceology, please advise me, as I would finally have a place for my lobster thriller.

It was 3 a.m. and I was a bit tired and giddy, so I might be excused for the flippant attempt at humor. I presumed anyone who could craft The Journal of Unlikely Entomology would share my wry sense of humor and laugh at the concept of a companion journal for crustaceology (the study of crustaceans) and the preposterous notion of the genre of lobster fiction. A few days later, I received this reply:

Just found this in the spam folder, for reasons I can't fathom…

After all these years of writing, I’m used to my submissions landing in far worse places than a spam filter, so I continued reading.

We do have a policy of accepting a maximum of one reprint per issue, which does cut the odds. On the other hand, lobsters are bugs. Sort of…. We'd be happy to take a look at your lobster thriller.

They probably would not be interested in the story I sent, but might want to publish my lobster thriller! Omigod! I laughed until endorphins dripped from my eyelids. Then, I sobered up. I remembered I didn’t have a lobster thriller. I didn’t even know what a lobster thriller was! What to do? I considered telling them the reference to a lobster thriller was a joke, but in my experience, people only find jokes funny when they are in on them. If they missed the joke and later have it pointed out, they tend to be embarrassed and become resentful, if not rancorous. Not a good way to entice them into publishing my story.

There was only one option: write a lobster thriller in 24 hours. I can never resist a writing challenge. Now, what the hell is a lobster thriller? It should have the elements of a thriller and somehow revolve around a lobster, I concluded. There were two choices: (1) a story in which a lobster is the main character or (2) a Maltese Falcon tale, where the lobster is the object sought by the characters. Since I had already submitted a story told from a cockroach’s POV, I chose the second option. A friend had challenged me to write a Young Adult story, so I figured, what the hell. The next day, I had “The Lobster Thriller” — a 5,000–word Young Adult lobster thriller. I had not only crafted a new story; I had created an entirely new genre!

The following day, I was stricken with a life-threatening medical issue and “The Lobster Thriller” and everything else in my life got placed on the back burner for several weeks. When life settled down, I realized I had never gotten around to sending the “The Lobster Thriller” to the e-zine. Oops.

So, that’s how I came to write a story about Chinese spies, biological warfare, a Vietnamese fisherman, a lighthouse, and 16-year-old Wesley Snodgrass’ misadventure with a yellow lobster. Click on the cover below to begin reading “The Lobster Thriller”!

Worth A Second Look

In a previous post, I told you about the eStorybooks that were selling well. Today, I'd like to shine the spotlight on three of my favorite short stories that have been neglected by Kindle purchasers.

First up is Future Memories of the Butterfly Lady. 

The plot: Reporter Sylvia Bartow has only one hour to make sense of the patchwork quilt of interviews that has consumed the past three months of her life, as she waits to interview condemned killer Max Crenshaw - one hour before the hangman's noose silences his lips forever. Is it time enough to unravel the truth, and to learn the secret of the Butterfly Lady? 

Why I like it: I used a unique storytelling technique. As the reporter waits to meet the condemned prisoner, her mind flashes back through a series of interviews she conducted with different individuals about the case. The flashbacks are presented  as vignettes told by the interviewee from their point of view. There is some foreshadowing that portends the surprise ending.

Next, is Kil-ger.

The plot: If you're a SF post-apocalyptic fan, this one will be a treat for you. By day, Kyle Marsden leads an idyllic life in the suburbs with his wife and daughter. But at night, Kyle slips into a post-apocalyptic world gone mad - populated by animalistic ravers who rape and plunder at will; joyriders, scion of society's elite who kill for sport to relieve their boredom; and rogue cybernetic mercenaries called Kil-gers. But what happens when Kyle's nightmares merge with his idyllic existence?

Why I like it: Again, the storytelling technique stands out. Kil-ger was a challenge to write because the story transitions multiple times between two time periods with two very different moods. The trick was to maintain a smooth flowing story while the reader -- through the protagonist -- undergoes a jarring change in surroundings from idyllic suburbia to post-apocalyptic madness and back. The surprise ending leaves the reader pondering how far man's humanity can be stretched before it is lost.

The last one for today is The Encounter.

The plot: An elderly man, armed only with his wits, confronts an gun-wielding young man burglarizing his home.

Why I like it: The plot is what makes The Encounter exceptional. It's plotted like a two-man play. The Encounter is an intellectual thriller. An old man is trapped in his home by an armed punk a third his age. He can't expect outside help and he cannot physically overpower the thug. His only hope for survival is to outwit his younger, stronger opponent. With only two characters and one setting (a kitchen), the dialogue and interaction form the basis of this riveting thriller.

I like to think each of my stories is unique in some way. These three tales stand out because of the level of writing styles employed. I hope you'll give them a try. 

Just Published: SHARDS!

Tales of Cutting Edge Speculative Fiction!
Softcover edition. 542 pages.

Finally! Shards was published in August, on schedule, however Amazon has only now gotten around to listing it for sale on its site. So far, Barnes and Noble is still running behind, so the only place to buy it online is from Amazon. Clicking the cover will take you to the Amazon page. Shards is available only in softcover - it will not be available in hardcover or e-book formats.

Shards is the ultimate short story collection, clocking in at 542 pages. By my count, it comes to 150,693 words comprising 61 short stories. Here's the blurb:

Keith B. Darrell traverses multiple genres and dimensions, guiding the reader to a wondrous universe of speculative fiction in which he has loosed the gremlins of his imagination. Leading the reader through realms of fantasy, horror, science fiction, satire, nostalgia, urban fiction, and other genres, he has tapped into the zeitgeist, chronicling the exploits of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations. His tales hold a funhouse mirror up to society and force us to recognize ourselves in the reflection. Filled with pathos, they cross all genres and are alternately poignant, nostalgic, humorous, cautionary, and even terrifying. Keith B. Darrell’s stories flow effortlessly. Do not be deceived. They are raw. They are politically incorrect. And they will take you from your comfort zone into a modern day Twilight Zone.

Guest Blog by Alain Gomez

Alain Gomez lives in San Diego and has been writing since she was sixteen. She works in the field of music but has continued to pursue her passion for writing as an independent author. Though she generally sticks to writing shorter stories, Alain enjoys experimenting with a variety of genres including romance and thrillers. Alain’s blog is at http://bookbrouhaha.blogspot.com/. Her Space Hotel collection is available from Amazon.

Guest Blog by Alain Gomez:

Short Stories Spread Social Disease

Or at least that’s what it feels like sometimes when trying to find someone to review your work.  How does one gain exposure as a new self-published author? It’s simple, they say. Pay for advertising if you’d like, but the best thing to do is send your work to book bloggers and have them review it. This sounds simple enough. So what if they hate it? I can take criticism like the rest of them.

There are thousands of book bloggers out there willing to write reviews. So it’s usually not hard finding several dozen that review your genre. But that’s when the narrowing down process starts.  Not every reviewer accepts self-published works. Of the ones that do, not all of those accept e-books. Out of that considerably smaller pool… you have to find one that actually reads short stories.

Yes, for some reason, reviewers will reject stories that are too short. I completely respect each reviewer’s right to accept whatever story they want. But the sheer number of people who have told me “I don’t review short stories” has led me to suspect that this genre must spread a truly heinous social disease to the reader.

It just does not make sense to me. If I accepted full-length novels on a regular basis for review, I would most likely welcome the occasional short story to mix things up a bit. If nothing else, it wouldn’t take me very long to read and review. Perhaps if the story(ies) are so short they are not worth the time? I have no idea.

The intent of this blog is not to pick on blog reviewers. Those people provide an invaluable service to the author community. It is merely to point out that there is a very real (I’d almost like to say unfounded) stigma toward short stories. The short story is its own literary genre; they are not mini-novels.

Sins of the Blogger

Forgive me, blog readers, for I have sinned. It has been 21 days since my last post.

But I haven't been idle. I've written a new short story, "Hare to the Throne",  a tale about social conformity arising from within the society, through peer pressure, as opposed to being imposed by the government, as is typical in most dystopian stories. The story takes the more religious reader out of his comfort zone and place him in the POV (point of view) of an atheist viewing religion. It will probably be released as an eStorybook or end up in my next anthology.

I've also been busy writing the third book in the Halos & Horns series, "To Hell in a Hand Basket". I'm having a lot of fun reuniting with all of my characters from the series. It's like meeting up with old friends you haven't seen in a while. I had some trepidation starting the third book, since the second one was a tough act to follow (and how do you recover from the ending?) but so far I'm quite pleased with the results.

Shards, my new short story collection, will be officially released next month, but I have received some advance copies, so if anyone wants to purchase one early, shoot me an email or leave a reply here. At 542 pages, it is an impressively thick book that will give your mailman a hernia.

August is also the month we're going to begin producing some podcasts. I'll have more on that as we get deeper into the project, but I am very excited by the prospect. Later this year, we'll be making some cool products available, like coffee mug, T-shirts, and tote bags, emblazoned with book covers and logos. We've had some of these items circulating among the Amber crowd for years (I love my mug and I hardly go anywhere without the tote bag) but I recently agreed to make some of the items available to everyone.

I'm delighted to report we will soon have a guest blog by a wonderful short story author; a blog on a surprisingly controversial topic that's been prompting a lot of attention and comment lately; and a link to a new interview I did with Jennifer Rainey, author of a fabulous fantasy novel, "These Hellish Happenings".

So stay tuned.

May is National Short Story Month!

Did you know that May is National Short Story Month? To celebrate, I have published 35 eStorybooks this month: 34 short stories and one novella. But don't feel left out! You can celebrate National Short Story Month, as well. How, you ask? Easy - by reading 35 short stories this month! ;)

A Box of Chocolates

I’m a writer. I’ve written nonfiction: books, textbooks, magazine articles, professional periodical pieces, and newspaper articles. I’ve written fiction: novels, novellas, and short stories. My genres include speculative fiction, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy, sword & sorcery, science fiction, dystopian fiction, apocalyptic fiction, horror, slice of life, political and sociological fiction, satire, humor, drama, gothic mystery, western, children’s fiction, and young adult. I even wrote a chick lit piece.

The good side of my versatility as a writer is if you keep reading my work, the odds are you’ll find something you like. But – you knew there was a but coming, didn’t you? – I write stories for grown ups, like myself. Even though I may pen a children’s tale or a Young Adult story, I am not a “Young Adult author.”

Many of my stories, even those not specifically written for them, may be enjoyed by kids and teenagers. A few even have important moral lessons woven into the tales. But some are not suitable for children. They may deal with mature themes like racism, drug abuse, prostitution, violence, rape, or sexual situations. They may have profanity or epithets. Sure, the kids have probably seen all this on cable TV, heard it rap songs, and talked about it among themselves. But, still…

The question I’ve wrestled with is how to indicate a story may not be appropriate for all readers, either due to their age or sensitivities. Catcher in the Rye is required reading in some schools, yet banned in others because of its profanity. I am completely against censorship but I do think people should know what they’re getting, be it films, songs, or books. With that in mind, I’ve placed a Ratings Guide for my short stories on my blog. You’ll see little color coded triangles next to each story. “A” is for All Ages. “M” means there are mature themes not suitable for young children but appropriate for most Young Adults. “L” means there is strong or offensive language used. “V” means graphic violence. And “X” designates explicit sexual scenes or situations.

I know most writer abhor the idea of content labeling. Then again, most writers have labeled themselves through their writing. When you pick up a J.K. Rowling book you know you’re not reading a Harold Robbins escapade, and vice versa. In my case, to paraphrase Forest Gump, my writing is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’ll get.

So what are your thoughts?

eStorybooks - A Bold New Idea

Something big is about to happen.

Think of it as Phase 2 of The E-Book Revolution. Phase 1 was the transition of print books to electronic form. People all over the world are reading novels on Kindles and Nooks, and even on smart phones, but let's face it: tiny smart phone screens were designed for lighter reading than "War and Peace". But they would be perfect for reading a short story, wouldn't they?

Author Keith B. Darrell has coined the phrase “eStorybook” for individual short stories published in eBook format.

Sometimes you want a full-course dinner; and other times you just want a candy bar. It's great to curl up at night with an eBook, but for those times when you can't squeeze in a novel, you can still fit in an eStorybook. Whether reading an eStorybook on your smartphone, during a cigarette break, or on the train ride home, you get a complete entertainment experience in a bite-sized portion timed for your busy lifestyle.

Starting this month, Keith will began releasing a stream of eStorybooks for varying ages and crossing multiple genres. The first eStorybooks will published for Kindle e-readers and available on Amazon.com’s Kindle store, with plans to produce eStorybooks in EPUB format in late 2011.

The stories will come in all different lengths - as long as 15,000 words or as brief as 2,000 or less. The wonderful thing about short stories is length is not important (that's why they're called short stories); it's the beauty of the prose and the impact of the story that readers value. And what a value! Every Kindle eStorybook will be priced at 99 cents - the lowest price Kindle allows. Amazon keeps 70 cents and approximately 29 cents goes to the author. Less than the price of a candy bar.

So watch this blog for updates on new eStorybook releases. Support the author and purchase them as they are released. Spread the word. Phase 2 has begun.

The Library of Trees