Threepio?!? Where could he be?

"Where could he be?!"

Though the conditions in which some of my readers might be asking the above regarding yours truly are likely far less dire than those experienced by Luke Skywalker when he shouted those words from within the grinding bowels of one of the Deathstar's many garbage smashers, it's still a fair question. Part of the answer revolves around any number of real world day to day normal life issues which I fear would bore the heck out of any blog readers, but the more interesting (to most of you) answer is: I've been writing. Some of it has been Eric/Void City related writing and some of it not. But for those of you who want an update, we'll start with status of Void City:

VOID CITY, BOOK 3 (Currently entitled CROSSED) has been turned in to my agent, passed along to and purchased by Jen Heddle over at Pocket Books, and I am currently awaiting my revision letter letting me know what Jen would like done to it before you guys see it. Trust me, you want Jen to look at it first. Without Jen's feedback, the Eric/Talbot/J'iliol'lth aerial fight over Void City from ReVAMPED would never have been written nor would readers have ever gotten a chance to meet Esteban (Lady Gabriella's lover)... just as without Shawna, my agent, the Werewolves On Ice hockey fight from STAKED would never have made it to the page either.

The first draft of VOID CITY, BOOK 4 is currently around 14% completed and I'm writing it pretty much simultaneously with another project that I'm really afraid to say much about... not because it's some big media tie-in (it isn't), but because I'm so attached to it that I'm a wee bit paranoid. So, for now, I'll refer to it as PROJECT 'MANCER and assuming it sells, you'll get to find out for which word that lonely little apostrophe is standing in.

PROJECT 'MANCER is actually more than one project or at least more than one story. So far, it consists of a roughly 9,000 word novelette (which I've just sent off to the first prospective market), several short stories in various stages of completion, and a proposal for several novels, the first of which is roughly 25% complete, has a synopsis, and will be heading out to my agent tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed on this one, please. I really want it to happen and have spent the last few years tweaking the way this particular form of 'mancy works and thinking up the character arcs as well as plots for at least four novels... and a fair amount of speculation about how to approach a fifth novel and further if I were allowed to write them and people wanted to read them.

Backburner Projects (which doesn't mean I love them less, it's just that there are only so many hours in a day and I spend a lot of those at the day job anyway):

GRUDGEBEARER, my epic fantasy project remains unsold and at this point I'm considering another revision to pull one of my favorite characters forward into the first third of the novel with the rest of the "cool kids". After all, I already know what she was doing then and it might be interesting to show that too.

URBAN FANTASY PROJECT 3: THE ONE WITH DEMONS IN, could actually be submitted to my agent as a partial and a synopsis, but I think it's still cooking. The cast has changed a great deal and though the plot remains the same, it's very important to me that I have the powers of the main character just right and that all the metaphysical stuff is ironed out before I bombard Shawna with it or commit to finishing it.

YOUNG ADULT PROPOSAL #1 is basically dead, having been ruled "Too icky" by my agent.

YOUNG ADULT PROPOSAL #2 is still underway albeit slowly.

YOUNG ADULT PROPOSAL #3 is basically in the same boat and #2.

MY HOMICIDAL CYBORG LOVE STORY is actually about 13,000 words already and has something of a synopsis, but I'm still doing some world building and fleshing things out.

And last (not really last, but the last I'll mention in this post), but certainly not least… no one from MARVEL COMICS has offered to let me write my reinvention of DEVIL DINOSAUR & MOON BOY, but I've actually written scripts for the first two issues (in case they ever ask or I'm trapped with Joe Quesada on a desert island) and they totally kick ass. :) Seriously.

(Note: I seem to be a little better about updating my FaceBook fan page than I am when it comes to blogging, so if you want more regular updates, you might want to join the fan site. I seem to be a little faster when it comes to responding to messages there, too. You can even friend me if you want. I'm the tall blond guy standing next to Darth Goofy and looking a bit silly.)

Bitten By Swag!

The nice folks over at Bitten By Books are giving away free swag to folks who show up and comment/ ask questions/chat etc. Show up for free stuff!

I'm logging in and out answering questions, too.

:)

Chocolatey Badness!

My post about coming up with "For Want of Chocolate" is up over at Edmund Schubert's blog. You can read it here. It begins: "Something is terribly wrong with Edmund."

Vampires + Chocolate = Mayhem

My first ever short story in the Void City universe is up in this month's IGMS. It's about a newly turned vampire named Haley realizing she can no longer eat chocolate. A Godiva store is involved. If you like the books, you'll probably get a kick out of the story. If you haven't tried the books yet, at $2.50 an issue, IGMS is a cheaper way to give my writing a try.

It even has a cool illustration by Kevin Wasden.

:)

This is the one that actually got me (jokingly) threatened by another author. For more about the threat and the making of "For Want of Chocolate" check out Edmund Schubert's blog Side-Show Freaks where he'll be posting an essay from me about that pretty soon.

New League Post... about sex

I have a new post up over at The League of Reluctant Adults. It's about Eric and Greta having... The Talk.

Dragon*Con 2009 Schedule

Here's my schedule from Dragon*Con this year. Looks like they've got me somewhere every day of the convention! (Which is totally frick'n cool if you ask me.) Look at all the Leaguers I'm on panels with! :)

Vampires Are The New Vampires

Vampires are always in style, no matter what
decade it is. R. Laurey, A. Kontis, J. F. Lewis, R.
Mead, A. Gilbreath, D. Tatum (M); Fri 2:30 pm;
Montreal/Vancouver [H]

City of Dreadful Night

World-building in dark fantasy. C. Douglas, J. F.
Lewis, C. Kittredge, S. Kane, K. Richardson, C.
Malcolm (M); Fri 8:30 pm; Montreal/Vancouver [H]

What Price Immortality?

Examines the trials and travails of immortality.
R. Laurey, S. Sizemore, J. F. Lewis, M. Henry, R.
Mead, A. Gilbreath, F. Zedde, C. Malcolm (M); Sat
11:30 am; Hanover C-E [H]

Vampires vs. Zombies

Authors judge the pros and cons of the living dead.
E. Donald, P. Nutman, C. Priest, J. Stein, J. F. Lewis,
M. Henry, A. Gilbreath, M. Mancusi, M. Miller (M);
Sat 5:30 pm; Montreal/Vancouver [H]

Undead in Dixie

The allure of vampires in southern literature. E.
Donald, R. Hart, J. F. Lewis, C. Harris, C. Malcolm
(M); Sat 8:30 pm; Montreal/Vancouver [H]

The Sacred and The Profane

A look at religion and spirituality in dark fantasy
fiction. E. Donald, C. Golden, S. Nicholson, C.
Priest, S. Allie, J. Everson, J. F. Lewis, J. Kessler, M.
Miller (M); Sun 11:30 am; Montreal/Vancouver [H]

Working the Graveyard Shift

A look at the various jobs available to supernatural
investigators and creatures of the night. J. Stein,
C. Douglas, J. F. Lewis, C. Kittredge, S. Kane, K.
Richardson, J. Kessler, M. Miller (M); Sun 8:30
pm; Montreal/Vancouver [H]

Dragon*Reading: J F Lewis

*Mon 11:30 am; Roswell [H]

* (I know it's all the way on Monday and everything, but I promise to read from the manuscript for book three if folks show up)

New League Post

Eric and Talbot make me look silly while I try to answer questions.

You can find it: here