Countdown to the Void

With only a few chapters to go before the draft of Void City Book 4 is complete, it's...

Cover Love

You k ow, I'm still not sure which cover for Staked I like the best.

Which do you guys prefer?

The original Christian McGrath cover:

The Gene Mollica version:

Or the Italian cover (I don't know who did the art, or I'd give them props):

Writerly Update: The Home Stretch

It's been a while since I've managed to blog daily over here, but I'm going to try to get back to it. Not this week, but soon. Void City - Book 4 (the working title is HUNTED) is nearing completion. Using old school publishing calculations, I'm at about 90,000 words with about 10,000 more words to go... So I should be done with the initial draft this weekend and then use the next few weeks to let my beta readers give me feedback, with some time left over to do a revision pass before I submit the manuscript to my editor.

No release date yet, but I got my copy of the signed contract this week, so it's coming.

In other news, Project 'Mancer is being looked at by an editor now. Of course, I'm hideous when it comes to doing a good synopsis, so we may experience a Synopocalypse and crash and burn, but i do know that she enjoyed the sample chapters i sent. This project has been reworked in a major way and is now aimed at a younger audience (though I still think my Void City readers will dig it). I'm really hoping it goes over, because this one can actually be read to my kids. :)

My Epic Sword and Sorcery novel is back on the burner. I love it, but I think it needs to be refocused a little before it gets fired off in to the wild world of submissions. I'll start working on that on and off with completing the initial draft of Project 'Mancer in Late May/Early June.

I might even find some time to finally beat Patapon on the PSP. There are only like... two sequels to it now. Heh, I guess sometimes it's like I'm playing video games in slow motion from a percentage completed standpoint.

As always, you can find me over on my Facebook fan page and I'm @JF_Lewis on Twitter if seeing me babble about nonsense and post random lines of dialogue from my current WIP is your kind of thing.

Vote for the Void!

Want to read a free short about Eric and Greta at the beach?

You do?

Well what do you know, I just happened to write one of those. All I ask is that you please vote for Void City on the front page of the Pocket After Dark website (which you'll already be at, because it's where I posted the story) and it will make me write book four even faster. :)

Blogjacked: What is that J.F. Lewis Up To?

Up to what is that J.F. Lewis?

Apparently, writing haiku.  Yep, haiku... well, American/English haiku- or maybe these count as senryu.  They're all over his Facebook page, but I thought I'd cross-post a few here (because, really, what are blogjacking wives for?  I mean, um, for what are blogjacking wives?)  Unlike a "modern" haiku/senryu of less than seventeen syllables, J's follow the pattern you learned in school: 5, 7, 5.

A superhero haiku:

X-ray vision rocks
Fear my voyeuristic side
Wear lead underpants.

A vampire haiku

When vampire eyes glow
VISINE can't get the red out
Try a nice murder

Another vampire haiku

Exsanguinate me
Then I'll exsanguinate you
And we'll be vampires

A haiku sort-of inspired by CROSSED

Marry your vampire
For loyalty try werewolves
The shedding's not bad

I suppose I should officially say <insert legalese here> these haiku/senryu/poems are c. 2011 Jeremy F. Lewis, blah, blah, blah.  You can cross-post them, but if you do, please give J. credit, post a great review of STAKED or REVAMPED to Amazon, become a fan of J.F. Lewis on Facebook, and tell all your friends how cool he is.  ;)

PS: If you like J's haiku, there are a few more on this old post.

Ook of Us

This is me burying the lead, ignoring the need for clearly defined antecedents, and failing to avoid run on sentences.

So, to make a long story short, I originally posted a version of this song on twitter and it amused a few folks... and I added the chorus to my email signature and thought that would be that, but then a buddy provided just the right amount of impetus in an email, so I sent a touched up and more to him and... thought that would be the end of it. But then, the same buddy asked if I would please post this parody song to web, so... with tongue firmly in cheek (and with apologies to Joan Osborne)... here it is:

"Ook of Us"

By

J. F. Lewis

(Sung to the tune of Joan Osborne's "One of us")

If Grodd had a date, who would she be?
Would she go over to his place.
if he debased himself and he cooked dinner?
What would he cook if he had just one season?

And ook, ook, Grodd's an ape
ook, ook, Grodd is rude
ook, ook, ook, ook, ook

What if Grodd was one of us?
Hairless ape like one of us?
Not a super gorilla makin' a fuss
Tryin' to conquer us all?

If Grodd had a place, how would we zone it?
And would you visit there
if going meant that you would have to play nice
With old Lex Luthor and the Joker and Bizarro
the whole darn Legion? And...

Ook, ook, Grodd's an ape
Ook, ook, Grodd is rude
Ook, ook, ook, ook, ook

What if Grodd was one of us?
Hairless ape like one of us?
Not a super gorilla makin a fuss
Tryin' to conquer us all?

No superheroes had to fall?
No powers at his beck and call?
No Flash to cause a falderal?
At parties he might be a ball?

Ook, ook, Grodd's an ape
Ook, ook, Grodd is rude
Ook, ook, ook, ook, ook

What if Grodd was one of us?
Hairless ape like one of us?
Not a super gorilla makin a fuss
Tryin' to conquer us all?

No superheroes had to fall?
Nice to both the big and small?
No powers at his beck and call?
No Flash to cause a falderal?
At parties he might be a ball?

----

End note: I know. I know. What kind of a guys takes a song about God and thinks "Hey, that could just have easily been a funny song about a megalomaniac super gorilla with mental powers"? To that, my only possible defense is: Well... have you read my books?

;)

There ya go, Lou. It's up. Happy Holidays.

"I'm Afraid of Librarians"

Because exactly one person demanded it:

(Sung to the tune of David Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans")

J. F. Lewis's "I'm Afraid of Librarians"

John is in a library, no one at the desk

No-one helps anyone, the whole library's a test John is in a library

I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

I'm afraid of Librarians

John is in a Library

John he wants silence, John he wants to go for a smoke

John he hates children, to him story time is a joke

John is in a library

I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

I'm afraid of Librarians

John he's in the stacks where people hide old porno mags

John hates other patrons, when he thinks of them he gags

John is in a library

John is in a library

I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

Yeah, I'm afraid of Librarians

I'm afraid of their world

I fear the card catalogue

Electronic, too-

I'm afraid of Librarians

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

God is a librarian

Note: While I *am* indeed afraid of librarians, this is just a silly song brought on by a fun conversation at the Imagicon NaNoWriMo Event last Sunday.