Reading at Audrey's Bookstore in Edmonton & then Red Deer launch

First blogs of 2008 -- ridiculous!

Wow, where has the year gone? I have been a very delinquent blogger, I'm afraid, but this is my attempt to catch up. Well, the book (Fly on the Wall) hit the shelves back in April in beautiful hardcover, and we had an incredibly successful local launch here in Red Deer and a couple great radio interviews -- one with Ken Davies, host of Bookmarks on CKUA radio, and another with CJSW radio. We've had very positive feedback on the book, which has surprised both Jim (the artist) and myself, considering how unusual the concept was and how dark and twisted some of the subject matter is. Turns out there are more warped people like us out there than we thought, including the mayor of Red Deer and his wife (Morris & Hazel Flewwelling) who have been great supporters of the book!

Another interesting tidbit to report... our publisher, ECW Press, informed us that they've sold the foreign rights to Romania, so I'm pleased to inform that we broke into the Transylvanian vampire market! Pretty cool -- can't wait to get a copy translated in Romanian.

Blurb from ECW Press about The Fly on the Wall

Privy to the details of all your secret moments, all your misdeeds, private conversations and indulgences, the fly on the wall is neutral. It doesn't care that you cheat on your income tax, it won't stop you from jumping and it won't call the police when you eliminate the neighbour's cat. It sees you spike the punch, touch yourself, curse your spouse, and switch your Scrabble tiles when your opponent leaves to pee.

Fly on the Wall is a finely illustrated collection of short "punch fiction" stories intended for adults. Inspired by the age-old expression, "Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall for that conversation?" the creators have teamed up to explore what some of these private conversations, moments and encounters might be like.

The short stories and pen-and-ink drawings throughout Fly on the Wall are dark and subversive by nature, with an inherent wry humor prevalent throughout. Along with the fly, the reader eavesdrops on church confessionals, jail visits, funeral homes, assisted suicide, hitch-hiking, cross-dressing, alcoholism and murder...to name a few.

With arresting visuals and reminiscent of the storytelling in a Robert Altman film, Fly on the Wall is a collection that is sure to provoke, shock and inspire.

To listen to an interview on CKUA (Bookmark with Ken Davis) with the author and the artist, visit the CKUA website.

The book is finally in the bag!

As you can see, I've been diligently adding to my blog daily. Not. Well, finally I have something noteworthy to post: I "finished" my book and just fired off the completed manuscript to my editor. I put quotes around "finished" -- there, I did it again -- because, we'll probably be tweaking a lot of stuff, but the skeleton and guts are there at least.

Also, I received my first advance cheque from the publisher, which was cool. I'm really looking forward to getting into the editing process with Jen, my editor at ECW Press. Jim and I are crossing our fingers for ECW to print the book on higher quality paper, and if we're very lucky, print a run of hardcover copies. Jim's art deserves no less, so here's hoping they'll grant us our wish for quality over pulp.

Where I'm at...

Having signed the publishing contract with ECW Press back in January, I have a deadline of May 31 to submit my completed manuscript (and Jim's accompanying drawings). Right now we're aiming for 60 - 65 "flies" in total for the book and we've completed 53 so far.

Once the manuscript is submitted, the editing and rewriting begins. We have a very cool editor named Jen, who I'm looking forward to going through the editing process with.

I'm realizing that I've spent more time today setting up this blog than actually writing (a sure sign of procrastination) so I'd better get back to the flies.

A Virgin Blogger No More

This is one of those awkward first posts that are more about the person behind the blog fumbling around awkwardly to figure out what the hell they're doing than about anything substantial or really worth reading.

Hopefully I'll be able to provide more substantive material to this blog in the future, but for now, I ask that you please bear with me as I kick the tires and test drive this little unit for a bit.