Merry Christmas!

Time to put your feet up and watch the Doctor Who Christmas Specials!

Hope y'all had a great holiday!

Planning for 2020

Back in the '80's, the year 2020 was some vague futuristic time where we'd have flying cars and robot butlers.

Instead, we have Alexa, Siri, and their strange sisterhood of electronic spies into our lives, and the only flying car is the Tesla that a crazy person launched into space to prove a point.

However, being a reasonable writer/publisher regardless of the year, I've been working on the publishing schedule for 2020. The first six books have pre-orders on Amazon. Once again, I'll update them here and on the main series pages as they go live:

January 15th - A Touch of Mother (Justice #4)

February 14th - Seasons of Magick Anthology (Entire Seasons of Magick series)

March 15th - Spells and Sleuths (Millersburg Magick Mysteries #1)

April 15th - Fae and Felonies (Millersburg Magick Mysteries #2)

May 15th - Magick and Murder (Millersburg Magick Mysteries #3)

June 15th - Hero De Jure (888-555-HERO #5)


The Millersburg Magick Mysteries will be initially exclusively on Amazon's Kindle Unlimited, as the 888-555-HERO series was. These are paranormal mysteries set in the Bloodlines World. Teen witch sleuths Kaley and Kirsten Wilson take on town happenings Scooby-Doo style. The girl's mom Rachel and great-aunt Jo should be familiar to anyone who's read Amish, Vamps & Thieves.

The 888-555-HERO has started going wide, Hero De Facto is available at most online retailers now, and each month, the next volume will be released.

My last goal is to get my ebooks on the Ohio Public Library system for those of you who rely on libraries for your reading material. If you don't live in Ohio, you can always request my books through your own library!

For those of you who prefer paperbacks or you don't live in Ohio, have your librarian contact me directly. I'm always happy to donate copies, both paper and electronic, to a public or school library. As a child in rural America, book stores were rare, Amazon didn't exist, and I depended on our county public library system for most of my reading material.

If anyone has questions or comments and doesn't want to leave them on the blog's comment section, you can always contact me through the "Contact Me" tab at the top of the page!

I Love the '80's!

Sad, but sweet.

I Think. Therefore, I Am.

Actually, my existence is pretty questionable. My head's still fuzzy from the flu, but I'm eating a normally diet again. That's a step in the right direction.

However, I'm a little jealous of the friends who were able to attend last night's showing of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. More because they were physically able to attend the screenings, than wishing I could go to. However. everyone so far has said the ending was awesomely satisfying. So maybe JJ Abrams finally learned how to write an ending after all.

Yes, folks, the ending of a story is just as important as the beginning. If you haven't learned how to craft an ending, for the love of Cthulu, practice.

This is not a hate on JJ. I think the guy can come up with brilliant ideas. It's the follow-thru where he falters.

Alias. Revolution. Lost. All great high-concept ideas. But he kind of proves the adage that ideas are a dime a dozen. It's the actual story that keeps people involved. Also, the writer can't break the rules of their universe willy-nilly. Not without pissing off their fans.

Look what happened with the final season of Game of Thrones. The writers and showrunners had GRRM's notes, but they didn't have his passion for the characters. All the previous seasons, we knew who did what and why. And it's not the fact that Bran ended up with the Iron Throne, it's that the writers didn't care enough to sell that version to the audience.

Sticking with our world logic and developing an ending is something we writers need to do on a consistent basis. When I was writing Hero De Facto, I feared the May-December romance between Rey and Aisha would be the biggest sticking point with the audience. So far, there's been nary a word, which means I did my job as an artist.

So where is all this rambling going? To three craft points writers need to keep in mind:

1) Ideas are cheap and easy. Storytelling is hard. Work on your storytelling.

2) Endings are as important as beginnings.

3) Don't break the rules of your universe without a damn good reason that makes sense to the audience.

Now, I have to put together my shopping list. Genius Kid was Cincinnati chili with his football on Sunday.

I'd Rather Have Coal in My Stocking

The good news is that Genius Kid (or should I start calling him Genius Soldier?) got leave, so he'll be home for Christmas. None of us were expecting it, given he just got out of basic training. Even with a little complication with his ticket, things are settled, and it'll be good to see him. Best holiday present ever, and we're happy.

Unfortunately, I was nailed by a particularly nasty stomach bug last week. Given the intimacy of our recent relationship, our toilet and I should be married right now. Even worse, I awoke at four this morning to the sounds of DH horning in on my relationship with the porcelain god. I'm praying we're no longer contagious by the time GK gets home. I wouldn't wish this bug on my worst enemy.

Hopefully, I'll back to regular writing and blogging soon. And if you're in a ménage, may it not involve cold, stinky porcelain.

I Love the '80's!

Who would have thought punk could be caring?

You Knew This Was Coming!!

Linda Carter owned the '70's, but Gal Gadot takes the '80's!

Special Episode of I Love the '80's!

When a certain new movie trailer debuted a few days ago, I was so excited to hear this tune from 1983 again. And it worked damn well with the clips. Put June 5, 2020, on your calendars, kids!

I Love the '80's!

It's the last month of the year, so let's finish it with some awesome '80's music!

The Whirlwind

I know I haven't posted much over the last two weeks. Things have been a little crazy at the Harden House. And for once, not in a bad way.

The big thing is the release of A Very Hero Christmas. The fourth novel in the 888-555-HERO series was only supposed to be a little holiday short story for the readers, but it grew into a full-length novel.

Blurb
Everyone at The Law Offices of Winters & Franklin is safe during the holidays. Or are they?

Aisha spends Christmas with her family in Atlanta, only to have a new supervillain take the mall patrons hostage while Aisha’s doing some last minute shopping with her niece and nephew.

Meanwhile, Harri’s attempts at making a perfect Christmas for her goddaughter get out of hand as the guest list keeps growing. Just one little problem—Harri can’t cook.

Can Aisha save the citizens of Atlanta without revealing she’s a super? Better yet, can anyone save Harri’s guests from food poisoning?

Call The Law Offices of Winters & Franklin at 888-555-HERO where the only thing more dangerous than a superhero is his attorney.

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In celebration of the fourth book's release, the first novel Hero De Facto is currently free at Amazon. But you've got to act fast, the deal ends tonight at midnight, PST.

I'm working on the next episode of the Justice series, A Touch of Mother which is on preorder at Amazon, as well a some top secret projects I can't talk about yet. As long as I stay healthy, next year is going to be awesome!