A Contest and More

This is the cover for Beat to a Pulp’s first print publication, which is soon to be published. Some of you have seen it already but I think it’s pretty cool. I’m looking forward to this collection.

Writtenwyrd is having a writing contest I’ve already started on my entry so check out the contest and throw your tale into the ring.

I spent yesterday (Thursday) with my son, which is why I didn’t make my normal blogging rounds. We ate some sushi and had a nice walk. We shot the B-B gun some and played a bit of Red Dead Redemption, the video game he bought me for Father’s Day. “Redemption” is a western themed game and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I have ceased to be a law-abiding citizen within the confines of the game, however. Perhaps this should trouble me more than it does.

Today, (Friday), we’re having some tropical weather and net access is spotty at best. I’ve been unable to get around to just about any sites so that’s where things stand. It took half an hour of refreshing and working one window at a time to get the this post up.

Here's a book I'll be getting soon:

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File Under Weird

I heard this on the radio this morning, and the disk jockey, who is normally reliable, swore it was true. A 54 year old man needed a heart transplant and got one from a 33 year old man who had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. After about a year, the transplant fellow was feeling so grateful for his new lease on life that he contacted the suicide's widow to tell her how much the heart had meant for him. The two became friends and after a while began dating and eventually married. All went well for a few more years until the man began to get very depressed. He then killed himself by shooting himself in the head.

Think it's bad because your relationship history involves repeated breakups? Hey, it could be worse. How would you like to be this woman?

In other news, my contest is over. I had almost 30 entries and will do the drawing tonight or tomorrow and announce the winners here. Everybody who posted a title, unless they specifically stated otherwise, will be entered in the contest. There were some great titles, and a few that are already on my list of favorites, like "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and "Repent Harlequin, said the Tick Tock Man." Congratulations to all who entered.

Pay it Forward Contest

OK, quite a while back I won Sarai’s “Pay It Forward” contest and now I need to run my own. Like Angie, who also won, I’m going to do it a bit different.

The Rules:

Comment to this post between now and April 6 and include the following information: the words “Contest Entry,” and your favorite “title” of a book, story, or poem. That's all! My favorite title, for example, is, “I have No Mouth, and I must Scream.”

After the deadline, I’ll put everyone’s name into a hat and draw two winners, and will announce them on this blog. Winners pay it forward by running some variation of this contest on their own blogs.

The Prizes:
Each winner can select one of the following:

1. Support New Writers -- Pick a writer whose book was first published in either 2007or 2008. Either mass market or trade paperback. And I’ll send it to you. $20 dollar limit please.

2. Try Something from Me -- Pick one of my novels, and I’ll send it to you. That would be Cold in the Light, Swords of Talera, Wings Over Talera, or Witch of Talera. Cold in the Light is a horror thriller. The others consist of a fantasy trilogy, so if you haven’t read any of them you might want to start with “Swords.”

3. Try Something Sallis – Pick anything by James Sallis under $20 bucks and I’ll send it to you. His books are listed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I will purchase the book from Barnes & Noble unless it is unavailable there.

4. Pick something under $20 bucks from the following writers and I’ll send it to you. Wayne Allen Sallee, C. S. Harris (or Candice Proctor), Farrah Rochon, Laura Joh Rowland, Sidney Williams, O’Neil De Noux, James Reasoner, David Lanoue, Bret Funk, Rexanne Becnel, Del Stone Jr. If you’re wondering how I generated this list, well I know a lot of writers so I had to limit the list somehow, and these are all folks I’ve met face to face and have had a beer, or other type of beverage, with. They’re all fine writers, as well as my friends.