New Year, New Look
Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2024 brings you health and happiness!
2023 was certainly an interesting year. I finally finished the writing and editing of the newest Malcolm adventure. My daughter has started her own adventure with her new husband and my wife and I are adjusting to an empty house. And 2023 ended with the start of renovation of our kitchen. As I post this, we no longer have an oven. It won’t be long before the stove and sink are gone as well!
But 2024 is a new start – As part of that new start, I’m “re-releasing” my existing books with new covers. While I love the artwork on my current covers, they don’t match other steampunk books on the market. So I’ve commissioned new covers that I plan to roll out over the next two months. Although I have already shared the new covers with members of my newsletter (you can be a member as well by clicking the link on the right to join the Crew of the Daedalus!), I present to you the new cover for The Reluctant Captain:
I will update the new cover on the various ebook stores soon – it will take me a little longer to get them in place for the print editions.
I’m still gathering feedback from my beta readers to see if the new Malcolm novel (which still doesn’t have a title) to see if it needs any changes before I publish it. I’m shooting for publication in March (fingers crossed).
If you want to be notified as soon as the new book is up for pre-order, I encourage you to join the Crew of The Daedalus, my sometimes regular e-newsletter.
Until next time, Happy Journeys!
Mike
Seeing My Characters
And just like that, three weeks blow by and I didn’t make one single post to the blog! It’s been a whirlwind summer. What with summer band concerts (my last one is this coming Friday) and my son’s imminent departure for college, I’ve haven’t had much time. I’ll try to do better once September starts!
Tonight, my local library held a “Learn How To Make Your Own Cosplay Costumes” seminar tonight. I went with my family and had a great time. It was a short seminar geared toward illustrating and designing characters. We started with pre-drawn character forms to create our own designs. I took this opportunity to sketch out Saxon and Joan from the novel (DISCLAIMER: In truth, it was really supposed to be Malcolm and not Saxon, but the face definitely came out much more like Saxon than Malcolm). Here they are:
Saxon
Joan
Although the drawing of Joan is stylized, I am happy that I was able to capture some of the images floating around in my cranium. I feel like I’ve finally got to see them in more detail.
When I write, I tend to imagine it as a movie playing in my head, albeit a very fuzzy movie. I usually can’t completely imagine my characters’ faces in any detail whatsoever. If I was better at faces, I’d try to draw Malcolm, but given my design of Saxon, it would likely look exactly the same only with a different name.
In other news, work on The Reluctant Agent continues. I’m in the middle of the second round of revisions. I’m hoping that September sees it ready to show to someone else. And after that, more revisions!
Before I sign off, let me once again encourage you to sign up on my mailing list. I still only have four subscribers – and one of them is my wife. I don’t want to make one of those annoying popups asking you to subscribe, so please consider subscribing. I promise I won’t spam you with tons of email. I’d just like to keep people up to date. And please feel free to interact with my by leaving comments – I try to administrate them as quickly as I can.
Until next time, happy journeys!
Mike
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Happy (Belated) Birthday to “The Reluctant Captain”
Between work and concert band rehearsal last night, I totally missed that yesterday, March 8, marked the one year anniversary of the publication of The Reluctant Captain, my first novel.
Since I’m a writer, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mark the occasion with a few words (OK, a whole bunch of words).
The first two words that come to mind are: “Thank You!” There are so many people to thank for making this happen and I know I pretty much did it in the Dedication of the book, but I’m going to do it again:
- My family – to my wife and son who put up with me being locked away in my office when we could all be doing something together, for listening to me, and especially to my wife, who has read this book…many times. Also to my mother (for instilling in me a love of all things British and Scottish), my father (for instilling in me a love of science and electronics) and my sister (for showing me what courage and perserverance really mean).
- My friends Donna, Keven, and Melanie – who ready the second draft and…actually enjoyed it. Thanks for your encouragement and advice.
- Megan McDowell, my editor – for helping correct all the things I missed after going through it so many times, I though my eyes would bleed.
- Emilee Smith, my cover illustrator – for sharing her talent and making the HMA Daedalus come to life. I loved the cover so much that we had it framed and it hangs in our living room:
- The Sherburne Public Library – for hosting my first book signing.
- The Colgate Book Store for taking a chance to sell signed copies of my books.
AND THANK YOU TO THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE
THE READERS!
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone who has read my book. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you took a chance on the book and many people have said very nice things about the book. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your support and kind words. I especially wish to thank everyone who also took the time to write a review on either Amazon or GoodReads – it means a great deal to me to hear feedback and know how people feel about it.
So What’s up in 2016?
If you haven’t been reading this scintillating blog, I wrote and submitted an entry to Simon & Schuster’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds fan fiction contest. My unabashed love of Star Trek should come as a surprise to no one who knows me or has read this blog. I jumped at the chance to write a Scotty story. I should find out in the next few weeks if it was selected (keep your fingers crossed for me!) and stay tuned to this channel for future updates.
I’m also well into the sequel to The Reluctant Captain, tentatively titled The Reluctant Something (I’m still working on the title, obviously). It takes place roughly two years after the events of the first novel. It features new adventures from the main characters of The Reluctant Captain and some new characters as well.
If you’ve stumbled here because Google was having an off day or you haven’t yet read The Reluctant Captain, please consider reading it. It’s gotten 4 1/2 Stars on Amazon and 4 stars on GoodReads, so don’t just take my word for it. There’s links on the right that will happily take you to my online store, Amazon, Nook, or iTunes so you can purchase it (convenient, huh?). And if you live in the area, you can also purchase it at the Colgate Book Store in Hamilton, NY.
Thanks again!
Happy Journeys,
Mike
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My First Book Signing and National Library Week
On Saturday, April 11, I held my first ever book signing as a benefit for the Sherburne Public Library. I’m proud to say that the signing raised $290.00 for the library! To everyone who came, thank you for your donation and I hope that you enjoy the book! I was humbled by the number of people who came out to buy the book.
Little did I realize that when I set the date with the library, that it was just before National Library Week (April 12 – 18). I’m a proud patron of our library and have reconnected with the library in a way I haven’t since I was a teen. In my teenage years, I read as many fantasy books as I could lay my hands on. And not having money to constantly buy new books, that meant many trips to the library to see what new books I could find. I had an interest in classical music and used the library to check out many records (for you young whipper snappers, those big, round black things, although I understand that vinyl is making a small comeback).
During college and for over a decade afterward, I drifted away from the library. I still read, but I felt like I didn’t need the library because I could buy any book I wanted and I often did. And then, I went through some tough times. I quit my job to eventually start my own company and things became very lean. I reactivated my library card and started to make use of the library because I couldn’t afford to buy all the books I wanted to read – but I could still read them. When going to the movies wasn’t an option because of the cost, we could borrow them for up to a week from the library.
And now, ten years later, I still use the library as my first resource for books. And since my day job requires a 40 minute commute, I’ve started to use that time to listen to audio books, again from the library. My wife (mostly) and I still get movies from the library when we could easily obtain them from Amazon or any other service. Libraries are a wonderful way to encourage reading without encouraging consumption – they are the original recyclers! A book in a library can have hundreds of readers in its life; a book in a bookstore might only see a handful of readers. Since I’m now a published writer, I should tell you to buy the book and not get it from the library. But I’m not going to do that. Sure, making money off the sale is a good thing, but I really just want people to read my book and enjoy it. Which is why one of the first things I did when I received my books was to donate a copy to the library where I live now and the library in the even smaller town where I was raised and my parents still live.
And libraries are also vibrant places, not the places where stern librarians “shush” you for being too loud. Our library offers children’s programs, story time, Tai Chi, and a new writer’s group. I was fortunate enough to put on a “Zombie Makeup” class at another local library last October. I would guess that if you walked into your local library right now, you’d be surprised at all of the activities and programs that are offered.
So take some time during National Library Week and visit your local library! I wouldn’t be surprised if you found you were glad that you did!
Happy Journeys!
Mike
Lift off of the Daedalus!
It’s official – as of March 8, 2015, The Reluctant Captain is now available for purchase! You can purchase the physical book here, and it’s available in Kindle, Nook, and iBook formats.
Also, welcome to my new and improved website. I’ve added an email subscription list as I plan frequent updates to the site and want the opportunity to keep you up to date. I’ve added an Events page to keep you up to date on any events I might have.
And speaking of events…I’m doing a Book Launch/Signing Benefit for the Sherburne Public Library on Saturday, April 11th at the Sherburne Public Library in Sherburne, NY from 10 AM – Noon. I’m donating the books, so all proceeds will go directly to the library. If you’re in the area, I hope to see you there!
I’m so excited to share my book with the world and I sincerely hope you like it! If you have bought my book, you have my sincere thanks for giving me a try to entertain you and I hope that I have.
And one last thing – I’ve created a collage of items from the story with my book itself. Here it is:
Until next time, happy journeys!
Mike
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