Just some updates I wish to share

Hey everyone,

So the good news is I finished “The Book of Absolute Truths,” a novelette. The synopsis is as follows:

If someone wrote you life’s story, would you read it?

When a vagrant enters Randy Moreland’s used book store and thrusts an ancient book into Randy’s possession, Randy finds out his life story is not what he expected.

The vagrant insists that Randy get rid of the book by any means necessary, not to even read the cursed tome. But Randy is unable to help himself as he finds the book is writing his life; his life as it is happening. The book even tells Randy of his wife’s current affair that occurs while he is at work.

Unable to catch his wife in the act and not knowing if he wants to learn more secrets about his life, Randy tries discarding the book in the river only to find there is more to The Book of Absolute Truths than its title suggests. Truths that could cause a man to kill himself or the ones he loves.

In addition to finishing the story, I have submitted it to Eternal Press for review. Keep your fingers crossed!

Other Updates:
-10:15 is still scheduled for release September 7 by Eternal Press
-Who’s to Blame is still being reviewed by Damnation Books
-The Book of Absolute Truths is being reviewed by Eternal Press
-Still revising Chapter Three, The Devil’s Oak
-Still developing/writing The Gates of Hell, book one of Pearl and Bone

I hope everyone has a good week,
Trent

I'm taking the day off

I just finished the rough draft of "The Book of Absolute Truths" today and am exhausted. I'll start the revision/editing process tomorrow when my brain stops hurting :D Hope everyone is doing well and I'll give more word as it comes my way.

Good luck to all,
Trent

When the Muse Calls

Well, to begin, I finished my re-write of chapter two in The Devil’s Oak and I am happy to report that I have been making great leaps and bounds in chapter three. For the first time since I finished the rough draft, I am actually enjoying my work.

To give a brief history, I began working The Devil’s Oak in 2002 under the working title “The Creator.” Devil’s Oak was the first endeavor for me as an author of fiction (I did spend twelve years as a Marine Corps Combat Correspondent/Journalist) and I’ll tell you I was all over the place with the work. I worked on the story in my spare time while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom – when the operation was still at its beginning. I came home from the deployment only to find a piece of sand ruined my disk, leaving me with only half of the 140+ pages I wrote. Looking back I see the destruction of my work as a blessing because it has given me more time to develop the characters and their backgrounds.

Still, Devil’s Oak didn’t come to its current incarnation until I began working as the Marketing and Public Affairs Chief for Recruiting Station Charleston (West Virginia) when I had the idea to write a fiction story about a recruiter falsely charged with rape. For those of my friends who don’t know, when a situation like that occurs it’s similar to a teacher being charged with molestation – They might be found innocent and be completely innocent, but their name is destroyed with their current way of life. As I began the story, it occurred to me that adding the horror/paranormal aspect of The Creator to the story made for a better story—That’s my opinion and since I’m writing the novel, I’m entitled to it :D

Being in recruiting didn’t help because most of my time was spent working event s and advertising to help the Marine Corps make its mission. So The Devil’s Oak had to wait until my next command, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, where as the Public Affairs Chief, I actually could make time for my own personal dreams. I finished The Devil in the Oak while on a pre-deployment training exercise and it was suggested that The Devil’s Oak made a better title for the story. I agreed and thus “The Devil’s Oak” was born.

The only problem: I didn’t like the story at all. Regardless of the typos, grammatical errors and other miscellaneous crap about the overall story you’d expect in a rough draft, something was missing. Something didn’t feel right about the manuscript and so it sat in a box until very recently. I’m talking a two-three year gap between finishing the rough and beginning the re-write/revision.

The idea was still sound in my opinion, I just didn’t have the right way of portraying it.

When I sold 10:15 to Eternal Press, my dreams of writing went from dying embers to a raging fire and all my ideas and theories haunted me until I began writing them down, taking notes and developing any moment I could. It was time to break the old MS out of the closet of my imagination and dust it off a bit.

Unfortunately, it still sucked in my opinion – please refer to the last sentence of paragraph five if you need a refresher on my opinion. It wasn’t a work that just needed some cleaning up; it needed MAJOR REVISING. The only way I could feel comfortable with the work was to print one chapter at a time, read the chapter by itself and then re-write it from the memory of what I read. This worked until chapter three when – near the end of chapter two—I took a major turn from the original. A lot of the work is the same, but too different to go the same route. So this is the major reason for my MS taking so long before I’ll feel it is at a level to submit to an agent/press.

All I can say is my muse is pulling my strings right now. I’m loving my story and its characters, which is humongous for me since I really hated it on the first go round.

I hope everyone enjoys it when it comes out, because I’m enjoying it right now.

Have fun,

Trent

Great News about 10:15

So I heard that 10:15 will be available in eBook format from Eternal Press, Amazon and now Barns and Noble. In addition to that Amazon’s ‘Print on Demand’ will allow people to buy the book in print a few weeks after its initial release.

To say I’m completely stoked about this development is an understatement. It is a great feeling to know that my book will be available at two of the largest retail book stores online.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and will post some more as time goes by.

UPDATES:
-10:15 now has an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) which means it’s closer to being released.

-Still revising The Devil’s Oak, Chapter Two. Should be done with chapter two by this weekend if all is well and will be sending it out to the test readers for review soon.

-Gates of Hell is on hold as I figure out what I want Daemon to do next.

-I’ve started another short that gives the origin of a character I want to put in Pearl and Bone at some point. I don’t want to give too much away so everyone will just have to wait and see. The working title is called “To Love Man,” which yes is a play on the title “To Serve Man.” Let’s just say there can be some similarities drawn between the two stories.

-Who’s to Blame is still being reviewed by Damnation Books. I received an email from the CEO letting me know she received it and it will take up to six weeks for a reply. Keep your fingers crossed.

Ghostly Ménage: Something New, Something Fun

For those who don’t know me, I am a fan of horror and its likes, my favorite being the psychological horrors. The ones that dig deep in your head and nest for a while, always leaving you questioning your own sanity. With that said, for someone like me to pick up a book such as Ghostly Ménage by Alysha Ellis, you would probably think it’s because the word “ghost” appears in the title. You would be partially right.

I will say I picked the book up without any preconceived ideas of what story I would be reading and there is no doubt in my mind I am truly happy that I read Alysha’s tale. First let me dispense with the background of the story so I can get to what really turned the gears in my head as I read page after page after page.

Quick and dirty: Kelsie, under those circumstances we find ourselves in from time to time, is required to stay with her aunt for a couple of days. Maud, Kelsie’s aunt, believes the house she resides in is plagued with a poltergeist and contracts the services of an exorcist to rid the entity from her home. Her aunt will not stay in a house by herself with a man present and thus Kelsie arrives to hang around until after the exorcism for her aunt’s benefit. Staying with her aunt, Kelsie learns ghosts are real and…real fun to have around.

When I said I read page after page, I spoke lightly. I devoured Alysha’s tale and am extremely excited to read her next book, “Giving Up the Ghosts,” which awaits me on my phone for when I take my breaks at work.

Alysha’s use of dialogue brought the characters from the page and turned them into living, breathing people. I’ve known people like Kelsie’s aunt Maud and could feel Kelsie’s irritation at her aunt’s opinion of her. The imagery and sensations Alysha inspires in her prose made me feel as if I was in the room as the events unfolded. To say the least, I could not put it down because I had to know what would happen next. Is it a malevolent poltergeist or a playful ghost? Could Kelsie be in danger or was it all in good fun? Alysha kept me reading so I could find the answers and satisfy my own distorted curiosity.

All in all, I can’t wait to partake in Kelsie’s next adventure and am looking forward to more works by Alysha. Kudos to you Alysha and may the words continue to flow on the page for your future works.

NOTE: Alysha's stories referred to in this review are considered paranormal/erotica and are meant for adult readers.