New Feature: Excerpt of the Week

Gwen! Dost thou seest how shiny?

This week’s excerpt comes from “A Necromancing Heretic in King Arthur’s Court”, my satirical take on Arthurian legend ghostwritten (pun intended) from the perspective of a young necromancer and his beloved, a female squire of Camelot who quite unfortunately is sworn to chastity and the quest.

Aye, here there be gender role reversals abound…

While I’ve dressed this story up in the trappings of comedy, it is, without question, a romance in the truest sense of the word. Daring deeds, noble sacrifices, and especially courtly love are alive and well–even if both narrators claim that chivalry is dead.

Why post something for free that you could feasibly sell?

First, to motivate me to have enough new material (e.g. stories not on submission) to fill the space I’ve allotted for these excerpts. Writer’s block, at present, is more like writer’s log.

A close second is to reward the followers who have been so supportive these past three months. And third, it’s an excerpt. It’s not like I’m giving the whole thing away…

Aren’t you concerned that someone will steal your work?

My stories honestly require quite a bit of focus because I don’t write filler chapters. Stealing something piecemeal from my blog and turning it into a marketable novel would be pretty difficult. In fact, if someone could pull that off, after I sued him/her into oblivion, he/she could be my agent.

Will you ever post any of that crazy story you mentioned when you were Freshly Pressed?

That depends on the acquisitions staff at a major publisher. As of now, the answer is no. Manifesto, as the title implies, is radical, graphic, and offensive–not exactly the kind of material a high school teacher can get away with posting on a public site, to put it lightly.

What about the Cyberpunk stuff you’re always raving about?

Go here. TZPP currently has the rights to both “The Wolf of Descarta” and The Dream Box. If RealLies (wherein the former is contained) does well, the publisher may choose to acquire the latter. If not, it’s going back out on submission to one of the larger houses that gave me notes but dismissed me as “too cute to go out with”.

Aurie was asking me today if I planned to keep writing about Descarta. I told her that was up to a lot of other people. She gave me a big hug and told me not to worry.

What can we expect to see here besides Arthur retellings with a postmodern slant?

I’m also working on an Urban Fantasy/Horror piece set in Arizona that blatantly refuses to include vampires or lycanthropes of any kind. If you’re wondering how something like that is even possible, check back in about a week.

What if the blogsphere totally hates your serious writing, funny man?

I have pretty thick skin. I’m not doing this for validation or attention, anyway. The first of many reasons for writing fiction is to entertain. This is my plan. Those who aren’t entertained should sign out of here and go watch Gladiator. (And if you don’t get this joke…)

But so many bloggers are paid to say that fledgling writers shouldn’t even have writing blogs!

Hmm… I wonder why that is? Maybe it’s because the people that write their paychecks don’t like the idea of the little guy networking around the publishing giants that either make their money off great writers posthumously or float the company by keeping the same twenty or so iconic has-beens for each genre stocked at the local Barnes & Noble?

As you can probably tell, I have no problem tilting with giants, even if they turn out to be windmills.

I mean, I got to be an overworked, underpaid English teacher by doing what everyone said to do my whole life. Hmm… Maybe it’s time to listen to what is currently the most prominent part of my anatomy–my gut.

Enjoy the fruits of my labors, blogsphere.