Savage Writings

More Bentley Than Bentley!

2011-10-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

As part of any author's e-book marketing strategy, they should take a look around and see where they are picking up momentum and where they are lagging. So this morning, I did a search in Amazon for "Bentley Little" (okay, I admit it, I was going to pick up a Kindle book of his) and lo and behold, check out what Amazon is showing readers:

Yes, that reads right: when someone in Amazon searches for Bentley Little, they find Jack Drew BEFORE they find Bentley Little. That is incredible, in terms of visibility. As such, I'm finding this reflects a really incredible surge in sales.

If you're an author looking to market your e-book and its similar in style to another author, I highly recommend you use that author's name in your search (meta) tags. It helps a lot.

And in other news, if any of you out there are interested in a Kindlegraph, THE TAKEOVER is available for me to Kindlegraph it for you.

Have a Happy Halloween!
-Jack

Makin' the Most of Irene

2011-08-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

So, a hurricane has blown through New Jersey. After spending a great deal of Thursday shoring up any loose items in the back yard and greatly testing the storage capacity of my new shed (everything fits, thank God), Irene paid us a visit overnight and brought down some trees, some power lines and effectively wreaked havoc with several of my friends' basements. Right now, the members of the family who didn't sleep last night are napping and the 3 year old (who got a full night's sleep last night) is watching TV.

The house is quiet and I'm sitting here with a reamful of THE BOG (still on track for an October release), a pen and Tweetdeck open. I'm hoping to get a little editing done today and get my notes together for a powerhouse run through a novel to meet my deadline.

So, I'm sitting here, winds blowing, making the best of a crappy situation (and sticking to my old motto--"take every free second and write"!).

Stay safe during the rest of Irene, folks!

-Jack

What is Horror?

2011-08-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

"Horror is not a genre, like the mystery or science fiction or the western. It is not a kind of fiction, meant to be confined to the ghetto of a special shelf in libraries or bookstores. Horror is an emotion."

- Douglas Winter, PRIME EVIL (1982)

With an immense amount of respect to Mr. Winter, this statement is only partially right. Emotion is, indeed, a factor in horror fiction. Emotion is necessary in any fiction, whether it is action-adventure, mystery, science fiction or space opera. Like all good fiction, when it comes to horror fiction (and horror movies, as well), emotion is merely one single thread in the blanket of dread we authors weave when telling a story.

But what makes horror, in fact, horror?

If an author wants to evoke from a reader true horror, there is only one element that will simply reach into any reader’s psyche and start to unhinge them: the removal of safety. Once you remove any amount of safety from a character or a place, you’ve now begun the process of unsettling the reader. This is only truly successful, however, if the other threads in your blanket of dread are present and working. The reader won’t care if you’ve pulled the proverbial carpet out from a character if you haven’t evoked the proper emotional bond between reader and character first. This is why sympathetic characters work best (but are not always the choice).

Take any horror novel you love and boil it down to its essence, the true nexus of the story, and you will see that the main reason a reader is drawn to that story is whatever safety the character initially had is gone.

The removal of safety can be complete and total, as is the case in such novels as THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy, SWAN SONG by Robert McCammon, or I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson. Even THE RISING, DEAD SEA and CITY OF THE DEAD by Brian Keene (where zombies have taken over the world and only a few humans survive). In all these tales, most of the safety in the world (or at least the characters’ world) is gone. Armageddon of some sort has wiped it all out and changed the way the characters interact with their world. Their daily life is no longer in line with “the norm” a reader knows in their daily life and that tangent is the bread and butter of horror fiction.

The removal of safety can be of a more moderate nature. One of the most effect invocations of horror is the façade of safety in the beginning of the tale and the removal of that safety after the author/creator has established how benign and peaceful a particular situation is at first. Some incredibly well done examples of this are THE FOG (film) by John Carpenter, ‘SALEM’S LOT and NEEDFUL THINGS by Stephen King, and THE BIRDS (film) by Alfred Hitchcock (and yes, to a lesser degree the short story by Daphne Du Maurier). In these tales, it is established early on that the town (Antonio Bay in the case of THE FOG, Jerusalem’s Lot and Castle Rock in the King tales and Bodega Bay in THE BIRDS) is a small, peaceful town where everyone knows everyone else and it would be a great place to raise a family. The introduction of outside elements (the ghosts of fishermen, vampires, the devil himself, and ravens and seagulls) throw the relative safety of the small town into chaos and this unsettlingly creates a tangent from what the reader or viewer knows in their own daily lives. This removal of safety creates the turmoil of emotion for the reader. In essence, it creates the horror of the situation.

The fact that Robert Neville is alone in the world (and yet, hauntingly, almost poignantly not alone) strips the world (in I AM LEGEND) Richard Matheson builds of its safety and throws the reader off-kilter. This is not the same world where we, the reader, get our Starbucks coffee or pick up a newspaper. This is a dead world, inhabited by things that you DON’T want to come across. This removal of safety drenches the story in dread. When the vampire hordes encircle Neville’s house each night, it invokes in the reader a creeping terror. Why? Because the vampires (representing the removal of safety) are infringing on the relative safety of Neville’s boarded up, garlic-strung house. The horror is evoked by the erosion of Neville’s perceived safety.

The most cringe-inducing moment in King’s ‘Salem’s Lot is when grave digger Mike Ryerson is staying in Matt Burke’s house as a guest overnight, Matt Burke hears things amiss in the darkness.

“Softly yet clearly in the silent house the words came, spoken in Mike Ryerson’s voice, spoken in the dead accents of sleep:

‘Yes. Come in.’

Matt’s breath stopped, then whistled out in soundless scream. He felt faint with fear. His belly seemed to have turned to lead. His testicles had drawn up. What in God’s name had been invited into his house?”

The horror here is quite clear. The relative safety of the character’s surroundings (his house) has been violated by an outside force. The removal of safety sends any of us—all of us—into a disjointed semi-panic. Our world is not right, unless there’s a modicum of safety involved in it. Strip away that safety and you can induce some serious gooseflesh.

Serial killers terrorizing teenagers, vampires surrounding us in the dark, the flash of atomic weaponry minimizing the human race. It doesn’t matter what the catalyst, if you, the author remove the safety from a situation, you begin to weave terror or horror into your writing. It’s what drives us as humans. The want of safety, the need of safety drives our human instinct to survive. That’s what builds the emotion in a horror story. All of these are key elements for you, the author, to manipulate to make the best story you can.

Upcoming Novel Releases!!

2011-08-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've got great news! My publisher, Screaming Aphony Press, and I have worked out a deal to release two new novels between now and March of 2012. Since I can officially talk about it now, I thought I'd share some of the details.

First, in October of 2011, Screaming Aphony Press will release my novel, THE BOG.

THE BOG - Release Date: 10/11/2011

Hidden in the desolate wilderness of The Pine Barrens, the village of Jamesbog, New Jersey is a quiet town that time forgot. A town square, residents that all know each other like family and a white clapboard church. But this town holds secrets. Secrets that have been buried for twenty-five years and like most secrets, this one should have stayed buried.

Twenty-five years ago two girls were murdered. One was drowned in the flooded bogs during the Autumn of '77. The other was never found.

One fine summer day, a sudden uncanny storm blows in savagely, threatening to dredge up the answers to mysteries that have remained hidden for nearly three decades. Huddled in a church during this freakish storm, a small group of survivors will find out the truth.

And then in March of 2012,

COMMUNITY - Release Date: 3/13/2012

Bill and Jenny Peters have just moved to the Shore town of Shoal Harbor. They moved for the friendly faces and the great schools, the quiet neighborhoods and the sense of community.

But not all is as it seems. Bill's neighbors begin to show an almost fanatical devotion to the town and the community. People keep disappearing all over town. And a dark pall has been cast over the whole town.

The Peters family, however, don't have the sense of community that the town leaders look for in residents. The Peters are shunning their friends and becoming "homebodies". They're finding that they don't belong.

The Peters family is not fitting in.

I'm really excited about these two new releases and I really can't wait to show you the awesome cover art these novels are getting dressed in. Make sure you join the Jack Drew mailing list (below and to the right) and I'll keep you up to date on all the details of these (and other) upcoming releases.

-Jack

Writing While on "The Bowl" (It's NOT what you think, folks)

2011-06-25T06:58:00.001-07:00

So, I've been really quiet lately. Both on Twitter and this blog.

There's a reason for this silence that I'll delve into in a little bit. But, yes, I realize that I've been mostly quiet. And with most extended silences there's good news that's happened in the interim and there's bad news.

The good news first:

1. I currently clock in at 204.5 lbs. That sounds like I'm heavy (and I am) but this is really good news for me as I'd previously struggled with maintaining my stunning reverse hourglass figure at 216 lbs. I've changed how I eat and have started a new routine that helps me with a great many tasks in life. What's interesting is this: I didn't drastically change what I eat. I've simply re-evaluated what tastes good to me and what I want to eat. For instance (and remember, kids, I am NOT a dietitian), I realized that, in the morning, I would stop at Dunkin' Donuts or McDonald's for some sort of sandwich with my morning coffee. What never occurred to me is that, while I really enjoyed the sausage, bacon, whatever-fatty-thing-came-on-the-sandwich's salty goodness, I wasn't happy with how I felt afterward. I wasn't energized or ready for the day or, hell, ready for anything. I felt warm, full, greasy and above all, sleepy.

What I instead do now is grab coffee at the office (we actually get some decent coffee in from a local roaster) and have a bowl of watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries. I still enjoy my coffee in the morning but now I don't stuff myself full of things that just don't make me feel good later. With the fruit, I feel mobile and able to walk around my office without that sleepy feeling I used to get, when eating bacon-egg-sausage-spam-ham-and-spam.

My lunches are (mostly) healthier, with the occasional 2 slice of pizza run but I try to eat something lighter and healthier. It helps that I've got a SaladWorks nearby and I'm one of the few that enjoy some of the better salads at Wendy's. (No, not the 3000 calorie uber-salads, either). Just something sensible.

2. I've also changed up my daily routine for the summer and this has helped me greatly in nearly every aspect of my life.

Each morning, I wake up at 5:45 AM and drive my new putt putt to a nearby park and walk for an hour and change each morning. I do not run (I used to and my knees aren't what they once were) yet. I occasionally jog if the spirit moves me.

But for about an hour and 20 minutes each morning, I walk around a gravel trail and wave to deer and chipmunks I pass by.

And I think.

I've gotten a lot of thinking done while walking around "The Bowl", as the hiking trail I follow each morning is called. And it's helped me out all day long. First, I go over what needs to get done around the house or what chores I have to take care of that day: call the dentist, fax some paperwork, take out the garbage, etc. Then I quickly go over what I need to accomplish that day at work: help get answers from customer A about a report, ensure that employees A, B or C are working on project X. You know, the boring part of the day that makes up 8+ hours of it.

But then, once I've gotten my head clear of all that, I let my brain fall into neutral for a second, my pace evens out a bit and then I let my thoughts turn to the writing projects I've got on my plate.

I work out plot twists (who really dunnit?), character development (does Bobby go to high school or only say he's going to high school?), ideas, parts of towns/settings, whatever. The point is, I let my writer's mind wind its way from where I want it to go (the worst thing a writer can do) to where it wants to go (usually, the best place to figure out anything).

I'll give you an example: I've been plotting out 3 novels in a series lately. Not all together. One at a time. And after plotting the first one out, I moved onto the second story. And came up with a rather banal, run-of-the-mill novel plot. Yay. (The writers out there know what I'm talking about, we've all done it.) It was paltry and easy and didn't challenge anyone: me, the writer or you, the reader.

So, instead, I took a central image from this plot--the one part of the whole book idea I liked--and just played it over and over in my head while I paced around this track of dirt for forty five minutes. I let my mind drift and things ... morphed. This central image changed.

Where at first the dead body had been a man, it was then a female child. Where it was a female child, it was then a woman. Then, it was a matter of who was she and who had killed her. Why did they kill her?

And here's the thing: when I was done, my brain had worked it out completely: the first novel I'd plotted out came from a very personal experience for one of the main characters. Basically, the plot of the first novel revolves around something very personal that had happened to one of the two main characters (their really good friends). If I then made this central image from the second novel something that affects the other main character on a personal level, the whole series would work and I'd solidify these two characters in readers minds.

The thing is: I didn't come up with that idea. I didn't think of it.

Walking around The Bowl and letting my mind clear itself of all the driftwood that piles up on its shores (my daily tasks, etc.), had let my mind work out why I wasn't happy with that novel's plot. Call it Divine Intervention, call it Primordial Thinking, call it what you will. I let my mind work something out and the result was far, far better than the one I had forced.

The bad news now:

1. I'm fiddling with THE COMPLEX on the side but for the most part, I've put that project away. The "great, God A'mighty steam shovel", as Stephen King has said, is parked for now. I still want to complete it. Especially after reading this review at Amazon from a fan. I rather enjoy my horror novels and would like to put another one out by year's end. But for now, I'm working on a project that may not be as epic of scope, but it's meaningful to me. One I hope you can soon read and enjoy as much as I am.

2. Work. I don't want to get into it here because of the nature of the Interwebs and the ever-watchful eye of Big Brother.

This is the reason I've not been too chatty both here on this blog and on Twitter. When I get frustrated beyond a point or when I feel that a line has been crossed, I get mouthy. I mouth off to those I probably shouldn't. It's a personal trait of mine that I try to control (most of the time I don't do such a good job of that). So, I shut up. Completely. I feel that if I open my mouth to say something, I'll say the wrong thing entirely and it will eventually come back around and bite me in the ass. Basically, it's the nature of working in corporate America in 2011 and having a blog or Twitter account. You have to watch what you say. If any blogger were to say anything derogatory about work, their employer would have every right in the world to let them go.

... and lastly, more good news:

1. Got A Fire Pit

For Father's Day, I received a fire pit for my backyard. Why is this good news?

I get to burn stuff!

Mostly marshmallows and wine labels but I plan to spend an awful lot of time sitting around that baby, plotting and writing, so look for photos of a pair of my Chuck Taylors (I've got four) melting by the fire!

I'll be sending out more regular updates about the new mystery series I've been plotting and the progress on THE COMPLEX, so keep an eye out for those, too!

Enjoy your summer, everyone!

Retro Ain't That Bad ...

2011-05-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

So, I’m in the middle of several writing projects right now. I’m working on my next novel, THE COMPLEX--another Bentley Little-esque weird horror novel. And while I do that, I’ll be steering clear of reading any of his novels, new or old. So, with that in mind, I decided to peruse the nearly overflowing night table drawer for something interesting to read that won’t color what I write too much.

After sorting through some excellent Charles L. Grant novels (he’s really an amazing author and if you haven’t given him a chance yet, you really need to check him out--I mean that most sincerely--he ranks right up there with “the gods” [more on “the gods” later] ), and casting aside the latest from Little, I picked up my old battered copy of NEEDFUL THINGS by Stephen King, entranced.

I gazed upon this gorgeous image, and fell back in love. In a blink of an eye, I was 19 again. First year of college had passed by (literally passed by me) and the next was just beginning. I spent an awful lot of time reading NEEDFUL THINGS when it came out and missed an awful lot of class because of it.

Yeah, this would do for the next buncha weeks. This would do, indeed.

Here’s the thing: in 1987, I went through some changes. No, not those changes. Get your mind up to the gutter, please. When I was 15 years old, I was an avid reader, much like I am now. Only a whole lot thinner and a whole lot less gray. But for the longest time in my teens, I was reading novels that were ... well, they were tame, at best. Sure, I’d read some Clive Cussler novels and they were thrilling enough. And I’d burned my way through all the novels Frederick Forsyth had written. At the time (1987), THE DAY OF THE JACKAL was one of my all-time favorite novels. I’d read plenty of historical action / adventure novels of the likes of SHARPE’S EAGLE, Horatio Hornblower and I’d started to swim in a deeper pool of weirdness when I read ON STRANGER TIDES by Tim Powers. I’d read nearly every single novel that Tor ever published in the sci fi series “V”.

But then, in 1987, something ... arrived. Something came into my world and changed everything.

One day in 1987, I picked up a paperback novel that surely was the demise of three or four trees. IT weighed about as much as a brick and its cover was drop dead sexy. IT was enticing. IT was scary looking

IT by Stephen King was an intimidating novel. But, I’d gazed upon it for several weeks when accompanying my mother to PathMark for weekly groceries. Finally, one day, I plunked down my money and picked up a copy for myself. And over the next two weeks, I fell in love. My parents had rented a summer house in Long Beach Island for a handful of weeks and I spent every single day sitting in the sand and every single night sitting on the porch (and laying on the sofa) reading IT by Stephen King. This was a big, beautiful, amazing story of children near my age at the time (sure, there was an age gap but not by much) and mixed in, there was horror and clowns and some awful stuff going on. I had found my greatest literary love: the horror genre.
Which brings me to the main focus of this article. Every single time I see King’s name in that stylized fashion that Viking used to use (think like this:

I get utterly and completely nostalgic. Seeing King’s name in that particular font brings me back to when I first realized I loved reading scary stories and when my world truly opened up. It came at a time in my life when things for me, personally, were a little dark: I didn’t have many friends, I wore glasses and was typecast as the quintessential nerd. Late Middle School, High School was not really a great time for me. And because of that, I clung to stories that weren’t exactly upbeat. Most of King’s work (and even moreso his Bachman books like RAGE and THE LONG ROAD) spoke to me in ways that those swash-buckling heroes or the political potboilers couldn’t.

If you were to fill a room with a bunch of horror authors and ask them “who’s your favorite author?” 8 out of 10 would probably still answer, “Stephen King”. The other 2 are lying.

So, I find it very apropos that, at a time when I’ve got to crunch down and grind out a novel, at a time when I’ve got to mentally set a bunch of things aside, I grab a book that not only makes me reminisce about the “old days” but helps bring back the reason I got excited about horror in the first place.

Re-reading NEEDFUL THINGS isn’t just something to do while I write THE COMPLEX. For me, it’s getting back just a little slice of my high school days. Getting back just a little bit of that feeling of what it was like to discover things again. Like the first time you realized you really liked that girl with the dark hair you saw at the Boardwalk or the first time you take a swig of beer, sitting on a beach with your friends, under the stars and listening to the surf pound away at the shore.

This is what inspires me to write.

What inspires you?

Havin' Fun with Amazon...

2011-04-19T16:25:00.001-07:00

So, last week Screaming Aphony Press released both my novel, The Takeover, and my brand new short story collection,The Whispered Voices Screamed The Truth, on Amazon for the Kindle.

For those of you who are considering publishing your work this way, I highly recommend it.
It is really the most informative publishing service around. Smashwords is great and works well for barnes & noble and other bookstores. But they're sales info lags (which isn't a criticism, I know that's just the way it works) and Amazon's numbers are very nearly real time.
If you're looking for a good way to track your sales, Amazon is a great way to go.
Furthermore, their sales are international. For example, I have had sales from AmazonUK. An audience, im sorry to say, I hadn't considered before.
Im very happy to have them, I simply never considered selling books to an international audience before.
Overall, amazon's publishing service is cool stuff.

On a side note, I've worked out plot kinks in my next novel and am at work tweaking some already existing material. If you liked The Takeover, you're going to be a fan of the next book.
Trust me.

As always, be good, Friends
-Jack

New Horror Collection!

2011-04-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Out now from Screaming Aphony Press, my new horror collection, THE WHISPERED VOICES SCREAMED THE TRUTH is debuting on Amazon Kindle first ... and it's ONLY 99 CENTS!!!!!

Pick up a copy here: http://amzn.to/fGmwrL

Also, good news and some free love for Kindle fans! My novel THE TAKEOVER is now out on Amazon and available for 99 CENTS!!!!

Grab your copy of THE TAKEOVER now!!! http://amzn.to/hDxUUQ

Hacking Articles

2011-04-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are interested, I'm writing up some articles on the art of hacking over at Hack On A dime. You can follow along at http://hackonadime.blogspot.com.

So far, we've put together a list of tools we want to include in our Hacker's Toolkit and we've covered a few other topics and are about to dive into different ways to gather information on our targets.

Over the next few weeks, we'll cover different scan techniques as well as some very interesting side projects that take a hacker's skills to cover.

Come along for the ride, won't you?

http://hackonadime.blogspot.com

-Jack

New Short Story Collection!

2011-04-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Soon to be released from Screaming Aphony Press, THE WHISPERED VOICES SCREAMED THE TRUTH, a new collection of short stories that will make you sleep with the lights on!

This collection will contain some previously published short stories and some brand new stories, including the controversial tale, "The Clinic".

In the next few weeks, THE WHISPERED VOICES SCREAMED THE TRUTH will be available through bn.com, kobo, deisel-ebooks and other outlets.

-Jack

CEH? Been there, done that. Got the T-Shirt.

2011-03-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

This past week, I attended the Pilot Course for CEH V7 and passed the exam. Yep, as of yesterday, I am a Certfied Ethical Hacker. I couldn't have done it without the help of my instructor, Larry Greenblatt and his team from Internetwork Defense (www.internetworkdefense.com). I can't thank them enough.

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I'm pretty damn stoked.

Upcoming Fiction Collection!

2011-02-18T18:05:00.001-08:00

Tonight, I find myself with free time because I finished all my CISSP class slides early. So, I started piecing together my new collection of fiction. I've decided to include everything I've previously published, as well as a couple of new pieces that have a similar flavor.

So, I've cobbled together nearly all the stories but one. As I review them for inclusion in the anthology, I have to say I'm proud of these things I've created. My babies. I've nurtured them from infancy to full-grown idea and to this day, when I read them, they still make me proud.

I'll release some more information when I have it but, for now, keep your eyes peeled for an announcement here.

-Jack

Readin' and Writin' Tools

2011-02-17T15:36:00.000-08:00

The one on the top is what I read with. The one on the bottom is what I write with.

Up top: a Pandigital Novel running Android with Aldiko reader. Might very well be the best e-reader for those who like all things Android.

Below, a pocket-sized Pinnacle notebook I keep on me at all times. My own private brain dump. It's where I work out the ideas I've saved from oblivion in Evernote.

These past few weeks, I can't live without either. It's really turned into one of the busiest times of my life and I find myself still pummeled by good fiction ideas along the way. Got a place to write 'em. And with the PDN, I've torched my way through like 3 novels over the past few weeks (an unheard of feat, normally).

-Jack

Timeout from Fiction

2011-01-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've had to step away from my fiction in support of a new effort -- I've become a teacher!

Saturday mornings, I teach a class that helps prepare candidates to take the CISSP exam (CISSP stands for Certified Information Systems Security Professional). This is a class that teaches the students what a corporate, enterprise security model/plan should be and what security subjects they should understand thoroughly to be able to pass the exam.

Basically, it's a class on network security. I've been teaching it the past few Saturdays and I've got a bunch more weeks to go (8, I think). Because of this new job, I've stepped away from the fiction while I draft up my training materials (which takes a while to create).

It's a shame because, while I've paused the physical act of writing, I'm still getting barraged with story ideas on a daily basis. Each morning when I drive to work, I see at least ONE thing that puts an idea in my head. Whether it be someone walking, someone driving, an unassuming tree sticking out of the FEET of snow we've recently fallen victim to in the northeast or the way some garbage was strewn about the street.

So, what's an author to do? Well, I've been keeping copious notes so that I don't miss an idea. Unfortunately, it's going to be a while before I can start to pound them out at the keyboard.

By then, I hope I can still read my chicken scratch.

-Jack

THE TAKEOVER now on sale - $2.99!!!!!

2011-01-20T10:47:00.000-08:00

Because I've recently been blessed with a very favorable review of my novel, THE TAKEOVER, Screaming Aphony Press has decided to offer the novel for a discounted price for a limited time!

Right now, you can order your e-book copy of THE TAKEOVER from Smashwords for only $2.99!!!

Click here and grab your copy now! Enter the coupon code, "HF23L" into the Coupon Code box when checking out and the price of the book will drop from $5.99 to $2.99.

And, as always, thanks, guys!

-Jack

Awesome Review of "THE TAKEOVER"

2011-01-20T10:33:00.001-08:00

Larry Hoffer over at "It's Either Sadness or Euphoria" recently set aside some time to read my novel, THE TAKEOVER. (And on a plane, no less!) He's also been kind enough to write up his thoughts on it. (Thanks, Larry!) I'll let you read the review but I'm absolutely stoked that someone enjoyed reading the novel as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Just to give you a little flavor, Larry said, "I don't read a lot of horror books ... boy, this book was creepy. ... At times I wanted to shout at the characters to make them realize what was going to happen, but people on a plane don't take kindly to other passengers shouting at inanimate objects. This definitely kept me turning the pages, even when I didn't want to."

(Big Smiles! BIG SMILES!)

THE TAKEOVER is available from smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Books and the Apple iBooks application.

Free E-book Giveaway!

2010-11-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

The first 20 people who sign up for the Jack Drew Newsletter below (over to the right) will receive a free copy of my new horror novel e-book, THE TAKEOVER. No catch. Just sign up below and when I receive the notification that you've subscribed, I'll send you the e-book.

That's it. Simple, simple, simple.

So, if you want a free copy of what will surely become one of the classic horror novels of the 2010's, sign up now!

-Jack

The Takeover - Finally Released!!!

2010-11-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

As of tonight, Screaming Aphony Press informed me that THE TAKEOVER has now officially been released on smashwords.com! It's available for Kindle, iPAD and most e-readers so go grab yourself a copy. You can get your copy here.

THE TAKEOVER

Chance Fordham is offered a dream job: a six figure salary and a house in an exclusive neighborhood filled with his coworkers. With no more debt to speak of, this job sounds like a dream come true for Chance and his wife.

But soon, what started out sounding perfect degrades into a horrifying microcosm of terror. His neighbors aren't what they seem. The Company is hiding secrets that should best stay hidden. His job is not what it seems. And Chance's marriage is falling apart.

The Company is evil.

He just never knew HOW evil.

If your a fan of Bentley Little, I think you're really going to like this one, too. It's dark, eerie and full of bizarre events that will make you squirm in your chair. I'm really excited that THE TAKEOVER is finally available and I couldn't be prouder. I hope you like it, too.

And, as always, please feel free to e-mail me with your comments or leave a review on smashwords.com. PS - the book will soon be available through Barnes & Noble, Apple's iBookstore and other premium outlets. And I'm also investigating a print run. More news on this in the future.

-Jack

My Poor Novel! (Not THAT One)

2010-10-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

In July, I purchased a Pandigital Novel-a 7 inch touchscreen e-reader. In short, it's amazing. I can read epub-formatted books AND I (or rather my 5yr old) can play Angry Birds on it. This thing is so great I got my wife one and her friend and mom got one, too. So, I've been pretty supportive of this company from Day 1.

Recently, it dropped from my coffee table to the floor while safe and snug in its faux leather cover. Unfortunately, this was no protection. The glass cracked, rendering the device useless.

I have to say, after talking to a manager at Pandigital, I am very happy with the outcome. This issue could have turned out poorly and I could have ended up footing the bill for a new e-reader. Instead, they are taking the unit back under warranty and issuing me a replacement.

Thank you, Pandigital! And a special thank you to Sue Hyland, the manager I spoke with-she is a great example of customer service.

If you're in the market for an economical e-reader, them head to Kohl's or Bed Bath & Beyond and get yourself one. They are a real pleasure to use and, from my experience, the company values its customers.

Writing Tips: Minimizing Distractions and Getting Organized

2010-10-02T09:47:00.000-07:00

I've got a gazillion ideas for stories. A gazillion. And, if you're writing mind works at all like mine, you do, too. You've got a noggin full of ideas that you can't wait to write.

And you want to write them all. Who doesn't? They're all great ideas! But let's face facts: you're simply not going to be able to write all the ideas you've come up with in your lifetime. It's just simple mathematics.

However, there are a few simple things you, as a writer, can do to ensure you get to the important ones and I've got a few suggestions to help you get there.

Three key strategies will help you be more productive:

Minimizing Distractions
Organizing Priorities
Embracing New Technologies so you can be more productive

Let's look at these strategies:

1. Minimizing Distractions

IDENTIFY DISTRACTIONS

OK – If you have kids, you're completely on your own here. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding). Trying to find free time where kids are involved is like trying to performing a leeching on yourself-even if you're successful, it's going to end up bloody.

However, in my house, we have a fairly standard bed time and, for the most part, the children are in bed by 8pm. I know not everyone believes in that kind of rigidity, but the routine works for us. So, basically, after doing chores around the house, my free time starts around 8:30 or 9. But therein lies the problem: most of my free time was taken up with distractions.

So, I sat down one day and went through my daily routine and sought out the distractions that sucked up my time. Then I did the same for my weekly routine.

I found that my biggest distractions so far were work from my day job, the Internet, Television shows I wanted to watch and books I wanted to read. In order for me to set aside writing time (and make the most use of it), I needed to minimize these distractions.

MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF DISTRACTIONS

Distraction 1: As I've pointed out before, I've disconnected myself from the Internet when I'm writing.

I have a removable wireless card I can remove. You, if you have more modern technology, should be able to turn your wireless card off or simply stop your network from connecting (consult your local nerd). This will guarantee you start to be more productive. When eliminate the constant droning sound of the Information Super Highway out your window, you will find you hear your inner voice a lot better.

Distraction 2: When it comes to work from my day job spilling over to my free time—I've drawn a line in the sand and I try very hard to make other people's problems just that: their problems and not mine. I work on emergency items that directly affect me or my team and that's it. If there's some other emergency that affects some other department, so be it. I try very hard not to let it become my issue.

Distraction 3: As for the television shows, I've embraced technology (and coughed up an extra 10 bucks a month) for a DVR. I record shows all week long when they're on and watch them when I deem it TV time, rather than have TV suck up all my free time (after 8pm each night).

I've designated a specific night for catching up when I can. If I can't, then I tell myself “oh well” - after all, who's words are more important to me? Mine that I'm creating? Or another writer's that got himself a career writing for a network television? If you answered anything other than “mine”, you need to rethink your status as a writer. I'm sorry, it sounds selfish. I know. But it's true. Your work has GOT to be the most important thing to you.

Distraction 4: I've set aside time in my schedule to read. That time is maybe a half hour or so before I go to sleep. If I don't have any writing pressing on a given day, I might take designated writing time to read. But for the most part, again, you need to determine where the line is and think about what's more important to you: your words or someone else's. This is why I try to keep a separate time for reading, so I don't have that problem.

Once I minimized the impact of my distractions, I was then able to start to organize my schedule and take command of my writing time.

2. Organizing Priorities

First, I took a look through all my notebooks to find the story ideas that were most important to me. And guess what, folks? Not every idea I wrote down was awesome. Not every plot or story that blew through my mind and I wrote down was a winner. I'm sure if you were to honestly review a lot of your ideas, you'd find a lot more of them should be tossed over your shoulder into the pickle barrel, rather than ever see the light of day on paper.

I took all the stories and ideas that were important to me and listed them out. I did this for two reasons: 1) I wanted to make sure that, during a second review (wherein I write them down) they were still as good as I thought. It turns out, I still dropped some.

2) I wanted to write them down because I wanted to take a close look at how much effort it would take to bring the effort to completion.

After writing the best ideas down, I went ahead and prioritized them, factoring in how complete they were and also how appropriate they were to what I wanted to accomplish as a writer.

What do I mean by that? Well, There are some writers out there who want to write anything. Some writers want to be science fiction writers. Some want to be only known as “dark fantasy” writers.

I'm a horror author. It's what I dig on. It's what I know best.

So, I prioritized my projects, based on what fit into my being a horror author. Sure enough, two projects that I still think about heavily moved to the lower part of the list. Why? Because their sci-fi stories. I'm not saying I won't write them. I'm just saying I won't write them right now.

So, I left myself with 3 projects and a timeframe for completion on each.

I had successfully organized my projects schedule. I knew what I was going to write. Now what?

3. Embracing New Technologies So You Can Be More Productive

Maybe you're not like me, but, since I'm a writer, a lover of words, a collector of books, I don't like change.

I like things as they are – I like them to stay the same. I distrust technology and changes to technology. I dislike change in tried and true things. A good friend of mine got a Kindle one day and, as he showed it to me, I heard words coming out of my mouth that sounded simply stupid. I scoffed at the device as one of the most useless things I'd ever seen. Now, truth be told, I'm still biased against a one-trick pony such as the Kindle. I like devices I buy to be able to do more than one thing.

But here's where I heard myself being absolutely stupid: I bristled against the technology before I even gave it a chance.

So, I recently stopped bristling against new technologies (and we all do it, too, admit it, we all feel the hackles on the back of our neck raise up when someone shows us something with which we are unfamiliar). I took a step back and realized that no matter what, smarter people than I invented some of the tools I'm going to tell you about and they did it to make their lives better. My life could probably benefit from it, too. I'm betting, so can yours.

Technology 1: DVR - Ok – so I embraced DVR technology to free up my night time and turn it into writing time. Easy enough. No need to delve any further. Record stuff like a VCR and watch it when you like. Easy Peasy.

Technology 2: Evernote/SmartPhone – If you're a writer, you have ideas. Those ideas come and those ideas go. You could be sitting at your job, have the best idea on the planet for a successful series of fantasy novels about a dragonfly who battles field mice and then your boss comes along and tells you that there's a big meeting where you're being blamed for some customer's oversight. Guess what? I doubt you're thinking about the dragonfly anymore. Chances are, you've forgotten most of the dragonfly story and you'll never get it back.

This is where Evernote comes in. Evernote is a notebook-type application for the PC, Mac and most smartphones. This last option is key for myself. I have a Blackberry Storm and I constantly use the app to enter ideas about dragonflies and field mice into it before some other distraction comes along. It allows me to basically perform a brain dump to the Internet. I then take 15 minutes at the beginning of my free time each night to review the notes and organize them a bit.

Technology 3: Google Calendar – Seriously, if you're not using Google Calendar to organize your schedule, you really need to think hard as to why. Like I said above, I used to bristle at new technologies. This was one of them. “Why would I need to organize my time and enter appointments?”

Why? Two words: Free Time.

I didn't have it before. I used to fritter away my time. Now, I have organized all my chores in my Google Calendar and synced it to my phone. Everything I have to do in a week has an appointment. If a scheduled appointment comes up, I take care of it right away. This way, I get in the good habit of sticking to my schedule FOR EVERYTHING.

What comprises a scheduled appointment? ANYTHING AT ALL.

Gotta pick up your kids from school? Make an appointment.

Want to set aside free time during lunch? Make an appointment.

Have to go to DMV? Make an appointment.

Want to outline some book idea but want to squeeze it in while watching kids at the park? Make an appointment.

Let me show you a typical day on my Google Calendar:

8:30am – 5:00pm – Work

3:30pm – Pick up rugrat from school

(I usually leave dinnertime and playtime with the kids open)

7:00pm-10:00pm – New York Rangers at Ottawa

8:30pm – 8:45 – Check email, twitter, Evernote

8:45pm – 10:00pm - Write Insert to Takeover #4

10:00pm – 11:00pm - Brainstorm

I know this sounds like an extreme way of organizing your day but, trust me. It helps a lot. You firm up your routine and you'll see your creative output grow greatly.

Technology 4: Dropbox – I used to struggle with keeping versions of drafts of files. There were days I didn't know which version of a story was where. On my laptop? Did I stick it in a Gmail to myself? I could never remember.

Now, with Dropbox, you don't have to.

Dropbox is a web-based service that allows you to keep files “in the cloud” (read: on the Internet) but they appear on your PC as files on your hard drive. Edit them, copy them, do with them what you will, but they are versioned and stored off-line, on dropbox.com.

This service is great because I can use it on the laptop or, if I had an iPhone, I can use it on the phone. I had a catastrophic blowout the other day and lost an entire file. What could have been a blood-pressure-rising event, actually turned out to be a quick login at dropbox.com and, using their services, I was able to restore the previous version of a file in the blink of an eye. No ulcer. No pain. Just a quick restore and I was back in business.

Now, I use it as the primary storage for my writing. Dropbox is like a safe deposit box for important files. They give you 2gb of free storage to start with and, for Word or OpenOffice files, that's more than enough for most people's lifetimes.

Conclusion: If you're a writer who needs to find free time to write, don't bristle at new technologies that are out there. Use them to your benefit and you'll see that you will definitely start to produce more when it comes to manuscripts.

Simplicity and the Art of Writing

2010-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

No, this isn’t a diatribe on how to craft the perfect sentence or anything like that. This is going to be a short discussion on how to simplify the how of your writing, rather than the mechanics of crafting fiction.

I don’t know about you, but I used to spend an inordinate amount of time setting up things before diving into a task. My wife used to say I’d procrastinate but it was something more distinct than that. I wasn’t procrastinating because I didn’t want to do my work. Hell, writing was supposed to be a fun task, right?

But whenever it came to free time, I should have found myself sitting down, writing fiction. Inevitably, however, I'd find myself messing around with my laptop, my mp3 player or some other piece of hardware or software. In essence, hours would go by and I’d pop my head up and it would be time for bed, all my free time frittered away.

Lately, I’ve simplified a lot of what I do. I’ve pared down my hobbies (I used to have a fair number), I’ve focused my free time on three things: 1) chores and tasks around the house [garbage, pool maintenance, lawn]; 2) my wife and kids [picking them up from school, etc] and 3) writing fiction. In order to focus on these 3 things, I’ve simplified how I do them so that I can keep on track.

For the chores and tasks around the house and the kids’ schedules, I’ve taken my Blackberry, synced my calendar up with Google Calendar and add EVERY scheduled nuance into it. So, if I need to leave work early to pick up my kids from school, it’s in my calendar and a reminder pops up 15 minutes beforehand.

I live and die by this calendar. Everything that makes up my life is in it. It syncs seamlessly between the Google Calendar and the Blackberry. I never used to focus so hard on things like this. I used to think they were for control freaks. Now, I realize I have to stop generalizing and realize that these tools are there to help me. I even schedule my writing time in there to be reminded. I love that this little process helped streamline a lot of my life and help me identify free time.

For keeping up with the writing, I’ve decided to pare down the distractions that used to keep me away from accomplishing it. For instance, I’ve gotten myself an old laptop with a wireless card I can remove. This way, I pop it out and I can’t get online. If I can’t get online, I can’t get distracted with Twitter or my blog or what Lindsey Lohan’s doing or what new books came out this week or what Seth Green had for breakfast. Don’t get me wrong, all those are interesting things (I'm writing this blog, right?). But they’re complete and utter distractions from getting work done.

I simplified my writing environment to include this gnarly old laptop, running Ubuntu 10.04 (a Linux operating system that’s FREE) and OpenOffice for word processing. I don’t bother with a ton of writing tools. I don’t have a big support system of software. I listen to tunes with Exaile and I occasionally IM with people using Pidgin. And through a marvelous tool called pidgin-musictracker, I can combine the two to show people what I’m listening to. My point is this: I’ve pared down the entire writing experience to a crusty laptop that’s still portable (and light), and a word processor.

Welcome to 1987. I’ve basically thrown myself back to the days when I wrote my stories on an old IBM Selectric III my grandfather brought home from RCA when it was going to be replaced. Except I can tote this particular word processor around a bit more easily.

Yes, it weighs more than it looks like it does!

My friend Mike Oliveri’s got it right. He says here that you have to write whenever you get a moment to do it. EVEN IN A HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM. He’s right. You take every free minute you can and devote it to what you care about. For me, I recently realized that what I care about are the 3 things listed above: the home, the wife and kids and writing. Everything else is secondary. (OK, hockey might be nudged in there with writing, but it doesn’t take away from the writing, so we’re still ok there!)

I keep that beat up laptop with me everywhere I go. Anytime might be a good time to write and having a quick-loading laptop with minimal software (for ease of use) is a good thing. And when it’s inappropriate to have an old Compaq N620c under your arm, I have my Blackberry and Evernote to dump ideas into. Just last night, I went out to pick up some food at Friday’s. I had an idea gnawing at me for a few hours so I sat down under one of their incredibly bright, weird star-shaped lights and punched that idea into Evernote. That got it out of my mind and into a place I can see it again later.

I wanted to share these ideas with you because, if you're like me, there's never a good time to write. I'm currently putting this little blog post together on that laptop while watching my kids. You've gotta make the time, if you're going to have output.

Write when you can, where you can, HOWEVER you can. Write because that’s who you are and writing is what’s important to you.

The Wrap

2010-09-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I completed my rewrites on THE TAKEOVER. I've still got a few more new scenes I want to write and insert into it, but, for the most part, the novel is finished.

I'm excited, too. It's been a fun process to revisit this novel and it's helped reinvigorate me with a newfound love of horror and the craft of writing, in general. I'm very relieved to get to the end of a novel. This is a process I started a while back and I was unsure if I'd succeed in completing it. But, sure enough, I've been able to finish this particular task and it's given me a kind of focus for future tasks.

Anyway, I'll be taking the day off tomorrow, enjoying it with the family. But maybe tomorrow night I'll be able to put the stake in the heart of at least one of those new scenes I was talking about.

The Wrap

2010-09-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend I took the kiddies to Six Flags' Safari where our windshield wipers were pecked by an ostrich and the family truckster was impeded by a giraffe in the middle of the road. The more entertaining part of the trip through the safari was listening to the rangers/guides yell at every single New York license plate to "roll up your window! And STOP FEEDING THE ANIMALS!!!"

I got very little writing done this weekend (about 1,400 words [all done this evening]). However, what I did get done was completely unexpected and THAT is the greatest feeling for an author--writing something that you didn't even plan out. When the writing takes on a life of its own, that's the sweetest feeling ever.

Both the wife and I got official faux leather book covers for our PanDigital Novels. We apparently did this just in time for my wife's to take an unscheduled leap down a few stairs this morning. Luckily, the cover protected the e-Reader and it works just fine.

I'm just about done with my overhaul of THE TAKEOVER--maybe another week or so of pushing like hell and then it'll just be a matter of fiddling with the edges a little bit.

Luckily, we're coming up towards NaNoWriMo (the month of November), which I'll be participating in and using the time to finish similar rewrites to THE COMPLEX. It'll be a hefty task, but I'm feeling good enough to take it on.

Talk to you during the week!

The Takeover Update

2010-09-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

I've been hard at work writing some new material for THE TAKEOVER and submitting it to my editor at Screaming Aphony Press. The book should be completely edited and ready for publishing in two weeks. Which means, it will most likely be published in just a little over three weeks.

I'm really excited for this release because of two reasons.

#1 - You, The Reader, get the opportunity to finally read my fiction - something I've been incredibly lazy in terms of publishing.

#2 - This is the first in a couple of releases coming from Screaming Aphony. I'm hoping to keep to a schedule of a couple books released each year, which means more dark horror for The Reader and more fun beating on my antique laptop's keyboard for a little while longer. :)

So, keep checking back and there will, indeed be fanfare when the book is released!

-Jack

Special Surprise Release!

2010-09-08T18:38:00.001-07:00

Hey All,

Today, Screaming Aphony Press released my long-form story, THE CORRUPT at Smashwords. And as a gift to you, the reader, the story is FREE.

That's right. Kindle, Nook, iPad. You name it, you can download it--FOR FREE.
Tell your friends! Tell your coworkers! Leave a copy on your parents' Windows Desktop, for good measure.

THE CORRUPT is a weird western that blends the horror, fantasy and western genres together in a story that's already been given 5 stars by perfect strangers. :)

It's the first in a five or six story arc that will follow Hell as he continues his quest to find Kelsis, the dark force that's lived a thousand lifetimes. I'll be releasing each one of these through Screaming Aphony. Here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of an epic tale the likes of which have yet to be seen!

Be Seeing You!

Workin' Weekend

2010-09-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to the park this morning and played sentry while they darted around three separate playground gym sets. Now, I'm sitting in my backyard, sipping some iced coffee (carefully, the root canal I have tomorrow can't come soon enough) and writing on my laptop.

I'm pushing real hard to get this novel out for a September release and the rewrites I'm working on are really creative workarounds for some fundamental problems I found in the manuscript for THE TAKEOVER.

I'm hoping to have most of the rewrites in place by end of this week and then it's off to the editor for a once-over. After that, I'll be prowling around online, starting promotion (as soon as I have a release date).

Watch this space! Updates soon!

The Uneasy Future of Our Art

2010-09-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

It is a turbulent time for the publishing industry and everyone involved (even in the periphery) are perking up their ears and paying attention to the goings on.

Barnes & Noble recently put themselves up for sale. Borders is floundering. Amazon is touting that e-book sales have surpassed sales of hardcover books for the first time ever. Dorchester Publishing just announced that they will no longer be publishing mass market paperbacks and will now be pursuing an e-book distribution model. (Dorchester has called this move a “transition” in its press release but, with the suddenness of this move and the speed with which they have let their editorial staff go, the 2 week knee-jerk reaction could only be called a “transition” as much as an abortion could.)

With all that’s going on in the industry, it’s easy to understand why a lot of people have begun to cry “the end is nigh!” and we are on the precipice of the end of publishing as we know it. I, personally, don’t think that’s true and I think it’s inflammatory and ill-informed to say so.

We are at a precipice, I’ll agree. But it’s not so high up and it’s not so scary. Up until now, the creation of content (words, thoughts, ideas, books, etc) has always been controlled by a select few (publishing houses) and then released into the public. This has always led to a bottleneck for creative works (as I see it) as there has always been a percentage of the target audience (you and me) whose prose probably is as good (or sometimes better) than what the publishing houses has let out into the world. However, the literary gatekeepers of the world have decided (for one reason or another) that those works were not good enough for the public. The Small Press helped in this regard somewhat, but not to a great extent. While we've all been introduced to some previously unknown talent by one small press publisher or another, the impact of these has vastly been unfelt, unfortunately.

Our industry (book publishing, specifically) is in a transition period. We are about to enter an era where the content (books, music, etc) will be produced by many, available to all and it will be up to the audience to determine whether what has been produced is good or not. Those novels that are good (even if self-published through such places as smashwords or lulu) will find an audience. Word-of-mouth will happen, no matter what. It’s just what we do as humans. People love to tell other people about the books they are reading or the newest band they just found. You can't get through a lunch with friends without hearing the phrase "Oh! You know what I just read?" or "You have GOT to hear this band!"

As a matter of fact, the publishing industry is going through the same growing pains the music industry did a few years ago. The process might look a little different and it may, in fact, scare the hell out of a lot of people, but don’t worry. We’ll get through it.

Digital content was a new and scary world for the music industry not so long ago. And what happened to them? They created new business models to work with the changing tastes of its audience and success is now being had. Since they can’t make as much money on albums, songs, etc, they are now getting more involved in merchandising and publishing: things they weren’t too interested in before, help their business models now. We, as an industry, simply have to do the same thing. Get through this transition period and find the business model that ensures success. We’ll get there, eventually.

In the near future, there are going to be more and more books published by authors who have decided that “Hey, I can publish an e-book!”. Some of those are going to be good. Real good. (One of my favorite novels of all time is DEAD IN THE WEST by Joe Lansdale, originally published by Space & Time. While not the true definition of self-published, you simply CANNOT tell me that Gordon Linzner (Editor Emeretus of Space & Time) had the same resources as, say, HarperCollins. It just ain’t true! I wish he did!) And some of those self-published books are just gonna stink. Really bad. Like an Oldsmobile after Mischief Night.

It’s really an exciting time, if you think about it. You are going to see more and more already established authors turn to the new medium and use it to their advantage. At the same time, you’re going to see new and unpublished authors start to dip their toe in the publishing ocean the same way. Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails and How To Destroy Angels) has a great model for using digital content to further interest in his work.

His new project, How to Destroy Angels, released an EP in July for free. 6 songs for you to listen to and get to know the new sound. If you dig it, he’s expecting you’ll pony up the cash for the LP when it comes out in 2011. In his words in this video, “I gave this EP of the new band away because it wasn’t a huge work … It was kind of an introduction. A sampler.”

An up-and-coming author can apply this kind of logic to publishing, as well. An unpublished author could effectively publish older (but still good—we still have to have some editorial credit—you can’t publish crap and expect it to sell. Okay, maybe you can) works and start to generate interest and create a brand name for themselves by publishing solid, mid-list works. If they do this through a service like smashwords, then they are able to do it profitably, as well.

You are about to see an explosion of artistry, my friends. We are on the edge of a tidal wave of output the likes of which has never before been seen. It will soon be easier to get books than ever before -- buying them in a blink of a digital eye mere hours after the author/editor has proofed their work.

Imagine how cool that could be.

Ouch.

2010-08-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

My wisdom tooth (left and wildly crooked) decided to move in on my 12 yr molar's territory. I'm not sure how I feel about a turf war going on in my gums.

The Takeover - Coming in September

2010-08-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

They were going to give him everything. A dream job. A house. Lots of money. Chance Fordham was finally moving up in the world. But soon weird things start happening at The Company.

Employees are disappearing.

Chance's neighbors aren't what they seem.

And worst of all, his marriage is crumbling apart.

The Company he works for is evil.

He just didn't know how evil.

Coming in September from Screaming Aphony Press, THE TAKEOVER will be released in ebook form for all electronic e-Reader devices: iPad, epub, .mobi, .lit.

What the hell is IN there!?!?

2009-07-26T17:40:00.001-07:00

Caution! Zombies! Ahead!!!

2009-01-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

Someone in Austin, Texas is my hero.

Not only is someone who busted open a Caution Sign panel considered a computer genius, that same someone figured out a way to befuddle a Texas traffic controller for more than two hours.

Awesome.

Nine Inch Nails - House of Blues - Atlantic City, NJ - 11/6/2008

2008-11-08T16:48:00.001-08:00

Fourth Row, Center ... on the aisle. Trent Reznor was right in front of me.

Best. Concert.

Ever.

I can miss every other concert in the world and die a VERY happy man.

Setlist:

Pinion
Love Is Not Enough
Terrible Lie
1,000,000
Letting You
March of the Pigs
Piggy
The Frail
The Wretched
The Collector
Survivalism
Reptile ( with peter murphy)
Closer
Discipline
The Beginning of The End
Ghosts 31
Wish
Head Down
Gave Up
The Line Begins To Blur
Only
God Given
Down In It
Hurt
Starfuckers Inc.
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Two Words: Peter-fucking-Murphy.

That is all.

-Jack

Nine Inch Nails!!!

2008-11-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

2008-11-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Drew is happy, happy, happy!