Mid Ohio Comic con 2011

Here is my booth at comic con this weekend. Fun time, met lots of great people, and sold a few books.

Today is a special day

As a teenager, I worked with a girl who was three years older than me and way too pretty to be in my league. I was rather shy and focused more on getting my work done and keeping to myself than talking with someone who I had no chance of realistically pursuing. In fact, I didn't talk to her at all. That is, other than her daily harassing of me about not wearing a hairnet when my hair was almost as long as hers, if you could call that talking.

Hey, she was a cook and I was just a dishes guy anyway.

Fast forward to a couple of years later. I had graduated from high school, cut my hair, and started working as the facility's night watchman. In the evenings, as I was coming into work, she was leaving and we began talking a bit more often. Over a few months, we became pretty good friend and shared our problems with each other like good friends often do. Well, actually, she usually shared and I usually listened. ;)

I no longer looked at her as just some pretty girl who I was too shy to approach, but started seeing her more and more as a friend. She began coming over to the building where I worked and talked with me for a couple of hours as I did my night-watch duties.

As we talked, I never once considered someone so pretty could ever be remotely interested in me in any way other than the friendship we already had. No, really, that was how lacking in confidence I was. I'd had girlfriends in the past, but something about this girl tied me in knots.

One evening before she left, while I was on the telephone, she did it. She strutted up to me, pressed her lips against mine for a moment, and then left with a sly grin that said, "What do you think about that?"

I was floored. I truly had no idea that she saw me in any way other than a friend. I'm sure the signs were there, but as we have already established, I was far from Casanova. In hindsight, I'm actually glad to have been so clueless, because I probably would have tried too hard in my "wooing" and blown my chances before anything ever materialized.

You see, the reason I tell you this story is because five years later, I married that girl. And, today, I celebrate my 15th wedding anniversary with the most beautiful woman I have ever known.

Angie Brown, I love you now as much as ever. Happy anniversary and thank you for being my soulmate.

...that is, until Beetlejuice stole her away from me. Curse you, Beetlejuice.

Cover Unveiling

A few weeks ago on this blog I asked if you have ever wanted to own a werewolf. Today, I am excited to announce why I asked that question. A couple of years ago I wondered, if werewolves were real and could be tamed, would people own them. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that people actually would. After all, Mike Tyson owned a tiger. If I could somehow convince the wealthy public that a werewolf was just a seven-foot tall, perfectly docile, cousin to the wolf, I had no doubt that people would consider the prospect.

With that idea, I started writing "Tamed" in between working on my Epertase trilogy. My goal with "Tamed" was to take what is cool about werewolves and give the reader a unique spin on the creatures. I hoped to do for the werewolf genre what True Blood did for vampires in telling a story about familiar creatures in a way that isn't so familiar. I think I have accomplished that goal.

In May of this year, I finished "Tamed" and, shortly thereafter, submitted it to Rhemalda. They offered a contract and we started working on getting my werewolf-novel-with-a-twist ready for a winter release.

And now I get to unveil the cover and the working back synopsis for the first time. I am so excited.

I can't wait for you to read my story.

Feedback would be phenomenal.




Werewolves are real.

And they make loyal pets.

Christine doesn't care that owning one of the docile creatures is the newest fad, or that the WereHouse insists their product is 100% safe, she hates them just the same. But her job as a firefighter/paramedic and the increasing popularity of werepets make encounters unavoidable.

While on a routine EMS call, she and her partner stumble onto the scene of a rabid werepet massacre of its owners. The wounded creature attacks Christine, infecting her with his blood before she narrowly escapes with her life.

Over the coming weeks, something changes within her. During emergency calls to werepet-heavy neighborhoods, the male only creatures become aggressive when she is near and some of them break their tames.

The WereHouse takes notice.

Christine's very existence threatens to expose long hidden secrets about the company. If the hunters sent by the WereHouse find her, they will kill her. But if she escapes, she will bring down the entire werepet industry and change the world in the process.

Barnes and Noble PA announcement. Sweet

Here is the announcement that Barnes and Noble made at the start of my signing. That's cover artist Steve Murphy in the video. Barnes and Noble said 8 books sold is what they considered successful. I sold 14. Woo-hoo.

Next stop, Mid Ohio Comic Con on Oct. 22-23.