The Kickstarter For My Upcoming Novel Is Now Live

Hey there! Do you like novels about murder, grave robberies, and ghosts? Do you like historical fiction? Did you ever play the Oregon Trail computer game while you were growing up?

Then do I have the Kickstarter for you!

What is Quitting The Grave?

Eugene, Oregon. October, 1999. After three graves robberies--in each case, the abducted corpse was a John Doe--the police have few leads and little interest in the story. Caya Blumenshine, a reporter for the local newspaper, canvasses Eugene, questioning anarchists, wyccans, and politicians, until her search hits upon a secluded house on the outskirts of the city. Its owner, Alexander Hilyard, a history-writing hermit who hasn't been seen in years, may be involved in the grave robberies, or may have been the most recent victim.

As Caya digs deeper into the mystery, she becomes absorbed in Hilyard’s controversial narrative of Eugene's earliest residents and their cross-country journey from Indiana to Oregon in the summer of 1846. She realizes that the recent crimes may somehow be linked to events from 150 years in the past. And she discovers people may be willing to commit murder to prevent Caya from unearthing their long-buried secrets.

What exactly would I be donating to?

Quitting The Grave is intended to be more than just an e-book. As my first entirely original novel, Quitting The Grave will take full advantage of its digital format. This Kickstarter will help me raise the money to travel the Oregon Trail along the same route as my protagonists in the book and conduct interviews with historical experts on the characters and events of the historical section of the story.

I'm going to travel from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Eugene, Oregon over the course of a month, with stops at Fort Sutter in Sacramento and Fort Vancouver outside of Portland. Once finished, I'll compile the interviews and footage into a series of one- to two-minute documentaries on the history of the Oregon Trail that will be included in the enhanced e-book version of Quitting The Grave.

In support of my Kickstarter campaign, this month is Oregon month at The Chaos Factory. Expect daily posts on Oregon history, the Oregon Trail, pictures of rain, etc! I'll also be posting excerpts of the novel, to whet everyone's appetite. Please help spread the word, and go to Kickstarter to find out more about how you can support the effort and make this enhanced e-book a reality.

And believe me, it's a lot more than 100-words long.

Reminder: Picasso Painted Dinosaurs Now On Sale

Hey there, readers of short fiction! If you like these stories, then you'll love my collection of 100 100 word stories, entitled Picasso Painted Dinosaurs. You can purchase it from Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble and pretty much anywhere else you might want to buy an eBook.

The book sells for the low and extremely reasonable price of $2.00. It features original artwork by Seattle artist Mike Simon. It includes two essays on finding inspiration and writing flash fiction. It will make you a better person. Korean parents give it to their children because it will make them taller.*

Here are the links:

AmazoniTunesBarnes And NobleSony

*This has not been verified by science, but neither has global warming.

Picasso Painted Dinosaurs Now On Sale

Entropy Squared is happy to announce that our first collection of microfiction is now available in ALL major ebookstores. You can purchase it from Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble and pretty much anywhere else you might want to buy an eBook.

The book is called Picasso Painted Dinosaurs, and it sells for the low and extremely reasonable price of $2.00. It features original artwork by Seattle artist Mike Simon. It includes 100 100 word stories, plus two essays on finding inspiration and writing flash fiction. I can promise there's something for everyone. If you don't like it, I will make you a pancake breakfast.*

Here are the links:

AmazoniTunesBarnes And NobleSony

And as an added thank you to all of you for your support, here is a picture of Vicki from Small Wonder:

Thanks for your support.

*Pancake Breakfast is subject to you being in my kitchen. I don't make house calls. Also, this guarantee is not legally binding. Please don't sue me.

E-Book Now On Sale

Book Tango is the first e-book store to offer Picasso Painted Dinosaurs, my collection of 100 100-word stories. It includes two original essays on the art of microfiction, and more than 50% of the content is available exclusively in the e-book. The collection has been sent to all major online stores, including Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble, and should be available with them in the three to four weeks.For now, check out Book Tango, where you can purchase Picasso Painted Dinosaurs for the very reasonable price of $2.00. It is availabe in epub, pdf, and mobi formats. Your purchase of the book helps to fund the continued operation of this website.Thank you, as always, for your support. It is greatly appreciated.

Our Kickstarter Is Now Live!

And now for something that's not so completely different. After a short hiatus to get all the behind the scenes work done, our Kickstarter for Picasso Painted Dinosaurs has finally gone live. What are you waiting for? Go donate now!

So what is Picasso Painted Dinosaurs? It's an e-book collection of Microfiction, 100 100 word stories to be exact. Some stories will be familiar if you are a regular reader here, but the majority are brand new, never before read, exclusive stories that will only be found in this e-book. In addition, the collection includes two essays that I wrote, one on the Art of Microfiction, and another on Finding Daily Inspiration. Most fabulous of all, the collection features original artwork from Mike Simon.

This Kickstarter is something of a test run. We're only asking for $300, enough for us to publish the book across all major e-book platforms, including iBooks, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. In the future, we'll be launching more ambitious projects, including a multimedia version of my long-gestating novel, Quitting The Grave.

Please donate now. Even the minimum contribution of two dollars will make a difference in us reaching our goal. And even if you don't donate, tell your friends about the project. The most important thing for us at this point is to get the word out.

Thanks.

Experiment Over

For the past couple of months, I've been using prompts from Figment.com to write my stories. What I mostly found myself doing is playing with the expectations of the prompt to come up with some sort of surprise or an unusual way of approaching it. This worked rather well, but I think many of my stories only succeeded in conjunction with the prompt. Although some did, many were unable to stand up on their own.

In any case, it was interesting to experiment in this way, but now I'm moving on. Starting next week, all stories will be based upon whatever inspiration happens to strike my fancy that day.

Thanks for paying attention. That is all.

A Prompt A Day

For the rest of the month and on into February (until whenever I get tired of it) we'll be posting a story based on a prompt from the good people over at Figment. They are featuring a prompt a day from a variety of authors in order to help stimulate your writing.

I'll be including the prompt at the bottom, so feel free to send in your own stories based on your prompt, and we'll post the best ones.

Happy Spring Festival!

Why The Absence?

A lot's been going on behind the scenes at 100 Words, more than can possibly fit in a 100 word story. I wanted to update my loyal readers as to why I've been MIA for the past couple months.

First of all, I'm a few weeks away from finishing the final draft of my novel. That's exciting. The next phase will begin soon, when I start actively looking for publishers. Or figure out the feasibility of publishing it myself. Stay tuned for updates.

I've also been compiling stories for a 100 Word Story E-Book. It's going to be at least 50% all new stories, and we'll be selling it through iBooks and Amazon among other places. I'm hoping to have that ready to go by the end of June, but no guarantees at this point.

I'm also working on two submissions for the Machine Of Death 2 project. If you don't know about Machine Of Death, you can read about it here or here. Basically, it's a series of stories based on the premise that someone has invented a machine to 100% accurately predict how a person dies.

In the meantime, here's a new 100 Word Story based on the Machine Of Death concept. And I'll do my best to keep adding new stories on a semi-regular basis.

Thanks,The Management

Vacation

I'm on vacation in Beijing this week, so 100 words is interrupting Mashup month to post some stories that have been languishing in the pipeline. Enjoy!

News: May Is All About Mashups

Welcome to Mashup month. Every 100 word story this month is going to be a mash up of some sort. As always, we will be accepting and posting your submissions. But if you want it to appear this month, it will need to be a mashup.

Enjoy!