The Curious Case of Kevin Klaag

A few years ago, my friend Stoney Setzer and I started a project called Tremble Town.

Those who know me say, “What’s new? Every project of yours, you started years ago!” Okay, that’s true, but just hold your horses a moment. (grin)

Tremble Town is a place where strange happens. The stories in this universe are supernatural thrillers or maybe tales of spiritual suspense. Some feel the genre is an oxymoron, but it’s basically “Christian horror” – storytelling on the darker side but with a moral underpinning.

Anyway, we're developing the universe of Tremble Town, which includes the goings on in the small communities of Ichabod, NC, and Sardis County, TN. Once we write all of the tales (or a substantial number), we plan to publish them either in collections or as interconnected standalones.

Consider these stories episodes that can be enjoyed individually in any order but also slowly reveal the mystery behind the strange events that occur throughout the series. We just need to get crackin’ and add to the oeuvre.

Welp, a few years ago, I wrote a short horror/thriller called The Curious Case of Kevin Klaag. I didn't know it at the time, but it really fits the Tremble Town world. So today, I updated the story which was only about 3800 words. I adjusted some things and added a new, extended ending (about 2300 words) to bring it to just over 6,000 words.

I'm really proud of it. And I want you to read it!

But here’s the deal. We’re not going to release these stories for a while. So I’ve come up with a work around. I’ve redone my PatreonPage and now that I’m a full time writer, I’ll be adding new content every week there – exclusive, first access to patrons. Only one tier - $5 a month. You can quit any time.

Here’s what you’ll get for about the same cost as a foofoo coffee from your favorite barista. Each month you’ll get:

• ·         Exclusive early access to a never-before-published short story.
• ·         An e-book or e-novella from my backlist that is also for sale online.
• ·         Weekly chapters to enjoy from my current Work-in-Progress.
• ·         Interaction via the comments about all things speculative fiction.

Unadulterated entertainment… Wait, that kinda sounds wrong. But you get the idea. I’ll keep you stocked with some interesting reads, and you come away amused and happy. What a bargain!

If you want to read The Curious Case of Kevin Klaag right now, then head on over to my Patreon Pageand subscribe. It’s easy peasy. If you want to read the first story in our Tremble Town series, you can purchase Accidents on Amazon. I look forward to hearing from you and finding out what you think!

~*~

Do you like original fiction with a speculative bent? Sci-fi, fantasy, magical realism, horror and supernatural suspense. Do you like supporting indie writers? You've come to the right place! 

I'd like you to invite you to become a monthly patron at my Patreon Page. As a supporter you'll receive new stories every month and a weekly chapter in my current WIP. Give it a try! Details on Patreon.

~~~~~

Hey, I'm Lyndon Perry, a speculative fiction writer living in Puerto Rico. I'm a former pastor and current husband, father, coffee drinker, and cat-wrangler. You can find me almost anywhere online, so check out my various Linktree Locations and say hello!

Trunk Novels & Story Starts

I did a bad bad thing. And I should be really really sorry. But I'm not.

Yep, I started writing a new book. I won't finish it right now, but I did some plotting, outlining, character sheets, historical research, etc. It's already in my WIP folder in Dropbox. 

Where it will stay until I get a round tuit. I have lots of round tuits. 

Some call them trunk novels - which are works that either have been abandoned (and laid to rest in a trunk) or simply put on the back burner until some future date when inspiration hits. 

In my WIP/trunk folder are story starts, quarter-finished novellas and novels (can never get to half-way finished!), detailed outlines that hint at stories, and just random word docs with lists of story ideas.

Including...

+ a western set in 1870s Kansas featuring a preacher and his widowed sister. This is the one I started over the weekend. I have him traveling to Liberal, KS, but found out the city was founded in the 1880s. Oops.

+ a mail-order bride romance series - also set in Kansas in the 1890s - featuring two brothers who meet two sisters and a tag-a-long cousin who finds love on the prairie. Thus a three-book series is born!

+ a paranormal romance with werewolves and witches and eternals and immortals. Part 1 is done if anyone wants to read it. You can beta read and give me ideas on what is supposed to happen next! lol

+ an art caper thriller featuring a private eye who doesn't like guns but gets mixed up in the mafia and may have to break his vow about never handling a firearm.

And those are just a sampling of my round tuits. Not even scratching the surface. I also have started...

+ a LitRPG novel

+ a distant star colony sci-fi

+ a ghost op vigilante thriller

+ an Apocalypse Weird novel that I need to finish and rebrand since that franchise no longer exists

+ an oceanic fantasy; a fairy tale fantasy; a middle school fantasy; 

+ and a whole lot more. Sigh.

Welp. One day I'll get to a lot of these, I promise. ;-) But if it were up to you, which story start would you want me to work on this year? Any interesting scenarios appeal to you? Let me know!

Thanks for letting me indulge in my hobby of starting new stories!

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.) 

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!

Short Free Fiction & Writing Update

Happy Friday, y’all!

A real short #FreeFictionFriday offering below after this quick update.

I mostly wanted to share a brief note about my writing projects and the state of our family. If you haven’t heard, we’re planning to move to Puerto Rico later this summer! We are in the beginning of the furious stage of downsizing everything - selling things, giving items away, throwing junk out.

Why the big life change move? We’re semi-retiring in order to travel more, live the beach life, do some AirBnB for some income, and I plan to write full time. And I’ll need to write full time to finish all the projects I’ve started!

Including…

• ·         Finishing a three-part Mister the Magical Cat series of novellas.
• ·         Complete books 2 & 3 of Ma Tutt’s Donut Hut series, a cozy mystery set featuring a bakery and a magical cat. (The two series are tangentially related.)
• ·         Write the 3rd episode of Max McCannor, a middle grade adventure, completing the story arc and publishing the whole thing with my friend T. M. Hunter.
• ·         Finish my fan fiction triology based on Hugh Howey’s Wool - which may make it to the small screen next year. Not my stories, Howey’s on Apple+ I think. If you want to read my fanfic novella, it’s on Amazon and called The Last Prayer.
• ·         Oh, and a weird space western novella Dan Devine and I are writing together, a sequel to a free fiction Friday story I posted afew weeks back. So that needs to be completed! Dang. So many projects to get to.

So what am I working on today? None of the above!

I’m actually trying to finish a story that I’d committed to last year for our Bible story app called Faith Journeys. (BTW, the app is FREE to download from the Apple Store and the Google Play Store.)

My role in this project? I’m the content editor, but I’m also writing a dramatized version of one of the disciple’s lives, Matthew, and telling the story of Jesus from his perspective - with a bit of non-canon dialogue, shall we say!

It’s actually really fun and I’d invite you to download the free app and read the two free stories, including Matthew - Part 1, which is in the Faith Journeys store. I’ll be adding Matthew - Part 2 in the coming weeks.

So that’s about it for my #writingupdate for this week. Hope you enjoy the space western and The Last Prayer (free for KU readers) and my Matthew story - lots of goodies to choose from today. 

Plus, here’s a short freebie: a 97 word micro-fiction called Silver Lining...

            I can’t think of a story that doesn’t invoke the old cliché, I type into my computer.

            It’s just a title, you don’t have to base a story on it, my computer responds.

            But isn’t that the purpose of a writing prompt? I reply. The moderator gave us ‘Silver Lining.’ What else are we supposed to do with it?

            You could write about the Comstock Lode, my computer types back.

            What does that have to do with anything? I ask.

            Just pretend you misread the title, the computer offers. And develop a good story about silver mining.

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.) 

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!

Random Writing Tips from Grade School

I was reading a friend's story the other week and, I can't help it, my eye sees typos. (When it comes to my own writing my eye refuses to see typos! lol).

So I emailed him with some suggested corrections. I don't do this with everyone. But he appreciated the heads up. I think most of us want a clean copy going out into the world, right?

Anyway, one suggested change was the use of a number at the beginning of a sentence. His started out with: 25 years ago... (Or something like that, the point being, this sentence started with a numeral.)

Now my mind went back to grade school to something one of my teachers taught me. (Yes, I remember a lot of things my teachers said back then - teachers make big impressions on kids!) And what I recalled was that if a sentence started with a number, it should be spelled out. 

Twenty-five years ago...

Did you learn this rule? I guess it's a matter of style, but it seems right to me. Threre's another rule of thumb regarding numbers and that is somewhere around 100 (maybe?) you can start using the actual number, but until then it's ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, not 99. This ring any bells?

This got me thinking about what else I learned in grade school. Like how I'm not supposed to use the words stuff and things when I write. It's lazy, my teacher said. But what if I'm actually referring to stuff? Pick another word, she said. So to this day I try to avoid using those words. Weird, eh?

Or, the advice to change up the words one uses to begin sentences with. (BTW, I end sentences with prepositions. It's okay, trust me. We're writing in English, not Latin. Plus, I like to start sentences with the words And or But on occassion. It's a matter of voice, people. Voice!)

What I mean by the above bit of advice is if you look at the first word of each of my paragraphs in all of my blog posts, you won't typically see a beginning word repeated more than once or twice. (Unless for stylistic effect.) My teacher hated it when I started each paragraph with the word The. Now I hate it, too!

(Oh, and there's another one. I have to put a comma before the word too at the end of a sentence. Heh.)

Visually, I have to make the reading experience pleasant. :-) Another way to do this is to use short paragraphs. Especially in fiction. Long paragraphs literally kill the reading experience. Literally. (Okay, not literally.)

During seminary, I would read these theological tomes translated from German and either the author or the translater did not believe in paragraphs. Some went on for 2 or 3 pages (or is it two or three pages? I'm confused now). Anyway, what a joy killer.

The opening paragraph in a novel almost requires something eye-grabbing to hook the reader, and shorter paragraphs can do that. I know it's going to be a slog when the first paragraph of some new book I picked up takes the first half of the page.

All this I picked up in grade school. Or maybe high school. Along with many others, of course. Now there are some rules I've abandoned, like starting a sentence with And or But. (I'm also looking at you, double space after a period. Though I can't let go of that second space between state and zip code.) 

But generally, the style "rules" I learned growing up have stuck with me and shaped the way I write today. What writing advice have you learned over the years that you've incorporated into your own particular writing style? 

Comment or message me, I really enjoy hearing about different approaches to writing.

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.)

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!

Find me on Facebook where I post nerdy memes and share about my writing projects.

Random Writing Update

Haven't done too well on my daily writing goal (which is a measley 666 words per day for a 20k month). 

Other than this blog, I just haven't written much else. And most of these entries (word count below) fall far short of my goal.

I need to get crackin'! I've got my magical cat series to get to, and finish my biblical fiction story about Matthew, and then wrap up the Max McCannor series I'm writing with a friend, and also write the second half of the second Ma Tutt book (which I started in 2014!).

And, and, and...

Whew! They say confession is good for the soul, but that kinda hurt!

Anyway, here's the tally so far...

Jan - Words 

25 - 375 

24 - 510 

23 - 290 

22 - 150 

21 - 200 

20 - 50 

19 - 280 

18 - 295 

17 - 280 

16 - 525 

15 - 200 

14 - 200 

13 - 90 

12 - 0 

11 - 0 

10 - 175 

09 - 180 

08 - 160 

07 - 0 

06 - 200 

05 - 0 

04 - 290 

03 - 300 

02 - 300 

01 - 760

Totals out to 5,810 words if I'm not mistaken. And with 5 days left in the month to hit an additional 15k? That's 3,000 a day. Doable if I cleared the decks, but ain't happening with my current schedule.

Hey, wait a minute. With this blog post I'm already over 150 more words... Hmm!

What are your writing goals this month...and are you meeting them? Let me know!

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.)

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!

Find me on Facebook where I post nerdy memes and share about my writing projects.

Blog Under Construction

Image by Jose R. Cabello from Pixabay.

I'm going to give my blog a facelift starting this weekend. Lots of little things. Will likely keep the basic theme but get rid of a side column. 

So, main blog area plus a side column of goodies for those who visit on their laptops/desktops. Will take a few days, I'm sure, until I'm happy with the remodeled layout.

One reason for the upcoming change is that none of the side column stuff shows up on a mobile device. Just a list of blog posts. Then you have to touch a dropdown tab to see what pages are available for viewing.

That's fine. But since lots of people browse the internet via their phones, I need to make sure all my projects are just a few taps away.

On my various pages, I'll list my stories, collections, series, upcoming projects, etc. I'll keep my "about" page of course and how you can contact me. And probably add a page for direct purchase (paperbacks, especially, but also e-books via Venmo or PayPal.)

When you visit a blog - either by mobile device, tablet, or laptop/desktop - what do you look for? What features are important for you to access? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks!

~*~

"Tip a buck, get a book."

(via PayPal.Me - an e-book from Tule Fog Press.)

This blog is reader supported. Thank you for your support!

Find me on Facebook where I post nerdy memes and share about my writing projects.

Another Post from the Road

Downloaded Blogger for my phone. Testing it out right now! We're on the road today (tomorrow as I write this) so scheduled this post to go live at 6 am CST. Purpose? To maintain my daily blogging streak. :-)

I know already that I won't blog from my phone very often. I'm a right thumb typer and texting and such is painfully slow. Anyway, that's today's (tomorrow's?) post.

In the meantime, here's Charlie. Catch you Thursday!