Operation Backlog Completion 2026

The Challenger Chronicles is Out Now!

 My Stories, Writing  1 Response »  Tagged with: , ,
Sep 222023
 

While TGS is still going (with the exciting news yesterday that the Apollo Justice Trilogy will be out on January 25, because of course it is), it’s time to take a break from our video game discussions for some writing news instead!

A new pulp fiction collection starring the classic character Professor Challenger is now available from Airship 27. The Challenger Chronicles Volume One contains four short stories that send the professor and his allies on all-new adventures.

In mine, “The Unseen Star,” Professor Challenger calls upon Edward Malone and Lord John Roxton to help him face off against a fanatical group of researchers who hope to make contact with a threat from far beyond the stars.

It’s joined here in this collection by stories from Gordon Dymowski, Barbara Doran, and Michael Panush. Each of us has written our own addition to the Professor Challenger adventures.

Professor Challenger is a character originally created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, now in the public domain. Unlike the more famous Sherlock Holmes, Challenger is aggressive and hotheaded, which made him a lot of fun to write about. I had a fantastic time writing “The Unseen Star,” and I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

The Challenger Chronicles Volume One is available now in print from Amazon for $16.99, and ebook copies should become available soon.

Celebrating All Things Mysterious 2023 – A Mystery Game Celebration

 Celebrating All Things Mysterious, My Games, My Stories, Video games, Writing  7 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
May 012023
 

Last year, we celebrated May Mystery Game Madness for the first time, and now it’s back!

(Under the name “Celebrating All Things Mysterious,” since that title format seems more popular for our romance-themed month, so I wanted to test it here.)

Once again, May will be devoted to mystery games and related works. As with the past few contests, one day a week will be reserved for non-themed news if something especially exciting comes up.

Promotions

While there are no special sales this month to correspond with the celebration, you can find my short murder mystery “The Domino Lady Takes the Case” in the pulp fiction collection Domino Lady Volume 3, as well as my crime story “The Domino Lady Deceived” in Domino Lady Volume 4. Both are anthologies starring the classic pulp fiction heroine known as the Domino Lady.

Work is continuing on Drops of Death, as well, so I look forward to the day when I’ll be able to promote that.

Contest

Are you ready for a contest? All month long, you can earn points just by joining in the conversation!

The available prizes are:

  • Domino Lady Volume 3 (ebook)
  • Domino Lady Volume 4 (ebook)
  • Phoenix Wright Trilogy (gift sent through Steam)
  • The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (gift sent through Steam)
  • The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story (gift sent through Steam)
  • AI: The Somnium Files (gift sent through Steam)
  • $15 sent through PayPal
  • You pick a game for me to review!

If you choose the review option, your chosen game must be something I either own or is easily obtainable, which you can discuss with me beforehand. It must be a single game, not a collection (although the chosen game can be part of a collection). I will start playing it in June.

Contest Rules:

  • No purchase is necessary.
  • Only comments made between May 1, 2023 at 1:00 PM EST and May 31, 2023 at 11:59 PM EST will be counted.
  • Each non-spam, non-anonymous comment on any Celebrating All Things Mysterious blog post earns you 1 point.
  • Retweeting any Celebrating All Things Mysterious tweet from me also earns you 1 point.
  • You must use an email address or website URL (or include another way of contacting you) in your comment so I can contact you if you win.
  • The top 3 point earners will win prizes.
  • The person with the most points will get their first pick of the prizes. The person with the second most points will pick second, and the person with the third most points will pick third.
  • In the event of a tie, tied winners will be contacted at the same time. A tie for third place will allow for more than 3 winners. If tied winners choose the same prize, duplicate prizes will be possible.
  • The winner will be contacted by June 2, 2023.

I love mystery stories, especially murder mysteries, and last year we discovered several great games through the May mystery game celebration. So let’s get ready to discuss mystery games and see what this month-long celebration has in store for us!

2023 Writing Goals and the Cursed Oak Island Novel

 Writing  3 Responses »
Jan 042023
 

All right. Last year’s writing goals… didn’t pan out.

In fact, I’m not sure I accomplished a single thing that was on that list, aside from writing a new novel draft in November for NaNoWriMo.

Part of it is because of the same thing that got in the way of my writing goals the previous year: On An Island of Oaks, my Oak Island horror novel that must share the same curse as the island itself, because no matter how many times I rewrite it, it never seems to get any better.

So even though I thought I would be able to proofread the latest draft and then send it to a beta reader, I realized the current attempt was as soulless as the one before it and started over.

I can’t blame it all on that novel, though. I was also just distracted by other things and devoted less time to my fiction writing than I wanted to. My 2023 writing goals, therefore, are more focused.

By 2024, I will:

  • Send out regular batches of queries for my novels in the querying stage.
  • Rewrite On An Island of Oaks again.
  • Revise any of my other novel drafts.
  • Return to On An Island of Oaks and either revise it until it can be sent to a beta reader, or set it aside for the foreseeable future.
  • Write at least 5 new short stories, any genre.
  • Regularly update side websites and increase traffic to 500+ visits per month.

And as usual, I’ll write a new novel draft for NaNoWriMo in November. It’s funny that the one part that’s a specific challenge is the part I actually got done.

Let’s hope the rest of the list goes better this year. Do you have any writing goals in mind for 2023?

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