A Blurb and the Blur

Hello, Fire Enthusiasts. It's me. What? It's me, Jimmy! What do you mean you don't remember? You haven't heard from me? *sigh* Well, I guess that's my fault, isn't it? Allow me to explain.


First, allow me to thank many of you who have wished us well with our two graduates this graduation season. Our oldest graduates high school next Thursday. Our other son just graduated from Junior High last week. Yesterday (I'm writing this post Sunday morning), we celebrated by throwing a party for both of them. With all of that going on, I have had to ignore my trusty laptop. I think there were two days where I didn't even turn it on. I peeked in on my trusty iPhone, but that was all. In fact, my laptop is barely speaking to me at this point. *laughs* So that's where I've been hiding.

On the publishing front, we're still mired in the editing process for Dance on Fire: Flash Point. No, that doesn't mean the book is bad or anything negative like that. Instead, it's more reflective of life getting in the way on both sides of the ocean (my publisher is in England, don'tcha' know?). In any event, we should have news on that front very soon as well as some kind of schedule of events with regard to the cover release, release date and promotion.


On top of that, you haven't heard anything from me with regard to my debut, Dance on Fire, because I have asked for some changes since the discovery of some issues that I told you about back in March. Once those are completed, I will resume promoting it as much as isn't nauseating for everyone around me. Sadly, we all can name a few of the those author friends who only seem to promote themselves and to do so incessantly. Am I right? I'm not trying to be mean. Lord knows, most of us are learning as we go, making twice as many mistakes for every brilliant idea; me most of all.


While I have been awaiting my edits for Flash Point, I started writing again. I believe I mentioned something about this recently. I backed away from the vampires with this one. I have always wanted to write a haunted house story, but refused to begin one until I thought I had an idea which presented itself as being fresh and one that would not fall flat in the end, as many films and books have done, in my opinion. This is not to say that my idea will be the next big thing (I'm hoping it is, I'm just not saying it. *laughs*). I'm really only saying that until I was excited about the project, I wasn't going to start writing it.


With that in mind, this past new year, I began sitting down and writing again. Please remember, I had only been doing promoting and networking, and hadn't written anything new since Flash Point, which was written over two years ago. I started out only writing on weekends, but recently abandoned my reading schedule and began writing nearly every day. In only about 4.5 months I knocked out the first draft of a 70k word novel that is currently entitled Ghosts.


The day after I finished, I spent a few minutes penning a blurb for it. I will leave you with it. The ink is still fresh and I have yet to whip out the fine toothed comb, but here it is:

            Paul Herrera hasn’t worked, left town or done much of anything since the untimely death of his wife two years before. He suddenly finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt that he never knew. The woman who showed it to him and handed him the keys is the spitting image of his dead wife, taken from him two years before in a senseless car accident which also took from him his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a past that he cannot let go, there are new ghosts as dead Aunt Flora is not content with eternal sleep, but continues her unholy quest to be rejoined with her dead husband on this side of the grave.

Flora isn’t the only ghost that Paul must deal with, alone for the week in the expansive two-storey house that he will soon discover holds many secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts, both the ethereal and those that only haunt his memories, as he struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world: his sanity.

           Ghosts is the 72,000 word novel that mixes Paranormal, Horror and Romance to come up with a story that should appeal to everyone who likes their dark genres paired with reality that we can all relate to such as the feelings of terrible heart-wrenching loss and our search for a love that might outlive us.


We'll talk soon.