ENDOR is intense! My movie review.

It has been a while since I posted a review on my blog, but every now and then something comes along to jar me out of my slumber and get to writing. Today, I would like to talk about ENDOR, the 2016 feature film by AG Productions / SkullDuggery Theater Films. Directed by Aaron Gum and Faustus McGreeves.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4171892/

I first learned about ENDOR from a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. I always appreciate and support the independent arts, and after reading the project profile, felt deep down that this was a project that needed to happen. In the interest of full disclosure, I sponsored the campaign as an Associate Producer but note that my review is unbiased; if it was bad, I would tell you.  However, ENDOR did not disappoint!

I had the pleasure of working two days on set helping with a night scene at the “Poor House” and being featured as a church member during the opening and closing sequences.

ENDOR is Faustus McGreeves modern adaption of the “Witch of Endor” story from the First Book of Samuel (Chapter 28) in the Holy Bible. The biblical account describes how Saul disobeyed God’s explicit instructions and ultimately was destroyed.

In the movie, “Endor” is the Church of Endor, a God-fearing, Bible-thumping church who firmly believes in the fire and brimstone God of judgment of the Old Testament. We are given a glimpse of one of their services during the start of the film, where the congregation is angry over those not in attendance—the heretics who would rather live in sin and hang out at the local bar than live righteously and go to church. During a feverish sermon by the Reverend of Endor (played by Doug Rothgeb), one of the church members – Owen Matthews (played by Darrick Silkman) – abruptly stands and leaves the service.  We later learn that he was possessed by a spirit of vengeance and that God will use him to exact judgment on all sinners in his path.

Once Owen’s possession is established, the movie follows a young couple – Keira (played by Julia Farrel) and Russ (played by Dustin Smith) – who are on a road trip in Nebraska to visit Russ’ family. The story of their young love is well written and acted.  A good portion of screen time is given to allow the viewer to feel for these characters and even though ENDOR eventually becomes a blood-bath slasher flick that does not let the horror genre down, this character development is a welcome addition to payoff for the viewer.

We learn that Keira used to be a believer in God, but due to a series of personal tragedies, has become an atheist and no longer believes. We don’t completely know if Russ believes or does not, but the fact that he doesn’t get killed right away lends to the possibility that he is redeemable.

During a run of bad luck (as is often the case in horror films), the couple find themselves almost out of gas. After stopping by a closed station, they are forced to look for gas at one of the nearby farms.  While Russ is looking around the barn for a gas can, Keira witnesses the farmer getting killed by Owen in the pasture.

Owen sees Keira and the chase is on!

What could be considered a slow start is quickly remedied from this point forward. We are led on a very elaborate cat and mouse chase that lasts from the afternoon and throughout the night.  Nearly everyone in Owen’s path is killed with the exception of a small few, who may be deduced to be believers based on their behavior and dialogue.

While we eventually realize that God’s chosen target of retribution is Keira, Owen seems to toy with her and Russ, all the while killing off all of the sinners he encounters in a most brutal way. He uses a lot of farm implements to create a blood bath that will have critics talking about the special effects work of Wetworks for years to come.

ENDOR is intense! It does not disappoint.  To prevent spoiling some of the more gratifying scenes in the film, I will not disclose how the film ends or the surprises the couple encounter while hitting the local bar seeking refuge, but I will say… do not miss ENDOR if you are a fan of horror!

I give ENDOR two enthusiastic thumbs up!  FIVE STARS all the way!
GARY LEE VINCENT

 

An Open Letter To Music Fans

Many folks who know me now, mainly think of me from the various books I have created.  However, I have been in the arts and entertainment business since 1992, as far back as high school.

Before writing, I was first and foremost a musician, with my latest CD being Somewhere Down The Road – released in 2009. This was a project that cost close to $5,000.00 to produce and has a featured music video that we shot near Boston.  The music video was for The Man Behind The Mask, a song from the album.  BTW, if you haven’t seen it yet, here it is for your enjoyment:

In my lifetime, I have professionally released three full length albums and have written a couple hundred songs. With such a catalogue, why did I stop doing music?

Frankly, I just couldn’t make any money at it. As the years grew and the sales dwindled, I switched my time to writing stories and still work on creative projects mainly as enjoyment than earning a living.

I was at a hardware store the other day when I ran into someone working there that I knew from high school.  The conversation went something like this:

“Hi Gary, I haven’t seen you in a while. Are you still doing music?”

“Well, my last CD was Somewhere Down The Road, it was a few  years back. Have you listened to it?”

“No, but that’s awesome,” she replied. “You need to give me one next time you come up here.”

I really didn’t give the conversation much thought, but can honestly say that I haven’t brought her any free CDs yet either.  When I was doing my taxes the other day, I saw that the total royalties I received from ALL of my music last year was around $30.00… mostly from individual streaming downloads.

These two things have been scratching at my conscience and today, I saw that National Disk wrote the following open letter to musicians which they encourage to share, so I am posting it below to let people realize that if you like an artist – be it musician, author, painter, you name it – please support them by buying their creation(s). Do not expect them to give it to you for free, even if you can get it for free.  These people need to earn a living too and they work very hard to produce these creative works.

So…  here is the open letter for your perusal.

An Open Letter to Music Fans – Enjoy the Music, but Remember the Artist

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Music has changed more in the last 10 years than in any other time in history. More specifically, how you listen to music has changed. A wave of great new listening experiences has flooded the market, starting with CDs in the 90s, iPods in 2001, iTunes in 2004, and mobile phones that stored and played music shortly thereafter. These new formats allowed fans to listen to music everywhere they went, and we all spent a lot of time and money building our music libraries.

Now, we have progressed to streaming music. In the past few years, we’ve seen a surge in streaming services: Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, Google Play, iTunes Radio, Deezer, SoundCloud, Grooveshark, and so on. The list keeps growing.

Streaming Was Made For Fans

For many fans, music is uplifting, and it evokes emotions in ways nothing else can. Just like the smell of cinnamon rolls baking still reminds me of Grandma’s kitchen, certain songs take me back to relive some great memories. I know others feel the same way. Music can also be exciting and fun; many fans eagerly anticipate the next musical discovery that blows them away, whether it’s from a musician they already know or from someone entirely new.

As a fan, streaming music is incredible. You can choose from an unlimited library of music and gain exposure to new artists that you would not have found otherwise. Streaming allows you to play music on almost all of your devices—from mobile phones to smart TVs—with just one account. Streaming music also lets you to listen to a huge variety of music without ever purchasing anything, as long as you don’t mind hearing a few commercials. If commercials bore you, then pay as little as $3.00 per month to listen commercial free.

Surely somebody brilliant came up with this idea. It’s an experience designed entirely for fans, and it’s almost impossible for you to say no. I get it, really.

Sound like everything is perfect in the world of music? For fans, it nearly is.

What The Changes Mean To Artists

Not everyone is benefitting, though. Streaming music, digital downloads, CDs—the music you listen to might be the same, but the delivery method is considerably different. That difference has affected how you listen and what you buy, which in turn has affected the musicians that create the music you love and their ability to make even a modest living. I can’t say this about all musicians, but the vast majority of independent musicians—I’m not talking about superstar performers or the kids still in high school, but about professional, independent musicians (like me) who rely on their creative work to make a living and support a family—struggle with this new model of compensation in the music industry.

iTunes began changing the monetary model for musicians in 2004. At that point, fans learned that you could purchase any song you wanted for $0.99. No need to pay $12 for an album. Yes, you’ve downloaded a lot of singles since then, and some albums, too. But because you no longer had to purchase the album for $12 to get the hit single, the value for an artists’ most popular work dropped more than 90%. The typical payment to an artist for a single download from iTunes is about $0.65. Since singles are in such apparent demand, if they’re going to be sold, they should sell at a premium. This would help musicians cover the production costs and still make a living. Sadly, that is not the case.

But things don’t stop there.

Streaming music has been around for a long time, but it was not really mainstream until four or five years ago. Now, it is everywhere, and it seems to be impacting download sales. In 2013, iTunes had its first ever decline in digital download sales of music, likely due to competition from streaming music. That trend will continue. What’s worse is that artists generally make much less from streamed music than they do downloaded singles.

Music is just as creative and demanding of talent as other forms of art, but admirers of sculptures or paintings don’t expect to take their favorite piece home with them without paying for it. That would be crazy. Yet musicians, who put just as much effort into their work, are often expected to give their creations away for free (or practically-free).

I know that you, as a fan, love streaming music. But for me, and for my fellow musicians, the picture is not as promising.

Here’s How You Can Help

If you think you’re powerless to change things, think again.

An artist who had 100,000 streams of his music in a year might make $300 to $400. I don’t know anyone who can live on just $400 for a year, which means that artist would have to find alternate forms of income, maybe giving up on music altogether. But… what would have happened if 50,000 of those people had downloaded a single, or 15,000 had downloaded an album from that same artist? His income would have been $35,000 to $65,000. Wow, what a difference! The income would have been even more if the artist sold CDs, but the price to fans would remain the same.

None of this would matter except that fans streaming music tend to download or purchase less of the music that they stream. Remember what I told you about iTunes sales in 2013? If you don’t buy my music online or at shows, the income I need to make a living is being cut to almost nothing. Streaming music does not pay the bills.

I can’t expect you to give up streaming music. The experience is too good. But you can help your favorite musicians by seeking them out online and purchasing their music. Buy their album. It may sound a little crazy to pay for something that you can get for free, but it’s not. You could also choose to purchase their merchandise online. Better yet, check out their event schedule, attend a show, and purchase their products in person.

If you truly enjoy music and want to keep those memories coming, you need to go above and beyond the norm of streaming. Support your favorite artist. Support music. Support me.

How to tap your unlimited potential

I am feeling philosophical today and thought I’d share with you my thoughts on how to tap into your unlimited potential to live a more fulfilling life.

These are just my personal beliefs, thus you can take them for what they are worth.

In life, you will discover that people basically fall into two types of categories: those that believe the world is abudent with unlimited opportunity and those that believe the world is finite and there is not enough resources to go around.

For those that believe in the abudence mentality, happiness, wealth, love – take your pick – is infinite and one can earn as much of these things as their heart desires WITHOUT causing others to lack in what they need.

For those that believe in the scarcity mentality, they feel that everything is limited – they can only earn a certain amount of money, only receive a certain amount of love, only get ahead – and that is at the expense of others.

For those in the latter life model, I believe this is a very sad opinion to have. Joy achieved here is often tempered with a guilt that somebody had to have less so that you could have more.  I believe that the majority of the worlds depression and anger is a direct result of a mass ‘buy in’ of a scarcity mentality.  Some of the unhappiest people I have ever known think only of themselves and are inwardly-focused in their own limited believe of the world, what they can become, or what it can offer them.

Let’s look at the other model for a moment, shall we?

What if there was more money in the world then there were people to spend it? Actually, there is.

Don’t belive me? Think about the thousands of years that people have lived on Earth.  Generations of people have accumilated LIFETIMES of wealth.  The sum total of all wealth of all generations in the world is still out there even when people pass on.  This wealth continues to grow in old and new ways.

It is possible for you to have more without causing someone else to have less and live in the freedom that you should be happy living a blessed life.

So, how to you have more in life?  Or in other words, what is the secret of life?

Ok, so you want to know the secret of life?  Here it is:

In order to get more, you have to give more.  You must become the person you want to be by helping others become who they were destined to be.

Do you want more love? Love others.

Do you want to feel uplifted and happier? Encourage others.

Do you want to eliminate depression? Be the light for someone else.

Do you want to be a bestseller? Help another writer become a bestseller.

You will find that the more of a blessing you are to someone else, the more you will realize your life will growing into what you truly need.

Wealth is not measured only in money, althugh it is perfectly okay to have a lot. True wealth is measured in the happiness you get through realizing your potential, tapping into your light. Each time you help another find their light, your light will shine brighter and your wealth will increase.

We live in a world of unlimited wealth. Help others get what they need and watch your wealth explode exponentially.

Becoming a polymath (or reaching one’s potential through a broad spectrum of knowledge)

Several years ago, I co-authored a self-help book called Agelations. Today, I would like to revisit one of the key lessons explored in the book – the art of becoming a polymath.

So, what is a polymath?, you might ask. This is actually taken from the Greek word “polymathes” meaning, having learned much. It refers to a person that is knowledgeable in many different subjects.

Think about this blog, for instance, I write about a wide variety of topics from things on my mind, to happenings in my world, to book reviews of things I have read on numerous topics, just as an example. Thus it can be said that it is my belief that you need to be a polymath and learn as much as you can on many different subjects.

Why? The more knowledge that you have the more effective you can be, whether it be in life or the products you create.  Knowledge is the beginning of wisdom and the more open you can be to learning in all forms, the more fulfilling of a life you can have.

So, go out and read a book, take a trip, explore your world, make a new friend (maybe someone from a different culture who is different than you), live a little, love a lot, and become a polymath!

The pros and cons of FOCUS

There is an axiom that goes something like, “What you focus on expands,” and in today’s blog, I wanted to share with your some examples from my life where focus was applied.  The converse is also true – what you DON’T focus on declines.

So, this post may be somewhat of a zen-isque retrospective, but if you hang in there, you can hopefully get some  useful insights on when and where to use focus.

Living the “Vi Life”
My experiment in Network Marketing

It was in December two years ago that my friend Paige introduced me to a new network marketing company specializing in weight loss milk shakes and related products. The company was called ViSalus on on January 1, 2012, I signed up as an Independent Distributor under their Executive package for $499.

My wife, Carla, actually did not want me doing anything else because it moved my focus.  Admittedly, I have issues with adult attention deficit disorder, so she was keenly aware that another ‘distraction’ might not be best for my psychological well being.

Gary Vincent with ViSalus Co-founder Nick Sarnicola

Despite her advice for my mental health, I proceeded to become said distributor and gave 100% of my FOCUS to growing the business at my website: http://www.ViFitChallenge.com.  I became a poster-boy for weight loss and encouraged others to join me on the challenge.

The result of this focused effort was astounding.  Within four months, I became a Regional Director and qualified for a company-paid-for BMW. I also enjoyed frequent travel to lovely destinations such as Charlotte, North Carolina and Miami, Florida to learn and network.

It was during this time that I earned several thousands of dollars and made a great number of friends along the way.  In fact, it was one of the most lucrative business experiments I ever tried.  That was until…

VIP – The rise of the Storage Empire!

Agelations: Unlocking the Secret Strategies of the Rich to Help You Succeed in Business & In Life by Gary Lee Vincent & George Cunningham

Some of you reading this know my work in Real Estate Investing from my Agelations book and home study courses that I coauthored a few  years ago. Since 2004, I have been actively involved in real estate with my FOCUS varing across different properties and endeavors.

One of my more successful ventures was a property my wife and I developed in Fairmont, West Virginia, called “VIP Storage.”  This was a small self storage facility built in the community of Boothsville and featured seventy-five lockers.

This original facility was built in two phases between 2009 and 2010; and quickly filled up.  For several years, we simply managed a nearly full facility and contemplated how to create a second property near the first one.

In the Summer of 2012 (near the peak of my ViSalus success), we found a location to construct our VIP II facility and began a four month acquisition and planning phase.  In October, the deal to purchase the property was finally approved by the bank and from October to April 2014, we spent constructing it and dealing with all of the fallout of excavation, contractor management, public relations, and finance.

Ultimately the combined VIP I and II would be a $700,000.00+ endeavor and pursuing it would take 100% of my FOCUS.  The effort nearly killed me and busted my sanity, sending me into depression and driving me AWAY from other successful things, such as ViSalus and writing/authoring.

Proportionally, the more successful VIP II came (from inception to market stabilization), the more I drifted from my marketing work with ViSalus and the less I wrote.

Ultimately, for VIP II to succeed, my ViSalus business had to take the ultimate sacrifice with me not at the helm.  The end result was a gradual decline in sales and an increase in attrition (customer dropoffs), since I was not there to actively sponsor and mentor them.

Finding the balance

Now that the development of VIP II is over, brought managers in to help with the day-to-day operation of this.  I am still involved, of course, but with significantly less FOCUS.

This frees up my time to pursue one of my loves – writing and author development (i.e. publishing) through the Burning Bulb Publishing cooperative.

Although 2012-2013 noticed a steep decline in book sales and new Burning Bulb Products, I am pleased to say that FOCUS towards Burning Bulb has never been better.

Boston Posh a Bizarro-genre novel by Wol-vriey. Cover designed by Gary Lee Vincent

After the completion of VIP II, I helped Burning Bulb with the release of three titles (Vegan Zombie Apocalypse by Wol-vriey, Westward Hoes by various authors, and Boston Posh, also by Wol-vriey.)  I also worked on a fourth installment to my DARKENED Vampire Series – Darkened Souls, am developing a comic book with Rich Bottles Jr. and Stuart Brown, and have help Burning Bulb release a new version of its webpage at http://www.BurningBulbPublishing.com and a new Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/burningbulbpublishing.com .

This, of course, takes a lot of FOCUS, but the one thing I learned over the past two years is to try to balance things and respect that focusing on one may very well mean leaving other wonderful things behind.

Never give up your dreams, but choose your focus wisely.

Until next time, Cheers!

American Hustle – The Movie

Every now and then, you realize what a small world it is and how we are all interconnected on this small planet.

This post is simply to congratulate actress Becki Dennis Buchman for her role in the movie American Hustle, which is released early in Boston today (December 19, 2013) and tomorrow (FRIDAY) in theatres across the country.

Here’s the iMDB synopsis for those unfamiliar with the film:

“A fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most stunning scandals to rock our nation, American Hustle tells the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive British partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting. Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Written by Sony Pictures Entertainment“

You can catch Becki’s part about halfway through the movie.  She is pushing a kid in a stroller while talking to Amy Adams.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to point this out, is that I originally met Becki during her acting role in my music video The Man Behind The Mask which was also shot in the Boston area!  (See, small world)

Here’s that video, by-the-way, in case you missed it back in 2010:

Great job, Becki, for landing a role in a major Hollywood production!

---

The Man Behind The Mask appears on the album Somewhere Down The Road  by Gary Lee Vincent.   Available on iTunes and amazon.com.

Book trailer service for authors

I am contemplating the idea of offering a service by Burning Bulb Publishing to produce book trailers for aspiring authors.

These trailers would be basic – containing background music, key story photography, and words representing what the book is about – but not over produced with elaborate effects.  The end result would be a service that an author could buy at a very reasonable price (say around $39.00 for a one minute video).

This past weekend, I experimented with this ‘basic’ approach and created one for my upcoming novel, Darkened Souls.

The trailer is below for your inspection:

I am open to feedback on this.  Let me know if you like the idea and if the video is good enough for a basic book trailer by voting below. You can also email me privately if you want me to do one for you.

Achieving Results

A great many things can happen from the beginning of a week through the end of one.  Coming off my last post, I thought it would be a good idea to write a “Thanksgiving” blog of sorts and let the folks out there know what all I have cooked up over the past five days.

For those who have been following my news, we had a rough patch over in Warren/Niles, but worked through it.  Although it was a holiday week for most people, I buckled down and decided to make it a productive one.

So, without further delay, here’s what happened this week:

A new Burning Bulb website –

I am very pleased to announce that we have a BRAND NEW Burning Bulb Publishing website, now hosted on WordPress!  That’s right!  When a person visits www.BurningBulbPublishing.com, they will now be looking at our new and improved publishing house page.  Hosting our cooperative of authors via a WordPress blog now lets us update more frequently and showcase our books in a more dynamic way.  I hope you like it and if you do, please let others know.  Look for a Facebook page to come soon.  🙂

A new book from Wol-vriey –

Over the past several weeks, Rich Bottles Jr. and I have been hard at work preparing for the release of a new Bizarro thriller from the ever-so-talented Wol-vriey!

In fact, we are just DAYS AWAY from the release of Wol-vriey’s newest book – BOSTON POSH – and believe me, folks, this one tops it all!  It was certainly one of my more favorite reads this year and we hope to have it available on amazon in early December.  You can read all about it here.

A new history of the Incan Empire textbook from Luis Morató Peña –

My father-in-law presented me with an idea for a South American history textbook back in February this year (2013).  This was a very challenging project, as it was to be a full color text book written entirely in Spanish for a targeted audience of college-level students.  It took SEVERAL months of work, but our final “FINAL” was released to amazon.com this week.  For those of you who are interested – and can understand Spanish – be sure to check out:  Los Inkas Hijos del Dios Sol en la Penumbra: Historia del Tawantinsuyu (Spanish Edition) by Luis Morató Peña

Completion of Darkened Hills IV – Darkened Souls

What’s that? You heard me right!  Last but not least, I am very, VERY excited to announce that I have just completed my first round DRAFT of Darkened Hills IV – Darkened Souls!

It still needs to go through some editing, of course, but I think fans of the series will really enjoy the direction this installment takes.

I don’t want to give too much away right now other than to tell you to watch this page or the series website – www.DarkenedHills.com – for a press release in the near future.

Closing thoughts…

In closing, I just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you who read our books and follow our follies. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it is a labor of love.  I also want to say that I am thankful for the people who I work with – the authors and editors (you know who you are) – who work very hard with little (if any) pay.  I recognize your efforts and appreciate your belief in Burning Bulb and in sticking it out with me as we launch some amazing stuff.

So, no real ‘down time’ for me during this particular holiday, but A LOT to show for it.   Until next time… CHEERS!

Working through discouragement

I am not a motivational speaker by trade, nor do I post a bunch of frivolous false impressions of how rosy life is.  For those who know me, I typically speak my mind.

I also do not like to dwell in the negative, which is why there are very few posts that I make that complain or put on the pretense of being a ‘victim of circumstance’.   I usually don’t think it’s worth the time to complain when I can be doing something more productive.

However, after the weekend I just went through, this might be a good time to pause and let my readers and friends know about some of the struggles an author goes though, as this is definitely newsworthy, educational, and in a way, entertaining.

I just came back from the Eerie Frequency Expo in Niles, OH.  Author and touring partner Rich Bottles Jr. accompanied me on the trip. Rich and I are both from West Virginia and the trip to Warren/Niles is over two hundred miles each way.

The Niles gig was the sixth and final stop on our Fall 2013 Tour.  There were actually supposed to be seven stops, but the West Virginia Book Festival (our crown jewel event) was cancelled this year (and may be cancelled permanently) by the promoter – the Kanawha Public Library due to funding.

Now of the six events, another was cancelled (a Uniontown show), and the three prior events – all conventions – had practically zero attendance.  Mind you, this was not just for our books, but zero attendance from the population in general.

I cannot begin to describe to you how discouraging it is to put your heart and soul into a product/book/etc. travel thousands of miles (over the course of a tour) and not have anyone show up. In all honesty, it screws with your head.

Although these are downers, I believe the icing on the cake was this past event.  There were police raids at the event hotel on both nights of our stay, and last night ended with someone going through the balcony window in the room next to where I was staying.  (See broken glass in room on upper right of picture.)

During the ordeal, I quite expected to see some damage to my truck, as there was fighting and carrying on by all sorts of crazies.  This was, of course, at the hotel and not at the actual event venue.

So, now for the lesson…

I am not going to say that 2013 was a fantastic  year for book sales or conventions – no it blew, in fact.  It was disappointing for me, my touring friends, and our published authors at Burning Bulb Publishing.  We are a small press, but one who believes in each other and in putting out the very best, most interesting books we can, for the best price we can.  Ones that are edited nicely, typeset well, and have killer covers.  We do that well.

As for the conventions (cons)… that’s a different story.  I believe that the cons we have attended all had a couple things in common (and promoters, pay attention):

1. They were marketed well to the VENDORS and not to the general public
2. They CHARGED the general public (in addition to the vendors) for admission to the venue
3. They were in locations that people WHO READ were not

For this, I take 100% responsibility for making poor choices in the cons I picked.  I chose locations within a three-hour drive versus biting the bullet and going to where the cons are properly marketed and draw in huge crowds.

It would be very easy to throw in the towel, especially after this last run, where we had lower-then-average sales at the past four of six con-stops, however… despite the discouragement and the hardship, Burning Bulb will:

• Release Boston Posh by Wol-vriey in December 2013
• Release Darkened Hills 4 (official title Darkened Souls) by your’s truly in December 2013
• Release St. Albans Fire (a new erotic thriller) by your’s truly in Spring 2014
• Release The Tailsman comic by your’s truly, Rich Bottles Jr., and Stuart Brown in Summer 2014
• Only attend cons that have a track record of decent attendance and customer/fan interaction

This is my commitment to Burning Bulb’s future and to our writers and fans.  You deserve the best and we will deliver.

Never let bad venues or low turnout destroy your dreams.  Adjust and come back to the ring swinging!

Cheers!

Work underway on “The Tailsman” comic book!

Hello Western & Bizarro-lit fans,

I am pleased to announce that my short story, The Tailsman, will be adapted into a comic book by Burning Bulb Publishing!

Episode #1: The Sioux City Shithouse Monster will feature the awesome artwork of Stuart Brown with comic adaption by famed horror/bizarro author Rich Bottles Jr!  This is one comic you will want to pick up, trust me.

The original story is featured in the Burning Bulb Publishing anthology Westward Hoes.