Notes for Chapter Seventeen

I actually finished writing the whole of Bone Shop last week in one marathon 8,000 word session. (Okay, I tell a lie, it was two half-marathon 4,000 word sessions, in a day broken up by going out to a park with my kid, watching TV, and otherwise doing things other than typing.) The book is about 63,000 words total, so I left "novella" behind some time ago. Sorry to make you wait for the last chapter, but let's just call it "suspense."

So, hey: my 12th finished novel! Though only my sixth published one. The rest are either trunk books (my first four, bless their deformed little hearts) or else currently on submission to publishers.

I'm pondering the logistics of doing a print version of Bone Shop, as many people have said they'd like to have it on the shelf. I can do the interior layout and publish it via Lulu.com or something, but I'm a bit stumped when it comes to cover art. I can't afford to pay an artist like the amazing Dan Dos Santos (who did the Bantam covers), which is a shame. Really, I can't afford to pay anybody. So it may be a simple typographic cover, or something with weird public domain art... I dunno. I'll think about it. I'll try to have it ready by Christmas.

If anybody happens to have a white cloak and wants to send me an arty photograph of themselves lurking in a grungy doorway, face in shadow, possibly holding a knife, it would be appreciated...

Looks like I'm doing a reading at Dog Eared Books at 8 pm on Saturday the 24th, with a guy named Greg Gerke. Greg's a fan of my work, and just wrote to ask me if I'd like to read with him. Why not? Check out some of his cool short weird stories here.

I'm reading at the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose on Friday the 30th at 1:30 pm, too. So if you're in central/Northern California, that's two chances to see me read... some stuff not even remotely Marla-related, probably.

Next week: everything winds up. And we find out where Daniel appeared previously in the series. So stay tuned. The end is nigh.

Back to Chapter 17