SHORT STORY NEWS

Things are moving ahead with my writing. My short story, Buford vs The Skunk Ape, has been acquired by Weird Tales Magazine https://www.weirdtales.com for their upcoming Cryptid issue. More info to follow when they announce a publication date.

My short story, Checked Out, will be appearing in the upcoming anthology, Dread Coast: SoCal Horror Tales from No Bad Books Publishing. It’s release date is 8/22/25. The release party will be at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore on 8/30/24 (time TBA).

I’ve finished the first draft of my latest Fix Larson short story. Now, I’ll let the construction dust settle for a week before I jump into the edit. Meanwhile, my first Fix Larson novel, Toads, Twins, & Tenacity is on submission with my agent, Cherry Weiner.

BoucherCon is fast approaching in September and I made my reservation this morning. This will be my first mystery convention with my agent. We’re hoping to meet with editors and publisher to introduce my Fix Larson series.

That’s the latest. Have a great week. I hope everyone is reading or writing something great (Maybe both).

CHEERS!

SUPPORT AN AUTHOR

So, I finally received copies of the new anthology, Sherlock Holmes AND THE OCCULT DETECTIVES. My short story, THE CASE OF THE TALKING BOARD is a haunting little mystery where Sherlock Holmes teams up with his old friend, C. August Dupin. You might remember Dupin from Edgar Allan Poe’s tale, MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE.. They travel to Balmoral Castle to assist Queen Victoria with what might be the ghost of Prince Albert.

To celebrate, I’m offering a special 30% discount for one week (7/10/20-7/17/20. Just use code HOLMES2020. Please visit my page at www.jajensenbooks.com or go direct to the product page at https://www.jajensenbooks.com/new-products/sherlock-holmes-and-the-occult-detectives-vol-ii

Thanks for your support!

The Waiting Games

Writers are always waiting. We write. We edit. We submit. And then, we wait. Most of the time, we are disappointed in the answer. Writers get more rejections than a leper on Tinder. Yet, we wait because we hope. Stephen King said he had to buy a bigger nail to impale all of his rejection letters. JK Rowling was rejected by everyone and ended up at a publisher that had never had a hit novel.

Hope feeds the writer.

I currently have a fun short story up for submission at a forthcoming anthology. Publication there would be a big step in my writing career. And so I wait.

However, I keep busy. Every two days, I post another freshly edited chapter of my southern gothic novel, Haunting Annabelle, on Wattpad. Yesterday, I finished outlining the current historical mystery novel that I’m a quarter of the way finished.

This week’s writing will be shared with going to Comic-Con. The writing panels will give me fresh energy. It will help with the waiting.

Now, I have to go walk the dog. Even Stephen King has to do that.

The Paved Road To Hell

Ah, the best of intentions. Although I fell behind on my short story here, I’ve not been idle. This year, I finished a short story for an anthology entry and continued on my novel. I also edited an older novel and started posting it on Wattpad to see how it played with real readers. You can take a look at: https://www.wattpad.com/742736266-haunting-annabelle-a-southern-gothic-horror

I’m pretty close to sticking to my year’s goal of writing every day. Trying not to look back on the years I’ve been plugging away and not get a little discouraged is hard. Yet, to be honest, it’s only recently that I’ve worked hard at it. So, I’ll cut myself some slack as long as I keep moving forward.

I’ll not lead you on. The Poirot short story is not going to be weekly. There will still be parts added. However, I’m sticking to working on my novel. If you want a taste of my work, read the Wattpad posts. It’s an older work and I’ve gotten much better. Still, it has my basic style.

To my fellow writers, keep on truckin’. To the readers, keep on reading and buy your books at an Indie Bookstore.