Let's Start Blogging

Heh. Let's start blogging!

It seems that I haven't posted a blog in a few months - since early October, I guess - and I was trying to figure out why. I guess the biggest reason is Twitter. Most of what I've been doing - which hasn't been a lot, I admit - I've posted over on Twitter - http://twitter.com/ScottFalkner

There's also been a lot of nonwriting things happening in my life - which didn't seem to make sense to post on TDC, but there have also been a lot of pertinent things going on, which I just didn't get around to posting on TDC.

At any rate, I apologize for my absence here, and will do my best to get back on track.

To that end, what's going on?

Writing-wise, I'm working on the third and final Delving book, "Delving: Culminations." As some of you may remember, I wrote the book last year but wasn't thrilled with the result. Deadlines and personal obstacles (moving) interfered to result in a book that I felt wasn't up to snuff, so to speak. That said, I fully intended to revise it and bring it up to the high standard set in place by the first two books, when my computer crashed. Guess what? You really, really, really should back up your files. Especially when you've got a couple of novels on your hard drive. Anyway, the crying and moping is done over those lost stories, and we move on. So. I'm writing the third volume of Delving which will be available from Stone Garden Books in 2010. If you haven't checked out the first two books, "Delving: Obligations" and "Delving: Assassins" - I strongly suggest you ask for them for Christmas as they would make wonderful holiday reads. Find out where to get them online at http://www.scottfalkner.com/ or ask for them at your favorite independent book store.

Speaking of http://www.scottfalkner.com/, Ren and I have been bouncing around ideas for a site redo to kick off the new year with. We're thinking something simpler and sleeker. Something that won't require you to dig for info on what you want to know about. I've really liked the design we've had for the last three or four years, but I think something more relavent to the style of stories I've been writing would be good.

What else?

Ah, here's something. Last month my wife and I were able to go over to St. Paul to see Stephen King at the Fitzgerald Theater. He was interviewed for the Minnesota Public Radio series, "Talking Volumes."

Wow.

What an experience. With a humor and wisdom you'd expect, he spoke about writing, (duh) focusing primarily on "Under the Dome," his latest opus. My wife and I scored second row seats, so we were up close for the entire show, (THANKS HELLNOTES - http://www.hellnotes.com/ - for the heads-up on the appearance). I decided to play the part of "Fan" instead of "Author" for the event, and smiled ear to ear as one of the best writers of our age answered questions a mere twenty feet away. I was even enough of a fanboy to yell out "Thank you, Steven!" as he was walking off stage after the event, and Mr. King looked right at me, pointed, and smiled. To top it off, I won a theater lottery to get one of 200 signed copies of "Under the Dome." Bonus!

Fanboy? Maybe Fangirl is more like it. Who cares? I had a BLAST. Thanks Steven for coming to the Midwest.

You can find youtube video of practically the entire event. Here's an addy to get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agGuYCmJIIw&videos=2X-NNkmhpl4&playnext_from=TL&playnext=1

All right, I think that's about it. I've been writing and reading lots, (especially enjoyed the aforementioned "Under the Dome," Tim Lebbon's "Bar None," - if you like beer and you like fantasy then you simply MUST read "Bar None" - and I'm currently LOVING "Journal of the Gun Years" by Richard Matheson. But, as always, there's always much, much more to read and write.

To that end...

Crash and Burn

Just realized that I haven't posted in the cave in well over a month, and to be frank, I'm not that surprised. Something's been happening over the last several weeks, the least of which is that my hard drive completely crashed and I lost an awful lot of stories, one novella, and two half-finished novels. We also lost some pictures of the kids (which was the largest tragedy) and some other miscellaneous data. (As an aside, before you all gang up to tell me what to do to recover the lost info, let me say "thanks" and "we've already tried that." Of the six recovery procedures/programs I tried, none worked.) At any rate, the computer is up and running again.

What's odd is that when I reinstalled XP and started mounting programs back into the system, I was a bit relieved at how... "blank" it all was. It was a clean slate. It was... new, for lack of a better word, and it seemed like something that had needed to be done. I'm a big believer in the universe pointing you in the direction that you need to go if you're only smart enough to listen, and perhaps the crash was something that needed to happen.

A lack of a computer for several days, however, wasn't the reason that I hadn't posted a blog in over a month, however. Life gets in the way, and all that is an easy excuse, but to tell you the truth, I'm not in the mood for excuses. As much as I'd like to keep you all updated on what I'm doing and what I'm about to be doing, "doing it" has to take precedence, and that's what I've been "doing" - if that makes sense.

But, I know you folks dig it when I tell you what's what, so here's a condensed version:

The sunflowers on the garage aren't finished, but they're a hell of a lot farther along than the last picture I posted on the blog. When I have TIME, I will post new pictures.

I've been enjoying building Blair Witch Totems with the kids that we are hanging all over the house and in the trees outside for Halloween.

My wife and I celebrate ten years of marriage next week. Hoo-rah! (I can't believe she's put up with me for so long!)

I get to see Metallica for the 16th time in a little over a week. Hoo-rah!

I'm going to be in Minneapolis in November to see a lecture with Stephen King and Audrey Niffenegger. Hoo-rah!

Since all of my work on the computer was wiped out (no jokes and/or admonishments about not backing up my work!) and "Delving: Culminations" was completely wiped out - I will now be working on that novel full time.

And that's about it. I'd like to get some more promotional things going on the website, and maybe do something special for the mailing list members over Halloween, but a lot of that has to do with Ren and his timeline. Finally, I feel free enough to let him deal with all the online hoopla and keep myself to the writing and the artwork.

So that's the way it goes! I hope you're all doing well, Troops, and we'll talk soon.

Mural Day Six

Finding more time to do the mural lately - this picture is actually from last week. More in progress pictures to come.

Mural Day Five

Was able to get some "edging" done today. After that, I'll do some detail in the sunflowers themselves, and then start on the cancerous flora at their feet in earnest.

Will be leaving tomorrow for Madison, so I don't know if I'll get much done on the mural, but will post if I do.

Mural Day Four

I took two days off because I had a bunch of other stuff going on - writing deadlines, child care, school shopping trip - so I was finally able to do a bit of work today. Some of the "filler" crap is starting to take shape...

Mural Day Three

Yeah, it's looking a bit like the wall of a pre-school, but I promise it'll get better...

Mural Day Two

Time got away from me yesterday and I didn't have a lot of time to work on the mural. Looks like rain today, and that's not so good - but I'm going to try and get "other" stuff done this morning so perhaps I can attack the wall more this after.

Mural Day One

Recently I noticed that our storage garage was looking rather... well, too garage-y. In order to spruce it up, I thought I'd take advantage of the long summer days and paint a mural on it.

Here's the progress after Day One. I'll post pics as I go so that you can see how I'm doing.

SHOT-SKI PROJECT

I spent the last week or so putting together and painting a "Shot-Ski." It was a gift for my brother and sister-in-law who just purchased a new house. They have a bar in their basement, and their last name is Borgen, hence the "Borgen's Basement" logo.

Shot-Ski's are designed so that multiple persons can drink shots at once. My friend Aric Anonich is a co-owner of the Shot-Ski company, and you can find out more about Shot-Ski's at http://www.shot-ski.com/.





















Above is me with the finished Shot-Ski...

Above is a shot of the whole ski...

This is detail of the shot mounting, (complete with Shot-Ski logo glass shots - which I designed btw)...

Above is a ski-length shot - no pun intended...

Above is some detail of the painting....

More painting detail...

Painting detail of the tail...

The Shot-Ski website offers completes skis (snow or water, and other off the wall designs) as well as mounting gear to design your own like I did. Check 'em out, and let me know what you think of the one I made.

New Jazma Online Interview

An interview I did with JazmaOnline.com in June is now available to view. Since Jazma is running some backlogs (due to illness) the editors were nice enough to throw up a preview HERE. Click on over for the longest (and most informative) interview I've done yet.

Road Warrior

A few days ago I returned to Madison, Wisconsin, a city I lived in for over a decade. There's an armful of topics I could write about after being there, and after a day or so of sobering thought, I've declined to write about any of it. The emotional part of the trip is all mine, and not something I'm inclined to share with others I don't know.

What I would like to write about, however, is the traffic in Madison. Now, Madison is by no means a gargantuan city. It is not Chicago. It is not New York. It is not San Francisco. Hell, at under 225,000 people, it's not even Milwaukee. However, living there for eleven years, I guess I just got used to the hustle and bustle of the traffic. I got used to it taking me 20-40 minutes to go to and get back from wherever it was I wanted to go. I got used to thinking in terms of "consolidation" trips - ie. "I'm going to be on that side of town anyway, so what else could I pick up?" I got used to the fact that once I took the Madison exit off of the interstate, I still had a twenty-five minute drive to my house.

I got used to all of it over eleven years and never realized it.

Okay, so we leave last September and move to a new location in Northern Wisconsin - population >10K. Where I live now, it takes LITERARLLY three minutes to drive from one end of the town to the other. The amount of stoplights in my town is probably the amount of stoplights that are on State Street in Madison.

Anyway, I hadn't thought about this much since I left last Fall - your reality is relative and all that - but visiting Madison a few days ago I was SHOCKED at how ANNOYED I as with the traffic. Talk about becoming a country bumpkin. And when I speak of traffic, I'm not being annoyed with the other drivers - I'm being annoyed with the sheer number of stoplights. I'm being annoyed with the sheer distance one has to drive to get from point A to point B. I'm being annoyed with things that are not "incident" relavent, I'm dealing with things that are "size" relevant. Madison has a great road system, and they're always improving it. I'm saying that it wouldn't matter what city I went to - after returning and living in my little burg for a while, I can't believe I put up with it, and I have no urge to return to it whatsoever.

Now if I can just persuade my wife to let me buy that compound in the hills....

Reverse Contraceptives

Last week an interesting concept was arrived at by myself and a small group of my friends. For the moment, this concept remains in the realm of science fiction, but I thought that from the immense amount of discussion it created between my little group that it might make a good topic here in the Cave.

The topic is Reverse Contraceptives, and it goes something like this.

One member of my group commented on how in certain countries everyone is assumed to be an organ donor - meaning, of course, that when they die, unless they've stated otherwise, that their organs will be donated to help others. Now, there's an easy opt-out for this, something like going somewhere akin to our Department of Motor Vehicles here in the States, and just signing a form saying you don't want to donate your organs. Therein lies the rub: most people don't opt out. In the countries where organ donation is simply assumed, the organ donation rate is phenomenally high, because people just don't want to think about it. They'd rather just stick to the "default settings" and not deal with it.

That got us thinking.

The idea of Reverse Contraception would go something like this: At birth, a simple procedure (that is as yet unavailable in the real world), something low-risk like a circumcision, would be performed on baby boys and girls. This procedure would make them effectively sterile.

Once these young people were 18 years of age, they could produce photo identification at any local drugstore or hospital and receive a "reverse contraception" pill for little or no money. If both the man and the woman were taking this "RC" pill, they could become pregnant.

Think about it.

The 18 year old minimum would effectively eliminate childhood pregnancy.

The notion that you couldn't get knocked up unless you put some thought into it, unless you and your partner were sure that it was what you really wanted, would drastically reduce the abortion rate, would drastically reduce the crime rate, would drastically reduce the poverty rate.

Are their problems with the idea? Of course. Who's in charge of the RC pill? Would it be mandatory that all children get the reverse contraception procedure at birth, or would it be a parental decision? Even if it was a parental decision, my opinion is that an overwhelming percentage of parents would "opt in" for it. If you could guarantee that your kid wasn't going to get pregnant until they were out of high-school... that's a pretty great motivator.

Anyway, I thought the concept warranted a little conversation. What do you think? Is a Reverse Contraception pill a great idea, or something that infringes on human rights? Do we have a "Right" to conceive as humans? Interesting questions, and I'm looking forward to hearing your insights.

A Cronkite Comment

I wanted to be sure to comment on the passing of Walter Cronkite before it sped too far back in our rearview mirror. A few days ago on NPR, there was a call-in discussion asking questions like, "How important was Cronkite?" and "How much has television news changed since the departure of Cronkite - for the better or worse?" and the discussion got me thinking.

First, the importance of Cronkite. The man's importance - along with Huntley and Brinkley's - simply cannot be overstated. These men who overtook the nation's primary news source in the early sixties set the tone for how television news would be primarily reported for the remainder of the century. Their notion that the news should be reported with dignity, with educated calm, and with the undisputable quotient of Who, When, What, Where, and Why almost guaranteed that their viewers would be well-informed.

I wasn't yet ten year's old when Cronkite signed off for the last time. As a product of my age, I can't claim to have been too much of a news junkie, but I do remember my father grabbing me and sitting me down in front of the floor mounted set, saying: "You may not understand this, but I want you to watch it." And there I sat, watching some mustached man talk about his years as an "anchorman," and signing off with his signature, "And that's the way it is." At the time I didn't really understand the relevance, but in retrospect, I'm very glad that my dad had me watch that.

Cronkite was my parent's primary news guy. After Walter left, my parents shuffled between the three "kids" that took over the networks, Jennings, Rather, and Brokaw. As I got older and began a love affair of my own with news, Brokaw became my guy - even before I started working for NBC - and had my kids been old enough to walk, I would've called them over to the set at the end of Tom's last broadcast.

But I'm getting off track.

What made Cronkite one of the greats? Clearly, his dedication to not only the news, but the 'presentation' of the news made him great. If his dedication to objectivity hadn't been so spectacular, when he did break the rules and personally comment on the apparent stalemate of the Vietnam War, would then-president Johnson have reportedly stated: "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."? Cronkite's devotion to what was newsworthy and the process that defined items as such, has become the gold standard of what is actual 'journalism'.

Which leads us to the difference in television news between Cronkite's time and the present day. Certainly, an "Entertainment Factor" has become far too large an element in determining what is newsworthy... but was that inevitable?

The problem - and perhaps in some ways, the benefit - with news today is that there are so many choices. In the heydey of my parent's generation, there were three choices for television news... at the most. Think about that: what if you had three choices to get your television news from? In this day and age, for many of you reading this, the idea seems at the very least, limiting. However, when you have so many television news sources, as well as so many online sources, the quality of the news in many cases clearly declines.

Why?

When competition increases, the means to grabbing attention and ratings becomes more diversified and more extreme. Specialities arise, and objectivity suffers as a result. Yes, there are still objective news sources available, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. Finding a quality news source now depends largely on the viewer. You, as an individual, need to weigh the objectivity of your news, and base your decisions as such on what you want to intake. This is something that a large percentage of Americans are not willing - or are not able, (because of intelligence and/or time constraints, among other reasons) - to do. (When eighteen percent, yes, EIGHTEEN PERCENT, of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the earth, well...). Additionally, when news becomes so broad and prevalent, how can it not become news itself? Just taking an easy example, remember after the last presidential election, when the GOP was in turmoil, and the question arose: "Who's in charge of the GOP, Michael Steele or Rush Limbaugh?" When news commentators become news items, a line is blurred, and questions arise. Cronkite and his ilk have always downplayed their roles, maintaining that they are only the messengers, and not the subject of the almighty news spotlight.

Perhaps, in the end, that might be Cronkite's greatest legacy: a humility that can serve as a gauge for newsmen in the future. Be less trusting of any journalist who is actively trying to make more of themselves, and not the news they report.

The Fiction Writer Cometh

Last weekend I gave a reading at a book store in my hometown of Rice Lake, Wisconsin. I read a story from "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff," as well as part of a chapter of the new book coming out next month, "Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde". I also read some microfiction - read: flash fiction - and an observational piece I wrote especially for the event. At any rate, several people have asked me to post it, so here ya go. As a word of warning, if you're not from the RL area, you may not have much clue as to what this is all about. (It's kind of a Locals Only sort of thing...)

"The Long Way Home"

or

"The Fiction Writer Cometh"

by

Scott F. Falkner

(Said with the slight embarrassment and trepidation of someone introducing them self at an AA meeting.) I’m Scott, and I am a fiction writer.

That means I lie for a living.

Well, that isn’t entirely true.

I don’t lie in the negative sense. However, FICTION denotes untruth, which means in telling you that I write fiction, I’m telling you up front that I’m a liar. It’s just like that old story about the snake and the old woman crossing the river… you can’t blame a snake for being a snake. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I tell untruths for a living. None of what I write is true… so it’s a lie… sort of.

Like if I said that I met a middle-aged man in a diner on the corner of Center and Skull Streets, in 1995 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a man who’s name I can’t really remember, but who told me over several cups of coffee how he lived a life in the shadows and chased down supernatural beings… all in the course of making the world a better place. I could say that I based much of Helman Graff on that man’s life and what he told me… I could say that, and yet you’d have to assume that I was making it up… because I’m a fiction writer.

Anyway, I say this all up front, because I want you to know just what you’re getting into… that is, I want you to understand what I may or may not be telling you… if you catch my meaning?

I left Rice Lake, Wisconsin, in 1991. That’s going on eighteen years ago.

Eighteen years.

But let’s say it’s nineteen years. After all, nineteen holds much more weight, and anyone who’s read Stephen King’s The Dark Tower knows the powerful implications of the number nineteen.

So we’ll say I left nineteen years ago. I can do that. Because I’m a fiction writer.

I enjoyed a relatively idyllic childhood in a small town with a great family and great friends. However, when I was seventeen, I was chomping at the bit to leave. I’m sure it’s a feeling that the majority of high school seniors feel: that sense of urgency to get on with life, to get out there and see and experience all the world has to offer.

And so I left.

I don’t want to dwell too much on what happened to me while I was away. I don’t want to focus on such things as how I—in my own mind and the mind of a maniacal director—stole the show playing the part of a teenage stoner in a college production of Talk Radio.

I don’t want to dwell on how I fell two stories onto a sidewalk trying to steal a store sign in Paris, Texas, and cracked my head open.

I don’t want to dwell on sitting with my mentor, a Pulitzer Prize winning German writer, in a Milwaukee hospital as he died from self-inflicted cuts to his wrists.

There are enough stories there to fill a book in itself, stories of jumping six stories into the Chippewa River at three a.m. in February, stories about kicking a raging heroin addiction with the help of an Indian Mystic who taught me the majestic art of Tai-Chi, stories about cursing out a Theology Professor in front of a class of two-hundred students for his lack of Native American insight, stories about working at a television affiliate during nine-eleven, stories about getting married, buying houses and cars, and watching my children being born.

Lot’s of stories.

What I’d rather focus on is what I’ve noticed about Rice Lake since coming back after nineteen years of being away.

To be certain, I’ve been back in the meantime, to visit family and friends, but to tell you the truth, I never really NOTICED my hometown while I was here for those visits. Sure, I noticed small things, like the lack of a Starbucks, but for the most part the city itself was really just backdrop.

Window dressing.

Staging.

But now I’m back, and as such I’m starting to notice things.

Small things.

Big things.

Take the changing face of the businesses for instance. When I was a kid, Russ’s Pancake House was the place to go for a great breakfast. Then the lead waitress left and started up Maxine’s. Maxine’s took the place of an Asian Restaurant. Now there’s an Asian Restaurant where Russ’s Pancake House was in the first place.

Talk about full circle.

That block where Russ’s was has changed a lot. Where Dominoes was is now a Mexican Restaurant, and there’s a nifty little coffee shop on the corner that’s completely new to me. A little farther north, the big grocery store in town moved across the street, and a collection of smaller businesses moved in where it used to be… it seems like a waste of space.

The other big grocery store in town, the one of the south end, the one where I used to drag my fingers along the floor while riding in the bottom of my mom’s shopping cart, has closed down.

The mall has changed a lot too. It seemed larger when I was a kid, but just about everything seemed larger back then I suppose. The Big Steer is gone. Eat at Joe’s, the eatery which had the miniature theater where you could watch a cartoon for a quarter, is now a coffee shop. Woolworth's is now JC Penny and JC Penny is now a sporting goods store. The fountain is still there in the middle, the one I almost fell into when I was in choir and fainted on the risers set up over the top of it.

I fainted in church too, when I was playing Joseph in the Christmas pageant. I fell over onto Mary and punted the doll representing the Christ child into the third row… unintentionally of course. That was at First United Methodist up on the hill. I’ve only been there a few times since, and it seems like one of the few places that hasn’t changed all that much.

Up the street from the church, the pool no longer has the high diving board… insurance reasons I’ve been told.

My old elementary school now has a second floor.

My old high school has changed a lot. I brought my daughter there for a dance recital and was wowed by the new addition off the gym. Of course, now they’re tearing up the football field and the track, and cutting down a lot of brilliant old trees, for a multi-million dollar sports complex.

Back in my day, myself and some friends petitioned the city council for a place to skateboard. They gave us a slab of asphalt near the hockey arena.

These days, there’s a new skatepark out where the old airport used to be. It’s right next to the soccer park… which takes me to my old stomping grounds.

I used to live on the corner of Orchard Beach, across from where the old boat landing was. My backyard used to be a field with a rustic old barn, and beyond that was Nutter’s Ranch—also known as Misty Moors. Behind the ranch, the cranberry bogs where I once played, where myself and a friend saw a pack of beavers gnawing into the fresh carcass of a black bear before turning their sights on us, are now gone, replaced by a swamp.

That field behind my old house? That’s now filled with condominiums. Down the road, however, lay the Round Houses, and other than their color, they’ve not changed much. They remain a fantastically unique, and interesting comment on promotional architecture.

Speaking of promotional architecture…

Today, atop a building on Main Street, standing like a supernatural sentry, is a twelve foot gorilla.

That’s all I have to say about that.

Just like when I was little, when the wind is just right, the pervasive and comfortingly familiar stench of the onion factory still rolls through the city, as does the dull roar of the race track on Saturday nights.

And of course, the eastern horizon is still filled with the ever present shadow of the Blue Hills.

I spent a lot of time in those hills as a kid. I was taught to ski by my sister when I was five at Hardscrabble, and I continued to ski regularly until I was introduced to the wondrous invention of the snowboard in 1989.

I haven’t skied since.

Some friends and I used to hike in Gundy’s Canyon. I’m not sure if we were trespassing or not… and I’m still not sure what we saw hovering over the center of the canyon like a mechanical octopus on that summer day in 1990—I do know that four of us went out to the canyon that day… and only three of us came back.

I remember getting lost in the Blue Hills on Sunday afternoons with a friend who will remain nameless. I remember wandering for hours on dusty back roads barely wider than the car and past tin shacks that didn’t look inhabitable… but which had smoke winding up and out of their exhaust pipe chimneys.

On a recent drive out to the hills I found that much of it hasn’t changed. It’s still our very own strange and mysterious place, filled with just as much wonder as danger. I’m glad that my kids will one day have the opportunity to experience it.

So, Rice Lake is much the same as when I left, despite numerous cosmetic differences.

More importantly, I suppose, is that I’ve changed significantly in the last nineteen years.

When I left, I was an angry young man, imbued with a sense of destiny and determined to inflict my own ideas on the world as loudly as possible.

These days, as a husband and father, I’m a bit softer around the edges—emotionally and physically—though my mind and sense of awareness are much sharper. I’m still determined to force my ideas on the world, yet now I understand that for those ideas to be effective, they must often be conveyed subtly, and with a certain degree of modesty.

The Rice Lake area—much to my initial surprise—is a good place to do that.

Here, from my quiet little corner of the world, I can spew forth my lies, my untruths, and affect your minds… at least for a little while.

After all, that’s what I do. I’m Scott, and I’m a Fiction Writer.

~

CALVIN DYER AND THE REATIAN HORDE!

"Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde" will be released from Stone Garden Books next month (June '09). Check out www.scottfalkner.com for more info about my new dark fantasy western novella.

Important Delving News

~

Okay, gather 'round kids. There's something that old dad's gotta tell you. You might not like it, but I'm going to try and convince you that it's for your own good. Ready?

Here's the deal: In looking over the manuscript for the final Delving book, Delving: Culminations, I found that it didn't really live up to what I'd envisioned for the end of the series. I found that it didn't fully explore the key characters out to their ends, and that it didn't do justice properly to the series as a whole. I don't know about you, but I found that I didn't want Delving to end in a sort of sub-par manner. I didn't want to release a half-assed book.

To that end, I contacted Stone Garden and came up with a plan "b" - which I think is pretty great.

Here it is: Instead of releasing a not so great final Delving book in June, we're going to release the dark fantasy western that was supposed to come out sometime next year. This way, you still get a Falkner book this summer, and I get more time to completely rewrite Delving: Culminations, in the process making it something I'm proud to release, and making it something that you'll be stoked to read.

I understand that many of you were highly anticipating the final chapter of Delving, and for the delay, I apologize. This is completely my own undertaking, and all of the blame falls on me. However, I stress that I really do feel like giving the novel some more time is in both my, and the readers', best interest.

Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde is best classified as a dark fantasy western... something a bit off the beaten path--and yet wholly consistent with the stuff that I like to read. We'll have a lot more info about this particular book in just a bit, and if you've liked anything I've written in the past, I'm certain you'll dig this one as well.

Again, I'm truly sorry for the delay of Delving's concluding volume, but I promise it'll be worth the wait.

Thanks for your patience.
sff

The Big Nominal Update

~


Hey friends. It's been a while since I've done an all-encompassing sort of update on what's going down in Scott F. Falkner World(s), so...

These sorts of things are kinda fun for you (I hope) as you can kind of see what I've been up to, what I'm currently up to, and what I plan on being up to soon. They're also good for me as I can sort of focus in on what I'm doing myself, as when you start shifting through as many projects as I tend to do, it can often get confusing as to what comes next - or even worse, I feel like the "on-deck" projects are just awash at the other end of my desk, waiting to crash over the top of me. Not a cool feeling.

So, here's a list of what's out, what's coming, and what might be coming after that. After all, the upcoming stuff is always subject to change depending on the whim of the Creator... (that being me):

First up, I'd like to refer to Exile: The Collected Helman Graff, which came out last January, ('09). I feel like "Exile" got a bit swept under the rug in terms of promotion and exposure, which is in large part my fault, another part timing, and altogether too bad. This was my first short story collection, as well as the first one of my books to be illustrated. Nathan Fehlauer's artwork in the book is amazing, and in my estimation worthy of the cover price in and of itself. As the title indicates, the stories are all linked through the character of Helman Graff - a sort of modern day Abraham Van Helsing. The book is naturally linked to my dark fantasy Delving series, yet, I've heard from several people who haven't read the Delving series who have read "Exile", and they've enjoyed it enormously. At any rate, if you haven't checked it out, I implore you to do so. A good review of the book can be found at Horrorworld by following this LINK. (scroll down six reviews)

Next up is Delving: Culminations. This book is scheduled to be released this June and will wrap up all things Delving and Helman Graff related. I'm putting the finishing touches on this one right now... with mixed emotions. The Delving series has taken up several early years in my writing career, and that's both a good and a bad thing. Good because I think it's a good story and it really allows me to flex my horrific, fantastical, and adventurous muscles. Bad, because it's a long story that's kept me from doing other things. I don't want to put too much of a downer twist on it, because I'm still very energized with the story. I loved the way that things spun around in Delving: Assassins, and hooking up things (albeit loosely) with the Graff collection has been fun. But, it'll also be nice to put the Graff family saga behind me... at least for a while.

Once Delving: Culminations is released, the time for short stories, comics, artwork, and signings will begin.

Since there wasn't really a "proper" signing tour - or tour at all - done for "Exile..." I want to focus on getting out and meeting you guys in person this summer. Tomorrow I'll be announcing a May signing for Northern Wisconsin, but I'd also like to get to the rest of the state and some neighboring ones as well. There's going to be a big push for signing/reading dates this summer, so keep and eye out for when I'm coming near you so you can swing by and say hi. (btw: if you're a midwest area bookseller and you'd like to set up a signing, email us through the website. If you're located anywere else, and you're willing to sport for 1st Class airfare and lodging... oh, who am I kidding? Give me a heads up and point me to the nearest freight train. I'll figure it out.)

Getting published early in my career meant that I didn't get to really cut my chops a whole lot in the short fiction markets. I feel like I kinda missed out on competing for spots in the major horror and science fiction periodicals, and I know there are several anthologies that I would love to be a part of . Short fiction is going to be key this summer.

Also, I'll be focusing on art this summer. I can't remember how long it's been since I did an oil painting, and that's not cool at all. I'd like to randomly shoot through five or six before Halloween if possible, but I'm not going to hamstring myself with a timeline or a number. I'm just going to make a point to do more art.

Between the shorts and the artwork, I'm also going to be focusing on what will be referred to as the "Demon Comic". I'm going to write a script for a comic book for the first time, and see if it's worth pursuing further. I'm a little loathe to reveal too much about this one as that whole superstition shadow tickles the hair above my ear when I do.

All right, the next novel-length book I'll be writing will be a horror novel - and beyond that, It'll be a post-apocalyptic novel. That's right, it's the end of the world and I'm writing the words. God, being a God is Grand. I'll be starting this book in the Fall - specifically I'm not sure of a date or even a month. I'll start when it feels right. I'm gonna go a bit slower than usual on this one as I'm writing it for a specific, larger publisher, and will be writing with their criteria in mind. Other than those tidbits, mum's the word.

Intending to spend the entire winter on that Horror novel, springtime will allow for work on someting that's been on my backburner for far too long. Spring, 2010 will be when I finish writing my YA Fantasy novel, "Netherwood." I think about this book often, and I think the end of winter will be a lovely time to write it.

Next summer brings us to another Horror novel that's been waiting on deck for far too long. Wellsprung, a title that probably won't stick, has several chapters already finished. There's some more research I'd like to do on this particular book before completing it, research that I hope to finish this summer in the form of a week-long vacation at a local resort...

Beyond that, as far as new stuff goes, there's a few more ideas in the hopper, but I've got some time to flesh them out.

ALSO, in 2010, Calvin Dyer and the Reatian Horde, a dark-fantasy western novella of mine will be released by Stone Garden. I'm not sure where in the year that one will come, but it will be in 2010. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

I feel like I'm missing something...

AH! Yes. I'm hoping to get a FalknerCast up and running as soon as "Delving: Culminations" is completely wrapped. "What's a FalknerCast?" you ask? hahahahahaha. You'll have to wait and see.

As I said before, all of these plans are subject to review, rejection, admonition, appreciation, and termination. But they do offer a blueprint of where I "think" I'm headed.

Cheers.
sff

Do You Want To Be A Writer... Or Do You Want A Life?

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"Do you want to be a writer... or do you want a life?"

It's a good question, and entirely valid, especially when you have a wife, three kids, two cats, and a dog who would all very much like some attention paid to them even when you've got a book deadline that seems highly unattainable.

I recently read a book for my book gang called Freakonomics. In one section of the book, the author(s) wrote about how being a crack dealer is sort of a "tournament" job: Other tournament jobs are Professional Athlete, Rock Star, Actor, and of course, Writer. What does that mean? A tournament job means that most likely you're making next to nothing (financially) or you're making everything. (And yes, there are exceptions. There are bar bands that make okay money on weekends, there are stock actors who perform in localized theater that do okay, and yes, there are midlist writers that do okay as well - but I'm not speaking to the exceptions. I'm speaking to the general rules of the "tournament".)

A tournament job runs in the following way: One starts out in the lowest possible position and exhibits their talent/prowess at the given profession. Through a multitude of factors that include savvy, sticktuitiveness, and lots of luck, certain "players" are noticed, and move slowly up the ladder. The goal for all of these "players" is to eventually hit that highest echelon of the given profession: (ie. Crack God, Major League player with a Major League Contract, a Rock Star playing Arenas and touring the world, or, knock on wood, the likes of Patricia Cornwell, J.K. Rowling, Steve King, or John Grisham). But what about regular jobs? You have to start at the bottom and work your way up in any profession, right? Yes, that's true, but the thing about tournament jobs is that there are no guarantees. There's nothing that says just because your last book was pretty good that anyone will buy your next one. There's nothing that says that just because you "show up" and do the work, that you'll get paid. In other words, the "job" is based on faith - faith in your own abilities. Faith through passion. Faith that the whole thing will work out.

From someone standing outside of the tournament lifestyle, that faith can be a hard thing to get on board with. When the money isn't what one would hope, attitudes echoing "move on with your life" can become the norm... and that can be a hard thing to hear. However, it is my belief that a real Writer sees that as one more obstacle that must be overcome in the tournament. A real Writer believes that the stories must be told, whether they are read by ten people or ten million. And so, a real Writer Writes... the critics, personal, public, and private alike, be damned.

I've consistently attempted to buck the trends when it comes to having it all, the family, the career, the whole nine yards. I've been warned that it would be difficult, and warned that it would be impossible - but I've lived my life accepting the possibility of the impossible, and I don't intend to stop now.

"CULMINATION" INFO

Her presence regained, Marissa Graff has found herself more powerful than ever.

As Delving: Culminations begins, we find her systematically slaughtering the Rogues at the behest of the Delving Council.

In return for her service, the Council has promised to search for Marissa's exiled father, Helman Graff.

The surviving Rogues also search for Helman, hoping that his discovery will bring an end to the Council's tyranny over the Delving Tradition once and for all.

But once found, who will Helman side with...

...his own daughter or the resistance?

A monumental struggle between good and evil.
The ultimate confrontation between father and daughter.

The very existence of the Delving World hangs in the balance as Scott F. Falkner's epic saga culminates in this final volume of the Delving trilogy.

"Delving: Culminations" will be released this June from Stone Garden Publishing. Watch http://www.scottfalkner.com/ for pre-order information. For more on the first two volumes of the Delving trilogy, visit the official Delving website.


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Playing Catch-up... Always

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I'm currently typing this with one hand as my other is cradling my one yr old son as he's apparently decided to take his morning nap there. I thought that as I'm catching up on about 30 different things, I should catch up on the blog as well.

First up, I only recently had the opportunity to listen to the latest Pod of Horror, (no. 51, I believe) and I wanted to give Nanci Kalanta a hearty thanks for her unnecessary apology at the top of the show, and for mentioning "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff." As for the beer you pledged to buy me, Nanci, I've recently given up drinking. However, as far as those fifty lashes go...

Apparently I'm now on Twitter. I've been doing it for a few days and as it seems like it doesn't suck up too much time - a la myspace (which I've been neglecting, sorry) and facebook (which I've been spending too much time on). Look me up if you'd like to "follow" me - (http://twitter.com/ScottFalkner) - though I can't promise where I'll lead you. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to start up one of those "Haunt" pages over at the Horror-Mall... how many networking sites are there(!)? But if I do I'll let you know.

I'm working my way through the final volume of Delving - ("Delving: Culminations"). I've lain aside the "demon" comic for the moment as the third Delving book is taking priority over everything else. The cover for it should be available around the net next week.

I opened up my new Canon FS10 yesterday, I've got it working but haven't really had time to get
"in depth" with it yet. I'm hoping to maybe do some readings with it and post them on youtube... when I get time.

Setting up some spring signings is near the top of the to-do list, again, when I know what's going on, you'll know.

Went snowboarding last weekend. Fantastic weather. Fantastic terrain park. My legs still ache.

Lastly, Neil Gaiman stated on his blog that his father died last weekend. Neil has been a huge inspiration to me, and the least I can do it send out my condolences to Neil and his family. You all have my sincerest sympathies.

Nice "Exile" Review

~

There's a new review by T.T. Zuma of "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" in this month's Horrorworld, (March '09).

Here's the linkage: http://horrorworld.org/reviews.htm (it's the 6th review down)

By the way, I never knew that "The Feast of Catchville" was a quote - cult favorite - unquote. Very cool.

In other news, still banging away on the final "Delving" book - due out this summer - and will hopefully be confirming some spring signing dates as well.

Back to work!

Brain Matter Confetti

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Still sort of sorting out the last week and a half as I've rarely known what day it was or what city I was in. Crazy busy to the point of nausea, but that's over now, and things are sort of... settling, like a blast of confetti or brain matter that has yet to reach the ground.

As such, not a lot of work has been completed, and February - being the squat month that it is - is more than halfway completed.

Ah well. In the meantime, I've come across a few things that were a bit interesting.

It seems that this is what happens at a book reading in China when someone doesn't like you're book: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/world/asia/16china.html?_r=1&ref=books

Looks like NIN and Jane's Addiction might be doing a farewell(?) tour together soon: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=114497 - I've never seen either of the bands in concert, but they both certainly had an effect on me at different times in my life. Perhaps seeing them on their way out would be fun.

If you're an sfsw fan, and you've got a TON of time on your hands, check this out: http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~sf-papercraft/Gallery/Gallery.html

Let's see, I'm currently looking at buying a laptop computer. Never had one before and am a bit hesitant to move in that direction, but it's quickly becoming clear that I really need one for writing on the road. Suggestions? While you're at it, I also need a new digital camcorder. Again, anyone has one that they simply love? Let me know what it is.

I just picked up a copy of F. Paul Wilson's "The Keep" - I've always wanted to read it but always forgot about it when I was out picking up books. I can't wait to get started on it.

That's it for now. Wally is sitting on the floor here in my office and looking at me with those "Please walk me" eyes.

A New Addition to the Family

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The latest addition to my little career has finally shown up in the flesh, or should I say in the pulp... as in paper... all right. Bad attempt at humor. But several copies of "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" did show up in my mailbox yesterday...


















...and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Nate's illustrations look great, (something I was a tad worried about) and the rest of the pages are in order, so I guess the book is a win-win. I've received a lot of emails from those of you that also received your own copy, and I hope you enjoy it. This book was a bit more of a trial than the others I've written, primarily because it was completed at the same time that I was moving my entire family into a new house, (I know, I know, could I have timed it any worse!?). To add to the general ambiance of a total clusterf^*k, short stories are something that I often wrestle with. I generally like to spread my wings over big box, industrial strength-sized stories, and it feels like going against the grain when I have to contain the narrative to something smaller in stature. At any rate, I struggled with this one a bit, but I couldn't be happier with the stories, or the packaging. Yay.


I spent last week in Minneapolis with my wife and children while my wife attended a work conference. Lots of time spent at the hotel pool. We also checked out the Mall of America - a place I haven't been to in at least ten or fifteen years. On day three of our excursion I found the courage to take my three kids - (6, 4, and 1 respectively) downtown. Driving down was fairly easy, and once I neared First Ave. I sorta had my bearings. We walked through the skywalk and had root beer floats in the IDS tower. The kids got a kick out of it and so did I. There was an Uncle Hugo bookstore near our hotel and I had a brief opportunity to check it out. Their horror section was so-so but their science fiction selection was insane. I was in a hurry so I only picked up a Keene book I'd somehow missed, and a few E.R. Burroughs titles I don't already have. I'll definitely be heading back there when I have more time.

My friend Andy and his wife Megan were in town briefly on Thursday night. I enjoyed hanging out with them, and seeing some other friends I haven't had the opportunity to talk to in at least fifteen years. Good memories. Good times.

We head back to Minneapolis this coming week for a few more days, and after that we'll have some more friends coming to visit from Madtown. February is for Friends, is the new motto, I guess.

While in Minneapolis, I had the time to start outlining a new graphic novel project while the kids were in the pool. I like where it's headed already, but never having written a comic book script before, it's taking a bit of thought. The story concerns a demon from hell that's a bit peeved over the lack of respect that evil people have for the concept of 'evil' - and what he does about it isn't pretty. I've enjoyed researching and toying with the project for the last month or so, and I think I'll continue to do so until the end of February. March 1st signals Spring (in my mind anyway) and will be a perfect time to get started on Delving: Culminations. Much of the story - or practically all of it - has been sketched out in my mind for a long time now, and I'm looking forward to telling you how Marissa and Helman's story ends.

Okay. I think that's it for now. If you've purchased and received your copy of "Exile" - I hope you like it. Drop me a line and let me know whether you do or not. If you haven't gotten one yet, head on over to your local bookstore and order it. Thanks much.

The Value of Book Clubs...?

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Until recently, I've never belonged to a book club. All of the clubs I'd seen were primarily populated by women, not that that's a bad thing, I enjoy the company of women, however, the clubs I'd been aware of had concentrated primarily on female-slanted fiction, (read: chick lit). Oh, I'm probably being a bit harsh on that count. Not all of these clubs exclusively read things like Valerie Bertanelli's account of her trials and tribulations as Mrs. Van Halen, a lot of them actually centered around more literate fare - ie. thrillers from the likes of Patricia Cornwell and Jodi Picoult.

Okay. Fair enough. But what rubbed me the wrong way about these groups is how little they were concerned with the actual book they were reading and how much more they were concerned with what food and drink would be served at the meetings, and what gossip could be shared concerning the member or members that failed to show up that evening.

I'm being a blanket chauvinist and making extreme generalizations, I admit, but follow me anyhow. Suffice to say, what I personally had seen of book clubs, led me to believe that I wasn't all that interested in joining one...

...until a few months ago. I was approached by a book club - which shall remain nameless (even though it has a name) to limit the liability of those involved - to become a member. What struck me as different about this particular club was that it was made up of both sexes, - though it's primarily male - and it was open to reading just about anything. In the past they've read fiction and nonfiction, and even graphic novels - other than what the choosing member decides upon, there's no limitation as to what can be chosen to read. The members are made up of different cultural and political views, and everyone seems to be firm in their beliefs, yet no one is disagreeable. There is a stern desire to discuss things beyond the normal chitchat of what I might term as a socializing club. There are discussions - sparked by the books - on everything from religion, to politics, to story structures, to generalized anthropology. There is no food. Everyone usually brings a six-pack or so of their favorite beverage, and that serves as refreshments. We meet for a few hours to discuss the latest work and then mozy on down to the local tavern for a recap before heading home. We meet every two weeks, which I like, as a once a month meeting seems (to me, anyway) to smack of laziness. I guess in my estimation you're either involved in something like this or your not.

At any rate, I found a book club that suits my own needs exceedingly well. I get to hang with intelligent, well-rounded individuals twice a month and discuss "larger" issues. I get to read works that I might never have heard of or that I might never have touched had I not been part of the club. So, I enjoy it, and I'm terribly glad that they accepted me as a member.

What about you? Do you belong to a book club? Does it suit your needs, or are you just going through the motions?

The First 21st Century President

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A few comments on today's presidential inaugeration, and the ensuing presidency.

Yes, I understand that we're almost a decade into the 21st Century, but for my money, Barack Obama is the first 21st Century President. The man uses a Blackberry. His campaign was the first in history to rely on the internet as a crucial, primary tool to relay platform standings and to mine regular Americans for donations. With an initiative to move past what conservative columnist David Brooks so aptly describes as "crushing politics" - the piercing ideological divide that's been so omnipresent since the late sixties - and actually following up in that vein since elected, (Obama's extended invitation to Republican governors for stimulus spending ideas and those unique dinner parties with both liberal and conservative journalists), speaks to a different sort of governance, at least a sort that we haven't seen en masse since the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Oh, and he's also African American.

I was fairly impressed with myself on election day. Throughout the campaign, I'd weighed what was being offered by both candidates. I liked the 2004-era John McCain, before he knelt at the feet of King George and offered his allegiance - but I was still willing to wait and see what he wanted to do with the presidency. I'll admit that I was drawn to Obama from the start. For most of my adult life, I've been yearning for a man - or woman - in the White House who I could honestly consider to be my intellectual superior - something that Bill Clinton may or may not have been, and something that has certainly been missing for the past eight years. Call me crazy, but I like the idea of someone running the country who is vastly smarter than myself. At any rate, on election night, when several friends - constituting of both conservative and liberal leanings - came over to watch the returns, a discussion about the remarkability of an African American being elected president ensued... and as such, I was shocked to learn something about myself -

I am not innocent of racial bias in my lifetime. I wouldn't say that I've ever been a redneck-caliber racist, but I've not been as open-minded in my life as I could have been. Of course, life experiences and time, (those two mightiest menders of all evil and hurt) have dulled whatever racist tendencies I might have had over the years; to what extent those tendencies were blurred didn't occur to me until election night. It became apparent to me that I hadn't weighed Obama's race in any way, shape, or form upon reaching my decision to vote for him. I didn't vote for him because he would be the first African American president. I didn't vote against him because he would be the first African American president. I voted for him because I thought he was the best candidate for the job.

It just didn't occur to me that he was black.

He's the second youngest man to ever be elected to our nation's highest office. He's held in high esteem the world over - something that can certainly be used to mend relationships with countries that have leaned away from us in the past eight years. He's willing to listen to ideas on both sides of the fence and use what works instead of what is recommended by a small room of whispering desperados, (something that will be infinitely valuable in this age of economic catastrophe, environmental peril, and religious fanaticism).

And the dude can give a speech.

I know that there's been a lot made of Obama's speechmaking heights versus his substance; I do believe that his substance is beginning to make itself clear, but as a writer myself, I'd also like to make a case for the importance of inspiration. This country has been built on ideas - ideas of both what should be done and what can be done. The times when we've been at our worst, - the Depression, the reaction to Pearl Harbor and our inclusion in World War II, the turmoil of the sixties including the Cuban Missile Crisis - these were times when we were lucky enough to be inspired by leaders who knew how to strike a chord in our hearts and minds. "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." - "Today is a day that will live in infamy." - "Ask not what you can do for your country." - all pieces of rhetoric - rhetoric we desperately needed, as a country, to be inspired to action.

At any rate, I'm uncharacteristically optimistic about the ensuing presidency. I hope for good things, and I wish Barack Obama, and our country, lots of luck.

Endings and Beginnings

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Okay, where to start? I guess at the beginning. "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" is 100% wrapped. I approved the final galley proofs a few days ago, and it's full speed ahead. It's out of my hands now, and hopefully into yours. Just a reminder, you can pre-order the trade paperback from the publisher for less than six bucks. Yay. A pre-order link is at the bottom of the post.

So... what's next?

First and foremost, the third and final Delving book needs to be written. "Delving: Culminations" is slated for a mid-summer release. It'll tie all - or most - of the loose ends together and finish that chapter of my writing career. It will most likely be the last I'll write of Helman, or the Graff family in general, for a long, long time.

While that's happening, offers for book signings are starting to filter in. It looks like we might be doing a Milwaukee one this spring, and perhaps we'll try to shoot for a Madison and Chicago one around the same time. Now that I'm closer to Minneapolis than ever, I'll try to fit one into the Twin Cities, and of course, we'll do the tried and true Thyme Worn signing (if they'll have me!) in Northern Wisconsin.

After that...?

I've been in close contact with Nate Fehlauer, the superb artist for "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff," and it looks as if we'll likely be doing a few more projects together. I was blown away by the art for "Exile," and I knew that I wanted to do a project with Nate where his art would be even more prevalent. So, with a project and story already in mind, I'll be doing some research and "sketching" out a few things while writing "Culminations." When we get to a more concrete place with what we're doing, you'll be the first to know.

What else?

Relaxation - as much as one can relax while writing every day, taking care of three kids, two cats, a dog, and keeping house. I'm going to try to keep the Daily Cave updates a bit more regular, and a bit more personal.

Anyway, that's what's been happening and what will most likely happen... endings and beginnings.

Here's the link for the "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" publisher pre-order at 50% off!

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=141&zenid=afbf9844e705d31ceab7dc1846dafc11


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"EXILE" Now Up For Pre-Order & Excerpts

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"EXILE: The Collected Helman Graff" is now up for pre-order from Stone Garden at a crazy low pre-sale cost.

Here's the link: http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=141&zenid=3dee65030e7c5ee4d4a9f9dfb9ad5ed6

The book is slated for a late January, 2009 release!

ALSO: We've been adding Preview Excerpts from the Graff Collection over at http://www.scottfalkner.com/

SO COME ON OVER and take a look at a sample of the stories as well as some "snapshots" of Nathan Fehlauer's FANTASTIC illustrations: http://www.scottfalkner.com/EXILE.html

Updates

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Just a few things to clue you guys in about:

"Swaybuck" (hardcover edition) will be retired by Stone Garden Publishing no later than January 15, 2009.

This means that if you want a copy (or additional copies) of the hardcover version of the book, you MUST order it asap.

Here's some options for ordering:

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=46&zenid=df242b380c9ee5eacf0eab2e7eaecd98

http://www.stonegarden.net/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=17_1&products_id=46&zenid=df242b380c9ee5eacf0eab2e7eaecd98

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In other news, "EXILE: The Collected Helman Graff" is in the final phases of production and should be released late this month. Keep it glued here for more info.

To read more about the collection, go to www.scottfalkner.com