Friday, September 16, 2016

"Willkommen...bienvenue...welcome... come on in..."*


Hello, and welcome to my blog!  If you were led here by one of the many "wanted poster" promo cards we've been plastering all over God's green Earth, I'm glad to know they're working.  Feel free to take a look around the site, and to learn more about Swords & Sixguns, you can follow this link to a side-page I have specifically set up for it, as well as click on the "Swords & Sixguns" label at the bottom of this post.  I also recommend you view the "Welcome" video I recently posted on the Facebook page for Swords & Sixguns (I was going to post it here as well, but the file's too big to upload...that's a still from it up at the top, though).  It'll fill you in on a few more details about the book and its upcoming release.

Okay, let me step aside so you can walk in here proper.  After all, you are my guest and I am your host.  Y'all got any questions, drop me a line at swordsandsixgunsnovel@gmail.com and I'll do my level best to answer 'em.




*(read title aloud in your best Lili Von Shtupp impression for proper effect)

Sunday, September 11, 2016



I did this drawing of Richard a few days after September 11th, 2001, when I was still reeling from the events but had become clear-headed enough to try and get my feelings on paper in some fashion.  Fifteen years on, this is what I can recall of the actual day...

My husband Jamin and I both had that Tuesday off, so we were sleeping in when my Mom called around 10 AM.  Since we work nights quite a bit, we've got this rule that you don't call us that early unless it's an emergency, so I picked up the phone and wondered what was so darn important that she had to call and wake us up.  Mom asked if we were watching TV, and I said no, we were sleeping.  She insisted that we had to turn on the news, so we got out of bed, half-asleep, and went into the living room to turn on the big TV.  That's when we saw the World Trade Center on fire.  We sat there staring at this for about a minute when Jamin said, "Isn't there supposed to be two of them?"  As he said that, the news replayed the footage of the planes flying into the towers, and we realized that one of them had collapsed due to the impact.  Not long after, the second tower fell -- unlike the South Tower, which we'd slept right through, we got to watch the North Tower collapse on live TV.
We numbly watched TV for about a half-hour or so, still in our pajamas but too transfixed by what was going on to think about getting dressed, when a horrifying thought grabbed me: my Dad goes to New York on business trips a few times a year.  I ran to the phone and called his place in Ohio, and was glad to find that both he and his wife were home.  Then Dad told me that my stepbrother Matt was in New York -- I was right about the business trip, but had thought of the wrong family member.  Matt had already called home and was safe, but he'd been roughly 15 blocks away when the planes started coming in.  I've never really talked with him about the experience, as I don't find it an easy subject to broach, but I do thank God that he made it out of the city unharmed.

After a few hours, Jamin managed to pry himself away from the TV, but I kept on watching.  There was so much to take in -- all the planes, all the places, all the people -- that it didn't feel right to turn away.  I think I quit after 5 hours or so, and finally got into the shower and cleaned up.  I don't remember anything else we did that day, but I think we turned the TV off for a little while, just to give our minds a break.

Friday, September 9, 2016

In the Cards


Take a gander at the promo cards that just came in! These were printed by a local shop called In the Mix Productions (https://www.facebook.com/inthemixpro), and they will definitely be getting more business from me. A big thank-you once again to Matt Erkhart for putting this together. Can't wait to pass these around at Motor City Nightmares next week!

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Happier Anniversary

As you may or may not recall, I officially began work on what became Swords & Sixguns on September 1st, 1994, plus I started the Facebook page for the book on the same day twenty years later in 2014, back when I thought Permuted Press was going to be publishing it.  Well, that didn't pan out, nor did Fear Front earlier this year, but I am happy to report on this 22nd/2nd anniversary that I'm still plugging away at self-publishing, and I hope to have the visuals for the promo flyers to the printer by this weekend.  It'd be great if I could have the book itself published in September as well (just to keep the anniversaries all within the same month), but I'm not certain we'll have everything in place by then.  If we do, I'll be ecstatic, but I think October seems more likely.

My husband and I have been tossing ideas back and forth in regards to next year, when we hope to actually get tables at some of the local cons.  This whole self-publishing venture is still scary as Hell on a few levels -- my anxiety is through the roof some days, making me freak out over little things, book-related and otherwise -- but there are moments when we think up some really cool way to promote this book, or when I open up an email from Matt Erkhart with a new art file attached, and I can see that Swords & Sixguns is going to be a real, tangible thing finally.  Those are good moments.

Keep on checking back here for more updates, and please spread the word about Swords & Sixguns far and wide.  It'd be nice to have a big audience waiting when the books start rolling off the presses.