Hello, friends. My site, as you may have noticed, has been down for a while. An embarrassingly long while, in fact. I just haven’t had the care or desire lately that I used to possess for designing and updating websites. Here’s the thing. I went through a tacky divorce and lost a lot of things. During that time, my hosting package ran out and they deleted all my sites and content. Imagine looking across a large field toward the mountains and knowing you have to build a road all the way to the mountains. That’s what it feels like here. I had so much content and so many words and designs, and somehow had managed to forget to back it all up. So all I have are pieces of some of them. It’s very daunting.

Anyway, it’s at least back up now so you can see what’s going on. I am about to publish my fourth novel, that has actually been ready for over two years now. I just went through so much shit that publishing it was very low priority. You know I design my own covers. So I’ve been waiting for that perfect woman to adorn the cover. I just need to find her and photograph her. As soon as that happens, I will put the book up for sale. I think you’ll like it. It’s my best yet.

So it’s winter again, and I’m finally back at it. I will be attacking my fifth novel with the ferocity of a rabid pit bull here in the next few months, and hopefully have that up for sale in the next year or so. I’m sorry I was down for so long – if you missed me at all. But I’m glad to be back. Thanks for your support.

I am happy to announce that I have finished my fourth novel, Into the Darkness. I’m shooting for a spring release. This is, I think, my best work yet. It’s the story of a hunt for a legendary sea monster. It’s also the story of a girl who is losing her sight, and must have bionic implants. Callie and Walter are back, full force, to bring you a gripping story of how they plan to get to the bottom of the ocean. And hope they can get back!

This book is my longest work yet, checking in at just over 150,000 words. That puts the paperback at somewhere around 480 pages give or take a few. I haven’t decided on font size yet. If I go with a comfortable 12-point size, I can fit 350 words on a page, and the book will be about 555 pages. If I push it down to 11-point, we’re looking at the 480 I mentioned, with an average of 400 words per page. I want to make it comfortable for everyone, but I also don’t want a really thick book, either. Shoot me a note and let me know what you think!

Over the last week and a half I have written over thirty thousand words in my fourth novel. So it’s safe to say I’m back on it. Hitting it hard. I don’t want to prematurely call out how long it’s going to be, nor do I want to goal myself at a certain word- or page-count. But I think (I think) I have somewhere around forty thousand words to go to get the story told. That’s about what I think it’s going to take. So realistically, I could have it done in the next few weeks. We’ll see how that goes.

Before a few weeks ago, I had not touched the book since October of 2014, when, as you recall, my update was that I hoped to get finished by Christmas. Christmas. Christmas of 2014. A year ago. And then I fell off the face of the earth. But I’m back, friends. I should have a new book for you by summer at the latest.

If you read this site and you’re here right now, this message is for you. I write some books sometimes. I write real good, to. And people are starting to take notice. No seriously though. My buddy Spencer is the director of the public library where I live. And he thinks I write good to. So the library is going to host a Meet the Author night at the library, and I’m the author you get to meet! I know, I know, most of you have already met me. But it would still be fun for you to show up and pretend we haven’t met. You could walk up and shake my hand and act all star-struck and whatnot, and I could introduce myself, and people who don’t know you will think I have a ton of followers who have never met me. Followers who read authors who write real good.

Exciting times though, these are. Spencer will be ordering a large stack of each of my three novels to give away at the signing. Apparently the night will start with my lecturing for a bit about the perils of living in 3D, followed by some advice on being a writer in this here Metropolis and not in LA or New York. You don’t have to live there to write, you see. Following that will be a question answering session. I will be asking the audience a series of questions and seeing how good their answers are, in other words. At least this is my perception of the definition. And then I’ll sign some books. And that will pretty much be it. Well, aside from the after party at the Broken Anchor Pirate’s Pub.

So please mark your calendars for November 25. That’s this month. That’s also a Monday. That’s also the week we give thanks for stuff we don’t need. However, I’m going to ask you to consider the fact that it is a Monday night, and Mondays usually suck. This one- or two-hour session will make your Monday perhaps a little brighter. Plus, too, in addition to that, it’s me, your faithful friend, Space. And I could use the support. It sure would be silly my standing up there lecturing to a crowd of two. “Okay, hi mom and dad. Thanks for coming. I uh… I know you don’t really care anything about writing, but uh… Let me tell you how it’s done.”

I don’t know exactly what time that will be – probably around 6 or 7 PM in the evening that night. But I will keep you posted through twitter (@SpaceToGo) and on my website here. Sorry, I don’t do facebook. And I’m not going to Anyvite this. I don’t want to be too pushy.

Anyway, people keep asking how I’m doing on my fourth novel, which is tentatively called “Group of People Go Way Down Deep In The Ocean Somewhere Near the Mariana Trench Off the Coast of Japan in Search of Something That Made a Noise a Few Years Ago”, so I figured I’d give you an update. In the next few weeks, I’ll do a cover reveal here, and start accepting suggestions. The title is already decided and set. It’s gonna be good, folks. I’m writing it real good.

Well, over the last week or so, I’ve written about thirty pages, or about ten thousand words. That’s somewhere right around ten or eight percent of a total book. I think this one will probably be somewhere around 450 pages or so when it’s done. I’m therefore, about 20 percent done with it now. It’s coming along nicely. The characters are good. You’ll see familiar faces – Walter Watson and Callie Simmons, plus Thevi Jackson, who made a brief appearance in Midnight’s Park. Plus there are some new characters I’m really happy with. Rebecca Judas is a powerful, bright, witty and fun character. She’s quickly becoming one of my favorites to write. I think you’ll grow to like her too.

It is progressing nicely, and I expect to have it finished by the holidays. I have a couple of alpha readers lined up to tear through it as fast and in as few sittings as possible, whereupon I will edit it heavily, then drop it in a drawer for a few months while I begin writing book five. After a few months, I will pull it out of the drawer, blow the dust off and ask into the empty room, “What the hell is this?” as I will have forgotten everything about it. And then I’ll start nodding my head as I read the words on the manuscript – it’s all coming back to me! and gosh I love this! I will read through it myself, cover to cover, in one sitting and then make any final edits I think are necessary. At that point, it will be ready for beta readers. Once they finish, I publish it. Then you read it. See how simple that is?

Let me know if you’re interested in beta-reading my project when it’s done. I have plenty of alphas. A Beta Reader’s job is to read through it at a leisurely pace with no agenda in mind. You’re just reading a book by one of your favorite authors. You don’t even know what it’s about. You’re not looking for mistakes. There shouldn’t be any. You’re not expecting anything. You’re just reading. Then at the end, if you find something out of place in your mind, or something the story doesn’t reconcile, you talk to me about it. Interested? Let me know. Pre-press readers get free books!