(Storyteller/Novelist)
In addition to writing my next in a long line of novels, I also produce this newsletter. Sex, Drugs & Mysticism is aptly named because it's centered around the three topics to which I incessantly find myself drawn and about which I most often write (along with a smidgen of the paranormal, a tad of the horrific, and a wee bit of rock-n-roll).
As a subscriber, you'll be kept informed of upcoming news and events pertaining to my writing, as well as any information on pending or future projects. My blog, Blog of The 5th Kind (coming soon) will also be covered in each issue. And, of course, you'll receive any works of short fiction (micro, flash, short story, and maybe even a few novelettes) as they're released.
Since my larger works of fiction often spring from humble beginnings as stand-alone short stories, many of the works you'll receive with your Sex, Drugs & Mysticism subscription will be directly related to a current, larger project. Always, before actual publication, these short stories will be emailed out with the S(D)&M Newsletter to all members. For anyone wanting to read these stories but reluctant to subscribe, each one will eventually be published and available through various online stores (and free of charge whenever possible).
You can anticipate that these stories will usually be of the short variety (under 7,500 words) or sometimes novelettes (up to 15,000 words). Rarely do I (or will I) write stand-alone micro or flast fiction, and my novellas are usually just short stories or novelettes that have gotten away from me (anything over 15,000 words is usually put to market as a novella or full-length novel).
I'll conclude this overview with an example of micro-fiction (for anyone not in the know). Below is my one-and-only M.F. story, probably the only one I'll ever write, and it’s just one sentence long. To understand the concept of micro-fiction, let me first give an example by another author. This is arguably the most popular micro-fiction story ever told, and it came from the late-great Ernest Hemingway. Some even consider this to be the shortest fiction story ever written. And it goes like this:
“For sale, baby shoes, never worn.”
That's it! Short and sweet. Really just a flash-in-the-pan of written word. But what it does do is leave the reader asking questions and playing out possible scenarios in his or her head. What might have led to the unworn baby shoes being sold, for example? Was there a late-term miscarriage? Did the family have a tragic car accident on the way home from the hospital? Are the shoes cursed, and the seller—the shoemaker enchantress who cast the spell—looking to spread the evil of her doing on to an unsuspecting family with a newborn child? The idea with flash-fiction is to get the reader thinking in as few words as possible, leaving him or her free to fill in the blanks . You get the picture…
So, in keeping to the theme of the stories I like to write (and the motif of the newsletter), here’s my take on micro-fiction, Ernest Hemingway style:
“Found: shoe box with nipple-clamps, a Houdini flask, and a dog-eared copy of the Old Testament.”
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