another free story

Actually, 18 free stories. Tuesday and Wednesday only.

On Tuesday, January 31, you can download the entire anthology Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever free from the Kindle store. This fabulous anthology covers several genres all on one theme and includes some really excellent writing.

On both Tuesday and Wednesday, you can download each of the 18 single stories for free, including my story, Distractions.

George thought Stinson’s window office would surely be his after making a momentous discovery while on holiday. When the distractions get too much, however, his wife cooks up a surprise to remind him that love is always worth sacrificing for.

Want to learn more about the stories and authors? The blogs below are spotlighting their Extinct stories on Tuesday and/or Wednesday. Go visit and say Hi! And download the free stories. You can't beat the price, and them's some good readin'.

• Phoenix Sullivan: Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever
• Chrystalla Thoma: "The Angel Genome"
• Shona Snowden: "Blood Fruit"
• Kenneth Burstall: "Connect"
• Scott Thomas Smith: "In Ring"
• Jo-Ann S: "My Own Secret Dinosaur"

Don't forget you can get a free app from Amazon to let you read Kindle books pretty much anywhere.

SEMPER in print and free download

UPDATE:
The print version is now available on Amazon, too. I was told people had trouble buying it at createspace.

The ebook has been well received so far. Thank you to all who have read it!

If you've read it already, please stop by the Amazon page for the book and write a short review. Just scroll about halfway down and look for the create your own review button on the right. One quick paragraph with your thoughts is enough.

Two items of news about the book.

First, I will be running a promotion offering the ebook for free download during the San Francisco Writers Conference, which runs February 17 through 19. You don't have to be at the conference to get the ebook for free. Since I will be volunteering at the conference for my fifth year in a row, I just thought that would be an appropriate time for a promotion. All I ask is that if you take advantage of the free download and like the book, you consider doing two things:

1. Actually buy the ebook (or the print version if you prefer), and/or
2. Write a short review at the book's page as described above.

Surveys show that the two biggest reasons people pick up a book are (a) personal recommendations and (b) familiarity with the author. With only short stories published, I hope everyone who likes SEMPER will help out with category (a).

Second, the print version of the book is now available at the createspace.com store and will be available on amazon.com in about a week.

I'm so incredibly excited about all this that it's hard for me not to talk about it all the time. I promise I will not become one of those tedious constant self-promoters. But it's hard, you know?

Rabbit Hole Day

Lewis Carroll was born on January 27th. The idea of Rabbit Hole Day is to stop making sense for 24 hours to honor the birthday of the guy who came up with Alice and the white rabbit and Cheshire Cat and all that. I, however, take a different approach. I honor the day not by being inane and insane but by penning a poem that attempts to mimic something. You get to decide what it mimics.

With a dollar in my pocket
I set out from Grinnell Lake
walking backwards in my jammies
counting every step I'd take
and I scattered stickle hitches
in the dust stirred by my wake
as I walked beneath the moonlight
wondering when the day would break.

Spichy fregs and skirtle momers
lurkled quisey in the brush
and I think I heard the warbles
of a sprinkle-crested thrush
so I pauzzled for a moment
as I harkened to his hush
heeking closely to his lesson,
since I wasn't in a rush.

"Carry swiftly homeword on,"
said the tinkly, silent bird
so I cocked my head and spread my wings
and rose without a word
then above a horslish wind I soared
til mama's voice I heard
and I woke amid her waksing song,
snugged closely in her skird.

My book SEMPER now on Kindle

I have independently published my novel, SEMPER. It is now available in the Kindle store and soon will be available in print (give it a couple weeks). The front cover is on the left--photo credit my dad, Fred Dudley, during our trip to Glacier National Park last summer. The back cover is below it, photo credit and photoshop wackiness to me. That's my older son in the picture, at Grinnell Lake in Glacier.

The book can be found at the Amazon Kindle store. When I looked for Beta readers, I asked for folks who had liked The Hunger Games. Everyone who liked that most awesome book really enjoyed SEMPER as well, even though the stories are really nothing similar at all. I hope you also enjoy it.

Here's the blurb from the back cover, which is the same as you'll read on the Amazon page:

Dane’s sixteenth birthday holds a choice he didn’t expect to face: Should he take his place as Semper, obeying his cruel uncle and twelve generations of Southshaw Truth, or should he follow his heart and risk exile and death to unearth the real truth? An exotic huntress, a mythical ghost-man, and a tailor’s daughter hold the keys to his answer. And to the survival of Southshaw itself.

The book's Amazon page also has an internal preview with almost three chapters, so you can check it out before buying. Also, over the next two months I'll be making it available a couple of times for free download; look for those announcements. The first will be during the annual San Francisco Writer's Conference, February 17 through 19, where I'll again be working as a volunteer.

I'll post again when the print version is available. Dear friends, I would love your support in letting other people know the book exists. I don't plan much promotion since I really need to get back to working on the sequel.