Saturday, September 1, 2012

Now for something completely different

Well, it's been a big day. Sometime in the night "A Time for Poncey" went live at Amazon without a hitch, which is a major thing in this time of high-tech. All I'm waiting for now is for it to show up on Goodreads. If any of you like it enough, feel free to rate and review it on Amazon and Goodreads. Here's a hint for all you insiders: The first free giveaway will be this Thursday.

Now it's off to the next project, in earnest. It will be another collection of Southern Gothic stories exploring spiritual themes, but these will have no connection to each other. I'll also throw in some poetry for good measure. The flagship story, which I think will be called "Little Egypt Ain't Home," will be available for free online soon. I'll post a link here so all my devoted blog fans can find it. Also included will be "Spinning Wheel," which is now available for about a quarter at AlfieDog.com. A few of the stories are written and ready to go, and I've spent a good part of today sending them to literary journals. If any see the light of day, I'll let you know.

With that I wish you all a wonderful Labor Day weekend. I'm going to take a nap.

Friday, August 31, 2012

The big day approaches

Well, tomorrow is the big release day. To get the direct link to Amazon first, join our Facebook page. "A Time for Poncey" will be available only in .mobi, the Kindle-friendly format. However, the first story, "You Can't Count What Isn't There," will continue to be available on Smashwords for the next few months, and it will be posted as a free download at St. Celibart soon. It is also still part of "The Job: Based on a True Story," "Feallengod" and "Wars of the Aoten." Yesterday was another free giveaway of "The Job" through Kindle Select, and more than 500 copies were taken. So thanks to everyone who's got a copy, and I hope you're blessed and see your relationship with Christ more clearly. Same goes with "Poncey."

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

More good news for Nooks

For those of you who use Nooks, you'll be happy to know that "Feallengod: The Conflict in the Heavenlies" is again available for you at Barnes and Noble online. And it's free! It was my first book, and I still believe it is my most important writing - I took all the instances in Scripture where Satan is seen overtly active and wrote them into a single narrative. At the same time, the story is staged at a human level to illustrate how the Church is involved in spiritual struggles even in our material existence. Barnes and Noble shoppers have been very kind to my study on Esther, so I hope you'll try out "Feallengod" also. And be sure to check out the pronouncing appendix at nearly the end.

Also, "You Can't Count What Isn't There" is included in the current edition, which is at the very-most end of the book. It's the first story from "A Time for Poncey - And other Stories out of Skullbone" (in case you haven't been paying attention) which is coming out for Kindle in four days!!!! Join us for the big galactic release at our Facebook event.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Facebook release party

I've set a worldwide release party for "A Time for Poncey" on Facebook at this link. If you are as excited about this as I am - and who wouldn't be? - join me for the global celebration. Click on "going" (or "join," I don't remember which), and the event will show up on your friends' news feed, and the word will spread. And by the way, the 2 a.m. start time means nothing. I hope you're all snugly asleep in your beds at that time. But please help me spread the word. Thanks!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

First 'Poncey' review raves

I didn't expect to get any reviews of "A Time for Poncey" in before the release, but the Midwest Book Review really came through. It is a group that for almost 40 years has reviewed independent books, and is highly respected by libraries and other bibliophiles. The group gave a glowing review of "The Job," so I was hoping for similar results for "Poncey." Here it is:

"A touch of the unusual can revolutionize our perspectives of the world. 'A Time for Poncey - And other Stories out of Skullbone' is a collection of short fiction from Craig Davis, touching on the nature of Southern Gothic culture and exploring our world through a metaphysical lens, providing strange humor and thought equally. 'A Time for Poncey' is a strong pick for short fiction collections."

So thanks to Midwest Book Review - you guys show a thoughtful appreciation for writing that goes beyond genre and formula. The stamps are in the mail.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Story featured at AlfieDog.com

My story "Spinning Wheel" is the featured story this week at AlfieDog.com. It is a newish website offering e-reader short stories for sale, usually pretty cheap. I think "Spinning Wheel" may be the longest they have at 7,500 words, so it's a little more than most. Still, less than a dollar. I'm not sure how viable this business model is, but I thought it was worth trying out with one story.

Regardless of all that, "Spinning Wheel" is about the cycles of abuse that families can go through unless and until one courageous member can break out of it. Southern Gothic writing rife with symbolism and things crawling about under the surface. It will be part of my next collection, but that won't be ready for probably another couple of years, so this is your chance to get a sneak peek.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Just a reminder

Don't forget that "You Can't Count What Isn't There" is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords. It's the opening chapter of "A Time for Poncey - And other Stories out of Skullbone," the awesome collection of Southern Gothic stories coming out on Sept. 1. The writings are based on Ecclesiastes, and told with a hint of humor. More news coming as the release date approaches! Stay tuned!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Sony readers rejoice!

After an inordinate waiting period, "You Can't Count What Isn't There" is now available for Sony readers. Follow this link to get your free copy. It's the first story from "A Time for Poncey - And other Stories out of Skullbone," which will be released for Kindle only on Sept. 1. If you use a Sony reader, you may wonder, why bother with the story if the book is for Kindle only. Well, you can get Kindle reading software for your computer for free, and read the whole book there (cause believe me, you'll want to), so don't be shy!

Friday, June 29, 2012

News for Nooks

The first Poncey story, "You Can't Count What Isn't There," is now up and running at Barnes & Noble. It's completely 100% free. I've also included it in "Wars of the Aoten" at the Kindle store, so go for it. It still hasn't shown up at the Sony book store, which is the last of the major distributors, so stay tuned for that. And that's all I want to say about that.


I will mention that I've just learned the British slang "poncy" means pretentious, which seems to fit.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

What a Difference a Day Makes

At the Clarksville Writers Conference, which I attended a couple weeks ago, one of the tips offered by Peggy DeKay, the author of several e-marketing books, was to offer KDP Select titles for free on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I've had good results from this program, but I've always made my books available on weekends. The first time around I got about 450 downloads of "The Job," and in subsequent promotions would get 200-240 or so. So for this latest promotion I switched from the weekend and tried Thursday-Friday. As a result, 400 copies of "The Job" were downloaded, which is particularly important since I've included a story from "A Time for Poncey" in the updated edition. That's an increase of at least 60% over my other promotions (excluding the initial one). So there are 400 more readers with a copy of both "The Job" and "You Can't Count What Isn't There" to be seen and read and passed around. Look for future promotions to fall at the end of the work week.


In other news, "You Can't Count What Isn't There" is up and running on Kobo. I don't know what a Kobo reader is, but for the thousands of you who use them, today's your lucky day. The story is also available at the iTunes store, for all your iPad and iPhone reading apps, but since you don't get there through the web, I can't give you a link. But here's what it looks like:



Saturday, June 16, 2012

You Can't Count What Isn't There

One of the biggest cogs in the publicity machine for "A Time for Poncey" is the first story, "You Can't Count What Isn't There." The story is available at St. Celibart to read online, and in every e-book format you can think of at Smashwords. Absolutely free.



 On top of that, I've included it as a bonus in the Kindle versions of "The Job: Based on a True Story" and "Feallengod." Just go to the end of the book, and there it'll be. I may add it to "Wars of the Aoten" as well, but that's later to be determined. I'll let you know.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The problem with art

Many months, perhaps a year, ago, I sent a copy of "The Job" to Big Al's Books and Pals, a review blog. I had no reason to, except that he was embroiled in a shouting match with another author and had gotten quite a lot of buzz, so I thought it was a good outlet. In May he finally posted about the book, which is no slam on him but indicates the backload of books he must have. The review appears here. As you can see, his approach is simply from a political perspective, and so he misses the greater points of the book. (Still gave it three stars, though.) But this is the way we want it to be.


What artists should want more than anything else is to leave room for the reader (in the case of literature) to bring something of himself to the party. If the point of a book or poem, or painting or piece of music, hits the audience over the head so hard that there's no room for interpretation left, then you've lost everyone who does not agree with you 100% already. I placed "The Job" within a corporate setting simply to give it a point of familiarity to westerners, and most particularly Americans, and "Big Al" took that to be an apologetic for capitalism. And maybe that indeed is what evangelicals look like to the world, or even to themselves. But it's not the point of the book. That's the price you pay as an artist, however, and my best hope is that there's enough of "The Job" stuck in his head that he'll reconsider the themes.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Monday, May 14, 2012

"Madness Is In Their Hearts"

Dr. Hurley's Snake-Oil Cure has posted the first part of "Madness Is In Their Hearts," so please give it a look. Even if you don't want to read it, click on the link and give them a page hit. The story is part of "A Time for Poncey," for which I will soon start turning the marketing gears, looking at a Sept. 1, 2012 release. It's classic Southern Gothic writing based on Ecclesiastes, with a wicked twist of humor. So please help get the word around by directing folks to Dr. Hurley's. I think you'll find some other interesting arts there as well. Thanks.

Friday, March 23, 2012

A long time a-comin'

Did you do it? This is the day of the final tweet of "You Can't Count What Isn't There." Did you follow it? It took six months almost exactly. It is perhaps the worst method of reading a story ever devised. But, in the process, I probably tripled the number of followers I have, mostly from re-tweeting things with the hashtag #ian1. That stands for Independent Authors Network, which I'm not an official member of. Check them out. And stay tuned here for other appearances of stories from "A Time for Poncey," and publication announcements yet to come.