Book trailers for Dead Light District - VOTE!

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Please let me know what you think - feedback helps!  Thanks!

New cover for Dead Light District!

Wheee!  I finally got the new cover today for Dead Light District!  So excited to finally have it!  Tell me what you think...  My friend Jennifer Stellings came up with it.  I gave her some key words re: the novel, a synopsis, plus a few tag lines.  This is what she created and I love it!  It matches what's between the covers which is most important!  Love the style, the colours, etc.  Bingo!

Almost ...

Well, Lisa Daisy Hamid and Greg Ioannou (of Colborne Communications) have done the last round of editing on Dead Light District.


Rick Blechta of Castlefield Media is currently doing the book layout and design.


Jennifer Stellings has created the illustration for the front cover.


Unless there is a major SNAFU in the next couple of days, Dead Light District will be going to the printers on February 1st. 


I will be so damn glad to finally get this book out!  The tidbit of trivia that people do not know about Dead Light District is that I actually finished writing the manuscript on May 2nd, 2009.  Yes, 2009.  So, you can imagine how happy I'll be when the real thing is in my hands.  Countdown begins, and I'm happier than a kid on Christmas Eve.

Update Re: Dead Light District

I am anxiously awaiting the unveiling of a new cover for Dead Light District!  I gave the designer lots of info and ideas about what I want and don't want.  I've seen this guy's work, and I like what he's done for other books.   Cover design is a tricky one... I am not an artist, so visualizing what the cover should be like is tough.  I can come up with lots of key words and ideas and themes, but as to what exactly the image should be, I have NO idea.  Anyhow, I can't wait to see it in about a week or so.


As for other details re: the release of Dead Light District... Well, it will be in about 6-8 weeks.  I'll have details soon regarding the launch party!  I'm looking forward to another blowout, just like I did with the release of Blood and Groom.  You know the launch party will be at The Pilot Tavern (again, on the second floor, of course...)


As far as what is being released:  Well, for now it's only the paperback version of the book.  However, I am looking into e-books (Kindle or similar).  Stay tuned!

Sanitizing Literature

I just read a news story (in the National Post) about a publisher in Alabama (NewSouth Books) that plans to reissue Huckleberry Finn. They will publish a scrubbed and polished version from which offensive language (i.e. the "N" word and other racial epithets) has been removed.


I do not like that word (or certain other words) but I don't agree with changes made, especially so long after the fact, and especially without the author's approval (obviously impossible to get in this case).


A book (or poem or play or ...) captures certain realities and reflects moment(s) in time.  Were "Huck Finn" written today, it would be a different book, with a different audience, and perhaps even a different message. 


I'd love to know what others think about making posthumous edits to a classic.


Here's a link to the article:  Huckleberry Finn News Story

Still getting reviews...

It's kind of neat to get a review so long after the publication date.  Thanks to "Google Alerts", I just came across this one, which was posted a couple of days ago.

Read Review Here

Interesting that the reviewer commented (positively) on grammar/spelling/punctuation.  More interesting is that - despite three rounds of proofreading/editing - not one but three typos slipped through the cracks.  Two of the typos were caught and corrected in the second print run, and the third will be corrected when it goes to another printing.

For the record, the errors are:

• one instance of FORM when it should be FROM
• one missing apostrophe (should say Mother's)
• one missing O from the word chocolate (it's the second O that was skipped)

Funny that no matter how sure you (and the publisher) are about going over the manuscript agaian and again, you just can't catch everything!