An Update on Rory and Longinus

Hi guys! for anyone who missed the latest newsletter or who isn’t on the mailing list, I have a quick update:

 

I’ve been hit with health issues that have prevented me from writing for a few months now, which means that unfortunately the latest instalment in the Rory and Longinus saga is on hiatus for a little while until I get myself back on track. Book 3 in the series is definitely still on the cards (it’s called The Slave City) and I’ll let you all know as soon as it’s back up and running. I’m hoping that I’ll have it finished some time later this year, but it’s hard to know what timelines will look like for now.

 

I wanted to let everyone know so you didn’t think the series was coming to an abrupt (and premature!) end. There’s still loads to look forward to, it will just be a bit delayed. I’ll send out an update as soon as I have some more definite news on The Slave City!

The Pickpocket

Big news! The Pickpocket is now available on Amazon. You can still get a free copy if you sign up to my mailing list, or you can simply get it on Amazon. I’m so excited to put this book out there. It’s only small, but it means a lot to me and I’m really proud of it. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!

It’s already garnered a few lovely reviews, too — big thanks to Riley, Jessie, and Barb for reading so quickly and taking the time to write such wonderful and well thought out reviews! And huge thanks to Fran and S.R. for taking the time to write reviews on Amazon – it’s such a massive help 🙂

Behind the Scene: the ethnicity of Damsians and the building of Damsport.

Today I’m answering a reader question about Damsians and Damsport, and specifically the ethnicity of Damsians and how Damsport was built. One thing that was important to me was for Damsport not to feel like it was based on a real world place ( you know, like alternate Middle-East, or steampunk India, that kind of thing) and I did a few things to make sure Damsport got its own sense of identity, which I go over in the video 🙂

A quick update on all things book…

… and some of that is Rory and Longinus related 😉

 

Author Interview with C.D Gallant-King

Hi guys, today I’m delighted to have C.D. Gallant-King over on the blog, in honour of his newly released book Hell Comes to Hogtown. Take it away, C.D.!

A comic book nerd and a pro-wrestler try to clear their names in a kidnapping while evading a bloodthirsty demon hobo

THE TRAILER

THE INTERVIEW

Tell us a little about yourself. When did you first start writing?
I’m a dad and a husband and a gamer and oh, yeah, a writer. I currently reside in Ottawa, the scenic capital of Canada, but I’m originally from Newfoundland and spent many years in Toronto. I have a degree in Theatre and I’ve been an actor, a stage manager, a lighting technician, a printer, a retail manager, a secretary and a public servant in addition to being a writer, which is probably the reason you’re reading this. I doubt you have an interest in stage lighting design. I also briefly wanted to be a rock star, but that’s a story for another time.The first story I ever remember writing was a sci-fi piece about an alien invasion. I was probably about five years old and I made my babysitter to look up how to spell ìextra-terrestrialî in the dictionary. I’ve been writing genre fiction ever since.Tell us your latest book, Hell Comes to Hogtown.
Hogtown is about a hapless loser named Fitz who works at a comic shop and can’t get a date to save his life. When a beautiful woman walks into his shop by accident one rainy night he thinks his luck might actually be changing… until she gets him implicated in a murder and kidnapping case involving the prime minister’s family. Fitz and his best friend – a womanizing, drug-addicted professional wrestler named Dee – go on the run from the cops trying to clear their name only to discover there’s something way worse than the cops on their tail. A creepy, murderous hobo hounds them at every step… and he may be some kind of demon.

And yes, it’s a comedy.

(It’s also got strong elements of horror and urban fantasy, with a touch of mystery/thriller thrown in. And lots of cuss words. Lots and lots of cuss words.)

So how did it come about? What’s the story behind the story?
Hogtown is the mixture of several threads I thought would be different books but somehow got blended together in one story. I had clear ideas for a few characters that I wanted to use somewhere (the wrestler, the pathetic comic store employee and the giant demon hobo in particular) so I decided to throw them in. Most of them were pretty comic, funny characters. I really wanted to write a supernatural mystery with a dark bent, with monsters and murder and horror. People are going to die. So armed with those ideas as well as a bunch of scenes that I wanted to write, it all coalesced into what you see now.

Horror and comedy may not seem to complement each other, but I believe it’s actually quite the opposite. I think the two go hand in hand. In order for tragedy to have the strongest impact, sometimes you need a lightness to come first, so that it catches you off guard. And you can’t have something that’s endlessly bleak, either (unless you’re Cormac McCarthy). You need moments of levity mixed into a dark story, otherwise it’s just sadistically pounding you in the heart with a hammer for no good reason. If done properly it’s a roller-coaster that keeps you constantly off guard and engaged, which I hope I pulled of successfully with this book.

What is your writing process?
It’s evolving. In the past, Iíve usually started with just a few scenes – usually the beginning and the end and a few points in the middle, and then started writing around them to so where it goes. While this is a free and fun way to do it, itís also time consuming and potentially frustrating. The scenes donít always fit together as well as I would like once you fill in the middle parts. For my next book Iím doing way more outlining and plotting in advance than Iíve ever done before – Iím hoping that with a better framework Iíll waste a lot less time and the book will come together faster and smoother. It may also be less fun, but that remains to be seen – Iíll let you know.

Who are your favourite authors?
Terry Pratchett, Kurt Vonnegut, Christopher Moore, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Ken Follett, Chuck Palahniuk. I’m currently really digging PG Wodehouse. My first book, Ten Thousand Days, was my take on Gaiman. Hell Comes to Hogtown is my Christopher Moore. I have other unpublished works that are takes on Pratchett and Palahniuk. I suspect (at least hope) my author voice will end up being some unholy combination of all of those, I’m still working on it.

THE BOOK

Title: Hell Comes to Hogtown
Author: C.D Gallant-King
Genre: Comic Horror
Length: 65,000 words
Cover Art: Jason Salvatori and C.D. Gallant-King
Editing: Amy Allen-MacLeod
Release Date: July 1, 2016

Fitz is a broke night manager for a grubby comic book store. His only friend Dee is a drugged-out, womanizing pro-wrestler. Together theyíre the most pathetic losers on the face of the planet. Their lives cannot possibly get any worse.

And then theyíre implicated in the kidnapping of the prime ministerís wife.

On the run from the cops, Fitz and Dee discover there is something far worse than the RCMP stalking the dark streets of Toronto. They are being hunted by an ancient demon of unspeakable evil with an insatiable taste for blood… or maybe itís just your run-of-the-mill giant murderous hobo?

Either way, life in prison might be better than whatever the creepy drifter has in store for themÖ

THE LINKS

You can purchase Hell Comes to Hogtown at any of the fine retailers below:

 

AMAZON.COM | AMAZON.CA | AMAZON.CO.UK

KOBO | BARNES & NOBLE | iTUNES

CREATESPACE | SMASHWORDS | GOODREADS

 

THE WRITER

 

Writer, tabletop gamer, pro-wrestling aficionado. Dad.

C.D. Gallant-King is an independent writer originally from Newfoundland, Canada, though he’s not fond of fishing and hates boats. He moved to Toronto to study theatre, and then later moved to Ottawa where he does absolutely nothing related to theatre.

He hangs out on Twitter and Facebook, and blogs at Stories I Found in the Closet and Rule of the Dice.

Vlog 2 – a moment of reader appreciation

So I recorded my second video. I’m a roll! It’s less awkward putting it out than the first one, too. I basically wanted to say thank you in person to my readers, because I so appreciate everyone who reads my books 🙂 So there it is….

My first video ever!

So I recorded a video. It’s on youtube, Out In The World. Which is pretty exciting! (and a tad nervous-making) I’ve decided to try my hand at keeping a youtube channel as a substitute to blogging, which just hasn’t been happening of late. And from my first effort, I’m liking the more informal format compared to blogging, which bodes well. This one is just a little intro with a bit of a an overview on what I write (other than Rory and Longinus stories) and why I write what I write. There’s going to be more forthcoming, but if you have any questions or requests for me you can let me know and I’ll do a video about it!

Hope you enjoy 🙂 (and if you want to subscribe, you can do so here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8pSdmLSCE_g0xXp0cgwYLQ)

Author Chat: Celine Jeanjean on Sequels

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Originally posted on disregard the prologue:
Hi, everyone! Today it’s my pleasure to host a guest author on the blog. If you’ve been hanging around here, or if you follow me on Instagram, you probably know how much I enjoyed…

Fancy a Kindle Fire loaded up with 50 fantasy ebooks?

Guys, I have something pretty exciting to share with you all. If you like fantasy books, then you should definitely check this out.

I’m part of a massive giveaway with 49 other writers, with a seriously cool prize: a Kindle Fire loaded with 50 fantasy ebooks! Even better, this contest doesn’t just have one winner, but SIX! One person wins the kindle, and an additional five people will be given one of the 50 ebooks listed in this giveaway — their choice. It’s a pretty cool way to check out new authors.

If you take part, you’ll also get a chance to earn unlimited extra entries. Click below to find out more, or scroll down to check out the prizes.

Enter the Fantasy Lovers Giveaway Here

The Prizes: One Kindle Fire…

Plus these FIFTY Fantasy eBooks!

    

       

     

        

    

        

    

          

         

    

Well? What are you waiting for? Click here to enter the giveaway.

Recent events in Paris

Please excuse typos and the likes, this isn’t a post I particularly feel like editing, so you get it as a stream of consciousness — warts and all. 

I’m sure by now you’ve heard of what happened in Paris (if you haven’t, now might be a good time to nip out from under your rock to do a quick Google search).

To say that it’s been a shock is an understatement. My brother lives in Paris as do a few of my cousins. Everyone is fine, even though they live near the area of the attacks. My brother sent us a map showing how close the Bataclan (scene of the concert shootings) is to his appartment — it’s a ten minute walk.

Worse, my cousin and his friend were due to go to one of the restaurants that was attacked (Le Castillon). At the last minute his friend decided she fancied Chinese. They were still very close to the scene, and had to spend the night hiding behind the metal shutters the restaurant owner pulled down as soon as the attacks started, but they were otherwise unhurt.

It seems utterly crazy that the choice of Chinese food versus French food meant life rather than death. How can you make sense of that?

In an email my father sent me my and siblings, he said ‘Que faire pour se protéger de ces fous?’ (what to do to protect ourselves against these madmen?)

It’s something that I’ve kept coming back to. The thing is, you can do everything right. You can eat healthy, not drink or smoke, be a responsible driver, exercise. You can be a good, kind person who helps those around you, who cares and tries to make a difference.

But then you choose French food instead of Chinese…

What can you do against that? How can you protect yourself?

Never go out? Leave the big cities and bury yourself in the country? Never take a train or a plane again?

I spent an entire morning doing very little and going over this. Of course arbitrary death is nothing new. We live in a world of tsunamis and earthquakes, of terrible bombings and planes disappearing from the sky. I guess from a personal point of view, it’s just a shock to realise that I could have lost my cousin if his friend hadn’t had a craving for Chinese food.

A craving for Chinese food. How crazy is it that something so insignificant could mean such a life changing and life saving difference?

It’s so arbitrary, it’s a flip of the coin. How can you protect against a coin flip?

You can’t. You can do everything right but still it won’t make any difference when that coin gets tossed.

I took a long detour that morning through ‘What’s The Point?’, and eventually realised that there isn’t a point per se. Not to any of it. Life is random and arbitrary and unfair. In the face of that, all we can do is keep on living and make the best and fullest possible use of our time, whatever that means to each of us.

In the face of life and death coming down to a choice between Chinese food vs French food, the only thing to do is not delay.