D.R. MacMaster's Blog

Spontaneous Clues?

I'm attempting to write my first "whodunnit" style novel about a comic book artist who stumbles on a murder during a comic book convention. I introduced a sort of comic-relief sidekick at the beginning of the novel, and one of his running gags was a tendency to make up double entendre based phony names.

Yesterday I was laying out alibis for my suspects, and one of them, an actress of the "she ain't pretty she just looks that way" variety has an… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on July 3, 2010 at 5:49am — 2 Comments

The Title Conundrum

I have a mystery story I'm developing. Got a nice twisty plot, some quirky characters, some nice twists, and potential for the sort of snarky satire I get noticed for. It looks like it can be a really fun project.

But there's a catch.

I hate the title I came up with. It takes place in and around a comic book convention, and all I could come up with was "Mint Condition Corpse." It just seems to on the money, and a little too cheeky, but it's the only part of this project that's… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on April 26, 2010 at 1:40pm — 4 Comments

Well isn't this a pleasant surprise...

My blog The Furious D Show was listed as one of Total Film's 600 Blogs You Might Have Missed. Sure I'm just one of 600, but it's nice to know that someone acknowledges my existence in a crowded blogosphere.

Added by D.R. MacMaster on January 31, 2010 at 12:49pm — 2 Comments

I Finally Did It

I caved in and finally signed up for Twitter.

Which means that Twitter is now officially no longer cool. Feel free to "follow" me like a lovelorn stalker at:

http://twitter.com/FuriousDShow

Any other Twits out there?

Added by D.R. MacMaster on January 11, 2010 at 12:40pm — No Comments

A little shameless plugging

If anyone here is a member of Authonomy, the Harper-Collins writing site, then you can do me a solid. My novel JOE AVERAGE is currently up on the site, and so far the response has been really good. Actually the response has been great, but like Kanye West, I'm a…

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Added by D.R. MacMaster on September 15, 2009 at 11:50am — No Comments

Anyone In Authonomy?

I just joined Authonomy the Harper-Collins booksite, and posted a few sample chapters. I got a couple of really good reviews so far, which warmed my little flint heart.

Anyone else on this site?

Added by D.R. MacMaster on September 8, 2009 at 8:51am — 1 Comment

A Little Writer Related News...

The Writer's Guild of America is filled with righteous anger because the Emmy Awards decided to drop the scribe related categories from the telecast. Apparently they're just not worthy of ever appearing on the same stage as Kathy Griffin who will…

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Added by D.R. MacMaster on August 4, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

Talk about lazy...

Okay, here's the story: I got a form rejection reply from another agent, or to be more specific, the agent's assistant, which stated that despite what their website and other public statements said, they're too busy and not looking for new clients, good luck, yadda yadda yadda, but this time it came with a little something extra.

You know when someone replies to an e-mail, there's usually the first e-mail on the top of the page, that's fairly common, but this time it got… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on August 4, 2009 at 7:58am — 2 Comments

Rejection Letter Blues & A Request For Some Advice...

Got another rejection letter today, but at least this agent appears to have actually read the materials that were sent, which says something. That makes about five out of the dozen that I've applied to over the last few weeks, the rest haven't answered yet, and most of them probably won't if they feel the same lack of enthusiasm as the last agent had.

It does raise a question. Should I mention that the novel was recommended twice by editors at a major genre publishing company only to… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on August 1, 2009 at 8:33am — 8 Comments

Today Was Library Sale Day

Today was the day of the annual library sale, where the public and school libraries of three counties put all their over-stock books together and sell them at great prices. I'm talking $5 for 3 hardcovers, and $2 for 3 paperbacks (mass market and trade size).

For a stingy yet voracious reader like myself, I always go ape-shit crazy at this sale, and I bought a huge load of books for about $25 in just about every genre and subject. The trick is that you have to get to the back room of… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on July 19, 2009 at 4:03am — No Comments

The Agent Hunt Goes On

I restarted my agent hunt after a bout of what was possibly swine flu, and started sending out query letters to potentially interested agents.

I got 1 rejection so far, and like past rejections was sent in about the time it took for the assistant to hit the "reply" button, so it was pretty obvious that the materials they asked for probably weren't even read, so I now I know where not to try again.

Anyway, the hunt goes on.

Added by D.R. MacMaster on July 10, 2009 at 4:39am — 6 Comments

2 Good Reviews

The book I'm in Sha'Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse, got two good reviews available online.

One even included my chapter as a highlight, describing it as "fun." Which is sort of the point of the story.

Read them... HERE & HERE

Added by D.R. MacMaster on July 1, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

A Book (featuring me) Will Be On Blog Talk Radio

Mike Hanson, the creator of Sha'Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse, a novel-anthology hybrid to which I contributed Chapter 6: Dixie Chrononauts, will be appearing on the Ben Eads Dark Fiction Show, on Saturday May 30th, at 11 PM EST.

If you can't catch it live, you can download it as a podcast and listen to it at your leisure.

And if you would like a copy of the book then click my… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on May 29, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

The Great Agent Search Begins Again...

My inability to get an answer out of the publisher whose been sitting on my science fiction novel for 4 years, or from the editor who asked me to let them look at it again last year, has convinced me that I desperately need an agent.

But I hate looking for one.

First, I'm in Canada, and I have several bad agent experiences I had in Toronto. (Ever had one bar a door when you had an appointment for a meeting and they demand you slide your work through a mail slot?) I've… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on May 21, 2009 at 1:26pm — 3 Comments

How long should it take?

Last year I got an e-mail from a major publisher about my first novel, a science fiction adventure, asking me if it was still available, because it had been sitting on someone's desk for 3 years, because this editor finally got around to reading it and wanted to kick it up to upper management. I was about to submit it to another publisher, but decided to agree to let the editor move it up the food chain.

Well, it's going on a year since it was "kicked up" and I'm still… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on May 9, 2009 at 3:56am — 7 Comments

If you like dark fantasy...

Then I have something for you.

I'm not the type to toot my own horn, but I'm trying to drum up as much support for this project as I can. You see a while back I was recruited for a special project. The idea was to get a large group of authors, give each of them a premise, and a title to start with, and get them to each write a short story telling some facet of a global Lovecraftian Apocalyptic battle for world domination.

Well, the project eventually became the two book… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on April 9, 2009 at 8:30am — No Comments

Was It Just Me...

Or did anyone else have trouble logging into Crimespace over the past week?

I tried to visit the site, but all I'd get was an error screen saying the "connection had been reset" and I couldn't log on. This went on for at least a week, apparently ended today, and I don't know why my "connection" kept getting "reset."

Did this happen to anyone else?

Added by D.R. MacMaster on April 6, 2009 at 2:27am — 3 Comments

My ongoing crime-sci-fi pulp serial keeps going on...

I'm still doing my ongoing serial story.

Here are the installments so far...

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Enjoy...

Added by D.R. MacMaster on March 28, 2009 at 12:26pm — No Comments

Friday Fiction Feature

Every once in a while I like to just do a story on my writing blog that has no plan, no outline, and no clue what I'm going to do next beyond a very vague premise, and a couple of characters. I call it literary improv, and I don't do any editing beyond my computer's initial spelling and grammar check, so it is literally as raw as you can get.

This time around, it's a story I call Tooth & Claw, a fusion of Depression era outlaws… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on March 21, 2009 at 12:18am — No Comments

Rest in Peace Ricardo...

Two obits in one day. Sheesh...

Ricardo Montalban, one the classiest actors in Hollywood history, known by millions as the charming and enigmatic Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island, but beloved by generations of geeks as Khan Noonian Singh the greatest Star Trek villain of all time has passed away.

Justify Full

He started out in Hollywood in the 1940s as one of the few Hispanic actors working in the industry. And in the tradition of old-school miscasting, was often cast as… Continue

Added by D.R. MacMaster on January 15, 2009 at 1:06pm — No Comments

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