Beyond Modulator
My plans beyond Modulator are coming into focus. A couple of manuscripts have been under consideration by some publishers, and now I am at a crossroads. One path leads to continuing the submission process in hopes of peaking interest and hitting the right flow of what they are looking for in the current climate of publishing. A story can be intriguing but not fit into the trend of the moment. The other path is the hybrid one, in which I continue to submit some but pick one to be released this year by late summer.
Some factors include the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Houston Mass Murders on August 8th-13th, upon which Lane Bowden 1973 is based, and my willingness to set Rebel’s Edge free since it is based on my teenage years. Rebel’s Edge was therapeutic to write and will be more so when it is out in the world in three parts, starting with Suburbia and followed by Punks and Over the Edge. Its genesis started with my first shelved screenplay, Tracer, which covered some aspects but was rough and rushed. I even foolishly gave a copy to Jonathan Caouette after a screening of Tarnation in 2004, who was gracious if not taken aback. The first notes for the series were scribed in 2013, and the story has evolved over time to a good place. Both of those projects have been a long time coming, with another, my last unpublished manuscript, Future-Thrill, being a product of hardcore lockdowns in downtown DC in 2020 that were like something out of Eastern Europe in the 1980s, with fencing, boarded-up buildings, curfews, and military checkpoints influencing its dystopian nature. This choice of which book is first to be released comes with some concessions: waiting for a reply to my current submissions and the chaos of moving across the country again. The dust of the latter will settle by April, and that is when I will decide what comes next.
After due consideration and free of the vestiges of isolation from the past pandemic, I have returned in part to social media. I am now on Twitter @punk_fiction70. I feel 2023 is a fine year to start again, so this is my first foray back into the depths.
In the meantime, explore my anarchy library and check out Modulator, my newest book, for a twisted thrill:
On an idyllic retreat to mountain cabin, Enola Ranson accidentally breaks a lamp and discovers a covert listening device. Persuaded by her horror writer husband, Guy, who is intrigued by the analog transmitter, they set out to solve the mystery.
Strange wiring inside the cabin, hidden recordings, a mafia past, a shady private detective, a boy witness, and an eerie modulation noise are all clues to the past murders. Time is running short as an escaped lunatic is on the loose, finishing what they started and stopping anyone who knows.
Will Enola and Guy uncover the secrets of the past, or will they become the next victims?
Modulator — If you hear the sound, it is too late.
A giallo available in digital and print.
DS
P.S. A note from the mutant fam: Shudder is hosting Joe Bob’s The Last Drive-In Valentine’s Special with an actual on-air mutant wedding. I will definitely be watching, and so should you!
