The Amazon Shorts program will be
shutting down on June 1st,
but my short stories are still available for Kindle.

I have also added two short stories to the Kindle site
in conjunction with this transition:
"The Legend of Hagen and the Bear"
and "Bella and the Prince of Spices."

I have neglected to mention that I occasionally have been writing poems and songs
for inclusion in "The Found Tales of Hagenspan."
I just finished one this week: "The Passing of Réchetthaerielle,"
which you can read here.

It's a new year, and I have recently resigned from the pastorate.
I am planning on spending much of my new-found free time writing,
and the immediate result is my first short story in over a year.

It's called "The Legend of Hagen and the Bear,"
and for the time being I will be making it available for free,
only to the visitors of this website.

You can read it here.

I have just agreed to do a public reading of excerpts from my writings
at the Dormann Library Chapters Cafe in Bath, NY on September 14.

Thanks to Shelley Pierce for the invitation.

I recently started a blog called Preaching to the Choir to post my sermon notes,
other Christian thought, and write a little bit about my long-time fandom of the New York Mets,
as well as posting any Hagenspan updates, of course.

One of my first entries at the blog was a short story called "Bella and the Prince of Spices."
I have decided to make prints of that story available for free;
just email me with your mailing address.

www.Hagenspan.com has undergone a fairly substantial design change.
Most important, of course, is the new feature of immediate free downloads of
any Hagenspan book at the click of a mouse button.

Book Seven of the Hagenspan Chronicles
is now available as a .pdf file.
Click here for details.

After many months of debate and procrastination, I have decided to make the Hagenspan Chronicles
available for free via .pdf files that may be read on your computer or e-document reader, or printed off if you wish.
For details, go here.

There are now Kindle versions of Roarke's Wisdom
and Kenyan's Lamp available at Amazon.com.

Also, for those of you who want to read ahead,
the first book of Owan's Regret is now available
for Kindle. It's called "Widows and Successions,"
and it follows the story of Owan and Hollie and
their life at Beale's Keep.

It looks like "Grimmi" has peaked at number 6 on the
Children's charts, and got as high as number 5 on
SciFi and Fantasy.

Thanksgiving Day tomorrow,
and one thing for which I will be grateful is that
"Grimmi the Kobold's Turrible Adventure"
is now available at Amazon.com.

October 24, 2007

Just received confirmation from Amazon.com that "Grimmi" will indeed be offered shortly.

September 26, 2007

I have finally completed the third "Found Tale of Hagenspan."
Meet one of the kobolds of the northern wastelands as you read
"Grimmi the Kobold's Turrible Adventure."
Readers of Roarke's Wisdom will recognize this character,
for he went on to forge a friendship with our beloved Sir Will;
this is the tale of how he got to be where we found him in the novel.
This story will hopefully be available soon from Amazon.com.

It's strange where your books can turn up
when one of your best friends is a graphic designer.

Here is Victoria Beckham carrying
a copy of Roarke's Wisdom.

Someplace, in an alternate universe,
perhaps she'll even read it!

An interesting morsel of news that is
indirectly related to my writing pursuits:
I have been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.
Just the early stages so far, but it explains
why my typing has gotten so bad!

#1

April 9, 2007

I have not said anything to this point about the fact
that Amazon.com has also listed my short stories in the
Children's and Teens section as well as Science Fiction
and Fantasy. But it seemed like a worthy bit of news
to report that "Mott in Love" is currently sitting at #1
on the charts for Children's and Teens, as well as
continuing to hold down #7 in SciFi/Fantasy.

My first foray into the Top Ten!
"Mott in Love" is currently #7 on Amazon.com's list
of top-selling SciFi/Fantasy short stories.

My 48th birthday, and one of God's gifts to me
is the discovery that "Mott in Love"
is now available from Amazon.com.

I have just today completed a second "Found Tale of Hagenspan."
It's called "Mott in Love" and stars the dwarf Kenyan met in Kenyan's Lamp.
I will be submitting it to Amazon.com tomorrow.

The Amazon Shorts program just turned one year old,
and Amazon.com was kind enough to list "The Gauntlet"
as one of their "Best of 2006 So Far."

Kenyan's Lamp is now available for sale
both from PublishAmerica and
elsewhere on this very site!

The cover design for Kenyan's Lamp has just been
completed and approved.

Thanks so much to Stacy Brown of
PublishAmerica's Cover Design department.

Like "The Gauntlet" before it, it looks like
"Karalog" peaked at Number 11 on Amazon.com's
list of best-selling SciFi/Fantasy short stories.

I just discovered that
"The Meekening of Karalog the Loud"
is now available from Amazon.com.

This is a follow-up note to my posting of April 10 (see below).
Last week, somehow, "The Gauntlet" enjoyed a surge in sales,
and shot from the mid-thirties on their charts all the way up to Number 11!

Amazon.com has notified me that they are adding my short story
"The Meekening of Karalog the Loud" to their Amazon Shorts Program.

"Karalog" is a story about Hagenspan set between the periods of Roarke's Wisdom and Kenyan's Lamp.

I have refrained from posting this for several weeks, waiting to see how high "The Gauntlet" peaked on the Amazon Shorts Science Fiction and Fantasy charts, but it has just reached a new high of Number 14. That is a much greater response than I had anticipated for this little story by this insignificant unknown author! Thanks so much to those of you who have invested your 49 cents and read the story!

"The Gauntlet" is now available from Amazon.com.

This morning I made my first TV appearance promoting
Roarke's Wisdom. The lady at the right is
Desiree Taylor, WETM's News Today anchor,
who conducted the interview.

To read a transcript of the interview, click here.

A twofold news release:

When I opened my email this morning, I had word from Amazon.com
that they are accepting my short story "The Gauntlet" for publication in their Amazon Shorts program!

Later in the morning I received word from PublishAmerica that they would like to publish
Kenyan's Lamp, Volume Two of the Hagenspan Chronicles.

A banner day!

This doesn't qualify too much as news, I guess, but I wanted to tell anyone who is interested....

I just visited my local Barnes and Noble store, and saw, for the first time,
my book upon the shelves.
And, most amazing of all, I was right next to J. R. R. Tolkien!

I don't know how I never noticed before our proximity in the alphabet ...
but at least in one place in the universe,
I'm rubbing elbows with the masters!

I have just been scheduled for my first TV appearance,
on WETM's morning news program on March 14th.

That same weekend, March 18th, will be my
second book-signing appearance,
at Heron Creek Cards & Gifts on Market Street in Corning, NY.

Here are four photos from my first book-signing.

Just got word that my very first book-signing will take place on February 11 at the Horseheads Free Library in Horseheads, NY.

I hope to post pictures after the big event! Many thanks to my lifelong friend Benjamin Thomas for making this happen.

This morning my wife opened the front door to walk the dog,
and on the porch there was a box from FedEx containing my
very first copy of my very first book.

It wasn't as good as seeing my sons born, but it was pretty good.

I also made my very first book sale later in the day!
Debbie Wheeler, you'll always have that honor, such as it is.

I just got the cover design for the book in my email this morning, and I am frankly thrilled. Lookit! Lookit!

Thank you very much to Ashley of the Cover Design department at PublishAmerica!

I got the proof pages for Roarke's Wisdom today so that I can proofread and approve them. The formatting is beautiful-much better than I had hoped for.

Today I signed my contract with PublishAmerica to produce Roarke's Wisdom. Publication will take place sometime early in 2006.