Mark Teppo's Blog

The Right Kind of Sinner is out now. It’s the newest Butch Bliss book, written by my Harry Bryant pseudonym. Butch is still trying to stay out of trouble, but trouble keeps knocking on his door. This time around, a surprise convenience store heist turns into a twisting re-examination of everything that has happened to him since he went to prison. Is his whole life a lie?

The Right Kind of Sinner: PRINT | EBOOK

I’ve also been working on the Night Office books. The Doom That Came to the Coffee Shop is the latest book in that series. It’s a simpler exercise than In the Mansion of Madness. Can you survive ordering a cup of coffee, or will tentacled monstrosities from non-Euclidean dimensions devour you?

The Doom That Came to the Coffee Shop: PRINT | EBOOK

The post March 2021 appeared first on Mark Teppo.

March 2020

In the Mansion of Madness came out a few weeks ago. I’ve been doing a few readings here and there, introducing people to the idea of training for the Night Office. So far, it seems like a core decision choice comes down to which path has more kissing and which path has more ass-kicking. There are some who think there should be both, and it is the writer’s job to find that sweet balance.

In the Mansion of Madness: Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

And speaking of writer brain, Harry Bryant has stopped by. There’s that second Butch Bliss novel that needs a final editorial pass. I’m deep in the weeds on it. Expect to see ordering information on it by the end of the month.

It starts with Butch heading across the border in a cherry red Mercedes, along with four drunk co-eds and a tree python. Naturally, things get complicated from there.

Reading/Watching: I read James S. A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes a few years ago, and enjoyed the hell out of it. For some reason, I didn’t get back to The Expanse after that. I have no good excuse other than there are a lot of books lying around. However, I did pick up Caliban’s War recently, and yep, Franck and Abraham certainly know how to plot a book. I’ve got Nemesis Games on deck, and I’m about halfway through the second season of the TV show. It’s been interesting to watch how the narrative has been restructured for TV.

Playing: I stumbled upon a copy of Anachrony the other day, which has been on my watch list for over a year. I’m looking forward to digging into that. We’ve also been enjoying Flotilla and Bunny Kingdom. I’m still looking for something that’ll fill that need for a really deep strategy game, but that desire is constantly in opposition to the chunk of time such a game will require.

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A little while ago, three writer pals and I put together an ad-hoc reading series. We showed up at Belmont Books in PDX, read some stories, and then went and had drinks around the corner. It was fun. Books were sold. We’re going to do it again in September. What did we read? Bits from Space Cocaine, of course.

Space Cocaine: | Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo |

My bit was from “The Vacation Not Taken,” which is the first section of The Cosmic Game, a serial that I’ll be working on throughout this year. In fact, another section of that book can be found in An Interpretation of Moles, which is out now. It’s a collection of stories about moles, and we were given a Venn Diagram visual aid to help us. I went for all quadrants (like I do).

An Interpretation of Moles: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo |

Meanwhile, I’ve just about finished up the relaunch of Underland Press, and I’m still reading for XVIII, the next volume in the Underland Tarot project. Yes, it’s actually got a project name now instead of that vague “tarot-thingie that I’m doing.”

Submission Guidelines for XVIII are here.

Get on the Space Cocaine mailing list here. We’re only using it to inform folks of new readings and publications, so it’ll be very low traffic.

Listening: Bill Laswell is dumping a lot of content to Bandcamp these days, which is making it easy for me to find groovy new stuff to listen to.

Reading: Lisa Lutz’s The Swallows is fantastic, as is David Koepp’s Cold Storage. Both are out in September, which means y’all will have to wait. Sorry. Perks of being a bookseller. However, Mick Herron’s Joe Country is out, and you are all reading his Slough House novels already, aren’t you?

Playing: I’ve discovered Dinosaur Island, Wingspan, and Gizmos, which are making me think about game design again. Also, the clever folks at Gearbox have put out a new pack for Borderlands 2 which leads into Borderlands 3. Naturally, I need to be up on the narrative, right?

The post Story Time appeared first on Mark Teppo.

A long, long time ago, there was a character named Mistral, who was a private detective in an unnamed city. The first story with him was something called “The Air in the Jar,” and it revolved around a killer who was trying to destroy the concept of Plato’s Cave by whacking philosophy professors.

What? I was in college at the time. You should see what my thesis ended up being.

Anyway, he was an interesting character, and there was a secondary character named Clio, and the whole thing became this quintessential noir set-up, and I eventually wrote a novella called “Instrument,” which featured Mistral. At that time, the novella market was a wasteland. You did not write novellas. I tried to expand it into a novel a couple of times, which lead to writing a prequel novel, which led to other things, and oh good lord, look at the time!

Over the years, bits and pieces of this city and its characters cropped up in some of my short stories. Some of them got published. But never Instrument.

Until now.

I’m re-launching these stories (under the umbrella of “Stories from the SPRAWL”). Instrument is the first, and since it is new content, I’ve gone and made it available in print and ebook because I have that sort of mercenary relationship with your wallets. Other stories in the SPRAWL will be released over the coming year.

If you’re on my Mailing List, not only will you get notified when they come out, but you’ll also get a dose of free content now and then.

You can get your copy of Instrument at all the normal outlets. Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

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Once upon a time, I wrote a writing book. It was a book that came out of a lecture, and it was all about starting a book. There were questions and exercises and hoops to jump through, but when all the wailing and gnashing of teeth was done, you had an outline. I smiled, waved, and left the room, leaving behind all those questions about what happens next.

Well, what happens next is a lot of fussing and procrastinating and figuring out how to get your butt in the chair and write. The heavy lifting, as it were. And, as I’ve been having a bout of “how the heck do I do this writing thing again?” myself this summer, I figured it was time to finish the follow-on to Jumpstart Your Novel.

This one is called Finish Your Novel!, and as Kristene Perron (co-author of Warpworld) says: “Leave your excuses at the door because Teppo has heard (or used) them all and he’s not going to let you quit until The End.”

It’s available at all your favorite retail locations, both on and off the Intertubes. If you enjoyed Jumpstart Your Novel, this is similar in blunt talk and hyperbolic asides. Plus it has charts and coupons.

[ Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo ]

The first book in my Weird Western series is out. It’s called Solitaire, and it follows the adventures of Elmore Stonebrook and Judge Willard Vernon Wallace as they roam about the West in the 1870s. Fighting monsters. Saving the good folk. Righting wrongs. You know, the usual stuff.

Here’s the marketing copy:

1872: The shattered South is struggling under the yoke of Reconstruction; the North has turned its attention to lands west of the mighty Mississippi. The United States is haunted by the blood that has been spilled, and only a few are ready to stand against the coming darkness.

During the War, Elmore Stonebrook was a celebrated Sharpshooter for the Army of the Potomac. Known as God’s Finger for the deadly accuracy of his rifle, Stonebrook fought for freedom for all men, but lost his way in the process.

Judge Willard Vernon Wallace once sat on the high bench in Louisiana. He loved the law; he served the law; but the law betrayed him. Now, his gavel is the butt of his revolver and his courtroom is anywhere he can sling a rope over a tree branch.

In the small Missouri town of Bitter, they run into an old friend of the Judge’s, Isadora Van Horn, whose ranch is threatened by a greedy landowner. He wants everything—her land, her cattle, her body—and he’s willing to do anything to get what he wants.

Including making a deal with the Devil himself, a deal that includes a wolf that walks on two legs . . .

Buy it at your favorite outlet, real or virtual. If you’d like to support me directly, consider joining my Patreon. I have it set up so that it’s mainly a funnel for new titles. You only get charged when a new book comes out, and I’ll send you an autographed copy.

[ Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo ]

I write books. The latest one is Sit the F*ck Down and Write, a collection of thoughts and observations that have been the backbone of a number of seminars, workshops, and presentations over the last few years.

Portions of this book appeared in Jumpstart Your Novel and Planning, Plotting, and Progress, which are both now out of print. The remaining material from Planning, Plotting, and Progress will appear again in the near future, with more like-minded content. The writer evolves, after all, and so does his approach to sharing his knowledge.

Sit the F*ck Down and Write is available wherever fine books are sold, and it is also available as an ebook in all the usual formats. Please visit your favorite bookstore or retailer and inquire about a copy.

[ Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | iTunes | Kobo ]

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

I have started a Patreon, what with three novels in the can and who knows how many more planned. Patreon is the vehicle by which you, my darling readers, get early access to work and contribute to my continued efforts at making shit up.

Tell your friends. Come and see what the fun is about. Drop a buck or more in the patreon jar, and watch me dance. For you. That’s how this model works, after all.

Patreon Link

(Patrons got an early glimpse of the new Hidden Palms cover this morning, in fact. See what you’re missing already?)

January is almost over, and while I have gotten to a point where I loath writing for the blog, the last entry was the one where I noted that my cat died. It’s probably time for us all to move on past that, especially since New Cat has already adopted a movement pattern in the house that presages me heading for the writing couch. He always gets there first and is flopped RIGHT where I’m going to sit.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I did my third Clarion West One-Day Workshop for a gaggle of attentive folks. They listened, they asked questions, and I didn’t spend too long making them watch the opening to John Boorman’s Point Blank. I’ll be back for another workshop in May. This time around, Greg Bear will be co-teaching with me. It’s called “Equine and Canine Paradoxes: Publishing and Collaborating in the Modern Age. Details are here

It will be the Dog and Pony Show of Writing Workshops, I promise you.

The next writing book is coming out in March, whether I’m finished tweaking it or not. Here’s the cover.

It’s a continuation from Jumpstart Your Novel, and digs into the what and how of making a book after you’ve got your sexy outline.

About that same time, Night Shade Books is re-releasing Lightbreaker in a sexy trade edition.

AND, a month later, the print version of The Potemkin Mosaic will be coming out.

Which is why I’m invisible online. My to-do list is very long.