Patric Michael's Blog

Yikes! So many changes since October. And I've been a total slouch at keeping tabs on them all.

Despite a couple of potholes in the road of Life, (Did you *see* Nascar lately?) The Santa Mug was released by Dreamspinner Press in December to good reviews, Jessewave set up an interview, (Wave is such a riot!) and Dreamspinner also accepted A Voice in the Darkness as part of their A Brush of Wings anthology. It will be released in March.

Alas, some things haven't changed much. Most notably up...

Wow, gosh. A lot has happened since my last post, and since then I've received email asking when I would be releasing something new (Thanks folks!)

I've also been pretty sparse in the group lists, twitter, and facebook. Not my usual style, I know, but there is a reason I'm going to share only once, then move on. I told myself I wouldn't tell folks unless they were directly affected by my lack, and that worked for quite a quite a while, until even strangers asking for new works noticed. Fig...

A while ago I had the signal pleasure of beta reading a work in progress tentatively titled "Windows," by M. Jules Aedin.

It was a story about a man who occasionally sees another fellow undressing in front of the window across the alley. That innocent start leads to a 50 year old mystery begging to be solved, and the characters in the story did an excellent job of it.

Jules took a fascinating approach to telling the tale by presenting "converging timelines" between then and now. (I was doub...

MLR Press released Notturno sometime yesterday. I found out about it through one of the lists I inhabit, and of course, pounced. I've been *waiting* for this ever since I saw the cover.

MLR Press (ManLoveRomance Press) is primarily, as I understand it, an invitation-only print publisher. Recently they've opened an e-book section and are offering their titles in several popular formats. Because of this, I was able to snag a copy of Notturno as soon as I heard it was available.

I was doomed...

I just got the news today that Night Moves, a short story for the Dreamspinner Press Sindustry anthology, will be published in volume 2, which sports this cover, created by Mara McKenna.

To say that I was excited to be "under" this cover is a supreme understatement.

Thank you Mara!

I often wonder why, if it's such a stereotypical joke, do application creators CONTINUE to let programmers design the user interface.

Now, I consider myself fairly well versed with computers and technology. I've bragged that I can elucidate any windows program in a day, and be functional, if not proficient, in a few more. They are all based on the same basic principles, after all. Likewise with Mac programs. Their functions are just in different places.

So with that "skill," why on earth s...

This is one of three huge maples, planted long before my father was even a gleam in the designer's eye. Due to the sheer idiocy of the arborists hired by the power company to keep the lines clear, (they cut one of the two main branches, essentially splitting the tree in half, vertically!) the resulting core rot and a brief, intense thunderstorm shattered it in half yet again. Now the poor thing will have to come down, sooner or later. Grr... It lived longer than the idiots have been in bu...

Yep, yep! My very first blogged review. Jaya at Jaya Reads posted a review of Timeless this morning.

Color me stoked!

I also got some very nice comments from Catt Ford, who made the cover image, and A.J. Linden, who co-authored All The Things You Are with M. Jules Aiden for the Dreamspinner To Have and To Hold anthology.

I just read that title last night, and found it to be a pleasant and satisfying read. The characters are very engaging, and the story is just plain fun.

Go snag your copy now!

Dreamspinner Press released their To Have and To Hold Daily Dose anthology as individual titles, while sending out the daily stories to those who purchased the complete set.

If you did not, you can find a list of titles for sale here, and searching by title or author.

Naturally, you'll want to check out Timeless, by me (Yeah well... lol)

But also look for these titles:

Protests and Proposals by Sean Kennedy
(Duh, Sean wrote it. 'Nuff said!)

Walking on the Moon by M. Jules Aedin
All The Things You A...

Ok. Grammarians everywhere would be reeling and choking over that title, but what fun is language if you cant mangle it once in a while? Read what I write, sometime. You'll see I have way too much fun... But I digress, as usual.

In a recent conversation with a dear friend, we touched briefly on why people write.
Ask any writer, or would-be writer why they do what they do, and you'll get a variety of responses, from the altruistic and somewhat disturbing, "I'll go insane if I don't write!" t...