D.T. Neal's Blog
November 22, 2025
SUCKAGE Sequel
I've already talked and posted about it elsewhere, but after a dozen years, I've decided to write a sequel to SUCKAGE, my vampire novel, which originally came out in 2013, a very busy year for me (I know it says 2021 on the Amazon listing, but that's just because that was a new edition):
SUCKAGE
Anyway, even though I never intended to write a sequel to it, an idea came to me (as I blogged the other day) and kept gnawing at me, and rather than keeping it locked away,
I've decided to indulge my muse and write the sequel over the winter months, with a tentative launch date sometime late in 2026.
Poor SUCKAGE never got the appreciation I feel it deserved when it first came out (a problem common with my books, sadly, and it was one of the first to face the void), but part of me feels like a sequel might allow me to play with vampires again, even if vampires are out of vogue (or are they? One never knows. Or maybe READING vampire stories is an impassable barrier).
At any rate, I'm going to write a sequel. The title came to me first, and it amused me enough that the story unfolded for me. We'll see how it goes. The same dark humor will permeate it, as I'm always about that, it seems.
Fright Night | Sparks: Armies of the Night
SUCKAGE
Anyway, even though I never intended to write a sequel to it, an idea came to me (as I blogged the other day) and kept gnawing at me, and rather than keeping it locked away,
I've decided to indulge my muse and write the sequel over the winter months, with a tentative launch date sometime late in 2026.
Poor SUCKAGE never got the appreciation I feel it deserved when it first came out (a problem common with my books, sadly, and it was one of the first to face the void), but part of me feels like a sequel might allow me to play with vampires again, even if vampires are out of vogue (or are they? One never knows. Or maybe READING vampire stories is an impassable barrier).
At any rate, I'm going to write a sequel. The title came to me first, and it amused me enough that the story unfolded for me. We'll see how it goes. The same dark humor will permeate it, as I'm always about that, it seems.
Fright Night | Sparks: Armies of the Night
November 18, 2025
Never Say Never?
I've been on a writerly hiatus for many months, now (can't be entirely sure how long -- since last summer), the result of a confluence of stress and happenstance.
However, some part of my mind is trying to salvage itself by getting me thinking about writing again. I've mentioned before about how the series work is there to be done, and I intend to get to that.
But I also have another story idea rattling around in my head, wanting to be written. So, I'm halfway listening to that, which, if I indulge in it, would offer up another sequel to a book I'd never intended to write a sequel for, amusingly enough.
We'll see if I do it, but part of me thinks I will just as preparation to diving back into the series stuff. Funny how my mind works.
I won't reveal anything about it, as per my usual "keep all the steam in the boiler" approach to WIPs, but there it is.
However, some part of my mind is trying to salvage itself by getting me thinking about writing again. I've mentioned before about how the series work is there to be done, and I intend to get to that.
But I also have another story idea rattling around in my head, wanting to be written. So, I'm halfway listening to that, which, if I indulge in it, would offer up another sequel to a book I'd never intended to write a sequel for, amusingly enough.
We'll see if I do it, but part of me thinks I will just as preparation to diving back into the series stuff. Funny how my mind works.
I won't reveal anything about it, as per my usual "keep all the steam in the boiler" approach to WIPs, but there it is.
November 11, 2025
A Rare Moment
Had an amusing encounter yesterday where I was in-person somewhere and it came up that I wrote books (I won't go into details for the sake of anonymity), and the two other people in question I was talking to expressed genuine interest in that, asked me what genres I wrote.
Turns out one of the people is part of a book club, and was eager to read some of my books. Hopefully they'll like them and introduce them to their book club, which is a writer's dream.
It was amusing/bemusing to me because it was just a casual moment, but the people in question were clearly readers, and their enthusiasm was nice to see. I'm definitely not used to it, and the accidental way it came about was just funny. The cosmos plays its funny games.
There's precious little satisfaction for me in writing, but the enthusiasm of those folks was a pleasant surprise.
Turns out one of the people is part of a book club, and was eager to read some of my books. Hopefully they'll like them and introduce them to their book club, which is a writer's dream.
It was amusing/bemusing to me because it was just a casual moment, but the people in question were clearly readers, and their enthusiasm was nice to see. I'm definitely not used to it, and the accidental way it came about was just funny. The cosmos plays its funny games.
There's precious little satisfaction for me in writing, but the enthusiasm of those folks was a pleasant surprise.
October 27, 2025
SpOooOKy Season
While real-world horrors and a general disinclination toward reading might make Halloween book recommendations obsolete, here are my assorted indie horror books that I'm nearly certain you've neither heard of nor particularly care to read, but I feel obliged to share anyway:
NOVELS
The Wolfshadow Trilogy
SAAMAANTHAA
THE HAPPENING
NORM
One of the best almost completely disregarded werewolf trilogies out there, in my opinion. The kind people will discover a decade or two after I'm dead and decide they really liked it. A nice time capsule for a lost America and also a portent of the nightmare to come.
CHOSEN
My purest horror novel, being a neo-Lovecraftian take on a zombie apocalypse, set in Pennsylvania. Even more completely disregarded than Wolfshadow, amazingly enough.
SUCKAGE
My Chicago-based vampire minion novel, which never found its audience, so it's another nearly completely ignored effort that I still think holds up, especially for those readers who don't want sparkly vampires.
THE CURSED EARTH
My Pennsylvania-based cosmic folk horror novel that manages to both honor and lampoon those subgenres. I greatly enjoyed this one, think it's my best horror novel, but, of course, was woefully ignored. Maybe someday people will discover and appreciate it. Or not.
RETURN TO SUMMERVILLE
The sequel nobody really asked for, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at how thoroughly disregarded this one was. I thought I revisited the titular setting in grand style, making a sequel that exceeded the original novella.
NOVELS
The Wolfshadow Trilogy
SAAMAANTHAA
THE HAPPENING
NORM
One of the best almost completely disregarded werewolf trilogies out there, in my opinion. The kind people will discover a decade or two after I'm dead and decide they really liked it. A nice time capsule for a lost America and also a portent of the nightmare to come.
CHOSEN
My purest horror novel, being a neo-Lovecraftian take on a zombie apocalypse, set in Pennsylvania. Even more completely disregarded than Wolfshadow, amazingly enough.
SUCKAGE
My Chicago-based vampire minion novel, which never found its audience, so it's another nearly completely ignored effort that I still think holds up, especially for those readers who don't want sparkly vampires.
THE CURSED EARTH
My Pennsylvania-based cosmic folk horror novel that manages to both honor and lampoon those subgenres. I greatly enjoyed this one, think it's my best horror novel, but, of course, was woefully ignored. Maybe someday people will discover and appreciate it. Or not.
RETURN TO SUMMERVILLE
The sequel nobody really asked for, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at how thoroughly disregarded this one was. I thought I revisited the titular setting in grand style, making a sequel that exceeded the original novella.
October 21, 2025
TBR or Bust
I wish the ~1000 TBRs on my books would actually get read, rated, and reviewed! Pretty please.
I'm sure you've got a ton of choices, but I'd hugely appreciate it if you read my books. I hate thinking of them floating in limbo, almost under consideration, but not quite.
I'm sure you've got a ton of choices, but I'd hugely appreciate it if you read my books. I hate thinking of them floating in limbo, almost under consideration, but not quite.
October 17, 2025
Talking Stock
Writing is one of those rare areas (I hesitate anymore to call it a "profession" or a "business") where you can repeatedly put product out there that doesn't sell, in the vain hope that it does.
Like in a normal store environment, you'd inventory products and track what sells & doesn't sell. If something sells, you put more of that out there. If it doesn't, you don't -- indeed, if something craters in terms of sales, you may opt for a clearance sale to get rid of inventory for deadweight products.
Given how few people read for pleasure anymore, books are increasingly the sort of products people just don't/won't buy.
Despite dismal sales, whether trad or indie, a writer is cursed (?) to keep putting books out there, just in the hope that *something* might eventually catch the eye of readers.
As someone who's only meagerly sold over the past 20 years, it's really tough to keep putting books out there. I can, but I have no illusions that anyone will read them, let alone rate and/or review them.
If I weren't stubborn and determined to let some of my stories live, I'd have given up a decade ago. For whatever reason, I'm not a writer who has enough of an audience. I tried to write across genres, but each genre (or subgenre) was another arid landscape.
The few readers who liked my work were too few and far between. It wasn't for lack of effort on my part. I really tried.
With waning energy and a broken writerly heart, I'll try to force myself to wrap up the various multibook serials I have, including:
THE SHUTTERCLIQUE: 4 novels
THE PLASTIC FANTASTIC: 2 novels
THE SAGAS OF IRTH: 3 novels
When those are done, maybe one or two more singletons, and then I'll probably stop. What's the point? It ends up being an exercise in masochism.
There'll be a substantial (if almost totally disregarded) body of work I'll have left behind, if someone's inclined to ever read it.
I tried (and failed) to make a name for myself as a writer over a 20-year span of time. One can't say I didn't make the effort.
Like in a normal store environment, you'd inventory products and track what sells & doesn't sell. If something sells, you put more of that out there. If it doesn't, you don't -- indeed, if something craters in terms of sales, you may opt for a clearance sale to get rid of inventory for deadweight products.
Given how few people read for pleasure anymore, books are increasingly the sort of products people just don't/won't buy.
Despite dismal sales, whether trad or indie, a writer is cursed (?) to keep putting books out there, just in the hope that *something* might eventually catch the eye of readers.
As someone who's only meagerly sold over the past 20 years, it's really tough to keep putting books out there. I can, but I have no illusions that anyone will read them, let alone rate and/or review them.
If I weren't stubborn and determined to let some of my stories live, I'd have given up a decade ago. For whatever reason, I'm not a writer who has enough of an audience. I tried to write across genres, but each genre (or subgenre) was another arid landscape.
The few readers who liked my work were too few and far between. It wasn't for lack of effort on my part. I really tried.
With waning energy and a broken writerly heart, I'll try to force myself to wrap up the various multibook serials I have, including:
THE SHUTTERCLIQUE: 4 novels
THE PLASTIC FANTASTIC: 2 novels
THE SAGAS OF IRTH: 3 novels
When those are done, maybe one or two more singletons, and then I'll probably stop. What's the point? It ends up being an exercise in masochism.
There'll be a substantial (if almost totally disregarded) body of work I'll have left behind, if someone's inclined to ever read it.
I tried (and failed) to make a name for myself as a writer over a 20-year span of time. One can't say I didn't make the effort.
October 6, 2025
Cyberpunkin' (cont'd)
So, after six weeks in my new residence, still not fully unpacked (sorry/not-sorry, I just got burned out with endless unboxings, I've at least got enough of a livable residence established that I can start thinking about writing again.
For some reason, the Rust Belt vibes of Pittsburgh has me thinking I need to write the next two novels of The Plastic Fantastic, my cyberpunk trilogy (Book 1, SIGHTSEER, flew off into the void at the end of May -- still no reviews or ratings! Thanks, everybody!)
Anyway, absolutely nobody gives a rat's ass about the series, which is just the rocket fuel I need to crank out the other two novels and wrap up the trilogy.
Books 2 & 3 might be just the ticket to take my mind off my ghostly status in this decaying, dystopian world of ours. Slip a bit of neon and chrome into my anomie.
So, there it is. Whoever's reading/lurking on this blog, that's what I'm going to be up to for the remainder of '25 -- wrapping up The Plastic Fantastic, the best indie cyberpunk trilogy nobody cares about!
After that, I'll likely write Book 4 of The Shutterclique, another series lost in the thundering silence of the void. We'll see how it goes, although here's a preview: I'll write my ass off trying to create a kickass story with abundant worldbuilding and fun characters, and it'll be ignored/blown off by everybody, maybe read by a few, but either zero or (if I'm supremely fortunate) a few ratings/reviews.
The Wipers | D-7
For some reason, the Rust Belt vibes of Pittsburgh has me thinking I need to write the next two novels of The Plastic Fantastic, my cyberpunk trilogy (Book 1, SIGHTSEER, flew off into the void at the end of May -- still no reviews or ratings! Thanks, everybody!)
Anyway, absolutely nobody gives a rat's ass about the series, which is just the rocket fuel I need to crank out the other two novels and wrap up the trilogy.
Books 2 & 3 might be just the ticket to take my mind off my ghostly status in this decaying, dystopian world of ours. Slip a bit of neon and chrome into my anomie.
So, there it is. Whoever's reading/lurking on this blog, that's what I'm going to be up to for the remainder of '25 -- wrapping up The Plastic Fantastic, the best indie cyberpunk trilogy nobody cares about!
After that, I'll likely write Book 4 of The Shutterclique, another series lost in the thundering silence of the void. We'll see how it goes, although here's a preview: I'll write my ass off trying to create a kickass story with abundant worldbuilding and fun characters, and it'll be ignored/blown off by everybody, maybe read by a few, but either zero or (if I'm supremely fortunate) a few ratings/reviews.
The Wipers | D-7
September 24, 2025
Pretty Please...
As I see the many hundreds of people who have my books on their TBR lists, I dearly wish those folks would buy my books!
Don't keep me in limbo; buy, read, and review my books, pretty please!
For those of you who've done so, I'm eternally grateful.
Don't keep me in limbo; buy, read, and review my books, pretty please!
For those of you who've done so, I'm eternally grateful.
September 11, 2025
THE AURICLE, cont'd...
I'm pleased to see some highly positive reviews for THE AURICLE appear on NetGalley. Hopefully more people will read & enjoy that one (and, ideally, leave reviews).
That novel's had a long path to publication, as anyone reading this blog knows. I'm just pleased that the work I put into it has been well-received.
Given the satirically polemical nature of THE AURICLE, you new know how people will take it. As I've said before, it's either a utopian first contact fable or a dystopian apocalyptic alien invasion, depending on which side of the fence you're on.
The core premise of it is simply: what if an alien superbeing actually saved the world? I wrote this novel out of a sense of frustration that humanity can progress if it wants to; we just need to do it (if we want to avoid extinction).
In so doing, I crafted a story that transcended the original intention and conjured up a SF allegory of sorts. Legacy stories in similar veins err on the side of embracing the status quo, which I refused to do -- I pointedly call out the vomitous absurdities Americans in particular live with, and ran with them.
Auric, the titular character of the novel, is a monumentally benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient superbeing. I looked him in his glowing blue eyes and didn't blink.
My hope is that other readers enjoy the journey as much as I enjoyed writing it...
THE AURICLE (Barnes & Noble)
THE AURICLE (Amazon)
That novel's had a long path to publication, as anyone reading this blog knows. I'm just pleased that the work I put into it has been well-received.
Given the satirically polemical nature of THE AURICLE, you new know how people will take it. As I've said before, it's either a utopian first contact fable or a dystopian apocalyptic alien invasion, depending on which side of the fence you're on.
The core premise of it is simply: what if an alien superbeing actually saved the world? I wrote this novel out of a sense of frustration that humanity can progress if it wants to; we just need to do it (if we want to avoid extinction).
In so doing, I crafted a story that transcended the original intention and conjured up a SF allegory of sorts. Legacy stories in similar veins err on the side of embracing the status quo, which I refused to do -- I pointedly call out the vomitous absurdities Americans in particular live with, and ran with them.
Auric, the titular character of the novel, is a monumentally benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient superbeing. I looked him in his glowing blue eyes and didn't blink.
My hope is that other readers enjoy the journey as much as I enjoyed writing it...
THE AURICLE (Barnes & Noble)
THE AURICLE (Amazon)
September 9, 2025
Book'em, Dave-O
As I continue unpacking (took me seven weeks to pack after living at my Chicago residence for 16 years; I'm thinking about two+ weeks to unpack), my >1500-book private library is indeed cumbersome.
I sacrificed my bookshelves on the move, with the net result that I have no proper home for the books I packed, beyond stacking them up along the walls of a side room.
Can't be helped; I love books, can't bear to part with them. But the massive number of books I have is daunting. I'll take pictures of my book stacks once I'm done placing them. Something for the ol' Instagram feed.
I sacrificed my bookshelves on the move, with the net result that I have no proper home for the books I packed, beyond stacking them up along the walls of a side room.
Can't be helped; I love books, can't bear to part with them. But the massive number of books I have is daunting. I'll take pictures of my book stacks once I'm done placing them. Something for the ol' Instagram feed.
