Kevin R. Doyle's Blog

Now that contract's been signed by both parties, I can officially announce that Camel Press is extending the Sam Quinton books for another three novels, which will be #7,8, and 9.

Many thanks to Phil Garrett and Jennifer McCord for making this happen.

One day away from the release of The Booker, Sam Quinton #6 (my twelfth published book).

Reality TV, the Mafia, and Murder. What more could one want?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDCZ1NJC

There's an interesting little feature up at Literal Literary web site. Gives some insight into a couple of things about my writing journey.

https://literalliterary.com/author-fe...

Here we go. Releasing on Aug. 12 but available for preorder now.

When a production crew comes to town wanting to make a reality series about Sam Quinton's life, he considers the whole thing pretty much a lark.
But when one of the company's partners ends up murdered in her hotel room, he begins to realize the TV biz may be more complicated than he'd imagined.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDCZ1NJC

For several years now, I've had an idea for a writing project, but for almost as long it's felt too long, complex, and above my talent level to attempt.

Around the time I retired from my high-school gig, I started thinking about it again and eventually decided the time had come. In November of '23, I began outlining the idea, and this afternoon I've completed the third, and basically final, draft.

The story is a heavily fictionalized account of certain events that took place in my hometown of Wichita, KS between the mid 70s to the early 90s that helped, for better or worse, to transform Wichita from a large town to a small city.

The numbers: 81 chapters, 402 pages, 89,000 words (by far the longest manuscript I've ever written). While the entire story ranges over a 80-year span of time, the main story covers 18 years in the lives of three main characters. Along with the manuscript itself, there's probably another thirty or forty pages of outline, notes, character bios, etc.

Going to take two or three weeks away from it before I settle down to the drudgery of proofing then it will be submission time. Because this is such a different type of work, at least for me, it's the first book I've done in several years where I didn't have a contract ahead of time.
Crossing my fingers.

This weekend, finished second draft, the major revision, of this monster project I began last fall. Second draft comes out to 414 pages (on the computer), eighty-seven chapters, and a little over 92,000 words, making it at least ten thousand words longer than anything I've ever attempted before. Going to set it aside for a month or so to let it breathe, then begin polishing it up. If everything comes together well, around this time next year may be ready to begin submitting to agents and publishers.

Definitely different than anything I've attempted before, the book is very loosely based on a trio of unuusal criminals active in my hometown during the seventies and eighties. I've taken extreme liberties with both facts and timelines, so I'm not even sure it would count as historical fiction. It's just what it is.

It's also, not entirely unintentional, kind of a love letter to the culture of the 70s.

Story update. "Creepy" podcast has just acquired my science-fiction/ horror story "Why Is?" for production. This marks my first ever trifecta short story.

It first appeared in print in April of 2021, showed up in an online publication in May of 2022, and will now shortly appear in audio form.

Very gratifying, as I haven't produced that many short stories in the last decade or so, and even when I was rarely indulged in science-fiction based work.

Will post a link when it appears.

Available now for preorder in all the usual places, Sam Quinton #5, Private License:

When a woman going through a divorce hires a private eye to help with her case, she ends up needing someone to save her from the man she hired.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2VJHFKP

I came across a mention on a TV show the other day of the saying "The exception that proves the rule," and one of the characters said that they never quite understood that saying.

This is one of those old cliches that doesn't make sense today because of changes in word meaning. Originally, going way back, the word "proves" meant "tests." So the saying really means "The exception that tests the rule."

In other words, if you have an extreme or outstanding instance o something, it "tests" whether the rule is, in fact, accurate.

My early horror novel, The Litter, is now available in audiobook form from Books in Motion. Currently up on their website and will be moving out to various vendors in the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

https://booksinmotion.com/product/the...