We’re close, people. Just hit full-novel word count and feeling the groove. Lots of fun parts to write still, but the key word here is fun. A lot of the hard stuff is in the rearview.

I’m not gonna finish this book in December. January is within reach. February seems a certainty unless I’ve really miscalculated how many words I’m going to need for the final stretch. (This has happened before, so I’m not ruling it out. I thought Sophistication would be wrapped in 90,000 words and it took me 130,000 to get there.)

Still, I have some small measure of confidence in my ability to finish up soonish. Already started to spin up talks about the audiobook version. Will reach out shortly to my go-to copy editor. And I’ve got a list of about 10 agents / publishers with whom I’ve developed something of a rapport over the last couple years, all of whom will get the manuscript.

I’ve come so close to representation and publishing deals with my first two books that I could taste it. Would be lovely if the third time is the charm. But if not, no big. I ultimately write books because I fucking love writing books. Everything else is gravy.

More soon.

I just realized that NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. I thought it stood for National No-Writing Month.

Okay. Starting anew in December.

PSA: It’s National Novel Writing Month.

If you’ve no idea what the hell I’m talking about, this really is a thing. Authors descend upon the internet every November and try to write 50,000-word manuscripts over the course of the month.

I don’t know why the goal is 50,000 words because–as far as I can tell, anyway–these are too short to be novels. But whatever gets those words flowing, I say.

Simultaneously, it’s become clear to me that this is the Devil’s work.

One, because only Beelzebub himself could hatch a scheme to challenge notoriously lazy writers to break the bonds of their habitual lackadaisicalness.

Two, because the proof is clear as day in the math. If you divide 50,000 words by 30 days, you get the number 1666.66666667. True story. And this is the mark of the Beast, people! He’s out there laughing at us, pointing, mocking our efforts to write 1,666 words a day. Rubbing it in our collective faces!

My version of NanoWriMo is a little easier. I’m only doing 40,000 words these next 30 days as I finally wrap Degenerate. What’s 40,000 divided by 30, you ask? 1333.33333333. Which means ya done lost, Lucifer. Not today you don’t, so keep moving.

I’m not actively engaged in the official shenanigans of NanoWriMo, but I’m watching from a distance and allowing its inspiration to shine down upon me. All of this to say, end of the month, this book is finished. And then begins the super fun, highly recommended process of trying to sell it. It’s a process right up there with ripping off an infected toenail on the overall enjoyability scale.

About Degenerate. I’ve come to a decision about the storyline, but first I need to provide a little context. When I wrote my debut novel, Dead Weight, and then Sophistication after it, I constantly had to ask myself, are you sure you want to really go for it? Which is to say, throw away any semblance of traditional narratives and really swing for the fences with something weird and out there. With Dead Weight, I pulled back. Tried to stay grounded. Attempted to operate within the accepted norms of traditional post-apocalyptic science-fiction. With Sophistication, I didn’t give a shit. I wrote whatever my fingers told me to write, and the resulting storyline was at times a bizarro-fest. I’m cool with that. I hit the crossroads with Degenerate about 10,000 words ago and decided on pure insanity. So here it comes.

I used to shake my head at authors who said they valued negative reviews as much as positive ones. Always felt disingenuous to me. But now I get it. Usually, anyway.

Okay, first, some negative reviews are just idiotic and that’s always going to be the case. For example, people so pissed off that Sophistication is too profane or violent that they actually lowered their review scores based on those two measurements alone.

Welp, sorry guys–you really should’ve read the description, which literally says it’s both of those things. Look:

Step into a near-future America overrun by competing tech giants and widespread social decay in this raunchy, violent, hilarious and disturbing science-fiction thriller. 

See the words I bolded? That means there’s going to be blood and f-bombs. Not sure what else to tell ya.

Anyway, as I’ve noted, most readers have liked my first two books. That’s awesome. It’s incredibly satisfying to read positive reviews from readers who not only understood, but also appreciated something I had planned and hoped would jump off the page.

Sometimes, though, a critical review will point out something really insightful. A while ago, a customer review of Dead Weight noted very accurately that my knowledge of firearms is, shall we say, subpar. And yes, that shit is true. True to the maximum. I love being called out for genuine mistakes. The good part about the digital age is that if I really care enough, I can go back and edit tweaks back into the original work, re-publish, and then pretend as though I got it right from the start. (Joking, kinda.)

But occasionally negative reviews come from so far out of left field that I’m left scratching my head or even giggling. This is one such example, and it’s spectacular:

Author’s note: Name and parts of review blurred to keep the anonymity of the customer and also to avoid any spoilers for folks who haven’t read Sophistication.

All right, so never mind that this person clearly voted for Trump. Whatever. Sure, the man’s a proven pathological liar and conman, but I respect your idiotic decision even though it’s probably based on fear and hate. Good for you. And the WOKE stuff (in all caps) isn’t a bad way to attack a book that supposedly falls on the wrong side of your political beliefs. I lolzed a few times at the comments.

But then we get to the end where video game journalists are apparently automatically “Social Justice Warriors” and “a group even worse than journalists in general.”

Mike, you hate the free press? Do you also hate democracy? Candy and rainbows? Love?

Third book is cooking. One of these will be the official cover when it debuts later this year. Or, I might choose one for the print version, another for the digital. Or, one for the readable formats and another for the audiobook. So many choices. Who knows?

Copy is placeholder for the most part. Mason’s last name, for example, isn’t Alexander, as originally envisioned, but Kowalsky.

I’ve no doubt that there are plenty of authors who hate audiobooks for various misguided reasons. I’m obviously not one of them. Actually, I’d go as far as to write that I prefer this format to reading. For realsies. Yes, I’m a writer and I just wrote that. Reading your books doesn’t make you a better person, as some have suggested. I find, in contrast, that a professional voice artist can bring quite a bit to the material and also set the pace. Plus, your eyes sometimes skim and skip, always seeking the next exciting moment, as you read. Can’t do that in an audiobook.

Of course, if you listen to your audiobooks at double or triple the normal speed, well, that’s because you’re the devil and you can’t be saved.

So my point is that Sophistication is now available on Audible. As I’ve hinted about in the past, I’m really proud of this version and highly (italicized for emphasis) recommend that you check it out. I’ve even provided a cover, which links to the book below:

If you do download and listen to it, please do me a solid and give it a review. Our books live and die by that stuff.

I mentioned in a previous post that I made my debut novel, Dead Weight, free for one day through a partnership with the popular service BookBub. The promotion was new, interesting, and successful. Nearly 20,000 people downloaded the book in less than 24 hours, which is wonderful exposure. Lots of new reviews, nearly all of them positive, have since filtered in. And my inbox has seen an influx of emails from readers, most of whom asked when the next book in the series is coming–some a little nicer than others.

To be clear, Dead Weight is a self-contained story. It doesn’t require a sequel.

Buuut I really had always planned to come back to the universe with another book and possibly a third if there was more to tell. That’s still the plan.

Above: Original illustration of Zephyr and Jordan chilling in New York, Dead Weight 2. (Also, it’s not looking good for the Big Apple.)

I’m a bit of a scatterbrained writer, though. Most of the last year has been spent on Sophistication, which is also a self-contained novel with the potential for more books. There will definitely be more to come for Miyuki and friends. First, though, I’m deep into Degenerate, which I suppose you could call my homage to the classic mystery and horror genres, although it doesn’t fit snugly into either one and, in fact, often lives outside both. And I still want to write The Deep, Dark, Down after that. Maybe. Aaand I’ve been kicking around pages for a book tentatively titled Grandpa’s Computer.

You see what myself has to deal with here? I honestly don’t know how I put up with myself sometimes.

All of this to say that if you’ve landed here looking for answers about Zephyr’s next move, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer. I apologize, but the truth is that I’m an undisciplined writer who chases the new shiny things in his mind. Eventually, however, the sparkle wears off and I go back to my old heroes and mysteries. I’ll do my best to make the wait worth your while. In the meantime, though, if you liked Dead Weight, consider checking out Sophistication now and Degenerate later this year.

 

I’ve written two books and I’m into my third, which is what someone like Stephen King farts in a couple months. But even so, one of the questions my friends, family, and neighbors ask most is, how do you find the time?

Easy answer.

I find it in the dead of night. When my wife and kids have gone to bed. Exhibit A:

Please note the subtle arrow and the time. Nearly 1:40 am.

This is when writers write when they can’t devote themselves to the craft. It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable. But the dedicated ones persist.

It’s Saturday and I’ve had a couple drinks. Seems like a good time to update all three of you on my life and work.

Sophistication

Sophistication is out pretty much everywhere. It should also be available on Audible, but the book keeps failing the company’s volume checks. My voice artist also mixes the audiobooks and the poor guy has remixed and re-uploaded it back to me three times now. Whenever it fails, I have to log back into Audible and re-upload 90-something files one at a time. I’ve done this so much now that I go to bed dreaming about Audible’s upload directories.

Hot.

Anyway, the audiobook really is so damned fun and I can’t wait to get it out so that a few people can experience it.

Meanwhile, the readable book seems to be earning lots of praise from both critics and readers alike, which is wonderful because you just never know how this shit is gonna go. I half expected people to despise every word and there may yet be people who do. Sales are slow, but steady, and I haven’t done any marketing beyond some social media posts. I’ll start in on that soon.

Dead Weight

Remember my first book? It was all dystopian and shit. Well, first off, it’s sold well thus far. Several thousand copies, which may not seem like a lot outside of the books industry, but I’m told that’s pretty good for self-published authors. I’ve been trying to get the site Bookbub to feature Dead Weight for more than a year, but they kept rejecting it. A couple weeks ago, however, Bookbub finally accepted it for featuring later this month. Pretty cool because the site reaches millions of folks.

Degenerate

It’s cooking. I’m 10,000 words in now, which, based on the length of my previous two works, means I’m about one-twelfth through. I’m going at a faster pace than I usually do, though. I think I’ve written about this, but Dead Weight took a half decade to write and Sophistication took about two years. Lots of procrastination involved in both of these works, of course. I started Degenerate for real a couple weeks ago and I hope to be done in a few months. Six months at the longest. I really think it’s manageable. If so, that’ll be dramatic progress for me.

(Fast forward to the end of this year and I’ll probably be 20,000 words through.)

The other bit is that I really like where the story is going. Mason Alexander is black man in a racist world. He’s plagued by general anxiety disorder and crushed by the stresses of day-to-day life in Silicon Valley. And he’s starting to see things that shouldn’t be there.

When I first started writing this, I said to myself, now Matt, you just wrote a pretty raunchy book so maybe take it down a notch for this one. But turns out I’m just a sick asshole, I guess, because if it stays on track, Degenerate is going to make Sophistication feel tame.

Next update, I’ll show off two book covers for Degenerate, both fantastic in my opinion. Obviously, much more to come on this one in the coming weeks and months.

SFWA

All sci-fi authors want into the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America organization, but gaining admission is particularly challenging for new authors because you have to sell a fair amount of books before they’ll even consider you. I’m delighted then that Dead Weight cleared the hurdle and I’m now a member. It’s a little surreal to be in private message boards carrying on convos with some of my all-time favorite authors. Super humbling. Incredibly cool. Ridiculously useful. And another achievement unlocked as I try to break into this weird, fickle industry.

 

This is a quick follow-up to my previous post.

Was just browsing Kirkus Reviews and spotlighted on its front page is Sophistication as the featured indie review!

Good stuff.