It’s Local Author Book Signing season in Northeast Ohio. I’ve managed to fill three Saturdays in March with these blessed events. Sorry, no tour merch, i.e., T-Shirts available. But how many of you out there would be interested in a plushie version of misterbob?
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Yours truly will be appearing along with a host of others. Bring your book budget and a wheelbarrow. And make some room on your bookshelves…
(Here’s a link to their Facebook page if you’d like more info…)
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I recently had a pleasant sit-down with Laura the Library Lady at the Massillion Public Library and read a bit from “The Smart One.” Hopefully you’ll find it pleasant as well.
“Joe Clifford Faust sits down with Laura for a humorous discussion about the unlikely places he found the inspiration for his books, the definition of a ‘space opera,’ and why he turned down the opportunity to write a Star Wars novel.”
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It’s finally a novel! Well, actually, it was always a novel. It’s finally reissued – and the way I always wanted to see it, along with some additional material designed to ensnare completists! Available in Dead Tree and Kindle editions – other e-formats forthcoming, I hope.
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And it’s the final cover reveal for Fermans Devals – Author’s Intended Edition.
If you’ve read the book(s), you know why it had to be this way – including the deliberate errors.
Thanks to Todd Dummermuth for his usual excellent job of making one of my vague notions look cool.
Looking for a mid-to-late July release, depending on how much more grief converting the completed file gives me.
Also, congratulations to Adrian Stout, Del Baddeley, and Grey Forge LeFey, the winners of the cover feedback contest – your signed copies will be in the mail… whenever. And my thanks to everyone who provided feedback on the different covers…. even if I went in a totally different direction at the end of the day.
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Okay, it’s time for round two of JCF Wants Your Opinion! Here are two revised covers for the forthcoming Author’s Preferred Edition of Ferman’s Devils/Boddekker’s Demons. Which one do you prefer? As before, all commenters will be entered into a drawing to get a free autographed copy when this comes out, hopefully this summer. And if you commented on the previous covers, you are still in the drawings.
Once again, I’d like to remind everyone out there in JCF Reader Land [TM] to leave a review when you read one of my novels. Or when you read anyone’s novel, for that matter. On whatever your favorite social medium of choice is.
Notice – and this is important – that I didn’t – and this may just be me speaking here – ask for a good review.
All I want is an honest review. As do a lot of – but not all – novelists out there. Especially the ones who never quite hit the heights of those Lists That Say They Matter.
Meaning, I don’t care if you like the book or not. I just want your opinion of it.
Operative word being opinion. Because reviews, good, bad, or mediocre, can help point the direction I’m going in, literature wise. So yes, even a one-star pan can be welcome… if you do it right.
Here’s my favorite One-Star review of all time, for my novel The Mushroom Shift. Why? Because the reader at least took the time to explain why she didn’t care for the book. If you’re reading this, thank you, minervaK.
On the other side of the coin, take a gander at the most useless One Star I’ve ever received. Wait, don’t bother. I’ll quote it here for you: “don’t ask”. Gee, thanks, Esther. Why’d you even bother?
Please note this also applies to good reviews. I know… even Roger Ebert admitted to having trouble writing reviews of movies he loved because writing bad reviews was more fun (this is true, speaking from my brief gig as a film critic for a small town newspaper). Kevin, I appreciate that you gave all three books of Angel’s Luck five stars, but your assessment of, “Yup. It’s good” – for all three books – doesn’t exactly give me any insight as to why they worked for you.
(For all my complaining here, at least I got reviews, and thank you to all who have left one for me thus far. But for those of you who use Amazon for books – remember those days? – keep in mind that they don’t cross promote a book until it has gotten 50 reviews. And at 75 they start mentioning your book in email blasts to readers with similar tastes. One of those few cases where quantity, not quality, matters.)
One final note – a review of a book is not a review of the seller and/or their delivery process. That three stars you gave… was that because you didn’t like protagonist, plot, or because, as you noted, the shipment was a day late?
So throw me – and the other folks you’re reading – a bone. You may never write a novel yourself, but you certainly might influence the course of one with the insight you give from a reader’s point of view. One that, sadly, authors tend to be blind to after that lengthy midwifing process.
Do these things for me and I promise to learn from your reviews and make subsequent novels More Better. And I promise not to be “that author”. You know. The one who is the first one to review his/er new novel. And gives it five stars. Without explaining why, of course.
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Here’s your chance to be a literary critic… or an art critic, anyway…
The final book in my backlist is on deck to be reissued, and I’ve come up with two possible covers. I’d love to hear your votes or opinions on them.
As an added incentive, I’m going to give away an autographed copy of this book on release to one lucky commenter, chosen at random – so you have a chance at a book whether or not you voted for the winning cover.
This is on multiple Facebook accounts and my web page, and one winner will be chosen from each, so no need to stuff the ballot box.
Disclaimer – this is my rough conceptual construction. It will look much better once the ace graphic designer in my employ gets done with it.
Thanks, and have fun. Looking forward to your opinions!
At long last – now available for Kindle and in a spiffy Trade Paperback format. Purchase links in the comments.
“Dink Stapleton is a two-bit hoodlum who lives in Wapakoneta, Ohio. All he wants to do is keep his nose clean and fly under the radar – something that’s easier said than done. His less-smart half-brother keeps trying to suck him into a plan to counterfeit twenty dollar bills. He has run afoul of a local wannabe crime figure. And his employer wants him to track down a scandalous painting by a local artist.
“Unfortunately, Dink’s boss isn’t the only one who wants the painting. There’s the stripper who posed for the painting; the loose cannon who is obsessed with the stripper; and the pretentious comic book illustrator turned pretentious artist who created the painting to begin with.
“Complicating matters are ten-grand worth of funny twenties that have gone walkabout, a missing car with the world’s worst paint job, and a girlfriend who wants him to find Jesus. It’s a lot to wade through if Dink is going to find the painting and figure out who gets it, but he should be able to work it out. After all, he’s the smart one.”
Paperback:
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A quick bit of news that’s late in coming. I’ve posted the contents of my new novel, The Smart One, on Kindle Vella. This is Amazon’s latest experiment in serial storytelling, one that has already been pioneered, and well, elsewhere.
So the first three chapters/episodes/whatever are free, and the remainder are unlocked, as you read, with tokens. These are purchased from Amazon, but I think first-timers are given 200 free tokens, which will open a good number of chapters (token cost is based on episode length – The Smart One was deliberately made up of short chapters for reason of pacing, even before this Vella thing came along). And yes, I will receive royalties if you use tokens you have paid for.
Caveat for the moment: For some reason, this is only available as an iOS app, or on your computer’s web browser. Android compatibility is promised in the future (assuming this experiment works out).
And yes, there will be a paper copy available eventually. Sometime in early 2022, I suspect.
Here’s the link to The Smart One’s Kindle Vella landing page: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B094GPXT8V
And stay tuned – there’s more JCF book news coming soon. Really soon.
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joe clifford faust 