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What book is everyone writing right now?

Whilst researching an article for The Wildean, the journal of the Oscar Wilde Society, I was introduced to the gloriously entertaining theatrical newspaper The Era. Purely for my own amusement I made an anthology of the most amusing and bizarre bits from the years 1890-1910, which I've now made available to a wider audience via CreateSpace. Allow me to present...

*drumroll*

"Fairies in Cabs: Comic and Curious Clippings From The Legendary Theatrical Paper The Era, 1890-1900"

Amazon

A little sample from 1890:

AT the Hastings Pier Pavilion, during the progress of the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk on Tuesday, a curious accident occurred. About fifteen of the ladies of the ballet, dressed as peasants, had formed a ring by joining hands, and were engaged in dancing round and round at a rapid rate, when suddenly one of the dancers, quitting her hold of her companions' hands, was hurled outwards by the centrifugal momentum that she had acquired with such force as to snap asunder the guard protecting the footlights. She fell across the back of a chair, on which an astonished pianist was sitting in the orchestra, and finally was found reclining at the conductor's feet. Though a little surprised and shaken, the young lady, Miss Bessie Barham, took her place on the stage again later in the evening.
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Finished a sweet romance submission for a themed anthology.
I am currently starting the second season of my horror novellas
 
The first stand alone horror novella of the first season is going through proofing and editing, and a few volunteers are reading it (one of whom has already had nice things to say).

I am currently reading up on 1960s/70s UFO cults for the second.
 
I'm writing short stories every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to my blog.

They're not great, but it's like a daily supersize routine - I'm not working towards a particular goal, just trying to keep from getting too badly out of shape. Years ago I tried to do a short story every day for a year, but I gave up after six months. I think the M-W-F schedule will be much better.
 
I confess I haven't been writing much. Haven't felt like it. But that doesn't mean I've stopped.

Just taking a sabbatical while waiting to see how the screenplays I've entered in a couple of various competitions play out. I might even get a grant to do nothing for a whole year except write.

Beanbag
 
In the process of publishing my first book of Horror-themed poetry. Everything from local legends to famous murder cases and mysteries, basically a mix of horror and grim humour.

I've got all of my stuff copyrighted on All Poetry's website. I just need to select what I'm going to put in the first volume, running order, etc, then go over it all and see if anything needs editing.

One of my recent pieces: https://allpoetry.com/poem/13299402-The-Unbeatable-Victorian-Parlour-Trick-by-Gilly86

I'm also working on a separate series entitled "Blackbrick Street," which is based on a fictional street where a bunch of odd characters reside. Each story is based on a particular character from one of the houses, and each one is loosely based on a classic movie-monster, basically my own twist on an old tale.

This one is my own version of the "Mummy":

https://allpoetry.com/poem/13216189-Blackbrick-Street-No.3---Old-Mother-Egypt-by-Gilly86
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
I missed this post earlier. Wow that looks like you put so much research into these books, and what an interesting story the preface reveals. Congrats on finishing such an enormous work.

Is your wife proud? From the Kindle preview of Volume 1, it looks impressive.
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Hello Skeptical Ginger

I apologize I missed your post in March. Yes she helps to edit them and is invaluable with the 19th century English spelling. Volume III, Bombay to Persia and on to the River Oxus, should be out in the Fall.

Thanks for your interest in the series.
 
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arthwollipot said:
I hate to be that guy, but is it sufficient for you to make a living off your writing? Or do you still have to have a "day job"?
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I do it as a hobby, with two books published I've only sold just short of two hundred, mostly the E-book versions. I haven't figured it out but I'm probably losing money.
 
Hans said:
I do it as a hobby, with two books published I've only sold just short of two hundred, mostly the E-book versions. I haven't figured it out but I'm probably losing money.
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I'm also a hobby writer, and I'm not selling that many copies of my short kindle novellas, because I'm trying to do it on a very limited budget. (I have given away thousands of free books on countdown deals, but those don't translate to customers coming back for more). I get friends to edit and proof for free, and have been making my own covers (believe me, I know it shows!).

Even the cheapest marketing don't bring in enough sales to break even, so I spend a few bucks on Amazon's own marketing here and there when I can afford to.

Anyway: Second of my horror anthology is up, working on an octopus themed third episode.
 
Tomtomkent said:
That's my pen name, but a fair few of those are anthologies I happen to be part of.

Most are just short e-books rather than genuine, real, proper dead-tree books.
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Still, you've got a lot there. Nothing wrong with having something in an anthology. I have 2 short stories published in anthologies.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Still, you've got a lot there. Nothing wrong with having something in an anthology. I have 2 short stories published in anthologies.
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Oh not at all. But I wouldn't want to give the impression everything on an amazon list was just "my" books.
 
Tomtomkent said:
I'm also a hobby writer, and I'm not selling that many copies of my short kindle novellas, because I'm trying to do it on a very limited budget. (I have given away thousands of free books on countdown deals, but those don't translate to customers coming back for more). I get friends to edit and proof for free, and have been making my own covers (believe me, I know it shows!).

Even the cheapest marketing don't bring in enough sales to break even, so I spend a few bucks on Amazon's own marketing here and there when I can afford to.

Anyway: Second of my horror anthology is up, working on an octopus themed third episode.
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Sounds and looks like you are doing very well

My wife who is an English prof does my editing I sometimes use other people we know but it requires a native British speaker to handle the 1830's English - it just drives computers set to USA English to go ballistic along with American speakers. I seem to spend a great deal of time finding and using 19th century images about 180-200 in each book.
 
arthwollipot said:
I'm working on a fantasy novel. My intent is to play around with a few fantasy tropes. I've got a Patreon, which I won't link to because it's commercial and therefore against the rules, but you should be able to find it if you're clever.
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Yes, I read the first three chapter posts on patreon.
 
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