I tell ya what – you wait around for months (years?) for something to happen, then in one day everything happens.

You can pre-order Backwoods over at the Rebel Satori site.

Michael Kirwan’s recently-released book Just So Horny arrived in the mail today. You might remember that Michael Kirwan did the illustrations for my getting-closer-to-being-released (seriously! more on that later) book, Backwoods. Well the awesome news is that three of the illustrations Michael did for Backwoods are included in Just So Horny. They’re full-page illustrations and they look amazing!

And the entire book is really quite incredible. Impeccably designed and in full color. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but seeing Michael’s illustrations presented this way – when I’ve only ever seen them in miniature through the cold grey light of the computer screen – is a revelation. They’re bold, exuberant, hot. I got a boner looking through it and it’s only a matter of time till I’ll jerk off to it. Well worth the price – which is surprisingly low for such a well-produced book. Buy it!

So here it is, summer, and I have nothing to report about the state of Backwoods. It’s in book limbo – everything is completed (though I’m sure it could use some editing), but no action is being taken to get it out in the world.

I anticipated this. My publisher set the summer release date, but I promoted that date more as an article of faith to hopefully get things moving faster. I always assumed I wouldn’t see the release until at least the fall, now I’m thinking it’ll come out by the tail end of 2011, but I haven’t had any contact with the publisher in months so I really have no clue. Hey, it’s an indie press. I’m sure they’re overworked and barely paid.

In any case, here’s another detail from Michael Kirwan’s illustrations. Michael has a pretty fantastic-looking book of his own coming out next month (August) that may feature some of the illustrations he did for Backwoods. Check it out here.

Detail from Backwoods cover illustration by Michael Kirwan

Here I am!

My novel-in-stories of erotic fiction, Backwoods, is done done done and coming out this summer from Rebel Satori Press.  Michael has completed the illustrations, the cover is GLORIOUS, and in the next couple of days I’m going to be putting up a rudimentary promotional page on here, just to have something I can link to.  More info as I get it!

I haven’t written a word besides journal entries in the past three months.  It’s getting old!  I need to get back into writing, but haven’t been able to concentrate.  The big change in my life is that I’m single now, and though I don’t really care to talk about that on the internet, it feels way too significant to gloss over.  Know that I’m doing okay and working through things day to day.  I know that people out there care, and it means a lot to me, but please don’t offer me sympathy.  I’ll be fine.

I hope to start posting more on here in the coming weeks, including resuming your Friday Nifty experiences.  As always, thanks for reading!

That’s when Backwoods is supposed to be released. From what I’ve seen release dates are subject to change, but I’m just glad to have some sort of anchor, something to remind me that this is really going to happen, my book is going to be published.

Unless the whole thing is an April Fools joke.

Michael Kirwan has one more illustration to do for me, plus he’s going to redraw the map that goes at the beginning so it fits with the style. We’ve started talking about what we want for the cover. All that, plus the finished manuscript, has to be ready to go by the end of the year. Then come Spring I’ll have a book. Whaddya know.

Another Backwoods illustration detail, cause it’s Saturday. Michael’s sent me five by now, all are fantastic, and more are on the way…

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  Can’t really say why I’m on a downswing, it just happens.  In fact I’m sort of overdue for posting a new story (I used my Butt Magazine story as an unofficial stopgap).  I will soon.

Besides that I’m just having a summer.  Rob Wolfsham just visited me and we had a good time hanging around Pittsburgh.  We drank beer on my back porch, went dancing with flirty straight friends, and ogled daddies at the local wave pool.  It was fun.

On the Backwoods front, the illustrations are rolling in.  Michael Kirwan has showed me three of them so far, and let me tell you, they are beauteous.  It’s hard to stay continually excited about my project throughout the long, slow process of getting it out there, but seeing these illustrations is helping to keep it alive in my mind.  It’s exactly what I wanted – the drawings will totally enhance the text, make it all that much sexier.

This is Tom Frye. He’s straight and married. He’s pissed because one of the two openly-homosexual men in his town has shown up on his doorstep in the middle of the night. He’s a homophobe, but the funny thing is, he really enjoys taking it up the ass.  Strange.

In other news HOLY SHIT MICHAEL JUST SENT ME MY FIRST ILLUSTRATION. I’ve only posted a portion of it here, because Michael isn’t finished with some of the details, but man oh man is the whole thing beautiful.

For lack of any appropriate images to go with this post, here is a picture of Matthew McConaughey as Wooderson.

What can I say about Kickstarter and my awesome backers that I haven’t said already? Nuffin. I recently sent out my rewards (aside from the book itself, which is coming out God-knows-when), and hopefully everybody has gotten them by now (and if you haven’t you should maybe let me know). So I just wanted to give a shout-out here to all the backers who helped me achieve my dream of producing an illustrated book.

I love all of these people (and if you’d like me to remove your name from this list or link to your blog/site/whathaveyou, let me know!):

Amanda O’Dell
Andrew Aiello-Hauser
Dario
Headmaster Magazine
James Champagne
Jason Quest
Johnny Murdoc
Katie Johnston
Martin Gómez H
Matt Gallaway
Mike Riley
Natty Fan
Yves Sauriol
R Wheatley
Rob Wolfsham
SeraSera
Swisschris
Yancey Strickler