Tag: book sales
Year-End Update!

Year-End Update!

By | 
Location: Punta Gorda, Florida

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Y’ALL.

A REMINDER FOR YOU: To celebrate a successful year of writing, publishing, and living, I offer you a 50% discount on all of my eBooks. Crazy, right? Click below.

Between now and year-end, you can purchase any of my eBooks at a 50% discount. Just click HERE.

In this issue:

  1. Debut Audiobook Madness
  2. Reflecting on the year 2022
  3. Year-End Sale: 50% Discount!

1. Debut Audiobook Madness

Old schtick: a man wanders around Lower Manhattan. This all-too-obvious tourist asks a savvy-looking native for directions. “Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me how I get to Carnegie Hall?” The Wall Streeter smirks and says, “Practice!”

– Anonymous, at least to me.

Like I said, an old schtick. And yes, I know Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium is in Midtown.

Right now, I’m driven by this burning desire to do a few things well. Like, really well.

I read, and I write. A lot. Practice. I play my guitar, just a handful of songs and riffs. Not well, but better with each iteration. Practice. I paint in watercolor, and draw with pencil and charcoal. Not for a while, now. I will, again. Though not critically acclaimed, some of my hundreds of paintings and drawings are quite good. Most are not. Practice.

My problem? I lack a fear of failure. I need that character defect. It nourishes me.

I couldn’t draw, but I wanted to. So I practiced. This is one of my favorites. I call it “Caveman.” Maybe I’ve shown this to you before.

Someone shoved this crazy idea in my face. Now that I’ve written what folks tell me is a damn good book (Voodoo Vendetta is lucky number thirteen), they said I should transform it into an immersive audio experience.

I picture someone who is visually handicapped enjoying my book by listening to it. Or an over-the-road trucker who is too exhausted at the end of a long day of driving to read, but welcomes an entertaining diversion while she is driving. Or someone who doesn’t read well, but enjoys great stories. If I don’t do this….

It’s dark at 4:30AM, but quiet. The small brass desk light illuminating my mixing board and my computer’s lighted keyboard and screen provide all the illumination I need. I read my book aloud. Correction: I perform my book, tickling the volume knob and a few sliders, keeping my mouth eight inches or so from the pop shield between my face and the microphone. I lean in closer when whispering, and back, maybe to the side, when yelling.

On behalf of my characters, I laugh, prod, cajole, and plot. I smile and smell as I look for clues, or wave my arms to tell a bad joke, admiring her incredible auburn hair, the woman who has come into my main character’s life after “we’d” both suffered unimaginable personal tragedies. I read aloud. I perform. It’s painful, and a joy.

Then… I listen to how awful my own recorded voice sounds to me. I’m no voice actor! But I am the author of this story. I know this story. I’ve lived it, inside and out. For months. Still am. Like an undercover assignment where I got in too deep, not yet ready to come out.

So, who better to perform this tale of tragedy and joy for you? And when better than when it’s still hot off the presses? I record more. Listen more. Do it again, damn it. Just one more take.

I really want to bring this story to your ears. Maybe while you’re walking, or working out, or focusing on the road.

So, I practice. Until “The End.” Until it’s right. And compelling. At least that’s the theory. Yeah, I can do this. Can’t I?

Full disclosure: I’m about to geek out on you for a minute. But I can’t do this alone. I need your encouragement.

So, what now? Well, I’m already deep into the preliminary research necessary to record and produce my very first audiobook–my debut, as they say. Not to mention, a few recent purchases to pull this project off. 

Someone asked me last night, “Research? A few purchases?” Yup. There’s a lot to learn, and a bit to buy. If you only knew. Or maybe you do. Check this out:

  1. Audiobook (“AB”) platform requirements: Each platform (Audible, Audiobooks.com, Spotify, etc) requires slightly different formats and sizes of audio files, length and composition of intros and outros, room noise requirements, dynamic range…), covers (see below), as well as different royalty structures–how the author gets paid–and how much.
    • None of this seems as complex as ebooks or paperbacks, so I’m confident I can navigate this stuff.
    • Plus, I plan to enlist help from an aggregator to simplify the task of distributing my AB to various marketing channels (also, see below).
    • I hope to upload my audio files for Voodoo Vendetta early 2023.
  2. Choice of AB aggregators (distributors): Similar to the process for “going wide” with ebooks and paperbacks, I plan to offer my AB(s) for sale by as many online AB retailers as possible, while minimizing my own efforts to do so (I’m not getting any younger, and I need to get back to writing).
    • ABs have their own unique channels, although some are affiliated with ebook and paperback channels.
    • For example, a popular aggregator like Audible (owned by Amazon), distributes ABs to Amazon and Apple.
    • Spotify just started selling ABs. Their main gig is music, and really isn’t an aggregator, but I mention it because it’s a big deal in the audio world.
    • Findaway Voices distributes to forty different AB channels worldwide (including Audible and Spotify). That’s right, forty–worldwide. And they offer authors a better royalty payment with Apple than Amazon!
      • Plus, they have a deal with my non-Amazon ebook aggregator, Draft2Digital, to enable adding ABs to my portfolio as slick as ice on a Minnesota sidewalk in January.
      • They even offer professional narrator interviews, should one be necessary. Cool beans.
      • And they convert my AB to different formats for me as required by their various channel partners prior to distribution.
      • The best part? They ask for no money upfront. They do take a cut of my royalties on every sale, but I continue to hold the rights to my work.
      • The marketplace coverage is worth it. Or so it seems. Decision made. Findaway Voices it is.
  3. Production software education: This part is a lot of fun for me. I was a recording engineer once upon a time. BUT that was fifty years ago (gulp). A few things might have changed (wink). The baseline principle and “feel” of producing, mixing and mastering have not. Yeah, I’m feeling cautiously cocky.
    • I’ll be using a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), a piece of sophisticated software that is already installed on my MacBook Pro (no additional cost). It’s called GarageBand. While not strictly a professional-caliber DAW, it’s darn close, and produces a professional product. But there’s definitely a learning curve.
    • GarageBand includes countless controls, sound effects, music loops and more tools to produce an AB than I will ever need. Ready to rock, kids.
  4. Voice performance education: A segment of AB listeners (a serious growth market, by the way) prefer books narrated by their authors. My voice doesn’t sound like that of James Earl Jones, but it is good enough for this (I’m biased).
    • While I was never the “talent” in the recording booth back in the day (except for a few 30-second commercials), I worked the other side of the glass–on the control board.
    • One of my dear friends is a well-known Midwestern voice-over artist. But alas, osmosis won’t cut it. I’m on my own.
    • So I’m taking a couple of masterclasses on Voice Performance, along with the proper care and feeding of my vocal chords. Am I ever learning a lot!
    • Narrating my AB myself, instead of hiring a voice-over professional (narrator) will save me thousands for each AB I produce myself. Hopefully, this will be the first of many.
    • Just another side hustle. Now if they’ll just sell for me, right?
  5. Already on-hand:
    • I have an awesome large diaphragm condenser microphone and a 10-channel mixing board that controls inputs of analog audio sources (voice, acoustic guitar, my flutes). This “interface” converts those signals to digital audio (computer) format. All the places that sell ABs require digitally recorded, compressed and formatted files. No problem. I’ve got this.
    • And my MacBook Pro is silent as a deep-space night. That’s important in a recording environment with a microphone (a.k.a. “mic”) so sensitive, I can hear through my headphones a clock ticking on the far side of the room (my “studio,” our spare bedroom). Kay sits next to that clock over there, twelve feet from the mic, and she can’t hear it ticking. Mighty Mic can.
  6. Purchases: Then there’s a few bits of merchandise to acquire. I await their arrival while I study, learn, record raw and listen. It’s like radio acting. Within the next few days, I should receive:
    • A portable anechoic chamber: This configurable box will surround (most of) my microphone and pop shield with anti-echo foam baffles.
      • Should keep most external sounds from reaching it.
      • Otherwise, ambient room sounds will produce undesirable—even unacceptable—background noise in my voice track(s).
      • I’m also collecting other sound-absorbing material to further minimize noise (other than my voice) that might drive an aggregator to reject my AB files. They are very specific.
    • Desktop microphone mount: A superior anti-vibration suspension mount for my Behringer condenser microphone should be here in the next day or two. This will prevent minute vibrations from being transmitted to the mic.
      • Merry Christmas, Geno!
Draft artwork for my debut audiobook (yet to be recorded – I’m projecting availability 1Q2023). This 3,000×3,000-pixel design follows very specific hosting requirements for format, size, and consistency with other editions of this book, etc.

Maybe you know this if you’re an AB consumer. But one important difference in cover art: for an AB, the cover must be square, not rectangular. So, I’ve redesigned Voodoo Vendetta’s cover to these AB requirements.

Fortunately, my graphics design skills are adequate. So, I don’t need to pay a professional designer hundreds of dollars for each cover. It’s less about being cheap, and more about being a control freak.

By comparison, my final eBook cover art for this title. Consistent, right?

2. Reflecting on the Year 2022

Wholly enchilada! I recently realized I published FOUR books this year:

That’s a heck of a year for any author, especially while living on the road in our bus for almost half of this year in the Midwest, teaching writing and publishing seminars, and researching “Vendetta” in Louisiana this Fall. Hell, yeah!

I made this 4-books-in-a-year observation on Facebook last week, as if it just occurred to me. It had. Why did I just realize this? Because 2022 raced past me in a blur.

To be fair, I started Black Blizzard with a concept early in 2021 and my book Poetic Detective is a culmination of over forty years of ideas. Nevertheless, I’m now celebrating a productive publishing year. I think I can afford to offer a deep-discount year-end sale (see below). Pick up any of my books for a buck or three. Keep reading….

3. Year-end Sale: 50% Off All My Books!

Don’t forget! Last reminder (I promise).

You’re still just in time for the year-end holidays, click here between now and New Years Day 2022 to snag these great deals on one or more of my books. Or click on the image below:

I’d give ’em away, but my wife won’t let me (line stolen from a local used car salesman here in SW Florida)

I announced this sale in a recent newsletter, am reiterating here just in case you missed that.

Yup, I’m offering a 50% discount on the eBook edition of all my books–even the newest one that released just days ago. If I had an agent, she’d tell me this is nuts.

If you’re not familiar, Smashwords is a popular Amazon alternative. You also can search this link for “Jurrens” to find my books.

I hope you take advantage of this sale, read one or more of my books, and that you will let me know what you thought. As I’ve said before, authors live or die by reviews. Even a bad review is better than no review. Thanks in advance!

That’s all for now. So, until next year… and wherever you and I are, my friend…

Happiest of holidays to you and yours!

Gene

In the “studio” bluetoothin’ away….
Isaac Azimove: one of the most inspired writers of the twentieth century.
Blast-off! And 50% Off!

Blast-off! And 50% Off!

By |
Help me launch the first book in my new series: “Voodoo Vendetta – A Literati Mystery”

And to celebrate a successful year of writing, publishing and living….

Keep reading to find out how to score a great deal on thoughtful stocking stuffers.
Location: Punta Gorda, Florida

In this issue:

  1. RV Rally Fun
  2. Voodoo Vendetta en route to Worldwide Distribution
  3. Case Study – Evolution of a Book Cover
  4. Ice Ops – A Short Story
  5. Year-end 50% Off All My Books!

1. RV Rally

Once in a while, we hang out with some Uber-interesting folks who share our passion for the nomadic lifestyle–the life of itinerant vagabonds.

The Full-timer’s chapter of the Newmar Owner’s Group gathered right here in our town, Punta Gorda in Southwest Florida. Kay and I so enjoyed seeing everyone again.

Fun fact: the RV Park that hosted our rally (food, fun, games, music, tall tales), Creekside RV Resort, saw forty rigs topple during Hurricane Ian’s onslaught. Not so much fun, however, for their owners. None of our group suffered damage as we go where the storms aren’t. When your home has wheels and catastrophe approaches, we beat feet.

We took this opportunity to enjoy a harbor cruise and a Christmas lights canal cruise with our RV friends. We also toured the Edison/Ford museum in Ft Myers. After living here for twenty years (when we’re not traveling), this is the first time we made it to that museum.

A fun harbor cruise with forty of our good RV friends.
Folks in Punta Gorda Isles go all out decorating their houses and boats in the canals, even after a major hurricane.
Remnant of Hurricane Ian during spotted our harbor cruise.

2. “Voodoo Vendetta” is on its way around the world

My ninth novel, “Voodoo Vendetta – A Literati Mystery” is officially available in both ebook and paperback editions in a bunch of online stores now (Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords…), and on its way at cyber-speed (faster than snail mail) to all the rest, worldwide. Including library services and reader subscription services (except for Kindle Unlimited which requires exclusivity–nope).

You might guess that launching a new title is exhausting. And you would be correct. So many details to manage. Everything has to be, well, perfect. And it takes a village.

While I’ve reduced the process to a straightforward workflow, it’s still a ton of work. As I reported in my last newsletter, early readers are loving this locked room whodunit murder mystery with myriad twists and characters you’ll love and hate, but for good reason. Some, you won’t be sure what to think.

As an adjunct, I thought some of you might like to see how this book’s cover evolved over the last few months based on useful but brutal feedback from readers and designers. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, keep reading. Otherwise, skip to details below on the huge year-end book sale to see how to save 50% on all of my titles, and a bunch of others.

From concept to….

3. Case Study – Evolution of a Book Cover

Never judge a book by its cover.

I.M. Naughtwriter

Poppycock!

In fact, the right cover is any author’s most powerful marketing tool. A great cover needs to:

  • Grab the casual shopper’s attention in two seconds or less, either in a bookstore, or online
  • Entice the online shopper to make a snap judgment from a thumbnail, a minuscule miniature of the book’s cover. That’s asking a lot from a picture the size of your thumbnail, and a design requirement often overlooked by rookie authors,
  • Identify the book’s genre (a murder mystery’s cover will look and feel very different from a romance story’s). This is more look and feel. Best achieved by studying other successful authors in the genre,
  • Set appropriate reader expectations with its title, font, color, text (back cover) and graphics.

Conversely, a not-so-great cover WILL be costly in lost sales. Worse, you may never know.

With each new book I publish, I am humbled by how much I still don’t know about book cover design. But I’m stubborn, and a control freak, and cheap, all of which prevents me from hiring a professional designer for each book. Plus, I enjoy endlessly tinkering with my covers’ designs.

So, I study the covers of other books in my genre–the ones that sell well. Even then, the most prominent feature on a famous and well-established author’s book cover will probably look very different from what my cover needs.

For example, what is the most prominent feature on the cover of a book written by James Patterson or JD Robb or Tom Clancey? Their name, of course. That makes no sense on my books because I’m not famous. Yet.

After tinkering, soliciting feedback, and more tinkering, I will still doubt my own cover design–the perennial paradox–one of many. For me, anyway. I know… madness.

Enough foreplay. Here are just a few of the dozens of iterations I went through for Vendetta’s cover.

Old working title. Eye-catching cover, but too cinematic. Looks like a collage of unrelated images (“What’s with the lipstick and cryptic background handwriting?”)
Too romantic a feel (it’s a mystery!) and too “fluffy.” Plus, this title still did not play well with reviewers. I still hadn’t lost the lipstick. And it looked mushy as a thumbnail. Make that downright illegible.
Better colors (more vibrant) to catch the eye as a thumbnail, and better title font, but still too many different fonts (3) for no good reason.Still too busy, and lacks coherence.
Better (catchy) title, and the overall design “feels” more mysterious (it’s a mystery!), but still too busy. These title/subtitle FONTS did not review well.

I also ground through several evolutions of the rear cover. I won’t bore you with that, but this darn cover drove me crazy. For months.

Thankfully, I received lots of constructive feedback. The final cover below also looks good as a thumbnail, I think, which is critically important for online sales pages. All the text is still fairly legible when reduced to a very small image. The title is a unique color and in a distinctive font called “Trash Hand.” I like that, as did reviewers:

And here’s the winner. Simple, but suggestive.
Dark like the book’s theme. Much takes place in dark basements and tunnels, involves a mysterious (“dark?”) religion, and more than a few devious (dark?) characters and plot twists.
Plus, of course, murder.
Limited fonts (2) with smoky shadows, with a provocative tag line (“Culture That Kills”). Composite images are subtle but suggestive (not visually cluttered).
Emphasizes a singular visual focus (the book’s title) with the series subtitle that grabs less focus, but still prominent (“A Literati Mystery”), which will appear on every cover in this series. One topic of continuing debate: characters’ faces on the cove? Or not? Screw it. I like it.
Decision made! Done, already!
Thumbnail

So, there you have it. A study in dark lavender. As one of my villains in this book says:

“Black is the new white. Reminds me of Moskva’s winter nights after curfew, but without the cold.”

Tihomir Leonov

A cover doesn’t have to be pretty, but it MUST be effective.

4. Ice Ops – A Short Story

I’ll be publishing a collection of short stories in 2023. I offer you an advance peek at one that means a great deal to me. I hope you enjoy this free sneak preview.

“Ice Ops – A Rescue Mission” is a chilling true account of life over death for more than thirty souls, and the genesis of an injury for yours truly that persists to this day. If you are so inclined, you can read it here.

5. Year End Sale 50% Off

That’s right. I’m offering 50% off the eBook edition of all my books–even my newest–on Smashwords (an Amazon alternative).

Just in time for the year-end holidays, click here between December 15 and December 31, 2022 to snag these great deals. Or simply click on the image below:

This is INSANITY!

That’s all for now. So, until… and wherever, my friend…

Happy Holidays!

Gene

Obiwan Geno
Launching A New Mystery Series From Ground Zero

Launching A New Mystery Series From Ground Zero

By |
Help me launch the first book in my new series: “Voodoo Vendetta – A Literati Mystery”
But first, this….
Location: Punta Gorda, Florida

In this issue:

  1. Eye-Witness Report From Hurricane Country
  2. Wonder Whodunnit in the New Literati Mystery Series by GK Jurrens

1. Eye-Witness Report From Hurricane Country

As the man (Uncle Sam) says,
and I’m paraphrasing here,
It ain’t pretty! And so much worse than you see on the news.

Commercial businesses are seen in the wake of Hurricane Ian, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

“On Sept. 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in southwestern Florida as a dangerous, high-end Category 4 storm after plowing a path of destruction through the Caribbean, bringing particularly heavy rainfall and dangerous surf to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and western Cuba.”

Courtesy: Patabook

Other than a national and global news highlight, you might ask, “So what?” You saw “Cayo Costa” mentioned above in the paragraph I quoted from the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration of the US Department of Commerce. We, too, can literally see the island of Cayo Costa west of our condo complex. Miss Kay and I perch on the eastern shore of Charlotte Harbor.

Again, so what? You see, our home was literally at Ground Zero for the worst weather event to strike Florida in almost a century.

Yeah, it ain’t pretty, but we fared so much better than so many others.

“Ian came ashore near Cayo Costa, Florida, at 3:05 p.m. EDT with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, tying the record for the fifth-strongest hurricane on record to strike the United States.”

NOAA, US Dept of Commerce

Three things about this particular storm you might find of interest, and by now, no surprise:

  1. Its strength: The human psyche just cannot comprehend what sustained winds (for hours) of 150+ MPH means in practical terms. Out in the open, a hundred MPH at ultra-low barometric pressure will suck the air right out of your lungs. Examples of the storm’s brutality: Ian tossed around hundred-foot boats weighing fifty tons, hundreds of feet from the water. There isn’t a sign or billboard in SW Florida that isn’t knocked down, twisted, or just gone. Hundred-year-old trees are ripped from the ground with their root balls still clinging to tons of dirt they brought up with them as they went over. There’s a saying here in the context of such a frightening phenomenon: “If it ain’t concrete, it’s rubble.” Even with several days notice of this muscular weather event’s approach, still, over a hundred souls in Florida alone perished.
  2. Its speed: Hurricane Ian was a very slow-moving storm. Again, in practical terms, that means it, or the hundreds of tornadoes spun off from its eyeball, chewed on anything in its path for more than a dozen hours before the worst of it moved on (per some of our neighbors). If this storm were an evil villain in one of my novels, its strategy would have been to intimidate, threaten, demoralize, and weaken you with a brutal beating. Then, he would torture you, managing to sustain exquisite pain for many hours, far beyond your physical and emotional endurance. When he would grow bored with your suffering, he’d fling your lifeless body and everything you own into the raging sea that had come ashore. But first, he’d ensure the total destruction of everything in your life that you ever loved. After all that, with the coldest of hearts, he’d leave any survivors around you feeling exposed, powerless, and if possible, penniless—for years—as if that would bring joy to the uncaring hole in his soul, a hole that can never be filled. Yeah, even though he’s just an amalgamation of environmental factors, I’d write him as an evil bastard with no hope of redemption. That’s how small we are in the presence of nature’s fury–we can’t be objective. But good people rallied. Survivors clung together. The best of humanity prevailed.
  3. Its size: At over 400 miles in diameter, for some, there was just no escape. It changed the lives of millions by cutting a swath of annihilation across a large portion of this part of the world (Atlantic and Caribbean islands, most of Florida, the SE United States, and the Northeast.

“In all, the storm knocked out power to more than four million customers in Florida, and an additional 1.1 million homes and businesses lost power when the storm plowed through the Carolinas. Recovery costs estimated to be around $47 billion in insured losses, according to research firm CoreLogic.”

NOAA, US Dept of Commerce
Shelters set up across the area aided those rendered homeless by Hurricane Ian.

Because Miss Kay and I are fortunate enough to live (some of the time) in a steel-reinforced concrete building, our condo suffered minimal damage. Others in our association, however, weren’t so lucky.

While the main buildings all survived with aplomb, some windows and lanais (“porches”) were ruthlessly ripped away, allowing water to find a way inside. Some apartments are completely gutted due to water damage after the storm (as ours was after Hurricane Charley in 2004).

Almost two months after the storm, our neighborhood doesn’t look so bad, does it?
It’s what you can’t see at a glance that has a few of our neighbors pleading with their insurance companies for financial compensation.
And it’s that damage that will drive emotional distress for the rest of some people’s lives. What you can’t see.
Kay and I were lucky. And as a neighborhood, the repairs we effected across this 16-acre property after Hurricane Charley in 2004 served us well through this particularly nasty storm.

But beyond our neighborhood, the devastation was complete on the barrier islands between us on the mainland and the Gulf of Mexico (Cayo Costa, Pine Island, Captiva, Sanibel, Ft Myers Beach….). We don’t go down there, even if we could. Strict quarantine and/or curfews try to prevent looting. Many of these looters (“shoppers”) aren’t even from Florida!

A lot of the places we used to frequent are just… gone.

In early October, as we approached SW Florida in our motorhome right after the storm, we saw HUNDREDS of power and telephone maintenance/repair trucks, most from out of state heading south on I-75. Even a bunch of out-of-state fire trucks.

We saw military convoys pouring into the area to aid in disaster relief efforts.

FEMA (the feds) had thrown up entire tent and trailer CITIES as temporary shelters and housing for emergency crews imported from all over the country.

Countless Good Samaritans opened up their homes to the newly homeless, including several of our own neighbors.

Insurance companies imported hundreds of adjusters to assess damage. They have their own tents here and there as focal points for their adjusters.

Soldiers (Army, National Guard) passed out millions of bottles of water, helping local and state law enforcement and fire fighters with evacuations and other forms of disaster relief.

It was thrilling to see this side of humanity in action!

Our own community (Burnt Store Marina), while very well maintained with mostly new docks and other upgraded infrastructure, took a beating worse than our condos.

Boats piled on top of one another, and several docks are either gone or rendered useless. The storm snapped treated wood pilings a foot or more in diameter like toothpicks….

We still see so much damage even now, almost two months downrange from the storm. They’re still picking up the pieces. Repairs and restoration will take much longer.

We can’t see much of the costly damage to boats in the marina. I talked with a diver who says so many boats—the ones that didn’t sink or weren’t flung ashore—took their worst hits below the waterline. Damaged hulls, bent propellers and shafts, gouges and cracks. But most of these boats aren’t peoples’ homes or livelihoods. So we have nothing to complain about.

Nothing.

A diver loads his camera to take insurance photos of a damaged prop, a shattered swim platform, and gouges in the hull–all damage caused by this boat riding up over the dock during the storm.
See those “toothpicks” laying on this decimated dock? They’re at least 15″ in diameter. Poof!
I believe this is (was) someone’s home. It took awhile to get this big sailing catamaran off the seawall.
Fiberglass versus concrete?
No contest.

To answer your next inevitable question, we were not here on September 28. We were in our motorhome on Galveston Island on the Texas Gulf coast as the storm approached Florida.

We then slowed our return home by hanging out in NW Louisiana when the storm made landfall, essentially, right over our home. We then staged to just east of Tampa until power was restored to our neighborhood in early October. Otherwise, we would have become part of the problem.

Now it’s just a matter of each owner chipping in to pay the insurance deductible to address the association’s damage (gulp).

The South Shore community where we live within Burnt Store Marina was so fortunate. None of our neighbors and friends lost their lives. We were blessed to have been traveling at the time. If we’d been here, we’d have rolled on out of here on September 25th before the storm came ashore. The “nice” thing about hurricanes (unlike tornadoes)? You have DAYS of advance warning.

We are also blessed with the means to hire an experienced disaster clean-up company to get us back to some semblance of normal sooner rather than later.

Our “hidey hole” (shelter) from the storm in NW Louisiana as the storm approached our brick ‘n mortar home in SW Florida. I had planned to be there to research the Creole culture for “Voodoo Vendetta,” anyway. We just extended our stay because of a brute named Ian.
No, we were not roughing it (well, no dishwasher, except for me).
How fortunate are we to have an “evacuation-capable” home?
A small matter of eight wheels, an 8.9 liter turbo diesel power plant and a 7.5 kilowatt generator!
Not to mention a co-pilot I love spending time with in this 300 square-foot house.

Kay and I are blessed. We can afford to take nothing for granted, especially in times of disaster and prolonged recovery.
Life is just too short, and getting shorter every day, my friend. For all of us.

2. Wonder Whodunnit in the New Literati Mystery Series

by GK Jurrens

Moving on….

“Voodoo Vendetta’s” Kindle edition is now available for pre-order for automatic November 30th delivery.
Paperback edition to follow in all major online storefronts worldwide soon after Thanksgiving (well before Christmas, if you’re looking for gift ideas).

You can check out the basic premise and early reviews of Book One, “Voodoo Vendetta” here. But below is something extra,, just for you—a short chapter that reveals my main character’s motivation:

Sunday, June 21st

A Few Years From Now

DuSable Park

Chicago, Illinois

11:30AM

* * *

It would be a day to remember.

The mid-morning air glowed with uncharacteristic brilliance. The haze abated, allowing the summer sun to boast its magnificence in a sky of muted blue. A miraculous day, a unique day of days.

Melissa and Clancy Greigh stood in a line that meandered around the corner of their favorite food truck, Aphrodite’s Kitchen. They chuckled at each other’s stupid jokes, none of them worthy of a full-fledged laugh. But their hearts were full, unlike their stomachs.

Now it was their turn to order, at last. Aphro looked down at the pair of redheads, mother and daughter. In her heavy Greek accent, she chirped, “And what may I make for you lovely ladies?”   

Instead of sharing an order of moussaka—their standard fare for their traditional Sunday morning outing to the park—Clance bubbled with anticipation as she delivered her well-rehearsed little speech. Though only six years old, Clance already enjoyed a sophisticated palate. “Mummy, could I have my own gyro today instead of splitting a moussaka? Please, please?” She widened her smiling eyes and wrinkled her tiny forehead as her eyebrows shot farther toward her hairline in gleeful expectation. 

After all, she was a big girl now. 

* * *

Mel grinned up at Aphro.

The street chef shrugged at the convincing little speech. Mum gazed down at her little redhead. What an amazing child. If only dear Greigh were here. She reflected on this, one of those defining moments in a parent’s life. He was missing it, but she knew how important his project was to him—and to all of them. After all, The Literati was their home. 

Clance had become her own person, and her brilliance beamed for all to see. Mel imagined what her little girl would do with her gifts in life. 

She was about to yield to her beautiful daughter’s big-girl plea, even though she knew the sandwich would be way too much for her. And then a terrible crack of thunder echoed through the park. Mel studied Clance’s wide-eyed wonder as a field of crimson blossomed across her tiny chest and her white camisole. 

Mel registered instant concern, thinking Aphro might have dripped tomato sauce on her from above, which stains, but then lightning struck, and night fell. 

* * *

Sir Aubrey Greigh labored at home.

With a maniacal focus, he pursued his twin passions—writing and crusading. He owned suite 7D in Hotel Literati. As a condo owner and president of “The Lit” Homeowner’s Association, he labored with prodigious passion to ensure their home never fell into the hands of a greedy land developer.  If that happened, they’d demolish their beloved building.   

Sure, they’d offer a generous buy-out, but that wasn’t the point at all, was it?

And then the call came that changed everything. 

Later, the news anchor reported.

“A sniper fatally shot five people and wounded two others standing in line at a Greek food truck in DuSable Park near the waterfront earlier today. Authorities will release no details until they notify families of the victims….”

Wednesday, June 24th

Apartment 7D

Hotel Literati

Chicago, Illinois

* * *

Ten PM came and went. 

Three days ago, Greigh’s universe went super nova. He sat on his sofa facing a dark fireplace… lost. He couldn’t even cry.

More than a hundred of his neighbors and sundry celebrities—he had no friends, really—shared his profound grief at the funeral earlier that afternoon, and afterward, for his ladies’ interment in the family crypt. 

Just another unsolved random mass shooting. An acquaintance looped into the investigation told him the only “signature” left by the killer was a unique slug—a .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge—from an ancient weapon called an IWI DAN .338, a tactical rifle that hadn’t been manufactured for almost fifty years.

Two slugs from that weapon ended the lives of Melissa and Clancy Greigh. It might as well have ended his, too. 

That’s all for now. So until… and wherever, my friend (from Ground Zero for a few more months)…

Gene (and Miss Kay)

My Jedi imitation….
Standing Apart

Standing Apart

By | 
Location: Rochester, Southeast Minnesota

In this issue:

  1. A Thank you!
  2. Excerpt From My Daring New Book

1. Thanks to My Seminar Attendees

Almost two dozen folks attended my series of writing and publishing seminars in Rochester, Minnesota during the month of August.

I truly appreciate each of you who not only attended, but participated enthusiastically, even though I bludgeoned you with a ton of information that I’m confident you will use. But hey, a leopard can’t change his stripes (yeah, I know).

I also appreciate all of your purchases of my books. Please let me know what you think of them. Authors live and die by reviews, and I eagerly look forward to any accolades, of course, but I especially need critical reviews as well. That’s how you and I grow as authors.

I am also grateful to have been asked for an encore performance at 125Live! next Spring, kids, so as Arnie would say, “I’ll be back!” Some of you have also requested a seminar on writing, reading and critiquing poetry. Let me think about that. But in that very spirit, I offer you a sample from one of my latest books below. Consider reading something different. Do you dare to venture out, intrepid soul?

C’mon, “it don’t hurt!”

2. Excerpt From a Daring New Book

If you haven’t yet realized, it takes guts to publish a book—any book. You risk “putting it all out there for the whole world to see.” Inevitable doubt crawls all around and through me as I ask myself:

  • Will my readers hate it?
  • Is the entire idea of my book dumb?
  • Even if the idea isn’t dumb, is my writing going to ruin an otherwise good book idea?
  • Will I sell even a single copy?
  • Add your own personal poison to this list that could be short or long, depending on your own temperament.

This list can be lengthy, especially if you venture far from your comfort zone, like I did with this book. But what’s life without spice? To me, that means a willingness and an openness to take literary risks! If reward seeks me out, that’s nice, but that will not hold my spirit hostage.

So, as harebrained an idea as it seemed, I decided to publish a book about poetry. “What?” my mentors exclaimed. “Yup, poetry, but with a twist. I’m going to first write a guide on how to read and interpret fine poetry, to better appreciate what I call this art form’s “sexy anatomy.” And then, I’ll include a brief subset of my own collection so readers can more effectively rip my work to ribbons with their newfound knowledge!

“That’s a really dumb idea,” I was told, “Stick to your genre,” they said, “this book will never sell.”

“I do not care.” I was adamant about this. I’d scribbled verses on napkins and reams of discarded paper when I worked as a third-shift computer operator decades ago. Collected them all, and finally digitized them (as we used to say).

Some people collect tattoos. I write poems… on paper… and with a keyboard—they’re easier to edit than tattoos.

Further, I was taught by esteemed poet—John Sibley Williams, serial winner of the prestigious Pushcart Prize for Fine Poetry—that it is a privilege to know what a poet was thinking when they composed the poem after you read it, or hear it performed. “It is a window into the poet’s soul.” I thought including that very window after each verse might enhance the readers’ experience as they read my new brain-fart of a book (of which I am now quite proud).

Toward that end, I would offer a few words of “author’s advice” before each piece, as well as a brief essay after each piece that would yield clues into that poem’s architecture and the insanity that inspired it.

I’d also embellish each piece with an original image relevant to each poem.

Now that would be a unique book about and of poetry!

I was told, “You will further shrink its already niched-down audience.” I said, “I do not care! I gotta do this.”

This is my vision for “The Poetic Detective.” See the book’s synopsis here. It is now available worldwide (gulp)—my third book published in 2022.

But I still kept asking myself, “What, in my particular Hell, am I doing? I have so many novels yet to write. This is a distraction. I’m already seventy-two years old, and I’m running out of frickin’ time.”

But then I remembered another aphorism from one of my other revered mentors, “Never quit,” she’d say, “That includes never quitting on an idea if it is your passion.”

So, I’m putting it all out there with this book, kids. Think what you will. This is my biggest personal publishing risk to date—a window into my wildly imperfect soul. Think less of me if you will.

This is an exercise in personal courage, and I feel great!

With all humility, I offer you this verse, an excerpt from my latest book, “The Poetic Detective:”

A Profile in Personal Courage

“Hollow Heart”

Author’s advice:

The solitary image of an elegant creature stands on just one leg in darkness. While beautiful, it seems ill-defined with a shadowy and cool color palette of finite colors. This creature is unsure of himself, looking within his own hollow heart for answers to arrive at some conclusion about his inflexibility. We must find this muddy declaration ironic as others have always viewed him as the essence of flowing grace. 

This eight-line poem, though using metaphorical imagery, is self-evident. Even so, I will offer you a few insights why I used some unusual phrases in the brief essay that follows the poem. 

* * *

A solitary soul stands alone so preposterous,

no longer a mere reflection, now a beacon.

A cacophony, their platitudes ring so boisterous,

bounce around him like so many who have weakened

to temptations of easy mirrors grown squalid,

he’s polished his keen vision to a deep stained-less screen,

their certitudes still echo behind, he greets a less solid

footing, slipping and sliding on a cellophane sheen. 

* * *

Poet’s Notes:

I am exceedingly proud of the image I created and selected to introduce this poem. This abstraction of a great egret captured a blue ribbon (first place) for me in the 2011 Florida Council of Camera Clubs statewide competition in the Creative Photography category. 

Of far greater significance, this effigy portrays that which is strange and misunderstood, even unrecognizable, yet esteemed in a corner of our mind, maybe in spite of appearing foreign to our concept of “normal.” Still, we find beauty and grace.

This poem ponders a man with a closed mind, believing only  that which supports his current beliefs. But an unspoken event opens his aperture. We do not know what or why. Maybe he doesn’t either. Let’s explore the rationale for the language I chose.

When we follow what we are certain to be “true,” that is the precise time to challenge why we are so sure of ourselves (“no longer a mere reflection”). 

That stand may isolate us from our peers (“A solitary soul stands alone so preposterous”). We may do so despite the surrounding noise to the contrary (“A cacophony, their platitudes rang boisterous”). We may even share our discoveries with others (“now a beacon”). 

Even though the strength of our newfound convictions may cause others to see us as feeble pariahs, we remain strong (“bounce around him like so many who have weakened”).

The simple path of the benign follower (“to temptations of easy mirrors”) no longer draws our hero of newfound courage and morality. In fact, they have become a sordid taste to his evolving social palate (“grown squalid”). 

He has, for an unspoken reason, clarified his view of himself and what he now recognizes as the impurity of his earlier motives (“he’s polished his keen vision to a deep stained-less screen”). 

With the old platitudes haunting him  (“their certitudes still echo behind”), he second-guesses his new attitudes (“he greets a less solid / footing, slipping and sliding on a cellophane sheen”). End of poem. 

So is that it? What else? As in real life, some applaud someone else for taking a stand if he’s transforming himself, but we do not see the entire story. We cannot peer into the future, nor can he. The rest of the story remains a mystery. This is where your imagination takes control. Go wild.

Oh, you will have observed an a-b-a-b rhyme pattern. Not subtle. Neither is our new intellectual drone-now-hero, even though he may not feel like it. He has transformed at great personal expense. Doing the next right thing can be painful… and fulfilling. Unless he caves to social pressure once again. 

Which way will your wind blow, my friend?

So until… and wherever (from SE Minnesota, for a few more days)…

Gene (and Kay)


By early October, I will be back in my condo office where I’ll once again revel in unfettered access to all my hardcopy reference books and our complete library. Though I teach a “paperless” writing and publishing process to my students while we’re “on the road” out of my own necessity (almost no wall or bookshelf space in our motorhome), old habits die hard. I still love the texture and smell of paper! I also hope to start recording audiobook editions of at least some of my titles. So much to do. Adieu!

Archives