Spine Chillers

Hey Everyone.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm making good progress on the fifth book of my young reader horror series. This one is loosely titled "Fireflies in Autumn." (It will more than likely be titled differently in the near future, but that's the working title right now.) I'm nearly halfway done and that will be the last one for a little while until I see if I have enough interest in this project.

Also, I've come up with a title for the series. The final title will be "Spine Chillers." At first, I was going to have the title be the name of the club the children form, but I think this one gives a better feeling for what the stories are like. (I know that seems a little like "Goosebumps," but I think my title is still original enough. "Spine Chillers" seems a little darker and some of my stories are pretty dark.)

Currently, the four finished stories have been sent off to my test readers. I want to make sure they aren't too dark for their target audience but scary enough to be worthy of the title.. It's a tough balance, but I think they achieve it. I'll find out when my readers get back to me.

Madayln McLeod is about to start work on the covers for the stories. As I said, I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

I'll keep you posted and will let  you know when the first book of the "Spine Chillers" series will come out. I'm looking to publish the first story around the end of September but I don't have a final date yet. These are fairly episodic, so they can be read in any order, but the first one I'm publishing will probably be "The Scarecrow." Looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I've been keeping busy with writing, watching my children, and the occasional video game and role-playing game. I'm about to run a PDQ game of "How to Train Your Dragon" for my friends. It should be pretty fun. I plan to start reading another book soon as well. I actually am planning to read "A Wrinkle in Time." I never read it as a child, and I've been told by my friends that I really missed out. So, many thanks to my friend Lizz for giving it to me on my birthday, I'll be picking it up soon.

Virtual reality Skyrim has also arrived. I've been dreaming about this sort of thing since I as a kid, but at the same time I have to get used to it. I have to admit, I get more motion sick now than I did as a child, and also I have to get used to the controls. I get the feeling it will be super addictive after that, though. Either way, I won't be neglecting my children or my writing work for that, but it'll be another fun activity to occasionally do in the evenings.

Well, I'd better go. There's a lot to do today and more words to write. Take care! Keep reading!