Novels

Colin’s Monster is an idea I came up with several years ago and I’ve been promising my boys I’d write it for them ever since. Earlier this year, I finally began the project in earnest. I foresee about six middle grade/YA fantasy novels stemming from this character’s story, which is part of the reason it took me so long to begin. I couldn’t just imagine one book, I had to plann several. I’ve recently polished a draft of the first book, Colin’s Monster – The Horde from Hell, and I’m now in the process of querying for representation.

The books center around Colin Pennyback, a boy with no father, few friends, little money and an active imagination. He fantasizes about the day he and his mother will be well-off enough for him to have a monster of his very own. What he doesn’t realize is that he already has a monster. Only, it doesn’t belong to him; he belongs to the monster.

The setting for the first book is Gluven, a small village where Colin works two jobs to help make enough money for he and his mother to eke out a living. But when Gluven is threatened by an approaching horde of mutants, Colin and his two best friends seek to earn a reward from the village—along with a little respect—by braving a journey to bring back the one thing that will rescue them all. What they’ll find out along the way is they’re not alone. And it’s more than just a horde of mutants Colin has to worry about. Will they escape the ghastly creature that keeps hounding them and return to Gluven in time to save the village from certain destruction?

I guess you’ll have to wait to find out.

Short Stories

I’ve recently completed a few short stories which I’ll be revising and posting soon. One is called The Roommate and Mrs. DeMille. The other is called I Don’t. As usual with my short fiction pieces, they’re intended for grownups and have a bit a rough edge to them. You can see the stuff I already have posted here.

Story Book

This past spring, I took a hiatus from developing Colin’s Monster to write a fairy tale for my daughter. I’m ready to seek representation on it, although I may go the self-published route. It’s called The Princess and Her Parents. More about that when I come up for air. I.e., after I get my query submissions going for Colin’s Monster – The Horde from Hell.