I’ve mentioned this on Facebook and Twitter, but it’s probably worth an official mention here on ye olde writing blog as well: I’ve set an official release date for the eBook edition of Blood Hunt!

On September 1, 2011, you’ll be able to download the book for Kindle, Nook, iPhone/iPad, Sony Reader, Kobo, and pretty much any other reader you might want to use. It will cost $2.99, which I don’t think is bad for a novel that’s almost twice as long as TBTB. Hopefully you’ll agree!

In the meantime, you might want to head on over to the official Blood Hunt website and check out the first chapter, which I have posted online in its entirety!

Darrell Pitt maintains a blog where he chronicles the ups and downs of writing in the modern era, including lots of advice, news and info. He also does the occasional author interview, and recently got in touch to find out if I’d mind answering a few questions. I, of course, never mind answering a few questions, so I went ahead and did so. He’s posted the interview over at 1001 Secrets of Successful Writers and you should go check it out. Here’s a sample:

You’ve just published your first novel “The Blood that Bonds” on Amazon and via Createspace. As a first timer, how would you describe this experience of uploading your book and preparing it for publication?

Well, there were two separate publications – the eBook first came out in late 2009, and then I released the print edition in early 2011. Both processes were fairly complex, and I think it helped a lot that I’ve spent most of my professional life developing web-pages. The type-setting, graphic design, and scripting skills necessary to create print and eBooks are quite similar to the things I was already doing on the web.

Of the two, I found the print publication more difficult, just because it required exacting attention to margins and bleed areas, page size, type-formatting (I spent hours just making sure none of the fleurons in the book were left hanging at the top of a new page) and so forth. Also, the feedback process on a print book is much slower – you have to upload your stuff to Createspace, order a proof, wait a week for it to show up, and then comb it for errors. With the eBook, you upload a file and can view it instantly.

…

Check out the full interview! Many thanks to Darrell for giving me the opportunity. I thought his questions were pretty solid — hopefully my responses hold up.

Why look, there are buds on the trees. Spring is here, and with it I’ve brought some very exciting (I think) updates on my projects!

Blood Hunt

I’ve decided to go ahead and move forward with getting Blood Hunt ready for eBook and print formats. I’ve hired an editor, Lauren, who did the first editing pass on The Blood That Bonds way back in the day, and am working with Adrian again on a cover, which should be more complex than the cover for TBTB. I’m about to send the draft off to Lauren so she can start on her end of things, which should take 8-10 weeks. Meanwhile I’ll be incorporating her edits into BH as she sends them in. The result of all of this is that, while I don’t have anything close to an exact date for Blood Hunt yet, I’m pretty comfy saying it will be available as an eBook at LEAST on Amazon, B&N, the iBookStore and Smashwords sometime this summer! There’s a very good chance that I’ll actually be able to do a simultaneous print and ebook launch.

The eBook version of Blood Hunt will be priced at $2.99. The print book price isn’t determined yet. The Blood That Bonds eBook will remain free, but the print edition may come down a bit in price. I’m looking into ways I can shave off the cost.

The Children of the Sun

The Children of the Sun, or TCS for short, is the final chapter of Two’s adventures. Will it be a happy ending? I’m not exactly sure, yet. Two’s world, like the real world, has its share of sadness, misery and despair. Two’s pretty fiesty, though. I wouldn’t bet against her!

I’ve started on the first draft of TCS. Not much written yet, but it’s a start. I’m also working on its entries in the master time-line I keep for the II AM saga, which extends all the way back to about 5000 BC! When all of the books are out, I’ll probably publish it on this here website for people who are interested in it.

The Broken God Machine

I had meant to go from BH to the second draft of The Broken God Machine, but the truth of the matter is that the demand for Two and her adventures is so great right now that I don’t feel comfortable putting them off to work on another novel. So it’s in a holding pattern for the moment. When I finish the first draft of TCS and send it off to my trusted readers for their thoughts and comments, I will try to squeeze the second draft of TBGM into that time.

Short Stories

My Sci-Fi short story “Watchers”  — which Lauren also edited — has made it through three rounds of critique from the readers for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and is now short-listed, which means there’s a good chance they’ll publish it. Should hear about that in the next couple of months. I’m also working on a short-story about a serial killer set in the early months of 1918. More on that as it develops!

That’s about it for now. Stay tuned.

Bunch of news on the Blood Hunt front: first off, I finished up the final draft and have begun submitting it to agents and publishers. Will anyone be interested in the sequel to a book that’s been downloaded more than fifty thousand times? I certainly hope so … but I guess only time will tell!

Also, you can now register for the Blood Hunt Sneak Peek Contest at The Blood That Bonds homepage. The contest runs through 2/25 (Friday) and I will choose three winners on Monday, 2/28, who will get a chance to read Blood Hunt in its entirety. Check out the website for full details!

This was posted a few days ago, but I didn’t get a notification that it had gone up, so I just realized it. A while back I did an interview with Susan over at MyVampFiction. She really enjoyed The Blood That Bonds and asked me a bunch of questions about it, and about writing in general. So if you’re interested, head on over and give it a read.

A couple of notes: I actually answered the interview questions before the new year, so some of the answers are a bit out of date. For example, I’m not “just about” to launch the print edition of TBTB … I’ve actually done it!

I am nearly done with the polish draft of the sequel to TBTB, Blood Hunt. I expect to send out my first agent query this weekend. Very exciting times ahead.

Times flies when you’re incredibly busy with multiple different projects, ranging from making beer to working on your next novel. There’s plenty going on in the literary world of Christopher Buecheler, though, and I want to make sure everyone stays up to date. Here’s the scoop:

The Blood That Bonds

I’ve chosen a cover artist for the Print-On-Demand version of The Blood That Bonds. His name is Adrian Dadich, and he is quite awesome. Look:

Please Note: This is not the TBTB Cover. Just an example!

See? Awesome. Also, my friend and editor Elise has already sent me the first chapter of TBTB, freshly edited, which I can now use to begin preparing the print manuscript. Hooray!

Blood Hunt

I’m still in the middle of a feedback round after finishing the second draft of Blood Hunt. I’ve already gotten a lot of useful thoughts from people, but there are still some more responses left to collect. I anticipate beginning work on the polish draft — the one that will get sent out to agents and publishers and such — in early 2011.

The Broken God Machine

I’ve finished all of my notes for the second draft The Broken God Machine and am about to begin active work on that project. I am hoping that I can make a strong push in November / December and finish it off before the start of the new year. At that point it may already be polished enough to begin submitting it.

Misc

I’ve decided not to do NaNoWriMo this year in favor of working on TBGM. Trying to cram a 50k-word novel in around my current other writing projects just seems like it’d be incredibly stressful and not at all fun, and if I’m not having fun doing NaNoWriMo, there’s not a whole lot of point in doing it. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a comback in 2011!