I have my cover for my romance novel A Change of Heart which appears above and will be released in March.  I've not yet been assigned an editor and I hope this means they don't think it needs much cleaning up.  I hope I don't have to rush at the last minute to make changes to comply with the March release date.  I don't yet know the price but I seen $6.00 for a face value and this may be for the digital version.  I've elected to have 30 copies made via POD and so the price there is still unknown.  Wings ePress gives me 30% royalties.  I believe it will be available on Amazon and B&N as digital versions.  The cover artist from Wings, Richard Stroud, did an excellent job in capturing Jody and Leroy's expressions to go along with the storyline.  Jody's heart is covered in ice and she holds Leroy at arms length for a number of years in the novel.  Jody feels her career leaves no room in it for a man, that being Leroy of course.  For those of you who read my short story Lab Partners available from The Wild Rose Press the characters Leroy and Jody are taken from that story which is in the 1950s and has cast them in modern times.  I can legally do this because of a clause in the contract.

Another contract coming

I'm pleased to announce that Wings ePress has accepted my novel A Change of Heart.  I've included the image of my short story Lab Partners so you know the story is about those characters only cast into modern times.  Leroy and Jody have closure in this novel.  I've not yet received the contract but the editor assures me one is coming.  On my other novel The Higher Mission I have been assigned Ms. Judy Gill and she's the one who accepted it in the first place.  She said she would ask the head editor if she could be assigned to me.  I hope she isn't disappointed and I hope the editing isn't too extensive.  She was pleased I had already formatted the novel to their specs.

Thanks, Allen

Thanks, Allen.  My poor blog is lonely and I appreciate your visiting and well wishes.  I'm excited and now will be facing editing.  It will be mid next year before it will appear.  I'm not sure at this point whether it will be an e-book or print or both.  I'll continue updates on my blog and now I'll need to investigate construction of a website.
I hope your running continues well.  I have a runner romance short story of the sweet variety you might be interested in.  It is entitled Runner's High and is priced at 99 cents.  You can read the first 20% free.  Here is the link.  http://www.smashwords.com/b/252442

Wonderful News

Welcome news on the publishing front.  I just received an email saying that my science fiction story The Higher Mission has been accepted by Champagne Books, the Burst Books imprint.  I have reviewed the contract, accepted it, signed it and emailed it back to Ms. Smith at Champagne Books.  I'm so excited.  After 37 years of writing I have finally gotten a full fledged novel accepted.  Joe Cramer and Mona Watson are now bound to be viewed by the public when it is released. That will be sometime next year, maybe after July 1, 2013, which is the latest deadline mentioned in the contract.

Cover for Help Sessions

I received my cover for my Wild Rose story Help Sessions today.  I like the cover and emailed the cover artist to tell her so.  There is no release date yet but that should come soon.  I also heard briefly from my two novel submissions.  The science fiction thriller, The Higher Mission, doesn't have news yet on acceptance by the acquisitions editor but my editor who has read my novel through three times and used to be the acquisitions editor emailed me and asked a question about time dilation at a particular part in the novel.  Also I heard from Wings e-Press about my romance novel A Change of Heart and it is in the hands of the senior editor from the second reader and I should hear something by the end of the year.  Let us home good news on all fronts.

News on my two novels

I inquired with the two publishers where I have my two novels.  One publisher, Burst Books, has had my science fiction thriller/romance for three and a half months.  The other publisher, Wings e-press, has had my romance novel for five months.  They both answered me in the same day as I inquired.  The romance novel, A Change of Heart is now in the hands of a second reader.  My science fiction novel The Higher Mission being with the acquisitions editor has a new development.  The acquisitions editor has resigned but she asked me to send my manuscript again which I did.  Today, Sunday December 16th she emailed me with a suggested change in one part of it and said she would recommend to the present acquisitions editor acceptance on Monday if I agreed to the change she suggested.  I gladly agreed with a careful and tactful minor change to her wording.  Now it is the waiting game once again.  By the way, she will ask to be my editor but doesn't know if the present acquisitions editor will go along with that or not.  I hope that happens.  This is as close as I've ever come at gaining acceptance for one of my novels in my 37 years of writing.

New Smashwords Story: Runner's High

I have a new story listed as of today at Smashwords.  The cover is as above and is priced at 99 cents.  Cover is by Miss Mae using an image I downloaded from istockphoto.com.  This story is about Ted Stoddard who lost his young wife twenty years ago to cancer.  He never thought another woman would catch his eye until Hillary Hansen moved to town.  She captured his eye and his heart without even trying.  He despairs though because of their vast age difference.  He is 59 and she is 28.  When he joins the local track club she is assigned as his trainer.  Hillary gets on his case for harping about their age difference and reminds him of two couples in the Bible where the man is much older than the woman.  Will Ted muster the courage to tell Hillary he loves her?  What will her reaction be?
The web address for downloading this story and reading the blurb and description is http://smashwords.com/b/252442.
A word about my other Smashwords stories.  Small is Beautiful has had 91 downloads and Photo Beauty has had 95 downloads to date.  Both of those are priced at 99 cents each as well.