Two new books are out for December–Grin and Bear It by George Lichty, and Cheyenne Saturday by Richard Jessup (part of the Jessup Rejuvenation Project). These will be my final releases for 2011.

I’m spending December working up some funds to switch my expanded distribution model from Createspace to Lightning Source. This will allow me to brand the books with an Empty-Grave ISBN and it will provide worldwide distribution via Ingram Micro. The books will also be available from the Espresso Print Machines popping up at libraries and book stores–insert money and the machine prints and binds the book while you wait. Switching companies also cures the fatal flaw in PoD publishing in that the books from Ingram will be returnable. This means bookstores will stock them because there is no risk of them getting burned by having to pay for books they are permanently stuck with.

The other good news is that I have been talking with an illustrator that might work with me on the three Oz books that have been stalled since July. If all goes well and he sticks around for the long haul you will see the three Oz publications out by March. Each of the books will also contain an original illustrated Oz short story written by me. The three stories relate to some detail in the books they are in and they will primarily function as feeders into my very own complete Oz novel which, if all goes well, will be released in late 2012/early 2013.

Got a lot brewing. Suicide or Murder, Portrait of an Artist with 26 Horses, and another addition to the Jessup project should also make it in Q1.

Happy Holidays!

I apologize for the September/October dead-zone. It’s not for lack of work–just lack of updates.

The Jessup Rejuvenation Project is coming along nicely. Three books are currently complete and available: The Bloody Medallion, Chuka, and The Cincinnati Kid.

The first installment of the Richard Jessup Rejuvenation Project is officially available. It’s quite an interesting mash-up between the novel and the screenplay – lot’s of cool features in print and even more in the eBook. Check it out on the Available Books page.

I’m in shock. The Cincinnati Kid is wrapping up and I wanted to add a blurb about the author – you know…that guy who wrote thirty books – four of which were made into movies – and was nominated for a Pulitzer. Scouring the internet yielded a three-sentence blurb on Wikipedia, a note about the four movies on IMDB, and a couple used books here and there. I couldn’t find a complete or even decent partial list of what he had written.

I decided to go old-school and try some actual research – card catalogs, smelly books, rolls of microfiche, dusty backrooms and crawlspaces at the library. So I walk in to a big college library, plop myself down in front of a living, breathing librarian, and explain how I haven’t opened a library book in fifteen years and have no idea how one goes about searching old newspapers, magazines, and extracts from those 200 volume rows of bricks in the reference section.

The library is all computerized and here I had yet another computer telling me Richard Jessup essentially doesn’t exist. One of the only hits sent us to a row of bricks – 118 tomes with biographical blurbs about all “contemporary” writers. I find his name in the index – a separate volume – and it just states: Richard Jessup, obituary – v.108. The librarian says, “well that’s not good.” I open volume 108, flip to the “J” section, and his name is not there – no name, no obituary. I walk out of the library with the title of an older edition of that same reference set and instructions to see if local libraries have it. I’m also informed of a database on the college website that searches archived newspapers.

I’d like to know what all my old professors have to say now about how internet research is not valid in academic papers – Wikipedia just slaughtered all that the institution of academic research had to offer.

Anyhow, this strengthens my resolve to locate and resurrect published writers that are in danger of falling victim to True Blood’s “true death.” When I chose the first bunch of books to republish I hadn’t even looked at biographical data or availability of other works – my filtering process at that time was: Pick random book from my secret list (LONG list)–>Is book available in eBook format?–>Is the copyright expiration confirmed?–>Republish book. It just so happens that two of the first three writers I randomly chose were in real danger of being forgotten.

Makes me wonder how many other writers are slipping through the cracks at this very moment. It also makes me glad I didn’t write a book after 1923 and then die before the advent of the word processor.

The good news is The Cincinnati Kid will be finished tonight and available in the next few weeks. I’m also starting a Rejuvenation Project on Richard Jessup, so expect to see more of his body of work over the years.

[/rant]

The Brother Juniper Rejuvenation Project is as complete as we can currently get it. We have published five of the eight books and are still on the hunt for Hanover House trade paperback copies of The Whimsical World of Brother Juniper and Well Done, Brother Juniper. If we are ever able to locate these mythical beasts you can rest assured the collection will be completed.

Feel free to check out the continual release of cartoons at www.brotherjuniper.com or the list of our currently available Brother Juniper books here.

Empty-Grave currently has five of the eight books in the rare Trade Paperback format that is ideal for archiving.  We are missing the last three though.  Regardless of the vast information on the internet, we are unable to even confirm that what we need exists.

So we ask the fans of Brother Juniper to lend a hand.  We either need to be pointed in the direction of the Trade Paperback editions of the books below (presumably printed by Hanover House) or we need some sort of concrete information proving they do not exist.  Two of the books we have in mass market paperback form – by Doubleday Pocket Books – but we will only use those if we find that the trade paperback format does not exist.  We have been unable to confirm the third book was ever printed in any format.

We ideally need trade paperback printings of the following books:

Well Done, Brother Juniper

The Whimsical World of Brother Juniper

The Ecumenical Brother Jupiter (and we have been unable to confirm this exists in any format)