New Year, New Stories

 

Congratulations! You made it through another year! Some years feel longer than others, don't they?

Hopefully your New Year's Eve was a good one. In my neck of the woods we've got a few families that take their celebrations seriously, and every New Year's Eve, and Christmas, and Fourth Of July, they go whole hog with the fireworks. Like setting one of those thick metal launch tubes up in the street in front of their houses, and loading it up with industrial-grade rockets that you can see for over a mile. Hit the deck.

Last month I took a leap, and put one of my stories up for sale on Amazon, something that I've been reluctant to do. That reluctance stems from the fact that it's awfully similar to self-publishing. If you know anyone who's been in the writing business for a while, say those two words to them. They might react with an expression that makes you think you've triggered a memory of the time they came home from a long weekend trip during the summer, only to discover that someone left the milk out on the counter, left the container open, in fact.

Yeah, historically it hasn't been regarded highly. Think about what kind of a reputation 4chan has today, and you'll get the idea.

But that was over a generation ago. Want to know how many books I have on my Kindle? Here's a hint, it's in the triple digits. A bit of non-conclusive research shows that while printed book sales still outnumber their cyber counterparts, the gap is narrower than most people would think.

I'm still working on getting my works published on paper, because I don't think anything is ever going to replace that magic of holding a book in your hands. Touch makes the fantasy seem a little more real, it leaves an impression in out nerves. To quote an obscure comic limited series, 'That's old power.'

So check it out. It's in the Amazon Kindle store, under my name, Stephen Pope, and the name of the story is Simple. A short story, but I think you'll like it.

I've a whole year to fill up. Better get started.

Still writing.