Countdown to release: Character development

The wise-cracking, action detective is a bit of an archetype. What makes mine special,? Well, I thought it would be interesting if he was serious about music. Jazz helped define the era 1920-1940s, symbolizing moving away from formal traditions, opportunities for minorities and women to have their talents recognized, and a celebration of individuality. Raf's love of jazz shapes who he is, lively and open-minded. As the years go on, he'll be interacting with the music of different times, too, helping describe his relationship with the period. Another thing about Raf is that he mostly likes people. He's no loner. His friends are an important part of his stories.

As for his friends, Eugene Marshall fits another archetype, the millionaire playboy. Except he's both self-made *and* has autism symptoms. I didn't want him to be obnoxious, so I looked for a way to make him a little vulnerable. The autism traits are taken from me. When Allan asked me, "Which of your characters are you most like: Rafael or Clara?" I had to say, "Honestly? Eugene."

Analytical and smart, but naive and not great at filtering what should be said and what shouldn't in the speed of a conversation.

World War Two brought out the strength in a lot of women. Agent Carter is a large part of the inspiration for Clara Thomas, but so are the real women of Bletchley Park, the WAVES, WACs and WASPS, and so on. But too often a strong woman is considered enough 'development'. I thought it would be great if her strength came out of her weakness-- she'd been an abused woman and had help getting herself together. Going on missions rebuilt her confidence in herself. Her strength isn't an innate gift, but the result of fighting back and finding her power. I think that's not just a good example, but a way to push back against the stereotype that abuse victims choose victimhood. 

Immortality Arrives In Just 2 Days...

Available at:

Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forevers-too-long-helen-krummenacker/1131555250?ean=2940163217083

      Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonUK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonCA:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonAU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07RSGKTDF

     Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938589

Also there will be signed trade paperback copies available upon request. Simply leave a comment in the section below, or e-mail me at: 

helenkrummenacker@gmail.com

Immortality Arrives In Just 2 Days...

Available at:

Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forevers-too-long-helen-krummenacker/1131555250?ean=2940163217083

      Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonUK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonCA:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonAU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07RSGKTDF

     Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938589

Also there will be signed trade paperback copies available upon request. Simply leave a comment in the section below, or e-mail me at: 

helenkrummenacker@gmail.com

Countdown to Release: A Late Update

Allan was going to do a post for me, but it was a long day and it didn't happen. But I have news! I'll be doing a virtual book release party. At first I was going to do it off Facebook so that people without accounts could attend. Allan looked into it and linked me to some information about how to invite people who weren't on Facebook.
Set up the event. Tried to invite people without Facebook accounts. I'm doing it wrong or they were misleading about non-members attending.

The Event

Hopefully everyone who is interested can come. I'll have an Ask Me Anything going, do some readings, maybe improvise with the characters. I've never done this before, but I'll try to make it fun!

Countdown to release: a little bit different than the other detectives.

I promised to get into why I decided to do a Latino detective. Here's the thing. The detective fiction writers contemporary to this story were white men and their detectives were white men. There's nothing wrong with white men-- if I didn't enjoy reading about Archie Goodwin, Phillip Marlowe, Nick Charles, and even The Shadow, I don't think I'd be writing this kind of story myself.

But white guys are only part of the population. Oh, the writers were often aware of that. Rex Stout's politics sometimes entered his stories, with Nero Wolfe getting quite irate over the disrespect blacks face in America. I think Stout cared about women's opportunities, too, and he found at times stifled by giving both Wolfe and Goodwin some sexist traits, having to write around it with women executives and intelligence agents stealing the spotlight now and then. And Stout loved using Wolfe's status as an immigrant as a reason to do stories involving the complications that could cause for less successful people. Maxwell Grant uses the larger cast of The Shadow novels to introduce characters who defy demographic stereotypes, and sometimes upturns a whole slew of slanders at a time, as with the Roma in "The Gypsy Curse".

So it's not like the genre didn't have writers trying to expand their reader's minds. Justice, including social justice, is one of the things that is so appealing about the mystery genre. Still, history is a big canvas to paint on, and oddly enough, it's still painted mostly in white. Setting books in the past, and creating a more diverse cast that would have been written in similar books, gives me a chance to explore aspects of American life that were often ignored.

As a Latino, Rafael doesn't face the level of exclusion that black people often did, but he's still got to work around the fact that people see him as different. Sometimes with works to get him in better with people who might normally be suspicious of a detective. Sometimes he's been stalled by people who don't see him as "our kind". Facing obstacles himself probably makes him more aware of how women were blocked back then, as well. All in all, he's in a good position to observe inclusion and exclusion, and I can bring up points without getting heavy-handed about it.

Besides, I'm only scratching the surface in the first book, and the political perspective isn't the whole of it. Eventually, his Mayan heritage is going to be very plot-relevant. See, the other reason it's cool to give him some non-European heritage is that every group has its own folklore, traditions, and monsters. While the first book deals with one of the most used of magical creatures, there will be less common ones as the series progresses.

Countdown to release: These are a Few of my Favorite Things.

I mention in the acknowledgments that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. But the names I list might not be familiar to everyone.

Raymond Chandler was the creator of Phillip Marlowe. He didn't create the hard-boiled detective genre, but he saw untapped potential in it. He started writing his own, bringing in a more sophisticated style of writing. He believed that people could enjoy exciting plot twists and still get literary touches.

Dan Curtis was a television producer, but not just a producer. He came up with and developed ideas for shows. His first foray into fiction was based on a dream that a friend told him sounded like gothic horror. He'd never heard of that genre before, plunged into it, and came out with a successful gothic soap opera that saved a television network. One of his followup projects, Kolchak, the Nightstalker, features a classically abrasive investigative reporter who keeps finding paranormal dangers at the heart of strange events in Chicago. It was brilliant and funny, and I was delighted to be compared to it.

Marv Wolfman might seem like the most obscure name I gave, but he's been a tremendous influence on comic books and has wrtiten television shows. One of his specialties is re-imagining classic monsters into contemporary stories. He's also remarkable for working out how to fix inconsistencies in an ongoing story line..

I'd also like to say Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books helped me see there is a market for this kind of old-fashioned character and cross-genre writing. Unlike the Dresden books, this is actually set back in the heyday of the private eye's he emulates. And my detective, rather than starting out as an expert on the occult, begins blissfully unaware.

Less directly, I'm sure Terry Pratchett has been an influence, if only because he's my favorite writer and I've read the Watch books over and over.

And... Star Wars. No, really. Watching The Force Awakens, I thought, "This guy doing Poe Dameron would be good as one of those smart-alec detectives." And the idea of doing a Latino detective in period was intriguing. I'll get into that in my next post.

Countdown to release: Film Noir?

Can a book be film noir? Well, given that "film" is in the genre title, I'd say not.

But, there are many film noir movies that are based on books.The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, for instance, came from novels by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler respectively. Thus, it may be useful to categorize a book style as film noir. There are many kinds of detective stories: police procedural, cozies, analytical, and forensic, to name a few approaches. Film noir gives you an idea of what to expect.

Some of the defining aspects of the film noir cinematic style are visual-- tilted camera angles and dramatic lighting. That isn't readily captured in a novel... but it helped me choose my author photo.

One of the absolute requirements of film noir is sexual tension. I've kept that in mind while writing these. Many characters are attractive and there are complications in their interactions with each other that keep it interesting. First person narration means that, although the protagonist is himself a very attractive man, the descriptions focus more on the female characters.

Of course, film noir also dwells on the darker side of social behavior. Usually, it has to do with crime. Not all film noir stories are mysteries. Some are capers; some are escapes; some are thrillers. But at heart, there's generally a legal line being crossed or contemplated. Rafael has plenty of that to deal with, mostly from others, although he has to skirt the line himself in a few ways.

Finally, while this is not genre defining (film noir movies have been made since), the bulk of film noir movies were made from 1944-1954 in AMerica. Forever's Too Long is set in 1947, in New York City, so describing it as film noir (or just noir), helps imply the setting.

Film noir movies have an air of fatalism, pessimism and menace, though, and... The Forever Detective moves in and out of that. Rafael faces a heavy menace. There are hints that he's following a fate he knows nothing about, but others do. More will be explored about that in the sequels. As for pessimism, Rafael is torn between hope and fear. However, action helps him keep his focus emotionally and his warm personality and sense of humor contrast with the noir aspects.

So.... noir light? A dance/action number in shades of grey? Read it and decide.

Countdown to release: an excerpt

SNEAK PEEK SUNDAY:

With the book coming out this coming Saturday (June 1st), here's another tantalizing peek at what you can expect from "Forever's Too Long":

“Very well.” She shrugged. “You are not making this easy on yourself. Seize him!” I expected to be rushed by the acolytes I’d seen, but four newcomers had joined them. I mentioned the gardeners looked pretty dirty. These four looked worse. I thought one looked like his face had a gangrenous patch. Smelled like it, too. Another was a woman, but although she was young, her eyes were filmed over with cataracts and her skin was waxen as well as pale. She held a bag in her hands. Newcomer three was also female, and her fingers had lost the flesh covering the tips, revealing bone. The final one didn’t fit the pattern of most of the acolytes. He had a beard, was an older man, and wore regular but ragged clothes. He was bloated and had a pattern of dark veins on his nose.

Of course, this takes longer to describe than I took to notice them and quickly decide the way out wasn’t through the crowd. There was a side door on the left, and I took a side leap, pivoted, ran a couple of steps, and then dropped to the wooden floor in a slide to dodge Gangrene’s attempted tackle. I rose to my feet at the door and spun at the sound of footsteps to kick Vagrant in the gut hard enough to knock him on his tailbone. Fingertips had gotten tripped by one of the dopey acolytes. I couldn’t see Cataracts, though. I turned the door handle, hoping I wasn’t going into a dead end or worse, a closet.  

The back of my neck prickled, like someone was watching me who I couldn’t see, which was weird, because I was still facing the center of the room. I yanked the door open as hard and fast as I could, and heard a thud above me. Cataracts fell to the floor. She’d been lurking over the doorway, somehow. No time to ponder, I spun and ran. There was a hallway with a little stairwell to the left. Upstairs might be good for fighting, but not for flight. Forward would take me back toward the courtyard, closer to the main entrance but also a place to encounter more weirdos. The right door would possibly be an alternate path to the kitchen area, which should be connected to a back way for tradesmen to bring deliveries. You repurpose a flop hotel for a cult, you still have a hotel layout.

Available for pre-order at:

Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forevers-too-long-helen-krummenacker/1131555250?ean=2940163217083

      Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonUK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonCA:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RSGKTDF

      AmazonAU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07RSGKTDF

     Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938589

Also there will be signed trade paperback copies available upon request. Simply leave a comment in the section below, or e-mail me at: 

helenkrummenacker@gmail.com

Countdown to release:7 Days. Why Print-On-Demand?

So, one of the first things I often hear from people when they hear I have a book coming out is, "Who's your publisher?"

There's long been a stigma to self-publishing, and until recently, it was deserved. A writer had to buy a few thousand copies to get it printed at reasonable rates and generally did so as a pet project. Anyone who wanted to reach a wide audience and to possibly make money had to find a publisher who thought their work was high enough quality to invest in. It would go through rounds of editing before ever going to the shops. A real publisher meant the writer had talent. Self-publishing just meant they had money.

But.

That was then. This is now. Everyone knows there have been radical changes in how books are sold.There are many formats besides paper. Bookstore chains have collapsed or moved to online only. Publishing houses rise and fall, to the point where there are few one has heard of. But more has happened behind the scenes. Publishers tend not to invest in writers who aren't celebrities. Instead, even authors who have turned a modest profit on multiple books are asked to shoulder the burden of "typesetting fees". The manuscript is rarely put through an editing process. What most publishers look for is one thing: marketability. They are looking for a trendy subject, a sexy concept, and work that fits neatly into a hot genre or niche market.

Allan and I worked together on his first project to create something ended up combining thriller, paranormal investigation, police procedural,science fiction, horror, and strongly featured a lesbian couple. It didn't fit neatly into a genre and as Allan researched the market and the experience of other writers, he realized how much things had changed.

With print on demand technology, works can be published with little more investment than the blood, sweat, and tears of the writer. Not relying on a publisher who doesn't want to pay an editor to proofread the material, error checking is done by volunteers, and by several read-throughs by the author who is deeply committed to putting out a quality product. A publisher wants to sell a book and if the reader is dissatisfied, it means little. You'll buy another author next time. The writer, on the other hand, has to deliver great work if they want readers to love their book and look for more by them.

In short, I don't believe publishers care as much about quality as marketing at this point. And while anyone can self-publish a book these days, it's not a warning sign that it was unpublishable by other means, because print-on-demand is great for giving an author more control, a greater profit share, and a way to reach a large audience, hence it is the first choice rather than last resort. Allan and I have chosen this route and advise others to do the same.

Interestingly, the publishing houses track print-on-demand sales. If an author makes themselves into hot property, then they may be offered a favorable contract that will help them get into more brick-and-mortar stores. Ultimately-- the fate of writers is in the hands of the readers. Thank you for thinking of me!

"Forever's Too Long" Book Trailer...

These days, books as well as movies are often advertised with trailers that use images and sound to give you an idea of the flavor of the book, as well as sharing information about genre, storyline, and availability.

Allan Krummenacker was a huge help with this, doing the actual production based on music and images I chose, and a few finds of his own, but I especially like his vocal work-- since the book is almost entirely first person narration, I decided to script the trailer that way, so he's giving the voice of Rafael Jones.

*And remember the book will be available on June 1st, but you can still pre-order an e-copy at the following links:

Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forevers-too-long-helen-krummenacker/1131555250?ean=2940163217083

Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGKTDF

AmazonUK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RSGKTDF

AmazonCA:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RSGKTDF

AmazonAU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07RSGKTDF

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938589

Also there will be signed trade paperback copies available upon request. Simply leave a comment in the section below, or e-mail me at: 

helenkrummenacker@gmail.com

Pre-Orders Available NOW...

Welcome to the first solo novel of Helen Krummenacker, co-author of the Para-Earth Series. 

Adventure, humor, film noir and dark urban fantasy blend in a unique vision that will appeal to fans of Harry Dresden or Marvel's Horror Comics....

Enter the world of The Forever Detective Series...

Raphael Jones' love of adventure took him into police work, military service, and finally a career as a private eye. But when his first couple of cases combine to drop him into deep trouble, can his sense of adventures survive? For that matter, can he? A practical man with a kind heart, he never expected to encounter supernatural evil threatening the people he cares about.

"I was reading along enjoying the Raymond Chandler vibe and suddenly WHAM! Night Stalker!" - author Danarra Ban

Available June 1st, 2019 for all e-books (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, PDF, etc.) and trade paperback!

Reserve your e-book now at:

Nook:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/forevers-too-long-helen-krummenacker/1131555250?ean=2940163217083

Amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGKTDF

AmazonUK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07RSGKTDF

AmazonCA:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07RSGKTDF

AmazonAU:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07RSGKTDF

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/938589

Official release date set: 6-1-19

Naow available to pre-order for Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RSGKTDF/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Forever%27s+Too+Long+Krummenacker&qid=1557539184&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Besides various e-book editions, there will be a trade paperback.

Cover reveal

This artwork is a collaboration of Allan and me. I had the concept but was having trouble with the execution. Allan's better with this style and volunteered to do it. He did want me to put in the little bats flying over the moon, though. I also help a bit with color. The book will be released June 1st.