Garage Sale: Revisited (An Origin Story)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my writings please allow me to briefly catch you up. It has been a few years since my last book Psykosis was released. A psychological thriller. Like a lot of my work it also had a mystery at its core. It was my first novella and my second book. Monarch being my first. A novel that was released in four parts as a series over the span of a year.

My current project has structural similarities to both books, in that Garage Sale is a novel series, but the parts can stand on their own as independent stories better than those in my first book. There are five stories intertwined around a peculiar garage sale in the Hollywood Hills. That was how I initially wrote it. During the first rewrite, I realized something - the mystery behind the garage sale was never really explained. At first, that was the point. A mystery for mystery's sake. Then I realized that some readers and myself included might enjoy an origins story about how all these mysterious items came to be out on tables in front of this his house in Hollywood. In the process, I discovered who the proprietors of the garage sale really were and their relationship to those mysterious items.

I have decided to shelve another novella, House Fly, in favor of focusing on the origin story In the Wake of Newton at the heart of the novel series Garage Sale. It is a vitally important segment of the series.

It makes sense to prioritize the origin story for two reasons. First of all, it is a part of Garage Sale, unlike House Fly, which I had also been preparing to release. However, House Fly is a part of another novel series that is still some ways off from being ready for release. On the other hand, I have been working on Garage Sale for some time and am fast approaching the final rewrite and polish stage. Fingers crossed, the first part of the two-part Garage Sale series will be ready for release by the autumn of 2018.

The other reason it makes sense to prioritize In the Wake of Newton is because of it being an origin story for what happens at the garage sale. I had originally thought about having it be the opening to the series. Ultimately, I decided to place it somewhere else in the context of the story. Releasing the origins story helps put the mysteries of the garage sale into context for a reader. This will enhance the reading of the rest of the story for some readers before delving into the series once it  is released. These readers will therefore be "in the know." The Pre-Sale begins soon!

Other readers may want to wait until the entire novel series is released and read the origins story during the regular reading of the series. Whichever way a reader approach Garage Sale, by releasing In the Wake of Newton after the new year you have the choice to experience it your way. Should you decide to read the origins story before the series, be prepared because the cliffhanger will keep you wondering what happened until the series is released.

Pre-order your copy of In the Wake of Newton today! (2/22/18 Release Date)
https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Newton-origin-story-ebook/dp/B077R24FH9/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1512833965&sr=1-1

(2/22/18 Release Date)

GARAGE SALE (First details)

A few months ago, I did an online poll to determine if people would like to hear about my next book before its release. I thank you for your input. You unanimously decided that you would rather hear something about it in the lead up to its release as opposed to me just dropping it on you. Since I am not Beyoncé and can’t just drop a new work and expect everyone to shell out their hard-earned money for it, I will take my lead from you guys and begin filling you in on my next project.

My next novel is a two-part series entitled Garage Sale. Part one is called Garage Sale: Saturday, and the second part is called, you guessed it, Garage Sale: Sunday.

For those who are keeping track this will be my third book. Monarch was a four-part tale of one woman’s personal psychological apocalypse and how it affected her and her family. Psykosis was my sophomore effort, it too delved into the mind and postulated what would happen if you were not actually in control of your own thoughts and actions.

While my first two works delved deep into the psyche of my main characters, Garage Sale is a completely different type of story. It was first written as a screenplay back when I was in my so-called “Anthology Phase.” This was a time between 2001 and 2010. A time when I had a backlog of story ideas that I desperately wanted to get onto paper as quickly as possible. Not sure where the urgency came from, probably my young age, but I just had to get all of these stories written. In retrospect, I’m glad I did because I don’t have near as much time to crank these things out like I did then.

Garage Sale is an anthology, meaning it is comprised of several separate stories centered around one main story that ties them all together. Back at the turn of the century I was doing a ton of research on films. Horror anthology films were one of my main focuses at the time. Movies like Creepshow and Trick ‘r Treat helped me envision how I might tie some of these myriad story ideas together via a common thread. While I am to this day still a massive fan of these two movies it was another, lesser-known English anthology From Beyond the Grave that was the real inspiration for me to write Garage Sale. It was produced by the famous English production company Amicus. The stories that make up this spin-tingling masterpiece were written by horror/ mystery writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes. This movie and its multi-chaptered stories are centered around an antique shop, its curious proprietor and the antiques he sells.

This anthology inspired me to write something similar and yet entirely different. I wanted to get it out of the Antique shop, but also wanted to have these multiple storylines focused around a single location. After spending several years in Los Angeles in the late 90s, I just had to set the garage sale in the Hollywood Hills. Anyone who has lived or spent time in the hills will know that they hold a sense of wonder. They certainly did for me when I lived there, and since writing these mysterious tales I will never be able to envision those hills any other way.

In the weeks and months to come I hope to fill you in on even more details about the story as we get closer and closer to the release of Garage Sale: Saturday.  Please feel free to send me your questions about Garage Sale or any of my previous works. Thank you for your time.