And so, it has come to this...

Sep 08, 2023

Publishing Updates.
Feature Article: From Reader, to Fan, to Writer
Sneak Peek: Table of contents & an image from the book

Publishing Updates:

I have proofs back for the hardcover and softcover of the print books. I just have to make a couple of decisions: white vs. cream paper; gloss vs. matte cover. Look for the print copies to be available by mid-September on Amazon.

On the eBook front, in addition to Amazon, the pre-order is now up on Barnes & Noble. The eBook will also be available to borrow from Overdrive and Hoopla. I was hoping to have the eBook on Apple and Kobo as well, but those services object to me referencing my Substack account inside the book. So I’m likely to give them a pass - I know it’s their platform and they can make the rules, but it’s also my book and I’ve never liked to lie down in front of ‘the man’.

My A+ content is live on Amazon. This is the ‘from the publisher’ content further down the product page. My content shows some of the interior art as well as the cameo from the back cover of the print books.

I’m moving up publication to 12SEP23. I’ve learned that my chapter previews go worldwide here on Substack, and I don’t own worldwide distribution rights. So the previews are not going to happen. Instead, I’m dropping the price of the ebook to $0.99 from now until 01OCT23. The earlier publication will allow prospective buyers to get samples of the book for review. So much for plans. 🙂

Feature Article:

From Reader, to Fan, to Writer

I’m going to keep this as brief as possible, as I suspect it’s more interesting to me than anyone else.

I’ve been a fan of Frank & Joe’s adventures since my mom bought me a copy of While the Clock Ticked when I was nine. We were at the old Donaldson’s store in Brookdale Shopping Center, as I recall. Mom worked at the library, and her motive for the offer was to encourage me to read. I was nine, and had shown little inclination to read much of anything. (author’s note: the series title of those canon books is subject to trademark, and I won’t be mentioning the name here)

The store had a full four-foot section of those beautiful books. The covers captivated me, and I immediately wanted all of them. But Mom said one book, so a choice had to be made. I particularly loved any book that had the Sleuth on the cover, but I’m also very partial to secret rooms. The cover of While the Clock Ticked featured Frank & Joe tied up in the foreground with an old man emerging from a secret door located behind the titular clock in the background. That turned the trick, and I chose the book.

Over the next several years, I collected and borrowed from the library all 58 volumes of the original series. I couldn’t get enough of the series and would re-read my favorite books over and again. When the series transitioned to the digests, beginning with book 59, Night of the Werewolf, I followed along for a while. I think I eventually stopped collecting and reading with number 70, The Infinity Clue. I’d aged out of the series and moved on to ‘adult’ novels.

Years later, I still remembered the series fondly. Eventually, I started reading The Mystery of Cabin Island every Christmas season. Then, in 2012, I decided to re-read the first canon of 58 books. The Hennepin County Library facilitated this by offering the whole catalog via eBook downloads. I set to work and read about two books per week. During this period, I also learned more details about the original texts of the books.

If you’re not aware, the texts of all Hardy books published before 1959 have been revised from their original contents. (all texts up through book 38, The Mystery at Devil’s Paw) Some of these ‘revisions’ amount to wholesale rewrites of the book, even to the extent of major plot changes. They also shortened all the books from 25 chapters down to 20.

I was intrigued by what the original texts might offer, so when my reread of the 58 new texts was complete, I tracked down and read all the original texts, another 38 books. I was aided in my quest by the Applewood reprints of the first 16 original texts. Between those and eBay, I was able to source all the texts. And so I read them all, except for the original Hunting for Hidden Gold, which is still on my nightstand giving me a guilty feeling when my eyes run over it.

There are many good things to be said about the original texts. There is more room to breathe: the characters have more dialog, the dialog is wittier and the characters are more developed. The plots... well, I can’t say that I feel the plots are better for the extra text, but I do feel that the original books read better overall than the revisions.

During this time, I also learned that some fans had authored their own Hardy books. These books infringed on the copyright and trademark, and so were distributed through unofficial channels. Having written my share of ‘fan-fiction’, I thought these efforts were great, but also doomed to be under-appreciated because of their legal status. I still wanted to write one! If I could have figured out a way to get art done and get the book printed for a reasonable amount, I would have done it. I always figured I had at least one decent Hardy book in me.

Over the course of the next ten years, I authored a novella (Fall From Grace - NOT for kids) and published it as an eBook on Amazon. I also created or improved eBooks for some of my favorite novels. These exercises can’t currently be published, but they helped build my skills in eBook creation.

About June 2022, I heard that the first three books of the original canon with Frank & Joe were going to enter the public domain at the start of 2023. I immediately planned to write my own book. I made notes of my ideas for the novel, roughly the same as the book that is soon to be released, and even thought up the title. Then I got busy with other projects and let the idea languish for nearly a year.

I was at a get-together at my friend Daniel’s house on June 30, 2023. I commented to the group that it had been exactly two years since I had retired. Another friend, Jamie, asked if I was writing anything. He recalled me expressing the desire to write a Sci-Fi book. Inside, I hung my head in shame. Writing is hard work, and while I had been busy with other projects, I certainly had made no effort toward getting to work writing. I resolved then to make an effort to get going and write a book.

In part II, I’ll tell the rest of the story from draft to print.

Sneak Peek:

The table of contents for The Crypto Mine Cypher:

1.White Squall

2.Chet Broke

3.Consulting Jerry

4.Dojo

5.Power Tap

6.A Sinister Spy

7.Surprise Meeting

8.Almost Got ‘Em

9.A Scream In The Night

10.Springing The Trap

11.A Shot In The Dark

12.Calamity On The Coast

13.Tailed

14.Captured!

15.Escape!

16.Trojan Lineman

17.Hidden In Plain Sight

18.While The Bomb Ticked

19.Crypto-Gang Cracked

20.The Windmills Of Bayport

Interior art preview:

eBooks don’t have endpapers. Neither do print-on-demand physical copies. But I wanted endpapers! So I made a set of faux endpapers. Here is one of them.

Next Issue:

Publishing Updates

Feature: From Draft to Print, the final part of the story.

In two-weeks: Character Changes: or Why is Joe a Girl?!

Sneak peek at more interior art!