Painting With Light

Next Book

April 17, 2012

So, before you ask, what does the title “Zebulon” mean?

Good question. I looked it up for you:

Zebulon \z(e)-bu-lon\ as a boy’s name is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Zebulon is “dwelling of honor.” Biblical: the name of one of Jacob’s son.

What does that mean as far as my new book is concerned?

Nothing. I just like the word.

My next book is a collection of short stories. The best definition of genre would be fantasy.

The collection contains stories that range from the ultra-short fiction of “Conversations with a Lonely Island God” to the 8,600 words of “Zebulon.” They run the gamut from sad, and maybe sentimental, ghost stories to pure and simple fantasy.

However, while there might also be a touch of science fiction, there is no sword and sorcery here, no epic fantasy or horror. Most stories here would rightfully be called low fantasy; stories that are set in a relatively normal world, containing fantasy elements.

More than anything, they are stories of life and love, and the experiences of ordinary, if not exactly normal, people.

Hmmm, sounds like I may just have written something I can use in the forward!

As a teaser, here are a few sentences from one of the stories in the book, “The Devil & Charlie Barrow.”

When he stepped into the bar that cold night in December, Charlie acted as if Flanagan’s was definitely not the first stop he had made. If anyone had asked, everyone, and I do mean everyone, from me to Mayor O’Reilly, would have said Charlie looked like he had been partying since noon.

Still, he somehow maintained the dignified presence that seemed to follow him wherever he went.

As Charlie slowly wobbled his way through the tables, I shook my head in wordless wonder. Charlie ignored many empty seats and finally plunked himself down at the bar.

He took the stool right next to old Beelzebub.

Interested yet?

Find out more about my current book, “Reichold Street,” and plans for the next books at my writing web site: Broken Glass.

Tags: amazon kindle, amazon print book, barnes & noble, fantasy, kindle e-reader, literature, new book, nook e-reader, writing
Posted in Book Promotion, Branding, Market Your Book | Leave a Comment »

Reichold Street – the Novel

April 14, 2012

“Reichold Street” The new book by R.L. Herron

All the writing work is done, the cover (and back cover) have been designed; it’s available both as an e-Book and in print. Now all I have to do is sit back and wait, right?

Wrong. Now comes the hard part.

I’ve written a book (almost 80,000 words dredged from somewhere inside over the course of months … and months) and transferred those thought-bubbles to … well, I almost said paper … but it wasn’t to paper, it was to a digital Word file.

That was converted into an e-Pub file so Barnes & Noble and i-Pad could offer it online. To publish as an e-Book on Amazon, it had to be converted to a mobi file.

Do I know what any of that is? No … not exactly. But I also had to turn the word document into a PDF file (with embedded fonts) so it could be published as ink-on-paper.

With almost 280 pages, I won’t bore you with how many times I have poured over proofs in each format, spotting different errors each time!

Now that it’s done, I’m proud of it (it already has one 4-star review from someone on Barnes & Noble), but the really hard part in any of this is spreading the word.

Visit the links, sign-in to your Amazon account, go to the “Reichold Street” page, and at least hit the “like” button. Scroll down the page and look at the “tags” — and click on some of them to add your agreement (you don’t have to write a thing).

Purchase it, if you’re so inclined … or don’t, as you wish. I think you’ll like it, if you do. It would be nice to add “best-selling author” to the promotion, and my pride might be affected if people ignore it, but my livelihood doesn’t depend on it (thank goodness)!

But please, spread the word.

Help me give it a chance. It’s available for the Kindle e-Reader, or in print, on Amazon, or for the Nook e-reader at Barnes & Noble.

You can also visit “Broken Glass” – my writing web site to find links for free apps to read Amazon Kindle e-Reader files or Barnes & Noble Nook e-Reader files on your home computer.

I’m dying to know what you think about it!

Tags: amazon account, amazon kindle, barnes & noble, books, kindle e-reader, literature, new novel, nook e-reader
Posted in Book Promotion, Branding, Storytelling | Leave a Comment »

Busy Time

March 26, 2012

I know I said blogging was going to be more important to me this year, and my dismal posting record does not match the promise. I do have a good excuse, however … honest.

My new novel, the 80,000 word “Reichold Street” got in the way.

It has finally been edited, formatted and uploaded to to both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as a digital e-Book. It should be available online by the end of the week. You can read it with either a Kindle (Amazon) or a Nook (Barnes & Noble) e-Reader.

Don’t have either one yet? No sweat. There’s a free, downloadable app available for Kindle, Mac or i-Pad that will let you read it (or any digital book from Amazon) right on your computer at home. To make it easy for you to find the downloads, I’ve included them below. Just click on the appropriate link below for your computer!

Free Kindle App for PC

Free Kindle App for Mac

Free Kindle App for i-Pad

If you’re a Barnes & Noble fan, I’m still trying to discover if there’s a free app for that, direct to your personal computer. I haven’t found it yet, but if you do have a B&N Nook e-reader, you can go to their e-Book site from here!

Keep your eyes and ears open, because I also have two short story collections that are almost ready to publish. I’ll let you know about them in my next post.