Later that same day...I updated my answers to the FAQ page. In the nearly two weeks since, I've been thinking out loud a lot, sleeping just a little, and corrupting the youth of our nation to an outrageous degree with my bleeding-heart liberal theology. Meanwhile, Metrognomes received an outstanding review from my mysterious editor at iUniverse. This is ab fab, to understate the enormity. I'm not allowed to quote from the letter, so I'll paraphrase. They loved it; considered it one of the best books submitted to them. That's the gist of it. Oh...and they hate the ad copy. Said it wasn't anywhere near as exciting as the actual book. So they'll be reworking that. :)

Today is the day that I am supposed to finish archiving all of the data from what I call "The Ghost Realm." This continuity includes the short stories "The Ghost in the Olive Grove" and "Night Light." In my head, I consider these stories part of the Nightfire universe, but there has never been a natural cross-reference, and I am loath to force one. Therefore, they shall remain officially separate until they prove themselves otherwise.

I'm not finished, but I'm getting there. I will be done by the end of the night. I've got the production archives complete. I'm just wrapping up all of my character notes and such and filing them accordingly. It's tedium.

Something that I've learned doing this...I hate "Night Light." I'm pleased with it artistically. I think that it's very well written, and the characters are nicely developed. I just hate reading it. It makes me uncomfortable. It's disturbing, the way that it ends. The fact that I wrote the ending is what disturbs me most, I think. Now that I have had children in my life, I can think of nothing more horrible than anything hurting them. Especially the idea of them being eaten by something so mercilessly. It fills me with absolute horror. To think that when I wrote the story seven or eight years ago, it actually struck me as funny. Parts of it still are funny to me...just not the end. It was never about the child though. It was really about the mother. The moral was that there was a natural consequence for being a negligent, self-centered mother. It was an extreme illustration, I know, but writing is melodrama. At least for me. That's what makes fiction so entertaining. My point is, "Night Light" does not entertain me anymore. It horrifies me. How strange it is, this power children have to alter one's perspective so completely.

Tomorrow I'll begin the task of archiving past projects from the Nightfire Realm.

Just a quick note to let you know that the new dark and ringer versions of the "Night Light" T-shirt went on sale today. As for me, the archiving project is coming along right on schedule. TTYL --- Glenn

There are several things to announce:

First, Metrognomes has been assigned an ISBN for the trade paperback edition (0-595-42973-4) and an EISBN for the e-book edition (0-595-87314-6). Yes, it is going to be released in hardback as well, and details will be posted here as soon as they are known. The book has also been posted as a tentative June release, along with all related merchandise, on the official release schedule at glennsladeclarkjr.com.

There are several productions that have been cancelled. The entire line of desktop wallpapers has been cancelled until further notice, due to some bugs that have made them too difficult to download. The only ones that had been announced were to go along with the Metrognomes release, but several others were in development.
The next edition e-books have all been cancelled as well. The reason for this is that we have something better on the way, and when that project is ready new editions will be developed to coincide. The point of the cancelled line was simply to make the e-books match up visually with the paperbacks. The cancelled books include 2nd editions of "Dr. Coffee's Pill," "Music of the Metrognomes," and "Worse than a Gremlin" and 4th editions of "Aries' Cage," "The Ghost in the Olive Grove," "Night Light," and the first three issues of The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas.

Several other lines of merchandise, however, announced expansions yesterday. Upcoming posters added to the release schedule include "The Rainbow-Colored Sheep" (July), "Aries' Cage" (August), "Breath" (September), and "Hollow Jane" (October). New T-shirts will include "Aries' Cage" (November), "Breath" (December), and "Hollow Jane" (January 2008). There will also be a "Hollow Jane" mug released in July. Watch the official release schedule for details.

The release schedule also now includes several projects that had been in limbo. Metrognomes I already told you about. The Penny Dreadful, a 24-part serial novel, will begin publication in June 2009. The Vampire Murders: From the Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas, which collects the first three episodes of the e-book series into one trade paperback volume, will be released in February 2010.

For other projects that have yet to be placed on the official release schedule, check the newly updated In the Works page for projected release dates.

It's going to be a big year, and yes, there are more announcements on the way. Right now and on through mid-February, I am working on archiving projects past. After that, I will probably get back to work on The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas.

TTFN and Happy New Year! --- Glenn