All quiet on the Keegan front

The Mel-0-Sphere is a flat calm today ... which is good. Actually, it's nice when things are not going awry, and you can stop and catch your breath, think about trivial things ... go Christmas shopping.

Yep, the stores are stocked to the rafters with Christmas stuff, and we thought we'd beat the rush and get the gift shopping done ahead of time. It actually feels like time to go shopping for "chrissie pressies," as they're often called down here ... it's getting hot. The weather is still very changeable, buy dry and dusty is the way of things right now, and you can't help feeling we're heading into another drought as summer approaches.

THE SWORDSMAN still has to make its appearance at Amazon.com (another week to go), but it's available at CreateSpace:
https://www.createspace.com/Customer/EStore.do?id=3356474

Both NOCTURNE and TWILIGHT have been uploaded to CreateSpace, but they won't be showing up on Amazon.com for weeks yet. As I noted in an earlier post, it's a month-long slog to get a title through the CreateSpace/Amazon process, and available for sale, which is why THE LORDS OF HARBENDANE may not make it onto Amazon for Christmas '08.

I have to admit, when it comes to shopping I'm not as impressed with the CreateSpace interface as with the Lulu.com interface. It's very hard to search. For example, if you just logged on to http://www.createspace.com/ and hoped to be able to search on Mel Keegan and find me, you'd draw a blank, even though I'm there. You have to click through to the SHOP, and then search ... and the problem is, the only searches we can find are for DVDs, not books, so you still won't find me.

So, shopping via CreateSpace itself won't be a terribly rewarding experience for anyone who's just browsing. You need to know what you want, right down to the URL for the page -- like THE SWORDSMAN page, which I was able to give you above, which leads you to this screen:

As I was saying a few days ago, it's a long, slow process, but in January or February of 2009, all the Keegan books will be there.

As I go into 2009 myself, I'll be finishing the haunted house novel (!) which was shelved for extra work a few months ago, because I'd written myself into a corner and had to think my way out. A while ago I was reading a book on paranormal encounters -- ghost hunters, that kind of thing; and the solution came to me. So the novel is now "on" for early/mid 2009.

Right after that, it's HELLGATE ... two novels, back to back, finishing out the whole series. Two paperbacks into print for Christamas '09, and then the re-cut of the whole thing as three big hardcovers. This project will keep me busy for most of the year -- and that's cool. I like to be busy.

Other news? There really isn't any! The Keegan Zone is absolutely, totally event-free at this time, and there aren't even any bees buzzing in my particular bonnet. Other than Christmas shopping in the heat, which I realize is premature ... also weird, at least to folks from the north, because even now, after 37 years downunder, I still think Christmas ought to be cold and snowy.
Alas, it never is. Christmas is about a walk on the beach in the morning, champagne and strawberries and apples and blue cheese for lunch while opening pressies; Polynesian pineapple pork for dinner; and a dip in the pool, with a beer balanced on the side.

I admit, I do have fantasies about spending Christmas in the north, at least once. Maybe one of these days ...

Oh -- last note as I sign off. We should be able to show you the cover art and the first couple of chapters of THE LORDS OF HARBENDANE in the next week or so.

Ciao for now,
MK