For unpublished writers, the most hated of species is the dude who scores his first time out. You know, the one who just decided to write a book one day, mails it off to a single publisher and POOF! He gets a contract, a movie deal and People magazine is doing a two-page spread on his up-and-coming literary career.
No joke. This happened to someone I knew.
Alas, that person also turned out to be a really classy guy and one of my biggest cheerleaders as I struggled all those years in obscurity–so hating him was obviously out of the question. His name is Payne Harrison, and we’re still friends to this day. If you like a rip-roaring technothriller, I highly recommend you give his stuff a read. Truly a great guy and a terrific writer.
As for the rest of us…
When you’ve spent some time trying to break into the publishing biz, you rack up a lot of unpublished manuscripts (as you can see from the handy-dandy menu near the top of the screen). I now have thousands of pages to my credit that I swore would be the next great American bestseller when I wrote them–most of which now occupy some obscure digital corner on floppy disk or CD-ROM, relics of the “What the hell was I thinking?” oeuvre of my early days.
Still, everybody’s got to start somewhere. In these pages, you’ll find it all–the good, the bad, the ugly and the inexplicable. I’ve even provided some samples from selected works (i.e. the ones I’m not too afraid to show). As you go through, remember there are certain brave souls who have read every word–friends and family who, although they couldn’t help laughing themselves silly at times, always gave me an audience when I needed one. I suppose there are still a few paper copies of these works floating around out there. If you happen across one for some reason, please drop me a line and let me know. And, if at all possible, be kind…