MJ DelConte

Author Notes

Authors are an interesting bunch. As I learned the ins and outs of the art, I found that each writer did their research differently. In one such case, I recall a story about an author whose office was in his basement. The place looked like something straight out of a museum. At least one cluttered desk held a computer, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Shelves held labeled storage bins. Inside the bins were stacks of manila folders containing newspaper and magazine clippings, pages taken from books, pictures, and more. Bookcases overflowed with novels and reference materials. Stacks of books found a home off to the sides.

I had notebooks everywhere—13 of them—and wrote in whichever one was handy. Alternatively, if a notebook wasn't handy, I stored notes on my cellphone or on my computer in a Text or Word file. The writing bug started over twenty years ago and has only intensified in recent years. With notes scattered all over the place, there was no way my aging brain could keep up with it all.

A month ago, I knew it was time to consolidate, so I stowed all pertinent notes into a single Word file. Weeks later, my "Author Notes" file surpassed 180 pages. It includes a Table of Contents, which makes it easier to find notes, and Word's search feature helps too. What took several minutes now takes a few seconds.

In the end, the consolidation effort let me rewrite some notes while also getting reacquainted with everything I have ever written—all the notes, all the ideas, everything. Another ancillary benefit of the consolidation is that I have a clearer picture of the priority order for my projects and tasks.

As Albert Einstein once said, “Organized people are just too lazy to go looking for what they want.”

The Forbidden Zone Update

Each novel in the series contains at least one notable person, place, or thing. In Cataclysm, there were two: the Amityville House and Theodore Roosevelt. In Elimination, we saw Jack the Ripper brutally murder two women during his canonical murder spree in Whitechapel. In Bloodshed, a Test of Mettle takes place in the Grand Canyon.

The Forbidden Zone is an area of the Grand Canyon with tons of legends, folklore, and mystery. There are mixed views about why the government guards and monitors specific regions of the Grand Canyon, known as the Forbidden Zone. There are also questions about who oversees this activity.

One of the tales, a hoax really, occurred in 1909, when a salesman by the name of Joe Mulhattan convinced the Arizona Gazette to publish a story about a man named G.E. Kincaid, who traveled from Idaho to Arizona. Along the Colorado River, he visits a cave containing Egyptian mummies and relics, a visit later confirmed by Smithsonian employee S.A. Jordan. If you have read any of my books or stories, you know I have a penchant for taking real historical facts and figures, then tossing in a demon or two for a Test of Mettle story to create something unique. I spent days researching this story, and it has now become the longest Test of Mettle to date. The first draft is 92 pages (24K words), thirty pages longer than the previous longest Test of Mettle story.

Bloodshed Update

The first draft of the third novel in the 11:34 series is nearing completion. As of this newsletter, it stands at 236 pages (62K words). I'm writing the third act, which, like Elimination, will end in a cliffhanger. The fourth novel, Revelation, will start immediately where the story ended. The first draft is expected to be completed in the next couple of months. Multiple rounds of editing will follow to make the book as error-free as possible.

It is too early to provide a release date at this time. So stay tuned for future updates.

Book Covers

I reached out to my graphic artist in the UK to create three new book covers. They will be used for Revelation (11:34, book 4), Revenge (11:34, book 5), and Deathsword (standalone epic).

Standalone Novel: Deathsword

Over twenty years ago, Deathsword was the first novel I ever wrote before I learned the craft of writing. The idea behind this was twofold. First, I figured that if I took up writing, I could compare my "educated" self with the rough-and-tumble approach. It let me evaluate my progress in my writing skills. And let me tell you, Deathsword is extremely difficult to read. When I crack it open, I usually quit after less than ten pages. While I still find the story compelling, I can't say the same about the writing itself. The second reason was a little sweeter. It was a gift to my future self. A "free" book to publish, should I wish to go forward with the project. I have tons of notes, now consolidated, plus a timeline and an outline for this fantasy epic.

Here is an early taste from Deathsword:

All is right and peaceful in the world of Colossus until Death’s daughter, the banshee—a soul-eater—arrives. The banshee quickly marshals a legion of harpies to rain death and destruction upon her new home. The Knights of Kamelot, the best soldiers on the planet, have never faced such a nemesis before.

Diadin, a knight, loses his soul to the banshee and begins her work, starting by forging a hell-borne weapon called Deathsword, imbued by a powerful demon that grants the sword's bonded holder special powers in exchange for mortal blood.

As the world falls into chaos, the Knights of Kamelot must set things right and destroy the banshee before she brings an end to their world.

Standalone Novellas

I have a few stories that are ripe for novella territory. The first is Angel's Wings. After going to school for writing, I practiced the craft by writing many short stories, some of which were submitted to writing contests, such as Reader's Digest and The Writer.

Angel's Wings is a 2,000-word story that sees a growing friendship between Paul, a homeless man, and Angel, a Hispanic owner of a bakery in California. The once-successful businessman has his life turned upside down when his wife divorces him, runs off with his best friend, and takes his business elsewhere in the country. As Paul tries to put the pieces of his shattered life back together, he gets more bad news. Paul is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Unemployed, terminally ill, and broke, Paul finds himself on the street. When things were at their bleakest, Paul finds an angel.

The Father Tom Stories are a collection of flash, feel-good stories I wrote years ago to share with my congregation. A priest named Tom, who God has seemingly touched with the ability to perform small miracles, finds himself confronted by the forces of darkness wherever his normal travels take him, even on a day at the park with his family or walking past a notorious biker bar to a conference.