Saturday, May 30, 2015

What Are Your Plans For Saturday?



Happy Saturday!

What are you planning to do today? Golf? Fish? Picnic? Read?

Whatever you do today, I strongly urge you to take along a book, an eReader, a phone with reading apps installed…however you enjoy reading, make sure that you have something with you!

Unless you’re at the movies. If you’re going to see a movie, please don’t distract others with your phone, tablet, or anything else that lights up or makes annoying sounds. It ruins the experience for others.

Now, having said that, I want to say that my sweet wife and I are going to the movies today. Our choice? San Andreas. In 3D.

San Andreas looks great, and I’m a sucker for 3D movies. When we went to see the new Avengers movie a couple of weeks ago, it had to be the 3D version. Fan-TAS-tic! And today’s movie looks to be a special effects wonder!

I just want to remind you to pre-order your copy of Cow Patty – A Justice Security Novel at your favorite retailer. It’s available for pre-order at Apple, Amazon, Kobo, OmniLit, and a few others that permit pre-orders. It won’t be available at Barnes & Noble until the July 1st release day, however. Sorry. Oh, and if you just can’t wait, the paperback version is already available at Amazon and other fine online retailers. You can even order it through most independent bookstores!

Other news: I’m working on the third story in the Tales Of Sardis County series. It’s called I’m Your Boogie Man. I hope you enjoy it! And let me say this, too, about the Sardis County books: I recommend that you read the first two, and keep up with the series closely. There are things coming in later editions that will hopefully liven things up even more!

Work is also progressing on the stories that I’m writing for my new pen name. I have a short story completed, and am well into the first book of the six-volume series that will be introduced under my pen name. I’m very excited about this!

Now, I’d like to take a moment to plug my dad’s stories. He writes stories, too. He’s 77, and I encourage him to keep writing…he’s got several stories that haven’t been published yet, and I plan to keep bugging him about it! Below are links to his stories at various retailers, and two of his longer works are available in print editions.

Here are the links to the stories by my dad, T. Whitman Bilderback:






He’s also available at Inktera (Page Foundry) and the various Tolino sites. Take a look at his work – it runs the gamut from romantic literature to outrageous humor to science fiction! And Cadre is one of his best!

Okay, wrapping up for today. Going to the movies shortly, and then, back to work! As for you, I say that you need to…

Keep reading!

T. M. Bilderback (But you can call me Michael)

Visit my website: www.tmbilderback.com

Follow me on Twitter:  @mrtmbilderback

Check me out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TMBilderback

Monday, May 18, 2015

Random Thoughts From My Random Mind



Today’s blog: Random thoughts on random things.

After my announcement that I’m going to create a pen name, I was asked if it was going to be a secret name.

Well…yes and no.

I don’t plan to broadcast it to everyone, but if I’m asked, I’ll own up to it.

I mean, it’s not going to be that hard to figure out…my sweet wife will still design my eBook covers, and be given credit for them. Of course, she designs some of my dad’s covers, too…and a well-known author has shown some interest in Christi’s covers, too, so that might not be the indicator to look for.

Trust me, it’s not a big thing. Really!

I’m working on two stories at once again…one is for the new pen name, and the other is I’m Your Boogie Man – A Tale Of Sardis County.

I hope you enjoy that little tidbit of information, because I’m not going to hint about what’s coming next until it hits the pre-order stage...and, if you want to know why, I’ll tell you now:  I’ve already established that Sardis County is a six-hour drive from the unnamed Southern city that houses Justice Security and Nicholas Turner…and you can expect more appearances in Sardis County by people from that city, and that might include more visitors from the Giambinis from Jackie Blue. And that’s all I got to say about that.

My website is a great place to see all of my works in one place, with links to everywhere! It has links to all of the eBook retailers that carry my stories, and it has a link to the store at Amazon’s CreateSpace, too – they’re the ones that produce my print copies. I also have links to Gumroad and PayHip – that’s the two places you can use to purchase my eBooks directly from me! Please take a look - the link is below!

For any of my fans in China, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve teamed with a website called Fiberead. Fiberead will be translating many of my stories into Chinese, both Traditional and Simplified, and will be making them available to readers worldwide. I’m very excited about that!

Let’s see…do I have any other news…hmmm…

Okay, one more item: Some of you know that I collect comic books, right? I found a great one just the other day, from Dell Publishing. It’s Four Color #1349 – Yogi Bear Visits the U. N. It’s from 1961, and is in Very Good/Fine condition! I’m very happy about it, because, to me, the title is unusual.

{sigh} I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Digital comics are great, but I don’t see that title making a digital appearance anytime soon…sometimes, print is the way to go!

Well, that’s all I have right now – just random things to share. I hope you just…

Keep reading!

T. M. Bilderback (But you can call me Michael)

Visit my website: www.tmbilderback.com

Follow me on Twitter:  @mrtmbilderback

Check me out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TMBilderback

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Pen Name? Huh?



I’ve decided to launch a pen name.

It isn’t because I want to hide behind an unknown name. It isn’t that I’m ashamed of the stories that I want to appear under the pen name.

It’s much simpler than that.

I want a name that I can use for stories that aren’t named after song titles.

[Chuckle} I know, I was going to do that before with Empty Eyes, and I let my dad talk me out of it. Rest assured, if a sequel ever bursts forth for that novel, I’ll publish it under my own name. As for my “can’t-quite-categorize-my-short-stories”, if I run across one that is inspired by a classic song, it will also pop up under my own name.

But I want another name.

I want one that I can use for one-time-only stories. I want one for stories that may not be part of a series, and that will stand on their own merits. I want one that I can use for stories that might not be what I normally write. I want one that I don't feel obligated to use a song title as the story title.

I understand why some authors use pen names.

Perhaps the author doesn’t want readers to know the real person behind the stories. Or maybe they’re afraid of retaliation by some crazed fan. Or crazed reviewer. Or crazed publisher.

Perhaps, like me, they want to write stories that aren’t tied to what they normally write, so they use pen names for the additional stories.

Perhaps the author is so prolific that he/she can’t possibly publish everything under their own name, but that situation is more related to traditional publishing than independent publishing.

Or, maybe they’re embarrassed by the type of story they’re writing. For instance, a man writing a romance novel might sell better if he uses a female pen name…but he might also be embarrassed by the fact.

Oh, and for the record: I can’t write a straight romance novel, so that isn’t the reason. I tried with Junior’s Farm, and we all saw what a left turn that turned out to be…{snicker}

So, I’m writing a short story right now. It’s going to be the first story under this new pen name, because no matter how hard I try, I can’t find a way to assign a song title to it. Not one that I want to give up, anyway…some song titles I jealously avoid using outside of my two current series. There is one, however…but I need it for Sardis County.

So, when I’m done with this short story, I’ll publish it under the new pen name in the hopes that it does well on its own. I’ll follow it with other stories (and one whopper of a series) later on.

Meanwhile, I ask that you pick up a copy of the new Justice Security novel, Jim Dandy. It’s available everywhere. And, while you’re at it, pre-order your copy of the next Justice Security novel, Cow Patty. I promise you’ll have lots of fun with both!

And, as always,

Keep reading!

T. M. Bilderback (But you can call me Michael)

Visit my website: www.tmbilderback.com

Follow me on Twitter:  @mrtmbilderback

Check me out on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TMBilderback