It's All For One!

 

Here’s another week, and I’m still writing as fast as I can!

I’ve decided to go all-in with Amazon. I’ve delisted all of my ebooks  distributor Draft2Digital, and it has been a tough job getting them taken down from Bibliotheca and Hoopla!

But, they are down now, and are exclusive to Amazon. So, if you use Kindle Unlimited, you can find my stories there in eBook form. For free. Or, if you still like to purchase ebooks, Amazon is the place you need to go with no muss, no fuss.

Also, I’ve moved my print books from the distributor that I was using, and am in the process of putting them through Amazon as well. All of my original stories are there, but it may take a minute to get the translations that are in my control done.

But, Michael, you may be thinking…you were such a firm believer in not putting all of your eggs in one basket! What happened?

That’s easy to answer, I guess. Several of my good friends and acquaintances, are authors, like D. M. Guay, Tracy Sharp, and J. A. Konrath, and they are all-in with Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. They reach their fans easily. I finally said to myself, Why not give it a good shot?

And that’s the latest in the T. M. Bilderback world of writing. Now, as for you: are you going to…

 

Keep reading!

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

Life Is A Highway!

 

Howdy.

 

It’s amazing to me how time passes, and things change. In the past four years since I published Lido Shuffle – A Justice Security Novel have been jam-packed full of…life.

 

Life sneaks up on you. Christi and I have dealt with buying a slightly larger house, losing three beloved pets, watching grandchildren grow up, and a myriad of other things. In June of 2023, I retired from the community college that I was working for, and got sucked back into radio after being gone for 23 years!

 

It was fun. A good friend of mine talked me into going back into it, and, once he told me of the vision he had for it, gave us something to work hard to build. We took a station that hadn’t been listened to very much for years and built it into a small market powerhouse. We were live, we were local, and we had help from two other great guys that shared our dream.

 

However, the owners sold the station, and the new owners decided to go with another musical format, along with automation and artificial intelligence.

 

So, as of this past May, I’m once again a former radio announcer.

 

But, back to my writing! During the last four years, I’ve written a bit here and there on four (really five) upcoming stories. Now that I’ve found some down time from life, the creative juices had begun flowing again in earnest!

 

Here are the titles that are upcoming:

1.      Bandala – A Justice Security Short Story

2.      Werewolves Of London – A Tale Of Sardis County

3.      Parnell’s Folly

4.      Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show – The Last Tale Of Sardis County

5.      Escape – A Justice Security Novel

 

And there they are.

Bandala deals with a young Guatemalan couple that needs Justice Security’s help in dealing with a Hispanic gang.

Werewolves Of London brings two things: what happens to half-angel Madeline when Nicholas Turner brings the family to Sardis County, and climactic changes with the werewolves that reside in the Sardis County town of London.

Parnell’s Folly is the story of a decidedly violent haunted house, and a small town’s efforts to deal with it.

Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show – The Final Tale Of Sardis County brings a visitor to Sardis County carrying a desire for revenge against certain residents of the county, along with the people of Justice Security. With this book, you have to remember that the Devil can wear many disguises…even that of a minister of the Word!

And, finally, Escape – A Justice Security Novel introduces triplets with unusual skills that have been hired to find out everything they can about the manufacture and distribution of drugs by a certain cartel, and to deliver the results to the new Mexican president, so that General Esteban Fernandez can be disavowed and stripped of his military commission. They team up with Justice Security to assist their mission, and ask the question, “Do you like piña coladas?”

 

I’m also going to continue writing blog posts as often as I can…simply so that you can…

 

Keep reading!

 

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

Once More Into The Breach!

Well, howdy.

Yeah, I know. If these blog posts get any further apart, I may as well stop writing them, right?

AHA! But, if you keep reading them, I will keep writing them from time to time!

I've been trying different places lately that you can purchase my stories and my audiobooks directly from me, rather than go through a storefront like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. As a result, I have them listed at PayHip and Gumroad, but I'm most proud of my store at Lemon Squeezy!

At Lemon Squeezy (here's the link: https://tmbilderback.lemonsqueezy.com/ ), I had to preface each title with the language that it's in - English, Spanish, etc. That was so that I could keep the same language items together. It doesn't offer a way to separate languages to their own section, or audiobooks separated from eBooks. That's the only complaint that I have about Lemon Squeezy! Everything else is Easy Peazy!

With Gumroad, I had to change the spelling of a couple of foreign translations to meet Gumroad's standards. Two of my translations used the word "sexy" in the title, and Gumroad wouldn't allow that. No idea why - it seems a bit Draconian to me. Also, Gumroad doesn't have a storefront. Each title, each language has its own separate page...so, I don't have a link for it.

PayHip also gave me a storefront (here's the link: https://payhip.com/tmbilderback ). I was able to divide eBooks and audiobooks into sections for each language. I like it very much.

Of the three, I guess I like Lemon Squeezy best. I hope you'll check it out soon, and pick up the Justice Security bundle of all 13 stories - exclusive to Lemon Squeezy!

Until next time, keep reading!

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

Let's Get Physical!

 

Hi.

 

It’s been a while since I wrote a blog entry. I’ve missed you guys!

 

Today’s blog isn’t about writing per se…I’m writing about physical media.

 

You know what physical media is – CDs, Vinyl, DVDs, Blu-rays, 4K Blu-rays, books. Many of you, with the advent of streaming, book subscription services, etc., have given up and given away your physical media.

 

I hate to tell you, but that was a mistake.

 

I’ve been there, of course. With Amazon Prime and Netflix, I was convinced that I would always be able to find a movie or TV show online that I wanted to watch, so I sold off my massive DVD/Blu-ray collection.

 

After that, I discovered that these streaming companies sometimes stop streaming some titles after a while. Their license expires, or a company, writer, or musical artist decides that they no longer want to offer their product through a streaming service…and you can’t find it anywhere else.

 

Netflix stopped streaming “The X-Files”, which is one of my favorite shows. I originally had the series on DVD before I sold everything. When Netflix stopped offering Mulder and Scully, I had to re-purchase the entire series! But, this time, it was on Blu-ray, and I loved rewatching the series.

 

Paramount Plus is streaming new Star Trek shows – “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard” right now. But, having learned my lesson about streaming services, I have purchased the first three seasons of “Discover”, and the first season of “Picard”. I have no intention of being without access to my favorite shows and movies.

 

As a big classic comedy fan, I have complete collections of the movies of Abbott & Costello, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, and I’m working on completing my W. C. Fields collection. You just can’t find most of those on any streaming platform.

 

Music? If you depend on Spotify, an artist can usually pull their music from that service anytime. If you have a CD or a vinyl copy, you can enjoy that music anytime.

 

And ebooks? Did you realize that you don’t purchase the books when you buy? You buy only the license for that ebook. Licenses expire, and authors and publishers pull the plug on books all the time. If you have a print copy, you can re-read that story anytime.

 

So, the moral of this blog post is this: If you enjoy listening, re-reading, or re-watching, keep your physical copies! You can’t always count on finding it at any streaming platform or subscription service!

 

And remember…Keep reading!

 

T. M. Bilderback (but YOU can call me Michael)

Why aren't you writing?

 

I love movies.

I love animation and cartoons.

I love music.

These three things have influenced my writing to a degree that the casual reader will never understand.

Most of the titles of my works are named after songs. Usually, at some point in the novel or short story or novella, the part of the song that influenced the story is described as a happening to the point that those familiar with the song will understand the reference. The titles of some upcoming works may not be classic hits, but album cuts that still inspire a story.

The movies? Oh, yeah. That influences my work, too. Remember the scene in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom where Indy uses an inflatable life raft to exit a crashing plane? I adapted that scene and used it in my Justice Security book, Jim Dandy. I even gave credit where credit was due with an stray thought in Joey Justice’s head that it worked for Harrison Ford in that movie, so why wouldn’t it work in the situation that Joey finds himself in?

One reviewer of Mama Told Me Not To Come made a comment that he thought was an insult. I found it to be inspiring, and I took it to heart immediately. The reviewer stated that the novel read like the script to an action movie.

To that person, I will always owe a great big “Thank you”. What he thought was a derogatory statement toward the writing, was actually a compliment. I had deliberately written the story that way, with cuts from one character to another in rapid succession to give the reader a glimpse of things that are occurring simultaneously!

How do cartoons and animation come into my writing?

Read my short story Saturday In The Park. That one gives you the scoop with another improbable possibility, with a character even saying that the event was straight out of a Road Runner cartoon.

Inspiration comes from everywhere. The writer’s job is to take that inspiration and tell an entertaining story, with just enough description of things to allow the reader’s imagination to picture it in their minds.

We are picture painters. We use words instead of paint brushes. And we are still artists, because we paint pictures with words.

My question to those of you that always say that you want to be writers is simple.

Why aren’t you writing?

T. M. Bilderback (but YOU can call me Michael)