Transcript
L.A. Jacob (00:00:10) Hi, and welcome to Small Publishing in a Big Universe. I am your host, L.A. Jacob.
Clarity, Queer Sci-Fi’s annual labor of love has arrived. This speculative flash fiction anthology brings you more than 100 stories for only $4.99. And if you purchase a copy, the editor of the anthology will send you a free copy of another one of their anthologies. Go to SPBU-podcast.com/marketplace for more information about this limited time offer.
Today’s interview will be with MD Neu, an award-winning author of speculative fiction and many short stories.
Coming from our sponsors this month: in the Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy Series is One Man’s Trash, a novella by Ryan Southwick. Water Dragon Publishing has Corporate Catharsis, the Work from Home Edition anthology coming out soon. And in the Dragon Gems Series this month comes Gift of Silence by Alfred Smith.
From Water Dragon Publishing comes a new anthology, The Future’s So Bright. Come along with our authors as we explore the hopeful side of the future from all the good things provided by advanced AI to the innocence of exploring new worlds. Join our authors as they present uplifting stories of science, fiction and fantasy. For more information, see the website.
L.A. Jacob (00:02:33) Hi and welcome to Small Publishing in a Big Universe. This is your host, L.A. Jacob. And with me I have M.D. Neu, an international author with a love for writing and travel. He has written seven sci-fi steampunk and paranormal books and is in one horror anthology. Welcome, M.D..
M.D. Neu (00:02:55) Thank you. Glad to be here.
L.A. Jacob (00:02:57) So, what is your most recent book about?
M.D. Neu (00:03:00) So my most recent book is a sequel to my novel, The Calling, which is the sequel is called The Called. And it continues the story of basically vampires living in modern, contemporary Silicon Valley and how they avoid all of our technological gadgetry and deal with the supernatural world that is all around us, but we as mere mortals don’t see.
L.A. Jacob (00:03:25) Why did you write this series?
M.D. Neu (00:03:27) So I wrote the series because one, I’ve always loved vampires. I mean, who doesn’t? Right? And two, I always had that nagging pin prick in the back of my mind going, we have cell phones everywhere with all cameras everywhere, CCTV, everywhere. How would these creatures exist in modern society? All it would take is one person being bitten and it would get loaded to social media and be blasted around the world in seconds. So, the idea kind of sprang from that. How would modern day vampires exist in our world and what is that world like and how do they exist? So you have some traditional vampire features, and then you have some of what I created for vampire features.
L.A. Jacob (00:04:12) On your website, I saw some steampunk.
M.D. Neu (00:04:16) You’re probably talking about Tad.
L.A. Jacob (00:04:18) Yes, yes.
M.D. Neu (00:04:19) I wouldn’t classify it as steampunk. It’s more of urban fantasy’causeit deals with an angel of death and a drag queen and it crosses time. So it starts in the year 2000 and goes all the way to about 2080. And it follows these two characters through their lives and how they interact and how they may or may not have affected the future and or could bring the world to an end in a not so pleasant way.
L.A. Jacob (00:04:46) Oh, interesting. And what is the, the sci-fi one? Is it A New World?
M.D. Neu (00:04:53) Yes, it’s A New World. It’s a series. And it basically is another kind of what if, and it’s kind of a personal baby to me’causeit was the very first thing that I ever wrote. It deals with the idea of aliens coming to earth tomorrow. So how we react right now, how would you react if the President of the United States got on TV tonight and said, ladies and gentlemen, uh, I’m basically here to tell you aliens. Yeah, they’re real and they’re gonna be here in about 24 hours. So, surprise.
M.D. Neu (00:05:27) So it’s kind of that type of scenario where it is us dealing with this new reality, how it affects us globally, internationally, how it affects religion, how it affects our belief systems. And I take it from three different character’s standpoint. So I have the human character who is Todd, who’s kind of the every man that we all would in theory relate to. And then the aliens who, they don’t have a choice, they have to come here, their world blew up in a supernova, so they have nowhere to go. And it’s like, yeah, hi, we’re kind of, you know, here and our ships are kind of breaking apart, so we need a home. Can you sort of help us? And them realizing that, ooh, maybe not such a good idea. But again, they don’t have a choice. They’re kind of in this situation where they’ve been traveling for 20 years, haven’t really found anybody to work with another planet that was compatible. And here we are, their best hope and they run across us. I mean, if you were an alien driving through our solar system, you’d roll up the windows and lock the doors because we’re a mess, but they don’t have a choice. So they’re here, us dealing with them, them learning about us. So yeah, it’s that whole what if kind of scenario. And actually that’s got book one and book two out, and book three should be coming out in the next couple months, which I’m really excited about.
L.A. Jacob (00:06:46) Is it gonna be just three books for that?
M.D. Neu (00:06:48) There is planned, a fourth book and maybe more, but I definitely got planned four. Yeah. It’s very exciting. I really like it a lot.
L.A. Jacob (00:06:57) What is your favorite scene in any of those books or a scene that sticks with you and why?
M.D. Neu (00:07:04) So if I can indulge, I actually have two that I really like and they’re from the two different series in the calling. I have this moment between the main character and his creator or who will become his creator. And throughout the beginning of the story, we don’t really, I don’t address, the main character’s name is Duncan, and I don’t really address his sexuality. So he’s presented kind of, not really, but he is. And so his maker is surprised to find out that he’s a gay man. And she says, why didn’t you tell me? And he looks at her and says, well, why does it matter? Why does my sexuality have to be the most interesting thing about me? Why can’t I just be a guy who happens to like, guys, would’ve you changed your mind? Would’ve you decided to pick somebody different?
And she has to kind of realize, well, no, I wouldn’t, of course I wouldn’t have picked anybody different. You’re the one that I chose. You’re, you’re the one that I called. So no. And then so she’s kind of questioning with him, well, why does it matter? Why is it so important? Why? Why are we all wrapped up into who people choose to sleep with, who they don’t sleep with? And he even says as much, he says, why is who I sleep with, or in this case, don’t sleep with so important to everybody? And so that moment to me in the series was just really kind of the one thing that I wanted to bring everybody’s attention to. We get so wrapped up in labels and what we call ourselves and who we are and who we choose to be with, and who we choose to not be with and so forth that we forget that we’re all people, we’re all human beings and it really doesn’t matter.
M.D. Neu (00:08:40) I mean, if that’s our most interesting thing, how boring. So that’s one of my favorite moments in the book that I really, every once in a while I think about and I just go, you know, it always brings a smile to my face because it’s the one thing that I don’t think we hear enough of. And then in the sci-fi series, there’s this moment where I have the aliens really looking at us and talking about how we’ve got all these different languages, all these different countries, all these different political systems and all these different religions, and how it just causes so much hate and fear and anger in all of us. And they went through something similar hundreds of years ago. So they’re familiar with the concept, but they kind of look at it from that standpoint of history and go, they’re on a course gonna destroy them and they don’t realize it because they’re so wrapped up in all of this minutia, what they think is so important, they don’t understand these bigger ramifications that are affecting them on a regular basis.
M.D. Neu (00:09:51) And so that moment again is one of these mirror images where I take it and I just, I hold up a mirror to us and say, okay, people, is this the world we wanna leave for our children, our grandchildren for future generations? What would you do if all of a sudden everything that you thought was so important wasn’t? So, that’s just another one of those moments that I, I personally really enjoy in the series and is a running theme throughout that series, is just taking these deep looks at, at us as who we are. Since it’s an alien race, I’m able to do that. I can’t do that with the human character. He can look at them and kind of judge them from our standpoint, but the aliens really get a chance to kind of do that for us. And I think it’s important. And I don’t think, again, it’s another message that we hear a lot. Well, everybody kind of touches a little bit on it, but we don’t, we don’t really force it. So yeah, those are my two favorites. I just love those two scenes.
L.A. Jacob (00:10:41) In your writing, you kind of look at the, like you said, minutia of humanity and calls it what it is, minutia. So that’s what you do in your books.
M.D. Neu (00:10:53) Yeah. I didn’t really think that that’s what I was doing until I started getting people’s feedback and hearing what folks were saying and all the different things that people kind of picked out from the stories. But yeah, it ends up just kind of being this idea of we can do better. We are capable of doing better and we choose not to. I mean, it’s plain and simple. We choose not to. And then God forbids somebody step up there and say, I want to try and make this better. I want to try and help us in a way that I think is important. You see that with everything that’s going on, whether or not people agree with what Elon Musk is doing and Jeff Bezos and spending money in launching rockets and stuff like that. We got all of our current technology from the space mission that we did in the sixties, and then we stagnated.
M.D. Neu (00:11:42) Then you have these people who are coming in saying, no, this is ridiculous. We should already be in these places doing these things. And so they’re using their money to do it, to drag us kicking and screaming to basically the next level of where we need to go. We don’t know what these new technologies that they create and what these ideas that they’re putting in our young people’s minds are going to do. That’s how we’re gonna solve problems. We’re not gonna solve problems by sitting and bickering at each other online or calling people out for this or that or the other thing. No, you wanna make a change. You become the change. You find that one thing that you can do and do it.
L.A. Jacob (00:12:18) What is the inspiration for your books?
M.D. Neu (00:12:22) So originally how Contact came about, it was a play that I was writing for a drama class I was taking in college. That’s how it started. It was gonna be a family drama about, uh, gay character and his brother, who the gay character wanted to marry his lifelong partner. Brother didn’t like it and they got into fight, family drama, blah, blah, blah. But what I found was that I wasn’t saying anything new. There was nothing new about the idea. We’ve heard that, we’ve seen it, we’ve read it. I mean, it’s everywhere. And it’s still everywhere. And it’s like, ooh, you know, drama, drama, drama.
And so it just stagnated and sat there. Well then one day I was working on it and I was really frustrated and I was just over it and I threw my hands in the air. Not literally, but I just kind of said, you know, I wish aliens would just come and blow you all up. I’m, I’m done with you. And a voice inside my head ended up kind of coming forward and talking and saying, my people would never do that. And that was the character of Mito who is the speaker general of the alien race. And she started telling me about her people and her world and how they lost their planet and all the stuff that makes you wonder if you have mental health issues. But that’s where that kind of stemmed from. It started off as this drama and all of a sudden it became bigger. It became more, it became this idea of the what if, what if aliens showed up tomorrow? How would that affect again, all this minutiae, all the stuff that we think is so important. Because what ends up happening in the book is the brother, there’s still a little bit of the family drama.
M.D. Neu (00:13:45) The brother Brad realizes when he, he works for NASA and he finds out that these aliens are coming and oh my God, he realizes all this BS about my brother being gay and everything like that is ridiculous. This is stupid. This is bonkers. What? He’s my brother. I love him. And we’ve got these aliens and we don’t know what they’re gonna do. So, he sucks it up, puts his big boy pants on and comes to his brother to tell him, to warn him. And then his husband saying, look, I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’m here to tell you what I know and to just be prepared. We think they’re friendly, we think we’re gonna be safe, but you know us, we are whacked. So, who knows what some other country’s gonna do. Who knows what we’re gonna do. Just please be safe and know that I love you and hopefully we’re gonna come outta this on the other end. And that’s kind of the crux of that story, their kind of relationship at the very beginning and us seeing what’s truly important. And so that was kind of where that story went. It plays with both sides. ‘Cause even with the aliens, it’s what’s truly important to them as well. ‘Cause they have family drama, they have issues like everybody, they, they’re not perfect.
L.A. Jacob (00:14:50) So what inspired you to write T.A.D.?
M.D. Neu (00:14:52) T.A.D. is a little personal for me on multiple reasons. I live on the west coast. I live in San Jose, California. However, prior to 9-11 by a couple weeks I was in the World Trade Center. So I was there, not there when it happened, but I saw the World Trade Center, I saw New York as it was before the terrorist attacks. And knowing how huge those buildings were and what that looked like in the city, there was really no part of New York where you go that you didn’t necessarily see the World Trade Center. And then all of a sudden for it to be gone, it really hit me personally, even though I didn’t know anybody. But I had just been there, and I had seen it. And so, I felt it and I felt it for years. And the other thing that really struck me about it was how as devastating as the attacks were, they could have been so much worse.
M.D. Neu (00:15:42) I mean, when you look at the casualties, I’m not counting the long-term effects, but the casualties of that day, what was it, 3,600 people died, those buildings held upwards of a hundred thousand people on any given business day. How do we even comprehend that something was looking out for us, I don’t know, luck or whatever. I mean, it could be anything, but in my mind something said, okay, this event is gonna happen and it’s gonna affect a lot of people’s lives, but let’s see what we can do to make it not as horrific as it could be. And I’ve always believed in angels among us, and I thought, you know what, if it was an angel of death, what if it was somebody whose job it is to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife? And him just looking at the event and going, no, I I’m not gonna allow this.
I’m not going to let hundreds of thousands of people die just because. No, no, no. So that’s kind of the idea of the story. And so he interferes for good or for bad, not changing the reality. So the reality is what, the reality is that 3,600 people still die. The World Trade Center still happens. But we find out through the story that he did some things that may not necessarily the powers that be agree with and he’s punished for it. And he ends up meeting a drag queen in New York. And this drag queen has got a whole bunch of personal problems like we all do. But I picked the drag queen because I know so many drag performers who are no longer with us. And I’ve always felt that they’re some of the most strongest creative, most interesting and fascinating people that we could know because just the performance level alone and what they’re able to do as artists and their artistry is really impressive.
And I, I don’t think people fully understand that they have this real life. They’re real people. And I know with RuPaul’s Drag Race, we’re seeing a lot more of that. So that’s been good. So, I took these two larger than life type of characters and threw them together and said, okay, let’s see how you two affect each other and what it looks like. And the reality is, is that we’re all important. We all matter. And the choices we make every day affect things. It’s like the butterfly effect, it’s like a domino. We may not know a choice we make today might affect something from five years from now. And through T.A.D., that story, that’s why I wrote it, is we do, we get to see what one choice, one decision by one of the care makes that affects us, not only them, but us as a world. And how all of a sudden you realize that every choice you make matters, every interaction you make matters. That was what T.A.D. was all about. It was to show people one, you matter, you’re important and don’t ever let anybody tell you you’re not, because you might say or do something that affects the world in ways that we have no idea. So that was where T.A.D. came from.
L.A. Jacob (00:18:46) And The Calling, The Calling for me is kind of my love letter to Stephen King and Anne Rice ‘cause I love them. Not that either of them will ever read it or ever even know about it, but I loved Interview with the Vampire and I loved Salem’s Lot even though it scared the holy hell out of me. And I just wanted to tell a story about vampires and how they would exist. And again, giving a character that’s average. All my characters in all my books are just normal everyday people. They all happen to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m in one form or another because I wanna show the world and the readers that anybody can have an adventure. Anybody can have something exciting and fun and crazy and scary and terrifying happen to them. And so with The Calling, I gotta do that.
M.D. Neu (00:19:41) I have Duncan who’s this lovely character, he’s just this average guy that, he’s your brother, he’s your neighbor, he’s that guy you see walking down the street that you wouldn’t think twice about. He’s just going about his life. You’re going about yours. And we get to follow him and all of a sudden, he gets to have this adventure and he’s thrown into this world where not only is he the main character of the story, but all of a sudden he becomes a very important figure. How does that work? You know, you don’t have training for this. It’d be like me all of a sudden being tapped by the UN to go and on some diplomatic mission to somewhere be like, oh, okay, you’re gonna save the world and be like, oh I’m sorry, I’m gonna do what now? You know, I was like, come on, I’m not trained for that. And so that’s kind of his story. He’s this kind of out of water fish and he gets to have this adventure and he gets to be part of this world and he gets to see again that just because you think that you are one thing that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s all who you are.
L.A. Jacob (00:20:37) It sounds to me that you come up with the character and then throw them in a place, throw them in a setting and then let ’em have at it. You write more character-driven stories than plot-driven stories.
M.D. Neu (00:20:50) Yes and no. So yes, I do try and focus on the characters and their reactions because I think that that’s very important. But there are things like with T.A.D. plot-wise, I knew the story. Plot-wise, I knew that it was gonna start on 9-11 and I knew that it was gonna end sometime in the future and I knew every tick that it was gonna hit throughout the book. I didn’t necessarily know who the characters were gonna be. I kind of had a feeling that one was, was gonna be an angel of death, ’cause that was of course the plot device to make the story work. But I didn’t know the other characters. So yeah, that one I knew I had the story first. Then the characters came in and kind of jumped in and were like, Hey, that’s me, I’m here. And I was like, great, you’re here. Awesome. Are you sure you want to go on this ride? And they’re like, yeah, why not? Even though I knew it was a family drama, I knew the whole series was all thing, a collection of what ifs, what if this happens, what if this happens, what if this happens? But yes, the characters were key ’cause I couldn’t have done that without the characters. It was like, especially the three main characters who I focus on which, which are Todd, Meerkoff and Mico. You have those three characters and they tell the story because the story is unfolding around them. But the plot was still kind of laid out in there.
L.A. Jacob (00:22:05 ) What is your work schedule like when you are writing?
M.D. Neu (00:22:09) I would love to say that I get to write full-time, but I have a full-time job. So that’s Monday through Friday. So, I write basically when I have a chance or when I have an idea. Right now, I’m in the middle of doing some edits for two upcoming books that should be out later this year. So unfortunately, I haven’t been spending a lot of time writing my other book that I have in progress, which has been a bit of a frustration for me. I try and break things up to where I can write a little bit, at least on the weekends, but that doesn’t always happen. So I write when I can. Sometimes it’s in the middle of the night when I wake up and all of a sudden, it’s like, oh my gosh, I’ve gotta write, I’ve gotta get something done. Other times…
L.A. Jacob (00:22:53) Yeah. The Muses have no concept of time.
M.D. Neu (00:22:55) No, they do not.
L.A. Jacob (00:22:58) What’s your passion project?
M.D. Neu (00:23:00) My passion project has really been my sci-fi series and I will say my vampire series because those are the two that have absolutely to me kind of embodied the stories I wanted to tell, if that makes any sense. Yeah. I love them. And don’t get me wrong, I love everything that I’ve written. I love T.A.D. and all these other stories, but for these two are barked in me, those are the ones that I keep thinking about. Even with The Calling series. I go, well you know, I could do a prequel and I could have these characters do this. And even with A New World series sit there and go, okay, I know this book four is gonna wrap things up, but what if we did this or what if I did that? So those are kind of my two passion projects. I’ll come up with an idea and I’ll sit down and I’ll write a chapter or an outline or a paragraph or something about the character and then just let it stew and all of a sudden it’ll hit and oh my gosh, now of a sudden you’re sitting there and you’re going crazy and you’re writing and everything like that.
I would say if I had to pick a passion project, it would be those two.
L.A. Jacob (00:24:02) Do you self-publish or use a small publisher?
M.D. Neu (00:24:06) I am through a small publishing house called Nine Star Press and I have a new book coming out later this year through Spectrum Books. Okay. So they’re both small publishers. Nine Star Press has a majority of my books. Okay. Spectrum Books will have this new book coming out and they might be getting this other book that I’m working on. It’s just gonna depend. Now I have also been part of some anthologies that have been self-published. Yes. But I’ve not self-published anything on my own.
L.A. Jacob (00:24:34) Do you find small publishers to be just as equitable as a traditional publisher in the sense that your work is now out there but you still have to be required to do your own social media and things like that?
M.D. Neu (00:24:54) So not being part of the big publishing house, all I can go on is the stories that I’ve heard from authors who have been, I know they have stronger marketing and public relation uh, departments and I know that their outreach of course is a little bit bigger and they have a little bit more pull so they can get you into some of the large bookstores and so forth. That said, I’ve heard that basically no matter what, unless you’re like Stephen King or Kim Stanley Robinson or one of those folks, you’re out there working your tail off, doing it all on your own, maybe with a little more support here and there, but really you’re kinda left to your own devices. And I think that that, what I’m finding with the small publishers as well is yes, it’s great that you know, I get some beautiful cover designs and I have editors who edit because God knows I need editors.
You have these editors that do fantastic work and these proofreaders and everything like that. So you get a lot of those types of services, which cost of bloody fortune if you want it done right to do on your own. It’s kind of like a car with a small publishing house. You get something that’s gonna get you from A to B, it’s gonna work and just no fancy nothing. Or you have the Teslas sitting over there that will drive themselves. So it, you kind of have these two. And with the small publishing houses, which is where I’m at, that’s kind of what I find is I’m getting great product, but I’m having to do everything else.
L.A. Jacob (00:26:21) Have you considered self-publishing?
M.D. Neu (00:26:24) I have. And that’s why I kind of tipped my toe in with these anthologies and these other works that I’m part of because I wanted to see what went into it. And it’s a lot of work, especially to do a good quality project. Again, you have to pay for cover artists and unless your talented graphic designer and can do it on your own, you have to pay for editing and God knows you have to pay for editing. You cannot edit a book by yourself that you just, you, you just can’t. So you start weighing all those costs seeing okay, it’s either gonna cost me a couple thousand bucks to self-publish maybe. Maybe more, maybe less depending on what you do. But I won’t skimp on the editing ’cause that’s so important. Nothing drives me crazier than finding a mistake in a book because I know if I’m finding a mistake in a book, there are a lot of mistakes in the book ’cause I’m, I’m lousy, I can’t spell, I’m terrible with grammar.
So it’s like if I’m finding a mistake, there are issues. So, you just sit there and go, yeah, I love the idea of self-publishing, that’s fantastic. But when I start looking at the costs and go, it’s gonna cost me. I think at one point I priced something out and just for like the cover art that I liked and knowing that I wanted through rounds of editing and a proofer and all that, gonna cost something like $3,500. Yeah. Now that was just me pricing it out, looking at what I liked, looking at cover art that I liked. I know there’s cheaper ones and so forth, but if I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna get something I like and wanna be proud of. Unfortunately, I have caviar taste on a cheese Ritz budget.
L.A. Jacob (00:27:51) Have you found any challenges in presenting yourself as a gay author?
M.D. Neu (00:27:56) Yes. Yes. And I’m going to try and, and answer this as neutrally as possible because I am a gay man. And because I make no bones about what I write is across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. A lot of readers are turned off by that. They just flat out, now I’m not gonna read about some gay person. So you’re already cutting your market down by whatever that percentage is. Then you have the other side of the flip. We’re like, oh my God, yes, I love gay stories. I love gay. And often then it’s like, well, they’re not having sex. They’re not in a romance you’re not doing, it’s like, okay, well you want a gay romance story. Here are a list of 5 million gay romance authors who will fill that niche. That’s not what I write. Some stories have a little adult content in them.
M.D. Neu (00:28:41) Most of my stories are around the PG range because I, they’re for everybody. And I find that because of that I’m not welcome on one side and decide that I would hope that I would be welcome. It’s not what they want. And if I find, especially being a male gay author, that a lot of what MM readers want are female authors writing about MM characters. I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing. Not saying that they don’t do a wonderful job. That’s just what they want. Women writing for women about gay men is a very big thing and they make a bunch of money. Yes. Doing it. Yes. Give me 1% of that. And I would be happy. As much as I’d love to say no, everybody loves me and everybody, the reality is, is that by the time I get to the people who will actually read what I write, it gets smaller and smaller.
Has there been some crossover? Have I got some things that have surprised the heck outta me? I am surprised by the amount of people who identify as heterosexual men who read my books and love them, and they’re just like, these are great stories. Could have I done without the gay guys getting together? Yes. But the story is fantastic because I know those people. I work with that guy, or I know that woman, or that’s my cousin. So, I’ve gotten that kind of feedback, which has been phenomenal. But again, it’s trying to present things in a palatable manner that people are willing to put aside whatever their hesitations are is tough. It’s really tough and there’s no way of sugarcoating it. It’s tough. If I would’ve known back when I started, I honestly, and I am partially ashamed to even say this, I probably would’ve taken on a pseudonym as a female writer.
L.A. Jacob (00:30:40) How can people contact you and where are your books and do you have audiobook?
M.D. Neu (00:30:45) The answer? People can find me on Twitter. You can find me on Instagram. If you’re on BookBub, follow me. I’m there. I love BookBub. BookBub is my favorite. I’m on GoodReads. I’m everywhere that most people are. And then on Instagram it’s, again, it’s M.D. Neu. It’s either Author M.D. Neu or uh, M.D. Neu. If you type in M.D. Neu, you’ll see my picture. I use my beautiful face. I have a black hat on my head. I’m there trying to look all author and then, uh, Facebook as well. And I even have a YouTube channel where I have posted my readings and stuff like that. All my books are available on iTunes, Barnes and Noble. Anywhere books are sold, they look for M.D. Neu. And in theory, hopefully I would show up. You can order my books through the libraries.
M.D. Neu (00:31:32) They’re available through the libraries. I suggest if you got a local bookstore, go to your local bookstore, support local businesses, go to them and show them some love and order my book. They will love you. They will absolutely worship the ground you walk on. Amazon doesn’t need your money. Barnes and Noble don’t need your money. Go and order. Go to a bookstore, order ’em, and then they, you make them happy and you make me happy. All my books are available that way. If you want signed copies and you live here in the United States, you can go to my website, www.MDNeu.com and I will send you a signed copy of my books. I have, all my books are available on my website. You go through there, you order ’em, I sign ’em. I put a little note in there. I mail ’em to you. You make me happy. My mailman’s happy. Sometimes I put a little note in there. Sometimes I surprise you with a little gift. I’m not ashamed to say I bribe. I do. Yes. I have audiobooks and I have some more audiobooks coming, so I’ve got a couple of audiobooks out. They can find me on Audible, iTunes and Amazon.
L.A. Jacob (00:32:34) Thank you very much. Time for a road trip. The 10th annual Rhode Island Comic-Con is being held November 4th through the sixth at the Aika Mutual Pavilion, the Rhode Island Convention Center and the Omni Hotel located in downtown Providence and Water Dragon Publishing will be there. Stephen D. Brewer, author of the Reverends Heart Series, and L.A. Jacob, that’s me, author of the Warm Age and Grimalkin series will be there to answer questions and sign books. How can you miss this? Rhode Island in the fall is a beautiful season. This will be a great road trip.
L.A. Jacob (00:33:45): Thanks again to our guest. We plan on publishing new episodes every second Wednesday of the month. Watch for new episodes around that time.
Theme music is provided by Melody Loops. Other music is from assorted free music websites found on the internet. If you want to know more about Small Publishing in a Big Universe, visit our website at SPBU-Podcast.com. Tweet us at SPBU-podcast and like us on Facebook at SPBU-podcast.
This podcast was recorded and edited by yours truly, L.A. Jacob. Executive producer is Steven Radecki. Transcription services provided by Remy of Sleepy Fox Studio.
This month’s episode was sponsored by Paper Angel Press and its imprints, Water Dragon Publishing and Unruly Voices. You can hear our podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and most of your favorite podcast services. Visit our marketplace for more information about books that are mentioned on this podcast. Thanks very much for listening and talk to you soon.