PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING APRIL 16, 2016

All right. It's been an interesting writing week. So let's recap everything I've done up to this point.

*First, a friendly reminder that I've turned in the manuscript for PROJECT ALPHA 2, although the subtitle is now PROVING GROUND, not Wayward Son. Now it's just a question of when it gets through production for Pro Se Press to release it.

*I've also turned in a 2200+ word essay about writing for an upcoming benefit anthology for Logan Masterson that Pro Se is planning to publish.
I never really met or corresponded with the man, but Logan recently lost a personal battle and is no longer with us. When this anthology will be published remains to be seen.

*The work of myself ("It All Started Innocently Enough") and fellow scribe R. P. Steeves ("The Backward Pawn") is now available on audio through Amazon.com with the Radio Archives' release of CHARLES BOECKMAN PRESENTS JUDSON AND GARDNER.

*I've signed the contract so Airship 27 can publish my short story "Sinbad and the Sinister Statue" in their next SINBAD: THE NEW VOYAGES anthology.

*Currently, I am now 4000+ words into the Sherlock Holmes story I promised Airship 27. I still have several pages of handwritten notes to transcribe, for one must craft the best Victorian era mystery they can to satisfy Holmes enthusiasts, but I humbly think my tale will please them when finished.

*THEN I will begin work on whatever will become HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE BOOK 3 as I consider some other irons in the fire beyond that.

So it's turning out to be a good Spring so far. Just wish the weather in my neck of the woods was as warm as it should be this time of year but alas, you can't have everything.
Better get back to work now.
See you around the Internet.
Lee Houston, Junior
17 April, 2016

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING JANUARY 2, 2016

HELLO, and welcome to the start of a brand new year!
I sincerely hope the third day of 2016 finds everyone safe and sound.

Now then, exciting news! I have FINISHED Chapter 20 of PROJECT ALPHA: BOOK 2, WAYWARD SON!
Of course, it is now in the capable hands of my friendly neighborhood beta/proofreader, and once it's settled, I still have to go over the entire manuscript to make sure it reads well as a coherent whole; but I should finally be submitting the novel to Pro Se Press by the first of February!

Project Alpha 2 IS coming!

Despite the false starts, mistakes, and life interruptions I've faced over this past year; a LOT of hard work has gone into the creation of this novel, and I'm happy to be so near completion now.

So, what ELSE did I accomplish in 2015?



Last year saw the following short stories published...

*IT ALL STARTED INNOCENTLY ENOUGH in the Judson & Gardner anthology as part of the Charles Boeckman Presents project for Pro Se Press

*THE SOUND OF OBEDIENCE published in Ghost Boy, Volume 2 from Airship 27; my first contribution to Captain Ron Fortier and Loyal Airman Rob Davis, but far from my last

*THE SUBSTANDARD QUINTENT: COME TOGETHER, and I co-edited Jim Beard's Super Swingin' Hero 1968 Special from Mechanoid Press; which was truly a great honor in and of itself and I look forward to working with Jim again...

AND
*THE UNFAIR FARE in Legends of New Pulp Fiction, the Tommy Hancock benefit anthology, Airship 27; which was truly a labor of love for all involved to help out one of our own.

You already know my immediate plans for the beginning of 2016. After PROJECT ALPHA 2, I still owe Ron and Rob a SHERLOCK HOLMES story, and then I'll start work on whatever will become HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE, BOOK 3.

Beyond that? Let's see what the new year brings.                Lee Houston, Junior

3 January, 2016

Note: All book links are active, although for some reason Amazon doesn't always list both print and Kindle editions in the same screen.

PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING MARCH 28, 2015

Okay folks. I've got a lot going on right now, so I definitely feel like this poor fellow to the left of the text, on a tricky tight rope to traverse.

On one hand, ALPHA, BOOK 2: WAYWARD SON is going well. Still in-between the recently revised Chapter 15 and what will now be Chapter 16.
My friendly neighborhood beta/proofreader Nancy Hansen hasn't had a chance to see either yet, because she has a lot going on in her life too, including the recent release of her latest novel MASTER'S ENDGAME, which is the exciting conclusion of the trilogy that began with "Fortune's Pawn" and continued in "Prophecy's Gambit".

Concurrently, another of my tales from the marathon short story season of 2014 has finally seen publication. That now makes 4 out of 10 written last year, with at least two more guaranteed to see print by the end of 2015.
"It All Started Innocently Enough..." is the opening story of the CHARLES BOECKMAN PRESENTS JUDSON AND GARDNER anthology from Pro Se Press. A reporter and a small town deputy's investigation into an unfortunate car accident leads to the discovery of...
Well, let's just say it was a lot more than either of them expected.

Nancy's stuff, my work, and the creative output of a lot of other great authors, like Rick Steeves, who shares the JUDSON/GARDNER anthology with me; are all available on Amazon (dot) com.

Meanwhile, out of the blue, I've been invited to contribute a short story to an anthology that is right up my creative alley.
I'll admit I was flabbergasted when asked personally by the anthology's editor, but between that and the subject matter, there was no way I could say no.

This is on top of the two short stories I have already committed to for 2015, both of which I still have to write at some point (probably in-between ALPHA 2 and HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE 3), but this invitation also came with an already on the horizon deadline, so I am hard at work on it while awaiting the pending chapter reviews from Nancy.
So to keep everything in balance, I better get back to work now.
See you around the Internet.
Lee Houston, Junior
29 March, 2015