GOING BACK TO THE USA FOR A MUCH NEEDED VISIT.

Yee Haw... I'm a hedin back to Texas for a much needed visit to see my old pa. After ten years of living in Asia I am finally going back home to visit. I am so excited to see my old friends and my family I can hardly wait. If any of you cow pocks out there need to get in touch with me  just leave me an email. I'll be in Texas till mid October then back to Kuala Lumpur and back to the old grind. 

WARNING TO AUTHORS OUT THERE

If you've read my blog or know me personally you know I love to write and I've been published twice by a reputable traditional publishing company. I am writing this to warm people out there like me, who love to write and may be seeking a publisher for your work. There are still publishers out there who are traditional in their practices and reputable, but there are some out there who are not. I have been seeking a new publisher for one of my new books and in the last few months I have had two really frustrating experiences. Twice in the last two months I have had two different publishers tell me they wanted to see my work... and after reviewing it they told me how they liked it and wanted to publish it. Honestly I'm suspicious that they probably didn't even read it. Once I received a contractual agreement from them there was the little area in the fine print that told me they wanted me to pay them 9,000USD in the case of one and 900.00USD in the case of another one. This practice is usually considered a SCAM in the publishing world as most of these companies not only charge the author but in most cases they don't follow through with the promises they make. I am going to name the two publishers I have had experiences with as they have both been named in "Writer Beware" websites that try to warn new authors about these sorts of companies. In both cases these publishing companies have had lawsuits against them for wrong doing and making false claims and not living up to their contractual promises. There are many to beware of but here are the two I personally would suggest you stay clear of.

1. Dorrance Publishing

2. Strategic Publishing (and all of it's affiliate companies)

In the case of Strategic Publishing their was a lawsuit against them and all their subsidiary companies have been included in the 'Writer Beware' warnings. For those of us out there who love to write and are honestly seeking a reputable and legitimate publisher wasting time with people like these is very frustrating and that's why I personally want to try to save some of you out there some wasted time and energy. In the case of Strategic publishing, I even wrote them and asked them if they were a "Pay to Publish" company and they told me no. Only to send me a contract later after saying they liked my work, asking me to pay them 900.00USD. Anyway I don't want to sound like sour grapes, but this was my personal experience, so please Writers Beware and be prepared if you do a web search for publishers, you will get numerous sites from the types of publishers I speak of. Most of them as asking for your work because every author out there no matter how good or bad your work is, is a potential client for them.

PIRATE PLANET ADVENTURES GETS A NEW LOOK

Back in 2004 and 2005 I released the first two of what was planned to be a series of books called Pirate Planet Adventures. The series of five was to be based on five legendary treasures on a small back-water planet in outer space called Dextron (nicknamed The Pirate Planet) as it was mostly inhabited by cut-throats and nar-do-wells. The original plan was to write each adventure about one of the legendary treasures that existed on the planet, that one of our heroes was aspiring to find.

1. The Fortress of Bones (About a legendary treasure stash hidden by the infamous Captain Culpepper).

2. Island of the Golden Helmet (About a legendary magical helmet made of gold that was hidden on a haunted island inhabited by all manner of ghosts and ghoulies)

3. The Dimamond of Picaroon (About an illusive hidden island that was home to a tribe of pigmy cannibal head-hunters who worshiped a giant cyclops GOLEM statue with a huge diamond for an eye).

4. The Jeweled Harp of Calgadoon (About a magical jeweled harp that had a magical ability to hypnotize and enslave anyone who heard it's haunting music, that was owned by an evil but beautiful Siren queen who enslaved her followers).

5. The Forbidden Island in the Sky (About an evil half cyborg half human who lived in a formidable floating island in the sky that was bent on overthrowing the Pirate Planet and becoming it's sole ruler).

I have recently decided to take the first two books and re-edit them into one longer book with all new illustrations by my good friend Matt Ficner. The new book is going to be out soon and it will combine the Fortress of Bones story and the Island of the Golden helmet into one book called "Space Scurvy-The two Islands of Captain Culpepper" it is also being fashioned into a television series to be done with puppets, designed and built by Matt. You will find the illustration above in the new book. It is one example of Matt's wonderful illustration style. That book will be followed by the book I am currently writing called "Space Scurvy-The Wizard the Witch and the Diamond Eyed Golem" Keep an eye out for these two new titles available on Amazon next year.

THE FAT LADY SANG

Well it's as I feared.... the publisher that has been looking at my manuscript came back to me. And after actually writing them and asking them if they were one of those "pay us to publish" types and after them getting back to me and saying NO... if they like my book they will publish it at no cost to me.... they came back with, "we like your book but we want you to pay us 900.00 bucks to publish it, but if it sells we'll do the next one for free."

Well I knew they were listed on a "writer beware" list so I should have seen it coming. I guess I just wanted to believe they were legitimate.

Are there no legitimate publishers out there? Back to the drawing board. GEEZ

THE BIG WEENIE AWARD!

I think I'm going to start giving out big weenie awards to weenies out there who just do stupid things. My fist one is the C.O.O. of McDonalds. As some of you know even though there was a French McDonalds commercial that was very progressive and had a pro-tolerance message towards homosexuals, the C.O.O. of the American McDonalds corporation headquarters said this pro-gay message that was in the French McDonalds commercial, was not a sentiment shared by McDonalds in the USA. So I guess when McDonalds says "come as you are" what they mean is "come as you are as long as you're heterosexual." Well to all my gay friends out there, let's hope this changes as there is enough anti-tolerance sentiment out there in this world. This message has outraged many gay and lesbian groups in the US and some people have even decided to boycott the food chain. I don't boycott them personally but I go there as seldom as possible because their food is so terribly unhealthy, but I'm not a hypocrite, I like a good egg McMuffin from time to time. Why can't we all just get along?

Tonight I feel like I'm in the twilight zone or something. After a full 12 hour day of recording, I'm going back in the morning for more. What a glutton for punishment I am. Well anyway it was fun and the final product is going to rock. Anyway I just wanted to post something tonight so here it is.... nothing special. I'm off to bed now so cheers until tomorrow.

It's another beautiful morning and I'm feeling good. Had a great evening last night meeting some fun guys from Thailand. They are co-production partners working on the Super Panda show. They basically created it and they have a wonderful passion to see it turn out great and I love that. Here in this photo you see me and my friend Eion puppeteering Evil Zargon. Well I'm excited because Zargon's designer and builder my dear friend Matt Ficner may just come to Malaysia and work with me on the fun kids show i'm doing called Chummy and Champ. I'm trying to work it out so he can be involved. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed. He would be a great addition to the team. So now i'm off to the grind. Got a full day of recording funny voices for Super Panda and I'm pumped. It's going to be a long but very fun day.