The March round now begins: today it's The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales that gets the no-cost treatment.  It will be free today, March 7th, until tomorrow, March 8th.  Head on over to the 'Zon and pick yourselves up a copy!

So here we go folks.  The paperback versions of The Gate 2: 13 Tales of Isolation and Despair is now live and ready to be purchased over at the 'Zon. Click here to head over there and pick one up!

Also, it's time to strap in and get the words flowing on the The Summer Son: The Rift Book IV.  I'll be starting tomorrow (March 4th), and the goal is to write 10,000 words a week over twelve weeks, which would put the second draft as being finished before the first week of June.  I'll be posting updates every Saturday night to let you all keep track of my progress.

So here's where we stand right now:

March 3: 9,828 words


I'll be seeing you next week at this time, if not sooner.

Peace, gentle readers.

RJD

Yes, here we are folks.  The new anthology is now here...at least the ebook is.  The proofs for the paperback should be coming today, so if it looks good, it should go live in the next few days.  For now, take a look at the fabulous new cover, description, and table of contents, which includes 12 fantastic authors.  To say we're excited about this product is a bit of an understatement!

…a young man tries to build a better life while trapped in a mall after a plague has killed off most of humanity…

…zombies overrun a world gone mad, leaving a boy with no choice but to rely on possibly mystical means of escape…

…Halloween night brings out a darkness so threatening that a young couple’s only hope of survival may be a procession of strange, ghostly children…

…when the world is given a brief glimpse of divinity, a formerly disabled man must come to grips with the fact that not everything is as good as it seems…

These tales and many more await in The Gate 2: 13 Tales of Isolation and Despair, the new collection edited by Robert J. Duperre. Thirteen talented authors have been assembled, bringing with them the best they have to offer in a wide range of horror, be it slice-of-life or paranormal in nature. Also included are two bonus stories by the editor.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Plastic by J.L. Bryan
The Indian Rope Trick by D.P. Prior
Night Night by Daniel Pyle
Dead Things by Michael Crane
Does Laura Like Elephants? by Steven Pirie
39 Days by Robert J. Duperre
The Candle Eaters by K. Allen Wood
Black Mary by Mercedes M. Yardley
Exhibit C by David McAfee
The Canoe by Joel Arnold
Destination by Benjamin X. Wretlind
The Ghastly Bath by Dawn McCullough-White
Worldwide Event by David Dalglish
2 Bonus stories by Robert J. Duperre
Traipsing Through the Dark: The Stories Behind the Stories

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ON AMAZON.COM!

Wow.  It's been almost two months since I've posted here.  TWO MONTHS!  Can you believe that???

Anywho, since it's now closing in on the end of November, I figured it's time to come at y'all with some much-needed updates as to what's going on in the world of TRO.

First of all, I've had three short stories appear in different anthologies over the last two months.  The first is a tale called CHORUS (inspired by one of Jesse's drawings), that appears in J.L. Bryan's DARK TOMORROWS alongside Amanda Hocking, Joel Arnold, and S.W. Benefiel.  The second is one of the favorite tales I've ever written, a little ditty called 39 DAYS, which leads off the Daniel Pyle-edited UNNATURAL DISASTERS compilation, including the likes of the fantastic Scott Nicholson, William Meikle, and J.A. Titus.  And finally, I wrote a disturbing short titled ONE GOOD TURN that is included in the Holiday Special Ebook Edition of SHOCK TOTEM MAGAZINE.  In this issue it's the staff who gets to shine, as the editors and reviewers (moi!) steal the show, our voices heard loud, squishy, and (mostly) clear.

In other news of a more US variety, I'm right now putting the finishing touches on the 3rd Rift book, DEATH SPRINGS ETERNAL.  From there it's on to editing and proofing, and Jesse then has to get his ass in gear with the cover and illustrations.  This is both an exciting and nerve-wracking project, as it's so different than either of the first two books.  However, I'm confident it's still a good book - I'm thinking it's the best of the bunch so far - so we'll see how that plays out.  The release date is (fingers crossed) January 5th.

After that, it's on to the second installment of THE GATE.  For this one, I've collected stories from 10 fantastic writers - a few carryovers from the first issue, plus some rather exciting additions.  The tentative release date is February 15th, though with the unexpected snowfall at the beginning of the month setting Jesse back a bit, it might end up being closer to the end.

This is a REALLY busy time for us.  Personally, my schedule is jam-packed with projects, which means my partner's is, as well.  Interested to see what my plan is from here on forward?  Here's a list of what I have slated to be released through January 2013:

January 5, 2012 - DEATH SPRINGS ETERNAL: THE RIFT BOOK III
February 15, 2012 - THE GATE 2: 13 TALES OF ISOLATION AND DESPAIR
March/April 2012 - THE FOREVER MAN (working title)(novella)
July 2012 - THE SUMMER SON: THE RIFT BOOK IV
November 2012 - THE GATE 3: 13 STORIES OF MONSTERS AMONG US
January 2013 - THE MIRROR OF SOULS: COVENANT BOOK 1

So there you have it.  That's six planned releases in a span of 12 months.  Too ambitious?  We'll see...

Peace, folks, and we'll chat soon.

RJD

Isn't it fantastic?  I think it is.  The Grumpy Artist's best work, if you ask me.

Now, in regards to the paperback, it should be available very soon.  We had some issues with the spine, which are slowly being resolved as we speak.  Hopefully, it will only be a couple days away from completion.

That's it for now, folks.  Keep reading!

RJD

Here we are, everyone.  May 1st.  This date means something very special to me, so I thought I'd post about it right here, right now.

The Fall first went live in paperback on April 21st, 2010.  That means that Jesse and myself ave been going at this little thing called publishing for a year now.  This is as good a time as any to get everyone up-to-date on how the experience went for us.

As I said, we released the first book on April 21st.  In the last nine days of that month we sold 15 copies of the book - exclusively to family and friends.  I watched our rankings drop and thought, "well, this is how it's gonna be.  We're a hit!"

Then...reality struck.

Sales dropped in May, and we saw little to no movement.  In that time I decided we best get into this burgeoning ebook market.  On June 5th we released The Fall on the Kindle, and again I thought things would just take off. 

I sold a grand total of 5 ebooks that month.

However, this slow progress didn't deter me.  I kept plugging away at other projects while constantly updating our books with new corrections and edits.  I started my review blog, "Journal of Always", in July, and started to gain some exposure.  By the time October rolled around, when I took part in Amanda Hocking's "Zombiepalooza", her dedication to Halloween, things really started to take off.  In November we broke 100 sales in a month for the first time, along with releasing "The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales".  We were on our way.

So here we are now, with three books out there and one more to be released this coming June.  Our sales have been relatively consistent and we've made some more-than-significant progress.  Reviews have been (mostly) good and the reception has been greater than I would've hoped.

I know some people only believe numbers, however, so here you go.  This is how our books - The Fall, Dead of Winter, and The Gate - have fared over the last year:

The Fall: The Rift Book I

Paperbacks Sold - 65
Ebooks Sold - 2783
Total Sold - 2848

Dead of Winter: The Rift Book II

Paperbacks Sold - 19
Ebooks Sold - 1276
Total Sold - 1295

The Gate: 13 Dark and Odd Tales

Ebooks (and Total) Sold - 1254


Overall Sales for TRO Publishing, our little baby here:

5397

Boo-ya!

Peace, folks

RJD

The review blog, SyriaSays.com, was nice enough to give our little short story collection a rather glowing sendup.

SYRIA SAYS REVIEW

For anyone who hasn't known, I, Robert Duperre, have been maintaining a review blog (Journal of Always Reviews) since this past July.  I've read a great many fantastic books over the last six or so months, and it's been a pleasure to dive in and see what kind of obscure meanings I can gleam from the text.  In truth, this does as much to improve my own writing as it does to help the authors who've created some fantastic, imaginative worlds.

Recently, after perusing Youtube and seeing the varying video game and movie reviews done through the venue of video, I became obsessed with creating a video review of my own, for a book, no less.  I decided to choose (author of The Trylle Trilogy and My Blood Approves) Amanda Hocking's Hollowland - firstly because it's in a genre I love (horror), and secondly, it's just a fantastic book.

Here's the video:

That's right, everyone.  The Gate is now available in ebook format for the Barnes and Noble Nook!  Click the link below to see the new product page:

The Gate: 13 Dark & Odd Tales for the Nook