I promised some time ago (or was it a threat?) that I'd share more info about our kinda-sorta new short story collection, Storm Squalls.

Formerly known as Storm Chaser Shorts, that title will now be used only when I'm dressing for a tornado watch. It's still a prequel/sequel/epilogue to our Storm Chaser series, something that arose organically because, when I originally wrote it, Storm Chaser was the only other book. You can take a look at it here:

www.amazon.com/dp/B09YGJ1XR6

If you don't like e-books and don't want to go through Amazon, you can order a copy (or two) direct from us. I'm sure we can arrange a deal if you want more than one of our books, to complete your Mark R. Hunter collection. Does anyone have one of those? I mean, besides me?

It's selling for $1.99 on Kindle and just six bucks in print, and usually you can't get a steal like that without committing a felony. That's two dollars less than the first Kindle edition.

But wait--there's more!

There were ten stories in the original collection, but we increased it to sixteen to give you more bang for your buck, or possibly you're gluttons for punishment.

But it complicates things, because only seven of the stories are set before the original Storm Chaser. Six more take place in the time period between Storm Chaser and its sequel, The Notorious Ian Grant, also a romantic comedy. The final three short stories more or less exists outside the timeline (as does the related young adult novel, The No-Campfire Girls). So you don't have to read the novels before you read half the short stories. You don't for any of them, really--but you'll be spoiled, as the kids say these days.

Of the new stories in this volume, three are brand new, including my personal favorite, "High Horse--Or, a Horse Tail". I had the most fun writing that one and "Chaos At the Con", which like the last two stories were available on social media some time back.

Whew.

Where were we? Oh, yeah. I hope you enjoy it, and did (or will) enjoy the other books in the series--and yes, arrangements can be made for a bargain on multiple book sales. I'm the author, I can do that. Also, say thanks when you see Emily, who designed the cover, formatted Storm Squalls for both e-book and print, and got it up for sale. She's my hero.

(By the way, Storm Squalls is also up on the website: www.markrhunter.com/)

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
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Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/
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Remember, no one ever died from feeding an author. That I know of.

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You can read a slightly different version of this blog on the newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/0baf142adc82/our-new-book-is-out?e=2b1e842057

Or, you may gotten the newsletter three days ago, in which case ... never mind. But don't forget our author appearance this coming Saturday at the Art and Author Fair, which you can read all about here:

https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/2022/04/were-coming-to-kendallvilles-art-and.html

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blog.

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Okay, this might get complicated.

As all fourteen of my regular readers know, my first published novel was Storm Chaser. When my publisher, Whiskey Creek Press, heard I was writing some short stories to promote the book, they offered to print them as a separate collection. That was the unfortunately titled Storm Chaser Shorts. I'm explaining that because chances are you haven't read it.

Storm Chaser sold so well Whiskey Creek Press published a sequel, The Notorious Ian Grant, which I personally think is even better. Later we self published The No-Campground Girls, which is set in the same universe and includes some of the same characters.

Then Whiskey Creek Press was bought out by a larger publisher. They continued to offer the books for sale, but otherwise forgot them and never reduced the prices even years later--prices I thought were too high for an unknown author to begin with.

In addition, Storm Chaser Shorts suffered from being too short for my publisher to do a print version, and many of my readers prefer print. Sales were poor, like me.

Eventually I got the rights back for all three works, which is why you can no longer find the e-book versions for sale. The new publisher still offers the print versions, despite the signed paperwork reverting the rights to me.

I told you it was complicated.

Our plan: to reissue all three books independently, with new covers and a lower price. We got delayed by COVID and other issues, but ....

Wait for it ....

This is also going to take some explaining.

The original title for the short story collection was no good, and I now refer to it as "The short story collection title that must not be named". I can see some browsing customer now:

"Wait ... Storm Chaser Shorts? Is that, like, padded underwear for storm chasers? Is it for protection, or scared bladders? Do they make them in boxers?"

So for our reissue we changed the name, and Emily designed a new cover, but wait--there's more!

We wanted a print version, and, if the original was too short for that ... let's make it longer! So we did. And now you can order either the print or electronic versions on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09YGJ1XR6

In fact, the new version, Storm Squalls, is almost twice as long as the Shorts. Of the sixteen stories, six are original to this new edition (they tend to run longer than the originals, too). Seven of the stories take place before the events of the original Storm Chaser, while three aren't set in the timeline, so if you haven't read any of the Storm Chaser books you can still check those out. Sadly, it looks like we won't have the books available in time for the April 30 author appearance, but we'll have a pre-order sheet for anyone who stops by.

This is getting lengthy, so I'll talk more about it in a later blog. But just so you know, later this year we'll reissue Storm Chaser and The Notorious Ian Grant, also at a lower price. Hope you'll check them out!

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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I have a new (and free) short story up on the newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/1a341fafb2bb/free-christmas-short-story

Because we all deserve a little free entertainment ... but especially this year. So here's the story of a man with a morally questionable past adjusting to a new life, and the extended family that welcomes him. (The characters are from the Storm Chaser stories, but beyond revealing the books have happy endings, there are no spoilers here.)

And don't forget the rest of our books--Merry Christmas!

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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Ordinarily, rather than posting the details from my newsletter here, I post a link to the newsletter and beg you to subscribe. But this is the announcement of our newest project, so I figured I'd give everyone a heads up. Just the same, subscribe to the newsletter! The link is here:

https://mailchi.mp/42a747371840/every-old-book-is-new-again-sort-of

On a related note, you should see these three books disappearing from Amazon and other sites in the immediate future. I have the rights back, and they'll all be reissued later.

Our new project goes back to the Storm Chaser universe!

Well, kind of new. Back in 2011 my first published book, Storm Chaser, wasn't out yet when I mentioned to my editor that I was writing related short stories, which I planned to post to generate interest in the book. Much to my surprise, my publisher offered to put them together into a collection, which became my second published book: Storm Chaser Shorts.

The title is my fault. It was a working title and I never really liked it, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

The collection of stories came out exactly one year after Storm Chaser, on June 1, 2012. A lot of people don't know that. A whole lot of people. The problem is, I'd generated local and regional interest in Storm Chaser, and as a result I made a lot of direct paperback sales myself. I couldn't do that with Storm Chaser Shorts, which was so short my publisher felt they couldn't justify a print version. So it was e-book only, and I had trouble generating sales among print book lovers.

"So ... what happened next? Don't leave us in suspense!"

Fast forward several years. Sales for my first three books lessened, and although they'd been out for awhile my publisher had them at the same price--which in my opinion was too high, especially for Storm Chaser Shorts, which was, after all ... short. I decided to get the rights for all three back, so I could publish my own editions of them.

And by "I" I mean my wife, who has the talent to actually do that kind of stuff.

It was a huge struggle to make contact with anyone at my publishing house, which by then had been taken over by a larger publisher that put the e-book versions on the Simon and Schuster webpage. There they were generally forgotten. It took a couple of years, but now they're mine again (although for some reason they're still up on the S&S website).

We'd meant to publish new versions in their original order, but the story collection seemed so neglected we decided to go there first. The stories mostly took place before or just after the original Storm Chaser, so to a certain extent it's a prequel, anyway.

Not for long, though, because the new printing will include several related stories I wrote and posted for the fans over the years. In addition--and here's the big news:

Storm Squalls--formerly Storm Chaser Shorts, which always made me think of someone wearing swim trunks--will include a brand new, never before seen 6,000 word short story!

And a price drop! (Well, for the e-book version. You can't reduce what never had a price to begin with.)

And a new cover because, well, the cover art doesn't belong to me. I don't know what the new art will look like, but Emily will as soon as she's created it.

So let's review: As soon as Emily has recovered from her knee surgery enough to concentrate on it, we'll be putting together a short story collection with a reduced price, new cover, more material, and a brand new short story. It will be renamed Storm Squalls ... or Storm Showers ... I can't remember what we decided on at the moment, and Emily's asleep.

But stand by! We'll be announcing more as the release date gets closer.

And happy autumn! Okay, I may hate fall ... but maybe some of you don't.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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This seems to have unintentionally become short story month on my blog, which is ironic considering how very long April has been this year. What the heck: Here's the full story of the magazine publication I mentioned earlier, and why it's a big deal for me.
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To understand how big a deal this is, you have to understand I've been writing short stories since I was eleven years old. Maybe ten. Maybe twelve, who knows?

I can't show you those stories, to demonstrate how good they were. Even if they still existed I couldn't, because--well--they weren't good. But I got started early, and all through middle and high school I wrote short stories (instead of studying), along with the occasional novel draft (which were also bad).

I wasn't yet eighteen when I started submitting them to science fiction magazines. (At the time all my short stories were SF, while my longer works were split between SF and firefighting adventures.) My submissions had one thing in common with my stories: They were bad.

But they got better. That's what it's all about.

As time went by I took three correspondence courses on writing, and filled a bookshelf full of volumes on writing, and read huge amounts of fiction, and got better. My aim: Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, the cream of the crop as far as I was concerned. It's still around, now called Asmov's Science Fiction:

https://www.asimovs.com/

And its editors still reject me, from time to time. It's nice to have traditions.

Meanwhile, when my first novel was published, I told the publisher that I'd written some related short stories I wanted to give away, to promote the book. They said, "Sure--just send them all in, we'll publish them together!"

I said, "Huh?"

So I wrote even more short stories to fill it out, put them all in one manuscript, and they published it as Storm Chaser Shorts, a title I'm afraid I have to take the blame for. They're pretty good, if I do say so myself ... but they weren't magazine publication.

Meanwhile, I was a humor columnist for local newspapers, and they printed some Christmas related short stories by me. Then I got some stories printed in anthologies, which was great. But, doggone it, I wanted that first magazine credit! By now it had become a forty-five year obsession. I'd been collecting rejection letters in a box, until they went digital and I collected them in an e-mail box. Sometimes I'd get encouraging personal rejections, which in this industry is so close to in, but they were still rejections.

Then, one day, an e-mail came back that said, "Readable story." It seemed like the beginning of another "pretty good but" rejection, but it was just understatement.

My trials and tribulations weren't quite over, because the magazine's publisher had an illness and death in the family. I was accepted in September of last year, and it wasn't until the March issue of this year that "Grocery Purgatory" hit the cover of "The Fifth Di ..." I either missed it or it actually came out late, because I was surprised with a contributor's copy in April.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Fifth-Di-Tyree-Campbell/9781087870267?ref=grid-view&qid=1587112259481

And there it is, at 98 pages a magazine so thick it's almost a book, for just ten bucks and change. You want to do me a favor? You do? I thought so. Order you and your family a copy, tell all your friends, and get the word around. Why? Because I want to get published in more magazines. Maybe even, someday, Asimov's.

And even after throwing away the bad ones, I still have stories to submit ... and even more to write.

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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I put a free short story up on our newsletter; but while everyone leads the corona life, I figure even those who haven't signed on should be able to wind down with a little fiction:

https://mailchi.mp/3e551477c923/free-short-story-time?e=2b1e842057

Of course, it would still be cool if you'd subscribe to the newsletter! (And you can do it by following the link and going to the top left corner, where it helpfully says "subscribe".) Why? Well, first of all, the word just doesn't get out on social media the way it used to. Late last year I ran into an old friend who had absolutely no idea that I'd had ten other books published, after the first one. A guy can only send his dog around wearing a sandwich board with the website on it for so long before the police start making inquiries.

Second, newsletter subscribers get a little advanced warning of such things as my very first short story publication in a fiction magazine, which I'll write more about later.

I was going to do a Snoopy dance when that finally happened, but it seems I've developed sciatica, so for now I just waved my hands in the air and screamed a little.

Anyway, the free story, which has the advantage of being at no charge, is about one of my favorite characters, Beth Hamlin, and how she handles being forced inside by the coronavirus. (Hint: Badly.) A minor character in my first published novel, Storm Chaser, Beth's been weaseling her way into my work ever since, with her own short story in Storm Chaser Shorts, an expanded part in The Notorious Ian Grant, and finally her own book in The No-Campfire Girls. She's also been in several other short stories, sometimes with my conscious mind not expecting it until she walks in.

By the way, this story, "Outside Time", is set before any of the books; so you don't have to worry about getting spoiled, or being lost, if you haven't read them before. I'll pout a little, but I'll get over it.

Hope you enjoy, and let me know if you do!

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

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I didn't cheer. I didn't run through the streets, kissing perfect strangers. I just kind of sat there slack-jawed, staring at the e-mail. My wife probably thought I'd gotten a death notification.

But no: I'd sold a short story. And yes, I was happy--just having trouble believing it.

To understand why one sale should shock me so, we have to go into history. Don't worry, it won't hurt.

Shortly after turning 18, I started submitting short stories. At first, they went one by one to Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, which these days is called Asimov's Science Fiction. There were and are plenty of other magazines that print (or post online, these days) short stories, but Asimov's was the first one I read, and I was stuck on appearing there first. Just so you know, that's a stupid way to do it, then and now.

I wrote dozens and dozens of short stories. I took a course on writing them; bought dozens of books about writing; and I read hundreds of the short stories of others. I also got smart enough to send each story to every market I could find.

By the way, thanks to Linda Nagata, my teacher in that correspondence course. It was in the snail mail days. The story she helped me improve was "Grocery Purgatory", a tale of disappearances set in a small town grocery store. Read all about her here: https://mythicisland.com/

None were ever published. I came close later on, with favorable and personal rejection letters. Eventually I discarded the ones clearly written in desperation--some of them were real stinkers--while revising and improving the ones that showed promise. But no final sale.

Here's the thing: short stories of mine have been published. Some were holiday themed tales, part of Christmas inserts in the three weekly papers that published my humor column. They were not in the habit of publishing fiction, and if I hadn't already been on the staff it wouldn't have happened ... so they didn't really count.

In 2011 my first novel, Storm Chaser, came out. I wrote several short stories featuring the characters from the book, intending to give them away to promote the book itself. But when I told my publisher about it, they suggested selling them together, as a collection. That's how Storm Chaser Shorts came about: They're published, and they're short stories, but it seemed to me again that I had a bit of an unfair advantage, compared to cold selling a single story to a publisher who didn't know me.

Three anthologies carry my stories, but they were by invite, and I think they also don't count.

The point is, it had become personal.

(Oh, and as usual, all those can be found on our website and here, on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mark-R-Hunter/e/B0058CL6OO.) Always be closing.

As time went by, I boiled down the publishable stories to six, always waiting there in my master submission log. I had submitted my first short story in the summer of 1980.

So you see, when I received an e-mail from Alban Lake Publishing, telling me they were buying a story for one of their periodicals, I had been trying to sell to a magazine for thirty-nine years.

The story is "Coming Attractions", the bones of which I first wrote three decades ago. Revised many times and workshopped with Linda Nagata, it's hardly recognizable from the original (which was twice as long).

I'll give out more information when I get it, but my new publisher's website is here:

https://albanlakepublishing.com/

After almost four decades, I'll have a short story published in a magazine. Well, e-magazine. Let's just say periodical. After a summer of everything breaking and a long week of sinus infection, this small step is very good news, indeed.

Now: On to selling the rest of them!

http://markrhunter.com/

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Good news, everyone!

The new newsletter is out: https://mailchi.mp/dbc5dc2002fd/my-publishers-dropping-me-its-a-good-thing?e=2b1e842057

Or you can just read it here:

My publisher is dropping three of my books!

Well, it really is good news, but I'm going to have to explain it.

At my request, Start Publishing has returned the rights to three of my books: Storm Chaser, Storm Chaser Shorts, and The Notorious Ian Grant. They were originally put out by Whiskey Creek Press, which was later bought by Start Publishing. Start is a big company, and made arrangements for their e-books to be distributed by Simon and Schuster, a large and respected publisher.

This excited many WCP authors, as Whiskey Creek Press was a fairly small publisher, with limited resources. I understood going in that I'd have to do a lot of my own selling and promoting; but with these new players, it was hoped we'd get better distribution and more promotion help.

Alas, that didn't happen. I continued to promote as best I could, and overall I've liked and gotten along with everyone from both companies. But those three books are older now, and to my disappointment their prices never got lowered. In addition, I felt the print book prices were way too high, especially for an unknown author like me. (WCP and Start specialize in e-books.)

With Storm Chaser now seven years old and set at the same price as when brand new, my sales had dropped dramatically. In the last quarter of 2018 sales of those three books were abysmal, and I know that's a real word because I looked it up.

But I wasn't ready to give up. Many people who read Storm Chaser kept asking me for a sequel, which the other two books were--but the sales of those two weren't as good. I felt there was potential for the series yet, so I asked Start Publishing for the rights back.

It was a long process.

I want to stress that my experience with the publisher was for the most part very positive, and I met many good and admirable people. In fact, I still have another novel, Radio Red, available through their Torrid Books line.

But the rights to the other three are back in my hands, which is why you may notice them disappearing from various websites and resellers across the internet. (I do still have print copies of the two novels for sale. Storm Chaser Shorts, a short story collection, was never available in print--but it will be.)

Emily and I are going to re-release the books, including a print run for Storm Chaser Shorts, once she's designed new covers and otherwise gotten them ready. These are the old covers, which you'll see if you buy any print copies from us before the supply runs out (well, not the middle one, which come to think of it could stand a new title):

I'll probably drop the price of them close to my cost, since the new editions will have a much lower price tag. Emily's hard at work on other projects right now, but I'll keep you updated on when they'll come out. Also, I'll be going back to work later this year on a prequel, as a way of introducing readers to the Storm Chaser series as a whole.

And you'll see all those changes on MarkRHunter.com, of course! Remember to support your local author: Whenever a book doesn't sell, an angel loses his wings--don't jam up the roadways with hitchhiking angels.

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SLIGHTLY OFF THE MARK

Cheating on Indiana

I’ve had the strangest feeling lately that I’m cheating on Indiana.

As a writer, I mean—get out of the gutter. You see, my new novel is about to be published, and it’s set in Michigan. There’s nothing wrong with that. Lots of authors do this thing called using your imagination, in which their stories are set somewhere other than where they live. One of the best authors I know routinely sets her stories in California, even though she lives in Missouri. One of my favorite authors, L. Frank Baum, set most of his stories in places that don’t even exist.

But up until now, all my published works have been set in Indiana.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way. In fact, when I first started writing, none of my stories were set in Indiana. When you’re a teenager—at least, an introverted, emo teenager like I was—all you care about is getting out. Half my stories were set in space. Half were set on a fictional fire department, somewhere generally to the west. The other half either took place in other areas of this planet, or started here and then journeyed away.

(What, that’s three halves? That’s why I took up writing: I suck at math.)

But things happen and, long story short, I stayed in Indiana. Why? Because it’s an awesome place, when it’s not winter. I also moved from science fiction and action to romantic comedy—see above about things happening.

Years ago I had a literary agent for a time, and of the three novels he looked at he thought the first one I wrote, Radio Red, was the best. It was set in an area of northwest Lower Michigan where my family vacationed at the time. Why? Because my in-laws had a cottage there, and I had … debt.

Michigan is almost as beautiful as Indiana, but even colder.

For whatever reason, Radio Red never sold. Maybe editors don’t like red—they’re always complaining about red ink. Instead the second one I wrote, Storm Chaser, sold first. It’s not only set in Indiana, but in my home county of Noble. I didn’t have to research a setting; there’s a fine line between brilliance and laziness.

I told my publisher that I was writing some short stories to help promote Storm Chaser. Showing awesome overconfidence in my ability to make them money, they said, “Great! Put them together, we’ll publish a collection.” All but two of the stories in Storm Chaser Shorts are set in Indiana.

Are you detecting a pattern? You should, because along came The No-Campfire Girls. Although inspired by a Missouri Girl Scout Camp, I set it in southern Indiana. Why? Because I stole some of the characters from another book of mine, an unpublished mystery set in, yes, southern Indiana. The rest of the characters I stole from Storm Chaser. Is it stealing when it’s from yourself? Or just another case of brilliant laziness? I’ve coined a new term.

The Storm Chaser sequel, (hey, it works for Hollywood) is The Notorious Ian Grant. Now, it’s not essential that a sequel be set in the same place as the original. But except for the main character, I didn’t have to invent new people or locations. Creating Ian Grant was exhausting all by itself; in Storm Chaser he’s mentioned in exactly one line, in which his sister calls him an “ingrate”. Great introduction, sis.

My first entry into non-fiction, Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights, can be described entirely by its subtitle: A Century or So With the Albion Fire Department. Granted, there are more than two dozen Albions in the United States; but come on—pay attention to the theme, here.

My unpublished “Slightly Off the Mark” columns were collected into the imaginatively named Slightly Off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns. See what I did, there? You can argue this one, but many of the columns are about Indiana, and by gosh they were all written in Indiana by an Indianian, so there.

(Indianian? No wonder we call ourselves Hoosiers.)

After that was what I call my picture book: Images of America: Albion and Noble County. Kidding, I never called it that, but it’s historical images and fun stuff about Albion and Noble County. Which are in Indiana. Any questions? I didn’t think so.

Last year we released Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving At All, and if I have to explain how that’s about Indiana … well, I just don’t.

(I also had a short story in Strange Portals and a humor piece in My Funny Valentine. I usually don’t count them as my wholly published work, but in this case what the heck—they’re both set in Indiana.)

So that’s … how many is that? Jeez, the other day I told someone I’m about to get my tenth book published, but if you don’t count the parenthesis above, Radio Red will only be my ninth. It gives me the warm and fuzzies, to say “only” nine. I’m on track to beat Isaac Asimov’s publishing record! Only 500 more books to go.

And now … well, Radio Red, like the Storm Chaser series, is set in a real place; but that place happens to be in Michigan. It’s been bought by Torrid Books, and has an official release date on March 7, and …

And I’m cheating on Indiana.

But I feel Hoosiers will forgive me. And if they don’t … well, then I can only imagine what they’ll think of my first spaceship story.

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We've noticed that some of the links on our website are down--specifically, the ones to e-book versions of my three works published by Whiskey Creek Press/Start Publishing. We think this is because the company changed distributors (to Simon and Schuster).

They're still actually there, in all the usual places, just ... un-linked. But not to fear, Emily's working on it. In addition to repairing the links, she'll have Radio Red up on www.markrhunter.com soon, because she's awesome like that.

Radio Red is also distributed electronically through Simon and Schuster, by the way. And for those of you who haven't heard, I am indeed working on a prequel to the Storm Chaser series.

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Apparently this is the last couple of days you can order something and still be sure to get it before Christmas, which includes my books if you don’t buy them locally. I know … usually I try to hide my sales pitches behind humor, but honestly I’m exhausted.

A few days ago Noble Art Gallery asked for more copies of Images of America: Albion and Noble County, and I’m told Albion Village Foods has sent off for additional copies three times now. I don’t know how sales are going at Doc’s Hardware, Black Pine Animal Sanctuary, or the Old Jail Museum (which isn’t open this time of year), but as soon as I get medical clearance I’m going to do my happy dance.

Meanwhile I just finished another polishing of my newest book, now with the working title of Hoosier Hysterical: How the West Became the Midwest Without Moving at All. Emily has it for a fresh-eye review, and if we don’t get a bite from a publisher, we’ll probably self-publish in mid-Spring.

Also meanwhile, look for a free Christmas themed short story soon, as a present from us to you.

As always, check us out at www.markrhunter.com, because sometimes you just need a little book … or a big book. But most of mine skew shorter.

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I suppose this would be a good time to remind all of you that books are, by far, the best Christmas gifts. Yes, even for non-readers: In fact, books owned by people who don’t read are not only great re-gifts, but when not re-gifted they’re among the books in the best condition. No dog-ears, no food stains, no bent pages … pristine. Two hundred years from now, you can resell books in such good condition for enough money to make up for inflation, if you should happen to still be alive.

In addition to that, books:

Require no batteries.

Almost never rot your brains.

In hardcover editions can be used for self-defense.

Can be hollowed out to hide all sorts of contraband and/or listening devices.

Make bookcases much more useful.

Never go offline during power outages, assuming you have backup lighting. If you don’t have that in case of power outages, are you really smart enough to read?

Also, should you go into a place like, say Albion Village Foods, Noble Art Gallery, Doc’s Hardware, Black Pine Animal Sanctuary, or the Old Jail Museum, you’re shopping locally. You might even pick up things other than, say, books with my name on them, and that would support local businesses, and if you mention I sent you they might stock more of my books. This makes me happy, and don’t you want to see me happy? I thought so.

But if you’ve heard horror stories about going out shopping this time of year, you could always go to our website at http://www.markrhunter.com/books.html. This gives you a choice of nine books in five or six different genres (because I just can’t seem to keep my mind on one thing), with prices ranging all the way down to free (for Strange Portals, anyway). It’s like Black Friday somehow turned into bright December.

So that’s my pitch, and if you spread the word I promise I’ll continue to be funny and entertaining. Okay, I’ll try.

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I’m posting this mostly for my benefit, so you can ignore it or, preferably, embrace it and send it to your friends all over the world. I’ve had a few (rather surreal) moments this summer when I struggled to remember all the works I’ve had published. Not that there are that many, but I’m putting them up as a list here so I can refer to it in a hurry, and/or refer it to a potential reader. This has made me realize my next book after Images of America: Albion and Noble County will be the tenth publication my name has been on! That’s assuming you don’t include newspapers.

Storm Chaser (2011): A famous weather photographer runs afoul of an Indiana police officer, who suspects she may be manufacturing disasters to photograph.

My Funny Valentine (2011): I have a piece in this anthology about Valentine’s Day, and how very wrong it can go.

Storm Chaser Shorts (2012): A series of short stories featuring characters from Storm Chaser and The Notorious Ian Grant. (E-book only)

Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century Or So With The Albion Fire Department (2013): This illustrated history of my volunteer fire department was written for its 125^th anniversary; proceeds go to the department.

The No-Campfire Girls (2014): When a group of teenage girls find out a drought will prevent campfires at their annual summer camp, they go to extreme lengths to bring on the rain. (Half the profits go to Girl Scout Camp Latonka in Missouri)

The Notorious Ian Grant (2014): A B-list Hollywood troublemaker tries to redeem himself by coming to Indiana to plan his sister’s wedding—whether she wants him to or not.

Strange Portals: Ink Slingers’ Fantasy/Horror Anthology (2014): Two of my characters from Storm Chaser and The Notorious Ian Grant have a Christmas encounter in this holiday themed fiction anthology.

Slightly off the Mark: The Unpublished Columns (2015): A collection of humor pieces published to “celebrate” being downsized from my weekly humor column job, and picked up again as a monthly.

Images of America: Albion and Noble County (2015): A photo-filled journey through local history, covering the settlement and early growth of this northeast Indiana county.

www.markrhunter.com

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Here’s our Christmas present to everyone: A free short story on PDF, featuring two characters from “Storm Chaser”, The Notorious Ian Grant”, and “Storm Chaser Shorts”.

“Another Family” is set before the books and features two cops, a surprise snowstorm, and a special guest who needs police assistance. Oh, and family. Merry Christmas! You’ll find it on the website at http://markrhunter.com/extras.html

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My last book signing of the year, and probably the winter, is this Saturday, and I’d like everyone to attend. Everyone in the world. Yep, all seven billion of you. Except you, that guy with the blue coat in Apsheronsk. You’re a little creepy.

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of free parking along Main Street in Kendallville, although some of you might consider carpooling. I’ll be at the Mini shops, 134 S. Main Street, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on December 13^th. It’s a new place, where you’ll find a number of small vendors in the former Best Little Hair House (not making that up) a block south and across the street from the News-Sun building.

Remember, every time you don’t go to my book signings, a butterfly in the Amazon flaps its wings. Don’t cause a hurricane.

https://www.facebook.com/events/405524479603470/

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We sold eight books at yesterday’s signing! Hoping some will make good Christmas gifts. Thanks to our hosts, and good luck in their efforts to find a permanent Albion home for their art.

Now on to the next book signing, a week from now at The Mini Shops, 134 S Main Street in Kendallville. Look for us from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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That doesn't mean this press release is a work of art, but this is what I sent to the local news outlets. I have two theories about press releases: 1. Make them as easy for the news people to work with as possible. 2. It’s always worth a try.

For those of you who are in the area, don’t forget that in addition to this one, I now have a second book signing on December 13^th, at the Mini Shops in Kendallville—134 S. Main Street, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Art Sale, Book Signing Planned During Albion’s Christmas In The Village

Visual and written art will be featured at a holiday open house during the December 5^th Christmas in the Village in Albion.

Gagen Art is sponsoring the exhibit and sale, which will be at the historic Black building at 100 North Orange Street, on the southeast corner of Albion’s Courthouse square. Dan Gagen, whose paintings have previously been displayed at the location’s windows, is a noted local painter who’s invited fellow artists to display and sell their works from 4-8 p.m.

Also attending will be author Mark R. Hunter, whose diverse works include two romantic comedy novels, a young adult adventure, a collection of short stories, and a history of the Albion Fire Department. Two of his works came out in 2014: The Notorious Ian Grant, a romantic comedy set in northeast Indiana, and The No-Campfire Girls, a humorous adventure at an Indiana summer camp.

Proceeds from Hunter’s earlier book, Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or So With The Albion Fire Department, go toward the Albion Fire Department, and copies of all the books will be available. It will be his second book signing of the year, although he hopes this one won’t be as adversely affected by the weather.

The event’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/events/310190809164184/, while more information is available about Hunter and his books at www.markrhunter.com. Several other activities are also being held around Albion’s Courthouse during the Christmas in the Village, including craft vendors, greeting Santa Claus, and the lighting of the Courthouse Square Christmas tree.

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I’d planned on one book signing this holiday season … now there are three. In addition to the one coming up this Friday at 100 N. Orange Street, I’ll be doing another one a week later in Kendallville—only the second book signing I’ve ever done outside of Albion.

That one will be at The Mini Shops, 134 South Main Street, on Saturday, December 13^th. At the moment we’re planning a mid-day signing: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More information will be forthcoming, but meanwhile don’t forget to stop by the art show and signing in Albion, during the Christmas at the Village! That’s running from 4-8 p.m. December 5^th, and here’s the event page for it:

www.facebook.com/events/310190809164184

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Okay, here we go again! Thanks to Dan Gagen’s kind invitation to an artist’s open house, I’m doing another book signing this year: Friday, December 5th, from 4-8 p.m.

It’s the same evening as Albion’s Christmas at the Village, so we’re hoping to get a big crowd up on the Courthouse Square for all the activities going on. As for us, we’ll be at 100 N. Orange Street, the former Black Building at the stoplight, on the southeast corner—look for the place with the big historical mural on the side. Here’s the Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/310190809164184/

Naturally, we’ll have all my books there … it would be a pretty sad book signing otherwise. This is a chance for anyone who (understandably) didn’t get out in the lousy weather during my previous book signing. Come look at the books, ask questions, and wait for Santa to go by and the Christmas tree to be lit. Bonus: Great art to look at! Dan is a fantastic painter, and has invited some of his artist friends to set up shop, too.

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The bad news is, the book signing didn’t go so great. The good news is, the only person at fault was Mother Nature—and we already knew Mother Nature hates me anyway.

I did sell nine books, and got to talk to some great people, and hey—how better to spend a miserable day than in the library? But we got slammed by the weather. Local schools were canceled, roads and sidewalks were slick and icky, and the high temperature was lower than the normal low temperature for mid-November. Nobody wants to go out in crap like that, especially with wind and occasional snow squalls blasting through.

The folks at the Noble County Public Library—who were great, by the way—kept remarking on how amazingly quiet it was. Maybe I should have rescheduled, but after so much time and effort promoting it, I felt duty bound to go on. The library also put in a lot of work, complete with a flier that they posted on Facebook and on their monitor screens. So again, no one can be faulted but the weather, and I still sold more books than I have at some past signings.

My next step: Get those people who would have shown up if it had been nicer to buy books, and promote for Christmas shopping season! Because even an early winter won’t get me down. Much.

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Slightly Off the Mark

Storm Squalls: A Long Tale About Short Stories

Storm Squalls: Partially New and Improved!

Free Christmas Short Story ... because hey, Christmas

A New Writing Project in the newsletter! Well, Kind of New

Our new project goes back to the Storm Chaser universe!

My Long History With Short Stories

Another free short story!

I sold a short story!

My publisher's dropping me; it's a good thing

Cheating On Indiana

The Missing Link

Moving Copies of Sometimes Moving Books

7 Reasons Why Books Are The Best Christmas Gifts

So I Don't Forget My Own Books

All I want for Christmas is a free short story

How going to my book signing can prevent bad weather

Book signing results

A Nice Press Release Is a Work Of Art

Third book signing ... no, really

Another Book Signing -- And Art

I would feel bad, but …

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