BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

You know, I had reconciled myself to just forgetting about the fact that my books are being pirated on the internet, thereby placing any continuation of the Rowan Gant series on shaky ground. I mean, I can’t blame the publisher. If the books aren’t selling because someone is distributing them for free, then why bother? If they can’t even recoup their investment then it really doesn’t make much sense for them to continue throwing money at it.

At any rate, like I said, I figured I’d just not get any more upset over it than I already had. I have plenty of crap going on in my life right now, plus I need to finish another manuscript for the pirates to steal. Things were going along fine. I had put it into the back of my mind (since there was nothing I could do to stop it) and I was coping.

Then, I went to an event.

At said event I met several folks who were terribly excited to make my acquaintance. They were huge fans, had read all of my books, and simply couldn’t wait for the next one. Major ego boost here. Gotta love that. Then, they dropped the other shoe. Actually, they kicked me with it. Seems that none of them had ever purchased my books. Nor had they borrowed them from friends or libraries.

No, they had downloaded them via one of the pirate torrents…

Oh, but it gets better… After reading and enjoying them, they proceeded to email the files to all of their friends, who in turn did the same…I got to meet some of them too…

I politely explained to these folks that neither the publisher nor I had received payment for those pirated books. I politely told them that since I wasn’t getting paid, it made it hard for me to pay my bills, which meant I might have to stop writing and go get a different job. Hence, no more RGI novels, which would be sad for the fans, me, and the characters who have taken on lives of their own.

They blinked. Then they asked if I knew how soon they might be able to download my upcoming novel.

I think I’ll go scream into a pillow now…

Murv

Okee Dokee…

So, right now I am running around like a chicken with its head cut off (and, I am familiar with what that looks like firsthand… Remember, I grew up on a farm) trying to get things together, get packed, make sure the laundry is done, and see to it that my girls have food in the fridge, all before I hop a plane tomorrow for Texas.

Yeah, I gotta spend 4 days in Texas with Morrison. Pity me! (LOL) Actually, I’m looking forward to it, and for a change the weather seems to be cooperating so it looks like I will really make it there instead of being iced in like happened last month. (Sorry Detroit!)

Anywho, other than touting the fact that I am going to another country for a few days, I wanted to address something really quick like… Actually, a few things. So, in the interest of expedience I’ll just enumerate them –

1) I had a great time on the Paranormal Divas Monday night. It was a good show and they have already told me they’d like to have me back on the air with them, so that should be fun! Thanks Shelley and Christine!

2) I just did a phone and email interview with a lovely young lady who wrote an article about me for Modern Witch Magazine. Modern Witch is a new quarterly mag that is supposed to officially launch its maiden issue next month. So, be on the lookout for it, because Julie (the writer) made me sound like a really cool guy. [ I have no idea how she got that idea, but I’m telling you she has a future in fiction writing! (GRIN) ]

And that brings me to 3…

3) One of the questions I get 95% of the time during interviews is “Where do you get your ideas?”… I always say “my nightmares”, which is largely true, but I also credit the news for some of the input. Over the years I’ve had folks tell me that the news simply doesn’t have headlines that are anywhere near as weird as the crimes in my books. Personally, I think these folks are hiding under rocks… Therefore, as an example, here are two headlines and they are just from TODAY. This isn’t even counting the hundred or so I could pull out of the past few months archives…

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) – Two Italian women carrying luggage containing the remains of a man who died in Brazil 11 years ago were stopped by Munich airport police during a stopover on their journey from Sao Paulo to Naples.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese bride burned her new husband to death after he got into bed after a drunken argument without washing his feet, state media reported on Wednesday.

See what I mean?

If I have Internet access at my hotel I might check in and let you folks in the United States know what is happening in The Republic of Texas while I am there.

Now…where did I put my passport?

More to come…

Murv