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Celebrating the Summer of the Loving Dead

Abstract skulls, flowers and candy.
Credit: Pixabay.com




This summer has been a 50th anniversary for the Summer of Love but it’s also been a summer of the loving dead. The latter began with my work on the “Circa Sixty Years Dead” paperback edition and it has continued with this weekend’s Zombie Walk here in Sacramento.


Sacramento Zombie Walk and Carnival of the Dead


Today was the 17th annual Zombie Walk for Sacramento. But I only attended the pre-Zombie Walk Carnival of the Dead, yet hardly even that. There were a lot of neat games and booths there, not to mention costumes of the living dead. However, it was so damn hot on this 104-degree fahrenheit Saturday afternoon/early evening that I didn’t stay for much more than an hour. I’m surprised the heat didn’t do a further job on the zombies’ already rotted skin and flesh! But the event was a knock-out and, though I wasn’t there for it, the actual walk really turned out to be a knock-out! The undead really gave it to the alt-right and they didn’t even have to be in San Francisco to do it. Check out the video coverage on it at Sacramento Zombie Walk’sFacebook page. It's the post that reads "Oh no protesters at the Zombie Walk!"


Summer of ‘Circa Sixty Years Dead’


All summer I’ve been working on the paperback edition of my short horror story, “Circa Sixty Years Dead” and finally, just last week, I got the final version of it out. As I said last time, I improved the book cover but now I’ve seen the proof of that improvement with my “proof” copy that came in the mail earlier this week. So, it’s now confirmed that the excessive pixelation of the title’s lettering and of the goddess statue are gone, and that nasty line that ran along the left edge is also out.

Like I said, for much of the summer I’ve been working on the paperback edition and it’s seemed to be a process of trial and error but one that has paid off. The process included writing the back cover summary, trying different file formats for the manuscript, releasing the book only to find out the cover was greatly flawed, and re-releasing it with the corrected cover. It’s been a long, trying process but also a worthwhile learning experience. That’s what self-publishing is all about, trying different things to see what works and what doesn’t. Kind of like writing itself, isn’t it?

Well, because I had goofed on the book cover the first time and only found out this past week with hardcopy proof that the second shot at it worked, I am still offering the paperback version for the low price of $3.89. In this way I will celebrate both the paperback release of “Circa” and this Summer of the Loving Dead all the way through the end of the month. So if you haven’t bought your copy yet then do it now because the end is almost here!


Next week: more about my imprint logo and maybe more writing tips and a mini book review.

Until next time . . .





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