The Kickstarter campaign for “A Tradition of Evil” has wrapped up with a very satisfying 220% of the finding goal, so the novel is proceeding apace now thriugh production and marketing!
The fantastic promotional trailer can still be viewed in future—follow this link:
I'm looking forward keenly to the release of this volume!
Mike
It's taken 88 months since I launched this writing endeavour in earnest, but I just made my three thousandth submission!
I had four acceptances at earlier dates, all non-paying, which suggested to me that I should be getting serious about the possibilities, and I test-fired the submission mechanism on a few occasions in late 2015, but I'm not counting those outings, for simplicity's sake.
I've been scrounging for this sub for a few days. It's amazing to what degree the market is saturated, not expressly with my own material but material in general. To find a story of the right genre, of the right length, not previously published, and match it with a market both reading at this time and paying an acceptable rate, was no easy matter. I studied two industry newsletters, worked through lots of possibilities, and got quite frustrated before settling on one to go out.
But the milestone has gone by, and the future awaits—onto the next thousand submissions! But from 2023 onward, my emphasis will be trending toward novels and anthology collections—single-author publications—with short stories continuing to circulate in the background.
That said, I hope to have plenty more news from the magazine and anthology markets in future as well!
All the best from Aus,
Mike
As followers of my publication record will know, since 2019 I've been dabbling in the wold of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Prince of Detectives" has been in the public domain for quite some time, and new writings in the Holmesian canon are very popular.
I have placed quite a few stories in the last four years, two with Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine (though they have not yet been scheduled), one with Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, two with Strand Magazine (for which I am 'dead chuffed' as the saying goes, as The Strand has always been the spiritual home of Sherlock Holmes, certainly since 1892!) I also placed one with Weird Tales, though that piece is in limbo with the on-again, off-again nature of the magazine, plus the unfortunate passing of the editor who actually picked up the story. Then there are the anthologies from Belanger Books—I'm in seven released to date, with three more on the way. Add four active submissions at this time (including an invited sub to the prestigious charity MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories ongoing anthology series) and that's quite an accomplishment already.
However, last year I mooted the thought to Belanger Books that I would very much like to write a Sherlock Holmes novel, and their reaction was most positive. “A Tradition of Evil” was the result, taking a little under three months to write, and about the same to edit and polish (for which copious thanks to my sister Jen Downes, an English expert whose meticulous editing resulted in a manuscript so clean there were essentially zero edits coming back from the publisher!}
The novel is presently scheduled for release around November, 2023, and will be available through both Amazon online (print and eBook editions) and a number of physical bookshops in the US. A limited edition hardback, some with a dustjacket, is also planned.
The Kickstarter campaign launched a couple of days ago (the project is already fully funded) and is gathering backers by the day. Of spectacular note, don't miss the promotional video: the Belanger brothers created a trailer as dramatic as if the project were a forthcoming movie!
View the Kickstarter page and trailer here.
Here is the production credits screen for the trailer!
From here, I would hope to continue to place short stories with the major markets, and am of course thinking about a second novel. I have no shortage of ideas for both long- and short-form work, and if the gods should smile with regards to sales success, it would be my great pleasure to write Sherlock Holmes for a long time to come!
Cheers,
Mike Adamson
In the weeks since I last posted, a few interesting things have happened. First of all, I didn't win the Derringer Award—I had no real expectation of doing so, but the nomination was a most pleasant surprise, and I am now being referred to as “Derringer Award-nominated author Mike Adamson...” in the mystery field, which is nice!
As the cover above suggests, I have appeared once more in the Australian SF mag Alien Dimensions, this time with a double-header. The mag specialises in extraterrestrials, as its title suggests, and for this extra-large (360-page) edition the editor took not one but two stories—both part of my “Takes of the Middle Stars” opus. In this issue you'll find “Downtime at Ranger Station.” one of the “Colonial War” arc, as well as “Keeper of the Ways,” an early episode of the arc leading up to what should be my first “Middle Stars” novel, though no indications yet on when that might be. Catch Alien Dimensions #24 at Amazon:
On April 21st, my “Middle Stars” short “Rain Girl” went live at Wyldblood—catch it here.
Placements have been generally slow of late, and what's come my way has been largely non-paying reprints or other token-payment situations. Other writers have commented on the drought they're experiencing, so the industry as a whole seems to be feeling the pinch of the difficult times we're living through. This much is to be expected, but that makes it no less frustrating.
However, for the really good news, see the next post!
M
