Welcome to my blog

Hello visitors. On my blog I'm talking about my books, but also about what I'm currently working on and, maybe, some other stuff. Browse through my posts and don't forget to check out my older posts in the archives. If you are interested in my books, please, visit my website Fictitious Tales for more information and a few excerpts. Also, take a look at my second blog Herbert Grosshans, where I talk about fun-stuff and things that concern me.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Time for an update

Well, it had to happen at some time. You can't be number one forever. New releases from Midnight Showcase and my book 'Daughter of the Dark' slipped to number seven. Sigh.
But it was nice while it lasted. So far, I haven't seen any reviews, except for the reader's ratings from Fictionwise. A little bit of disappointment there. Out of 8 readers one thinks the book is great, three think it is good, three gave it an OK and one thinks it is poor. (There has to be always one! Grrrrowl!)
On other news, I finished my new edit and partial re-write of Book Two 'Mother of Light', which will come out in August. I think I improved it a bit. Most of the time, when you put your freshly written book away and read it at a later time, you find mistakes and awkward sentences. Sometimes a lot. So watch out for Book two. I hope some of you who visit me have bought Book One and read it. I think Book Two and Three turned out better. Check it out at http://www.midnightshowcase.com/

Thursday, June 08, 2006

For Love of Arilee

Well, my story 'For Love of Arilee' has been accepted, but won't appear until next year. A long time to wait. That is one of the 'fun-things' of publishing. It teaches patience. But I'm happy.
My book 'Daughter of the Dark' is a runaway bestseller at Fictionwise, so I'm told. Number one seller at Midnight Showcase. I know, it is not the same as the Harry Potter books, where 'bestseller' translates into millions of copies sold, but I'm still excited about it. My first book and it is a bestseller. Wow. Only a year ago I dreamed about being published and here I am, one book published and four more contracted. Plus a few short stories.
Check it all out at http://www.midnightshowcase.com/

Monday, June 05, 2006

My short story

It came to me while taking a shower. The title to my short story. I started singing 'For the love of a girl' by Johnny Horton (an old song, most of you probably don't know it). And I knew right then and there, this is the title to my story, but I did change it. The title is 'For the Love of Arilee'.
I sent it to Midnight Showcase. Hopefully it will be accepted for the digest 'Sweet Proposols'.
Now I can get back to finishing the book I'm working on 'The Stardogs'. I'm already at over 110,ooo words. I should finish it with two more chapters. Then comes the editing. Actually, before I continue with that story, I have to do the edit to Book Two of 'The Xandra', Mother of Light', (again!). That will take me some time. Let the fun begin.
The Sales of 'Daughter of the Dark' are still going strong. No reviews yet.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Sales of my book

Well, the figures are in and I am very proud and excited. My book is Number One Best Seller for Midnight Showcase at Fictionwise. They sold 41 copies the first week. I haven't seen any reviews yet and I'm anxious to read what people think. Anyone reading this and I assume you run and buy a copy of my book 'The Xandra, Book One, Daughter of the Dark'. Details at http://midnightshowcase.com/ and then let me know as a comment or you can even send me an email at hegro@shaw.ca

I just finished a short story for Midnight Showcase, as yet untitled. I'm racking my brains to find a catchy title. I find it harder than writing the whole story. This story doesn't contain any explicit sexual details, but it is a romantic story, set in the future and it takes place on the fifth planet of the Xandra world. It it not part of the Xandra trilogy, but it tells a little bit of what happened on the fifth planet. For those of you who have read my book or will read it, you will see the connection. That is the wonderful thing about writing. Once you've created a world, it can be used again as background to a story. I'm hoping to have this story published in one of the Midnight Showcase digests. Mae Powers put out the challenge to write a romantic story without the xxx-stuff.