People might think something’s wrong with me.  I’m blogging twice in one day.  How can this be?

Well, I promise not to make it a routine.  Whenever I spend too much time on the website, it doesn’t take long for me to feel like the effort I put here would be better off spent writing fiction, especially since with a busy day job at a university and all the challenges that come from raising two kids, time is hard enough to come by as it is.  But as I menioned earlier, I’m making a little extra marketing push with the book being published this summer, Ghost Detective. Part of that effort is a short story called “The Haunted Breadbox,” which is not only a prequel to Ghost Detective but was also the inspiration for it.  Here’s a little more information:

Myron Vale sees ghosts. One hundred billion of them, to be precise.

In a world where everybody dies but nobody leaves, Myron Vale is the rare individual who completely straddles both sides of the great divide. In fact, he may just be the only one. His strange ability the result of a gunshot to the head while serving as a Portland police officer, a few years later he recovers to forge a new life as private investigator catering to both the living and the dead.

His biggest problem? He can’t tell them apart.

In this short story prequel to Ghost Detective, the first novel featuring Myron Vale, a house call to an old farmhouse finds Vale investigating the most unlikely of haunted places — a breadbox. What lies inside? It’s not at all what Vale expects.

You can read this story for free right now on this website, or download a free copy in any number of formats over at Smashwords.com —  .mobi for the Kindle,.epub for the Nook, even PDF for your computer.  It’s also available for 99 cents on Amazon.com if you want to make it easy to download it to your Kindle.  At the end of the story is an afterword explaining the origin of the story, which then lead to the novel.

This is another great advantage of indie-publishing.  I’ve sold many short stories  to magazines and anthologies, but if I tried to do the same with this one, it could take six months to a year just sending it around (with no gaurantee anyone would buy it), and another six months to a year before it was published.  Then I’d have to wait another three to six months (an exclusivity period) before I could republish it on my site for free.

By releasing this one now myself, I can get it out before Ghost Detective is published, which hopefully will entice readers to pick up the book.  I did this once before, with a short story called “A Plunder By Pilgrims,” which was something of a prequel to The Gray and Guilt Sea, and I know for a fact that many, many readers discovered the novel via that short story.

A novel, by the way, which was published under the name Jack Nolte, and is now being re-released under my own name.  More about that soon.

First, the big news:  Wooden Bones, my dark children’s fantasy that chronicles the untold story of Pinocchio, is now available in both hardcover and ebook from Simon and Schuster.  What happened to Pino, as he came to be known, after he became a real boy?  The answer:  It turns out he can bring puppets to life himself, which gets him into a whole lot of trouble.  Giant hungry wolves?  Dead trees brought to life?  Life-size puppets that march about like zombies?  The book’s got all of that and more.  I hope you check it out.  It’s aimed at the 9-12 age group, but I think adults might like it as well.

It’s been a busy couple of months.  In late July, I co-taught the Think Like a Publisher Workshop with Dean Wesley Smith, where we helped another room full of professional writers learn how to take advantage of all the ways writers can now go direct to readers — even while continuing to work with large traditional publishers, as I am.  It was a great group and always fun to hang out with Dean and all my other writer friends on the Oregon coast.  Hard to believe, but I’ve known Dean over twenty years, ever since I walked into his writing workshop in Eugene, Oregon when I was a nineteen-year-old college student and realized, right away, what a goldmine that workshop was for a newer writer like me.

The first half of August, my wife and I took off for Europe, embarking on a five country, ten plus city Mediterranean cruise, tacking a few days on at the beginning and the end.  In all, we were gone 17 days, and it was quite a trip — Barcelona, Athens, Rome, Venice, Istanbul, I’m still mentally unpacking everything we did on the trip.  It was expensive, no doubt about it, but we have no regrets; it was something we’d been wanting to do for a long time.  And no, we didn’t take the kids.  They stayed with the grandparents (we took them to Disneyland last year, which was the family trip), and had a much better time  than if they’d been with us.  Somehow I don’t think they would have appreciated the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona or the Parthenon in Athens quite as much as we did.

Other news?  Well, I’m buckling down into the writing, working on a dark paranormal suspense novel based loosely on one of my short stories.   More than that I won’t say until it’s finished, but the writing is going well.  I also have a number of new audio books out.  None of them are narrated by me (when I have more time, it’s something I plan to do, but not now), but they’re all excellent reads.  All of them are available for digital download at Audible.com and Amazon, and should be available at iTunes shortly.

With the summer winding down toward fall — I was stunned to realize that the kids go back to school in two weeks — I’m hoping to have a nice, productive stretch of writing for the rest of the year.  Traveling is great, but I truly am a creature of habit, and it feels good to get back in a creative groove.

What I’ve Been Reading Lately:

• The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins.  Fantastic read, and fully deserving of all the attention it’s gotten.  Felt a little like Ender’s Game meets The Princess Diaries, in the sense that it’s very much told in the voice of a teenage girl (complete with a makeover!)   but the action and war-heavy themes are there in abundance at the same time.  I’d say the third book was the weakest of the three, but it was also the most ambitious in scope.
• Now and Then by Robert B. Parker.  Another great book in the Spenser series, touching on infidelity, the meaning of marriage, and what makes two people stick it out through thick and thin.  Not his best book, but then it’s Robert B. Parker, and even a run of the mill Parker is superb.

Exciting news!  I’m pleased to announce the publication my latest short story collection, The Man Who Made No Mistakes, available as both a trade paperback and an ebook.  Although I sometimes release ebook-only mini collections, this is what I consider my third major collection.  (The Dinosaur Diaries and A Web of Black Widows being the first two.)  It contains stories published in Analog, Realms of Fantasy, and other magazines, as well as a few original tales.  It also bears a striking cover by Billy Norby.  I’m very happy with the book and hope you enjoy it, too.  A little more information is below.

What if you had the power to rewind time?

Make a scene in a restaurant, give your boss the finger, rob a bank just to see how it feels — you could satisfy any whim, fulfill any desire, make any wish you’d ever had come true. The man who wanders into Father Holder’s Las Vegas confessional says he has just such a power. The ultimate in wish fulfillment, he calls it. And if something goes wrong? No problem. He just rewinds. He’s the man who never makes mistakes.

Until, in a moment of weakness, he succumbs to the darkest impulse he’s ever had — and can’t find a way to undo it.

This remarkable tale leads off Scott William Carter’s latest short story collection. A dragon addicted to eating humans, a robot on a devastated planet with a spellbinding story to tell, Abraham Lincoln in a world of one-eyed dragons and drafty castles — hopping across time and space, genre and style, Carter offers up eleven provocative tales that are sure to please his growing number of fans as well as win him new ones.

Ebook:
Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

Trade Paperback:

Praise for the stories:

“The Man Who Made No Mistakes is by far the most ambitious and morally complex story in this issue and arguably in any issue of the magazine since its last resurrection . . . It’s one of the strongest stories I’ve read in months, and I expect to see it on the awards ballots.”–Adventures Fantastic

“Beautiful and haunting.” –SFRevu

“A touching story about loss, and what it means to have someone with whom you want to experience life . . . Riveting.” –Tangent Online

“Carter shares the story of Karvo Portano, a biological-robot hybrid grizzly bear who sings opera. Well at least he used to, until someone pilfered his voice module . . . The story dazzled me. It is a witty, zany trip across the universe with a nice twist at the end and even a message of hope.”–Reading with Mo

“Carter weaves a successful tribute to old-school detective stories with the modern twist of exposing man’s foibles.”–Tangent Online

“I really enjoyed the spin on the classic android becomes a human motif, and this story is a great example of putting a fresh view on old ideas . . . Overall, the witty dialogue was one of the greatest strengths of the story . . . The plot was well stitched together, admirably so. I enjoyed the twists and turns of Duff’s journey, and its profound alieness transported me to this other world . . . a pulpish romp through space. –Nicky Drayden, Diary of a Short Woman

As many of you know, I also write mystery and suspense books under the name Jack Nolte.  Well, after far too long a wait, I finally have exciting news to share:  The next Garrison Gage book is now available — A DESPERATE PLACE FOR DYING. As of this moment, it’s only available as an ebook, but the paperback should be out in early April.  Special thanks to all the people who helped bring this book into being, from my wife, who always serves as my trusted first reader, to the copy editor who helped me weed out as many typos as possible.

I really enjoyed writing this one and hope readers find it fun as well.  I’ve also appreciated all of your wonderful emails.  And if you want to help?  Well, spread the word any way you can!  Facebook, Twitter, random graffiti . . . Oh, and most importantly, if you enjoy the book and have a few minutes, please consider posting a review online at Amazon, B&N, or wherever you bought it.  Even if just the people who emailed me did this, it could really make a difference.  Most readers don’t realize how much those reviews help, and only a tiny, tiny fraction of readers ever do it.

More information is below, including where you can currently buy it.

A DESPERATE PLACE FOR DYING

by Jack Nolte

An old flame.  A killer on the loose.  A crazy cult on the rise.

Nearly a year has passed since Garrison Gage became the reluctant guardian of a troubled teenage girl, but neither fatherhood nor the the intervening months has improved his mood. His right knee is still mostly worthless. He still prefers to drink his bourbon alone. And even with a certain blonde bombshell a persistent part of his life, he still can’t be bothered to buy a cell phone. Or any phone, for that matter. Why? Then somebody might call him.

But grumpy as Gage can be, he still finds that life on the Oregon Coast has settled into a comfortable if not happy routine — until the man who murdered his wife shows up in town.

That’s just for starters. A desperate plea from an old flame — his first love, in fact — soon entangles Gage in a high profile case involving a famous and brazenly outspoken lecturer on evolution and atheism, a crazy fundamentalist cult that uses all means necessary to silence its critics, and a brutal local murder of a far more personal nature.

Before the mystery can be unraveled, Gage’s abilities and beliefs will be put to the ultimate test. And the man who claims he doesn’t need anyone will discover he may just lose everything.

Available in Ebook Format Now:

Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

Paperback:

Coming soon

Yep, that’s the title, and it’s certainly one of my crazier ones.  If memory serves, I made a joke years ago saying that was going to be the name of my next book – and then realized that, actually, I kind of liked it if I could find the right book to go with it.  So I jotted it down and forgot about it until I thought of this first line:  “My dad owns a rubber chicken factory.”

With that, I was off and running, and the result is a strange combination of wacky and poignant as I tell the story of Trevor Livingston and his thousand-mile quest to tell the girl of his dreams how he really feels about her.  And of course, nothing goes quite as expected.  More about the book below.  (It’s available as an ebook now, with the paperback to follow in a few months.)

If you liked The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys or President Jock, Vice President Geek, you’ll probably like this one.  It has a very similar tone and feel.  It’s aimed at young adults in the 16-18 range, but I think adult readers might like it even more.

And this is also completes, at least for the short term, what I consider my contemporary YA trilogy.  By contemporary, I mean there’s no fantasy, aliens, or any of that crazy stuff that happens in a lot of my fiction — just modern day teens struggling with modern day issues.  I happen to have a pretty broad taste when it comes to both reading and writing, but for now at least, I’ve said what I want to say on this front and I’m turning my attention to other books for a while. 

What will those books be?  Ah, to answer that question would be to spoil the fun, wouldn’t it?  And of course I don’t always know myself.  Sometimes all I have to go on is a strange title . . .

The Care and Feeding of Rubber Chickens:  A Novel

by Scott William Carter

Seventeen-year-old Trevor can’t catch a break. Just when he finds out that Janna, the girl of his dreams, is finally available, his mom tells him he’s being shipped off to a boarding school because of his awful grades. A desperate call to his dad, who owns a rubber chicken factory in Las Vegas, gets him nowhere. His father is more interested in enlisting Trevor’s aid writing what he sees as the perfect gag gift – a how-to manual about rubber chickens. That’s Trevor’s life for you. Everyone around him is totally and utterly insane.

But there’s still Janna. He’s had a crush on her since sixth grade. Can he get himself to say the words to her that he’s been rehearsing for years? He finally musters the courage to visit her house and find out.

That’s when everything goes crazy.

*****

Grade 10 Up – “My dad owns a rubber chicken factory.” With this zany first line, readers are launched on a surprisingly poignant coming-of-age journey. Part buddy story, part road trip adventure, and part ruminations on the difference between love and infatuation, Carter offers up a vivid portrait of a young man – Trevor Livingston – who blunders into a thousand-mile quest to tell the girl of his dreams how he really feels about her. Although the book is appropriate for more mature young adult readers, adults may find even greater enjoyment in Trevor’s distinctive voice and abundant references to popular culture – Star Trek and The Princess Bride, for example, are favorite targets. Fans of Carter’s award-winning first novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, are certain to find this heartfelt look at the angst and insanity of modern adolescence an equally riveting read.

Electronic Edition:
Amazon | B&N | Smashwords   

Paperback Edition:
Coming soon.

My science fiction story with a rather long title, “The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android,” has been reprinted in the Russian magazine, Esli, which roughly translates as “If” in English.  It was originally published in Analog in September 2010.

I got my contributor copy in the mail over the weekend, mailed all the way from Moscow, and it’s a sweet looking magazine.   First time I’ve been printed in Russian, as far as I know.  Only problem?  I can’t read a word of it.  They even translated my name!  The only way I was able to tell which story was mine was the copyright notice at the end of the story, which was in English.  Another weird moment in being a writer.

By the way, you can now buy this story individually to read in electronic format at Amazon, B&N, or, at Smashwords.com.  It’s a longish tale, nearly short novel length, so it’s a good deal for only 99 cents.  Here’s the blurb and the cover:

~ | ~

The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android
by Scott William Carter

It ain’t easy being a private investigator in a galaxy that spans thousand of worlds – especially when you make the mistake of putting your heart on the line. When an old flame of Dexter Duff’s shows up out of the blue, claiming her rich husband is missing, Duff has mixed feelings about getting involved. She’s willing to pay top dollar, though, and like usual, Duff is broke. The case turns even stranger when it turns out her husband, who was once an android, became a human for her sake through a costly and risky procedure – and then went back to being an android when she seemed happier with him the way he was before. Then he vanished without a trace.

Readers of this story may want to check out “The Bear Who Sang Opera,” another story featuring Dexter Duff, as well as other stories set in Carter’s Unity Worlds universe.

Available Now in Electronic Format:  Amazon | B&N | Smashwords

I’ve got a new story out in the latest Realms of Fantasy, “The Man Who Made No Mistakes,” which chronicles a black man with a unique time traveling ability who faces a wrenching ethical delimma.  It’s a longer story, approaching short novel length — a tale of race, murder, and the nature of sin, all wrapped into one.  It’s an idea I made a run at years ago but didn’t get quite right, and the idea stuck with me, so I made a fresh attempt at it.  It’s also accompanied by a stunning — and fitting — illustration by Billy Norrby.

The opening of the story is below.  You can subscribe to Realms of Fantasy or buy individual issues on their website.

The Man Who Made No Mistakes

Scott William Carter

It may have been the steady drone of the rain on the church roof, or it may have been the second bourbon he’d had with dinner, but Father Holder found himself dozing in the confessional.  His whole body was slumping against the heavy oak panels when the young man spoke.

“This won’t be your usual confession,” he said.

The voice jolted Father Holder awake — heart pounding, breath catching in his throat.  For a moment, looking through the thick gray mesh, he thought he’d dreamed the voice, that it was a fabrication concocted from a stomach full of beef stroganoff — but then the young man opened his eyes and Father Holder saw the bright whites, luminescent almost, surrounding a pair of penetrating dark pupils.  That’s when he realized the reason he was having trouble seeing his confessor was because the young man had skin nearly as black as the darkness.

“Oh my,” Father Holder said with a nervous laugh.  His heart was still thundering in his ears.  He also had an embarrassing line of slobber on his cheek, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.  “You do know how to make an entrance, son.”

“Sorry,” the young man said.  “I didn’t know you were sleeping.”

He had just a tinge of a Southern accent, but of a particular variety — Cajun, maybe?  It was barely there, like a radio playing faintly in another room.  Whoever he was, he certainly wasn’t from around here.  Of course, that was true of just about everyone in Las Vegas.

“I wasn’t asleep,” Father Holder said, even as he blinked away the bleariness in his eyes.  “Just resting my eyes a little.  I was — what time is it anyway?”

“Late,” the young man said.  “Very late.  Midnight almost.”

“Ah,” Father Holder sighed, and he was going to say that he should have closed the church an hour ago, but then he would have to admit he’d been nodding off.  Instead he said:  “Well.  I do need to be getting home here soon.  You didn’t start by asking for my blessing, son.  Did you really come to make a confession?”  He felt vaguely guilty for the accusatory tone, but he knew it was because he was feeling defensive.

“Yes.  Of a kind.”

“Of a kind?”

“Well . . . I didn’t ask for your blessing, Father, because I don’t think I sinned.  I did something awful, I guess, but I can’t see how it’s a sin.  I don’t know.  Maybe you can tell me.  All I know is it wasn’t a mistake.  I don’t make mistakes.”

Father Holder chuckled.  The young man didn’t.

“I’m sorry,” Father Holder said.  “I assumed you were joking.”

“No.  I wouldn’t joke about this.”

“Hmm.”

“I just don’t make mistakes.  Even now, after everything, I can say it.  But maybe a mistake and a sin aren’t the same thing.  I guess that’s why I’m here.  That and to tell you my story — I want you to hear it.”

Continued . . .

It’s wet and drizzly and cool here in Oregon’s Willamette Valley — in other words, perfect reading weather.  I’ve posted the prologue and first chapter of my latest fantasy, A Tale of Two Giants, over at the Rymadoon site.  If it’s wet and drizzly and cool where you are (or even if it’s not, I suppose), I hope you take a few minutes and read it.

What is the Rymadoon site?  Well, since much of what I write is not really appropriate for younger readers, I wanted an easy way to help kids (and parents, too, I suppose) know which of my books they might find interesting.  Of course — and this is directed at you, young Johnny — you are perfectly capable of making up your own mind about what you want to read, and I certainly won’t stand in your way.  But then I can say I did my part in helping to protect the innocence of youth.  Think of it as a Surgeon’s General Warning.

(Part of this might stem from the fact that I’ve already gotten a fair amount of criticism from some quarters claiming that my first novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, full as it is of inappropriate stuff, is corrupting young minds all over the world.  So far, however, there hasn’t been quite enough of this criticism to drum up any book burnings or even a school library expulsion or two, but a writer can dream.  Believe me, nothing would please me more than to know my book had been banned.)

Anyway, I’ll be adding to the Rymadoon site from time to time, both with books set in Rymadoon and other books for kids.  And what is Rymadoon, you say?  Well, I actually wrote a poem about it, which I put at the beginning of every book set there:

THE LOST LANDS OF RYMADOON

Fellow traveler, have you ever journeyed to the Lost Lands of Rymadoon?
Have you ever been to Morfen Sley or Ilia or the caverns of Mana Thune?
Have you ever been to Nogero or Willow Isle or the deserts of Giant Bone?
Or perhaps, like others, you’ve discovered a Lost Land all on your own.

Dear traveler, you must be warned of what awaits you in a world like Rymadoon.
There are towering peaks and deep chasms and great cities that now lay in ruin.
There are slumbering dragons and hungry giants and soldiers who never die.
There are even places in the Lost Lands where you never have to say goodbye.

Oh traveler, I fear this will not be your last sojourn to the world with the shadow moon.
I fear you will plunge into a hole or creep through a cave or sing an enchanted tune.
I fear, like me, you will find your way back here, not eventually, not someday, but soon
For no warning or caution or even a rhyme can stop you from returning – to Rymadoon!

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my latest novel, a fantasy aimed at younger readers (or the young at heart) called A Tale of Two Giants.  It’s set in Rymadoon, the same world where I’ve set Drawing a Dark Way, though this one is in a different Lost Land — Mana Thune.  (I’ve deliberately set up Rymadoon so there’s lots of stories possible, some of which will be connected, others which will exist more independently.)

Right now, it’s only available as an ebook, but the paperback will follow from Flying Raven Press in a couple of months.

Here’s more about the book:

You don’t have to be tall to be a giant.

They meet on a rainy night, penniless and alone, both of them without a friend in the world. He’s a disgraced, down-on-his luck giant, short for his kind, banished forever from his tribe. He just wants to be left alone — and pity the poor person who annoys him.

She’s a stubborn human girl whose mother has been kidnapped by a evil dictator — and she’s determined to get her back. No matter how long it takes. No matter who gets in her way.

Together they take on an empire.

*****

Grade 4-9; In this intriguing fantasy about two outcasts on a remarkable journey, Carter offers up a riveting adventure that should appeal to fans of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series or Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books. Although this book stands on its own, readers may want also want to try Carter’s first foray into his Lost Lands of Rymadoon series, Drawing a Dark Way.

Buy the ebook today:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Smashwords

It’s a little early for Halloween, but if you’re in the mood for a ghost story I’ve got a collection that might be up your alley.  Flying Raven Press has just released a collection of five stories by me — four all-new tales and one reprint — that’s available in all the major electronic formats.  The blurb from the sites, as well as links where you can purchase it, are below.

Equal parts riveting and stirring, Carter takes a staple of campfires and rainy nights – the ghost story – into surprising new territory in this collection. No gore or gratuitous splatter here – these tales are meant to raise the hairs on the back of the neck and leave the reader feeling quietly discomfited hours after reading.

On a dark night in the Virginia woods, a boy encounters a former slave protecting the Confederate sword of Robert E. Lee in the spellbinding “The Sword of Surrender.” In “All My Invisible Friends,” a grieving child psychologist who’s lost his way finds meaning again with an assist from an invisible friend. An old amusement park called “The Enchanted Grove” helps the parents of children who died tragically find closure – but maybe not for everyone. In “The Easel,” a man on an evening walk buys an old drawing easel at a garage sale and soon discovers it has a secret power. And finally, a recently divorced reporter randomly picks a town to start over with his life and happens upon a “Stone Creek Station” in the woods where no train has a right to be.

Moody. Atmospheric. Provocative. These five tales have all the makings of good ghost stories with a touch of strange thrown in for good measure.

Available Now:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes |  Smashwords