Author: Scott William Carter

New Garrison Gage book published: A Shroud of Tattered Sails

shroud_mediumresThe fourth Garrison Gage book, A Shroud of Tattered Sails, is now out in the world. I shared the cover and book description a month ago on this blog, so rather than repeat myself, I’ll just link to the book’s page, where you can follow the links to various retailers and also read the first chapter online if you are so inclined. While the paperback, Kindle, Nook, and Kobo versions are currently available, the iBooks version should be available within a week or so. A few people have asked about the audio book, and yes, I plan to have that produced as well, but it will be a few months yet. Check out the series page if you think you might have missed one of his adventures.

It was great fun returning to Gage’s world, and I feel so grateful that he’s picked up so many fans the last few years. After four books, it really does feel like visiting with family you don’t get to see all that often — the good kind of family, of course! Judging by some of the emails readers have sent me, it seems quite a few people feel the same way about him. It warms my heart, which, with the cold and rainy weather we’ve been having in Oregon lately, is definitely a good thing.

I’m knee deep into the third Myron Vale novel and hope to keep up the steady pace going into the new year. Oh, and Happy Holidays!

A Shroud of Tattered Sails – Cover and Description

Shroud_webcoverThat’s the cover for the upcoming Garrison Gage book, A Shroud of Tattered Sails, which is on target for a late December release. (Since I’m a pretty infrequent blogger, and only marginally better at social media, I always suggest signing up for my mailing list if you want to know right when my books are published.) You can click the image if you want to see a slightly bigger version. Might be a few last minute tweaks, but I’m pretty happy with it, so I doubt much will change. Here’s the book description, which will have to be enough to hold you until the book is out:

A beached sailboat. A missing man. A distraught woman staggering ashore. There to greet her—Garrison Gage, full-time curmudgeon and part-time private investigator, who quickly finds himself thrust into his familiar role of crusader for the desperate and downtrodden. The woman claims to have no memory, but is she lying?

When a body later washes ashore, the mystery deepens and the stakes ratchet up another notch. Dark money and even darker intentions. Violence both threatened and real. The woman may be at the heart of it all, or merely an innocent interloper who chose the wrong boat at the wrong time. Only Gage can discover the truth.

It was a lot of fun to return to Gage and his friends. They really are like family to me now, and I’ve been gratified that so many readers have felt the same. Hope to continue writing about his adventures for many years to come. Can’t promise to only write Gage books, of course, but I do hope to return to him at least once a year. Now that I’m back to getting two hours of writing in before I come to the university each day (rather than focusing that energy on graduate school, which I finished earlier this year), that should be quite doable while still allowing me to tackle other kinds of books.

Speaking of that, I’m already a couple chapters into the third Myron Vale book and having a blast.

 

Postcards from the Garage: Coos Bay, Oregon (and a bit of an update)

coosbay

The shot above was taken during a little getaway I took with the family during the July 4th weekend a couple months back. We stayed in the Charleston part of town, over on the southwest side, and that picture was taken when we stopped to rest during a short hike of the South Slough Estuary — a beautiful area. In fact, our house was minutes from three state parks, including the spectacular Cape Arago. A great trip.

It was a fun summer, even if was a bit on the hot side (an early June heat wave set the tone for the rest of the season). The kids stayed busy as usual, with various camps and activities, though we did manage a nice trip to Seattle, riding the Amtrak up there and spending a week bumming around the city doing different things. Kids are now back in school, the university is in full swing with fall term, and after some ups and downs this year that I won’t go into here, I’m back to getting up early and getting two hours in with the writing before heading off to the university. It’s a great balance, as the morning hours feed my need for solitary creative time while the job at the university forces me to engage with the world in ways that serve a completely different part of my personality. Could I write more books if I spent all of my time doing it?  Maybe, but I may not write at all if my mental health takes a turn for the worse. It’s a mistake that I’ve seen a lot of writers make, assuming that just because they have more hours in the day that they’re actually going to produce a lot more quality material.

I’ve also drastically cut down how much time I was spending online. It’s amazing how well-informed you can be even with twenty minutes a day if you really cut out what’s extraneous. I’ve also become pretty convinced, partly by reading  Dennis Palumbo’s excellent book, Writing from the Inside Out, that consumption/production of information or entertainment is something of a binary state. What I mean is, just as there is huge value in feeding our minds with information, there is just as much value in shutting off the information flow and letting our creativity fill the vacuum. In other words, as strange as this sounds, reading more is not always better. Disengaging, and disconnecting, can have tremendous value to both our productivity and our peace of mind — not just for writers, or artists, but for all human beings.

Anyway, it’s certainly done wonders for my own creativity and productivity. It’s not a new idea for me (heck, the name of this blog is Plugged/Unplugged, exactly because I’ve always believed there’s value in being disconnected from the Digital Hive Mind), but it is an idea that’s become more woven into my daily life.

The next Garrison Gage book is about 80% done.  Hopefully I’ll be back with more news regarding the book before too long.

Update on the Mailing List Contest and Progress on the Next Gage Book

hamiltonmountain

That shot is from a hike I took not too long ago on Hamilton Mountain, up in the Columbia Gorge area. A great day hike on a great day. Click the image for a larger version that does it a bit more justice.

For those of you who signed up for my mailing list before now, and are eligible for the contest, I will be sending out the prize-winning emails over the next week or so. I just download the list and will be doing some random drawings in the next few days. And if you haven’t signed up, please do so. I’ll be doing another round of prizes before too long, so it’s worth being on there.  I only email a handful of times a year and I will never share your email with others. Of course, the best reason is so you’re the first to know when my next book is released.

Speaking of that, I’m hard at work on the next Garrison Gage book (#4 for those of you counting at home), and my productivity is really ramping up, so the book is coming along nicely. With grad school in the rear view mirror, and the WR 450 course also finished (always hard to teach something for the first time, so I was working a lot of evenings and weekends), I have a bit more energy and time to devote to writing, and I intend to take full advantage of it. I usually get up early and write for two hours before coming into the university, but the work load finally reached a point where that was getting tough to do. As I’ve mentioned a number of times, I’m one of those rare writers that really does like his day job, more so each year as my career with the university has evolved, but on rare occasions the balance can get out of wack. I’ve got a better balance now.

It also shouldn’t be too long before I have a title and a cover to share for the next Gage book, but I’ll keep you all in suspense for now. That’s part of my job as a writer, you know. Keeping you in suspense.