Latest News

Neat Look Behind the Scenes of the Wooden Bones Cover

This is neat, and worth checking out: Edward Kinsella, the illustrator behind the cover of my book, WOODEN BONES, posted a behind-the-scene glimpse of how he came up with the design. He also had some kind words to say about the book — thanks Edward!  I can happily say I feel the same about his illustration, which really captured the spirit of the book. 

We’re still six months from publication, but there’s already a bit of buzz brewing about it, so we’re all hopeful it sells well.  In fact, some of the early sales news has been so encouraging that I’ve already started sketching out a sequel.  Now I just need Tim Burton to call and say he’d like to turn it into a movie and life will be about perfect.

The hardcover is already available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Powells. Pre-order it today to make sure you get a first edition.   At just over $10, it’s quite a bargain.

More about the book can be found on this page.

Also, remember that I have a website dedicated to just my books for younger readers at www.rymadoon.com.  Since I write books that aren’t appropriate for kids, too, I’m trying to make it easier for people to know which ones are targeted at a younger audience.

The Care and Feeding of Rubber Chickens: A Novel

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.

Lincoln and the Dragon Now Available as Audio Book

Flying Raven Press has just released the audio book version of  Lincoln and the Dragon, a short novel of just under 100 pages at print length.  It’s now available at Amazon.com, Audible.com, and iTunes.com.  Listening time is just under two hours.  Special thanks to Gary L Willprecht for his excellent narration.  Here’s more about the book:

The fateful first of January. That’s how Abraham Lincoln described New Year’s Day in 1841, the day he temporarily broke off his engagement with Mary Todd.

Although this fact is well known among historians, what is not known is what else happened that day – when a deranged, dimension-hopping descendant of a Confederate general attempted to assassinate Lincoln long before he became the 16th President of the United States.

When the madman’s plan goes awry, Lincoln finds himself stranded in the land of Howander, a world populated by brave knights, drafty castles, and a princess terribly scarred by a one-eyed dragon who’s promised to return for her on her upcoming birthday. As he finds himself falling for the princess, Lincoln must make a choice: stay and fight the dragon, or heed the call of his dark dreams, which offer him tantalizing glimpses of his native country’s future – a country which may need a hero even more than this one.

The Indie Writer’s Tool Kit: How to Sell Better and Make More Money

Well, the holidays came and went with the usual fanfare.  Lots of food, lots of gift wrapping, lots of good times.  And it’s raining a lot again here in the Willamette Valley.  Rainy and cold in January — no shock.  All the traditions continue.

I’m co-teaching a workshop in “indie publishing” with Dean Wesley Smith next month in Lincoln City, Oregon: “The Indie Writer’s Tool Kit: How to Sell Better and Make More Money,” February 25-28, basically from 7 p.m. on Friday until noon on Tuesday.  My own publishing company, Flying Raven Press, has added a nice secondary income to my life, and I know Dean is doing fantastically well with his own WMG Publishing.  Although I have no plans to abandon working with traditional publishing (Wooden Bones is coming out from Simon and Schuster this August), the opportunities to go direct to readers, and skip the middlemen, are incredible for writers today.  It’s given me tons of options I didn’t have two years ago.

Contact Dean if you’re interested in attending.

This is essentially a “level 2” for those who attended the Think Like a Publisher Workshop last year, or for people who already have the basics of publishing an ebook and POD and want help taking it to the next level.  Should be a lot of fun.  The full workshop description is below, and Dean also has a very good post about why we tweaked the title — and the writer vs. author mindset in general.

Preparing for this workshop has also clarified my thinking about how best to spend my time as a writer and a publisher.  It’s also lead me to what other people might find are some surprising conclusions.  I no longer have a Facebook or Twitter account, for example.  And I no longer feel a need to blog regularly (in fact, I think doing so can actually be counterproductive).  Though I think it’s more important than ever to maintain an informative and accurate website.  It’s amazing how many author websites fail that simple test.

I’ll be talking about all that and more next month.  There are lots of things a writer can do to sell better and make more money.

~|~

The Indie Writer’s Tool Kit: How to Sell Better and Make More Money

For writers who attended the Think Like a Publisher Workshop, or people who aready know the basics of publishing an ebook or POD, here’s a workshop to help you take your publishing enterprise to the next level. Learn the basics of writing effective book descriptions, techniques to make your covers look professional, how to use the Internet to promote (and how not to), and how to get your print books into independent bookstores. Audio books, author bios, loss leaders, pricing effectively, boosting productivity, website tools — all this and more is packed into four
intense days of learning. Includes in depth discussions about the current
state of publishing and the exciting opportunities that exist for writers.  Contact Dean Wesley Smith for more information.