I love writing fiction. It brings out my inner child. The story world of my books is a playground in my mind where my characters can run as fast as they can, jump far, fly if they need to, fall and skin their knees if they must, and end up heroes if I want them to. My characters go with me everywhere. They even invade my dreams at night.
Some of my characters have grown and aged with me. And some of them have remained children. Vree Erickson is a character who has been fifteen years old for several decades. She began as a character type: a young Nancy Drew and Robin Kane from the mystery books I read as a kid. (Okay, yes, that was a long time ago.) And though she stayed 15 over the years, her mysteries became supernatural events, and her personality was similar to what I saw in the character Sam Winchester in the television series Supernatural: smart and optimistic.
But I and a few of my friends ever knew this. That’s because I’ve only published a handful of Vree’s stories. Some of them appeared a bazillion years ago at my website. Some at my blog in 2011. And some from 2013 to 2016 at Amazon before I “unpublished” them, though one or two stories still exist at Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. Which brings me to the heart of this post.
I love writing stories. Unfortunately for my readers (if any still exist), I do not like publishing them. Self-publishing is arduous work. And it’s time consuming. Which is why I created that long-ago website and posted my stories there. I know HTML, so it was easy. But then, along came the brand-new e-reader and my friends said, “Hey, Steve, you should publish at Amazon and Barnes and Noble so we can read your stories that way.” So, I did, taking the plunge in January 2013. And even though I spent most of 2012 learning all I could about e-publishing, I made many mistakes that first year. (Actually, I think I spent my entire publishing time of 2013 to 2016 learning from my mistakes.) It was my first rodeo, but I held on and learned how to tame the beast as best I could.
Mind you, I’m referring to creating ebooks. Self-publishing paperbacks and hard covers is a whole different beast. But one thing they all have in common is they need covers. And that’s where the artist in me shines. Pardon me for tooting my own horn, but I love creating my own book covers. And though I kept it simple in those early years, my work has become more sophisticated.
Which is why I’m delighted with publishing again the books of 2013 to 2016.
As much as I wanted to leave the original text alone, the editor in me couldn’t resist fixing things. Some of those fixes changed the original publications entirely, so I’m calling each book an “Author’s Definitive Edition.” And because the ebook venture began ten years ago, each book is a celebration of its ten-year anniversary. I did, however, keep my longer author name, Steven L Campbell.
My stories about Vree Erickson begin with “Night of the Hell Hounds.” This book supersedes all other hell hound/hellhound stories written by me. It’s the first book of the six-book Green Crystal series. And it’s a short story with a continuing storyline that I call “A Ridgewood Chronicles Fantasy.” Ridgewood is the town where Vree lives at, which makes all the books in the series “Rural Fantasy.”
The second book is “Trespassers,” followed by “I I I,” “The Curse,” “Mean Time,” and “Luminary.” “Night of the Hell Hounds” is available now at Amazon at the never-changing U.S. currency price of 99 cents. (I’ve never been successful at making my books perma-free at Amazon—they’re so tight-fisted about profits.) Here’s the link: www.amazon.com/dp/B00AY2K1H6. “Trespassers” will be available tomorrow (if not sooner) for another 99 cents, followed by the other books until (hopefully) I publish “Luminary” in December. (And hopefully, I publish my first paperback. More about that later.)
Meanwhile, I’ll keep you posted about this venture between writing, editing, publishing, and getting all the information correct at the Amazon sites.
Before I close, I wish all my readers a good new year. I hope you’ll stay healthy during these continuing troubled times. And I hope you’ll read my books. Or, if fantasy isn’t your thing, recommend them to people who like rural fantasy.
That’s all for now. Peace and love.
Steve, 1/8/2023
This post “New Year, New Ideas, New Goals” copyright © 2023 Steven Leo Campbell at stevecampbellcreations.com – All rights reserved.
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