Welcome!

Saturday morning, 8:17 am

I just finished uploading my novel "The Missionary and the Brute" to CreateSpace's FTP server. In a few days I will receive a proof to view and a few days after that, it will be available for purchase on Amazon.com and other retailers, maybe even in a few bookstores hither and yon. I traditionally have recoiled against self-publishing, because in the context of my past experiences it implied something quite different, something more desperate than what it has evolved into.

This has truly been an interesting process for me, both in the writing and the ego-levelling realization that this book would by its very nature have to go market in a different way than did my previous work. I was truly blessed to have circumstances fall in place so effortlessly for my first two books and all the little films I worked on.

For "The Hand Behind the Mouse: an intimate biography of Ub Iwerks" (Disney Editions, 2001), Roy Disney himself was behind our project from the start (thanks to Leslie Iwerks' connections there) so we didn't have the whole sales process with which to contend. Prior to joining up with Leslie, I was looking at publishing through a South Dakota University Press - which actually would have been fine too.

Plus, the incredibly generous Leonard Maltin - a nicer human being you will never meet - was an early supporter, so we had that going for us.

"Bungee Jumping & Cocoons" was essentially a work for hire - and perhaps the easiest writing/editing/publishing process I have thus encountered. A simple book perhaps and fun, but I knew that my passions ultimately would take me somewhere else - to fiction.

I have a lot of stories a-simmering inside of me that can only be told in fiction form. I am excited to share the dark, complicated, disturbing tale that is "The Missionary and the Brute" with you and to hear what you think of it. It is certainly not for everyone - it is an adult transgressive tale with graphic imagery and complex thoughts. Think of it as Chuck Palahniuk meets Upton Sinclair in Africa. The form itself is challenging and not a little dangerous - but I truly believe it pays the reader back for their efforts.

This blog will be used in the coming weeks to discuss the process of writing "The Missionary and the Brute" and to share news and details of the characters, the settings, books that have influenced me, other works in progress and the business of publishing a work like this in a unique and fully modern way.

Thanks for reading!
J.