ECLECTIC PROJECTS BLOG

I just did the Brain Jar Press newsletter and realised I’d put together four new releases across January: Exile, a new short story collection, a new chapbook in the Short Fiction Lab line, and the chapbook edition of The Seventeen Executions of Signore Don Vashta. Amid the chaos of January, some of these didn’t even get announced here on the blog, let alone get talked up on social media. Exile captured the lion’s share of my promotional energy, so I’m going to use this post to catch you all up on what’s being going on. THE LATEST: SHEDDING SKINS (Short Fiction Lab Chapbooks #5) A Brain Jar Press Short Fiction Lab chapbook story, Peter M. Ball’s Shedding Skin is a dark fantasy about snakes, old wounds, and isolation in the heat of the Queensland outback. Things haven’t been right with Mariah ever since the car accident, but Harley knows the problems were seeded long before they drove off the road. Things come to a head when they retreat to an old house in the outback to spend time together, far away from the bustle and watching eyes of worried friends and family. But things watch from the shadows beneath the house too, and Harley’s own reservations come to a head when they discover a snake in their midst… This one snuck out under the wire, launching on January 31st while I diligently focused everyone’s attention on Exile. Like all Short Fiction Lab releases, it started with an experiment—in this case, running an

As you may have surmised from the posts of the past few days, EXILE is out today. It also ends my first real experiment with a planned, structured series of content heading into the launch cycle. It’s been an experience, and one that I’m glad to have attempted, but I’m glad to be reaching the point where I start talking about other things. For the moment, you can grab your copy at the ‘zon of your choice. AMAZON US: Ebook | Print AMAZON AUS: Ebook AMAZON UK: Ebook |Print Working on Keith Murphy’s adventures again, getting a chance to flense and rework the language, has been a fantastic experience. Now my brain is already hip-deep in the sequel, Frost, which is coming out in a few weeks time, and looking ahead to the third book, Crusade.

…and I’m slightly geeked out about getting Exile out there. The Admiral, of course, is reacting to my excitement with her customary savoir faire. That said, it’s possible she hasn’t yet made the correlation between book sales and the ability to buy her crunchy food. Keep this in mind when you decide where to put your book-buying dollars this week: every time you purchase a copy of Exile, the Admiral gets her crunchy food 🙂 One of the great things about prepping this book for release and talking it up online? Kathleen Jennings linked to her original reaction tweets when she read the series, complete with watercolour sketches she put together at the time. Which in turn led me back to her write-up about the book over on her blog: You may think I broke my Regency streak with these two, but the main character reads Persuasion on stakeouts. Myth-heavy hardboiled Gold Coast pre-(assorted)-apocalyptic fantasy. It resonates with the parts of my mind where American Gods took up residence. Books read, things seen: April 2016, Kathleen Jennings And reminded me that I should probably mention some of the original reviews of the book that appeared over on the ‘zon And over on Goodreads, where chaps like writers Alan Baxter have said incredibly nice things about the book. Excellent noir yarn with well interwoven demonic and supernatural aspects. Really good worldbuilding and I’m keen to read the next one… Highly recommended. Alan Baxter over on Goodreads Folks do mention the editorial issues which plagued the book–and

The ebook files have all been uploaded and the print proofs have been approved, which means the re-release of Exile is on track for Wednesay. I talked about the secret emotions and work that hides behind the word “re-released” in relation to this book over on the twitters. I won’t repeat the entire thing here, but it starts with this tweet and everything is linked in an easy-to-follow thread: The short version, for those who prefer to avoid the twitter-beast, is that the re-release of Exile and its sequels involves revisiting work written just prior to being diagnosed with a sleep disorder, and therefore a chance to do the kind of rewrites and reshaping of the original text that a falling-asleep-at-the-keyboard Peter wasn’t able to do in 2013. For various personal reasons, I want this launch to go really well, so I’m investing a little more attention into it than my new releases normally get. For now, I’ll just mention that pre-orders are live for anyone wanting to get a copy delivered first thing on Wednesday morning: https://books2read.com/KeithMurphyEXILE