Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy Damned New Year!

"They were all whooping it up, the optimism and booze flowing freely, awaiting the new year. I was nursing a beer, my back to the wall. I just wanted to make sure the old one left."

That's the opening (maybe) from a story I'm writing, featuring my Montreal barfly/P.I. Thomas St. Cyr. I think it's going to be called "A World in White," and it's part of my nefarious master plan for 2011 to get some fiction published.

So, okay, you caught me.

You've all been had.

In the tradition of egomaniacs everywhere, The Thrilling Detective Web Site is actually just a hollow shill; all this time it's been a blast of blatant self-promotion disguised as a reference site, a bogus marketing scam to plug my so-far unpublished (and possibly unpublishable) stories featuring Montreal barfly and off-the-books private eye Thomas St. Cyr...

Given that the site's been around since 1998 or so and this is the first time I think I've ever mentioned St. Cyr in these pages, I figure I oughtta get some sort of long con award.

But the plan is that, in 2011, I will get a few stories, including a few featuring St. Cyr, published. It's been too fucking long since I've had any fiction published. And publicly outting myself like this -- something I'm still queasy about -- may be the only way to get myself off my ass and finally do it.

Some of the stories are in progress; a depressingly large number of stuff just need final tweaking. And self-confidence.

So here I am, out of the closet and hanging in the breeze, just another wannabe writer throwing himself over the falls. Sigh...

What's on tap tonight?

The in-laws in Palmdale, California, and a few bottles of Maudite from a brewery in my hometown 3000 miles away in Quebec. Maudite is French for "damned," more or less.

Tomorrow?

The world.

Bonne année.

7 Comments:

Blogger Guillaume said...

Happy New Year from a Quebecker expat in England!

And I hope it gets published, it is about time we get some crime fiction published set in Montreal and with a Quebec PI! I need to start writing too, as I also have some story ideas about a Quebec PI (mine would actually be, believe it or not, an Anglo Quebecker).

On a side note, the Maudite is the beer of my late teenage/early adulthood and the cause of many drunken nights. Lovely to drink it during wintertime, since it refers to the Chasse-Gallerie, our own Christmastime legend.

4:16 PM, December 31, 2010  
Blogger Terrill Lee Lankford said...

Bring it on, man!

(And HDNY right back at you!)

4:25 PM, December 31, 2010  
Blogger J. Kingston Pierce said...

Given your usually spirited writing style, I suspect your fiction will be a most welcome addition to what's already available in the short-story line.

Happy damn New Year yourself, my friend,
Jeff

5:32 PM, December 31, 2010  
Anonymous Fred Zackel said...

Go for it! Best wishes ... and I am looking forward to your work! Most importantly ... enjoy.

7:20 AM, January 02, 2011  
Anonymous Keith Logan said...

Yes! 2011 is already looking better with the prospect of more of your fiction. It's about damn time, dude.

So here's wishing you the best for the new year!

7:38 AM, January 02, 2011  
Blogger Kevin Burton Smith said...

Oh, damn, now I've stepped on it... Looks like I'm going to have to do it, after all.

Thanks, guys.

8:29 AM, January 02, 2011  
Blogger Karen Woodward said...

I hope you publish the story once it's written. Judging from the opening, I'd love to read it.

5:38 PM, January 02, 2011  

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