Cannibal Hearts

Cannibal Hearts–Click for the Amazon site.

Well, this is it.

It’s been over a year now, and Cannibal Hearts is now available for purchase.   I just have the Kindle version available now–I will have a print edition, but not right away.

I’m looking at this as a soft launch.  There are people who read this blog who have been waiting for it, so here it is.  I’m not going to try to do any major marketing until I’ve got Fauxpocalypse wrapped up and released.

Of course, if anyone out there wants to reblog or link to this, I would be grateful.  I do want to reach as many fans of the original book as possible–I’m just not going to put a lot of effort into catching new readers.

I’m listing it at $2.99, which I do think is fair.  It’s a good book, honestly.  I think anyone who liked the first one will like this one.  MzSusanB says it’s a stronger novel than the first one, and I respect her opinion.

It’s the best book that I can make it.

I realize though, that it’s not the best book that it could be.  I ran into this same feeling when I wrapped up Catskinner’s Book.   I’m just as not as good a writer as I wish I was.

There’s a line in Samuel Delany’s Dhalgren where the main character cries out, “I don’t think they make poets as great as I want to be!” 

That’s me.  My dreams of being a writer don’t revolve around anything as innocent as wealth or fame.  I want power.

I want to be able to put words down on a page that will reach through your skin and touch your soul.  I want to speak the Deplorable Word like Jadris in The Magician’s Nephew and render worlds into dust.

I’m better than I was a year ago.  Cannibal Hearts is a better novel than Catskinner’s Book. I’ve learned a lot about my craft over the past year.

I am painfully aware of how much I still have to learn, however.  This book is better than my first one, but it’s not as good as the book that I’ll write next, and that makes me very sad.  I learn by doing, and that means that by the time I finish a project I have learned enough in the process to see where it could be better.

Still, I have made the decision to release it as it is, and not to keep reworking it.  I already find myself turning over bits and pieces of James’ world for use in The Worms Of Heaven.  That one is going to get written, I am pretty sure.  I can see it on the horizon like a summer storm.

But not right now.  Right now I am going to concentrate of making Bold Fortune Press a real company and making Fauxpocalypse the best book I can make it.

And maybe I’ll even take some time off.  Hey, it could happen.