Blog Name

My blog is named THE VASE. Obviously I named it after my second novel The Vase. I began this blog calling it The Swamp. But I wanted to name it after my first published  book, and for a while my first published book was going to be The Vase.

But things change. The Vase was not published first, Killer of Killers was. And that was fitting, since Killer of Killers was the first book I wrote. I won't rehash the details, but what if my blog did get named Killer of Killers after my first published book?

I would have this as the photo header:

 

And obviously, that would stand, because it's a great photo of the cover of my book.
And I'd have to change all the text that accompanies the title. Instead of introducing the characters in The Vase, like I do above, I'd be listing the characters in KOK.

Starting with the world's greatest martial artist, Trent Smith. And his love interest Samantha Jones. Then there's Shoji and Yoshiko Wada, Susie Quinn, Abraham Soriah, Charles Morgan, and Samantha's brother, Josh Jones. I'd have to put in a couple sentences about each one, like I did for The Vase above.

But for some reason I won't do that. I think leaving this as The Vase is good and the characters above work well. Doesn't mean I won't change my mind in the future. Especially since I have actors pegged already for most of the parts. Just Susie Quinn's actress eludes me. One day I'll figure that out. One day soon.

Wake Up Time, Dormancy Over

Sorry about the blog being dormant the last few weeks. It's because I was feeling guilty about always saying that I was going to submit the second edition of Killer of Killers, but then I didn't do it, always finding more and more to revise. On one side of the coin, that's a good thing, that I wasn't rushing it, that I was taking my time to make sure it was just right. But on the other side of the coin, how much can one take when the delays keep happening, the days turn into weeks, and the weeks turn into months?

Okay, having said all that, and all of it valid, it's done, now. I sent it last night, and Nancy, the publisher at Melange has already answered that she has it, and it will be released soon after December 1st, which is only a couple weeks away.

But she also inferred that she wants to eliminate the "header page" if I understood her correctly. She said that those pages should not be there. I asked for clarification to be sure it's what she meant. And if it is what she meant, then I don't know why she said that. Penumbra Publishing has that header page in there, too. I know that because The Vase just got published by them, and their format is almost the same as Melange's, with a header page containing the title and author name.

Meaning it has a "header page" dedicated to saying only: The Vase by Mark M. DeRobertis -- although it's not the very first page like with Melange books. It's the fifth page, after the blurb page, copyright page, acknowledgments page, and a blank page. Melange has the header page first and then the copyright page, blurb page and acknowledgments page.

So when Nancy answers with clarification, maybe I'll just request it to be in the order of like how Penumbra does it. We'll see how that goes. I'll be posting again tomorrow. Things are back to normal now, so I should be back to daily posts again from now on.

Blurbs

As I mentioned yesterday, Melange Books puts a blurb on the back cover, and I guess that is usual. But they also put a short teaser blurb at the beginning of the book, but not always. Nancy said that's an optional thing and leaves it up to the author, since the author is the one who writes the blurb.

I didn't bother posting the blurb yesterday so here it is. The short teaser blurb in the beginning of the book will read like this:

He was the world’s greatest martial artist – a master of the world's deadliest art. Once revered, he became feared, and for that he blamed his homeland. America was no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. It had become the land of murder and the home of corruption. But for a man like Trent Smith – it was the perfect hunting ground.

And on the back cover, the blurb will read like this:

Biochemists have invented a drug that cures all disease and stops aging, but a New York industrialist has kept it secret for a specific purpose. He wants to form an exclusive fraternity of immortal supermen, all of whom are beholden to him. Only one thing puts a kink in his plan – the drug’s side effects, which include wild surges of increased sexuality and unpredictable flares of homicidal rage.

Trent Smith has trained in Japan for over twenty years and he has his own agenda. He vows to avenge the innocents slain by the ever-growing number of American celebrities who murder with impunity. But when a dying scientist gives him the only copy of the secret formula, he must decide if the miraculous benefit is worth the toll it takes on the prodigious people who use it and their credulous victims who don’t.

KILLER OF KILLERS is an action-packed martial arts thriller that pits one man's quest for justice against the wonders of medical science. But wonders for some are horrors for others in a secret society ruled by greed, malice, and a singular objective to attain eternal youth.

Okay, it looks like the release of KILLER OF KILLERS is on schedule. Stay tuned.