The Darkness You Fear is off to the publisher.

The Darkness You Fear: Ghosts of the Lost Blue Bucket Mine is done!

I think it's pretty good. I worked hard on it. It fits well with the first two Virginia Reed books. The cool thing is that the Lost Blue Bucket Mine is local Central Oregon lore. Nice to bring it home.

Virginia is only 18 at the end of the book, and it is only 1851, so plenty of room for more weird Westerns.

The cover is finished,

and I think it's pretty cool. I'm hoping the publisher can get this out in May or June, but it's up to him.


I'll probably be pro-active trying to get some reviews for it, because the publisher keeps emphasizing how important it is to him and I feel like I owe him that much. My own stuff, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Murders and Cyber Flash, I don' t do that with. I announce them and publish them and that's it, and as a result they really aren't going anywhere. I guess I'm doing it for the art.

I feel responsible to my publishers, though. And they do produce much better results.

Anyway, I'm really glad to have this done and that I'm  happy with the finished book. So satisfying.