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So we had Horor Realm this past weekend.  It was an okay trip, didn’t sell much of anything at all but at least we paid for the table. Buying books did not seem to be on the list of things to do at this con so I came home with a bunch of books. I think, unless there are a ton of people that are planning to show up at Horror Realm next year we might skip it. It is a 9 hour drive after all. If we did go I don’t think I would get a table. Still we had fun while there but for now if the con isn’t within a 3 hour drive I can’t see us committing since I won’t have the vacation days anyhow.   If anyone is interested in a autographed copy of my novel about survivors that has zombies in it, “The Road to Landsford” let me know. $12 plus shipping and I’ll throw in some bonuses.

In case you are unaware I have this FREE web novel called “Bound Between” that I have been posting a new chapter every Monday on, well most Mondays. I have been looking for a great angel statue to take a picture of for this novel since I have started. It might not seem like it at the moment but they will have a role in the story, we had a glimpse of some in chapter 3, so I just needed to find a great picture. On the way to Pittsburgh there was a cemetery that caught my eye as we started going through Columbus, Ohio. We had missed the ramp and honestly I just wanted to get there without screwing around so we passed the location. On the way back we stopped.

The angel statue that I am talking about was huge and I took multiple shots. It wasn’t until we got h0me and I downloaded the images that I noticed something that neither myself or my wife had noticed while we were there. You will want to head on over to my Flikr page and  pay attention to the notes in the first 12 photos.

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You know I find it amusing that after all this time we had to get ready for this trip I am still working on things last minute. it wouldn’t be so bad if I was just selling my novel but since we have some leather crafts we are going to try and sell, the ibracelets for those who have seen me post on Twitter, well of course I am still working on stuff. Have the smaple chapters printed out for Landsford and Bound Between. Author panel is on Saturday, not sure what I am reading yet. If you are in Pittsburgh come see me.

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In case you have missed it my FREE..that’s right..FREE web novel Bound Between is now being posted. Working on getting a new chapter posted every Monday. We are up to Chapter 3 with 4 coming in a few days. Reviews on it have been great with “What?” and “Who?” being the two most asked questions. Things will eventually become clearer.

So if you are interested…head on over to http://boundbetween.com and have a read.

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Starting tomorrow the web novel I am writing, Bound Between, while start to become available. I’ll be posting a chapter each Monday, well that is the plan at least, at http://boundbetween.com

This story starts off in 1870 but it is not a Western. Some of it might be but the story will span quite a few decades. Here is the synopsis for it.

Life. Death. Afterlife.

These are the stages that every living being must travel. Life can be manipulated or repeated. Death can be forced or postponed. The Afterlife, well it  everything most believe and it comes as quite a shock to those who did not believe.

Ezekiel Polk was one of those disbelievers. He had lost his faith the day he lost his wife. Revenge was the only thing he had left after that day. Ezekiel would get his revenge, but it would come at a heavy price, he was more than willing to accept it. That was, until he woke up again in a place known as Grayton.

This place shouldn’t have existed, but despite that he finds himself there. He had heard of these beings of mercy before but did not believe in them. Coming face to face with them almost cost him his sanity as he was forced to choose a side. Most would never believe that angels lie but those people have never had to meet with a recruiter and choose a side.

War was what he knew. This war was different from any he had fought in the past. In this war, there was no such thing as natural death.

If that sounds interesting to you then head on over to that site and check it out starting tomorrow.
Sportster Update.

Got the rear wheel lined up correctly after a bunch of tweaking. The rear brake rode was tightened more than it needed to be which was part of the problem. Finally got that fixed and the chain is nice and tight again.

Working on a leather peice for the center of the tank to cover that hole where the tanks oare connected. It is nothing special, just dyed black leather with some brown lacing on the side but it will look better than nothing. Over the winter I am going to do another piece that will be the permeant piece.

Another thing that I found out last week. The Fat Bob tank that is on the bike isn’t especially made for this bike. Seems the way they mounted it has the tank angled a little high even though you don’t notice it.

On the way to the store the other day it sputtered and I had to switch to the reserve tank. First time I have had it this low so I figured I had at least the miles worth of gas in it to get back to the gas station….I was wrong. Ran out and pushed it to the station. Half of that was downhill so not a big thing but after it filled it didn’t want to start. The battery didnt have a full enough charge for more than a few tries so it eventually died and I could get it to kick so decided to push it the remaining half mile home. Heat index was 102, had jeans and boots on. It was all good until that last block that was uphill. Lesson learned lol.

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Well I hope everyone has a great 4th of July. Here’s to no rain and a big dose of throwing food on the grill!

Last week we went down to St Louis for Con-tamination and had a great time. Sold some books as well even. The toe tag business cards that I made up where a huge hit and they disappeared any time they were out. Meet up with a friend of mine that I haven’t seen since the early 90′s which was pretty cool. Since we took a few I added them to my Flickr account. You can see them by heading over here.

Looking forward to going to the con again next year but next up is Horror Realm in Pittsburg. We didn’t get a chance to go there last year but can’t wait to return this year.

Starting on a new novel this week, well outlining then starting. More information on that will come up as I go so check back here or on Twitter for updates.

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Hunt Thru The Night is a story I wrote last year that was inspired by a Coast To Coast AM a show that I listen to on occasion. This was also the first time I tried to do some sound editing with background effects.

Through the course of 30 minutes we travel with the host of a late might radio show as he talks to people across the nation. There is something going on in the nation on this night and with each call the unbelievable pieces start to come together.

Hunt Thru The Night

The Cast
Ted Hunt- Brad ZIpprich
Phil- Casey from SciFi Surplus @CaseyShultz
Karen- Melissa from Girl of Mayhem @girlofmayhem
Steve- Darryl Pierce, McPeirce from A Little Dead Podcast @mcpeirce
Kevin- Scott from Disney Indiana @vz9p57
Robin- Tracy from Disney Indiana @Politzania
Brian- Vince from SciFi Surplus @SFS_Vince
Dr Margret Syler- Amy @BabyGirlMinxie
Soldier-Jesse The Marine @Aztec0311
Roger- Justin Lowemaster @Chivalrybean
Paul-T. Patrick Rooney @Unoshato

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This is my official statement that my novel, “The Road To Landsford” is now available for purchase. I know what some of you might be thinking, yes  have been somewhat pimping this on Twitter lately and I mentioned it the other week here. While all this is true I did say I would be making another post about it so here it is.

Landsford was initially written during the month of November in 2008 for NaNoWriMo and is the prequel for my short story “The Children of Landsford Towers” that appeared in the anthology Zombology: A Zombie Anthology. So in case you haven’t read that story…you should get the book since there are some great ones in there…here is a brief description of Children.

Children takes place roughly 50 years after the uprising happens and deals with an Elder talking to a group of children about the old days. Jake, the elder recounts his vacation to the Bahamas and the children are taken back by what a ocean might be let alone flying in plane. They have lived a life that forced them to stay in the towers left standing in the town of Landsford. The ground below them was controlled by the walkers.

After I wrote that story I wanted to do more and decided to start at the beginning. Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have gone all the way back to the beginning though but I did. In Road you meet Jake when he was 15 and a few other people. I like the way the story turns out but there needs to be more and I just haven’t decided where to go with it yet.

Depending on the response from readers there might be a sequel and if there is it will take place 10 to 15 years after Road and will be entitled The Rise of Landsford. The book after that would be another 10 to 15 years and hasn’t been titled yet. The last book would take place at the time of Children. It all depends if people want to read more. If not I have plenty of other things I want to write but I hope people enjoy it. It’s a zombie book yes but it is more of a people book.

This weekend, June 24 to 26 I will be at Con-tamination in St Louis. If you are in the area come on out, the con is a blast. I’ll be in the dealers room selling books with a table right next to Robert R Best author of Lakewood Memorial, Ashton Memorial and a few other things. Look us up and get some books while you are there why don’t you?

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At 8:03 pm, Friday June 10th my stepdaughter delivered her son DeBryce Daniel Gales, 8lbs 9oz. 20 inches,  as a result I am now old. Tracy left for Virginia to help her out for a week. I would have liked to go but money, vacation time and just sitting in their house for a week didn’t work. Plane tickets are stupid expensive anymore in case you haven’t noticed. Anyhow here is DeBryce Daniel Gales throwing up a gang sign.

Because of this recent addition I have started looking for rocking chairs. Why? Well I need something to sit in when I yell at the neighborhood kids to get off my lawn. Might be good if I need to tell the woodchucks to stop chucking my wood.

Onto other news…got this in the mail this week.

The Road To Landsford is available, no seriously just hit this link and head to Amazon. More on this book in a day or two.

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I have been waiting for this book to come out for a very very long time. Finally the time is here. The story I wrote for this one, “Tattooed Sweet” is one of the first stories the creeped me out while I was writing it.

Tell you what, how about a sneak peek at that story? Sound good? Well first let me give you the table of contents for this book. 95% sure this is still correct.

Tom Hamilton – The Adversary

Mark M. Johnson – Mouser

T. Patrick Rooney – Alister Somerby

Derek Goodman – A Dance by Way of the Razor

Myrrym Davies – A Severe Disadvantage

John McCuaig – Ruby

Joel A. Sutherland – The Man Within the Beast

Jamie Eyberg – Undertow

Eric S. Brown – The Underneath

Doug Murano – Imitation of Life

Carey Burns – The Dark Ride

Patrick Rutigliano – The Grove

David Dunwoody – The New Curse

Brad Zipprich – Tattooed Sweets

Natalie L. Sin – Trouble by the Yard

Barry Napier – Notes on How it all Ended

John Grover – Projecting Evil

Jodi Lee – Thirsty

Dylan J. Morgan – The Passenger

Christopher Fulbright – Encounter on Old Temple Road

Sheri Gambino – Relik the Clown

David Chrisom – The Woods, Dark and Deep

Keith Gouveia – Dealing with Death

P.D. Hansen – Double Lupus

Now, here is your sneak peek of “Tattooed Sweets”

With a sigh, he reached out his hand and opened the door only to scarcely admire the hand painted artwork that adorned it’s door. As the door opened, the bell attached to the top of the door fought it’s way into the auditory blast that filled the room within. Music blared from the speakers mounted in the ceiling and assaulted his eardrums, causing him to wince slightly at the unexpected loudness. The young face that looked up from the reception desk at the sound of the bell acknowledged his presence with a grin while she reached across the desk to turn the music down to a softer level.

“Hi there, I’m Crystal” the young woman said as she got up and walked around to the front of the desk. “What can we do for you today?”

“I need to see about getting a tat done,” he replied as his eyes took in the deep blue coloring of the acrylic plugs that filled her stretched earlobes.

Well now, she is a cute one. Wonder what we would find if we tore those pigtails from her scalp and got a chance to see what’s underneath.

I said I would get it.

“So, you know what you want and want to set up an appointment then hun?” she says as she haphazardly takes a seat on the front of the desk and pulls an appointment book to her while casually pushing a pierced stud in and out of her lower lip.

Bet your trying to see what’s underneath that little black dress, aren’t you. You want us look for you?

Leave her alone!

Or you’ll do what to stop us? What if we want to do a little body modification on her, what if we just cut that pretty little…

Shut up and let me talk

“I’d like to get it done now,” impatient today aren’t you, don’t fret Sweets, we will leave her alone “have anyone available?”

That’s all for now, head on over to Amazon and buy the book! Don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon if you buy it.

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Saturday night was a night for hanging out in the garage and looking at
this new thing that my wife had bought me. I mean really I sat out in
the garage and looked it over for quite awhile while Tracy ran off and
did some things.What did I find? Well a bunch but I knew that when I started.

Most of the things are little cosmetic things. For one it is in bad need
of a cleaning. After testing out some Nevr Dull on a small section
things started to get a wee bit shiny.

The bike has a 5 gallon Fat Bob tank on it which isn’t stock for those
of you who don’t know. I’m not sure when it was added but it was at
least 5 or 10 years ago when the paint job was done. The paint job still
looks great except for one chip on the front fender. Not show good
though but it still looks nice.

Yep, this needs addressed.

Anyhow, the Fat Bob tanks are two separate tanks that attach together.
As a result there is a seem up the middle and an indention at the top
for the speedometer to go. On this particle tank is a speedometer
console that came from somewhere. Covering up the gap from the attached
tanks underneath is a hand cut piece of leather. To be more precise it
is leather from the previous owners first leather jacket. Yeah this area
is being addressed. I did order something off of eBay that I thought
might work but after further thought I’m not sure. Oh well, won’t know
until it arrives.

The old carb

Moving on to the carburetor. Here is the old leaking AMF carburetor that
is getting replaced with a new Mikuni on Thursday.

Twisted spokes on the front wheel

At some point not too long ago this bike got a new 21 inch front with
twisted spokes that look pretty sharp. Along with this rim it received
dual disk brakes from a 1978 to 1983 Big Twin or Sportster XL. Took me
about three minutes to figure this out once I plugged the numbers from
the calipers into the garage computer. The original front brakes on this
bike would have been drum brakes. The rear brake is still original
though. I am glad it has disk brakes in the front but they are very
tight. Upon removal I discovered they are extremely greasy so cleaning
that up and bleeding the brake lines possibly on Thursday.

Dirty and nasty aren't they?

That’s it for this update. Tomorrow I am working on it and might need to
setup a YouTube page to upload some video to when I fire it up.

The tombstone taillight

Miss Molly hanging out in the garage.