I'll say this, we might not have caught everything--hopefully the major typos and glaring edits have been scooped up and tossed away for good, but the book looks and reads amazing. Its flow is exactly as it should have been so long ago.
Much like A Company of Moors
, this book too is a release. The core 4 are in effect. I feel like we're getting to the real stuff when it comes to the stories I want to tell, and the pretentious 'deeper meanings' I want to showcase. This go around for 12 Stories didn't leave me as exhausted as when I originally wrote the book between '05 and '06. I didn't have to compose original stories, convert stories from finished and unfinished screenplays, short films, or re-work old short stories and characters and themes. There was just the edit. At first, it seemed daunting, especially when I hit the first story. I tried to edit it from an actual copy of the book. That didn't go well at all. I had to go back into the actual document and damn near re-write the story. Did that for all of them. When the flow of the stories were intelligible and readable, and all the upfront angry, nigger-militant tone and voice was [somewhat] removed, the stories became tolerable, even from my point-of-view.But, I was never really bogged down with having literary-schizophrenia. When I first wrote these stories, putting them together within this compilation, there was no time to pause or sleep. And I wrote loooong hours into the night and early morning, only to rest and jump 'write' back into it. Then I edited. That also doesn't include the eight other stories I wrote that didn't make the cut, or the stories I composed as outlines and notes that I spent time on, but did not pursue. Some of those stories will make their way into other works. Then came editing, which we all know, with my tired eyes, and just me, didn't do all that well. That goodness for little-to-no promotion.
The next release up should come between October and December of this year . 2 Enlighten the G.O.D.Z.
[EDIT: I am well aware that the teasers say 'August'. Everything has been pushed back because 12 Stories did not come in February, but April]
All elements for Ray Cosico to use for a cover have been in his hands for a while. We talked on the phone a couple times just recently. Ray should have a rough draft within a month or two (or three). I'll probably a couple more glances at the interior before deciding that it is in its final phase. Of course, I will begin writing a new project (as I have spoken about, all the notes and things) come late April or mid-May.
Maybe even June 1st.
Again, like A Company of Moors
, I'm diggin' the fact I have some breathing time.Writing is always an adventure.
b write black
