Slideshow

Showing posts with label fang face. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fang face. Show all posts

Sunday, March 28, 2010

New Stuff, Free Stuff and other Stuff


I've been Tweeting about it, so I have to blog it now. So much has been happening.

First of all, in order to push ebooks, my publisher has dropped the price of Fang Face on ebook to $2.99.

Personally, I've never bought an ebook, and I don't own a Kindle. I've always been partial to reading a regular book, spilling coffee on it, using important bits of paper as bookmarks.

I had to experiment a bit. First of all, I got on Amazon's site and found Fang Face. Yep, less than three bucks.

But like I said, I don't own a Kindle. How can I read a Kindle book without a Kindle?

No problem. If you look to the right where it says "Buy Now" there's a button that reads, "Available on your PC."

Really.

I clicked on this button and derned if they don't actually have an ebook reader that you can download for FREE. So I downloaded the reader. Then it said I can see a sample/preview of the book. Again for FREE.

So I clicked that button and next thing I know, I'm reading the beginning on ebook on a format that looks like the Kindle reader itself (I don't have one, but I know what they look like).

How cool is that? The whole thing took less than five minutes!!

Here's where it gets better.

Before I wrote the Adventures of Guy series, I wrote a non-fiction book composed of a series of humor essays. I called it, "The Guy'd Book ... why we leave the seat up and other stuff" and parts of it were published in the Chicago Tribune and Cynic Magazine (it made three of the 'Best of' issues). I used many of the same themes in my Adventures of Guy books.

A week ago, after getting excited about ebooks, I decided to put "The Guy'd Book" on Kindle. It took most of the day to format it, design a cover and work my way through Amazon's site, but I succeeded. And you can get "The Guy'd Book" on ebook for two bucks!

But I'm not done!

My publisher reverted the rights to two Adventures of Guy short stories back to me. They were published in the anthologies "Missing" and "The Heat of the Moment." But now they're mine again. And they can be yours ... for free!

Yesterday, I spent the entire day streamlining my entire website, and both of these stories can be downloaded FOR FREE from my site www.normcowie.com. If you've read my award-winning Adventures of Guy series, or if you've wondered about them, either revisit or get a taste by reading these stories.

Then, if that whetted your appetite ... there are two books available with the same wacky characters (eye wiggle).

So like I said, so much stuff going on.

I'm so aTwitter.

Norm

www.normcowie.com

Friday, January 8, 2010

Kind of embarrassing

I snuck ... sneaked? ... into Barnes and Nobles today.

Well, that's not exactly true. I went through the front door normally ... not utilizing any of the commando training I never received.

Anyway, I took a day off work today, and determined to work on WereWoof without any distractions. So I shut off my internet connection and went to Barnes and Noble. I went for two reasons,

1) I had a B&N gift card.
2) They have a Starbucks and I had a Starbucks gift card .. given to me by a reader, no less ... thanks, Alison.
3) I needed to get a certain book.

So I got a large, or whatever they call it .. Lentil? ... White Chocolate Mocha, revved up the laptop and got to work.

After banging out some words (I was feeling my muse, they were good words), it was time to go pick up my critter after school.

Now I had another errand to run. Harriet Klausner, Amazon's number one rated book reviewer (woo-hoo!), has agreed to review Fang Face.

The trouble is I had an author event at a school in December and they had ordered 100 copies of my book but didn't receive them in time for my visit. I loaned them all of my stock of books, but haven't had a chance to go up and retrieve the replacements.

That left me without a book to send.

So here I was in a Barnes and Noble.

They have books, right?

Yep.

They'll have Fang Face, right?

Well, maybe.

I haven't quite broken into B&N with the success I've enjoyed with Borders. But I'm trying. So with some trepidation, I went to the Young Adult section and - voila! - there were three copies of Fang Face.

I grabbed one and scurried down the escalator to the check out. There, the girl who waited on me looked at the book and said, "Oh, this looks like a great book. I have to check it out."

Um. What's one to say? Should I admit I'm buying my own book? Should I pretend I'm just a reader and tell her the book is fantastic .. which it is, so I wouldn't be lying.

What a conundrum.

And here's the worst part ...

... are you ready? ...

... I'm not going to tell you what I did.

Bwah, ha, ha!

Norm

http://www.normcowie.com

Monday, November 23, 2009

Where am I?

Wow, it's been ...like three weeks since my last blog.

Shame, shame.

(slap of wet noodle on wrist)

Well, there's a reason for my absentness (is this a word ... don't care ... call me Webster, I just make 'em up).

Anyway, I've been somewhat inspired by NaNoW...whatever it's called. That thing where writers try and write an entire novel in a single month.

Now I'm not that inspired... not nearly ... but I have gotten off my duff and been kind of creative with WereWoof, the followup story to FangFace.

And speaking of FangFace, I posted an excerpt of Fang Face on my monthly Pop Syndicate blog. Come check it out:

http://www.popsyndicate.com/books/story/fang_face_..._as_if_being_a_teenager_doesnt_suck_enough

I've also been busy setting up speaking events at schools. Seems like kids want to talk about vampires with wacky authors who aren't afraid of speaking in public.

See you and all that. I promise it won't be three weeks.

(more like two)

(shaddup, self!)

Norm

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Happy Hallopalooza!


Welcome scavengers!


You’re visiting the blogspot of humor author Norm Cowie, who just published his third book, Fang Face, a vampire young adult book.


Fang Face, is a lot like Twilight, and … well, no, it really isn’t.


The only thing they have in common is they take place in school and they have vampires. Otherwise, there’s none of the forbitten, er forbidden love, there’s a lot more fang and way, way more humor.


Bestselling author James Rollins said, “I loved this book, fangs and all.”


Check it out at http://fangface.homestead.com


Leave a comment on this blog along with your email address to enter a drawing for a free signed copy of Fang Face (signed by both me and the cover artist!)


Anyway, the commercial break is over. Back to your hunt:


***

Fang Place – post #18 http://fangplace.blogspot.com

Detective Fletcher Jones looked at her like she was some swamp creature who had crawled in the passenger side of his car and squatted on his upholstery.

"Rough night? Got to hand it to you, when you say you're going to do a little digging, you really mean digging."

It was almost dawn. She'd been unconscious longer than she'd thought. After she'd freed herself, she'd looked for the Bangkok Blue orchid. She'd found it and a large hole. The file was gone. Either she'd led the killer to it or he/she had taken it after killing Carla.

The police had checked the greenhouse for clues, but holes in a flowerbed didn't make the cut for unusual items.

Milla glanced down at her wet, muddy clothes. The floor of a greenhouse, no matter how expensive, was filthy. Her nails were broken and dirty from scratching around on the floor and in the flowerbed. Her clothes were ruined. Good thing she was staining Fletcher's car seats instead of her own.

"Fletcher, I want to re-interview Liza Barrymore and Sonya Reyes. And I'd like to do it at the police station, if you don't mind." She'd had her fill of playing nice with G. Winston Howard's guests.

"Liza Barrymore, the makeup artiste, no problem. The mayor's wife, well that could be messy." He chuckled, opening his glove box and handing her a package of wet-wipes.

"Sure, I'm game. The union will protect me from his Honor's wrath. But you're going to need to hose off first. We just got new furniture in the interrogation rooms."

"Swell." Milla grabbed her extra clothes from the trunk of her car and motioned for Fletcher to open up the trunk on his patrol car. She dropped her bag inside, noting the evidence sacks containing the costumes from the party. The killer's clothes were probably in there. "Let's go."

She glanced at Fletcher as they drove off the property. She still needed to mention to him that her attacker had taken her gun. He wasn't going to be happy.

Next Clue Location - http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

Monday, October 12, 2009

Pop!

Just thought I'd pop in here to drink a pop. No, pop a balloon. No, eat a Pop Tart. Be a pop.

Forget the pops!

Jeez.

(pop goes the weasel).

Shaddup!

(sigh)

-breathing hard-

Okay, sorry about that. I just dropped in ...

(cuz he's been ignoring his site lately)

I said, shaddup!

(sorry)

Anyway, I haven't posted in a bit ...

(you haven't been working on your book much, either)

I said, ...

(interrupts: I know, I know, shaddup).

Right. Thanks.

( - silence- )

Good. Anyway, here are a couple cool things going on. First, I contacted best sellers Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, co-authors of a Peter Pan series, and they are going to do an interview for my Pop Syndicate column.

(hah! another Pop)

Grrr....

(er, I mean, pretty cool)

Thanks.

And better than that, my official book release party is coming up! If you're anywhere near Chicagoland, come join author Kate Gingold and me at our combined book signing at Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore at 7419 W. Madison in Forest Park, Il. at 2:00. Ph 708-771-7243.

Wear costumes!

(or come naked)

Yeah, that's okay.

Norm

http://fangface.homestead.com

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Toothy Girl Scouts

"What's the difference between a girl and a boy," I asked the dozen bright eyed Girl Scouts on a Monday evening a couple days ago.

They started giggling.

"I mean," I continued, "besides the fact you go into different restrooms."

More giggling.

"Boy Scouts wouldn't schedule a meeting when Monday Night Football is on," I finished.

But it was cool. Really cool.

I was giving a presentation to a Girl Scout troop.

I lucked into because I just happened to be hanging around in a store they were having an Amazing Race in. A bunch of girls would burst through the doors, one would sit on one side of a small screen and another on the other. Then they had to match two dozen socks by description alone.

While watching, I thought, "hey, I need more coffee."

Oops, wrong thought. I mean, I thought it, but that's not the one relevant to this post. What I actually thought was, "hey, teenaged girls. That's my reading audience!"

Fang Face was still two months from release, but it wasn't too early to start drumming up opportunities.

So I asked the lady manning, er, womaning the sock match race who the kids were. She said they were Girl Scouts.

Huh, didn't recognize them without the cookies.

Anyway, I gave her my card, and asked her to let me know if they might be interested in an author coming out to meet with them. She took it, and said, "Sure, maybe."

A couple weeks later, I received an email, "remember me? I was running the Girl Scout Amazing Race.

Of course I remembered her.

Anyway, she went on to say that 100 Girl Scout leaders were going to have their last meeting of the year, and they would give me five minutes to make a pitch.

Five minutes? Hah, no problem. I talk at the speed of ten minutes per five minutes. In other words, I can fit ten minutes worth of talking into five minutes, with twenty seconds to spare.

So I did, and they liked it. Enough that they invited me to stick around the rest of the night and have some hamburgers with them, so any leaders that want to follow up could ask any more questions they might have.

A month later, I had my first Girl Scout gig. Troop # 418.

Did you know there is a writing badge? Me, neither.

It was cool. I got to listen as they said their pledge, and then I was on. For an hour i talked with them about writing, getting published, my own book and how to make what they write interesting and then I handed out some glow in the dark fangs.

Afterwards, almost all of them lined up to buy Fang Face and get their picture taken with me. They were, of course, wearing their fangs.

Awesome.

Hopefully later I can get my hands on the picture. In the meantime, um ... just try and imagine it.

And I need to look up the Boyscouts. After all, Fang Face is for both girls and boys.

Norm

http://fangface.homestead.com

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Fang Face is out! Funny vampire stuff!


Imagine being bitten by a vampire. Held in a trance, helpless as fangs slide into your neck.

Then the vampire burps.

That's kinda what you get when you read Fang Face, a vampire humor book for young adults.

"I loved this book, fangs and all." Best selling author James Rollins

"Fang Face made me laugh." James Bond author Raymond Benson

"This book sucks ... in a most delightful way. Don't miss this gem.." Shane Gericke, national bestselling author

It's out! Fang Face is out! Get yourself some fang!

Or buy one for your kid, your grandkid, your wife, mother, cousin, uncle, godson, father ...

It's mostly a teen book, but almost anyone can read it.

Here's where you can get your own biter book:

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Fang-Face-Norm-Cowie/dp/1590806204

Echelon/Quake (also on ebook!) - http://quakeme.com/direct/buy-nc-ff.htm

My website (autographed copies!) - http://fangface.homestead.com/orderinginfo.html

Norm

Friday, August 14, 2009

Christopher Moore on deck

Christopher Moore, most awesome writer of the splashfests "Lamb", "Fool", "You Suck" and "Bloodsucking Fiends" agreed to let me interview him for my September article for Pop Syndicate.

I'm so excited!

I mean, seriously, Christopher Moore.

Yep, you heard me ... Christopher ... freaking ... Moore.

One of the most creative comic geniuses to come up since Douglas Adams, mad inventor of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Who else in this entire world could write a funny and respectful book about Jesus Christ?

Amazing. If you haven't read "Lamb", you need to.

Anyway, he's been interviewed a lot, so it was a bit of a challenge to think of things he hasn't been asked before. A fun challenge, and I'm glad he took me up on my offer.

So stay tuned, and I'll give you the particulars later.

In the meantime, my new book Fang Face is just ten days away. But you can get it from Amazon now!

Right now!

Vampires, fun ... fangs ... and all that stuff you wished Twilight would have included. Get it here http://www.amazon.com/Fang-Face-Norm-Cowie/dp/1590806204)

Norm

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Why do I have to share the world with this lady?

I just had to do this post.

I was in a Lowes using up the rest of a gift card my daughter gave me ... a new outdoor thermometer and a new clematis if you're interested ... and there were two different lines in the nursery department.

Of course I went to the shorter line, cuz I'm normal ... though some might dispute this. When I got behind a lady with a cart full of dirt, plants and other stuff, she puffed a bit in exasperation. I checked, nope, my deodorant was still holding up, and thought nothing more of it.

After a couple minutes of moving at the rate of a rock, she abruptly went to the end of the other, longer line. As she went, she snorted, "I've been here forever.'

The guy in front of her grunted something, and then he followed her to the other line.

Fine by me. My line was moving pretty well, though not exactly in the traditional way. But from here, I could see the lady holding everything up. A short, fortyish lady was avidly talking on the cell phone plastered against her ear.

Then she got out of line, went to a plant display, and started looking at the plants, all the while talking. The Lowes checker watched helplessly.

After a few moment, and yakking the whole time, the lady picked out one of the plants, came back to the register, hauled her purse out, and ... still gabbing the whole time ... fished bills out of her wallet one handed, and dumped a bunch of change on the counter.

Taking her time, oblivious to the line behind her, she laboriously counted out the money one-handed, pausing once to ask, "How much again?"

After a few more tedious moments, she successfully finished up, and headed to the parking lot.

She'd only held me up for three minutes or so, so it was no great deal to me when she disappeared out of my view.

Soon after, my clematus and I were walking, well, I was walking ... the clematus was busy converting chlorophyll, and noticed the lady ahead of me. She was still barking into her phone, and I watched as she pushed her cart into an empty parking space. Then got in her car ... which was parked in a handicapped place ... and no, she didn't even have a handicap plate.

Then she slammed the door, revved her engine, and ripped through the parking lot, ignoring the lines which are painted on the ground for other people. I watched in fascination as she whipped into a space fifty yards away, got out of her car, and - still talking on the cell - went into the store next door.

Is it just me?

Norm

(get your own autographed pre-release copy now! http://fangface.homestead.com)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Fangs, teens and the caffeine stimulus plan


(pic: Tim Broderick watching out for tigers as I sell books in the background - chris V pic)

"There they are," my publisher Karen grinned as she pointed to four boxes of books sitting next to a larger stack.

With caffeinated alacrity, I slithered my way around and over other boxes, chairs, packing and other authors who were busily unpacking their books and setting up their displays in the Echelon Press tent at Printers Row. I know at least two grabbed at my butt as I went by ... kidding... I grabbed their butts ... kidding again ... or am I? You'll never know.

Fortunately, Karen must know about my propensity for paper cuts, because the tape had been conveniently removed from the boxes - there would be no bleeding today.

So like a kid on Christmas, one hand's eager trembling fingers fumbled through the packing paper - meanwhile the other balanced a full cup of Starbucks white chocolate mocha ... no cream, please ... and then ...

...there it was ...

Fang Face

Finally, woo-hoo!

Almost exactly a year after signing my contract, months of writes, re-writes, agonizing over title, cover art, blurbs, last minute prep to get the book ready three months before publication for Printers Row Lit Fest ... then sweating the next day delivery as the books were shipped to Chicago-land author Mary Welk's house ... and now, finally, it's in my hand.

As I beheld the slick book in my hands, I could hear heavenly angel's music ... actually an ambulance's siren on Congress Pkwy ... and I marveled at how similar it was to what I'd seen on my laptop for so many months, except it was more, way more. Three D perfection, except...

"Uh, Karen?"

Karen was busily setting up the cash register, "Huh?"

Then she saw what I was looking at. The font for best selling author James Rollin's blurb on the cover made it next to impossible to read. Yes, I said 'best selling author.' Three of them actually blurbed Fang Face.

"Oh, don't worry about that. It looked great when we set it up, but we'll fix it before the book actually comes out. These will be collector items."

Yeah, I like that ... a lot. I like the fact that there are a limited number that will be done one way because it truly does make them more unique.

I got busy and started setting up my area. I had a generous three feet of counter space for my books on the long table I would be sharing with mystery novelist Mary Welk, children's writer Christine Verstraete (thanks to Chris for the pics) and graphic novelist Tim Broderick.

So I fluffed up my feng shui and pulled out my displays, postcards and my Adventures of Guy books, which Karen had graciously offered to sell, especially considering they were products of my previous publisher.

There's so much that I could say about the two day event at Printers Row ... and this would be a long, long post if I discussed everyone I met, or hung with, but I'll mention a few.

Raymond Benson dropped by to say 'hi'. I couldn't wait to give him a copy of Fang Face in thanks for his having taken the time from his schedule to read the arc, and then think enough about it to write how much he enjoyed it. I'll send copies to Shane Gericke and James Rollins.

Tim Broderick was a selling maniac. Once he was done pitching someone on his book, he would guide them to me. I wish I had done as well of a job of cross-promoting as him and some of the other Echelon authors. I'll get better at it.

Rob Walker swung by, visiting from the deep south. He has over forty books, and before I'd ever published a book he and I had gone out to lunch a couple times to discuss writing, publishing and stuff.

Joe Konrath rushed by and threw, "Great book" over his shoulder. I think he was talking about mine. I ran into some other friends at the Mystery Writers tent, including Michael Black and Julie Hyzy.

Echelon's tent, besides those mentioned above included Bob Goldsborough, Marc Vun Kannon and son James, Luisa Buehler, Ophelia Julien, Margot Justes, Barb DeShong, Teresa Burrell (T's cool, even though she's an attorney), Sam Morton, Allan Ansorge, Martin Bartloff, an Amy Alessio sighting and... crap, am I forgetting anyone? If so, sorry.

When it came to selling the book, here's what's great:

(hold on a sec, need more coffee)

(okay, I'm back. what was I saying)

Oh, yeah, teens.

Fang Face was written for them. Vampire with none of the romantic angst of "Twilight" but with all of the humor of my Adventures of Guy series. And way more fangs.

And if you're an adult, no problem, Fang Face is like a Disney Pixar film. Fun for young and older alike.

If you'd like to check it out, and now you're kicking yourself for not driving, flying, biking all the way to Printers Row, I'm gonna tell ya' how you can get your hands on a pre-release, autographed, limited edition copy of Fang Face.

Just come visit me at www.fangface.homestead.com. I have to set up the PayPal page, but I'm hoping it will be ready today, if not in a day or two.

Meanwhile, get your 2010 calendar out, and mark "Printers Row" for June. No, I don't know the date, just block out the entire month so you don't miss it. And I'll see you there.

(more coffee)

Norm

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Sneak Peak to WereWoof

Here's a sneak peak to my work in progress.

Werewoof
By Norm Cowie


“C’mon, boy. Fetch!”
The absolute worst thing you could ever say to a werewolf.


“Beware of Dog.”

Someone had crossed off ‘dog,’ scrawling the word ‘wolf’ in crude letters.

The same person, or perhaps someone else, had scratched off the ‘a,’ replacing it with an ‘e’. So now it now read, “Bewere of Wolf.”

Trug ignored the sign and trotted past the dilapidated house guarding the path to the forest.

The temperature dropped as he crossed the forest’s outermost undergrowth and the noise and bustle of civilization grew muted. His sharp ears could still catch the sounds of humanity behind him, but his attention was on the far more interesting noises and movement of the woods.

He left the path and loped through the underbrush, ducking shrubs and leaping over downed trees. The wind whistled by his ears and the pungent smells of the woods brought a rich array of aromas he’d never encountered. Each scent was its own lavish bouquet, delivered on an olfactory platter that would put the best restaurants to shame.

Suddenly a small creek loomed ahead of him. Without breaking stride, he effortlessly bounded to the other bank.

He felt so free … kind of like doing the naked romp.

Mostly because he was naked.

Suddenly he spied a certain tree that cried ‘territorial marker.’

He spun to a stop, lifted a leg and shot some liquid on it.

That’s what guys do, right?

Something chomped him on the leg and he bit at it. He could smell flea but didn’t think he got the irritating critter.

Then there was a rustle in the leaves. He whipped around and his ears jumped to attention. His nose twitched, trying to pick up scent. Another new thing for him. He’d never felt his nose twitch, much less been able to see it without crossing his eyes. Weird.

Anyway, it was just the wind.

An errant leaf fluttered from an oak and in joyful abandon he leaped high into the air snatching it in his jaws and crunching it with canine glee.

The only thing that would be better would be if a dog, coyote or a wolf showed up. He imagined sniffing its butt. Oh, what wonders. What bliss! There was so much to be learned about the world if people would only realize that the message is in the butt.

Wait, another tree. It must be marked! He spit out the leaf, lifted his leg again and squirted a bit of juice on it.

Suddenly something broke from cover and darted through a bush.

He couldn’t see it very well, but his nose immediately put a name to the object.

A rabbit.

Trug’s golden eyes went wide and he thundered after it.


Chapter One

The vampire-trainee frowned in concentration and shifted his hands behind the girl’s neck. He opened his mouth and …

Got slapped on the back of the head.

“Idiot! It’s not a hunk of rawhide. You’ll bruise it if you just masticate it.”

“Masticate?”

“Chew, you moron. What do they teach you in schools, nowadays? Anyway, you must treat it like a very ripe fruit. Just let your fang slide into the jugular and let the fluid flow to you. We are not savages … like werewolves.” The last words were snarled.

The newly Undead obediently lowered his head to the exposed white neck. As he approached the juicy, throbbing vein, a pool of drool leaked from his mouth onto the pearl skin. He braced himself for another head slap.

Instead, the captive girl began weakly struggling.

“You’re losing her,” the Master said. “Get your glamour back.”

“My what?”

Another slap, “Your glamour!”

“Oh, that hypnotizing thingy?”

The old vampire sighed. “Yes, that ‘hypnotizing thingy.”

He thought ruefully that young vampires were like green belts in karate. They have the talent, but their lack of control made them dangerous.

The young vampire leaned over the girl’s face and stared into her eyes. The void of his black eyes seemed to draw the blue from her eyes like a mini-black hole, and her lids drooped as she relaxed again.

“Very good, young cub, now back to the feeding.”

Excitement mounting, the young vampire leaned in at an angle that popped his neck vertebra. As his lips gently kissed the young girl’s velvet skin, sharp white fangs grew to nasty lethalness and slid into her neck. Suddenly one of her hands shot out, slammed into his face and she bolted upright.

“Jerk! We’re just practicing! You aren’t supposed to really bite!”

“I’m sorr-rry,” he stammered.

Winifred smoothed her dress, “Do you know how hard it was to make my blood pump like a normal human!”

“I said I was sorry,” the vampire wouldn’t meet her eyes.

She turned to the old vampire, while peeling the blue contact lenses from her eyes, “Seriously, if your little boys can’t control themselves, you can just find yourself another ‘victim.”

With an athletic move that would have earned her at least a bronze in the Olympics, she vaulted to her feet and stormed out of the room with a walk that somehow managed to combine predator and sexiness in delicious amounts.

The Master and his protégé were mesmerized by her swaying departure. They might be dead, but they were still guys.

She went into a room and the door slammed behind her.

The two vampires stared at the spot, imprinting the memory. Hey, I said they were guys!

After the moment was exhausted, the Master held out a banana.

“What’s that?” the young vampire asked.

“A banana. You will practice on this.”

“Aw! That’s gross. You know I can’t eat normal food anymore.”

“The better to make sure you are careful in your lessons, young cub. Try not to bruise it.”

With that, the Master vampire faded to mist.

The young vampire grimaced at the banana which mocked him yellowingly.

“Fine,” he groused, and let his fangs come out.

The banana cringed in fear.

Ha, no it didn’t.



I hope you enjoyed this. Now for the bad news: I just started this, so it's going to be awhile before this comes out. Ready for the good news?: Fang Face comes out in a few months. Check it out at www.fangface.homestead.com

Norm


Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Werewolf, er, weresomething short story

Just jumping on to tell you I posted a 'just for the fun of it' short story on my website. Click here to check it out.

Norm

Friday, February 20, 2009

Expelled

Expelled, sounds like something you want to do with a glob of saliva, huh?

No harm, no foul.

I heard it the other way today, the one that isn't just about getting rid of the phlegm.

While going to the local high school to swim my laps - 2 and a half miles worth - I ran into a lady ... well, not ran into ... more like occasioned into her, and she told me about her teenaged son, who had been suspended from high school for the last eight days.

His crime? He was caught in school with a four inch pen knife.

Next Wednesday, he and his mother will be at the school to learn his fate.

She was raging about how unfair it is, about how her taxes give her the right to send her kid to this school, about how unfair it would be if they send him to an 'alternative' school, about how they should have had metal detectors.

To tell the truth, it didn't ring true to me. Yes, it's harsh to expel a student for having a penknife, but a four inch penknife is actually a fairly large knife. Is there an innocent reason for having one in school. Maybe, but not a necessary reason for having one.

She said he didn't know he had the knife on him. It was clipped to pants he had worn the day before. Sorry, but I don't buy this either. He would have seen it.

In my opinion, he knowingly went to school with a knife, flaunting all of the admittedly overprotective measures the schools have been forced to take due to Columbine and other places.

I wish he hadn't done it. I'm sure he wishes the same. But he did, and, unfortunately, it will all be up to the school administration. I for one won't fault them if they expel him. On the other hand, I won't fault them if they impose some other kind of punishment.

In my upcoming book Fang Face, administrators face somewhat the same dilemma: do they allow a teenaged vampire to go to school with the other students?

Fang Face, just six months away!

Norm

Monday, February 9, 2009

Vampire tidbits and stuff

There have been a few attempts to write from the vampire's POV - I don't like to research, so feel free to log in and give us some specifics - but of the books I've read, nobody really got it right.

I mean, if you're a vampire, there are some things that would be important to you, like ...

  • clean necks - Really, who'd want to bite a dirty neck? Do people wash their necks before going to bed? You brush your teeth, right? So why not be considerate to your vampire?
  • the whole heart not beating thing? Wouldn't that make you cold? You never hear about vampires being cold. And they hang out (heh, bat joke) in drafty castles when they aren't snugged in their coffins.
  • blood type. Does type A taste better than O? Who knows? There's no research on this little tidbit.

Oh, well, some things to think about. I'll do more on all this later. Or you can wait for Fang Face to come out.

Fangs, and see ya,

Norm

www.fangface.homestead.com

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Not worth two cents?

An interesting ... no, not interesting ... a disturbing thing happened today while I was putting Amazon Buy links on my blog. After putting up The Adventures of Guy, I noticed its lowest Amazon price is ... one cent.

One cent?!

A penny?!

What the heck?!

You mean someone is so desperate to get rid of it that they'll let it go for less than a nickel?!

All I can say is this ... if you can get ANY of my books for a penny, you'd better rush out and get it!!

Go to my website: http://www.normcowie.com and read an excerpt and you'll see it's worth WAY more than a penny.

(at least a dime, sheesh)

Norm

here's my other website> get yourself over there, too! http://fangface.homestead.com

www.normcowie.com

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Upcoming book

I'm at a really cool stage in writing - the anthology Missing coming out this weekend at the Love is Murder writer's conference, Fang Face in the edit stages coming out in August and I'm a quarter way through my WIP, the third book in the Adventures of Guy series.

The weird thing about my WIP is I keep getting mental glimpses of a sequel for Fang Face, and it tempts me to start it right away. I already know it will have vampires (of course), werewolves and maybe some other were-creatures, and there is a conflict that didn't resolve in Fang Face that must be resolved. I'm really looking forward to it.

But my WIP is fun, too. Most of the action in the third Adventures of Guy takes place in hell, and they run into horrible creatures like Dick Cheney. I want to work on both at once. Where's a ghost writer when you need one?

Now I'm setting up stuff so when Fang Face comes out, I'll be ready to get it out there. I'm getting my website ready, learning about blog tours and, of course, I set up a nice little blog here.

Check out my website, it's pretty fun.

Norm

http://fangface.homestead.com

Saturday, January 31, 2009

That's that!

I received my first edits from my editor for Fang Face, and learned that... oops ... learned I use the word 'that' too much.

She asked me to kill off about 70-80% of them, and rub out as many passive verbs as possible.

As I go through the manuscript, zapping 'thats' along the way, it becomes obvious that she's right, the book reads better without all of the thats.

That's (this one's okay) one of the things that (this one's not) you have to know about editors ... their goal is the same as yours, to make your book the best it can be. They aren't Republicans, er, obstructionists, they aren't being word nazi's, and they aren't trying to show off their command of language. They simply want a well crafted book.

So back to my editing. I'd like to get this first run done within a few more days.

Norm

http://fangface.homestead.com

Monday, January 26, 2009

Good sports .. and not so good sports

Maybe you heard about the girl's high school basketball team that totally wiped out another school by the score of 100 - 0.

Yep, 100 points for the first team ... the big goose egg for the other.

Uh, what is it about goose eggs being the sign for zero? Why not ostrich eggs, canary eggs, platypus eggs ?

Okay, I tangented (not a word .. sue me).

Did I happen to mention that the team that won was a Christian school? And did I mention further that the school that lost is a school for learning challenged and has only twenty girls in the whole school? And did I mention that my cat just jukxisgfhneror walked on my keyboard?

The school that won apologized, but the coach went on to say that he didn't apologize. And does it matter?

Yes, it matters.

I played sports my whole life, and got pretty good at most of them (still can't figure out hockey, golf or bowling), and when my two girls were growing up, it would have been easy to devastate them in whatever sport we attempted. I'd have creamed them at wiffleball. I'd have murdered them at lawn darts. I could swim laps around them in the pool.

But did I?

Of course not. What would trashing their fragile sense of worth have accomplished? It was far more fun and more of a challenge to find a way to make it more competitive, and more fun for them and me.

I touch on this in Fang Face, my upcoming humor/vampire Young Adult book. When Erin begins turning into a vampire, she goes from being a non-athletic, well, wimp ... to a sleek, agile predator. And it sure changed things in the high school Dodgeball games.

Anyway, I've set up this site to discuss teen stuff, book stuff, my allergy to the cat that cakws0erijldjd again all over my keyboard, and stuff like that. I encourage you to visit my websites and read excerpts of my books.

Then go out and buy them! AUTOGRAPHED copies even!

Norm

http://normcowie.com

http://fangface.homestead.com

The Adventures of Guy ... written by a guy
The Next Adventures of Guy ... more wackiness
The Heat of the Moment
Missing (coming Feb 09)
Fang Face (coming Aug 09),