The Courage of the Captain

"Peter Roberts raised his hands into the air as if he were summoning the wind to blow and the sky to fall. His head lifted too and he began to shout as if the river and the fields were his congregation of devoted listeners. "For ye were sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your soul!"

Lowering his hands and arms, he smiled, his mouth turned up into a grin, but his eyes revealing nothing but scorn. "We've been waiting for you, Bartholomew," Roberts said calmly, his pale skin outlining the black, depthless eyes that mirrored a kind of pleasure in his taunt. " Yes, Bartholomew, we've been waiting a long time, almost thirty years now. It's good of you to finally show up."

Excerpt from Zeke Proper and the Sacrifice at Alder Cove.
Illustration by Corey Cameron

A Silouette at the Door

The light coming in from the top of the stairs was blocked by a large silhouetted figure. Its abrupt appearance loomed before them like a dark specter from some insane nightmare.

"You'll not be findin' anything in there that'll help ya'," the voice from the open door said. "If it's answers you're lookin' for, you've come to the wrong place."

"His legs felt light and powerful. His breathing became deep and clear. He felt as if he could leap over the highest tree, or run at incredible speed. The strength he felt as he extended his arms over his head with the twenty-four stones cradled in his hands enabled him with this power. He felt clean and pure.

Hold the stones high. Let their light shine and live."

Excerpt from Zeke Proper and the Sacrifice at Alder Cove - by Brad Cameron

Zeke Proper and the Sacrifice at Alder Cove

"Taylre was becoming annoyed. Mr. Roberts' manner was too robotic, his smile, she could see, was fake, and there was no doubt in her mind that something iniquitous was going on in the room behind him. In fact, her intuition suggested that Mr. Roberts' job at this very moment was to keep her away at all costs. This was the most disturbing thing of all." - Excerpt from the novel Zeke Proper and the Sacrifice at Alder Cove

New Years Day 2010 - Here's to New Beginnings

Do you remember Y2K? The world, as we "technically" knew it, was supposed to come to an end. Planes were supposed to fall from the sky, all of our personal information including financial records, tax information, and permanent records from school (you know, the ones our elementary teachers said existed. The ones they "placed" a list of all our bad deeds in. The ones that held all the nasty information that would eventually follow us for the rest of our lives. Kind of like the "big book" for the final day of judgment-maybe not a bad thing to get rid of) were supposed to suddenly disappear in a sudden flash of computer amnesia. Well, now we've moved into a new decade, one that promises another Y2K of sorts. This one, of course, originates with the Mayans, those guys who apparently couldn't finish a calendar to save their lives (or ours). So, what are we to do? Hold our collective breaths, bury our heads in the sand, and wait for that fateful day of December 21, 2012 to approach? Or do we hold our heads high, spread our arms wide, look up into the sunny sky (or starry night, which ever you choose) and say, "bring it on! Either that, or step aside, 'cause I got things to do!"

I choose the latter.

I think my pals on Facebook, Nicole and Katherine, have it right (but of course Katherine said it using the most colorful language she could muster. ie: @#$%&*, and *&#%@). they said leaning on our one year resolutions was not enough...I agree. Let's look to tomorrow, next month, next year, and beyond. Set your bar high and then reach for it, whatever your desires may be.

I have a book or two in me that needs to be published. I can't let some Mayan calendar maker put a damper on my motivation to write. And neither can you, my faithful followers. Write, travel, love, create, immerse yourself in good literature, take that class you've always wanted to take, climb that mountain (Laurie), and seize the day!

I say, "Bring it on!" and Happy New Beginnings

Just a bit of an update

I just recently heard from my agent. She tells me that there's nothing happening right now in terms of publishers salivating over my manuscript. True, it is a slow time of year as far as the publishing industry is concerned, but there's still hope.

I've been told that the plan now is to step things up for the new year. The Aggressive Agent plan is now in place and query letters are going to be sent out. Apparently this is a very time consuming and thankless process as far as agents go. I've requested that my agent focus on at least two publishers who seem to put out a lot of books that are in the same league as mine. We'll see what happens.

As far as Zeke Proper and the Serpent's Ship is concerned, it's going slow. I have some ideas, but the motivation isn't where it should be. I managed to put down a few paragraphs tonight, and I'm hoping that this Christmas break will give me a chance to sit down during the day and put some time into it. I'm really not using this as an excuse (well maybe I am), but writing a sequel to a book that hasn't even been published is hard.

So, send me your thoughts. I need more positive energy.

Yes, I still write, I still exist, I still wait.

Greetings loyal readers.

I suppose a bit of an apology is order, considering that I've made some promises to myself, published them on my blog, and therefore have made some promises to you as well. Let me say first that motivation is a real bugger. I cannot express to you how difficult it is at times to actually make the effort to sit down and write, especially when I'm writing the sequel to a novel that hasn't even been published yet. But is that a realistic excuse? Probably not. Therefore, I push on. Right? Right.

Currently I have 12,000 words in the Sequel to Zeke Proper and the Sacrifice at Alder Cove. The story is moving along, taking on its own twists and turns. It's actually quite exciting to anticipate where it's going to go next. It almost feels, at times, like the story is a living entity. Zeke is experiencing some real difficulties. In fact, he's downright hurt, physically and emotionally. And, there's more to come. Almar Loden is a creep (he's a new character), and Teddy Walford, Jr. is caught somewhere in the middle. It's really getting good. Even I'm having fun.

So, stick with me. I can do better.

Peace, Brad