JUNE 2007
While still a resident of Fort Worth (Texas), I recently moved out of the downtown area and am still not, “settled in.”
Gray Stopgap movie news: Nothing to report from my own camp and as far as The Lighthouse Press is concerned please see the next paragraph. One of the other Lighthouse Press titles, The Wayfarers (by Stuart Tower) is seeing some overseas involvement. However, the marketing numbers I’ve seen are way too low. Given the low dollar amounts, only radical success overseas will give it chance in this country. And even then, if the non-American production company intends to pitch the movie over here, they will need to re-think expenditures in terms of the American advertising cost. I hope it all works out for Stuart.
Publisher news: Word from Lighthouse has been spotty, at best. Once again the buzz is that the company may revise everything. This means my falling into a black hole insofar as novel availability is concerned. Are we to expect the near future (or immediate) disappearance of The Lighthouse Press, Inc.? I am of the understanding they’ll be on the web for a good while but the rumor is of a potential replacement of the company at a later date. If so, it is my sense of the matter that in the interim Lighthouse published titles depleted from stockpiles would not be replenish at the store and warehouse levels.
The evidence seems to support the speculation. Orders for The Gray Stopgap, copies of which are normally shipped from a North American distribution center, have recently exhausted stock that hasn’t been replaced by the publisher. Thus, except for a couple of local bookstores that have a couple copies each, only online retailers seem to have copies available (not counting the local library, of course).
If all true, it is then just as uncertain whether current Lighthouse titles would be picked up by whatever publishing company might eventually emerge in lieu of The Lighthouse Press, Inc.
So, in short, the new Karns Gray novel could be further delayed by my having to find another publisher. I’ll cross that bridge when—or if—I come to it.
About the new novel. The title has changed and I’m pleased with it. You may now anticipate it under the title of, The Gray Catalyst. I just completed several months of work ironing out a small but difficult part and the plot should pick up even more action and character development.
Not much else to report.
FEBRUARY 2007
For those of you keeping track, my November 2006 update speculated on the future of The Lighthouse Press, Inc. The word is now that titles published by The Lighthouse Press, Inc. will remain available for ordering and stocking. The company seems intent on staying around and my impression is that they are tightening the purse strings.
The Six Degrees of Separation experiment … It was an amazing concept that didn’t pan out. To find out more check out my publisher’s last press release on the subject (at TheLighthousepPress.com) and from there link into the Six Degrees page on the publisher’s site.
The next Karns Gray novel: I’ve reordered the chapters, overhauled a few plot issues and am still working on it. I’m not even going to offer a projected date since I’ve missed every one so far. I also expect another title change.
The Gray Stopgap movie... If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now: Screenwriters and novelist are entirely different animals. Under pressure from my publisher I wrote a screenplay based upon the Stopgap novel, but had to so tightly condense the plot that I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Apparently Hollyweird (uh, Hollywood) likes their scripts at 120 pages. Mine is 150 pages and it isn’t getting any smaller. At any rate, within the last month this info came to me: “Two different production companies are joining forces to produce a slate of films. Distribution has already been arranged and they are looking for scripts. I have suggested your script and they are open to reading it and actively considering it.”
So I sent the script. I’ve been here before, so I’m not excited yet.
More later.
