Meet Diego Chan

He's the protagonist of the original novelette of mine that will appear this summer in the anthology, The Wild Side, that I'm editing. Publisher Toni quite reasonably wants you all to have to buy the book to read his story--so do I!--but I'm confident she wouldn't mind me sharing with you a tiny, tiny taste of the first scene of the first story of a character with whom I hope to spend a lot of time over the next several years.

The Long Dark Night of Diego Chan

"Sam’s gone over,” the first line of the text message said.

“You said you’d help if it ever came to this,” the second continued.

“It has.”

“Barbara.”

Diego Chan kept running but reversed direction and headed back to the Super 8 that was passing for home this week. His legs carried him easily, his heart beat a steady rhythm, and his muscles moved smoothly and with power. He brushed the sweat from his eyes and thumbed a response, “Okay.” He sent it on its way through the three redirectors that would mask its origins before it reached her.

He pulled up the tracking display on his phone: five miles out, a hair over seven minutes a mile so far, over thirty-five minutes to make it back. Not good enough. He pushed harder but not so hard that anyone would notice. That wouldn’t buy him much time, but if she was right, the clock had started ticking a while ago.

The morning sun was still coming into its own when he reached the motel thirty-one minutes later.

I did say it was a tiny taste, right? For the more than twelve thousand remaining words in what I must immodestly say is a story I quite like, you will indeed have to buy the book.

Of course, when you do that, you'll get nine other urban fantasy stories you're sure to enjoy, an exclusive introduction to the collection, and afterwords to all the stories from the writers. Plus, a kick-ass Dan Dos Santos cover--and all for only $13 list, less online and at many bookstores.

You know you need to meet Diego. Give in and pre-order now.

My story for The Wild Side

is something I've become rather excited about. Its title is "The Long, Dark Night of Diego Chan," and I intend it to work both as a standalone piece and ultimately as part of the first novel in a series featuring Chan. Of course, I have no clue when I'll get around to writing those books, but I've given Publisher Toni the two-sentence version of the series, and she agrees that the concept is cool. So, one day I will try to write those novels.

In the meantime, I'll finish this story and lay the groundwork for the books.

When I started writing, like many other beginning writers I felt that story ideas were very hard to find. I'd read articles in which published writers would claim that ideas were easy, and I'd get pissed at those people. Now, though, I have to admit they were right. Stories worth telling are everywhere, and if you're passionate about enough things, many of those stories will align with your passions. Finding the time and the right ways to tell those stories, though, is another thing entirely--with time the harder challenge, of course.

At moments like these, as much as I like my job, I wish I could write full-time. I just have so much I want to write.