Back In The Saddle Again... with a Word from Publisher X

As you probably know, I haven't blogged for awhile. Alot of it had to do with the holidays. Some had to do with sickness (both the kids and myself suffered a nasty stomach virus). And then there were a couple of big snows down here in my neck of the woods in Tennessee.

A big part of my inactivity on Southern-Fried & Horrified during the past couple of weeks was mostly due to the meltdown of Full Moon Press at the end of January. Considering that I had twelve projects in the works with FMP, their sudden collapse meant that more than half of my upcoming publications were suddenly left homeless. Much of my time since FMP's demise has been devoted to damage control; assuring my fans that all was not lost and trying to find a home for those derailed projects.

Although I haven't yet found a home for my Southern horror anthology, Somewhere South of Hell, I have found a new publisher for the Essential Ronald Kelly Collection, which will offer all eight Zebra novels (plus a previously unpublished sequel to Hindsight). Who is this mystery publisher, you might ask? Well, unfortunately, I can't reveal that fact just yet. In the small press, timing and discretion can be a big plus in the success of an upcoming publication. It also has to do with "doing the right thing" when other authors with unannounced projects are involved.

But I do want to share a statement that "Publisher X" has issued to explain a few things. Here it is:

"Dear Ronald Kelly Fans,

Although I am going to remain nameless for now, Ron and I have begun talking about publishing the entire collection of Essential novels. Rest assured these are in good hands and if everyone can be patient while the details are worked out and the tremendous amount of work that is required has begun, it would be greatly appreciated. I know many of you are curious to not only know who will be publishing the Essentials, but how and when as well. The primary reason this is going to remain confidential for now is that I have numerous other projects lined up to be published before starting on the Essentials and it is only fair to the authors and fans of these other works to have each of those official announcements be released to the public beforehand. Plus, as a nice change of pace, the Kelly books will ship soon after their announcement.

Publisher X"

So, as you can see, things aren't as grim and gloomy as they could have been, given the circumstances. Publisher X and I have some great plans for the Essential collection. Sure there is alot of hard work involved, but I think the eventual outcome will be well worth it.

As for my thoughts and reflections on the disasterous Full Moon Press incident, I'll be exploring it in a future blog, so keep an eye open for it.

Right now, I'm just glad to be back in the saddle again... both with blogging and peparing my work for publication. And, of course, a huge thanks to all of you fans and fellow writers out there who have provided me with encouragement and support during the last few weeks. I truly appreciate your helping me through this chaotic and confusing time. Now it's back to business, as usual...