So, next week I will be releasing a new collection of stories. The collection is called Flashpoint: A Collection of Curious Beginnings and Endings. Sounds intriguing, but how the heck do I describe it? As you may be able to tell, I have yet to write the synopsis that you will see on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. I will try to do that this weekend.
It started as an experiment. I had finished two works in the first quarter of 2012. One was fiction (hard-boiled detective story) and one a collection of non-fiction stories for Schiffer Publishing (Chicago’s Unsolved Mysteries). I decided to “take a break”, but I can never really stop working. While also working on edits and rewrites for another work (due out in June), I started writing little stories of under 1,000 words. For those of you who know, that is sometimes called “flash fiction.”
I did it to test myself and to keep my brain occupied while I edited and did my own version of resting. Then, as I kept writing, I started looking through my notebooks (thank you moleskine) and finding the odd story ideas and thoughts I had jotted down. I began consolidating some of those ideas into very short stories that I thought would actually make interesting beginnings for novels or longer works.
At first, I did it just to amuse myself. Then I thought about the musical box sets you can get these days. How they always include a little CD with B-sides, alternate takes and other odds and ends from the group. I realized that, if I kept writing about one story a month, throughout April, I would have enough for a small collection of them and that I could put those out for the fans.
So, that, in a sense, is what Flashpoint is. Many of the stories have the theme of the end of the world (don’t ask, my mind just goes there sometimes). They are all, admittedly, weird, and some of them half-thought-out, as they were just notes and scraps. In truth, this is for the fans, not the casual reader who is looking for their first venture into the written world of Bryan Alaspa.
Oh, and I want your input! If you read one of the stories and you think it would make a good novel or novella, contact me. Let me know. I just might write it and thank you in the book. You can find me on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and this blog to reach me
So, here comes Flashpoint. Next week. Look for it…it will only be 99 cents.