New Release: The Crossover Alliance Anthology - Volume 1

The day is finally here! I'm proud to announce the release of The Crossover Alliance Anthology - Volume 1. This is a seven author, nine story project that began shortly before the start of the new year. Each short story in this awesome collection falls within the edgy Christian speculative fiction genre. You'll find science fiction, fantasy, and horror. You'll find Christian themes. And you'll also find real-world content. All of it comes together to bring to life unique fiction that I guarantee you have never read the likes of before. Check out the official webpage!

The Anthology is available in paperback and digital formats from the following booksellers:
Amazon.com (paperback)
Createspace (paperback)
Kindle
Nook
Smashwords (free)

The Crossover Alliance Anthology Release Date!

I am proud to announce the release date for The Crossover Alliance Anthology - Volume 1: Friday, September 26th. On that date, the book will be available in paperback and digital formats.

This is a project I have been spearheading for months now, and it contains a compilation of unique short stories from some of today's most prolific authors. If you've never heard of edgy Christian speculative fiction, you will once you've read this anthology!

About the book -

By traversing beyond the boundaries of Christian and secular fiction, this phenomenal collection of edgy Christian speculative pieces will transport you to the furthest reaches of space, the chilling snow-drenched plains of fantasy, and the deepest, darkest corridors of the human heart. While journeying through these fantastical worlds, let this prolific gathering of authors shine a glimmer of light your way and reveal Christ in a very dark, very real world.

Keep tabs on the official Anthology web page for upcoming information on the included authors and a special book trailer.

July Update

Flash Fiction Fridays will resume next week. I apologize that I've been postponing FFF, but I've been buried in projects these past few weeks, and I'm finally able to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Aside from The Crossover Alliance Anthology which I am putting together, I also have The LZR Project, new cover designs, and some web design work I have been tinkering with.

With that being said, here's a quick update on what I've been working on lately and some of what you can expect in the coming weeks:

The LZR Project - 

My short story mini-series, The LZR Project, is off and running. The LZR Project tells the story of how the Lazerblades (heroes from my Expired Reality series) partnered with the Enera government to capture the criminal mastermind, Mr. Big. A new digital episode in the series is released each and every Wednesday for only $1 per episode. A subscription is also available for $30 for those of you who want to pay once and receive an emailed download link each week. You can grab the first episode of the series for free too to see if it is something that interests you. Check out the official web page for more info.

New Covers And Reformatted Digital Files - 

In the coming weeks I will be pushing out newly formatted digital files of all my books. Changes made to these files include various spelling and typo corrections, and a linked table of contents for each book to make them easier to navigate on your electronic reading device.

Along with the newly formatted files, I also have brand spanking new cover designs for all books in my Expired Reality series - Endangered Memories, Lost Birth, and Drather's Story (currently titled Picture Perfect). In case you missed it, here's a sneak peek at the general layout of Endangered Memories' new cover. This is not the final version, but will give you an idea of the direction I am moving in -

The Crossover Alliance - 

The Crossover Alliance is a website/community for readers and writers of edgy Christian speculative fiction (the genre I write in). Originally started as a social network of sorts, I have since transferred the Alliance to a static website - www.thecrossoveralliance.com - and am in the process of building out a forum which will go live this coming week. The website will soon feature a showcase of various works that fall within this genre from many different authors. If you would like your work featured in the Showcase, drop me a line (dna (at) davidnalderman.com) and show me what you've got. 

In the next month or so The Crossover Alliance Anthology will be showing its face. The Anthology is a collection of various short stories from authors who specialize in edgy Christian speculative fiction. I am especially excited about this project because I've read each of the stories that will be included in this project and...wow...that's all I can say. You'll be blown away, I guarantee it!

Email Newsletter - 

In case you didn't know, I have an email newsletter I try to put out each month or so. In it I detail the various projects I am working on. If you'd like to sign up, please head to http://eepurl.com/vBIZT and drop me your email address.

May Update

There will be no Flash Fiction Friday piece today. I've been swamped with projects left and right, so I'm going to take a break from the flash fiction until next week. I also decided it was time to give everyone a quick update on what I'm up to.

The Crossover Alliance

I started The Crossover Alliance community to pull together readers and writers of edgy Christian speculative fiction. I originally built the community on a SocialGo network, but after running with them for a while, decided I wanted to move the community over to a Ning platform. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that Ning had just shifted to its 3.0 upgrade - which had almost nothing in place in comparison with its old version. So, I've spent the last few months trying to mess around with their design tools and profile features and realized that they don't give me nearly enough to work with for the $30/month price tag they have on their product.

In response to this, I've decided to shift The Crossover Alliance to a static website that will incorporate the same great profile pages for the books that fall into this spectacular genre, and I'm going to attach a ProBoards forum to keep the community element intact. Since I'll be using Wix to build and host the site, my cost per month drops to nearly 1/3 what Ning has been charging me. I plan to roll out the new site in a matter of weeks, so stay tuned for that announcement.

The LZR Project

This is my pride and joy right now. I finally finished writing out all 40 episodes of my short-story mini-series, and my plan is to do some hardcore editing over the next few weeks so I can roll out the first episode before the end of the month. Right now, the plan is to release one new episode in digital format each week. The episodes will be released via Gumroad, and each will cost $1. They will be crafted in PDF format, so they can be read on any current Ereader or PC. I'll be putting out some more info for the series in the next couple of weeks, including character info and some of the plot arcs that you'll be seeing through the series.

Other Various Projects

With the release of my non-fiction book, Of Dreams and Faith, I realized that I really like the new matte cover options for the paperback format of books created through Createspace. All of my books up to this point have been done in glossy format. On that note, I am going to be redoing all of my current paperback versions in matte. I will also be reformatting all of my ebooks to make sure they are clean and easy to read on the current digital platforms. On top of that, I am going to be redoing the covers to Endangered Memories, Lost Birth, and Picture Perfect. I know those covers have been redone nearly to death, but I've been reading up on some tutorials and articles on cover design, and I think I have a good gauge as to where I want to go with all of the covers in my Expired Reality series. Also, I'll be creating a brand new Double Pack for the second two books in my Black Earth series - as I already have one Double Pack available for sale for the first two books in the series.

The Black Hole of Writing

Well, it happened again. A short snippet of fiction meant to draw readers into my writing style has gotten the best of me and has now grown into a full-fledged black hole. It began with a simple piece of writing I did for my Flash Fiction Fridays: Jed. Jed's story then it continued to a second piece of flash fiction: Mr. Worth. And now this coming Friday will round out the third piece of flash fiction that continues the same storyline: a man by the name of Jed Worth is recruited by Sarah to defend a technologically wondrous tower from an impending raid by the red army.

These three flash fiction snippets don't compromise the story, rather they lead up to the main story which I am in the process of writing up for inclusion in The Crossover Alliance Anthology. This is what I love about storytelling. Sometimes you come across tiny stories that have to be told and once they are told then they are satisfied.

But then you have those stories which hunger for more. Those stories that begin short and simple and then explode like a dying star, creating a black hole which threatens to consume all of my writing time, energy, and other resources. My Black Earth series began small, a short story for an anthology I wrote for NaNoWriMo one year. It has since spurred four novels.

I can't wait to see what becomes of Jed and this strange tower he is hired to defend. Where did this tower come from? Why is he specifically being asked to defend it? And who is this red army? More importantly, can Sarah be trusted? That name...Sarah...sounds familiar, like maybe she's been mentioned in a book or two before...

Photo courtesy of NKZS

The Crossover Alliance Anthology - Call For Submissions

For many months now, I have been doing my best to build up a small community I call The Crossover Alliance. This community is formed of readers and writers who both create and appreciate reading edgy Christian speculative fiction - the genre that all of my fiction writing falls into. While a community is a very challenging thing to build from scratch - especially around a genre that has been built from scratch - sometimes you have to push a little harder to get things to the next level.

It was suggested to me a while ago that an anthology would be a great project to put together, seeing how our small community is full of writers who write in this marvelous genre, and putting out a call for submissions to such a project would help bring attention to our little corner of the world.

I am proud to say that we are now looking for submissions for the first Crossover Alliance Anthology, a collection of short written pieces that represent edgy Christian speculative fiction. All proceeds from the sales of The Crossover Alliance Anthology will be used toward maintenance and promotion of The Crossover Alliance community.

The Crossover Alliance Anthology will be published Summer 2014 in ebook (digital) format for various readers including Kindle, Nook, and the Sony Reader, and in paperback via Createspace. Entries will be accepted beginning Monday, January 27th, and the deadline for all entries is Saturday, March 15th, 2014. The tentative release date for the anthology will be Tuesday, June 24th.

Head here - http://thecrossoveralliance.com/anthology - for submission guidelines and some quick info on the group who will be reading and voting on what pieces get included in the anthology.

The Crossover Alliance...Now On A Ning Platform!

Last month I mentioned that I was in the process of moving my social community - The Crossover Alliance - from a SocialGo network to a Ning network. Well, that day is here! I've even obtained the proper URL, and you can now find the Alliance at www.thecrossoveralliance.com. I still have some work to do on some of the pages and features, but for the most part, the foundation for the community is there and ready to be built upon. Head on over to create a free profile and get involved in the community. Membership is free, and I will even be putting on a giveaway soon to kick off the launch of the new site.The old site will be disappearing next week to make way for the official launch.

August Update

I know it's been about a month since I last posted - and I do apologize for that - but I've been knee-deep in some personal matters, and I've also been taking a long hard look at the projects and tasks on my plate and have had to make some hard decisions on what is worth doing and what is worth forgetting about. My first and foremost priority is to write. Write. And beyond that, I want to reach people with that writing using my website, social media, and word of mouth. But those things have to come secondary to the writing.

First off, time to celebrate because I actually finished Camp NaNoWriMo! This was my first year doing the campy summer version of National Novel Writing Month, and to be honest I didn't think I was going to reach my goal of 43,112 words to get my third Expired Reality novel past the 100,000 word count mark, but I did it! And now I have a legitimate amount of story material to craft my novel from, so hopefully I can get this third volume in the series - which has been in the works for a few years now - onto the bookshelves soon.

The second piece of news I want to share is that I've made the executive decision to move the genre community - The Crossover Alliance - to a Ning based network. Since it's creation, The Crossover Alliance community has been residing on SocialGo. And while SocialGo is a really great company to start out on, Ning has many more options for social networking and content which I think will only benefit the community once things are moved over. The new site will be ready in the next couple weeks, and ample notice will be given to give time for the shift from one platform to the other.

And the third solid piece of news I'd like to share is the decision to merge the two blogs that I currently run. Right now, this blog is my main blog where I talk about my writing projects and the writing process, but I also have another blog - Of Dreams and Faith - where I've been blogging about my faith and the incredible journey God brought me and my family through to get us here to the Bay Area. I've come to the conclusion that there's really no reason to keep my faith and my writing separate from one another, especially if everything I am writing nowadays is either edgy Christian speculative fiction or a non-fiction account of my faith walk with God.

Aside from those three major announcements, and the work I am currently doing on my non-fiction book, Of Dreams and Faith, which chronicles my faith walk with God, I also have some side projects that I need to start tackling - such as the resurrection of my email newsletter, some revamping of certain items on my website, and some episodic and short story writing I want to start cranking out.

Simplicity

As most of you have noticed, I've been MIA from social media for a while now. For the last couple months, I've been focusing on getting settled here in the Bay Area (Daly City) for the church plant we are a part of - (Canvas) - which should be launching publicly in late September. With all of this time away from my projects, I've had a chance to think about what direction I want my marketing efforts to go. And the one word that keeps coming to mind is...

Simplicity.

After months away from the old version of my website, when I did jump on to see what could be fixed, I was pained to see how cluttered and messy my website looked. The colors were all wrong, the graphics and text were a clustermess, and some of the links didn't even work. Aside from the website, my business cards have needed a facelift, as has this blog, and even my Facebook pages. I've even become unhappy with the face I've given to The Crossover Alliance, a social community I created for writers/readers of edgy Christian speculative fiction.

With the realization that all these facets of my author platform need to be simplified (and overhauled), I did something about it.

I am proud to introduce to all of you my brand spanking new website. This site has been rebuilt from the ground up. While I've somewhat enjoyed using WebEasy Professional for the past 8+ years to build my site, the time consuming glitches and issues within the program have forced me to find a different avenue through which to build my website with. So I turned over to Wix.com and came up with a fresh, new design that is easy on the eyes and simple to update...

On top of that, I created some new business cards which I am in the process of ordering...

I also updated my author Facebook page with a new graphic. More changes to all my FB pages will be coming down the line in time...

And, you have probably already realized that I also update my blog's theme. Simplicity is the common theme running through these designs. Solid brown color schemes to go with the soft blue of my tree and star logo. I've also changed the font that my name is written in to be a little less 'fancy' and a little more professional and writerly.

And last but not least, I created a brand spanking new logo for The Crossover Alliance. Something that resembles the edginess of our fiction but at the same time represents our professionalism in the writing community...

I'd love to hear what you think of the new changes!

The Crossover Alliance Giveaway Winners

Below are the winners of The Crossover Alliance giveaway. Each will be contacted shortly regarding their prizes. Thanks to everyone who participate!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Problem With Social Networking

I've been self-publishing for quite a few years now - probably too many to count seeing how I was dipping my toes in the self-publishing field and the ebook market before digital readers were even around and everyone read digital files on their computers in PDF format. And over the course of this long while, I've come to the stark and disappointing realization that I STILL struggle with marketing and social networking. It's probably my very least favorite part of self-publishing, and I cringe every time I have to delve into either of those two fields.

That being said, I wouldn't trade the ability to self-publish for anything in the world. The fact that I have control over my written and graphical content is a power I will not easily - if ever - give up, especially considering I write in the niche genre of edgy Christian speculative fiction - a crossover of mainstream and Christian fiction that has fans and haters on both sides of the fences.

Now that we've entered 2013, I've decided to sit down and take serious stock of where I want my energies to be placed over the next year. Being a self-published author in combination with being a work-from-home dad doesn't allow me ample amounts of luxury time to just throw to the wind - even if that's what I've been doing these past few years. Case in point, why in the world do I have so many social networking connections to other authors? Authors aren't going to buy my books. And to be honest, reviews from other authors aren't always all that objective. This isn't to say that self-published authors shouldn't read/review other self-published author's books, but is that really the best use of an author's time?

I remember when I first started out on this self-publishing journey, I had many other self-published authors clamoring my email inbox and my social networking feeds with requests to read/review their work. I said yes at first to a few of them, realizing later that it was a mistake to commit to such a task. It left me no time to write, no time to promote my own work, no time to read for leisure - which isn't to say that the work I read from those authors was sub-par, it just took up the time I should have been spending getting through my own to-read shelf which has been lingering here in my office for a few years now. In fact, I'm almost certain my to-read stack has grown legs and is now hiding in my office closet, waiting to strike when I least expect it.

So for 2013 I decided to be more vigilante in streamlining my efforts. Instead of shoving my face out there and focusing all my efforts on reaching other authors, my goal will be to reach readers. READERS! I've decided to stop lurking in Red Room - not because there aren't readers over there, but because in order to get decent exposure for my books there, it seems I have to pay a membership fee. I've decided to stop messing around on Writing.com - which is a great site, by the way, but I find it hard to navigate sometimes, and in order to secure the storage space there necessary to promote all of my writing, I would have to have a membership as well. I used to be on AuthorNation, but for some strange reason, the site has undergone some serious problems over the last year or so and now no longer exists. At least, I can't find it. And my profile there is gone. So, that problem took care of itself.

One of the biggest changes I made was to my Facebook profile - my personal one, not my author page. I had over 1500 friends in a mixture of unknown authors (most self-published like me), friends, and family. It became quite difficult discerning what I should or should not be posting on there - such as pics of my one year old son, status updates on what coffee shop I was hanging out in on a certain day, or what was going on in my life on a personal level. It was even difficult to post about my novels because most of my messages in that regard were being repeated on my FB pages anyway, so some people were seeing shout-outs about my books two or three times in their newsfeeds.

To this end, I took a few days and purged all but 115 of those friends. 1500 to 115. And that 115 is a mixture of friends, family, and authors who I truly respect and have had great interaction with over the past year or so. It's been quite liberating, to be honest, and now I can focus my writing announcements and whatnot over on my FB pages. I also made the decision to stick with Goodreads, and make my presence more prominent in the Kindle and Nook forums, where readers who own Nooks and Kindles go to find great books - especially by self-published authors. I'm also going to be posting/interacting more at Self Publishing Review. And, of course, you'll be able to find me at The Crossover Alliance, which I'll be working on building up more this next year.

I feel much better now that I streamlined things. Sometimes you just have to cut the fat, and with the way things are on the internet nowadays it's becoming difficult to find the will power to step out of certain circles because many of us are being taught that the more exposure we have the better. I disagree. I think we need to be more focused on the exposure we actually want, and take steps to enter into that, and step out of the exposure that is only going to waste our valuable time.

New Release Date For Black Earth: Exodus

The paperback proofing of Black Earth: Exodus went surprisingly well, with nearly no errors to speak of. To that end, I'm going to push up the release date for the ebook and paperback editions of the book to Tuesday, December 4th. I'm also going to be doing some giveaways shortly after the release, so stay tuned to this blog to find out more about that.

In other news, I completed NaNoWriMo! This was my eighth year in a row participating and completing the challenge. Some might say it's time for a break, but I say no way. I have many projects I've been wanting to work on that I haven't had time to mess with because of NaNo and Black Earth: Exodus, but now that both are sliding off my plate, I can focus on marketing for Exodus, building up The Crossover Alliance, and spreading word about my entire Black Earth series.

The Light At The End Of The NaNoWriMo Tunnel

We're in the last week of November (I know, time flies!) and that means we're in the last week of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month for those who still don't know what that means. Last night I crossed the 45,000 word mark, meaning I only have 5,000 more words I need to write this week and I will have accomplished NaNoWriMo for the 8th straight year.

Finishing NaNoWriMo is always a great accomplishment for me - it helps me learn writing discipline, gives me an excuse to cut out distractions in November, and also gives me a draft for an upcoming self-published book.

At the same time, I'm always a bit relieved when NaNoWriMo is over with because it means I can move that off my plate and move onto other projects I've had waiting in line. This is particularly true of this year, because November has been mostly consumed with NaNoWriMo and the formatting and completion of the fourth (and final full-length) novel in my Black Earth series, Exodus. I just received the proof copy of the paperback version of Black Earth: Exodus in the mail yesterday and from what I've seen, it came out without needing anymore revisions to the formatting or cover - meaning the release is imminent.

So with NaNoWriMo and Black Earth: Exodus moving off my plate, I can start pushing some marketing out the doors for Exodus, the Black Earth series as a whole, and the rest of my writing. I also want to dive into creating some merchandise through Zazzle, and put some more time and effort into building The Crossover Alliance community.

Great things are on the horizon! But, one thing at a time. I still have 5,000 more words to write in my NaNo novel before I can claim victory, so I'll see you on the other side.

Fall Project Goals

Fall is my second favorite season of the year. It's the time of year Arizona finally starts to cool down, although we're still left with 90+ degree temperatures scattered throughout the forecast here and there, but nothing like what we get in the summertime. I also love fall because it ushers in my first favorite time of the year - winter. It is these next six months of the year that I absolutely cherish, and this year will be no exception because there are a lot of exciting things going on.

In my personal life, my wife and I are getting ready for our move to San Francisco after the New Year. Our most recent updates to this move and our involvement with the Canvas church plant can be found at my other blog - Of Dreams and Faith. Needless to say, we have the boxes out and are getting set to start packing things up.

In regards to my writing career, I have some exciting things on the horizon. First, Black Earth 4 will be release next month (December) in both paperback and ebook formats. I really wanted to release it this month, but it's taken me just a tad longer to get the book finished and edited than I initially planned, and by the time the book is ready to roll out the door, we're going to come up on Thanksgiving, so I'll just wait until after that holiday and plan on releasing the book in the beginning of December. An exact date will be announced soon.

On the same topic, Black Earth 4 - originally titled Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha - has been renamed Black Earth: Exodus. This name change happened for a few different reasons: the title describes the book better than Bridge to Anaisha did; the shorter title mirrors the shorter length of the book; I am going to use Bridge to Anaisha as my NaNoWriMo novel title.

This brings me to the subject of NaNoWriMo. I've decided to start my initial story over from scratch. Even after the month of preparation via the Writing.com October Pre NaNo Challenge, I am finding that I have no interest in the Black Earth: Spectrum storyline or any of the characters. So, they go on the back burner for now. Instead, I'm going to work on what will later be titled Black Earth: Bridge to Anaisha. The story will cover characters from my Black Earth series with details as to where each wound up after the events of Black Earth: Exodus, and will overlap with some of the characters from the Expired Reality series, essentially tying the two series together.

Other projects set for this fall are the release of my newly redesigned email newsletter (which I had to overhaul when I created my new author logo and design of the website), a list of new Compendium entries that will be release this winter, and some exciting things for The Crossover Alliance including a panel discussion on edgy Christian speculative fiction with Giovanni Gelati from Gelati's Scoop (November 28th at 1pm AZ time), and a great big giveaway of works from various edgy Christian speculative fiction writers.

And winter will bring its own slate of great projects, including (FINALLY) the LZR Project, the third Expired Reality series novel, and some other great literary goodies.

Time to break out my jacket and get ready for the cold!

The Crossover Alliance

When I first started down the road of labeling my Black Earth series as edgy Christian speculative fiction, I wasn't sure what to expect. The label came out of a discussion I had with a good friend of mine when we were on the topic of ways to market my unique blend of Christian themes and edgy, gritty writing. Themes like violence, sexual content, cursing and the like haven't been widely accepted in Christian fiction, so it almost felt like my writing actually sealed its own fate just by being in existence.

I came up with the term edgy Christian speculative fiction because it seems to sum up EXACTLY what it is my writing encompasses. Michelle Sutton spearheaded the term edgy Christian fiction a while back when she created her Ning community, Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers. And as great as that community is, it seems to be steeped in a female demographic and seems to lean more toward edgy Christian romance - which is what a good amount of Christian fiction in general seems to lean toward. There's nothing wrong with any of that, of course. It's just left me to pursue a slightly different path through the marketing forest.

So for the past few months I've been trying to get this label of edgy Christian speculative fiction out there. Some have argued that labels don't matter. I disagree with this, especially since self-publishing has taken off so rapidly and people want to know exactly what they're investing their time and money into. Some have argued that the term 'edgy' has already been beaten to death by the edgy romance writing community. And some have tried to come up with their own labels, like alternative or inspirational. Inspirational was taken a long time ago, and alternative makes it sound almost New Age in comparison.

On the other side of the coin, though, I've had certain individuals crawling up out of the woodwork to tell me they have either been looking for fiction in this type of genre to read, or that they write this same type of fiction and haven't had much luck marketing it. This has in turn created a need. A need for a community of readers/writers of this type of fiction, where both camps can come together and help support each other and bring more exposure to this genre.

So I've taken it upon myself to see what I can do. Using a community builder called Social Go, I've created The Crossover Alliance. Anyone can join the Alliance and post their edgy Christian speculative work, start topics in the forum in regards to this type of fiction, and invite other members to come support their work. I've also started an ever-growing resources tab in the site which will contain lists of online reviewers willing to read/review this type of work, and links to great self-publishing tools to get newbies just jumping into the fray some tips on starting into the world of self-publishing.

As additions to the social community, I have also created a Twitter account - crossoverally - and a Facebook page - The Crossover Alliance.

I invite you to check it out. And if you like it, please invite your friends/family/pets to join in!