tales from the freakboy zone…: breaking news

Showing posts with label breaking news. Show all posts

Thursday, September 7, 2023

No time for blogging…

Shouldn’t he be reviewing another STAR WARS film right about now? Where is a new poem, of sorts? Why hasn’t he obsessively blogged about Andy Milligan lately?

I hope these are the prevalent questions in your mind, but don’t freak out! They will all happen, sooner or later. I’ve just been busy lately. I mean, STURGEONS (the complete serials) won’t plug itself. Well, maybe it can with a few fantastic reader photos! 📗 😍

A near-perfect pic of STURGEONS the complete serials, by john L. Harmon really captures the cover.

The ebook version of STURGEONS the complete serials, by john L. Harmon on a Kindle device.

A cat sniffs STURGEONS the complete serials, by john L. Harmon.

Feline Approved!

Then I have a book signing event approaching like a noose slowly tightening around my throat. It’s more of a meet & greet situation where readers will approach me, grab a cookie and (hopefully) pick up an autographed copy of STURGEONS. I’m not sure if anyone will turn up, but I hope so. I mean, the article in the Custer County Chief should draw out a few curious folk or at least Ms. Minch!

A flyer for Sturgeons the complete serials, by john L. Harmon shows 6 copies of the book fanned out with a purple hued photo of the author looking up at them. Text reads, ONE TOWN. TWO STORIES. DARKENING STURGEONS Chief Deputy Benjamin Straker is thrust into investigating a series of mysterious disappearances and uncovers a plot that threatens the entire town of Sturgeons. HAUNTING STURGEONS Ten years after his brother’s disappearance, Jimmy Schroder returns to Sturgeons with a desire for connection, the danger of revenge and damage from the past. Broken bow public library. Author visit. Sept. 8th. 2 to 4 pm. John L. Harmon

Kim, a groovy librarian, designed this awesome flyer!

Yes, I was interviewed for the local paper. Managing Editor Mona Weatherly wrote a great article about STURGEONS, my vision loss and my writing in general. The headline, Author fights to get back to writing ‘fun, quirky’ stories is newspaper perfection! Here are the photos which appeared on a different page than the article. The purple one is my Amazon Author Page pic and the orange one was taken by Mona. She said I looked like a proud author, but I said I looked positively goofy, as usual.

Headline reads, Broken Bow author talks about vision loss and his return to writing. Top photo shows John L. Harmon smiling loudly while wearing an orange shirt with a caption reads, Pictured at right is John L. Harmon holding his book, "Sturgeons (the complete serials" and wearing what he calls his "mad scientist glasses." Read about Harmon's loss of "a chunk of vision" and how writing helped him fight despair on page A5. Mona Weatherly Second photo is the purple hued photo if John L. Harmon wearing headphones and mad scientist glasses gazing upwards, with a caption that reads, At left, is John L. Harmon's author's photo. The Broken Bow native will discuss his writing, Friday, Sept. 8, at the Broken Bow Public Library. See page. A5

Courtesy Custer County Chief

To top it all off, I no longer deliver bad news 🗞️ around town. It was time for that part of my life to end and I definitely won’t miss it this winter. ❄️ My predicted post-Covid 19 career of peddling my wares at a truck stop never manifested, but I am getting wet at a local diner instead. Yes, I am now a visually impaired dishwasher 🍽️ by day and a queer indie author ✏️ by night!

A cardboard sign is taped to a window with handwritten text whjch reads, Help wanted. Dishwasher. Apply inside.

I saw the sign! Well, my sister saw it and told me about it.

Plus, thanks to Vinegar Syndrome and AGFA, I just started digging into the films of Jon Moritsugu. From what I’ve experienced so far, his very DIY/experimental films are like Gregg Araki and David Lynch had an allegedly nihilistic, pseudo-intellectual punk rock baby. In other words, this box set is going to take a bit and challenge me along the way.

The blu-ray cover of Terminal Degeneration, the films of Jon Moritsugu shows two blond haired people wearing funky round sunglasses while looking bored and dissatisfied.

Well, until I blog about whether my book event is a pop 👍 or a flop 👎, thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out,
JLH

P.S. Here is the first review of STURGEONS on Goodreads…

Gary Beck-Dallaghan’s Goodreads review of STURGEONS, The complete serials by john L. Harmon reads, What an enjoyable, quirky read. I remember reading these serials each week when John was originally writing them. It was just as much fun now as it was the first time around. Actually, having the stories collected into a single book made it even better. I felt as though I was picking up on some little details and hints of things to come that I missed when I originally read the online stories. Great work and great intrigue. It's one of those books that you quite literally do not want to put down. Obviously, slow reader that I am I finished it in 4 days.

Friday, May 19, 2023

BREAKING NEWS IN STURGEONS!!!!

This just in…

While in the middle of editing DARKENING STURGEONS and HAUNTING STURGEONS into a 2-in-1 print edition, something brand new occurred in my indie author career! One of my books received a very low rating!

Cover of Darkening Sturgeons by john L. Harmon shows a desolate road leading into a darkening sky.

A reader purchased DARKENING STURGEONS on May 17th and, within 24 hours, a 1 (out of 5) star ⭐️ rating appeared on Amazon.

8 Amazon customer ratings for Darkening Sturgeons by John L. Harmon shows 50% gave it 5 stars, 28% gave it 4 stars and 22% gave it 1 star.

There is, as of this post, no review to go along with this low rating, which is disappointing. I was hoping to use a so-called “bad review” for promotional material! Plus, I am interested in knowing what the reader found unappealing about my ebook, so I can do more of it in the future! Oh well, fingers crossed for next time.

At least I can take comfort in imagining John Waters and the late Andy Milligan being proud of me for unapologetically doing my thing, naysayers be damned!

Bonus points for me if my books make a conventional reader unconventionally uncomfortable! 😉

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out,
JLH

P.S. click the pic ⤵️ to find my books & blogs…for the unconventional readers out there! 😁

A shadowy selfie of the author with one eye highlighted

Monday, September 27, 2021

Little Library of Horrors!

We inyrrrupt this blog with late-breaking news!

Meanwhile at the library, there must have been another total eclipse of the sun!

A vine grows from a corner and says, “my name is Audrey III”

Freak Out & DON’T FEED THE PLANTS!

JLH

P.S. click the pic ⤵️ to discover why you shouldn’t feed the plants! …