I'm in the process of wrapping up another semester of teaching at Columbia College Chicago, finishing up some freelance writing assignments, and working on some new material for a considered Kindle publication, a possible ebook adventure, if you will. The stories will be a mixture of fiction and creative nonfiction. An editor is working through the stories and I'm cleaning up some of the material, some of it needs more cleaning than others.
The working title is After Opium, the title of one of the pieces. The theme is about all those many things that we feel we need, are addicted to, and believe we can't live without - when in reality, we can live without most of it. It's just a matter of deciding to carry on, move on, change, accept heartache, loss or a new beginning.
This venture into e-publishing is really an academic experiment. I want to see what self-publishing through the ebook experience is really like. I hope to have something available sometime in the early part of 2012. Good way to start the New Year, huh? We'll see.
Here are a few of the pieces - at least early versions of them - that will likely be included in the e-collection. Each has been published, but reworked, newer versions - some only slightly changed - will likely make it into After Opium (the collection).
Hope you enjoy.
Epiphany Magazine - "Over the Edge and Into the Wind"
Epiphany Magazine - "The Smell of Dead Soldiers"
Character-i - "After Opium"