|
|
Christopher J. BurkeAuthor, Webcomic creator, Math Teacher,
|
Older News | ||||
|
11/10/2024: New Reviews TIMES Two The math is me is strong. It's in the name. Nevertheless ... I discovered this past week that a review of Burke's Lore Briefs #2:"Portrait of a Lady Vampire & Other Vampiric Cravings" appeared on the Paranormal Romance Guild blog. Honestly, not a place I existed to find myself, but I'm excited to be there! The "times two" is because the review was picked up by Liminal Fiction. Here's a highlight: Please, read the review. It's not a spoiler, I hope, to say that the reviewer enjoyed "Vampiric Cravings" the best. I love the feedback. I had another reader tell me why they enjoyed "Lord Matthias" the best. What gold I could mine from that is that everyone has didn't preferences for what makes a good story. I'll also point out that there is a bonus story in the book, "Last Dawn", that appears in In A Flash 2020. The review didn't mention it. Likewise, another review of "A Heavenly Date / My Damned Best Friend" doesn't mentioned "My Own Personal Hell" from A Bucket Full of Moonlight. Both stories are complete. I may have to rethink my "bonus story" policy. I wonder if people skip them like previews for new books.
11/07/2024: The First Issue of BURKE'S LORE BITES was Mailed Out If you're on my mailing list, you should have received the inaugural issue of Burke's Lore Bites, containing the recent news and the bonus story that I promised to the people who signed up to receive mailings in the first place. If you haven't received one, send me an email. The system isn't automated. I'm doing it myself for the time being.
10/27/2024: News of TWO Books Book 1 of 2 News: A Little Fantasy Everywhere is now on Amazon in paperback, although the cover image isn't loading. I have a story, "What You Needed", in this. There will be a launch party at Philcon next month. Book News 2 of 2: 42 Stories Anthology Presents: Book of 42² popped up on Amazon but it won't be released until next month. It's 42 micro stories of 42 words in 42 categories by 42² authors. I'm 2 of them (writing under 1 pen name). If you like microfiction, check out the ebook. https://www.amazon.com/42-Stories-Anthology-Presents-Book/dp/1990589243 If you like coffee table books, go for the print edition!
10/13/2024: World Fantasy Convention 2024 at Niagara Falls Next Weekend From Thursday through Sunday, I'll be at the World Fantasy Convention in Niagara Falls, NY. As of this notice, I'm not on any panels, but I will be part of the mass Autograph Session on Friday night. I'll have plenty of books to purchase and sign. Stop on by!
10/04/2024: A Little Fantasy Everywhere is Now Available on Amazon The light-hearted fantasy anthology "A Little Fantasy Everywhere", from Jersey Pines Ink, is available now on Amazon.. This collection contains my flash story, "What You Needed", which was a fun story to write. The link is https://www.amazon.com/Little-Fantasy-Everywhere-Beverly-Haaf-ebook/dp/B0DJ685NQQ.
09/28/2024: Exclusive Interview with Paul Semel Earlier this month, I was interviewed by Paul Semel about A Bucket Full of Moonlight. The interview is on his his page. Check it out! In other news, my flash story "Death's Last Man" was published in issue #5 of the comic "Deadweights", published by Ahoy Comics. My story is text with an illustration, not a comic story.
09/01/2024: A Bucket Full of Moonlight is Now Available! This is a reprint announcement. I updated this page, but the announcement is now here. Did I not click "Save Changes"? I have no way of knowning. But it any event, A Bucket Full of Moonlight is now available for purchase on Amazon!  In other news, my flash story "Death's Last Man" was published in issue #5 of the comic "Deadweights", published by Ahoy Comics. My story is text with an illustration, not a comic story.
08/18/2024: Achievement Unlocked: Copies of A Bucket Full of Moonlight are Signed! A LOT has been going on lately. Sorry that I haven't been sharing as much as I could as often as I should! For starters, yesterday I was at a signing party where several authors from the recent Kickstarter event got together to sign the books for those people who backed the campaign. And I got my author copies of A Bucket Full of Moonlight along with the extras that I purchased for myself. These books will go on sale on Amazon starting in September, just two weeks away! In other news, my flash story "Death's Last Man" was published in issue #5 of the comic "Deadweights", published by Ahoy Comics. My story is text with an illustration, not a comic story.
07/27/2024: Burke's Lore Briefs 3: I See What You'll Do There is Out Now As the title says, the newest entry in the BURKE'S LORE BRIEFS series is now available as a paperback or ebook. And it's available in Kindle Unlimited. A little late, but today, Saturday, July 27, 2024, Burke's Lore Briefs Vol 1: A Heavenly Date is FREE to celebrate the new book's release!
07/18/2024: COVER REVEAL! Burke's Lore Briefs 3: I See What You'll Do There! The third entry in the BURKE'S LORE BRIEFS series will be available on Thursday, July 25, 2024. Here is a sneak peek at the cover. (Some modifications might happen before then.) And it's available for pre-order. Click on the image below! 
07/03/2024: AHOY! New Story Purchased! First, my apologies to what few readers I have, but the Kickstarter for my new book, A Bucket Full of Moonlight took place this past month. It just ended. It funded with lots and lots of extras and freebies. This makes me happy. I wish there were more of you here to enjoy the news. Second, Comics Ahoy purchased a story from me that will be published last this year. And I can mention it because I not only signed the contract, but I also got paid. And I will say that it's the best payday I've received since I sold an article to Mad Magazine. (It was nowhere near what I made for Mad, just saying, but it was the best per word rate that I'll get for a long time to come.) More about this story when the issue comes out. I can't wait to see my story in a comic. That's something new for me!
05/20/2024: NEW STORY PUBLISHED When it rains, it pours with the news. Also, ALWAYS check your Spam Folder. I went looking for anything relating to "submission" or "story" that might've been sent there by accident. As luck would have it, there was an email from an editor from two days prior. The editor had used a different email address and the message included two links, so hotmail decided that it must be spam. Those two links were to a digital copy of Sci-Fi Lampoon Magazine, Spring 2024 and to the site where the book (and the magazine is thick enough to be a book) can be purchased! Let's get that out of the way first. Their page is SciFi Lampoon dot com. And that issue contains some wonderful stuff, as seen in these images below:    
05/18/2024: Story excerpt on Substack: "Familiar Feeling" A con report is coming -- and, yes, it should've been here a week ago, at least -- but in the meantime, check out a story excerpt on my Substack. The lead-off story in "In A Flash 2020" by Christopher J. Burke (eSpec Books) takes place at the Carrowmore School for Magic and Wizardry, somewhere north of New York City. Second year students summon their first familiars. Or attempt to, at any rate. What the results will be, who can say? But it's a Familiar Feeling.
05/02/2024: A BUCKET FULL OF MOONLIGHT PRE-SALE on Amazon! I received the news this week that A Bucket Full of Moonlight is listed on Amazon and is available for pre-sale. The page says that the ebook will be available September 1, 2024. And there's already a page for the book on Good Reads.
04/21/2024: Heliosphere Schedule, Piscatway, NJ, May 3-5, 2024! SATURDAY 11:30 am - 12:45 pm - Boardroom A
1:00 pm - 2:15 pm - Salon D (Dealers Room) (and Salon A Flex Space if needed for overflow)
4:00 pm - 5:15 pm - Boardroom A
5:30 pm - 6:45 pm - Salon E
SUNDAY 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm - Salon C
04/07/2024: Burke's Lore #2: Portrait of a Lady Vampire & Other Vampiric Cravings is Out Now! My apologies for not posting the Cover Reveal, which made it onto Facebook and Twitter. The only reasons I can give for my lapse are that this page isn't the easiest thing in the world for me to maintain, along with the fact that few, in anybody, actually reads it. (No one has ever actually told me that they had.) The new book contains three stories. The title story previously appeared in the now defunct Daily Science Fiction. The other two started life as writing prompt responses that were much, much shorter than the file product. And, like last time, there is a bonus story: "Last Dawn" from In A Flash 2020. Here is the link:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWGVCGY5, or click on the image at the top of the page. And thank you always for your support.
03/27/2024: Burke's Lore #2: Coming in April! The stories are complete. The book is being set. The cover is on its way. After a few real-world delays, and possibly some unrealistic expectations, Burke's Lore Briefs #2: Portrait of a Lady Vampire & Other Vampiric Cravings is close to publication. I was hoping that I could make it in March, but with only four days remaining and Easter weekend coming, that doesn't seem likely. Better to do it right than to do it quickly. But I still wanted to share the some news.
03/13/2024: NEW Story in Short Beasts Flash Fiction Literary Magazine A new story "On My Shoulders", not based on any prompts, nor previously published, was posted today on Short Beasts Literary Magazine. The link is https://www.shortbeasts.com/flash-fiction/on-my-shoulders/ This is a case study in why "gentle reminders" are a good thing. The initial blurb I read for Short Beasts stated that they may take up to five months to respond. After 160 days or so (according to my Excel spreadsheet), I emailed the editor to ask it the story was still under consideration or if I'd missed an email. I received a polite response a few hours later stating that my story was read and that they wanted to publish it (with a minor change, which definitely improved the piece), and here it is! I'm hoping for a good year. In other news, I signed the contract for an anthology that will be happening later this year. And I have a story coming up in a future issue of Science Fiction Lampoon. So that's this credits in this one calendar year (not counting self-publishing and a recent reprint). That's a record for me!
02/23/2024: Story in Free Flash Fiction My story "A Sliver of Pi" from In A Flash 2020 (eSpec Books) was re-published today at Free Flash Fiction today. The link is https://freeflashfiction.com/fiction/a-sliver-of-pi/
02/20/2024: Substack People say I need a Substack. So I got a Substack The link is https://christopherjburke.substack.com/
01/21/2024: Mailing List! NEW! Join my Mailing List!. Write "ADD ME" in the body of the text.
01/19/2024: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I have my Author Copies of Burke's Lore Briefs #1! First, an update on my Free Book day: 28 people bought the ebook for free, and I got one review on Amazon from "Ken". Surprisingly (to me), I've sold more paperbacks than I have ebooks, excluding freebies. And I know at least two people who got their copies of my book before I did -- free shipping is a wonderful thing, but it isn't available with author copies. I had to wait. That brings me to this picture, which I actually posted on social media a week ago.  I almost didn't buy them, but I'm happy now that I did. And I've already sold several to coworkers. I have to love my Math Department colleagues.
12/25/2023: MERRY CHRISTAMS, SEASONS GREETING, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, FREE BOOK! Sorry for the last-minute notice, but as a gift to all who have found this page, today only, my newest ebook, my first self-published ebook, will be FREE to download from Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQGSFJ26  All I ask is that you read it -- it's short, so it doesn't have to go to the back of your digital TBR pile -- and, if you enjoy it, consider leaving a review or rating or Amazon or Good Reads. You can even comment directly to me on social media. I'm (at)mrburkemath on most of the platforms that I'm on. (I'm u/xwhy on reddit.) Thank you for downloading. Thank you for your support.
12/14/2023: BOOK LAUNCH
First lesson learned: an ebook only needs a front cover, but a paperback needs a wraparound cover. When I uploaded the same image, Amazon's program zoomed in on it. It didn't look bad, but the text was mostly missing. So I uploaded the image without the text and used their programming to add the title and back cover text. Next time, I'll double the size of the image so I have a back and a front cover, even if the back is just grey or light blue or something. More lessons to be learned in coming days, like, don't screw up the author name. It didn't include my middle initial on one version, which isn't a big deal, except that Good Reads now thinks that the two versions were written by two different people. Something to keep an eye on in the future. Finally, these books are live, and you can buy them. It's 99 cents for the ebook (FREE in Kindle Unlimited) and $4.00 plus shipping for the paperback. If you enjoy them, please leave a rating, review or feedback on Amazon, Good Reads or anywhere on social media. Thank you in advance.
12/14/2023: Another Anthology I received an email that I will be in another anthology, hopefully to be published mid-2024. Since no contracts have been signed, I don't wish to say much about it because I don't want to 'jinx" anything. But I will say that it was a flash fiction story of about 1,000 words, which will appear with other stories of similar length although I don't know how many.
12/06/2023: RIP Stephen P. Burke My brother Stephen passed away this week. It was unexpected. He was being treated for a different medical issue. Then he went into cardiac arrest. He never woke up again. He was 72. How do you remember a life is a few paragraphs? Stephen was my second-oldest brother in a large Irish family. My earliest memories of him are when he went away to Iona College but would be home on the weekends. I had his bed during the week. Stephen loved his comic books. He bought many and passed them down to his brothers. He liked to write, draw and act. It makes me wonder where I got all that from. He starred in a number of productions at Iona College, including The Man Who Came to Dinner, where he seemed to have drawn a lot of inspiration from my father. If Stephen's writing was published in college, that's all lost to me. The only stories of his that I know of were the ones I published myself in Driving Tigers Magazine. In fact, his second story was so big that I had to make a fifth issue of the magazine just to include it in two parts. DTM was going to cease publication after one year because I didn't get enough subscritions for a second year. My other memories, of course, are chess. Stephen tried to teach me before I was even in kindergarten (or so it seems) but I obviously couldn't master the game at his level. I couldn't even tell you what his level actually was, or how far ahead he could see my moves. In recent months, he told me that he has collectible chess pieces in his apartment, and he wanted to be sure that nothing happened to them. Stephen will be missed. And assuming that I get my second book published, my third book, whatever it is, will be dedicated to him. Good-night, Steve. I'll see you again.
11/18/2023: A quick note to say that I've sold another story. The contract is signed. More details in a couple months as it gets closer to publication, but I should be in the next issue of Sci-Fi Lampoon. In NaNoWriMO News: I have not kept up my 1,000 words per day pace that I started at, but I did edit the aforementioned story, I completed a mini-book that is going to be self-published Real Soon Now and and I've increased my output in my subreddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/xwhy/, with a dozen entries this month, so far, which is more than I produced in the first ten months of the year. As for my mystery "self-publishing" project, I'm waiting on two things. First, I need a cover, and I have someone working on that. However, I might use an AI cover if that falls through. Second, I want to be a little farther along with the second mini-book before I launch the first. In a perfect world, there would be no more than a month between them. We shall see.
11/01/2023: Halloween has come and gone, and November is now here. That means it's time for NaNoWriMo which for me has usually been more of a NaNoSloMo. I've never participated in this event before because, to be honest, I've never had an idea going in that was novel-length. And being more plotter than "pantser", I couldn't just start writing anything and hoping something would emerge. So what's different this year? Well, I have a few irons in the fire. I'm just going to go for a word count and sort out the results later. But among the projects I want to work on are a bunch of started writing prompts from reddit that are more opening scene than complete story which could be turned into novellas or serials, depending on their structure. Also, I have the desire to turn some of these into short stories that will be self-published in Kindle Unlimited Real Soon Now. Finally, I've had the opening narration for a paranormal cozy mystery satire that I wouldn't mind putting some words into. So those are my November plans. If I can get about 30,000 words out of it, that would be great.
09/01/2023: "A Sliver of Pi" is live at MetaStellar Reprints! The story originally appeared in In A Flash 2020. More stories are making the rounds, and I hope to have more good news soon.
08/24/2023: A Sliver of Pi to appear in September in MetaStellar MetaStellar Magazine publishes new stories and reprints, and on September 1, 2023, they will be reprinting "A Sliver of Pi", a short (314-word) tale from In A Flash 2020 Be sure to check it out. I'll post the URL here when it goes live!
08/22/2023: In April, I mentioned the idea of self-publishing, and even listed a possible photo to use with Kindle Vella. I've held off a bit with it for a couple of reasons. At the time, I thought I could take a story I've already written, cut it in half, and expand it with 2 or 3 more installments. This was before I realized that some serials on Vella run several hundred episodes, with no end in sight. Granted, most of those are broken into "arcs" or "seasons", but it seemed like me "The Green Mile" approach of a story in 4 or 5 parts is not what readers are looking for. I wouldn't want to disappoint any potential fans by ending the story "so soon" when the story has been told. (Further exploits of the main characters could be possible, of course, but I'm not a "pantser" when it comes to writing.) Another reason is that I haven't totally given up on publishing that particular story as is. There's still a market or two to try. I could always come back to it. The biggest reason is a shift to publishing 99 cent books of short stories with approximately 6,000 words and possibly a bonus story from either In A Flash 2020 or from the new collection that I hope goes to press in 2024. (Yeah for Sneak Peeks!) When could this happen? As soon as I have enough material for at least two books, with work picked out for books three and four. At that point, I will spend money to have someone make some covers for me, which will likely cost more than the books will earn. But you have to make it look good to get the readers' attention in the first place. Exciting times ahead! I hope.
06/08/2023: New (x, why?) comic in Madrid. I have a comic in Boletín Nº 93 of Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI) of Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The bulletin is in Spanish, but the comic is in English, as it appeared on my blog.
04/19/2023: My HeliosphereNY 2023 schedule has been posted.  HeliosphereNY 2023 will take place Friday-Sunday April 28-30, in Piscataway, NJ. Yes, HeliosphereNY is in NJ. I hope to see you there. Come by and say "hi!"
04/06/2023: With that in mind, I started playing with some public domain images that I could tack onto my work. It's still rough, but I might develop one of the two images into a cover for the serial.  What do you think? You can email me, or find me on Twitter.
02/03/2023: Not exactly writing related, but I ended up in an article in the online magazine Bored Panda. A week or two back, I posted on reddit in r/movies about what was the pickiest thing that ever killed your suspension of disbelief. Was it something dumb like the subway lines being wrong? The author, Jonas Grinevicius, got in contact with me yesterday through Reddit's message system and asked some questions. I saw the email about 6 hours later and quickly responded. I'm happy to say that they updated the article with my responses, even editing out some of Jonas's original work. (I didn't tell him, but I saw the article as it originally posted before they added my comments.) Jonas was happy to plug my books, and he even mentioned my webcomic, even though I did not!. I suck at self-promoting. I didn't want to push it past a shameless plug for my book. Hopefully, this will turn into a couple of sales. And if you found this page through my blog from that article, WELCOME! Come back often. Drop a note on the blog and say HI!
2/01/2023: A new year is upon us, and a month has already flown by. Lots of stories are "out there", but one just came back. My Daily Science Fiction story "Portrait of a Lady Vampire" made it to the final round, as a reprint, to be made into a podcast, but it didn't make the final cut. Oh, well. That would've been cool. I can always record it myself, but having it produced for a podcast would have been nice. And it would've started 2023 off with a bang!
10/08/2022: Another one of my (x, why?) webcomics appeared in Madrid. Nº 61 of Boletín del IMI has a comic which was reprinted from my blog: https://www.ucm.es/imi/boletin00061. I'll say it again: It's always a thrill to see my comics making their way out into the world. (I wish more of my stories would follow!).
8/30/2022: A box of paperback copies of In A Flash 2020 is in the mail and should be arriving in a couple of days. I'll be ready to sell some directly and throw in some limited edition (x, why?) bookmarks.
8/21/2022: I mentioned last year that I had two stories (both 42 words long) accepted into an anthology of "42 Stories". I can now say that my published word count will go up by 84 words in 2024, although 42 of those will be under a psuedonym. Below is an image I was sent to acknowledge my inclusion in the Fantasy chapter. 
7/20/2022: I have been a little lax with updates of late. There isn't much to report on the Author front, but on the (x, why?) side of things, two more of my webcomics appeared in Madrid. Nº 50 of Boletín del IMI has an original comic, which was later reprinted on my blog: https://ucm.es/imi/boletin00050. And Nº 54 of Boletín del IMI has a reprint which appeared on my blog first: https://ucm.es/imi/boletin00054. It's always a thrill to see my comics making their way out into the world. (I wish more of my stories would follow!). Now I just need to devote more time to making some more of them.
4/28/2022: First Portugal, then Sweden, and now Spain! I appear in the latest edition of Boletin. That is, Nº 46 del Boletín del IMI, Instituto de Matemática Interdisciplinar (IMI), Universidad Complutense de Madrid. There's an (x, why?) comic and an introduction for little old me. Check it out: https://ucm.es/imi/boletin00046.
4/26/2022: I signed a Permission Form granting the American Mathematical Society the right to use some of my math puzzles in their Mathematics 2023: Your Daily Epsilon of Math; 12-Month Calendar - January 2023 through December 2023". I've followed the daily postings on twitter for two years now, and I've given the "official" response several times. I've even used those responses as (x, why?) comics on my own blog. I'm glad my work could be a part of this.
4/03/2022: I appeared last week at HeliosphereNY in Piscataway, NJ. Sorry about the lack of notice. I only feel comfortable updating this page from my home computer, and in the days before the convention, I was busy when I was home. I did my first and second live and in person readings ever. (I didn't one via Zoom at last year's convention.) They went well. I got several laughs at the smaller, more intimate setting that I share with two more seasoned authors (who bought in the people). And I closed out the eSpec Books Launch Party readings. The audience loved the portion of "Bringer of Doom" that I read, and at least one person immediately bought the book to read the ending. (And I personalized the book, which I'd signed in advance.) I also sold a copy of In A Flash 2020 -- to an editor! -- based on the two words, "Kindergarten Noir". I hoped she enjoyed it. I personalized her book as well with something that said that I knew something about her. All in all, a fun convention. And now I'm hoping that I can do more of them. Or at least more readings.
2/01/2022: There is a new video posted of me reading The It Girl from In A Flash 2020 on YouTube. Check it out. Comments welcome.
|
