March 29

The weather here in Atlanta is beautiful, so at least I can sit outside and writing, sparing me from going completely INSANE as I social distance from all of you.

I’m consistently meeting my daily quota for The Odds. The target completion date is April 7th, with some possible fluctuation if it ends up being a bit longer or shorter than the projected length. (Most of my books are about 60,000 words.) It’s a weird situation where there’s nothing to distract me from writing–even my bi-weekly lunch with horror author Brian Kirk has been cancelled–but it’s obviously more difficult to focus on creative endeavors during a worldwide pandemic!

I found out that a second book of mine was very close to a movie deal before Hollywood shut down. Lots of projects are going to fall apart during this time in limbo, and if you hear my primal wailing, you’ll know mine were among them.

March 25th

Another one gone. The HEAR Now Festival, which was going to be in Kansas City in June, has switched to an online-only format, but the Independent Audiobook Awards (which I emcee) will not be part of it. Their future has yet to be decided.

More time to write books, I guess!

 

March 23

Things are a little offbeat right now, huh?

Allison came out in Kindle format last week, and the paperback is now available. Many Amazon books are showing a late April delivery date, but while that’s impacting all of my  prior releases, it doesn’t seem to be affecting Allison quite yet, so you can get it HERE.

Errant Dreams gave it a five out of five stars review, saying it “takes the girl-with-supernatural-powers-gets-pushed-too-far trope and makes it delicious again.” Read the full review HERE.

My Appearances page probably needs a great big question mark in front of each event. The Outer Dark Symposium For The Greater Weird was pushed back to August. Mo*Con is either cancelled or postponed. But I did just add Multiverse, which will be in October in Atlanta.

I’m hard at work on my next book, The Odds. I’d made big plans for an experiment in the “rapid release” publishing model–three books in three months. Allison in March, The Odds in April, and Graveyard Closing (Everything Must Go) in May. I’m sticking to the plan but I’m not sure it really counts as an “experiment” anymore, since we’re not exactly in a normal moment in time. It may just be a matter of survival!

ALLISON Is Here…

Yes, my latest novel, Allison, is now available! Kindle edition now, paperback edition next week, audiobook and limited edition hardcover TBD…

Allison can break your bones with her mind, and she can’t control her power.

Now forty-five years old, she’s spent her life trying to stay away from other people. But a random encounter with a couple on the street leaves her believing that she may have done something horrible. Something unforgivable.

Killer-for-hire Daxton and his girlfriend Maggie know the truth. Instead of easing Allison’s anguish, they come up with a cruel plan to take advantage of it. But with Allison’s abilities exposed, there may be a grisly body count very soon…

From its shocking opening to its sinister conclusion, Allison is Jeff Strand at his over-the-top best!

Get it HERE.

March 12

It’s been a while! Sorry. I went on my trip to Houston (which went great!) and then I self-quarantined to help fight against the Oh Crap I Need To Finish This Book virus.

My new novel, Allison, will be out on Tuesday, March 17th. It will be the usual deal where the Kindle edition comes out first and the paperback follows a couple weeks later.

I’m going to catch up on various updates over the next few days, but I should point out that Laughing at Shadows, the horror/comedy anthology that contains my story “Captain Pistachio’s Charming Rampage,” is now available. I was worried that publishing this story following the tragic death of Mr. Peanut would be seen as insensitive (I swear, I wrote the story long before that!) but now that he’s back as Baby Peanut I’m less concerned about the flood of hate mail.

Get it HERE.