I’m here now.  It’s going to take a little time to rebuild everything, and it may not look exactly the same as it did previously, but I’ll give it my best.  Please be patient.

My apologies for any inconvenience.

Dave

The coordinators of The British Fantasy Society’s FantasyCon have invited Robert to submit Dry Whiskey to the convention’s short film showcase. The convention runs Sept. 22 - 24. It’ll be nice to see what kind of reaction it garners. In addition, the short film has appeared at the following film festivals:

Montreal World Film Festival
Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival (Winner - Best Short Film)
Vancouver International Film Festival
Edmonton International Film Festival
California Independent Film Festival (Winner - Best Cinematography)
Starz Denver International Film Festival
Whistler (BC) International Film Festival
Festival Tous Court (Aix-En-Provence, France)
Method Fest Film Festival (Calabasas, CA)
Kansas City Filmmaker’s Jubilee

And upcoming festivals:
Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival: May 25 - 28 (Golden Sheaf Nomination - Best Drama)
Winnipeg International Film Festival: June 8 - 12

I hadn’t heard much about the film until recently when it received some good reviews at a film festival in Kansas City. One of the comments began: “Making a great short narrative film isn’t easy — which may be why so many of them opt for the movie-as-joke format. Robert Budreau’s Dry Whiskey exhibits all the virtue of a terrific short story. In fact, it was adapted from an award-winning short story by David B. Silva.”

There’s more, but I won’t bore you.

I haven’t seen the film yet, but Robert has promised to send me copies. He also sent me a note he’d received this month from The Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival, informing him that Dry Whiskey had been nominated in the Drama category for a Golden Sheaf Award. The fesitval will run May 25-28,2006. You can learn more here: http://www.yorktonshortfilm.org/

If anyone catches it, I’d love to hear from you!

It’s never dull.

Most recently, in fact just last week, I received an e-mail from Subterranean Press. They purchased the rights to The Hawke Legacy three or four years ago and had planned to do a small run of the hardcover. I like Subterranean. They put out quality books. And I’ve always enjoyed my conversations with Bill Shafer, the publisher. So I was delighted that The Hawke Legacy was going to appear under their fold.

But time went by and I didn’t hear anything. A publication date was set … and passed. I was in the middle of a move from Northern California to Las Vegas, so I let the thing slide, assuming it would all come together when the time was right.

Well, it didn’t.

Subterranean Press informed me in their e-mail last week that they’ve decided not to publish the book after all.  The good news … I get to keep my advance. The bad news … it’s going to be awhile longer before The Hawke Legacy finds light in a published form.

I’m in the process of looking at the book, to make sure I didn’t miss something and it really works.  Once that’s done, I’ll be offering the rights to some other publishers and we’ll see what happens. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.

Never dull.

It’s been a nightmare trying to put everything back together again.

What’s worse … this isn’t the first time it’s happened.  This is the third or fourth time I’ve had a computer do a meltdown on me since 1984 when I first started using a computer for my writing and publishing.

Now, you might think that’s not so bad, four times in 22 years. Doesn’t sound that bad.  Give me three weeks and I’ll probably agree with you.  But for the moment, even once in 22 years seems like too much. Computers were supposed to make my life easier.  Wasn’t that their promise?

Now, to be brutally honest, I might never have gone into writing if it weren’t for computers. Even though I started out on a typewriter, it was a smart typewriter, with the ability to remember a page or two at a time and a little window where I could see the line I was typing.  Pretty cool back then.

Then in 1984 I got my first computer (actually, it was a loan from my father) and suddenly I could write much longer stories without worrying about having to retype them all over again during the editing stage.  Wonderful!

Of course, this was back in the days of the floppy disk and software programs like WordStar. Then each time I upgraded my program, I’d have to upgrade all my stories so they’d be compatible. And when 3.5 disks came along, I should have (but didn’t) converted all my stories to those disks. Then WordStar died and I went to another program that I don’t even recall now (doing my best to resist Microsoft products because they dominated the marketplace and I preferred the potential benefits of competition). Eventually, I ended up with Word anyway, and computer disks (or computer discs, because “disk” apparently refers to magnetic storage devices, while “disc” refers to optical storage devices).

Most of my stories and novels are now on disc, which is great until some new format comes out and I have to switch them all again. All of the old Horror Show issues are still on 5 1/4″ floppies.  My brother-in-law says he has a working drive that can copy them. Of course, I would then have to convert them all to Word files, which could take months. So I think I’ll leave them be for now.

I can’t tell you how many months I’ve invested in either upgrading or rebuilding my work so I could continue to have access to it through my computer.

Definitely a nightmare.

But not as intimidating as the idea of retyping a 400 page manuscript!

Dave

PS - I have no idea if this sort of information is of any interest to you or not. If you’d rather not see it here, please let me know.  If you’d like to see more of it, I really need to know that, too.

Longtime collaborators Paul F. Olson and David B. Silva have launched their newest project, a joint Web site where they will be discussing past work, unveiling new projects and offering a variety of exclusive material. To get things started, they are giving away two “classic” stories to everyone who stops by and signs up for their mailing list.

“We want to use the site to keep in touch with readers,” Silva says. “When we have something new in the works, this will be the place to find out about it – and probably get a sneak peak in the process. The bonus is the free material we’ll be posting. We’ll have stories, articles, and a lot of other things going up over the next few months. People will definitely want to keep an eye on that page, so they don’t miss anything.”

In addition to the free stories for mailing list members, early visitors are being treated to a vintage article from The Horror Show, the groundbreaking magazine Silva edited from 1982 to 1991. The article by Olson was a prank pulled on readers in honor of April Fool’s Day. It is posted in its complete, original form, including a sidebar created for the story by Joe R. Lansdale. Olson has also supplied an introductory essay explaining the origins of the stunt – and its aftermath.

The Web site also features a blog, where Olson and Silva will be covering topics of interest to writers and readers.

“We’re really excited about this project,” says Olson, who is already laying plans to offer an unpublished novel as an e-serial for mailing list members. “We wanted to create a launching pad for new work and a way to breathe new life into older stories. This is the perfect way to do it.”

Olson and Silva’s previous collaborations include the ghost story anthology Post Mortem (St. Martin’s Press 1989/Dell Abyss 1992) and the urban horror anthology Dead End: City Limits (St. Martin’s Press 1991). In 1997 they created the electronic newsletter Hellnotes, which they published for more than five years before turning it over to new management in the fall of 2002.

To find Olson and Silva’s Web site, go to http://olsonandsilva.com

Here’s the introduction to the book:

Here’s the thing about storytelling … it’s all lies.

A good writer is like a good magician. He tells his story through a series of misdirections. When it’s to his advantage, he shines the light in the corner instead of giving you a complete overview of the room. Other times, he shines the light on the room, and conveniently leaves the corner in the dark. It all depends on what he wants you to see and that which he wishes to go unseen. In the end, you’ll see it all, of course, because lies always surface eventually. But until the end, you can never be sure how much is truth and how much is lie.

With that in mind, you should know that by their very nature, the stories you are about to read here are all lies. But they’re also stories about lies. About the lies we tell the people we love most in the world … at times to deceive them, at other times to protect them. About the lies we tell ourselves when it’s too difficult to face the harsh reality of the world or the even harsher reality of our places in that world.

Some are little white lies meant to be harmless.

Some are big black lies meant to harm.

They’re all here.

Just like they’re all around you out there.

I could tell you I wrote these stories for you, but that would be a lie. I wrote them for myself. I don’t think I know how to write a story for someone else. Or maybe that’s just a little white lie I like to tell myself to make it seem that what I do is all that more mysterious and noble than it really is. I’m not sure. But I am sure that when I wrote these stories I had high hopes that you would enjoy them. I always hope my stories will prove to be entertaining or thought provoking or emotionally powerful.

Still … it’s rare that I finish a story and feel confident I’ve nailed it.

I’m almost never sure.

I’ll try to convince myself it works and that people will enjoy it, even when it doesn’t feel right. That seems to make writing the next story a little less painful, a little more hopeful. And the truth is … sometimes I’m telling myself a little white lie and sometimes I’m not. No harm done as long as I’m not being completely delusional.

Most little white lies help us cope.

It’s the big ones that get us in trouble.

So … any lies you’ve told today?

Okay, back to the present. Now, let me be perfectly honest with you … I’m quite pleased with the theme and the collection of stories that were built around it. However, the Little Book Series is unique in that the books are quite literally little. They measure 4 3/4″ by 6 1/4″. Some readers may find this off-putting. Others may find it intriguing.

A Little White Book of Lies comes numbered and signed, and sells for $20.00. You can learn more by dropping by the Borderlands Press site here: http://www.borderlandspress.com/white.html