I submitted my heroic fantasy THE MOONLIGHT WAR to the Harper Voyager submissions thingy back in October. According to them they received 4543 submissions. As of yesterday they have sent out 3595 rejections and have marked 948 for further review. I guess that puts me in the "further review" category. (I've been checking my email and junk folder religiously.) So fingers crossed.

I was going to update this post, but decided my time would be better served actually--you know--working on DARKSIDE: DAMNED IF YOU DO.

Sorry.

After 30 years of service, today is my last day of full-time employment with the Canadian Armed Forces—although I will officially be paid until the end of the month. Thanks to Gov't and Military budget cuts, beginning 1 April I will revert to part-time service. While still considered a member of the military and therefore subject to military discipline, orders, rules and regulations, I will only be employed (and thus paid) for 12 days a month, vice 30-31, effectively cutting my annual salary to slightly less than half. That and the lack of benefits (dental, medical) should make the transition interesting, to say the least. (I have to find a doctor!)

Oddly enough, I'm rather looking forward to this. While money will be tight, it's manageable, and there's a certain appeal to only working every other week or so. I can devote more time to my writing, and hopefully I can complete the several half-finished novels I currently have on the go.

And you know the old saying: God never closes a door, he slams it shut. (Wait, that doesn't sound right.)

Yesterday's fan mail came at just the right time. I was at that point (again) where I wonder why I bother writing. It certainly isn't for the money. I'm sure I'm the only writer who's ever felt this way, but just in case there's another one of you out there wondering why bother, here's the fan letter (with the author's permission):

Hi Mr. Perry,

I just wanted to thank you again for writing Darkside and Darkside 2. I sampled them several years ago, over 6 to be exact, online—and you sent me .pdf's to my email then as well…I have kept them, and read them several times—but just recently found that you were on amazon, so I bought and downloaded the two books to my kindle…to support you just because…

Anyway—I'm sure you get this a lot, but life is just friggin tough sometimes…and I've had a particularly rough patch lately—and these books have just let me drift away in comfort. I love them. I know them, and the characters…and they make me feel better. I have re-read these books probably 6 or 7 times now, and they never get old.

I was just catching up on your journal, and I hope you are still writing. You have such talent. I wish I could do more than just buy your books, but alas I am not that important or that inclined, but I do so enjoy your writing. I'm just a 45 year old dad, trying to get by…and your books help.

Thank you for your books, sir. You are appreciated.

I have no illusions about my writing. I know I'm not writing WAR AND PEACE. All I've ever strived for in my work is to be entertaining. Even if I had never made a cent from my writing, this letter proves it was all worth it.

So keep writing. You never know how your work touches those who read it.

So I took my car for its emissions re-test yesterday. In southern Ontario your car must pass an emissions test every two years or you can't renew your plates. Anyway, Ontario has changed the way the test is done from actually testing your—you know—emissions, to plugging into the OBD ll computer on your car and bitch slapping interrogating it. Apparently almost half of the cars tested fail the new test for the first time, not because of poor emission results, but because the computer isn't "ready to be tested" yet. Maybe you didn't give it enough notice. Maybe it likes to be fashionably late. Maybe it still has to fix it's hair and makeup. Whatever.

When the test comes back as "not ready" you didn't actually fail, but you have to come back and do it again (but at only half the price!) after first running your car through a series of preparations—let it sit for eight hours, start it and let it idle for two minutes with the air conditioner on, drive it for at least 30 kms, let it read Emissions Test For Dummies, etc.

Oh, and if your Service Engine light is on it's an automatic fail, even though the light can come on for a number of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with emissions. (My Jeep light often comes on because the gas cap isn't on correctly—a common problem with Jeeps.)

So my car "wasn't ready the first time" and I had to come back. Problem is, my service engine light came on shortly after that—the gas cap problem. So I drove the car for a couple of days to ensure the computer would be ready, then filled the tank (the service engine light went out) drove it around for a few more days, and went back for retesting.

The first thing they asked me was, "Is the service engine light on." No, no it's not.

Now, the reason for this new testing is that it's supposedly much quicker than the old test—only 8-10 minutes. There were only three cars ahead of me, so I figured maybe half an hour.

When they hooked up the second car in line (a 2009 Mazda 5), it died. Completely. They couldn't start it. They had to push it out of the bay. This didn't exactly inspire confidence in those of us waiting in line, btw. The guy running the test got on the phone with the mechanic for about 20 minutes, then they pushed the car back into the bay (after assuring the guy they wouldn't charge him again for the test—how fair of them), did some weird things to the engine (a bypass of some sort) and everything worked fine. The guy's car passed.

Anyway, they hooked my car up and it passed with flying colours. Only took ten minutes, too. Total time at the garage, however, was an hour and a half.

So this new test, that was supposed to save time, took me two trips as opposed to one, had me burn gas by driving around for at least 30 Km (highway and stop and go traffic) and letting the car sit idle and whatnot to prepare the computer, and ended up costing me an extra $20.

To top it off, as I was pulling away from the garage, my Service Engine light came on.

Just before heading off to the gym I received this amazing fan letter for Darkside 1 and 2, but when I got back, there was an email *recalling* the first one. What? He changed his mind?

--"Dear Mr. Perry, I just want to tell you how much I loved Darkside 1 and 2." *Send*
D'oh! Wrong books. I meant Darkhide 1 and 2 by S.K.S Derry.--

Why does this stuff always happen to me. *sigh* Oh well, at least that vampire clan has stopped hassling me.

It's worth saying twice! Happy Birthday marshallpayne1!!!

I just received this from Amazon:

To confirm your rights to distribute the book(s) listed above, please provide any documentation or other evidence that proves you have retained rights for these book(s). Alternatively, you may have the rights holders contact us directly with confirmation that you have retained rights.

Exactly how do I prove I DIDN'T give up the rights to my book that they've happily been selling for me for the last 2 years? Give me a break.

Okay, I take back all (most) of my bitching about Amazon. I just got an email from them saying "Thank you for providing the requested information, and your book will be available for sale on Amazon soon."

On advice from a few of you, I decided to change DARKSIDE's category at Amazon from Fantasy/Contemporary to Fantasy/Paranormal. Of course, by doing so it had to go under Amazon's review process again—which usually takes about a day.

Last night I received an email from Amazon to the effect that, while reviewing my submission, they found that DARKSIDE was "widely available on the web." In order to protect my copyright (kind of ironic coming from them, considering DARKSIDE's past history with Amazon) they are requesting I provide them with the URLs for all websites where DARKSIDE is published, and an explanation as to why the content is available online. If the books are considered in the public domain, they want proof/justification for that, too.

If they're not happy with my reply, my book "will not be made available for sale."

So let me get this straight. They found that DARKSIDE is being offered for free (I allowed Obooko to offer Darkside as a .pdf download, and it can be read online on my website) and of course there's a gazillion pirated sites. And if I can't justify this to them, they're not going to offer it for sale?

Is Amazon my distributor, or publisher? DARKSIDE is also available through Smashwords (and therefore in other eBook formats—sony, apple, kobo, etc.) at the same price that it's sold for at Amazon for their e-reader format. As far as I'm concerned, Amazon has the right to distribute DARKSIDE as a Kindle eBook ONLY, and at our agreed upon price. DARKSIDE sells for .99 cents, which means Amazon takes 70% of the profit simply for hosting it on their site. And they're complaining?

Copyright infringement is none of their business, unless they're the one's doing the infringing.

Anyway, no idea how this is going to go, but knowing Amazon DARKSIDE may not be for sale on their site for much longer.