Back in March of 2002, I sold my very first novel. This was several years before Goblin Quest. Nope, this was a mainstream novel which almost nobody has ever heard of.

Goldfish Dreams was my Masters project at Eastern Michigan University, and the second book I ever wrote.

In brief, Goldfish Dreams is a mainstream book which draws on my time doing rape outreach and crisis counseling in East Lansing. The book follows Eileen Greenwood, an incest survivor, through her first year at college ... her first year away from her family. It deals with a lot of issues that are important to me. I suspect I projected more of myself into this book than anything else I've written.

I believe the book is pretty good. (But I'm the author, so you shouldn't trust my judgement on that.)

( However, I made some mistakes with it. )

My small press novel Goldfish Dreams is going out of print. I'm not at all surprised by this ... really, I'm only surprised the publisher waited this long. Regal Crest is really more of a LGBT publisher, and Goldfish Dreams was a bit of an experiment. A failed experiment. Looking at my records and those of the publisher, it sold between 200 and 300 copies. That's good for a small POD press, but ridiculously low for anything else.

Fictionwise will continue to sell the e-book version for years to come, however.

But if you're interested in the trade paperback, you have until 7/31 to get your copy.

I think it's a good book. It's mainstream, not fantasy. No goblins or princesses in this one. The book draws on my experiences as a sexual assault counselor at the Listening Ear, and I think it's a pretty powerful story.

In goblin news, I got an e-mail from Sheila saying she wants to talk to me about some minor tweaks on Goblin Hero. And having gone through my notes on Goblin War, I think I'm going to have to start over, dammit. A lot of what I've written will still work, but it will have to come later in the book. My structure was completely screwed up, and poor Jig had absolutely no motivation for what I was making him do.

So I'm stealing some of the setup from Goblin Quest. Poor Jig will have some nasty deja vu as he gets dragged into this one, but this time, after about chapter four, Jig's going to go off in a very different direction. I think. I just hope I can write those first chapters without it feeling like a re-tread of the first book. Maybe that's where the romantic interest will come in. Heh....

I've received a note from the publisher of Goldfish Dreams which makes me suspect they will be ending the contract soon (for me as well as a number of other books in their stable). They're quoting financial reasons, and from the sound of it, I haven't exactly been one of their top sellers. Not surprising, since Goldfish Dreams was a bit of a departure from their typical subject matter.

I'm not complaining. The book has sold much better than the typical small, PoD release, and this was a very different book from the other things I've written. I've used it to help support our local rape crisis center, and I've had a number of rape survivors tell me how much they appreciated it.

Anyway, if any of you were interested in a copy of the book, now might be a good time.

I am planning to keep the free e-book version available as well.