ANOTHER WEEK CLOSER TO.....

Well, it just amazes me how quickly time flies. Seems like I wrote the last post last night...and it's been a week. Damn! Sadly, like most everyone else out there, I don't have much to report or show for the past week. Wrote a couple thousand words or so on an interactive novel I began for last semester's bookbinding class. The book's called A DARK NIGHT AT SALLEE'S and is set in a department store afterhours. It features my perennial detective Frank Powell. Powell is one of Chicago's finest detectives and he's appeared in several as-yet unpublished novels and a few short stories. We have a cast of characters being interviewed about the death of Cynthia Romirez, the wife of one of Chicago's biggest crimelords. When Romirez himself shows up, the plot thickens. You'll be able to choose which chapter to read next and there will be several alternate endings to the book. It's an interesting project and requires a lot of plot twists. I encourage every writer out there to try it...it's a challenge.

Also, I've been working on the murder novel set at PK's on the Carbondale strip as well. It's coming along slowly.

I plan on finishing up the printing of TALES FROM THE CELLAR tomorrow, with any luck.

I also plan on doing the final edits of Larry Santoro's JUST NORTH OF NOWHERE this weekend. And, dammit, I'm going to get those hardcovers to Wayne Allen Sallee's FIENDS BY TORCHLIGHT done sometime soon....I promise!

Till then, gentle reader, as long-departed Bob Casper (God rest his soul) was prone to say: "Take it easy every chance you get."

later
Roger

TALES FROM THE CELLAR is coming

I've been busy the last couple evening printing TALES FROM THE CELLAR. Brad Moore, a local artist, is doing the cover for it. He says I'll have the cover in my greasy little hands on Tuesday, most likely. It'll probably be next weekend before I get around to printing the cover. I'll have copies of the book for sale locally at Bookworm and Rosetta Stone Books when they're done.

Happy? Valentine's Day

Good evening and Happy Valentine's Day to those who worship this dark, foreboding holiday. I used to....but that was before. Before I realized what a joke it is. Love, that is. In this day and age, love is as rare as hen's teeth. There aren't many things that mean a lot these days. Romance, maybe. Sex, undoubtedly. Love....well, it IS a four-letter word. In truth, I'm cynical about love these days....and with good reason. I swore my love to a woman. Never swayed from that love. What did I get for it? The shaft, that's what! Sure, sure, she's claiming it was all me, but even SHE knows that's a load of crap. I was faithful; I was there for her. I never quit loving her. Still love her, truth be told. But, I see her practically every day and, each day, she becomes more and more a stranger. She tells me that I'm helping the kids out when, in truth, she's the one benefiting from things. It's easy for her to feel good about destroying a relationship with a man who loves her IF SHE CAN BELIEVE THAT RUBBISH!

Sadly, Valentine's Day is the anniversary of our first date. Add to that the fact that today, of all days, was the first court date regarding the divorce proceedings. My lawyer said I didn't have to be there. Thank God!

So, you can see why I find it such a loathesome holiday nowadays. I'll just be glad when this day is over.

Come on February 15th!

Life's a bitch.....

Well, this blogger thing has certainly gotten me off my arse. I'm not quite as good at it yet as my friends Wayne Allen Sallee, Larry Santoro or Sidney Williams, but it's at least making me think about the bigger picture in life. My wife and I have been separated since last July. It's been a tough haul for me. I still love the woman but I know that her heart isn't with me anymore. In hindsight, she hasn't wanted to be my wife in quite a long time. That's sad, really, because we have a lot of great memories together. It's left an empty hole in my heart, and my ambition to get things done is minimal at best. Oddly enough, I've been writing a lot, though. This coming weekend, I plan on finishing the printing of the text to my latest book, TALES FROM THE CELLAR. The Cellar, for those unfamiliar with Carbondale, is a bar on the northern end of the strip. It is, essentially, a basement. Back in August of last year, I walked into The Cellar with my laptop and started chronicling the saga of the dissolution of our love. In a lot of ways, it helped. I was blaming myself for the price of tea in China at the time, so much so that I started seeing a counselor to keep from going absolutely insane with loneliness. She helped a lot, and encouraged the writing of the book. May God bless her. But, back to TALES FROM THE CELLAR. For those remotely familiar with me as a person and a writer, the fiction within the book will come as an incredible shock. It's very open and candid, and most of it isn't genre fiction at all. Only a handful of tales fit into the dark fantasy/horror/science fiction field I'm used to working in. Most of the stories are about how much I still love my wife. Sadly, I gave her a copy of the book and her only comment was: "It's the same shit you always bitch about." She read what she wanted to read into the pages. I hope, someday, she rereads the book and realizes how much it hurt me to let her go.

Life's a bitch, my friends.....

Back again

Sorry, got called away by the telephone. Please check out my website, www.rogerdaletrexler.com and the website of my publishing venture, www.annihilationpress.com. Wayne Allen Sallee's book, FIENDS BY TORCHLIGHT, was recommended for a Bram Stoker award. The next book I'm publishing, Lawrence Santoro's JUST NORTH OF NOWHERE, ought to be out sometime in late February/early March...just in time for the World Horror Convention in Toronto.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog. I'll be posting news and pictures.