Well, it’s going to be stinking hot here in SoCal this week so I’m very thankful for the AC. Seriously. There’s no need to sit in an oven. Set to dehydrate like I’m a bag of Jeff’s Famous Jerky.

Which is fucking awesome, by the way. I highly recommend it.

Secondly, I’d like to say if you haven’t seen it, the Half Moon Bay short stories are up. https://rhysford.wordpress.com/half-moon-bay-shorts/

Also…

The Sinners Interviews are up as are the Last Call Tour Pieces:
https://rhysford.wordpress.com/the-sinners-interviews/
https://rhysford.wordpress.com/last-call-tour/

AND in case you missed them, 415 Ink: Ink and Threads are also available for reading: https://rhysford.wordpress.com/ink-and-threads/

Of course there’s always the old chestnut Tatsu: https://rhysford.wordpress.com/dragons/
This is the story my mother read of mine. Really the only thing she’s read and of course it’s the darkest thing I’ve ever written. *grins* But just in case you were wondering about the Dragons…

The Savior Cover Reveal, Giveaway and Excerpt are now LIVE on The Novel Approach! Go see what Mace and the 415 Ink Boys are up to!

http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.com/exclusive-cover-reveal-excerpt-and-giveaway-savior-by-rhys-ford/

 

 

 

The Novel Approach is hosting the second 415 Ink novel, Savior on July 13th! There will be a cover reveal, an exclusive excerpt AND a giveaway. I’ll be posting the link tomorrow. See what Mace and the other 415 Ink men are doing, and stick around to see Mace lose his heart and mind to the last person in the world he thought he’d fall in love with.

Someone asked me this morning if I think about how a narrator is going to deal with foreign words and phrases when I write. It’s a good question and I kind of want to deconstruct the question a little bit.

Please understand as I write this, I’m going to just go through what is in my head when I start writing so it’s going to be pretty much a stream of consciousness thing, okay?

I don’t go into a story thinking about anything other than the environment I’m writing in. I chose the words and things I need to build the world I want my characters to live in and simply forge forward. I write from my POV, the world I know and the languages and influences I have. So what does that mean for the reader and narrator?

It means they might encounter things outside of their world view. And that’s okay.

Now, this has been a bit of a contentious wrangling at times during editing because I’ve been told… substitute this unfamiliar-to-editor thing with this very-familiar-to-homogenized-America thing. My answer to that will always be no, they’ll learn. That’s how I learned. Because we want to learn as we read.

That might sound weird to say the truth is, it’s how we learn and stretch. There are languages and cultures I would NEVER have encountered growing up in Hawai’i but I learned of them through books. I embraced the unknown because it was unknown. Did  it pull me out of the story? Yes, sometimes. Not gonna lie. It’s a risk…but once I looked something up, I could go back and read over what I’d already read with a new understanding.

See, I believe in the intelligence of the readers in the genre and beyond. I trust in their acumen and flexibility. I have faith they will return to the text with a new awareness of my world, my POV. I respect the reader’s intellect. I never ever want to dumb down my language or cultural references because I know the audience … the readers… will seek out what they don’t know… IF they don’t know.

Just like I had to figure out what the Amish and Jewish cultures were. And let me tell you… that was very confusing for a hapa kid living on O’ahu.

As for writing with narrators in mind… nah, don’t do that either. Mind you, I’ve got some kickass narrators who are fantastic talents and great guys. But I also don’t ever expect stuff to roll into an audiobook. You can’t write with that hanging over you. You can’t hinder yourself with those boundaries. It’s a performance medium of your work, yes…that is true… but the FIRST representation of your writing is that book. And that’s where the focus should be.

Hope that answers the general question of writing for the audience and narration. Bottom line, write your POV… explain as you can and should but embrace the readers’ intelligence. I’m not saying box the reader into a maze of cultural references without a signpost… explain the culture and social constructs but also understand readers are smart and a hell of a lot more worldly. Explore your own world, bring it into your writing and share it with others.

But most of all, write your book.

The Novel Approach is hosting the second 415 Ink novel, Savior on July 13th! There will be a cover reveal, an exclusive excerpt AND a giveaway. Keep an eye out for more info as the day approaches!

Things are… not great. But I’m in a holding pattern so we’ll see. Really, not much else I can say because I don’t know.

The hardest thing to do is focus on going forward. Life’s been rough. I mean, it feels like I’m trying to bail out a rowboat that’s built like a sieve. Luckily I have friends who I count as family and family who I count as friends. I shall hopefully get through this.

My first instinct at this point in my life is to say… no more. I’m tired. A lot of it has to do with the constant assault on my body and probably the feeling I’m being attacked by my own country. There are so many fights and man, I’ve weighed into a lot of them. I’m tired and kind of bruised.

Writing this week has taken a backseat which is not what I wanted to do. I’m fighting for words because I keep drifting. Not a good thing for me. Especially since I’m so good at keeping on track.

Except now there’s no track. But I need to find one.

I hope all of you are doing well. I’m not the best communicator of self. I know that. But if you’ve time, reach out to someone near you and say hey.  They might need to hear it.

Today is the Day!

The SOOPER SEEKRIT Project Reveal is happening over at The Novel Approach!  Link to Post Here.

Join us for an Exclusive Cover Reveal and Giveaway for Devil Take Me featuring Rhys Ford, Ginn Hale, Jordan L. Hawk, TA Moore, C.S. Poe and Jordan Castillo Price.

Pre-order Devil Take Me from DSP Publications
This title will also be on a preorder sale for 40% off through Friday, June 22.

“She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom.”
― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

I’ve started and stopped this post about ten times now. Not because I’m afraid or worried about what people will think or say. Mostly because once I settled into the reality of me, I ceased giving a shit about what people thought about who I was or what I was.

Then something came up very recently and I thought; Well, I should put something out there.

I’m going to be writing this from a purely personal voice. Nothing professional about it. The time is right for me to talk about this because it’s Pride Month and well, a neutral time for me. And it kind of saddens me that I have to lay this out with those factors in mind but it is what it is and people are who they are.

Just like I am who I am.

So, in the spirit of Pride Month and coming out, I would like to tell all of you I am agender.

I know, right? Birds didn’t fall from the sky, the erupting volcano down the street from my mom’s house is still going at it and my dog still eats cat shit out of the litter box.

So let me back this ramen cart up a bit and talk about why I’m sharing this.

A little bit is because I’m irritated (mostly at myself) but I’ll get into that later.

Anger is one of the most stupidest of reasons to be talking about this because honestly, I’ve always known I’m not a girl or a boy. I’ve just never given a shit once I settled there. I’ve always been a mix. And not the social construct of gender identity but rather the sheer lack of identifying with either one. Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I’m not much of a joiner of things. I’m so much of a non-joiner, I opted out of a gender.

I’ve never felt like a girl or a boy. And I struggled with that. I’ve struggled the fuck out of that. I’ve explored being more femme and trying to see if I wasn’t really a guy. I tried male on. It didn’t fit. Neither did female. There were a lot of identity things that caused a lot of confusion, heartache, rage, loneliness and most of all, disassociation from society and people.

At the end of it all, I realized one very significant thing… it just didn’t fucking matter. Continue reading “The Not-So-Scarlet A” →

Bonjour et bonjour!

C’est un cri spécial à mes lecteurs français que je vais faire un effort particulier pour pirater mes mots avec ma petite connaissance française et un mauvais Google Traduction!

Je voulais vous mettre à jour sur les livres de Sinners, car plusieurs d’entre vous m’ont récemment demandé le calendrier des traductions. À l’heure actuelle, les trois premiers livres sont sortis et le quatrième, Sloe Ride, sera publié en juillet, donc pas longtemps à attendre!

Je suis également heureux d’annoncer que 415 Ink: Rebel sortira à l’automne et c’est très excitant pour moi de partager cela avec le public français.

En ce qui concerne les fantasmes urbains, Black Dog Blues et Mad Lizard Mambo (les deux livres de la série Kai Gracen) ainsi que Dim Sum Asylum sont également traduits, donc si vous aimez l’action et l’aventure, j’espère que vous les apprécierez.

J’espère vous voir tous au Salon du Livre de Paris en mars 2019! Je serai là avec certains de mes collègues auteurs Dreamspinner Press comme TA Moore, CS Poe et Bru Baker ainsi que d’autres. Je mettrai à jour la liste des auteurs quand je saurai qui d’autre viendra. J’espère également voir tout le monde chez MxM et Reines-Beaux! ET l’incroyablement talentueuse et magnifique Rose Darcy pour qui j’ai une intense adoration et admiration.

Merci à tous pour votre soutien et pour m’avoir contacté. J’apprécie chacun d’entre vous. J’espère vous voir tous en mars. Et beaucoup d’amour!

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Good Morning and Hello!

This is a special shout out to my French readers whom I shall make a special effort to hack at my words with my little French knowledge and a bad Google Translate!

I wanted to update you all about the Sinners books since quite a few of you have asked me recently about the translations schedule. Right now, the first three books are out and the fourth, Sloe Ride, will be released in July so not long to wait!

I also am happy to announce 415 Ink: Rebel will be out in the Fall and that is very exciting for me to share that with the French audience.

As for the urban fantasies, Black Dog Blues and Mad Lizard Mambo (the two books in the Kai Gracen series) as well as Dim Sum Asylum  are translated as well so if you like action and adventure, I hope you enjoy them.

I do so hope to see all of you at the Paris Salon du Livre in March 2019! I shall be there with some of my fellow Dreamspinner Press authors like TA Moore, CS Poe and Bru Baker as well as others. I will update the author list when I know who else is coming. I am also hoping to see everyone at MxM and Reines-Beaux! AND the incredibly talented and gorgeous Rose Darcy for whom I have an intense adoration and admiration.

Thank you all for your support and for reaching out to me. I appreciate each and every one of you. I hope to see you all in March. And much love!

 

And you know… I have pictures. But mostly of food to taunt friends with.

We had a fantastic reader meetup at Faces and Names. We were loud. The music got louder. Pretty sure they kept turning it up hoping we’d get the hell out. No, really the staff was great and the event was awesome.

There’s “red carpet” photos of the event someplace which I’m going to have to hunt down. Dreamspinner’s Elizabeth North and Lynn West attended with me, CS Poe and Greg Tremblay. Michael Nava met us there and we did a couple of carpet shots with him and well, he also showed us where the bar was. I think. It’s a blur. 😀 But he is awesome and my company of DSP and narrator were fantastic. The ceremony was fun, touching and a great time. And I am so damned thrilled to have been a finalist. Congrats really to all the winners of this year’s Lammys and the finalists because damn, there was some mighty fine company to be keeping this year.

This is going to be a pretty quick post only because I’m about 4K or so away from the end of Kai 3 and I’ve got an edit looming and the dog misses me. Or so he is saying. He could just want treats. You never know with him.

Love you all and thank you so much for your support. You all rock and damn, you’re the best.