I was inspired by my old friend Riz to finally do something I've been wanting to do for a long time and see if I can actually make things work.
To show you how incredibly brain-dead I am when it come to computers, it took me this long (w/help from a nice tech support lady) to figure out how to link my old blog to my website.
Not like a lot's going on, but we gotta get that back in action. So what is going on?
Well, I'm forever going to be Pre-Curmudgeonly, because I don't think I've gotten that old, or that grumpy that I'm gonna be like that. I'm doing my best to deal with growing older, and knowing that while I can't fight off Father Time, I can still live with him.
I write this as I'm doing a Ninja Book Signing in the metropolis of Dillsburg, PA.
Wait for it...
But you never know.
Add to it, the battle rages on to get books in stores, even indie shops. They sell only what they can sell, that's about all.
Now if you've not seen my blog posts here in a while, that is because I was blogging on my website, and Wix didn't tell me specifically that I could fucking link this to that. Until that nice young lady told me I could and showed me.
So "More" at the top of the old webpage, and you can find the recent stuff.
No one's really looking, so the grumpy old guy is gonna blog here again, so there!
Now...where are we at this point?
Okay...let's take this under further review: "Live from the Cafe" is the latest, and I'm flogging it best I can. The big news of late is that Sunbury Press Books is spinning off into a number of new presses. I'm on Brown Posey Press.
Cute. And different. I like different.
So "Live..." and "A Moment in the Sun" are on Brown Posey, and "Parasite Girls" can still be found at Amazon.
Link Time!
https://www.amazon.com/Tory-Gates/e/B01LXQ5YSQ?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060
OK...everything is right there. Or here...
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/Tory-Gates_c146.htm
Now...the next one is coming...back in 2007, I began combining weird elements of Japan, time travel, anime, and the blues into a thing I called the Sweet Dreams Series. The first book of the series, "Searching for Roy Buchanan" is set for sometime next year.
The story has changed a lot. I am not finished with it. Years of dreaming, weird conversations with crazy characters, scenarios that made zero sense, and a lot of discussions have brought the gang just a little bit closer to their coming out.
It's still completely mad.
The thing that is important to me is to expand the markets for all my works. When I write, I write like I'm watching a movie. What does this look like on screen? In the pages of a graphic novel? Does this adapt, and still tell the story?
So far, I've done pretty well with it I think. Now...getting these into the hands of people who actually buy things.
And also to get those other fun things, such as the people who can help bring those to reality, the book is one thing, the movies, the anime, and graphic novels, so much more that is out of my hands, at least for now.
So there is that. I have many more titles. More stories. Not in the series, but more written, and nearly ready to go. I have to figure how to get these out in the coming years.
A lot of possibilities, but sometimes I feel I need an agent or a booker, or a manager, or something.
Now what else? My life is reasonably stable. Life in Harrisburg is good; I'm quite enjoying my home, and it feels more like one as time goes by.
Of course, I have to get out to be around the humans, my cats will go mad having me in there all the time!
Depression seems to have finished with me for now, but I also know it is always there...I've managed to get that past for a bit, and I've had to make some changes.
I'm still a bit mad; still a bit hyper-focused, still cynical, still probably very weird to be around. But I gotta do something.
I want to share this again. I generally do not write poetry, but this came out the last time I blogged. I rather like it.
“Me”
10/20/17
TG
"I don't honestly expect anyone to love, or even remotely like me. I must seem really awkward to people who have never met me before, or have only heard of me. I almost have never watched myself on video, and while I do have to listen to my voice pretty often in the journalistic world, I don't take too much time to marvel at how fabulous I am.
Because I'm not. I'm me.
Me is a loner, a depressive, anxious, obsessive character.
Me is someone who has slowly tried to peel away the various layers of dead skin, to consider what is inside.
Me is curious about that internal character; one that tries to do the right things, tries to be nice to people, and tries to treat them the way he'd like to be.
Me occasionally finds that odd person who he recognizes, meaning he recognizes himself in that person. Two different people, two different personalities, two different human beings, but who see the unique in one another, and are cool with that.
Me does not try to outdo people, outsell people, or step on people to get his own way.
Me tries not to hurt people, but sometimes does, usually inadvertently.
When that happens, Me agonizes over it, and wants to make things right. Even after doing that, and even being forgiven, Me remains unforgiven for a very long time.
Me spent years in self-loathing, but not self-pity. Those are different things.
Me spent years on medication, which stabilized and calmed him enough to where he could function again. After 12 years of that, Me finally had to give it up.
Giving up the drug was easier than quitting smoking, go figure.
After 3-4 weeks of withdrawal, Me saw colors again.
Me wonders how he was able to create, to write nonstop for 10 years, and now after three published works, is prepared to unveil the one that started everything...the first book of the Sweet Dreams Series.
Me has found a few good things. Me can do a few things well, if he applies himself to it, and is mindful.
Me also likes to write, to create, and to him it is fun, and also therapy.
Work to Me is not work. Me has spent more than 30 years doing just what he wanted to do.
Me is no longer unhappy about not being something he really had no right trying for, because he just was not that thing. Me was better than that.
Me takes a little pardonable pride (hopefully) that what he creates is at least appreciated, even if not understood.
Me does not know where this will end. Me wonders about what could occur, because nothing would make him happier than to see someone, even if one person, enjoy what he has to offer, and know he made a difference, even for one moment.
The characters in Me's books are not all Me, they are friends, acquaintances, people Me has run across, and those from the back of Me's self-consciousness. They are interesting, diverse, funny, saddened, crazed lunatics who generally are trying to make their way and figure out what the point of their lives are.
Me doesn't own a lot of shit. Me is trying to get rid of a lot of shit. Me does not drive a big car, does not have a big house, does not own a time-share in Cozumel, and has never traveled that much.
But Me knows the time for things will come when they come, and Me just hopes to not have to leave this body before finding out how that road he started on so many years ago ends. Probably like Shel Silverstein's book cover, it might just be that hilariously silly edge of disaster, but who knows?
Me doesn't hate you for what you have, nor is Me jealous. Enjoy what you have; Me is thankful to have what he does.
Me likes being at home now, taking some sort of care of his home, his catkids, and puttering about in his studio, his bedroom, or wherever.
Me likes a good stiff cup of Morebucks (the coffee, really), and to just fucking exist.
Me is all right. Me is gonna be all right, because he's looking after himself, and thinking about what little thing he can give that'll help.
Me won't save the world, but he might save himself.
Oh well...I'm doing okay, and I must continue to be patient, but also drive forward each day if ever I'm to get these things out, and to get a public to actually look at my work, and see the potential for the other things.
Anyway, this is where we are now. I hope we can keep on moving, past the madness in our world right now, before we become the dystopian idiocy that everyone likes to wank about but doesn't want to live for real.
95% of the world does live that way, it feels like.
Anyway, this grumpy old cat needs more coffee, and he's gotta move.
Let me know if you like my work...please leave a review at Amazon, Brown Posey or wherever you like if you've read my shit, and let me know what you think.
Gotta move, gotta move.
Peace, Out.
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