Somewhere Over the Sun

Hello :)

I finished “The Calvin Sky” two weeks ago and loved every single story in it. I tend to get lonely on my lunch hour(s) at school; your book on my Kindle turned out to be more than enough company. “Kevin Plays Pai Gow” made me cry and the excerpt of Bright and Blue made me look forward to the release of your second novel. I liked how every story and every character was different; some were darker than others. Some made me laugh out loud to myself in the middle of the cafeteria. Also, as I think I’ve said before, not only does your fiction motivate me to write something of my own, it also helps me open my eyes to be inspired by the most seemingly ordinary things. Although the writing I’ve been doing lately is more on the non-fiction side, I’m reminded again of the magical, transformative power of fiction when I read about your characters. Thank you.

-essmussein

I couldn’t help but copy-paste this and share it with all you lovely readers/potential future readers. I want to sell copies of my short story collection, but I also want people to be lovely and tell people whose work you appreciate that you appreciate it. I just sent a similar message to author Jennifer Egan, and it feels great from both ends of things.

Here’s the link to The Calvin Sky.

Short story submission time!

Yesterday morning, I received an email from the literary development company in Los Angeles informing me that their agent is skeptical about the manuscript I’ve been working for them and the project will be abandoned. Today, I released my collection of short stories, The Calvin Sky on Amazon as an e-book.

Rejection is deeply ingrained within this profession. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, but when, and how many times, and to what extent.

Rather than lament on a closed door, I open a new one. I believe in myself, in my abilities, and that sooner or later, someone in the right position will see them all, too. It takes time (there’s a reason why The New Yorker has a list of the best 20 writers under the age of 40, and not 30, or 20). Meanwhile, all I can do is continue to write, and put my writing out for the world to read.

The Calvin Sky is now available on Amazon Kindle for $1.99. Enjoy!

Here’s my marketing background coming into play in my career as a writer. Time for some market research to test consumer receptivity to an upcoming product release.

As you may have heard, I‘ll soon be releasing a collection of short stories as an e-book on Amazon. While it will have a lot of stories that have appeared on this site before, the collection will also include a few exclusive pieces not found here. My friend Mike will be designing and illustrating.

Since I will be charging something for the collection (price not yet determined- don’t worry, it’ll be very low), I figure I might want to give my readers further incentive to purchase. How would you, dear readers, feel if I included the first chapter of my unreleased novel, Bright and Blue?