It’s been a while since I updated about my writing.

First, as to recent publications, I’ve continued to receive generally very positive responses to Far From Streets (my standalone novella, now out of print, published by Dunhams Manor Press) and “Firedancing,” my story which appeared in The Children of Old Leech.

Most of my time in the past few months has been spent finishing the last two length pieces intended for my planned collection. In June I finished a novelette code-named JEWEL, then took a break of about six weeks to work on two stories for anthology invitations. When those were done in mid-August, I started on the big novella, code-named BLACK VEIN, intended to be the last piece in the collection. This novella is giant and showing no signs of becoming anything but larger, so I won’t meet my original self-imposed deadline of finishing it by the end of September. I’ve given myself an extra month, but I figure three months (almost) to write a 30,000 novella isn’t too bad.

I’ll need to take another break soon to write two new stories, as I’ve received a couple more exciting invitations this summer. It’s wonderful to be have editors asking for my work, especially new editors with whom I haven’t published before. This means a lot of extra work, but it gives me hope that next year will not only see the publication of my first collection, but also a substantial number of stories in anthologies by a variety of editors and publishers.

Certainly I’ll give more specifics about these pending works as soon as possible. For now, though, I’m as busy as I’ve ever been, and excited about the coming year.

My first stand-alone novella Far From Streets, from Dunhams Manor Press, sold out in pre-order. It’s finally been published, and purchased copies have begun to find their way into the hands of readers. I also handed out several copies at ReaderCon, and some of those people have already given feedback.

Only my wife and one editor friend had read the story in the year since I finished writing it. Their responses were positive, but you never really know until a wider variety of readers weighs in.

First, I received a brief but very positive email from a very respected weird/experimental writer, who had apparently read it as soon as he returned from Readercon. This is a guy who doesn’t seem to go around handing out empty praise, so I though that was a great start.

Soon after, I started getting nice comments from people saying they were reading, and enjoying it. A few posted pictures of their copies of the book, always fun to see. Today, there were more pictures, and the first two public reviews or comments about the book.

Justin Steele includes Far From Streets in a July-ending rounding up of recent reads, HERE. Justin says:

“The book is about obsession and relationships as much as it’s about the difference between suburbia and the wilderness, and manages to be far more than just a surreal creep-out fest because of this. Griffin becomes more and more impressive, and this is my favorite work of his to date.”

Later this afternoon, Alicia Graves posted her reaction HERE, including the following very flattering description:

“It was striking, strange, and fluid. I described it to one friend as what I think a mash between Barron and Langan would feel like. Did I mention well written?”

My very sincere thanks to Justin and Alicia and everyone else who has given their time and attention to my work. If you missed out on preordering Far From Streets but would still like to read it, all is not lost. My intention is to include it in the story collection I’m assembling this summer, so you’ll just have to wait until next year when the collection would presumably appear.