Words by me. Design by the great Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com. Check out his professional portfolio!
The Writing Life: The Numbers Diary
As I poke through two piles of receipts, I’m thinking about the last year. Tax time is a diary of numbers. It’s mostly depressing, first because accounting is a job I don’t want to do. Second, because it’s a job that would have been easier if I’d kept track of everything all along instead of saving it all up for an Easter weekend blitz.
It’s also sad to see the things that didn’t work. Google Adwords and Facebook Ads (for business #2) was a sinkhole with negative returns. “Negative returns” means it sucked. When the outgo outpaces the income, it starts to make you reevaluate your vocational choices. If I hadn’t been so afraid of public speaking, I could have been a lawyer, I suppose. I cured myself of the public speaking phobia (and probably dodged a bullet by not going into law.) Probably saved myself an ulcer and several clients from life sentences by staying the hell out of that profession.
One of the things I did that showed up in the receipts was donate to Authors Supporting Our Troops. It’s a good cause no matter what political stripe you wear. As for the many little bills that add up to a tower, I’m doing like we all do. I’m a shark. I move forward. I’m making headway and I’m hopeful.
Two of the beta readers for This Plague of Days Season 3 have returned their notes already and the feedback is very positive. Stunningly so. It’s exactly what I hoped it would be. I can’t wait to get through recording my receipts so I can get back to the real business I’m in.
Writing is bigger than the bills. It always will be.
Night of the Hunter Edition
In this episode, how to locate someone who doesn’t want to be found, how to make a bomb from scratch at the convenience store and a surprise ad for another podcast! It’s all in Night of the Hunter, a new chapter reading from Higher Than Jesus, the crime novel by your host, Robert Chazz Chute. Seriously, the pizza trick is going to worry you if you’re hiding out from anyone.
Sorry for the delays in putting out the All That Chazz podcast. I’ve been working on the finale to This Plague of Days and just finished the last major revision. This is the third book in the This Plague of Days series. The big compendium, This Plague of Days – The Complete Series and Season 3 (each sold separately) are coming out this spring. Yes, I know it’s spring already. Think late spring, so there’s still time to catch up on Season One and Two. You might even guess the secret hidden in the books, but it’s tricky and no one has guessed it yet.
If you don’t know anything about Season One and Two, you don’t know the charm of an autistic boy and his family facing the horrors of an apocalypse engineered by bio-terrorists. Sure, it’s a dystopian sci-fi saga now, but the first of the three plagues could begin for real…I don’t know…let’s say Tuesday afternoon around four in the afternoon.
My point is, to find out more about my books of suspense, the affiliate links are at AllThatChazz.com. To find out more about the craziest zombie apocalypse ever, go to ThisPlagueOfDays.com.
As ever, this podcast is sponsored by the most excellent graphic designer, Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com. He’s a good friend and does excellent work with book covers, web banners, ads and more, so do check out his wondrous portfolio of art. Very reasonable prices, too!
We have just a few chapters left with the reading of Higher Than Jesus. The the All That Chazz podcast will have a format change. (More on that later.)
In the meantime, check out my other podcast, the Cool People Podcast at CoolPeoplePodcast.com. A new guest in the coming week will talk about how her government banned her book! It’s a fascinating interview, but they’re all fascinating because my guests are all cool. I’ll be talking to many more cool guests on that podcast in coming weeks!
Thanks for listening to the podcast. Donations to keep the podcasts going are gratefully accepted through the safe and secure yellow donation button at AllThatChazz.com and CoolPeoplePodcast.com.
Have a great week!
#Podcast: From Dusk Till Dawn
This is the podcast that asks, “How are you going to kill a thing like Lurch?” Brace yourself for a rant against today’s journalists by a journalist from yesterday. Then, an author reading from Higher Than Jesus by Robert Chazz Chute.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“That question has baffled experts.”
Episode 83 of the All That Chazz Podcast gets medieval, but first we begin with a rant against the media and the truth about New Jersey governor Chris Christie that no one would say (until now.) It has to do with fat and truth and fatheads standing under expensive haircuts.
In this chapter, From Dusk Till Dawn, funny and luckless Cuban hit man, Jesus Diaz, must find his love, Willow Clemont, before a couple of white supremacist terrorists kill her. My love of Tarantino is real. Most of the book’s chapters are from movies, old and new, noir and not noir. Enjoy.
This podcast is sponsored by the most excellent graphic designer, Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com. My opinions aren’t necessarily his, so don’t blame him. Just use his awesome services for book covers, web banners and advertising.
To donate to the podcast or buy a book, please go to Amazon through the affiliate links at www.AllThatChazz.com. Thanks for listening!
~ Chazz
A very short story. I like my stories like I like my women: dark and bitter.
I got a review today that put me in a bad mood. Everybody gets an opinion. That’s fine and I don’t ever reply to bad reviews. However, borderline libellous statements sap my creative energy and make me sad. I’ve reported the abuse to the platform in question, though I doubt they’ll do anything about it. That’s how these things tend to go.
I took an hour off. I lost some writing time. I watched an episode of Band of Brothers. Was there ever a better film depiction of soldiers in war that didn’t glamorize it? It was a good thing to lose an hour to.
Anyway, I posted the story below on Facebook earlier. Then I decided to share it with all of you. If you like my crime novels, Bigger Than Jesus and Higher Than Jesus, you might go for this. It’s from a dark work in progress in my head. Let’s have a demonstration of psycho-macho psyche and what that BS can get you. Let’s call it…
Fair play
The big man’s first slap stunned the smaller man.
The victim’s head rocked back and blood ran freely from his split lip. Shocked, he touched his mouth. “The speaker phone was on when you called me at home before. My family heard. You frightened my wife and child. You shouldn’ta done that.”
A smile. “Scared of me?”
“Yes.”
“Should be.”
“You’re making a mistake. Leave. Leave now! Please!”
The big man stepped closer, looked him up and down, and chuckled.
The smaller man took the cell from his shirt pocket and hit “End”.
The big man’s second slap didn’t connect. Instead, the intended victim cupped his attacker’s chin in one hand and grabbed him by the hair at the back of his head. The big man laughed, even as the smaller man twisted his neck and, almost gently, guided him to the ground.
Then the big man’s intended victim brought all his weight down, hard, slamming the point of his knee into the side of the attacker’s face, just in front of the ear.
The big man’s laughter broke cold over stunning realization. The jaw didn’t break. Instead, it wrenched to the side in a loose, snapping slide.
A second’s silence passed. Nerves lit fire. Brain gears whirled panic. The screeching and flailing began.
The smaller man yelled to be heard above the big man’s pain. “You came to humiliate me! You came here to beat me up. But I’m not here for a fight!”
He took the big man’s eyes first. After that, it was easy.
When the man stood, he wasn’t the victim anymore. His cell lay on the floor, ringing and ringing. That would be 911 calling back to make sure he was okay. He was fine. He felt taller.
#VIDEO: Season One of This Plague of Days
In the first wave of the Sutr Virus, sixty percent of the earth’s population dies of influenza.
In Kansas City Missouri, see the plague unfold through the eyes of a boy on the autism spectrum. The siege has begun.
In Britain, a virologist discovers the woman he trusts most in the world is one of the conspirators who unleashed the Sutr virus on the world. The plague will not stop with flu. It’s coming for you.
As the second wave of the virus strikes, ordinary people turn into rampaging cannibals. Watch London’s fall. The bubonic plague has nothing on the Sutr virus.
Season Two hits in two weeks. The virus continues to evolve. What’s next?
You are next.
Get Season One of This Plague of Days for free until midnight Sept. 19!
Podcast: Get Shorty
Jesus is trapped in the back of the God Eats Diner. He’s just killed two people and feels kind of bad about it. Worse, he just realized he’s been working for a really bad guy. Oh, and did I mention the back door is guarded by the guy he almost beat to death and there’s no way out because the diner is on fire? Facing a fiery death, my funny, loveable and luckless hit man has a few last thoughts to share. He also has some tough choices about how to die. Coming to Chicago was a mistake.
About the title: I love Elmore Leonard, but today’s author reading is from Higher Than Jesus. The chapter is called “Get Shorty”. Except for the last two chapters, all the chapter titles in Higher Than Jesus are from old movies. I’m a big noir and neo-noir film buff, so that’s why.
Our sponsor is the incredible graphic designer: Kit Foster of KitFosterDesign.com. Check out his site, his awesome professional portfolio and his very reasonable prices.
Check out my interviews with cool people on the Cool People Podcast at CoolPeoplePodcast.com. (Next guest, Hugh Howey!)
Buy, read, love, and review This Plague of Days and learn more about the horror serial at www.ThisPlagueOfDays.com.
To support the podcasts, buy the books or hit the handy donate buttons at AllThatChazz.com or CoolPeoplePodcast.com. If that doesn’t work with your budget, please leave a happy review on iTunes to spread the word. Thank you!
~ Chazz