6/17/2009 - Dead Eye is now available at Amazon Canada's website, just search for Jim Bernheimer and you'll find it. There's a page up for it on Amazon UK, but it looks like only 3rd party resellers at the moment. That site should be up and running sometime in the near future.

5/29/2009 - Dead Eye is on sale now at Amazon.com. You'll find the link at www.jimbernheimer.com. It will be available in electronic format on www.smashwords.com shortly and perhaps Paypal's Payloadz website www.payloadz.com ,if the publisher decides to use that venue. It will also be available on places like Amazon UK as soon as they build the pages so you folks overseas won't have to pay for the international shipping. Those should be up in the next week or two. (It's really out of my hands.) If anyone is in Charlotte, NC this weekend and is looking to pick up a signed copy of Dead Eye and HHH, I'll be at the Gryphonwood Press table at ConCarolinas.

5/22/2009 - Dead Eye goes on sale next week! For a preview go to www.jimbernheimer.com and read the first episode. To celebrate the launch next week, I'll be cutting the price on Horror, Humor, and Heroes and will be at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC with my publisher.

4/15/2009 - Dead Eye: Pennies for the Ferryman should be available from Gryphonwood Press the last week of May. I will be at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, North Carolina that weekend to celebrate the launch and sign some books. On the fanfic front, Lie will run to either chapter 25 or 26. After Lie ends, I'll release each chapter of The Inner Eye of Harry Potter on a bi-weekly basis while I write the conclusion of Turn Me Loose. After that, I'll either start up a new project or look to begin the sequel to The Lie I've Lived. The working title is currently - The Truth I'd Die For. It has a nice symetry to it.

4/3/2009 - HHH is now in ebook format and available for download via Paypal's Payloadz service and Smashwords. For links to these two sites, go to my personal website at www.jimbernheimer.com. I'm also releasing the 1st chapter of The Inner Eye of Harry Potter. It's a 7 chapter approximately 40000 word humor story that I think everyone will get a chuckle out of. Chapters 2-7 will be released after The Lie I've Lived is complete. (The translation there is that I'm only half done writing those!)

3/17/09 - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1219 The e-book version of the Gryphonwood Press anthology is now available in various formats. The e-book version of Horror, Humor, and Heroes will be releases (also on smashwords) when I release chapter 22 of Lie.

3/2/09 - Gryphonwood Press has released their anthology with my short story Existence as the first one in it. Fans of Bungle and TML will enjoy the 2nd person action. The Amazon link is http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Know-What-Youve-Dispossession/dp/0979573866/. It will also be available shortly for Kindle and as an e-book via smashwords.com. I've read and enjoyed 2 of the other stories in the anthology already and can vouch for them. (Matthew and Bobbie's if you care.)

2/26/09 - Kindle version released http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U3Y94Y. E-book release currently scheduled for April 1st. More details to follow.

2/19/09 - HHH is now on sale! If you are interested in obtaining a copy go to Horror, Humor, and Heroes and have at it. It will be available shortly in Amazon's Kindle format and in 6 weeks via an ebook.

2/14/09 - HHH is on proof #3 (but every error taken care of before it goes on sale makes me look less like an idiot). I'm hopeful that this is the last and I will be able to make it available soon. The Createspace e-store becomes active immediately, but it takes 1-2 weeks for an Amazon link to start working. The nice people at Gryphonwood Press are about to put their anthology on sale by the end of the month and my 2nd person pov swamp creature horror story is batting lead off. Furthermore, the editor at Gryphonwood has said some very nice things about the Dead Eye manuscript. The nice thing specifically is that he'd like to buy it and publish it. I'm reviewing that contract now.

1/24/2009 - The proof copy of Horror, Humor, and Heroes has been ordered and the book will soon be for sale via Amazon.com or Createspace.com. I'll post the links here when it becomes available. I went with Createspace over Lulu to keep the price down. The list price on the paperback will be 9.95. I will still use Lulu for the ebook issue which will occur 6-8 weeks after the paperback goes on sale. Those interested in viewing the cover can take a trip over to my personal website www.jimbernheimer.com and see what it looks like. The final size ended up being 198 pages. So, spread the word and help me break through to the next level. HHH contains a mixture of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror/Dark Humor in12 short stories, 1 superhero novella, and a preview of the fantasy novel I am working on this year - all original writing. Dead Eye is currently submitted to a trio of publishers and I'm hoping sales of HHH will help "grease the wheels," so to speak for the sale of that manuscript.

12/05/2008 - The Gryphonwood Anthology has been pushed back to January, I'll post a link when it becomes available. There is a good chance that I will be self-publishing a selection of my short stories and a novella I have just completed in one single volume. I'm still finalizing the details such as cover art, but it will likely be through Lulu and be available in papperback and ebook format. So, if you've ever wondered what I can do with my own ideas, keep an ear out for the details later this month.

11/01/2008 - One of my stories, Existence, is slated to appear in an upcoming anthology from Gryphonwood Press. It should be available on Amazon in print and kindle format soon. Drabblecast (www.drabblecast.org) has my story Cookie? in Episode 85 of their audiocast along with 2 other author's orginal stories.

8/23/2008 - I made my second professional sale. My short story A Sharp Mind will appear in the April 2009 issue of Necrotic Tissue. Visit www.jimbernheimer.com for updates on my original stories.

8/3/2008 - Visit my new website www.jimbernheimer.com for news related to Dead Eye and to view the cover art. It looks like it is going to be closer to Christmas for the release of the story. I'm not happy about it either.

Regards,

Jim

Updated 6/25/2008

Visit www.drabblecast.org and listen to Episode 70. It is my first sale and hopefully the beginning of a long string of original stories that I put out. It's free and should provide you with about 20 minutes of audio entertaiment. Drop a mention of if you liked it in your review of TML 7.

Updated 5/9/2008

Well, haven't updated my profile in awhile, so here goes. As readers of my story will note, I have an original novel that is tenatively scheduled for release in late summer. The series is going to be called Dead Eye with the first book being called Pennies for the Dead or Two Pennies for the Dead. My coauthor is John Cornell, who you may know better by his fanfic writer name of Kokopelli.

Dead Eye is paranormal adventure much closer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer than anything Harry Potterish. For my first time out the gate, I didn't want to do magic and wizardry. It is the story of Mike Ross, a wounded US Army vet trying to patch his life back together. Because of his injuries, his right eye was repaired using a cornea donated from a deceased psychic. That repaired eye triggers a latent talent and thrusts him into a world that he is ill prepared for.

Just to head off any criticism, this novel had about 30 thousand words done when the first advertisements for that horror movie "The Eye" showed up. This project was conceived in June of last year. I've never scene "The Eye", don't want to see it, and heard it wasn't very good to begin with. I also do not watch the Ghost Whisperer series on CBS because I don't want to draw any unfavorable comparisons.

Dead Eye is written in 1st person and currently just shy of 95 thousand words which is a good length for a first time novel. The publisher will be Whimsy Hill. By early July, I expect www.deadeyemike.com to be up and running. Don't bother going there until then, all that will be there is a place holder page. I'm hoping for forums, news bits, and some type of wiki reference area. Basically, I'd like to capture some of the best attributes of the online communities I frequent and bring them into a web site to help drive the popularity of this book.

In other news my first piece of original short fiction "Reality Bites" will be featured in the next 4-6 weeks on the audiocasting site, Drabblecast which can be found at http://web.mac.com/normsherman/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html. They feature free original fiction on a weekly basis. My short story is a humor piece about a recently turned vampire trying to get his life insurance company to honor his policy and the frustrations he experiences. As soon as the 14.86 shows up in my account, I'm officially a paid author with a credit to his name. Yay me and I know, don't spend it all in one place. Hopefully this is the first of many successes, but the short fiction market is a dog eat dog world and most of us are just little puppies.

On the fanfiction front, I'm roughly halfway through The Lie I've Lived and one third of the way through Turn Me Loose. Lie may end up with a sequel, we'll see. Turn Me Loose will tie up Bungle in the Jungle and finish those two stories off. I'm working on several different pieces which should be released over the summer in the run up to my original novel. After all, I need to keep you folks well fed on fanfic if you're even going to consider trying some of my original works.

The one you will definitely see is The Inner Eye of Harry Potter. It's going to be a 7 chapter humor piece about Harry being raised and mentored by Sybil T. He arrives at Hogwarts with an appreciation for the real magics of Divination, Astrology, Arithmancy, and Runes. He takes them very seriously and most of the other lesser magics are just rubbish.

I also have a Buffy/Harry Potter crossover in the works pairings to be determined and if I really push myself there's a HP/New Battlestar Galactica one I've been dying to write.

That's all for now.

Jim

Older News

Visit http://forums.darklordpotter.net/viewtopic.php?t=1241 to discuss To Fight the Coming Darkness.

Visit http://forums.darklordpotter.net/showthread.php?t=1629to discuss Bungle in the Jungle: A Harry Potter Adventure

Feel free to visit all the other amusing topics a Darklordpotter.net. There a strange bunch there, but you may enjoy.

Jim

8/28/06 - I will post the rules for Dodgespell here as soon as I have a chance to jot them down. In the meantime feel free to use the concept in your fics. The only thing I ask is a simple credit in your acknowledgements. Thanks, Jim

Rules for Dodgespell (send me a PM if you have questions or comments)

Teams – Five players on each side plus one alternate. One player designated as Captain. The alternate may be substituted between, but not during games.

Court – The size of the court is variable but usually similar to a tennis court (120 foot long and 60 foot wide 36.6 meters long and 18.3 meters wide for those metrically inclined). It can be played on any surface, but typically is seen as a beach sport played in the sand.

Equipment – Players may use their wand and a suitable animal hide glove (due to the resistance of most dragon hides, it is not recommended for use in this sport). No performance enhancing spells, potions or equipment is allowed. Players will be checked by the referees prior to play.

Play of Game – At the start of the game, each team shall identify their captains. Each captain will start the game in possession of one of the two spells. In ‘friendly’ or pickup games where there are no dueling wards in place, the spell is typically a stunner or other noticeable disabling spell (leg locker, jelly legs or others). In tournament play the spells are typically banishers. The players in the field of play will attempt to score points by either catching the spell with their shielded glove or hitting the opponents with their spell. In the ‘friendly’ game, possession of a spell is gained either by catching the spell, or a successful dodge. In the event of a hit, the team that scored the hit on the opposing player retains possession of that spell and is allowed to cast again. In a tournament game with reflective dueling wards, the spell is in play until it either strikes the playing surface and is cancelled out, the spell exits the playing area either above the wards or through the exit hole in the wards for eliminated players, or is caught by a player who gains possession. In the event of a hit the opposing side gains possession of the spell, as it is entirely possible that a member of the team that cast the spell may actually be hit by the rebounding spell.

The first player to be eliminated from each side is allowed to mount the harasser platform or perch. This player is allowed to cast whatever harassing spell is outlined by the tournament rules or defined by the referees prior to the start of the game. Typically, the tripping, jelly legs, or leg locker jinx/hex is used as the harassing spell. In more advanced games, stinging hexes or other pain inducing hexes can be used. These will be predefined. If the slug-vomiting curse is used, it is recommended that the referees or tournament organizers scourgify the playing surface between games. The harassing spell may not be shielded against, but any effects may be cancelled by any player on the side that has been struck. The harassing spell may only be cast when the side makes a catch. Previously accumulated points do to catches will not count. It is only catches made after the harasser has taken his or her platform.

Eliminated players must leave under their own power from tournament games, if possible. Referees may impose a penalty if a player does not leave the court in a timely fashion. Deliberate targeting of an already eliminated player may also warrant a deduction in points. In games where an incapacitation spell is used, the referees are responsible for moving stunned/incapacitated players off the game surface.

Game play continues until all five players on one side have been eliminated. In some tournaments there is a five minute countdown when a team is reduced to one player. If that player can last five minutes with out being eliminated, the previously eliminated players excluding the player who is on the harasser platform are allowed to return to play.

Scoring – Each successful catch is worth 1 point and allows the harasser for that side to cast the harassing spell. The captain of each team is worth 15 points, unless he or she is the last player remaining on their side. In this case the captain is worth only 5 points when eliminated. Each other player is worth 10 points the first time they are eliminated from a game. In the event that the five minute rule described above is being used, returning players who are eliminated are worth only 5 points for any elimination other than the initial elimination. The final score determines the winner of the game, so it is possible for a team to be completely eliminated, but have more points then the team with player(s) still on the court.

Penalties – A speed of play penalty of 1 point is enforced if a player has had possession of a spell, but fails to cast the spell within 10 seconds. The player also forfeits possession of the spell to the other side. In the event that the referees determine that players are deliberately targeting an already eliminated player, they may impose a 5 point penalty and forfeiture of possession for each offense. Flagrant violation of this rule will be grounds for a disqualification either of the player or if warranted the entire team.