An interview and an update

I was interviewed recently by Armand Rosamilia, the editor of Lords of Justice. You can read it and learn way more about me than you could possibly want to know at the Lords of Justice myspace page.

For those of you that have ordered the book, I'm sorry about the delays. There was a problem with the printer (not uncommon in the publishing world) and Armand has assured me that book will be coming soon.

You can check out the interview at http://www.myspace.com/lojcarnifex.

Thanks!

Tales of Moreauvia has shipped

Tales of Moreauvia, featuring my story "His Soul Goes Marching On," has shipped. There's still time to order your copy at the magazine's official website.

Tales of Moreauvia - Another Sale!

The contracts are signed and I can finally announce my latest sale, an historical ghost story called "His Soul Goes Marching On." This story features characters from my Paradise Ledger comic (which is still in development) as well as an appearance by my hero, John Brown. This story is going to be featured in a new magazine called Tales of Moreauvia, and will be available this spring.

Here's the table of contents:
Who We Need Here is Mister Thomas Edison — Gary K. Wolf
His Soul Goes Marching On — Kevin G. Summers
Hard Lines — Phillip K. Lentz
Timberbeasts — Joel A. Sutherland
Before Chaos and the Glare — Rita Oakes
Candles for the Dead — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Engine of Desolation — Jason S. Ridler
The Colonel’s Jeep — Daniel Pearlman

Order your copy of the magazine here.

Lords of Justice Pre-Sale

After literally years of waiting, Lords of Justice is finally available for pre-sale!

This brand new anthology features four original superhero novellas by authors Michael Boatman, Bryan Lee Hitchcock, Kevin G. Summers, and Robert Orme. My story, "The Paladin," is the tale of Jared Weiss, a lonely teenager whose older brother was murdered by gangsters. Desperate for justice, Jared becomes a masked vigilante, but he soon discovers that real life isn't like comic books, and revenge isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Go to this site to reserve your copy now!

Status Report

My wife and I have a new baby. Our second daughter, Ingrid, was born on 2/6.

Lords of Justice is still happening, and according to the publisher, Carnifex Press, it will be soon. Unfortunately, I have no further details at this time, but keep checking this site for more information.

I sold an historical ghost story based on my Paradise Ledger comic characters. This story will appear in a new magazine later this year. I'll post more details once the contracts are signed.

Speaking of the Paradise Ledger, I've seen some more pages from my artist, James Hale, and they look fantastic. This guy has a future in the comics industry. I'm hoping to have a complete first issue this year.

I've been working on a final draft of my fantasy novel. This story has been in the works for several years now, but I shelved it for a while so I could concentrate on short fiction and teaching. But it keeps calling to me, so I want to finally THE END. Of course, it's the first book in a trilogy, so the end isn't really the end, but I digress.

My writing class seemed to be a success and plans are in the works for me to do it again this fall. I saw some places where I can improve the format, and I'm looking forward to giving it another go.

Finally, I resigned from the board of Leesburg Theatre Company. LTC is in a good place now, and it's time for me to step back and concentrate on my family and on my writing. I'll still be involved with the group as a performer, but being on the administrative end of an organization is really not my thing. My best to the current board... they are doing a great job.

Paneranormal Society Featured

My writing group, the Paneranormal Society, was heavily featured in the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine. The excellent article, written by Jeff Ayers (Voyages of the Imagination) serves as an obituary to the Strange New Worlds anthologies and includes several quotes by Paneranormal members Jim Johnson and Gerri Leen. Star Trek Magazine #7 is available in stores or by clicking
this link.

Kevin G. Summers: Writing Teacher?

I'm pleased to announce that I'm going to be teaching a writing workshop at Northern Virginia Community College. This is NOT a creative writing class, rather a workshop for up and coming writers who are serious about their craft. My hope is to pass along some of the knowledge I've acquired over the past few years so that my students don't have such a rocky road to breaking into the publishing business.

If you're interested in signing up for the class, here are some links:

Session I

Session II

Shore-Leave 29

I attended the Shore-Leave convention yesterday, and got to meet Casey Biggs, the actor who portrayed Damar on Deep Space Nine. Casey also portrayed Dr. Wykhoff, the central character of my short story "Isolation Ward 4." I hadn't been planning on attending Shore-Leave this year, but when I heard that Casey was going to be there, I couldn't resist the opportunity to bring him a copy of my story. He was very warm and receptive, and I think he might actually read the story. Casey was also surprised by the item I brought for him to sign...the soundtrack to the musical The Cradle Will Rock, which he appeared in back in the 80s. It's a pretty obscure musical, but one that I've fallen in love with in recent years.

Other than my brush with stardom, the rest of the con was pretty fun as well. I brought my Mom, and this was her first Star Trek convention. We went through the dealer rooms and I had to explain to her what slash is. That was awkward. But I think she enjoyed getting to see Nichelle Nichols, who was glamorous and beautiful and very funny.

That's about all to report. It was quite different to attended the con as a fan rather than a guest as I've done in past years. Hopefully once Lords of Justice is released I can get back to Shore-Leave as a writer guest. Until next time...

Lords of Justice - Main Cover

Carnifex Press and Crystalwizard have released the image for the main cover of Lords of Justice. It looks pretty cool to me, especially with The Paladin standing front and center. There's still no word on an exact release date, but I think we are getting closer to the time. I spent most of May working on rewrites, and even sketched out a few ideas for future Paladin stories if there is any interest out there.

Lords of Justice Cover

Crystalwizard and Carnifex Press have released four out of the five alternate covers for the Lords of Justice anthology. According to the editor, Armand Rosamila, there will be four limited edition covers (one for each story) and a main cover featuring the characters from all four novellettes. The artwork you see in this blog is artwork for the Paladin cover. To view the other covers, visit Crystalwizard's website at the link below:


Crystalwizard

So It Goes: A Farewell to Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) died yesterday. So it goes. He was best known for his stellar literary career and such classics as Slaughterhouse 5, Breakfast of Champions and Cat's Cradle. He was also the honary chairman of the American Humanist Association. He's up in Heaven now.

I'm saddened this morning to learn of the passing of one of my personal heros, the author Kurt Vonnegut. Best known for his anti-war novel Slaughterhouse 5, Vonnegut was one of the last living writers to have actually fought in World War II. I'm sure there will be thousands of blogs and articles out there over the next few days that recount everything Vonnegut wrote and everything important he ever did in his life, so I see no need to go into all that. Instead, I'd just like to spell out how he impacted my life.

I was first exposed to the works of Kurt Vonnegut when I was a sophomore in high school. My english teacher that year, Mr. Weiss, noticed that I was one of the more sarcastic and literary students in his class, so he suggested that I check out Breakfast of Champions in the school library. I read the book and fell in love with Kurt Vonnegut's style. During the rest of my high school career I continued reading through the spare collection of Vonnegut books in our school library, spending many satisfied hours hiding away in the back of the library and dreaming about the day when I could kiss Broad Run High School goodbye and set out into the real world.

After high school, my love for Vonnegut's writing turned from passion to full-blown obsession. Over the period of about a year I purchased every single volume that was still in print, along with several that were not. I can still remember the day I found a beat up copy of Happy Birthday, Wanda June in a used book store for just a few dollars. Some other oddities in my collection include some vinyl records of Vonnegut reading Slaughterhouse 5 and Cat's Cradle and a hardcover edition of Canary In The Cathouse which I actually carried on stage with me when I played Fyedka in Fiddler on the Roof.

My two personal favorites among Vonnegut's works are Hocus Pocus and Timequake. Hocus Pocus is the story of an ex-military man who becomes a teacher at a school for learning-disabled rich kids. He eventually is fired from the school for telling the students what an embarrassment it is to be an American, and he is hired by the prison across the lake. The story only gets more cynical and more sentimental from there. As each character dies, and so it goes, they are buried in the shadow of Musket Mountain when the sun goes down, a nice, poetic touch on this deeply sarcastic look at the American ruling class. I loved the alternative history lesson provided in this book, it's nice to see the positive side of American socialism and the potential it once held way back at the start of the 20th century. Hocus Pocus is one of those books I go back to ever couple of years and re-read...I like it that much.

Timequake was one of the first audiobooks I ever listened to, and the reader was awesome. The premise of the story is that a timequake (a hiccup in the space/time continuum) has caused everyone in the world to relieve the 90's. Whatever they did on the first time through, they have to do the second time around. They can't change anything, but they are plagued with a sense of déja vu. By the end of the timequake, everyone is so apathetic that when free-will kicks in again, they collapse where they're standing or let their cars careen into the sides of buildings. Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut's alter-ego in many of his books, is the only person who snaps out of this fog and starts saving people's lives. The story, typical Vonnegut, is all right, but it is intermingled with the author's reflections about writing, politics, computers, growing up, socialism, and just about anything else you can imagine. During my favorite scene in the entire book, Vonnegut's daughter plays a talking dead person in Our Town. This was actually my introduction to the play, and whenever I hear the scene in the audiobook, I'm filled with both joy and sadness.

Vonnegut also has the distinction of being the person who started my obsession with John Brown. In one of his final books, God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian, Vonnegut has a near-death experience and goes up to heaven to interview Old Brown, and Vonnegut's description of Brown (wearing a hangman's noose as a necktie and demanding from Vonnegut "Where's yours?") was interesting enough to make me start researching the man who has gone on to become one of my greatest heros.

I'm sad to say goodbye to Mr. Vonnegut, and sadder still that so much of my hero's life was spent in depression. I know he had several attempted suicides, and the sorrow in his writing is clearer to me now as I grow older. Vonnegut, a humanist, did not believe in God or Heaven but he often joked that when he died, he hoped someone would remark that he's up in Heaven now. My prayer is that somehow, someway, that can be true. Goodbye Kurt, you're going to be missed.

Star Trek: Voyages Of The Imagination

I never did much to publicize the book when it came out, but since my other projects are in a holding pattern at the moment, I'd like to take this moment to pimp a non-fiction book where I appear. That book is Star Trek: Voyages of the Imagination by Jeff Ayers. Jeff is a extremly nice guy who took the time to interview practically everyone who has written a Star Trek novel or short story over the past 40 years for his book. He spent a considerable amount of time on the Strange New World alumni, which was nice considering most of the people who are going to pick up Voyages are probably going to be more interested in what Peter David and Keith DeCandido have to say. The book provides some fascinating insight on the writing/publishing process, how the stories were created, and how the authors feel about their creations.

My stories "Isolation Ward 4", "Ha'mara" and "Morning Bells Are Rining" are all covered, as well as stories from all of my cohorts in the Paneranormal Society. If you are interested in Star Trek books or the writing process, then Voyages of the Imagination is the book for you.

You can purchase it on Amazon here.

The Paladin Teaser Image

I've exchanged several emails today with the artist Crystalwizard, who is going to be creating artwork for Lords of Justice. I thought anyone that's eagarly awaiting the book might enjoy seeing this reference sketch I made of the Paladin for Crystalwizard. Fans of Robin: Year One will recognize the pose as one that was originally drawn by Javier Pulido. Unfortunately, my artistic skills come nowhere near Mr. Pulido's, so I just traced his beautiful cover of the Boy Wonder and made Dick Grayson look like the Paladin. Anyway, you can get an idea of what everyone's new favorite superhero looks like from this drawing.

Lords of Justice Contracts

I signed and sent off the contracts today for the forhtcoming Lords of Justice anthology. This is good news, considering I was desperatly searching for a new market for "The Paladin" just two weeks ago. Now the anthology is going to be a printed volume rather than an e-book, so this has all worked out better than expected. The folks at Carnifex Press are nice to work with, and I'm hoping we can make Lords of Justice a success. I'll post again when we close in on a release date.

Lords of Justice

The past few weeks have been interesting. I got the sad news a few days ago that Pitch-Black Books has gone out of business and the Lords of Justice anthology is cancelled. Then, over the weekend, I learned that another publisher, Carnifex Press, is interested in picking up the anthology. I don't yet have a contract in hand, but apparently Carnifex is pretty serious about Lords of Justice, since they posted it on their website. I'll keep you posted when and if the volume actually appears. Hopefully the world has not see the last of "The Paladin."

Wedding Bells...

What an insane past few weeks this has been. I've been running rehearsals for The Box Step, which is going to be performing at the NVTA One-Act Festival on June 9th. On top of that, I've been in rehearsal for Alice In Wonderland, performed with the Elden Street Players. I'm playing the Mad Hatter! I'm still hoping to be cast as my favorite character, the Cheshire Cat, one of these days, but I'm enjoying performing as the Hatter. In addition to my theatre commitments and stuff like work and family and sleep, my sister-in-law, Katherine, got married today and Rachel has been deeply involved in planning the wedding AND making Katherine's wedding dress. She's also randomly taken up sheep sheering! Our house has been utter chaos for weeks. Did I mention that my grandmother is moving in with us and we've been prepping her house for sale? Alright, that's the end of my whining. The wedding today went well, and I had a good time being a groomsman. I even got to vandalize Karl's (my new brother-in-law) car, which is something I've never done before. All-in-all this has been a good day and I wish Katherine and Karl the best in their lives together. They are totally perfect for each other, and I can't wait until they start having kids. I'm betting there will be a little one in their lives come March of next year. Well, that's all for tonight. I'm pretty exhausted, so I bid all (or is it both) of my readers good night.

I'm Done!

I'm thrilled to report that I finished my novel! On Saturday, I attended my first writer's retreat with the Paneranormal Society (my writing group, and I have no idea about the name) and was able to make an intense last dash for the finish line. Let me tell you, there aren't many feelings better than clicking save on over two years worth of work. On Sunday, I took the day off from writing, but today I'm going to begin the laborious process of trying to find a market for my novel. Hopefully I'll be able to report some more details in the near future. I'd like to thank Jim Johnson and Kim Sheard for spurring me at the retreat, they really kept me on task. And I'd also like to thank Rachel, my wife, for being so supportive of me and my writing. I know it's cliché, but it's true that behind every successful man is a strong woman. I love you, babe!

Froggie Went A Courtin'

I had a good, productive writing day yesterday as well as some quality time with Morwen. She's so smart, and curious about everything. She keeps trying to sing A Frog Went A-Courtin' and it's pretty hysterical. Since it's just the two of us again today, I'm hoping she'll let me get in some more writing time. Of course, it's all up to Morwen...she's the boss around these parts.

Full Time

I took off work yesterday and today to work on my novel. Working full time on writing is like a dream come true to me, even if it's only for a couple of days. I got so much done, it was amazing. The way my writing usually goes, I have to stop just as soon as I get in the swing of things. Hopefully someday I'll be able to make this my primary daily task, but until then, I'll just keep plugging away. Now back to work!

Paneranormal Society

I attended my first meeting of a writing group last night. The group consists of local Northern Virginia writers who've been published in the Star Trek universe. I decided to join this group because of all the positive reinforcement I got when I hung out with these folks at the Shore-Leave convention last summer. There's something about being around other writers, talking about writing, and talking about the struggles of staying motivated, that I find inspiring. Any writers out there will know what I'm talking about when I say that setting goals for yourself and actually meeting those goals is one of the hardest aspects of this business. Last night, I spent 2 hours with Jim Johnson (SNW VII) and Kim Sheard (SNW II, SNW III, Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores) talking about my novel, Kim's Distant Shores story, Jim's submissions to SNW 9, and both of their progress on the NaNoWriMo challenge. After all that, I'll feel like a complete asshole if I don't go home tonight and meet my writing goal. So, I'm approaching this group with cautious optimism. And I'm going to keep doing what I know I should be doing, sitting my butt in front of the PowerBook and knocking out my 1000 words!

Meeting Avery Brooks

My fellow SNW alumnist Jim Johnson (Solem Duty, SNW VII) and his wife Andi invited me to an open house at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. This open house was for the play Othello, played by none other than Avery Brooks. I had a nice conversation with Mr. Brooks, who was charming, deep and funny. We spoke about my story "Isolation Ward 4," in which he seemed quite interested. He mentioned how powerful it was to play Benny Russell in the DS9 episode "Far Beyond The Stars," and how he would have liked to revisit that character on the show. A few years ago, I saw Mr. Brooks in a production of the Oedipus Plays, which was amazing, and as the master of ceremonies for a Martin Luther King tribute concert. This concert was so moving that it made me want to be a black baptist. I strongly recommend to anyone, if you get an opportunity to see Avery Brooks live on stage, do so. He's brilliant!

Shore-Leave 27

I was a guest at the Shore-Leave convention this past weekend, my third time at the con. I had a great time signing books and meeting the fans. Once again I am reminded what a warm and welcoming group of people make up the Star Trek audience. The best part of Shore-Leave was hanging out with the other writers and editors. I spend some nice time with Kevin Dilmore, Amy Sisson, Elisa Kassin, Marco Palmieri and Derek Tyler Attico. On Saturday, at the SNW Extraveganza, Kim Sheard and I read my story "Morning Bells Are Ringing" to the crowd. It was my first public reading, and a great experience.

Fragments and Omens

I came across an interesting passage in a book I was reading this past week. There's a nice reference to my story "Ha'mara" in Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Volume II. It's on pages 242-244 in the novella "Fragments and Omens" by J. Noah Kim. I can hardly describe how cool it was to see my own work referenced in this tale...it was awesome! If you haven't checked out the so-called DS9 Relaunch, what the heck are you waiting for?

Our Town

One week ago, I was cast once again in the role of Geroge Gibbs in Thornton Wilder's Our Town. People that known me know that his is my favorite play, and that I've been talking about playing this role again for months. This time it's with the Sterling Playmakers, the group where I met my wife. The thing about this character, and this play, is that it touches a part of me that doesn't frequently rise to the surface. The story is about regular people living their regular lives. It's simple. It's sweet. It is a glimpse of the way people used to live before SUVs and cell phones and reality shows became the most important thing in the universe. There was love and family and God, and that was about it. I think of all the roles I've played, I'm probably the least like George. Well, I'm probably the lest like Jesus, but I'm not very much like George either. But I want to be like George. I like George. His heart is pure, and he cares, genuinely cares, about people. I think I've taken a little something away with me from each character I've played. I sure hope that in three months, I can be a little more like George Gibbs.

Shore-Leave 26

I recently came across these pictures from Shore-Leave 26. This was the year that I was signing Prophecy and Change. I had a great time, as always.