Twelve Mad Men

I've started thinking of myself as a "hybrid author" with reference to self-publishing/traditional-publishing. Some of my work has been put out there by various publishers and some is self-published (okay, one very slim short story collection and one paperback, but that doesn't mean I won't do it again if I need/want to). And some work falls between two stools, such as my contribution to Ryan Bracha's marvelous creation, Twelve Mad Men. More on the book itself in a moment, but first this little paragraph of unwanted opinion.

You might consider my stance on the whole self-pub/trad-pub as fence-sitting. That doesn't really bother me. Much the same way that my choice to sit on the fence with regards to political parties is something I'm not ashamed to admit. In truth, no political party has come along that chimes with all of my political beliefs (simple as they are). Religion (and atheism, I should add) is much the same to me. I subscribe to none. And I've never found an argument compelling enough from either those staunch trad-pub authors, nor the devout self-pub ones, that will inspire me to jump into a camp and start rattling my sabre. Feck ALL that noise.

Nobody is right 100% of the time, and if you think you are, you're not the kind of person, organisation or culture that I want to be associated with. I'm just fine doing whatever the feck I want to do. So sayeth this apathetic, agnostic heathen, should you give a rat's arse to hear it.

Before we get any deeper into rant territory -- if that's your thing just google ANYTHING and you'll find somebody to argue with -- I'm going to tell you about a fun experience I had being a part of Twelve Mad Men.

Ryan Bracha set twelve rules and asked twelve authors (including himself) if the rules were agreeable. Twelve authors said yes and did a little bit of work for Mr Bracha in the form of a short story. Bracha then set to work weaving these stories together to create a multi-author novel. Then he self-published it. I think he did a fine job indeed (yes, I read it from start to finish, which I can't say has been the case for every anthology my work has been included in), and I highly recommend you try it out.

Yeah, yeah, I have a story in it, so OF COURSE I want you to read that. But I also want you to read the other 91.67% (or so) of the book. Below you'll find the blurby info, the links to the Amazon pages (the only place you can get it at this point in time, I think) and a wee picture of the book cover. You know what to do.

Everybody's here for a reason...

At St. David's asylum for the criminally insane there
are twelve residents. They call us that. Not inmates.

We all have a favourite colour. A favourite
member of staff. A favourite method of receiving
torture for the purposes of science.

We all have our reasons for being here.
Our stories.
Our tales.

Why don't you come and hear them?

Twelve Mad Men is a groundbreaking literary collaboration. A novel which has a series of stories woven into the narrative, and featuring the finest independent authors from across the globe.

The number one best selling author of Strangers Are Just Friends You Haven't Killed Yet and Paul Carter is a Dead Man, Ryan Bracha, voices the narrator as he embarks upon his first shift as a night guard at St. David's, and as he meets the residents there, it soon becomes apparent that there's something very wrong in the water...

The phenomenally talented writers involved in this innovative and ambitious project are:
Paul D Brazill (Guns of Brixton, A Case of Noir)
Gerard Brennan (Fireproof, Wee Rockets)
Les Edgerton (The Bitch, The Rapist)
Craig Furchtenicht (Dimebag Bandits, Night Speed Zero)
Richard Godwin (Mr Glamour, One Lost Summer, Apostle Rising)
Allen Miles (18 Days, This is How You Disappear)
Keith Nixon (The Fix, The Eagle's Shadow)
Darren Sant (Tales From The Longcroft, The Bank Manager and The Bum)
Gareth Spark (Black Rain, Shotgun Honey)
Martin Stanley (The Gamblers, The Hunters)
Mark Wilson (dEaDINBURGH, Head Boy)

And narrated by Ryan Bracha (Paul Carter is a Dead Man, Strangers are Just Friends You Haven't Killed Yet)

Now buy it:
UK
US