My novel (in progress), Dragon Rising

I've been working on my first novel for the last several months.  It's titled, Dragon Rising, and is intended as the first in a series of teen level novels (each projected at about 80k words).  I'm trying to write the sort of novel that I would have preferred to read as a teen (so it's full of sex, profanity, and violence).  It's a first person POV modern spec-fiction novel with a lot of humorous elements to it (think teenagers are moody and self centered?  Imagine what happens when one turns into a dragon).  When I think about how I'd market it, I think, it's a violent video game for kids... that they can READ -- hey, at least they're reading, right?.  None of the sex and violence is particularly graphic (from my perspective).  I mean, it would be incredibly cool to get my books on the ALA's most banned books list, but if I'm willing to tone things down a bit for truckloads of cash (see what I mean about humorous elements?)

I liked authors like Moorcock when I was a teen, but GOD, Elric was so fucking serious all the time!  He was always feeding people to his soul drinking sword and grumping about, all moody and bitchy.  The author who I really liked was, and still do, is Glen Cook (my copy of the Black Company is held together by duct tape).  I like his Black Company and Garret books most.  Those books are all first person POV, are all written in a less formal style (blue-collar fantasy? if there is such a thing), and they all have at least SOME humorous elements to them.  When someone in my writers group commented that what I was writing reminded him of Glen Cook, I knew I was doing something right.

Progress on the novel has been slower than I'd like, but I'm getting it finished (novel #1 is always going to be the hardest, plus I've been working on several stories at the same time, trying to make a splash, oh, and I've been looking for that day job that I won't quit, and I've been keeping my lovely daughter fed, safe, educated, and happy in the meantime).

Anyway, figured I should mention my major project to the ZERO people who are reading this blog (or maybe the occasional straggler who is horribly disappointed not to find anything about ninjas here.  hmm... maybe I need to post some ninja stuff for crossover appeal).

"Lilah" to be published in an anthology. My first time in print! Yay!

I just sent off a contract for one of my stories, "Lilah," to be published in an anthology coming out this fall.  "Lilah," is a very different sort of story for me (essentially humorless and written in a more formal sort of prose than I usually prefer).

This will be my first time in print.  You can bet I'll post more info on the anthology once it becomes available.

Second story, "Hole Cards," is now online.

My second published story, "Hole Cards," is now up at Abandoned Towers.  The link is available on the right.  A bit below that is an image of me from an ESPN broadcast of the '06 WSOP Main Event (the inspiration for some of the details in the story).    I was on TV for 5 second at best, so I still have some fame coming, right?

Two more stories getting published

I learned recently that I'll have two flash fiction pieces published soon.  One, "Thirty More Seconds," will appear at naughtygirlx.com (not a porn site), and the other, "Hole Cards," will appear at abandonedtowers.com.  I'll put up direct links once I have them.

Robert Lowell Russell IS a...

Robert Lowell Russell IS a fledgling writer, trophy husband, and stay at home father.  He is a former librarian, a former history grad student, and a former semi-professional poker player.  He has one published story to date, and two others that will be published soon.