My latest novel, LAST BITE! is now available on Kindle for $3.99, and on Kindle Matchbox for $0.99 cents, only if you purchase LAST BITE! in paperback.
Category: Writing
Update on “ROMEO”
Well “ROMEO” (my YA paranormal modern-day Romeo + Juliet love story) hasn’t exactly been knocking Agents off their feet despite the fact I’ve been trying to sell them on the idea that ROMEO is a fresh and one-of-a-kind story as well as uniquely written as ROMEO reads in the same fashion as William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo + Juliet.
Now I’ve pondered on why I haven’t exactly received invitations from Lit Agents to submit further material on ROMEO, and I haven’t came up with much answers. Perhaps Agents consider ROMEO to be a knock-off. . .maybe so, but you can’t discount novels like I,DRAKULA or CINDER or RED RIDING HOOD, re-written classics with a unique spin to them. Or perhaps it is what one potential Agent quoted when I pitched her LAST BITE! my last YA novel, and why she couldn’t take it on even though she was ecstatic on the idea-editor vampire fatigue. Or perhaps it’s the timing, the economy; maybe word count plays a factor or maybe the market is too flooded with YA paranormals, or maybe, and perhaps my last conclusion, a weak query? Now while all those may play a factor, in my opinion, and what I’ve read considerably, the YA genre, regardless of sub-genre, and is as of this moment the biggest seller when it comes to books. So yeah, in that sense, the market is there, the Agents are there, I just think (and I as I stated before) it’s the “timing”. I would like to assume, or speculate, that Agents have their good days and their bad days when it comes to reviewing queries or submissions which play a major role when it comes to deciding on whether to request material on a query or reject the query entirely despite the fact that it could very well be a best-seller. I will admit though that It brings me great comfort in knowing that what I’ve just IMO’d above may harbor some truth.
So in the meantime I’ve decided to self-publish ROMEO. And if it sells pretty well, then maybe I can re-pitch it to Agents and perpahs gain representation, with fingers crossed, of course!
Unit Core God Uterus
Black Listed Thoughts in a little black book by poet Mike Meraz. . .I had a black listed thought that consisted of abortion and your right to bear arms but somewhere along the way my uterus got shot down, and sustained two bullets from an AZ political drive-by thuggette who wants to prosecute the women responsible for aborting an unwanted child as it might be considered “evidence tampering”. What kind of America are we living in when a woman has sex or is a victim of rape/incest and SHE becomes the criminal? Okay, bad question. Okay, I love my guns. I have a 12 gage double-barrel action-pump Magnum Express shotgun adored by the ATF; a Smith & Wesson 6 slug revolver; and a Semi-Automatic Springer double-shot handgun. Now I’m looking to buy a BAR 1918 as well as a Corner Shot rifle. . .all in the name to protect my Unit Core God Uterus. I have a daughter, and I weep for her future as I fear a pre-communist uterus country unfolding with her uterus being held captive by the Gyno-Government.
So I put together a list of things to do for your uterus before and after trying it out:
0. Paragraph A-Do abstain from sex. Paragraph B-This excludes nymphs.
1. Do keep your uterus clean and fetus free, see #0, Paragraph A.
2. Hang a “Do Not Enter” sign on your vagina.
3. Do not smile at the bartender as he may think you’re interested and spikes your drink.
4. Have a sit down between your uterus, your vagina, and the 33 Degrees Delegates and ask what their POV’s are on this political uterus/abortion war.
5. Have your tubes tied at the onset of your birth.
6. Build a prison inside your uterus for sperm-victs.
7. Talk to your great-grandmother, your true Ob-Gyn
8. Do not self-abort with hot water, that is so 1950’s or is it 60’s?
9. If you have to abort, take a high-ranking political rep and hold he/she hostage with extreme prejudice, then negotiate through a bullhorn, “Either the rep gets it or the fetus?”
All in all, I think women should be left to their own devices (and I don’t mean IUD’s, but speaking of IUD’s. . .): Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, Roe Vs. Wade, yadda, yadda, yadda. Sex, rape, incest should not even be an issue with abortion as this is America and should always be a right like a right to bear arms, and all that And Justice For All crap. Now back to the IUD. . .I need to have my IUD replaced! And I’m really hoping my Ob-Gyn doesn’t ask: Copper or plastic? ‘cause I just might answer: A Hysterectomy, please!
Dear Bloggers. . .a quick note on an unpublished novel
Dear Bloggers,
Back in February 2011, I completed a novel titled “Growing up Traffic” now re-titled “HUSH” about suburban teens subjected to prostitution by other suburban teens. Unfortunately this novel was not what some agents were looking to represent, and other agents who took an interest suggested that I tone down the novel as it was graphic and somewhat intense due to the nature that my MC is only 14 years old. But because I was reluctant to do just that, simply because I felt it would only take away from the premise of the novel itself, I decided to leave the novel “as is”. Since it has been sitting on my shelf (aka, flashdrive) I decided that I would either do one or the other: Self-publish or publish it here in 2 Chapter increments at a time, three times a week. So I’m going to do both.
Before I start publishing, a quick warning to the fainthearted: This novel does contain scenes of physical abuse, violence, drug abuse, kidnapping, child sex exploitation, and graphic scenes of rape, gang-rape and incest.
Your comments are welcomed, good or bad, and will post once out of moderation. I thank you for reading, and for allowing this piece to shine here.
Devlin De La Chapa
———-NOVEL FOLLOWS THIS POST BELOW———-
Book Query Update & “If Robert Ford were Jesse James”
Well it’s another year. . .another year of trudging through the economy while trying to avoid being hit by the fiscal cliff, which btw, was somewhat resolved at around 2AM this new year’s morning.
Aside from another year gone, I spent the last few days preparing Queries to Lit Agencies for my new and latest YA novel, “ROMEO”, a unique derivative to the much beloved play, Romeo + Juliet only with a paranormal twist. So I have my fingers (tightly) crossed in hopes to garnishing an agent and a book deal this year. As time progresses, and if my query makes it past the slushpile of an agent’s inbox, I will post it here. Until then enjoy my latest poem.
If Robert Ford were Jesse James
He had collected a memoire of the man
perhaps one too many times, particularly around
the time the last of the snow had fallen and faded,
fallen and faded like hot whiskey cold sweat
off the brows of dense calculating eyelids
in saloons or at the table of ever changing galleys.
Right around the time the wild foxtail wheat
had become aplenty beneath his feet,
he dreamt of Jesse James romancing as
Thomas Howard, trailing his footsteps, each
becoming less than a shadow of a coward
despite a soft unpleasant voice that cracked
like bones when spoken or badgered upon.
Right around the time Zee, pleasant and contrite,
was left a betrayed and loyal weeping widow,
still frames of horses and black lacquer stenciled gold
empty rocking chairs and holy matrimonial secretes
whispered on clean white cotton linen sheets had
become the muffles beneath the four of seasons of what
the future revealed in scripture of what was to be foretold.
Right around the time wind of fire had spread across the plains,
he had lost the inspiration of who he was to what he desired;
A gentleman, perhaps; An outlaw, first and foremost, it seemed;
A trusted hand holding down the hammer on humility
or perhaps, humanity, but never a true cowboy. If Robert Ford
were Jesse James, he would have stripped down his legendary guns,
laid down his best suit coat above the muddy terrains and let
the sins of his ghosts cross into the sunset of no regret-
only if.
Devlin De La Chapa 