Val Muller

Following my trend of stretching my writing wings (away from predominantly writing horror), I’ve just received a contract for a novella I wrote. This one is new for me–a time travel romance involving robots! (It’s me we’re talking about here–you wouldn’t expect me to write a “normal” romance, right?)

The novella will be published as an e-book through Rebel Ink Press and will be available for purchase this spring.

I’m pleased to announce that my short story “The Girl with Sunrise in her Hair” is scheduled for publication in Timid Pirate’s Finding Home: Community in Apocalyptic Worlds anthology. It’s a story told largely through the journal of one of the youngest survivors of a global apocalypse. Part of a barren and hopeless population, she must choose between life in a dictator’s sanctuary or untamed life in the recovering wilderness.

Timid Pirate’s website, www.timidpirate.com, will start taking orders in early November. The book will be released in mid-December. For now, you can view the table of contents here: http://www.timidpirate.com/2011/10/16/post-apocalypse-community-toc/

On September 29, I was interviewed along with some of DWB’s other authors, on Blog Talk Radio. If you missed it, you can listen to the show using the link below. My interview came around 50 minutes in:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rie_mcgaha/2011/09/29/dancing-with-bear-publishing

It was my first-ever interview, and I was a bit nervous, but after all was said and done, it was actually fun. If you don’t know me very well, I didn’t sound nervous 🙂

I look forward to the release of Corgi Capers and hope that everyone enjoys the novel. It’s great for kids in elementary school, especially kids who love–or have every wanted–a dog of their own.

I am pleased to announce that my middle-grade mystery novel, CORGI CAPERS, has been accepted for publication at Dancing With Bear Publishing.

It is the story of Adam Hollinger, a fifth-grader who dreams of a normal summer: playing All-Star baseball, reading comic books, begging his parents for a dog, and avoiding his mischievous seventh-grade sister. But that dream is turned upside-down when the Hollingers adopt two corgi puppies, the team’s star pitcher breaks an arm, and Adam’s neighborhood is plagued by a serial burglar. When the adults of the town are stumped, it is up to Adam and the puppies to set things straight.

The novel is set for release in January 2012.

I’m pleased to announce that my short story, “The Fire Beneath the Sea” has been accepted into the Wicked East Press anthology Here There Be Dragons. This is the first true fantasy story I have written, and it was actually the most fun I ever had writing a story! Ever! Pirates! Dragons! How could you go wrong?

I never considered writing fantasy before. Horror seemed to come more naturally to me. Although I loved The Lord of the Rings, I’ve read many fantasy books that I found to be simply mediocre and overly-packed with clichés, descriptions, and actions that could well have been left out. However, I’ve recently started reading The Name of the Wind, and it changed my opinion about writing fantasy. I found the language in the novel fresh, the structure believable. When I saw the open call for submissions over at Wicked East Press, I figured I would give it a shot. I never thought I would enjoy writing fantasy so much!

I’ve had an idea for a fantasy novel (or perhaps trilogy!) brewing in the backburner of my mind for a few years now. I have some outlines and maps I’ve drawn of the world, and I think I’m going to try to get a good start on it for this year’s NaNoWriMo. I feel like as a writer, drifting between horror, nonfiction, and children’s literature, I’ve always been searching for my niche. Perhaps in fantasy I have found it!