John Bryant

Fiction writers tell the best lies.

[johnwhowrites]

Oh, it’s on! Come through the Central West End on September 21 for BookFest 2019. I’ll be chilling in the Festival Zone. For more info, peep http://bookfeststl.com/blog-bookfestfestivalzone/

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Yo, it's on!! Come through Earthbound Beer on June 10 to hear a live read of my historical fiction joint, Chasing the Buffalo.  Peep pieandwhiskeystl.com for details.

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#NaNoWriMo2018: Dog Girls

Welp, I’m gonna go for it again. I must be a glutton for punishment, because I’ve thrown my hat in the ring once again for Nanowrimo. This time around, I’m trying something different. I’m not exactly sure what it is yet, but the idea for Dog Girls has been kicking around in my noggin’ for awhile. This year’s nano gives me the perfect excuse to flesh it out. So here we go. Synopsis time.

Every dog has its day. At least that's what Maya, and Loopy believed.

Friends since childhood, Maya, and Lupita (known as "Loopy" to her friends) spent their days working in Arch City's animal shelter. A hard fact of life (or death, in this case) is that most of the dogs that came through the shelter doors went unclaimed, unwanted, and before long, ended up candidates for  euthanization. When an injured, and frightened Chowder, a one-hundred-thirty pound bullmastiff, showed up at the shelter, the gentle giant instantly bonded with them. The vicious wounds he'd sustained before arriving filled Maya, and Loopy with rage, and they vowed to track down the one responsible.

They never realized was how far they'd take it.

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What’s in a Name?

Malcolm & Ollie needs your help!

Who doesn’t love contests? Help me name book one of my upcoming, urban fantasy joint, MALCOLM & OLLIE, and score a free copy of each book in the series.

Check out the free first chapter, then tweet me at @wordtypes with your best title(s). Let the naming begin!

Photo credit: Valentin Blary.

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Christmas Book Review

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Chasing the Buffalo: Work in Progress

I decided to take a break from "Malcolm & Ollie” for a hot minute, and flesh out some of the other ideas that’ve been rolling around in my head. While Urban Fantasy is my jam, I’ve been digging on Historical Fiction lately too.

Back burner projects include “Sons of Boston” (two brothers, runaway slaves, find freedom as American pirates during the Revolutionary War), and “Happy-Land” (a son returns home after the Great Depression to find his family living in the country’s largest shanty town, and must find his missing brother).

The one that’s been flowing as of late is a story called “Chasing the Buffalo.” It revolves around former Buffalo Soldier, Emmett Blue, after the end of the Civil War. He returns to Flatwater, Missouri, where he grew up, and tries to settle in to post-war America.

It’s a departure from my regular writing, and a little raunchy, so be forewarned. Here’s the very rough, opening scene.

Chapter 01: Flatwater, MO

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If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.

Martin Luther King

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I rarely remember my dreams, but this one stuck in my head the other night.

Carmen and Maya take karma into their own hands against dog abusers. 🐶 DOG GIRLS 🐾

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Nothing compares to reading in front of a live audience. Got 15 minutes to spare? Check out the sidewalk reading of my work in progress, "Malcolm & Ollie," at Subterranean Books from Loop Arts Fest 2017. And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.

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Drop what your'e doing! Swing by Subterranean Books in the Delmar Loop during Loop Arts Fest 2017. I'll be doing a 15-minute sidewalk read from my urban fantasy work in progress, "Malcolm & Ollie." Here's the full lineup for Thursday. 2:00 pm - Steve Wiegenstein 3:00 pm - Debra Baker 4:00 pm - John Bryant

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Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

William Shakespeare

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Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

Cyril Connolly

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While revisions and rewrites for book one of the Malcolm & Ollie series are in full swing, I thought I'd share the opening lines.

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Work In Progress: Bump. A Novella.

I don’t normally remember my dreams, but the other night, a story idea popped into my head. It’s incredibly rough at the moment, and I’m just getting my thoughts together, but here’s the basic idea.

What kid hasn't heard monsters rumbling in the closet, or lurking underneath their beds late at night? For some, things that go bump in the night don't stop making appearances with adulthood.

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Malcolm & Ollie: Let’s Play “Casting Session” Round 3

On thing that’s been difficult for me to pin down is how to convey to an audience what the characters in my book series, Malcolm & Ollie, look like, without committing one of my pet peeves: rattling off a laundry list of physical attributes.

I’ve always had an idea of what most secondary characters look like in my head. In previous posts, “Let’s Play Casting Session” and “Let’s Play Casting Session Round 2,” I found some perfect representations of who should play them if Malcolm & Ollie were a TV shoe. Yet, I’ve always struggled with title characters. Until now.

Tyler James Williams as Malcolm

Asa Butterfield as Ollie