April 2025 WIP Update!

Hello there my dear readers and Happy Spring! Still kind of waiting for it to kick off here in the land of corn and beans, temp doesn't seem to want to get above 40, but it HAS to be right around the corner. I just got back from a week in florida with my wife and kids and some dear friends where, while cloudy and windy most of the time, the temp stayed in the mid 70's or higher, which made it even MORE difficult to come back home and don my winter coat once again.

In the "blooming" spirit of spring, I wanted to provide an update to the current Works In Progress that I am plugging away on with the hopes of bringing another release in the Fall of 2025! What that release will be remains to be seen, but here are the projects currently in the works:

"...and Other Nightmares" 2

Restful Sleep and Other Nightmares was my first formal publication on Amazon, and this collection of short stories only scratched the surface of the creepy tales I've written over the past ~25 years. "...and Other Nightmares" 2 is going to be a follow-up short story collection of around 10 more creepy stories. I'm still finalizing which story will be the title feature. Currently there are 9 stories fully written and in the editing process. Some of the titles include: "A Smiling Man", "Captured", "The Worst Snowstorm of the Summer", "The Bell, It Rings", and "The Flash-Back Stairs". Some of these are older stories that represent the very early stages of my writing, so I AM going through them and doing some rewrites where I feel its needed. This is lengthening the process a bit, but I'm so excited to release these stories into the wild!

"Knock, Knock and other Spooky Tales

This one's for the kids! When I was young, books like "In a Dark, Dark Room" and "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" are what first got me intersted in the world of spooky stories. In the same vein, "Knock, Knock" aims to provide an entry point into this world for younger readers. This book will contain 6 spooky tales along with associated title illustrations that should ride that fine line where kids can find the fun in being scared, without giving them complete nightmare fuel. Many of the stories will resolve in a humerous way or use some other tactic to defuse the fear a bit. The stories are written and I'm really happy with them. Right now the roadblock is the illustrations. I've done an initial set of illustrations myself, but I am far from a professional artist and I'm finding it difficult to be satisfied with the final result on a couple of them. I am trying to work with a much better illustrator, but she has a very busy schedule so I have not yet released her name in case she isn't able to pick up that ball and run with it...but I'm crossing my fingers!

"From the Music Box"

From the Music Box will be my first full length novel. This book represents the struggle that so many authors go through, as I technically finished writing it way back in 2011. Since then I've done two new drafts, and am currently on my way through a fourth. Years ago, I spent a full year querying blurbs and synopsies to agents and received not a single bite. This caused me to shelve the book and walk away from it for quite a while. Now I'm back at it, working on another rewrite, trimming the fat and reducing the word count to make it a more concise and thrilling story. I still believe that the concept is a winner, and hope to bring this one into the light soon and start promoting it's release! If you want to read a synopsis of the book, visit the "Books" section of my website (Patrick T. Luce)

"Tranquility"

A couple of months ago I had an idea for a story. So, per my usual ritual, I opened up OneNote and proceeded to start idea dumping. Typically I will write for a while, crudely playing out the story on "paper" until the dopamine rush associated with a new idea dies down and nothing else comes out. But this story was different. It just kept coming. Character development, plot twists—before I knew it the bones of a really solid book were sitting in front of me. Using those bones, I'm three chapters into writing this new novel and LOVING it. This book is presenting me with some unique challenges that I have not dealt with as a writer so far. The setting, the voices of the characters, it is just going to be a story people will not be able to put down. I can feel it. It involves a man who goes missing while visiting a wellness retreat in Arizona called Tranquility, and a detective who is trying to get to the bottom of a series of murders associated with a myterious man known as "Mr. Grey" who has been all the rage in online conspiracy theory circles. These bodies are found in a pool of their own blood, but with no visible wounds of any kind. There is also no physical evidence that Mr. Grey exists, despite multiple people's first hand acconts of his involvement. I'm hoping to finish writing "Tranquility" this year and start polishing. Stay tuned!

Alright, those are all of the projects I'm working on right now. If you haven't yet, please head over to Amazon and look up Restful Sleep and Other Nightmares. Your support of that initial release can play a huge part in my ability to continue devoting time to these other projects and bringing more titles to your bookshelves. Much Love, Take Care!