Being an indie author in Dallas is no picnic. It has nothing to do with my genre – Dallas is the home of Texas Frightmare Weekend, and there’s enough of my colleagues residing nearby to keep it relevent. Texas Author and Reader Con has changed hands and is now Texas Horror Lit Fest. I guess that means I no longer have a stronger voice when it comes to the convention comings and goings. Cool beans. I’d rather just attend than offer my opinions. They never seem to match anyone else’s anyway. No harm/no foul, just wasted time.
The hardest part of my life is getting indie bookstore owners to return phone calls and emails. When they do, and when I provide them with my wares, they sell out fast. I can guarantee you that none of these stores operate on charity and love money. That’s why they’re in all the posh party hoods around town. Drunk cowboys from beyond the suburbs love to buy their “Officially Sponsored White Claw Panty Raid Of The Week” girlfriends liberal/banned books to help them along their way to realizing they were really feminists all along. By then, they’re married to MAGA, had a few kids, and in charge of the church bake sale. That’s what I call the “East Texas Fairytale”.
Of the three closest to me, I managed to get my books into one. Luckily, that organization has two stores in two of the neighborhoods mentioned above. They’re good people, they just suck at correspondence. Time is money, and the market changes daily. Horror ebbs and flows with whenever Stephen King releases something new. All the horror authors polarize, begin fighting amongst themselves in regard to whether or not King is truly God, and to the spoils go the fanbase. I’ve lost a few arguments with gatekeepers, and that’s why only the cool kids know who I am. That’s the way (uh-huh uh-huh) I like it.
The next bookstore actually reached out to me first. They vet what they sell, and one – only one – individual makes that decision. I’d randomly left a copy there as a giveaway to a lucky reader who may or may not have possessed the money to purchase some of this store’s poony wares. Anyway, the chick hit me up on social media saying she read my book, and that she doesn’t allow things in her store told in a passive voice. I kindly told her that wasn’t the point of me leaving it there, the book was an award-nominated revenge anthology containing a dozen or more stories from a dozen or more authors told in various ways; you didn’t read my book. Truly, that may have been one of the most pretentious moves I’ve ever encountered in two decades of professional writing on either side of the pond. I haven’t returned to that store, nor will I.
The final store was my latest endeavor. I walked into it with no one else in sight; staff included. I passed a gentleman on the porch, but he didn’t acknowledge me as a potential customer – as Mom & Pop store owner/workers tend to do. After ten minutes of me wandering, he entered, and retreived his subordinate to finally acknowledge me. That’s when I expereinced what I strongly refer to as “gentrification racism”. I resemble the white devils who are destroying their neighborhood heritage, and the hatred oozed from their pores. It was that obvious. They knew the answer to my every question before it even left my mouth. I get it, but I don’t. I can’t, so I won’t.
I’m a middle-aged heterosexual white male with a military style haircut and a beard. Some would say I don’t resemble the traditional author, but some are idiots. Sure, they can sell books, but have they ever been to a conference? We represent every race, color, and creed this country has to offer, and we all bleed ink. You can be my colleague and friend, unless you’re a dick. Dickery knows no color. Unless these stores plan on filling their shelves with AI compiled cyber-crap, they need us, even if we don’t look like them or write tampon fantasies from Lilith Fair.
That stab was a little personal, but that book-chick had it coming. She blamed me for not supporting her life’s agenda when, in fact, I’m related to a world-reknowned queer studies expert…and we get along famously. I just don’t go around announcing those types of fact often, if ever. I’m interesting enough without the need to inform everyone around me what I do with my nether regions and who I do it with.
American “ism’s” roll downhill, and I can’t help but think they’ve made it all the way to independent literature. It’s not that there’s less of a market for any particular genre, but I feel there’s less of a market for who I appear to be as an author; someone resembling our current oppressors on the evening news.
Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon. The way I see it, Dallas is an extremely racist/classist city, it just hides behind snarky comments told through artificially-whitened, chenched-jawed border walls made of teeth. Creepy.
The “comments” section is at the very bottom of the page. That way, if you’re going to be a poon, I can try to sell you a book on the way down.
The Reverend’s Reads
To most, 1865 was an eye-opening year. The American Civil War was officially over and the soldiers fortunate enough to survive the bloody conflict returned home to collect the pieces of their former lives. To young Arizonan, Robert Jack, the fateful desert homecoming marked the end to all he once knew. Forgiveness is overrated. Death is final. Revenge, however, dances between the fine lines of mortality and eternity. Love always finds a way.
“Reading Jim Walker and the Redemption Hymn is equal parts quirky fun and riveting action. Cloud’s confident, entertaining voice draws the reader in like an old radio western: the perfect bite-sized story with a main character you’re ready to follow through every adventure he finds himself on. So, tune in next time…”
– Megan Stockton, author of Lovely, Dark & Deep
The history books would read that Jim Walker was brutally executed after the Battle of Goliad, but a few promises in the right ear blurred the contrast between blood and ink. Now an aging bounty hunter on the verge of retirement, his services are requested in the Northern Arizona Territory to solve the terrifying mystery of the Verde River Massacre. With guns from a local Deputy, courage from a saloon proprietor, and a deathbed confession from an all-too-familiar Medicine Woman, Jim sets off on what could be his final adventure. Will he lay the ghosts of his past to rest once and for all, or is he simply whistling his Redemption Hymn?
“Someone call DC and tell them this is how you write a female hero character!” – Lisa Lee Tone, Bibliophelia Templum
Angel Burns is a young firefighter with a shrouded history. During a routine night at work, she stumbles upon a demonic ceremony that brings her memories out of hiding – as well as her repressed supernatural powers. Angel soon learns her life was intended for things greater than extinguishing fires for mortals. Now on the payroll of the Vatican, Angel embarks upon an epic quest to protect the Gutenberg Bibles from evil. If successful, she will secure peace for generations. If she fails, the power of the ancient books will bestow an eternity of darkness upon all humanity!
Toby Liberman is nearing the end of his rope. After a fateful confrontation with his wife’s lover, he is chased into the woods only to be discovered by an unidentifiable creature. He is attacked and rendered unconscious. Upon waking at the scene of a gruesome triple homicide, Toby is arrested as the sole suspect and thrown into a jail cell with a strange man that knows way too much about his predicament. The stranger reveals to Toby that he now possesses the curse of the werewolf. Using his new-found strength to flee his captors, Toby begins to discover that things are not what they seem in the sleepy town of Twin Oaks, TX. Now hunted by law enforcement, as well as the town’s gun toting civilians, Toby seeks vengeance against his false accusers and embarks upon a quest to clear his name once and for all.
A Curse Beyond Comprehension. A Power Beyond Belief. A Girl Far From Home. Katie Liberman is your typical eighteen-year-old college student…or at least that’s what her family thinks. Picking up five years after the events of A Taste of Home, Katie has dropped out of school and embarked upon a dangerous quest to find Kurt Jimmerson, the New York City attorney responsible for her family’s werewolf curse. Unknown to her, the attorney’s grip on the ‘City That Never Sleeps’ is tighter than imagined and she’ll need any and all help available to be victorious. But… where do you find friends when you’re Far From Home?
Twin Oaks, Texas is at war! Taking place immediately after the Far From Home events in New York City, Katie Liberman has returned to rescue her birthplace from the clutches of her nemesis. As the paranormal battle of North vs. South rages in the shadows, the tiny town must decide to fight against the odds or become one with the darkness. Blood will be shed and only one will survive as the final battle of the Home Series concludes.
I know this is the part where I’m supposed to talk about the book, but I feel as though the synopsis needs its own preface to truly understand. 2023 was quite an eye-opening year! I began it by living my dream as a vintage steam locomotive fireman, but that dream was soon squashed thanks to my writing career. It won’t matter that you wrote your extreme horror offerings years ago and under a pen name. Also, it won’t matter that your publisher and author friends from days gone by express pleasantries and kind, nurturing words to your face, because they’ll clique-up and talk trash the minute you turn your back. F**k the biz, create. Create for art, not clicks. Click for love, not hate. Those are words true artists should have no issues living by, yet most seem to hide behind their keyboard shields, flinging ill-thought words of destruction toward once-trusted ears. Don’t pour something into everything; pour everything into something. Do it all by yourself if necessary. With any luck, 2024 will be the year of The Reverend. I’m not exactly sure what that means yet, but we’ll find out together. Anyway, here are a few short stories and poems I wrote as C. Derick Miller in 2023. I stole them from myself. Fair and square. Enjoy.
Poetry has always come naturally to me. Whether it is an expression of emotion toward someone I care about, or a display of humor pointed in the direction of those I loathe, it is my true outlet. Several of these works were written in a passenger seat while exploring the highways of the United States and somehow managed to survive “The Great Ex-Wife/Ex-Girlfriend Poetry Purge” of 2019. Others were penned during COVID-19 quarantine. Although it may not be the most epic poetry collection you’ve ever read, it all contains bits of blood and soul. You will feel something. Guaranteed.
“This profound collection of horror brings classic monsters into new light in the modern day” – B.L. Blankenship, God Walks The Dark Hills series.
The modern world is a crazy place. Worrying about childish politicians, empty grocery store shelves, and our pending membership to the “global disease of the week” club, it leaves very little time for the average reader to finish an entire novel. This is where Six from Five Seven: Short Stories from a Short Man comes in clutch! A story per day to keep the impending apocalypse away, with a single day left over to contemplate why you purchased this book in the first place. That sounds like an entertaining week when compared to the one you were destined to have regardless. What do a cursed husband, a privileged brat, a curious prostitute, a repressed savior, a vengeful son, and two hell-bound soldiers have in common? Their stories lie within the pages of this collection and invite you to tag along on their journeys of fate, redemption, and demise. When finished, you, dear reader, can hide this book inside your basement with the rest of those important documents you wished you’d never taken home. The FBI won’t be happy, but at least they’ll know you’re a cool person for owning a copy while conducting the raid. That must count for something, right? Let’s hope the judge thinks so!
Also, there’s a few other things not listed here that are floating around out there. Best of luck with the hunt.
Current Projects
Rev. Dare Cloud
Reverend · adjective. worthy of adoration or reverence. synonyms: sublime · sacred.
is a Dallas author, musician, and gonzo journalist. Some of his works include the controversial splatter-western Starving Zoe (written as C. Derick Miller), the Taste of Home trilogy, and the ongoing Jim Walker series. He is also the co-host of the American Justice Podcast and Senior Writer/Junior Producer for AtuA Productions LLC. His literary crushes are (of course) Hunter S. Thompson, J.D. Salinger, and Kevin Smith. Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon.
“You’ve got to press it on you You’ve just been thinking That’s what you do, baby Hold it down, Dare!” – Gorillaz
The Gonzo Wolf 
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