One Day Until Launch!

As launch day approaches, I think it's important to at least note where the idea for Grey Cat Blues came from.

The first was that the seed of this idea came from an older, out of print and scrapped story, called While You Were Dancing. I scrapped this one when I realized I didn't know where it was going and that I wasn't mature enough to make it work. That story was about a world falling apart and no one really noticing or caring as a being from the shadows stealthily destroyed it from the inside.

Grey Cat Blues came about when I began to read Appendix N and independent Pulp Revolution stories. There was also the Superversive movement which also brightened the corners of this story. These authors gave me a direction to aim my tales and allowed me more freedom and clarity than I had ever had before. The characters came into focus, the setting became sharper, and I understood what the muse was trying to tell me when I first stumbled upon this idea.

There are a few works with similarities that I did not partake in until after the work is done. I followed in the tradition of Brian Niemeier who stated that he had never seen the anime Outlaw Star until after he wrote Nethereal and Souldancer. Likewise, I did not see Streets of Fire or Dark City until after writing Grey Cat Blues.

As much as I enjoyed watching them, they did not have any influence on the story. My novel has better action than the former and is much less abstract than the latter, anyway.

No, if we're talking influences, there isn't any one place this came from.

I've made no secret of how S.E. Hinton was an influence on me as a boy. She had a way of writing tough male characters that were rounded without having to deconstruct them or tear them down. The specific instance for this story in regards to her was Rumble Fish. For those who don't know, Rumble Fish is a coming of age story about a tough kid who has his world fall down around him due to his blind pursuit of being his idol at the expense of the wonder his childhood afforded him. By the end he loses everything, the color of the world and those around him, in his goal of being his brother and being one with the world. It's a tragedy.

Grey Cat Blues is the opposite. My story starts with a character in the opposite place who pursues a world much bigger than the one he started in. It's very much a superversive tale with a lot of weirdness going on. There's also a lot more action than you might expect..

This has been a real joy to write and I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I had putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) and eagerly await any comments you might have. Please check out the preorder here and an official excerpt here.

Tomorrow is the official release, and I am really excited for it. Thanks for reading!