Introducing Deep Ellum Duet

By Jan S. Gephardt

I’ve spent the last several days preparing a new book for its presale launch. Deep Ellum Duet is the answer to a lot of requests we’ve had since we published my sister G. S. Norwood’s first novelette in 2019. People want to buy them from a variety of booksellers, and many would prefer to buy a paperback. But until now, Deep Ellum Pawn and Deep Ellum Blues were only available individually on Kindle.

There were several reasons for this. They made sense at the time we first published Deep Ellum Pawn. We at Weird Sisters Publishing were newer to the publishing game then (it was only our second title). And one novelette alone was not big enough to be practical in a print edition unless we wanted to make a slender booklet that wouldn’t be cost-effective.

We also were under the illusion that Kindle Unlimited would make a piece of short fiction easily available and that there was a tremendous demand. As it turned out, KU has no “magic formula,” especially since the novelette had a profit margin too small to justify paid advertising.

Cover art ©2019 by Chaz Kemp.

 

G.’s Writing Career

I’m excited to produce Deep Ellum Duet because it’s a new milestone for G: her first fiction publication in literal print. You see, one of my greater pleasures in recent years was bringing my sister’s first independently-written fiction, Deep Ellum Pawn, into publication. An odd combination of obstacles held up her fiction writing career for a long, frustrating time.

It’s certainly not because she can’t write! She’s earned her livelihood through one writing job after the next, from broadcast writing to several forms of journalism and newsletter or ad copy writing, through highly effective grant writing. No, G. always had the writing chops. Indeed, I’ve always thought she’s a better writer than I am.

But officially-acknowledged fiction publication has maddeningly eluded her until now. She co-wrote the Time Police #1 novel and collaborated with her late husband Warren C. Norwood on the outline for a 6-book series after Warren became seriously ill. Mel Odom wrote books 2-5 based on that outline (then the publisher went bankrupt and the series was never finished). But for contractual reasons, she wasn’t credited.

Covers courtesy of Goodreads.

 

G.’s Body of Fictional Work

During the 1990s, both she and Warren tried to break into the romance genre. She attracted a lot of editorial interest but never found a publisher. Her books made it into editorial meetings more than once. She almost sold one – but then the publisher decided to discontinue the line. Another got a lot of interest, but . . . no. It’s the story of many writers’ lives when they try to mesh their vision with that of a traditional publishing house.

Here at Weird Sisters, we’re determined that it’s only a matter of time before several of those “failed romances,” too, will become available. Because they’re wonderful. Especially if you read them as women’s fiction, rather than romance novels (see more below).

But Deep Ellum Pawn at last put G. in the “published fiction” column. It came after an adult lifetime of hanging out with top published writers, honing her skills, and writing book after book. While still holding down her day job as Director of Concert Operations for The Dallas Winds, she polished off a second novelette set in the series, which came out in 2020 as Deep Ellum Blues.

Artwork ©2020-2021 by Chaz Kemp.

 

The Deep Ellum Stories

A third short “Deep Ellum” work may be shaping into a novella but it’s not finished yet. This one is titled Death in Deep Ellum. It has been in the works since right after we published Deep Ellum Blues but unfortunately a range of issues beyond G.’s control have delayed it.

Meanwhile, we’ve collected several pages of rave reviews for the two already-published novelettes. These opinions come from both from “known” writers and discerning fans. If you follow Weird Sisters Publishing on Facebook, you know that even now, in recent months, Deep Ellum Pawn consistently pulls in Top 1K rankings on Amazon in the Occult Suspense category (and some others, too).

The Deep Ellum stories also were added by readers to the Goodreads Listopia’s “”Most Interesting World” List.

But we want to bring these stories to a much broader audience, in more formats. We have pulled out of Kindle Unlimited, although both novelettes are still available as standalone titles on Amazon (See our book pages for more details).

Montage designs from the last 2 months by Jan S. Gephardt. Cover art ©2019 by Chaz Kemp.

 

Where does Deep Ellum Duet Come in?

One novelette might be too short to make a bound, printed book. But two – especially including the extra “Set List” feature at the end of Deep Ellum Blues – definitely make a good small trade paperback. It’ll be about the size of my book The Other Side of Fear. This will be a new first for G: her first original fiction published in a print edition.

We’ve come to believe that restricting these novelettes to a single distributor (Amazon) and only one format (ebook) was holding them back. Enter Deep Ellum Duet. It’s a double-story edition that contains both of the Deep Ellum stories she’s finished so far. This title will officially go into wide release in ebook and trade paperback formats on March 14, 2023.

Today we’re proud to announce the start of pre-orders for the ebook version (unfortunately, Amazon is our only current outlet that enables pre-orders, and those only for ebooks). As soon as we can manage e-commerce from the Weird Sisters website, we’ll take pre-orders for the trade paperback version, fulfilled to addresses in the USA, UK, Canada, and Mexico.

Cover art ©2022 by Chaz Kemp.

 

What’s ahead?

Keep checking the links on the Weird Sisters Deep Ellum Duet page. We’ll update them as soon as more outlets open up. And The book will be available as close to worldwide as we can manage by March 14. You can also bet it’ll be prominently displayed on our dealers tables at conventions we attend throughout this year!

G.’s not done, however. She’s contemplating retirement in 2023, although it’ll be hard to part with her beloved Dallas Winds. But she’s got Death in Deep Ellum to finish! Not only that, but we’re in final edits for the first of her women’s fiction titles, Wrong Way Riley. It features plenty of good Texas music, as well as an engaging young woman who struggles to define herself as a person and an artist.

G. also has a wonderful mystery novel in progress, titled Ray and Sunshine. It stars a widowed, retired Texas police chief, a precocious little girl, and a delightful dog in the dynamite opener for a promising mystery series.

Yup, my awesome sister is just getting warmed up! Stay tuned.

IMAGE CREDITS

Many thanks to Chaz Kemp for the wonderful “Deep Ellum” covers – he’s the artist behind all three. The cover paintings are © 2019-2023 by Chaz Kemp. We also gratefully acknowledge Goodreads for the three “Time Police” covers. All montages and “Shout-Out” designs are Jan S. Gephardt’s fault. 

The Deep Ellum Stories Continue: An excerpt

 By G. S. Norwood, abetted by Jan S. Gephardt

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Deep Ellum Blues’ publication, and some of our readers want to know. Will the Deep Ellum stories continue?

The covers for Deep Ellum Pawn and Deep Ellum Blues are ©2019 and 2020, respectively, by Chaz Kemp.

To that, we’re happy to answer an emphatic yes. Ms. Eddy’s adventures aren’t nearly over yet. But when’s the next story coming? Well, that’s a little harder to say. Death in Deep Ellum, the working title for the third story, is a murder mystery. It’s required some theological thinking and some careful interweaving of the plot elements, while G. also works on several other exciting fiction projects.

Oh, yes, and her job. Concerts are starting up again, and the grant proposals never did let up. So G.’s a busy lady in her day job, too.

The Deep Ellum Stories Continue

But yes. Rest assured. The Deep Ellum stories continue! To prove it, this post includes a first look at Death in Deep Ellum’s opening. But before that, a quick look at how we got here.

In the first story, Deep Ellum Pawn, we met Ms. Eddy Weekes, proprietor of Deep Ellum Pawn. Her shop is always there when you need it, and she rocks the most epic storage room and garden-with-water feature that you may ever have encountered.

The e-edition of Deep Ellum Pawn in a visualization from Book Brush. Cover artwork © 2019 by Chaz Kemp.

Deep Ellum Pawn Description

The Golden Fiddle is back. Can Ms. Eddy break its curse this time?

What’s a pawnshop owner to do? The cursed Golden Fiddle keeps coming back to Deep Ellum Pawn, the shop where Ms. Eddy Weekes stands guard over the historic Dallas, Texas, neighborhood of Deep Ellum. Each time the fiddle shows up, it leaves a swath of broken dreams and shattered lives, with a pack of fearsome Hell Hounds hot on its trail.

Music, magic, and legends intertwine in Deep Ellum, and things long buried have a way of coming back ‘round again. Only Ms. Eddy can end the fiddle’s curse, but first she must learn its secrets.

Will she have the tools she needs to fend off the Hell Hounds and get to the heart of the Golden Fiddle, before an ancient evil brings the darkness back to Deep Ellum forever?

The Deep Ellum Stories Continue with Deep Ellum Blues

We published Deep Ellum Pawn in November 2019, preceded by three successive blog posts with excerpts and a release-day announcement. People enjoyed it, so G. got to work on a second. You might also enjoy another post with some of the story’s background, and another one on the making of the cover.

We rolled out Deep Ellum Blues not quite a year later, again with a series of blog posts. They included an excerpt, an interview of G. by internationally-bestselling mystery novelist Deborah Crombie, and a look at the making of the cover. We also posted a Setlist with YouTube videos of Mudcat’s songs (scroll down), and a release notice. And we followed its release with a post by G. about the famous song Deep Ellum Blues.

The e-edition of Deep Ellum Blues in a visualization from Book Brush. Cover artwork © 2020 by Chaz Kemp.

Deep Ellum Blues Description

Free will is a rule she doesn’t break.

As the genius loci of Deep Ellum, Ms. Eddy Weekes is a hands-off goddess who won’t micro-manage human affairs. She’d rather sit on the sidelines and enjoy the show. Her motto? “People have the right to make their own hideous, life-altering mistakes.”

But there’s something different about the young blues musician Mudcat Randall.

Maybe if her old friend Waylon hadn’t called him to her attention, she’d have let things be. Maybe if she hadn’t glimpsed something special in his music . . . But Mudcat is flirting with disaster. Eddy’s old adversary wants him to sign a tempting management contract, and there are deadly strings attached.

When a third force enters the fray, everything Mudcat has ever prayed for is suddenly on the line, and Eddy knows the game is rigged against him. Can Eddy break through to the headstrong musician? Or will an old and tragic story make Deep Ellum sing a new kind of blues?

Coming Next: Death in Deep Ellum

We promised you an excerpt. Here’s a glimpse of the current draft’s opening.

Chapter One: Prayer of the Dying

There is no prayer like the prayer of the dying.

As the genius loci of Deep Ellum, the historically Black, funky, happenin’ heart of Dallas, Texas, I hear those prayers, whether the people praying live here or just come to hang out for a while. Think of me as the neighborhood’s resident goddess. You can call me Ms. Eddy Weekes.

I heard Perkins’ prayer just after dark on a scorching summer evening. Perkins was an alcoholic, and a member in good standing of the homeless population that still drifts through Deep Ellum despite all the developers’ efforts to gentrify. I’d kept my eye on him for the past couple of years, but I hadn’t anticipated any sudden downturn in his condition.

Ms. Eddy, ©2019 by Chaz Kemp.

When he called, I was with him in an instant. I found him curled on his side by a back-alley dumpster off Elm Street. He’d been shot three times in the gut, and blood was everywhere.

“I’m here, Perkins. I heard you. I can fix this,” I said. The day’s heat radiated up from the crumbling asphalt as I dropped to the ground, but Perkins’ skin was already going cold, his dark skin going gray.

He rolled onto his back, his head on my knees, and I put my arms around his shoulders, trying with all my will to knit his shattered intestines back together.

“It’s my time, Miz Eddy. Don’t worry ‘bout me. It’s my time.”

His voice was a thin thread, only sustained by the force of my will. He had called out to me in need. I had to know what he wanted me to do.

“What happened?”

“I’ze jus’ here, and he come up out of nowhere. Shot me. Didn’t say a thing. Then he’s gone.” Perkins bucked a little against my legs, racked by a cough, a shiver, or some spasm of pain.

“What can I do, Perkins? How can I help?”

“I don. Wanna go. To the bad place. I bin. A drunk. But I ain’t. Bin bad.” His breath was coming in short gasps now.

“You won’t go to the bad place,” I promised. I could see his soul starting to spin out and away from his body, so I reeled it in, holding it close. “What else?”

Perkins made a supreme effort. He used his very last breath to ask one more thing of me.

“Get that son of a bitch.”

He sagged in my arms as I drew together the last tattered fragments of his soul, winding it into a tight ball. Holding it in my heart, as well as my hands, I said aloud, “Nathan Allen Perkins, I see you. I see you in your entirety. I see your heart. I see your mind. I see your soul. You are worthy. You will be missed. You will be remembered. You are safe in my hands, and free to move forward without fear.”

Then I tucked his soul into a pocket of time and space not even my old foe, Nick, could hack into. I sent the little pocket to the store room of my pawn shop, where Perkins’ soul could rest until I delivered it on up to the next level.

That done, I paused a moment to absorb the loss of a man I had liked. I’d given Perkins sandwiches from the shop down the street. He’d kept an eye out for Morsel, my wandering cat. We had shared gossip, and the news of the neighborhood. Perkins’ belief in me had fed my being just as surely as my sandwiches had fed his. I am far too old to trade in human relationships but, as far as it was possible, Perkins had been my friend. I would miss him.

So I took the moment to mourn. Something vital was now gone from Deep Ellum, and I felt the loss.

Then I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and called 9-1-1.

It would only take the cops a few minutes to get here.

Ms. Eddy, ©2020 by Chaz Kemp.

In those few minutes, I took a look around the alley. I wasn’t interested in the three brass shell casings I spotted at the corner where Crowdus Street intersected with the alley that ran behind a rag-tag assortment of take-out restaurants. I didn’t much care about the view from the youth hostel that loomed above me, or the rusty, reeking dumpster that must have all but hidden Perkins unless someone was looking for him. I saw the bottle he’d been nursing, smelled the rotgut that had spilled from it.

And, faintly, under the garbage, the booze and the blood, I smelled something else entirely. As I rose from the pavement to stand guard over my friend’s body, I caught just the barest trace of brimstone. Somehow, in some way I could not yet see, Nick had had a hand in this.

I would help the police, if I could, to find the man who pulled the trigger, but Perkins had asked me for more than mere human justice. He’d asked me to “get that son of a bitch.” That meant I was going to have to track down the Devil himself.

The Deep Ellum Stories Continue

We hope you’re looking forward to Death in Deep Ellum as much as we are. And we’ll keep you posted on progress!

IMAGE CREDITS:

The covers for Deep Ellum Pawn and Deep Ellum Blues are ©2019 and 2020, respectively, by Chaz Kemp. The character developments for Ms. Eddy are also ©2019 and 2020, respectively, by Chaz Kemp. Many thanks!

Horror? Oh, Horrors!

By G. S. Norwood

 Jan S. Gephardt's sister G. S. Norwood is a frequent guest blogger on "Artdog Adventures."

I was a surprised when I learned my novelettes, Deep Ellum Pawn, and Deep Ellum Blues fall into Amazon’s “Occult Horror” category.  Sure they deal with the supernatural, but Horror?  I don’t think so.

G. S. Norwood's two novellas, Deep Ellum Pawn and Deep Ellum Blues.

I am not a horror fan. While I deeply respect Stephen King, and am happy to recommend his memoir/advice book, On Writing, I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t read many of his other works.  I don’t enjoy being scared.  It’s not a recreational pursuit for me. Film franchises like Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street do not tempt me. I’m not tuning in to Lovecraft Country, although I hear it’s terrific. 

Funny horror stuff is okay for me—films like The Addams Family and Beetlejuice.  Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride knocked me out with its stop-motion animation.  But I’m too chicken for the super scary stuff.  In fact, when I was three, I was too chicken to watch The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

Movie poster for The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.

Imagination Makes it Scary

Still, I wonder sometimes if the horror is more horrible in my imagination than it is in reality.  I remember a childhood friend describing James Whale’s Frankenstein to me after he’d seen the 1931 horror classic on TV.  It sounded really scary. I avoided watching it until 2014, when the Dallas Winds did a live concert performance playing Michael Shapiro’s brooding orchestral score under the film.

Boris Karloff was the best part, of course.  I felt tremendous sympathy for his misunderstood monster.  But the rest of the story? After decades of avoiding it because it was “too scary,” I walked away thinking, “C’mon, buddy. You want to create new life? There are time-tested methods for that. You’ve already got the girl. It could be fun.”

Movie Theater Lobby Card for Frankenstein.

Horror?  In a Time of Virus?

In this Time of Virus, I have found myself turning more and more to books that soothe and reassure me. I’ve re-read mysteries where I already know the ending. I’ve chain-read a series of romantic comedies by British author Jules Wake, set in the London theatrical scene, or in cozy country villages.

I put off reading Elly Griffiths’ The Stranger Diaries for months because the cover blurb sounded too creepy.  As it turned out, it was just a slightly stalkerish murder mystery, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Header for The Sun Down Motel courtesy of Simone St. James's website.

Two other recent reads stepped out of my usual comfort zone into the realm of horror.  One was a terrific ghost story/mystery called The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James.  It skirted pretty close to my limits in the beginning, but I’m glad I stuck with it.

The other was a real-life horror story. Jerry Mitchell was an investigative reporter for the Mississippi Clarion-Ledger.  His book, Race Against Time recounts four horrific crimes committed by members of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1960s Civil Rights era. Through work by Mitchell and others, these criminals were finally brought to justice. 

Author Jerry Mitchell, with his book Race Against Time.

Horror? I was certainly horrified by the violence Mitchell depicted.  But I was also uplifted by the understanding that evil can be defeated whenever good people—real or fictional—have the courage to stand up and fight back.

IMAGE CREDITS:

G. S. Norwood provided the screen capture from an early-October Amazon listing for her Deep Ellum Pawn novelette, showing one of its consistent categories is “Occult Horror.”The Movie poster for The Ghost and Mr. Chicken The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, Universal Pictures, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist. Image via Wikipedia. The movie theater lobby card for Frankenstein is by Employee(s) of Universal Pictures. Now in the Public Domain, this image is from Wikimedia Commons.The header for The Sun Down Motel is courtesy of Simone St. James's website. Quote by Riley Sager. Book cover photograph by Tom Hogan/Plain Picture; Jacket design by Sarah Oberrender/Berkley books. The photo of author Jerry Mitchell is by James Patterson, Mississippi Clarion Ledger. Cover for Race Against Time is courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

An appreciation of G. S. Norwood

Please indulge me while I offer an appreciation of G. S. Norwood. Her new story releases today. Deep Ellum Blues provides a marvelous addition to her growing "Deep Ellum" stories collection. Read our post on The Weird Blog, and consider buying her stories!

Full disclosure: if you're new to "Artdog Adventures" you may not know that G. is my sister. She and I co-founded the fledgling small press Weird Sisters Publising LLC.

Deep Ellum Blues cover art © 2020 by Chaz Kemp.

Making Deep Ellum Blues happen

The ebook goes live via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited today. I recognize that some of my readers resist buying anything from Amazon. Yeah, I get it. However, KU (via both page-reads and sales) offers better ways to maximize income from short fiction such as G.'s individual "Deep Ellum" stories.

Never fear. Once the fourth planned "Deep Ellum" story releases, we mean to collect all of them into one combined volume, and publish that collection "wide." Both ebook and a print version, available everywhere. And, since G. has a BFA in theater and is a masterful dramatic reader, excellent audio options await in the future.

Other appreciations of G. S. Norwood

Other authors also offer an appreciation of G. S. Norwood. Elizabeth Ann Scarborough read the two finished "Deep Ellum" novelettes and told us they're "some of the best stories I've ever read!"

Author Brad Denton (whose musical alter ego is "Bland Lemon Denton") wrote in more depth. He said, "G.S. Norwood’s Deep Ellum Blues takes the classic notion of “a deal with the Devil” and joyfully twists it sideways into a story that celebrates integrity, dedication, and artistry.

"The Blues have long been said to have more than a passing acquaintance with demonic power, and the tale of Mudcat Randall (and the immortal Miss Eddy’s concern for his fate) stems from that tradition. But Deep Ellum Blues reaches beyond the old stories to reveal that the true power of the Blues is rooted not in darkness and damnation, but in redemption and light.

"And along the way, it pays tribute to all the great artists whose songs have always, in truth, made the same point. Somewhere, Blind Lemon Jefferson and T-Bone Walker are smiling."

The frustrating years

I take special joy in helping G. bring her stories to new and expanding audiences. Only her critique partners knew how well she writes until last November. We published Deep Ellum Pawn, the first of the "Deep Ellum" stories, around her birthday.

Like me, she spent a goodly chunk of the 1980s and 1990s balancing other work, writing when she could, and attempting to get traditionally published. Her supportive writer-husband Warren C. Norwood began making more money in the late '90s. At his urging, she quit to give writing a full-time try. She finished several novels, but none of them sold.

I loved her books, and many editors did, too--but one thing or another always held them back. They would be hard to market. Her romances didn't quite fit the formula they were looking for (at the time, romance novels dominated much of the market).

I always figured they didn't sell because romance was the wrong niche. But what did I know? Her writing career seemed to end when Warren died. It was devastating, wrenching, and it forced her to find full-time work again.

Deep Ellum Pawn cover art © 2019 by Chaz Kemp.

A new opportunity

More than a decade later, we're selling her stories in a different way. She wrote the first draft of Deep Ellum Pawn in 2017. Then as far as I know she put it in a drawer and didn't look at it again till after I fumbled and bumbled What's Bred in the Bone into print.

In between her demanding concert and behind-the-scenes schedule with The Dallas Winds (she's Head of Concert Operations), she refined it into something we could publish. We really lucked out finding Chaz Kemp to do her covers.

That first story didn't exactly turn into a bestseller. But there's something awesome about being a published author. Especially with a story people out there in the world actually like and buy. Yes, indeed. Time to take another stab at a writing career!

A growing body of work

She definitely couldn't yet give up her day job! But she's been working on a delightful first-in-an-intended-series mystery novel (working title: "Sunshine and Ray"). She paused it to write Deep Ellum Blues, and then developed concepts for two more "Deep Ellum" stories.

Covid-19 lockdown put a serious crimp in the concert schedule. But it's given G. more time to write. To my delight, she recently dusted off one of those "not-to-formula" romances and gave it an overhaul. I just got a polished new update of the last novel she finished before Warren's death in 2005.

What's next?

The novel, Wrong Way Riley, tells the story of a young woman determined to live her own life, despite intense pressure to be something she's not. This book is no longer trying to be a romance novel (although the main character does enjoy one steamy romance), and it's all the stronger for it.

If you've read G.'s "Deep Ellum" stories, you've noticed a strong music theme. Riley stays true to that trend. It's deeply steeped in Texas folk music (we might get more setlists).

All artwork is © by Chaz Kemp. Be courteous. Re-post or reblog with an attribution and link back to this post and Chaz Kemp.

More appreciation of G. S. Norwood to come

All of this means the fun and the discovery has only just begun. This appreciation of G. S. Norwood offers a glimpse of what she has in store next.

She finished several other "failed romances" back in the 1990s. Those wonderful stories--and the "Route 66 novel" she hasn't yet finished--deserve to be updated and read and loved.

My little sister has a powerful voice. I can't wait to help her reveal it.