Advanced Praise for The Backseat Virgin

My first short story collection will be out next month.  It's called The Backseat Virgin: A South Florida Noir Collection.  A great writer named Josie Schneider has read it and was kind enough to provide a review:

Review of THE BACKSEAT VIRGIN by Scott Chase

            Scott Chase, in THE BACKSEAT VIRGIN, has put together a collection of potent short stories – rich as truffles, (but not the chocolate kind which are too sweet and wholesome), but akin to mushroom truffles that are earthy and dark, luxurious and compact. The four tales, all set in seedy, gritty surroundings with equally hardened characters, are not rough, however. These tight tales are smooth as silk, wrapping around your senses, transporting you to the moody land of hookers and thieves, bad cops and crime-family henchmen. Sit back, grab a straight-up Bourbon, put on the jazz, and open THE BACKSEAT VIRGIN for an evening’s lusty entertainment. 

The collection comes out next month on Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and will be available in print soon!  I want to thank Josie again for doing this.  

Memorial Day Announcement

This was originally published on my blog under my real name, Todd Bush:


I am making an announcement on the hallowed occasion that is Memorial Day. First off, a lot of people don't realize that this holiday is not for the veterans that are so humbly walking amongst us today. They should be thanked every day, not just this weekend. No, this holiday is to pay tribute and honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, the men and women who have given their lives so that we could have the freedoms we have today.

One of my favorite movie lines is from A Few Good Men. You could argue that the movie is anti-military, but there's one line in it that gives me chills every time I hear it, read it, or say it. The female lawyer is asked by one of the two male lawyers, talking about the Marines they are defending, "Why do you like them so much?"

Her reply is one of the greatest reasons to love those who wear the uniform, and especially those who have died defending us: "Because they stand on a wall, and something's going to hurt you tonight... not on my watch."

My first book published under my pen name, Scott Chase, will be a collection of noir, hard-boiled short stories set in South Florida in the 1970's and 80's. The title will be The Backseat Virgin: A South Florida Noir Collection. They are dark, moody and a lot of fun, if you ask me. Here's the announcement: All of the proceeds that I make off of this collection of short stories will be donated to two charities. The first half will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, the second to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Visit these terrific charities and if you feel compelled, make a donation. They take care of the men who stand on that wall, and the families they leave behind whenever they leave to fight for us.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Thank a veteran this weekend, and every weekend. But drive to a Veterans Cemetery, then lay a wreath, say a prayer, or offer a salute. It's not about the act; it's about the meaning behind it. We owe them so much. They are the heroes we all want to be.

My First Book

Many of you know I am self-publishing a book for young adults (a fancy publishing term for teens) under my real name, Todd Bush. The first book, Rick Frost & the Alaskan Adventure, will be out in the middle of next month.

Step on over to my blog there for updates.  I'll cross-promote the release here, but more info on the "Rick Frost Adventure Series" will be on that blog.

My First Guest Blog

My first appearance as a guest blogger is up at Carolyn Arnold's site:

Worst Advice Ever

Right and Left are Wrong

I de-friended two writers on my Facebook page recently.  What could they have done to earn the dreaded "de-friending" status?  Did I not like their latest books?  Were their covers bad?  Did they change agents?  Decide to go it alone and self-publish?  Say the heck with this self-publishing crap and sign with a Big 6 publisher?

Nope, none of those things.  What they did was far, far worse in my opinion:  they smeared their political views all over their accounts and walls, which means that those same smears get wiped on my wall too.  Not.  Good.  At.  All.

Writers are, when you break it all down to brass tacks, small business owners.  The business we run is ourselves, our talents, and our words.  We write for a living (maybe not literally, but we do hope to make money off of these hours spent tapping away in front of a keyboard).  Our words, our personalities and, if you want to be technical about it, our lives are what we sell to the book-buying public.  Remember the old adage that the two things you never talk about at the dinner table are politics and religion?  That should apply to a writer's facebook and twitter pages too.

If you want me to follow you, don't put your views up there.  If I disagree with you, you have lost a potential reader and fan.  Why?  Because if I know that you will write about politics that I don't believe in on your wall, you will almost assuredly put those same politics in your books.  Why subject myself to that?  But what if you and I agree?  Same principle applies:  I'm buying your book to escape the crazy, insane, mad world we live in, not be reminded of how stupid and biased people can be.

Writing about your politics alienates half of your potential readers and customers.  If you think that you don't want that half to read your books, then fine.  Go that way.  Hope your last name is Grisham, King, Patterson or something like that.  Because last I checked, publishers aren't exactly handing out those six and seven figure advances like candy.  You really think you can afford to pick and choose who you want as fans?  Ok, go for it, bud.  As for me and my pages, we will serve Scott Chase.  Which means I welcome anyone who reads to buy my books, friend me here, or follow me here.  Because I promise not to tweet, post, or link to anything political.  At least I hope I won't.  But if I ever do anything like that, please let me know what you think here.

Bring Back the Adventure

By request, I'm putting up a little about the boys middle grade adventure that I'm submitting to agents right now.  I'm not doing it under the pen name Scott Chase though, but rather under my real name.

Here is the back of the book style description:

When 14-year old Rick Frost signed up for the school trip to Alaska, he did it for an adventure.  After pulling Hollywood actress Alexis Blair out of a plane crash in the wilderness, he thinks he's had it.  But when the bullet star flying, Rick knows the adventure has just begun.  The crash was no accident.  Someone wants Alexis dead and that puts Rick right in the cross hairs.  What started as a trek through America's last frontier has turned into a race to escape certain death.  

When I grew up, I loved to read adventure books.  Even stuff like the Hardy Boys had a lot of action in it.  In my teens I discovered Clive Cussler and his character Dirk Pitt and I was infatuated.  Pitt searched the world for treasures, saved girls in distress, and did it with a cute comment every time.  Was it mindless?  Sure.  Were the characters cardboard?  Absolutely.  But I loved every stinking minute of it.  And judging by the amount of sales, a lot of people agreed with me.  But now, there's not a lot of stuff like that for boys.  Rick Riordan is doing it, Anthony Horowitz has the Alex Rider series, and my buddy Mark Terry has a series of books for boys too.  Well, I'm going to throw my hat in the ring with the Rick Frost series.  It will be somewhat like the old Pitt books, in that Rick will search for treasures and artifacts, but it will also address issues that are present in the lives of young boys, issues that they will have to face when they become men, like racism, friendship, principles and loyalty.

I'll let you guys know what is coming with the Rick Frost books, as well as with The Chosen, which will be coming out in April of 2012 from Champagne Books.  Keep reading.

Stuff, Part I

I haven't written anything in a few weeks.  I've THOUGHT about writing, sure.  I've even planned out what I plan on doing when I get back into it.  But I haven't written a thing.

One of the creative writing teachers at the high school where I work had her students write listening to the blues the other day.  The prompt the kids were given was "Have you ever had 'The Blues'?  What do you do to get rid of 'The Blues'?"  I was intrigued, not just because I like blues music.

A little background:  I am originally from Mississippi.  I spent most of my formative years in the northwest part of the state, commonly called the Mississippi Delta, or simply The Delta.  This was the birthplace of the musical style known as The Blues.  So, I asked the teacher if I could write something just like the kids were, but rather than talk about an emotion, I wanted to write about "The Blues" itself.

She asked me if I would read it to a few of her classes this week.  I complied, and both times I read it, the teacher cried.  I asked her why, she said it wasn't anything sad in my piece (I didn't even write anything sad in it).  It was simply the language, the imagery, and the writing itself.  She said that she is a jaded, life-long editor who always edits as she reads rather than reading for enjoyment, so to be moved to tears is a big deal for her.  I couldn't have smiled any bigger.  What a compliment!

Also, wanted to point out that a middle grade boys adventure that I wrote has gotten some interest from an agent.  Once again, good news.  And I needed some after losing my dad.  He would be proud!