Welcome to The Gray Man Writes, our little haunted corner of the Internet. ("Haunted" in the metaphorical sense, of course, since Gray's alter ego is a famous South Carolina ghost.) We're glad you're here, and we hope you like it enough to come back!
Our current feature is our 2011 Year in Review. As a featurettte for those interested, here's a link to Gray's profile page for his final year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
In addition to writing fiction and nonfiction, we are available for contract speechwriting for corporate or political clients. We have experience writing for high-level executives, including Presidential appointees.
Forthcoming Fiction
"Sensitive, Compartmented" has been selected for publication in the April/May 2012 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
"The Song of Uullioll" has been selected for publication in Analog Science Fiction & Fact.
Recent Events
illogiCon, January 13-5, 2012, Raleigh, North Carolina. Here's the illogiCon report from Gray's blog.
Upcoming Events
MystiCon, February 24-6, 2012, Roanoke, Virginia.
StellarCon, March 2-4, 2012, High Point, North Carolina.
RavenCon, April 13-5, 2012, Richmond, Virginia.
The Gray Man on YouTube
With a total of four videos now available -- and hopefully more to come in 2012 -- we've started our own YouTube Playlist. Most of the videos feature the kind of slipshod guitar playing and mediocre vocals that make viewers think, "Holy moly, I can do better than that!"
If you don't want to go through the YouTube interface, you can select from the individual videos below:
- Gray performs "The Monster Hunter Ballad"
- Gray performs "Playing Politics," which may be considered the theme song for the Anti-Campaign
- Gray performs "Having Failed to Be Raptured, I Wrote this Stupid Song"
- The video montage of Gray's "The Economic Recovery Blues", his 2009 song for the Industrial Extension Service
Blog, Blog, Blogging Along
We're still having fun with our Ghost Writer blog, with our continuing (though not continuous) series of space history posts. If you ever read what we post, thank you, and we'd love it if you left comments.
Download-Ables: Book Excerpt, Essays, Short Story
Free downloads available:
- The Introduction to Quality Education
- Two essays, "An Unsolicited Proposal for the Secretary of Education," and "Ignore The Tour Guides, If You Can"
- One short story (historical fiction), "The Surfman"
The downloads are FREE, though if you like them we do accept donations ... see the 'donate' button in the right-hand column.
Novel Status
Available to a good publisher, a realistic science fiction novel of survival and sacrifice on the Moon:
Wife-and-husband environmental engineers Stormie and Frank Pastorelli go WALKING ON THE SEA OF CLOUDS in this near-future technological drama about the risks people will take, the emergencies they'll face, and the sacrifices they'll make to survive and thrive as members of the first independent, commercial lunar colony.
2012 Is an Election Year ... Vote For The Anti-Candidate!
The Anti-Candidate is still available as a write-in candidate for any elective office, anywhere -- although we understand Virginia residents may have trouble with their state's restrictions on write-ins -- all we ask is that you spell our name correctly.
If you're interested in "Politics As Unusual," take a look at the Anti-Campaign page -- or listen to our theme song, "Playing Politics". Let us know what you think, and yes: donations are accepted.
Social Media Central
The Gray Man is active (more or less) on several different social media platforms. Contact us on your favorite:
Send a friend request or connection request, if you like; but if we don't actually know you, or you think we might not recognize your name, please send a brief explanation as well.
The Gray Man's Other Pursuits ...
Need a speech written or edited? We'll give you professional results -- at professional prices.
Need a speaker for an upcoming event, or a narrator for a film or video? We'll do that -- price negotiable.
Want a hand-crafted, musical-instrument-inspired chair? No promises, since we don't have lots of woodworking time these days ... but if we do, it'll really cost you.