Bigfoot--Fact or Fiction?

Let me just get the joke out of the way—here's Mitch Hedberg on Bigfoot:

That said, there are people that dedicate their lives to researching the elusive Bigfoot (which is both singular and plural, by the way, no matter what the show Finding Bigfoot would have you believe). One of the most well-known groups that does this is the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. They post articles, examine sightings, and compile evidence on Bigfoot. If you feel like reading up on possibility of Bigfoot, I’d suggest heading over there to get a basis provided by people who seem to be very scientific in their methods.

Another good place to read about theories is on Reddit's Bigfoot subreddit. Here people post links to a variety of articles and videos as well as discuss various theories on Bigfoot. There was also an AMA (Ask Me Anything) featured on Reddit about a year and a half ago. Reddit is an interesting forum for discussion because of the multitude of people who frequent the site—while not all the people who go there are experts, they bring fresh viewpoints to the table.

In case you don't have time to go through those links, here's an overview of common questions and theories about Bigfoot:

• There is skeletal evidence of a species of large ape called Gigantopithecus blacki originating in Western Asia. Many Bigfoot enthusiasts believe that these large apes (or their descendants) are still around. 
• There are roughly 400 reported sightings per year, and experts claim that an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 Bigfoot live in North America. 
• Some characteristics of Bigfoot: They walk upright; are up to 8-feet tall; are covered in black/brown/red fur; emit an unpleasant smell; seem to display intelligence and senses of smell, vision, and hearing; and weigh 500 to 700 pounds.
• One of the most common questions asked is if Bigfoot do exist, why has a corpse never been found? Some explanations offered by enthusiasts: Bigfoot live in densely forested areas and their remains are reclaimed by the wild; Bigfoot carry off and/or bury their dead; and Bigfoot, like some animals, hide when they believe they are going to die. Any of these, combined with the fact that there are believed to be few of these creatures, could explain the lack of remains.

What about you guys? Are Bigfoot real? Have you or anyone you know had a Bigfoot encounter? Let us know what you think in the comments!

And while you're pondering the existence of Bigfoot, go check out Pamela Foster's new book, Bigfoot Blues, as well as the new collection, Bigfoot Confidential: Finally the Truth Revealed.

Hey, Dusty Richards Saw Bigfoot!

                      

Say, I work around High Hill Press on the cowboy side, over at Cactus Country, and that's where I usually stay. But recently my wife Pat told me about a book from High Hill.  She said it's one of the neatest books she'd read in a long time. The books is Bigfoot Confidential: Finally the Truth Revealed and is a collection of short stories, both real and fiction, about encounters with Bigfoot. Pat said she laughed until she cried and I agree with her, it's hilarious.  The collection is sort of like a companion piece to Pam Foster's great novel, Bigfoot Blues.

Down here in Arkansas, folks take Bigfoot real serious. They call him the Foulk Monster. Well, back when a bunch of sightings were being reported in a town by the same name near Texarkana, there was one special sighting that made the news. A guy walked out of his hotel room and saw the monster getting a drink out of the swimming pool. The man had a heart attack and died. Later, three teenage boys apologized; it had been one of them in a gorilla suit. That isn't in the book, but there are other stories, some funny, some a little spooky if you ask me. Read Bigfoot Confidential, and make sure and pick up a copy of Bigfoot Blues. You won't be sorry.
Dusty Richards, author of Blue Roan Colt.

Bigfoot Encounters

Query Letters



The query letter I'd love to receive.

Well, okay, High Hill really wouldn't expect to get a query letter like the old-fashion letter above, but we do want to receive them in a professional manner. There isn't anything we at High Hill can do to make writing a query any easier, but we can assure you we don't have to receive a query that is perfect. What we do want is for them to be professional in other ways. As an example, I received a query not long ago that simply said in two sentences. I have a novel? How do I get it to you? The letter was abrupt, didn't tell me anything about what the novel was about, nothing about the author, and at first I thought it rude. After a second read, I realized it probably wasn't as much rude, as it was just simply from someone who didn't know a thing about writing a query. They might not have even known there is such a beast as a query letter. So instead of rejecting this author, based on the absurd way in which they asked for information, I directed them to our website. It didn't take long, however, for them to write back with an entire manuscript included as an attachment, and still no information within the body of the e-mail about the book or why I should want it. On this second letter, they didn't even bother to put their name. So I then wrote back and told them we were sorry, we were going to have to pass, and I wished them luck in finding publication elsewhere. I didn't have to read any of their manuscript. I knew from the total lack of knowledge this author showed in the entire process, that their writing probably lacked a knowledge of craft. Then the obvious struck me. Writing is a process. It's not enough to know where to put a comma. It's not enough to have a story and characters. And it's not enough to finish a novel. You also have to learn a little etiquette in order to get noticed.

We deal with dozens of queries per week, on average, 100 a month. E-mail is convenient, and we truly believe it's better than snail mail, so there isn't a problem there. The problem begins when an e-mail query is too abrupt, written poorly, or just plain shows that the writer doesn't know the rules. After all, it's like an introduction. If you were to walk up to me at a conference, the first thing you'd do, I hope, is introduce yourself. I'm sure you wouldn't just blurt out that you've finished a novel and want to know how to get it to me. Or God forbid, hand me a manuscript. Would you? Think of the query letter as your first meeting, without a handshake or a smile. Let us know right off the bat you appreciate our time, then introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about your novel, and why you think it would sell. Then give a brief description of your writing credits. Thank us for our time, finish with your name, and hit send.

Don't expect an answer immediately, and when you don't get it, do not write again to ask for confirmation. I tell my friends that a rule of thumb with an inexperienced writer is 7 e-mails. They write, they write again, I answer, they write back, I answer back, they write again, I answer. That's 7. Think of it this way. If I spend an average of ten minutes reading and answering each of your e-mails, that's more than an hour on just one person. Multiply that by the two dozen people that contacted me that week and that's a great big bunch of time out of my work week. That's why I don't fall into the 7 e-mail trap. You write, we reply when we can and not before, so there is no use reminding us that you wrote two days before and didn't receive an answer.

If we answer and ask for three chapters, do not send the entire manuscript because you thought it would save time. Send only what we ask for. If we write back and let you know that we don't think your manuscript would be right for us, don't send off a rude and horrible letter telling anyone who'll listen that we don't know what we're talking about. We usually give a reason for a rejection. Take the reason we gave you, and go on. If at the end of this sometimes 3 or 4 month process, we find that we love your novel, someone will give you the long and windy phone call. Our business is small. We're certainly not doing it for the money, we do it because we love it. So part of our concern is that we not only love the story, we have to like the author well enough to want to work closely with them for the next year and a half to two years, which is how long the process usually is after we've accepted a manuscript.

We know this business is a hard one. It's not for the faint of heart, or the impatient. It's for people who love writing, and want to work hard at getting that writing to the public. Good luck with your writing, and now sit down and get a great query letter out to a publisher. We'd love to see your name on a best seller's list someday.



The Future of Books

This is not a wall in my house. I don't display my books with the spines hidden, but to take that picture I would have had to remove the ancient, green down recliner...and my husband. But it's an interesting picture of books, and leads into something that has been rattling around in my head recently. The future of books. 

Fifteen years ago I attended a St. Louis Writer's Guild meeting and a gentleman proudly showed us his new Rocket Reader. It weighed probably five pounds and he had a book downloaded on it. He sternly warned us that in five years paper bound books would be obsolete. Not while I'm alive, I thought. And basically, I was right. Books are not obsolete, they weren't ten years ago, they aren't now, and they won't be in the future. But with the growth of the e-book industry, they are certainly going to be reduced in numbers...maybe.

I feel as though small press publishers like our business may just be the savior of books. We love them. We surround ourselves with them, and probably everyone who has started a small press does it for their love of books and story. We don't get rich, we work sometimes 70 hours a week, and we often neglect our families.

So although electronic readers are everywhere, and our Kindle sales have grown, I'm still a collector and believer in books. Now, the picture below looks more like my shelves...and somewhere under the piles is that comfy recliner.  

Weird and Wonderful World

Many of you know that due to a death in our family, we had to cut hours during the spring and summer, and the new blog we had just started, was sadly neglected. What many of  you probably don't know is that during the time we were dealing with family matters, our business doubled in size. We want to thank everyone we've been working with for your understanding and patience. But the good news is that we finally caught up on our backlog of work after getting three new books out just this past month. Bigfoot Blues, Bigfoot Confidential, and Blue Roan Colt. During this time we also published two anthologies for groups that we support; OWL published it's 8th volume of Echoes of the Ozarks, and Saturday Writers just this week published their sixth volume of Cuivre River Anthology. These five books will be in your bookstores and online soon. You can check our website for more information on these books, and any of our other 65 titles.  

There is more good news. We now have six editors on staff, and each one is working on what is sure to be a best seller. Recently, we accepted an intern who will help with everything from posting on our two blogs, to proofreading and design input. She's a brilliant young student of Dr. Susan Swartwout's, professor and university press editor at Southeast Missouri State. We'll be introducing her soon and she'll start work after the first of the year.



Thank you all!
Lou Turner



Oh My! Where does the time go!



I've neglected this blog for way too long.  And I'm sorry if those of you who've checked this site from time-to-time were mystified and confused by my lack of posts. But here are my excuses, in order: too much work not enough time, my husband and partner in the business golfs five days a week, I'm old, my husband and partner golfs too much, grand kids are just too darn cute, my husband and his golf again, and the world is moving way too fast. I published an essay years ago called Slow the Spinning Earth. Tomorrow I'll reprint the essay. It was written in the 90s, but is so appropriate for today.

Just for fun, here are some websites worthy of checking out.

Daily Writing Tips

Squidoo

Write it Sideways

PR Daily

And for more fun, the first person who writes me a wonderful story, essay or poem about the picture below, will have that story, essay or poem published on our website, and maybe in an future anthology. Use your imagination. I would probably write something about my Uncle Calvin, because this monkey does look a lot like him. Maybe Calvin found a monkey somewhere and started taking him into town and to the store and calls him Irving and is teaching him to play poker. I don't know, just a thought.  

www.highhillpress.com

See you tomorrow.

Lou

News From High Hill Press

Okay folks, we've finally pulled ourselves into the 21st century and have a new website. We hired a design company called 2 Rivers Communications and they've done a great job of connecting us to the world. Our authors are listed on the site, along with their books and we have links to everything. I've had several people write to me lately about submission guidelines. They are on the site too. Please check them. out. High Hill Press And make sure to check out the editor's page and send your query to the correct editor. If you can't see an editor that would work for you, send a query directly to  High Hill . Remember, never send your entire manuscript unless you're asked for it. To query us, send a brief letter explaining what your book is about, its genre, its length, and a short bio of you. If you have an exciting marketing plan, send that too.

We're also planning to keep our blog updated and do interviews and live blog tours with our authors and editors. We have some exciting books coming out in the next few months so make sure and follow us.



The Abduction of
Jacob Rote
by Ronda Hassig



Bigfoot Blues
by Pamela Foster



Blue Roan Colt
by Dusty Richards



Bigfoot
Confidential
A collection of
bigfoot stories.