If after reading Frighty, you need more to read, then read my new novel, The Front Yard War!
The Front Yard War by Wred Fright Excerpt by Wred Fright
Scribd finally figured out that I can't violate my own copyright, so they've nicely run an excerpt on their site. I like my DIY excerpt, but I've been posting on Scribd for about two decades now, so it's above on this post. The other exciting news is that The Front Yard War has its own page on the blog. It is here. You can buy a copy there and otherwise read about the book and its reception. Now that the page is up, I'll engage in the relatively futile promotion campaign for about a month. Literature, real literature, in the USA, even in the underground, seems pretty much dead, so I don't expect much reaction, but what the hey. I'm reading the print version now and enjoying it myself, so maybe someone else out there will as well. I write the kind of novels I'd like to read. If somebody else wrote this kind of stuff, then I'd be reading them. As it is now, I can't find too many contemporary writers I find interesting. I'm still looking though. Hey, at least you have me . . . On another note, Amazon apparently won't let you download ebooks anymore, so if you value downloading your ebooks (and you should because otherwise the streaming folks will censor stuff without you knowing it, when they aren't losing the files completely, and no I'm not being hyperbolic), you can always order the novel directly from me, and I'll email it to you. It's yours. Just back it up so you don't have to reorder it down the road . . .
Usually, I use Scribd for the novel excerpts, but they were a bit slow getting back to me (they also sell the whole novel so the excerpt always has to clear their copyright division), so I just cut them out of the loop and did a DIY PDF embed. You can read the first chapter of the novel for free here, and then if you want to carry on buy a copy either directly from me ($5 USD PayPal to wredfright AT AT AT yahoo DOTT com--let me know if you want the PDF or EPUB version). This excerpt is in PDF form of course. You can also get the novel from Amazon (has a print and Kindle version), Google Books, and Smashwords has gotten it everywhere else basically, so you can probably find it at your favorite ebook retailer even whomever Scribd is part of whom can't seem to figure out quickly that I'm the copyright holder they're protecting. Next time, I'll create an official page for the novel on this site and start the publicity campaign (if you write a novel, then you should at least let people know it exists a bit). That might be a futile attempt as there don't seem to be many readers these days. I'm still one though, so maybe some others are out there. Otherwise, literary culture is pretty sad these days. Libraries seem to be mainly keeping it afloat. You have the NPR/MFA set who read well-mannered fiction that's usually boring. You have the genre stuff that still sells to folks who like it, but if you aren't into Amish romances or detective novels or maybe even Amish detectives falling in love doesn't do much for anyone who's read more widely. And then there's the underground which is like the literary equivalent of the open mic where everyone wants to play but no one wants to listen to anyone else for the most part. Ah, well, at least there's still me for anyone who wants to laugh while they read. Slapstick Camus isn't high in demand, but at least there's a supply for the adventurous sort, like me, and maybe only me. Maybe you also?
This is a little sweet song about those friends from early childhood. You may forget them for years, you may never see them again, and you may think of them rarely, but when they do come to mind, if you're like me, you get a warm feeling. Musically, I had some fun with the synthesizer here, plus the usual vocals, guitar, fake bass (also guitar), and drums. Lyrics are below. They're pretty simple just like an early childhood friendship.
Do you ever think of me the way I think of you?
When I remember those days the skies are always blue.
Childhood friend.
Our love was not pretend.
Oh, the fun we had when we would play and play.
That went on and on until I had to move away.
I always hoped we'd see each other again some day,
but as the years have passed, it seems separate we're going to stay.
For more Wred Fright music, listen to the Yeast? 7" or give his latest album a listen or download at your favorite digital music site such as Soundcloud, Spotify, or Bandcamp!
It's been over 20 years since I published a zine, but I felt the itch to do one again. Here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1crG3N9s09JQ5zDP-dHdhzZHV03YdtoXQ/view?usp=sharing. I had a lot of fun putting it together; I hope you have fun reading it. It's not really designed to be read online though. You'll need to print it out. That's why it's a zine and not an ezine. We're just using the Internet for distribution. Print it out doublesided, so print it on both sides and flip it (print on short edge). Otherwise, you'll end up with pages printed upside down. I mean, hey, if you're into that kind of thing . . . But for anyone, who isn't, let's chant along with me, PRINT DOUBLESIDED ON SHORT EDGE! Then it will come out as it should, and you'll have a nice little zine you can fold, staple, bind however you want. Feel free to make copies and distribute them if you want. I was thinking it might be a one-off, but Mark Sonnenfeld and The Midnight Rider sent more than one contribution, so there will be at least one more issue (no 20 year wait this time!), probably in the summer. Quarterly might be about as much as I can handle as a publication schedule, but, as always, no deadlines remains the motto of Wredfright.Com, except when, you know, there's a deadline . . . Anyway, if anyone tells you that zines are dead, you can toss them a copy of Frighty #1!
And if Frighty #1 isn't enough writing to tad you over, then read The Front Yard War, my latest novel!
All right, I have The Front Yard War on Smashwords, so it should be on its way to the remainder of the ebook retailers such as Barnes & Noble, meaning you can pretty much get it anywhere now. So I've done my part. Now it's time to do your part, and read the thing! I'll be doing my little promotional push in upcoming weeks, but feel free to help out and review it and bug any media outlet you like to review it. It's available directly from me for $5 (PayPal at wredfright AT yahoo DOTT com) as a PDF or EPUB, Amazon has a print and Kindle version, Google Books has their version; and Smashwords has gotten it everywhere else basically.
Smashwords merged with someone or got bought out or something, but uploading the book there was fairly similar to uploading previous books. They have a print on demand component similar to Amazon, but it looks like the two editions might have bumped into one another, so I didn't explore it. It's nice to have another option, however. They did some automatic formatting on the EPUB I uploaded similar to the silly modifications I had to do for the Google edition (it looks like these ebook distributors are getting geared more towards people uploading Word documents and converting them to EPUBs than they are anymore to people who do their own EPUB coding), but it looked fine from what I could tell. Anyone who encounters any issues though is welcome to get in touch with me, and I'll see what I can do (the original EPUB version worked just fine on my phone, so I'm guessing it'll do the same on yours).
So if you're looking for a fun and thought-provoking story, give it a read!
New Pop Lit is running an excerpt from The Front Yard War in their Fast Pop section. Check it out at https://fastpoplit.com/2025/01/25/an-excerpt-from-the-front-yard-war-by-wred-fright/. Thanks to King Karl for running it! If you want to read the whole thing, it's available at Amazon, Google Books, and directly from me ($5 PayPal to wredfright AT yahoo DOTT com--you'll figure it out). The PDF version is available only from me, but you can get an EPUB anywhere, and Amazon has a print edition also. I'm working on the Smashwords edition, so it will be available at most other ebook retailers soon as well. It's a fun novel. If you like good and interesting stories, then give it a read. There is still life in American literature, but you're likely going to have to dig for DIY stuff like this.
That's the White House lawn in Washington DC USA in the summer of 2023. It looks fairly Chemlawned to me. I didn't see dandelions or clover on it anyway. Maybe with a new, if slightly used, president in the house, the lawn could provide a nice model of organic lawn care for the nation.
Yeah, that's probably not going to happen. However, you can read The Front Yard War now on Google Books. Google even has a nice hefty sample, so you can read the first three chapters or so. After that, it'll cost you $5 to read the rest. $5! Just $5! I see people trying to sell ebooks for $10 or $20 even. It's a digital file, dude! It should be like $5. We're not paying for printing or mailing it. Come on! So if you want to see some dandelions on the White House lawn, then read the book and then you can get fired up and write a letter to the president, or at least the White House landscaper.
Based on the preview, the Google Books edition looks pretty good. It's basically the same file as the regular epub, but of course Google or their coders get a bee up their bonnet and I had to change some code for no good reason. I actually use Google Books as my main ebook reader on the phone, and the original file worked great. However, the Google Books edition really hated the underlining code, despite it working perfectly fine in the epub and on their reader software, so I had to turn the underlining to italics. Sorry underlining fans! I think the underlining looks better as well, but that and a hissyfit over the type of center code was keeping it from popping up for sale, so I had to "fix" them. The other amusing thing is that the original epub has 232 pages, but the Google edition has 357 pages, so despite the book description listing 232 pages, you get an additional 135 pages for free I guess. Please let me know what's on them . . .
For now Google fans, of course, the book is still available directly from me for $5 as an epub or pdf (PayPal me at wredfright AT yahoo DOTT com--you'll figure out that complex human code) and at Amazon, which has a printed version as well. Next up is Smashwords, who should get distributed to Barnes & Noble, Apple, and all the other major ebook retailers. They apparently have a new print on demand branch as well, so we might see two different print editions of the book (in addition, to the cheaper alternative probably of just ordering and then printing out the PDF yourself).
The novel's funny and thought-provoking. Given most if not nearly all of what passes for American literature these days, I can understand that people may not be into reading contemporary fiction, but you should give lit a chance again and give this one a read. I bet you'll enjoy it. It's not really like anything else out there. I don't want to say it's better because art's an expression even the crass, commercial stuff in its way, but I wrote the dang thing and it makes me laugh out loud and I know what's coming and I didn't write it in a Mary Sue way, and it still makes me crack up. Give it a shot! In fact, take a shot or two while reading it; I bet it'll be even funnier!
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