January 8, 2004: Tsunami Victims

Unless you live underground and have no contact with the outside world (in which case you probably won't be reading this) you have probably heard about the tsunami in Asia. Last I heard, the death toll was around 200,000. Just about every single survivor there has lost some if not all of their family and friends. I heard on the news that in Thailand at least 1/3 of the population was killed. The news said it is the worst natural disaster in history.

So, I thought I would encourage everyone out there to donate Money to UNICEF and/or the Red Cross, the people who are out there trying to help the survivors. Now, I'm a graduate student, and, at the moment, I'm not exactly rich by any means, but so far I've donated $50.00 this month to UNICEF, and I'll try to donate another $50.00 next month (maybe I'll do REDCROSS next month). You don't even have to do as much as 50. Even if you can only donate 5 dollars these organizations will graciously accept because they know that every little bit helps.

The website where you can donate to UNICEF for the Tsunami victims is:

http://www.unicefusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=duLRI8O0H&b=25933

The website were you can donate to the RED CROSS is:

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

I encourage everyone who reads this to not only donate to one of these organizations, but to also put a message up in their own livejournal or website with links to sites where you can make donations.

Sincerely,

Richard Gray

July 18, 2004: New Reviews, and new Chapter for 'The Once and Future King'. Hello readers. It has been a while since I've updated the site. Sorry about that, school takes up quite a bit of time.

First of all, there have been more reviews for "The Piaculum" since last I updated. Alisa McCune has posted reviews on sfsite and Midwest Book Review. She gave the book 5 out of 5 stars. Also, there is a review of the book by Liam Thomson on State of Emergency.net, the place for US/UK independant reviews of music and books. Liam gave 'The Piaculum' 4 out of 5 stars.

In addition to the new reviews, check out Chapter 4 of my work in progress, "The Once and Future King." This is a dark fantasy, R rated for language and violence. Click here to read.

June 28, 2004: New Review, and New Story in Fiction section. It has been a while since I've had a chance to add news--graduate school will do that to you. There is a new Review of the book up at www.SFReader.com that gave the book 4 out of 5 stars, not too bad. Please click here to read the review.

Also, there is a new story up in the fiction section called "The Once and Future King". This is a work in progress and it may end up being a full length novel. This story is R rated for strong language and violence. Please only read it if this will not offend you. In the 2040s gang problems are wreaking havoc on New York City, but that isn't the only problem. Morgana La Faye, her son Stephen La Faye, and many of their minions have risen up from hell with a plot to destroy the world as we know it. The only people who can stand in their way are Moriund, a wizard who has returned from Avalon at a high price, and Nick Rey, a sixteen year old, Mexican high school student who is the reincarnation of King Arthur. Click here to read.

May 11, 2004: Ever have one of those days? This is a, I think, funny story (laughing at myself) as well as a correction. The interview that you see when you click on the interview button is not actually from Bettie Corbin Tucker, but is from Betsie of Betsie's Literary Page. Whoops. See, in about April I sent review copies to both Bettie Corbin Tucker and Betsie, and I heard back from both of them in late April on the same day, and by this time I thought they were the same person cc'ing me with different accounts. Whoops! I was looking at my records today to see who I sent what to, and I just realized what I've done. lol. Well, I think it's funny.

Betsie's Literary page also reviewed the book. To read the review of the Piaculum from Betsie of Betsie's Literary Page (aka: Juanita Reynolds) please click here.

May 9, 2004: I'm Back!! Hello folks, it has been a while since I made any updates to the site, but that doesn't mean that stuff isn't going on. On April 24 another book review came in from Bettie Corbin Tucker, "Though dark and very graphic in places, I found the book to be an excellent read. It should, in my opinion, get the attention of filmmakers."

I have also added a 'links' and 'interview' button for the website. The 'interview' button will take you to an interview that Bettie Corbin Tucker did with me in late April 2004.

March 22, 2004: Face Lift!! Thanks to one of my good friends, Mark Throckmorton (a graphic artist for a news station in Utah), The Piaculum home page has had a face lift. The html is now all original (the first version of the page was html “borrowed” from Matt Dinniman, author of The Shivered Sky, and graphics made by me in Photo House, a cheap program that came free with Word Perfect 8, 5 or 6 years ago). If you want to see the old website, visit http://www.rich-gray.com/old_index.html Let me know what you think of the face lift. Email me, or leave a message in the guest book for everyone to see. Mark Throckmorton is also a cartoonist. See his comic strip, Curly Fries, on his own webpage www.parodypictures.com.

March 15, 2004: Two more reviews have come in since last time. They are by Harriet Klausner (from "The Best Reviews" and many other review sites) and Warren Thurston of BoggleBooks Book Reviews. The reviews can be read on either the Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com listings. Also, I've just now realized that I've been using a buggy editor to modify the html files. Among other things, all of the links to BarnesAndNoble and iUniverse were screwed up and weren't working. Apologies to anyone who tried to link to the BanesAndNoble The Piaculum listing from the site.

March 16, 2004: Mark was here, Richard may be apose to my changes but eh, what you gonna do?

March 6, 2004: Well folks, my modem died and it took me a while to get back on line. During that time, 3 more reviews for The Piaculum have become available. These reviews come from Annete Gisby of Twisted Tales, The Book Review Team at Legend Books, and Alicia Karen Elkens of GWN (Gotta Write Network). Blurbs and links are listed on the home page. The review from Alicia Karen Elkens has been delayed a bit because I had a few questions about some of the comments. Also, some very cheap, brand new copies of the book, starting at $12.08, are available in the new and used section of the Amazon.com page from a1books, alibris, and echeapbook. If you've been putting off buying the book, now is your chance to get almost 3 dollars off!

February 21, 2004: The next review of The Piaculum is in. Tim Johnson, author of Twisted Oak: Eyes of Discernment, reviewed the book. "Amazing". "Richard Gray has produced a wonderfully dark—yet—tear-jerking story". To read the whole review, click here.

February 16, 2004: I have posted a book review that I have written on The Da Vinci Code. Though I don't think the book lived up to all of the hype, I do think it was a good read. Read the review and see what I had to say.

February 5, 2004: I have posted a book review that I have written on The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I enjoyed the book, so why not click on the title and see what I had to say.

January 31, 2004: I have posted book reviews that I have written on The Shivered Sky and The Devil's Apocrypha. Like The Piaculum, these are other works of dark fantasy that involve religion and spirituality.

January 30, 2004: The Piaculum is showing up on major on-line book stores for advance order. The Piaculum is now available for order from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and booksamillion.com. Also, I am personally selling one signed copy as a collectible on amazon.com. Search for book title "The Piaculum".

January 16, 2004: The Piaculum is now available direct from the publisher. By March 2004 it should be available for order from all major book outlets, including Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com

January 6, 2004: The first book review has come in from The Book Portal. It looks like they enjoyed it. Have a look here.

December 16, 2003: I finally got around to converting "The Cap and the Quest" to html and adding it to the fiction section of the website. This is a book I wrote for my nephew for his 7th birthday. Children from about 3 and up will love to have it read to them, while ages 8 to adult will love to read it to themsleves. There are some moments which may be a bit intense for the young ones, but it still comes out with a G rating.

December 3, 2003: A painting has been added to the art section. Also, the fiction section is online. At the moment 3 short stories in the category of humor, humor fantasy, and humor horror have been added. Non-humor shorts will be posted soon.

November 23 2003: We're up! www.rich-gray.com just switched on-line, powered by DavewayMedia. A new website is born!