January 21, 2021

2020: The Year in Stories

Besides continuing to write new stories, 2020 was about publishing, from start to finish. I did a challenge with Dean Wesley Smith he calls “The Great Publishing Challenge.” The challenge was to publish one major book a month for an entire year.

That’s what I was up to in 2020 with all the releases; 14 in all, two of them didn’t meet Dean’s criteria. I meant to blog about it, but 2020, you know, so below is a list of everything that came out.

This was aided by the fact that I had a lot of stories and books that were past the first draft stage and needed to get finished. I figured this was just the motivation I needed, and it was. My last challenge (I wrote 30 short stories in 34 days) with Dean was hard, but this was hard in a different kind of way. Doing something consistently over an entire year takes some doing.

There was also some short story action, but it wasn’t my focus, so not nearly as much as 2019.

And without further ado, here’s my 2020 in stories, one month at a time.


January

The Ghost Bride’s Gift

Walter Anchor had a big role to play in 2020 so we started off with this novelette. This was not long enough for Dean’s challenge, so onward.

Creatures Featured

This is my third short story collection, this one features many of the the “creature” stories I have written


February

Off Book

After much too long an absence, Neutrinoman and Lightningirl came back with some spectacular action at the Hoover Dam!


March

A Long Hard Fall

More fun with Walter and Emily, ghost detectives! Again, too short for the challenge, so why not one more this month?

The Blood of Carterville

And now time for a new mystery series based in a fictional town in Northern Arizona where almost everyone has some kind of power.


April

Hard Times

More superhero action and adventure!


May

“Breathing in the Stars” appeared in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine: Issue #9.

Death of a Dentist

Back to Walter Anchor in this story that goes deep into Walter’s death and gets him on the track of his murderer.


June

Elemental Factors

Now we’re winding up Season 2 of Neutrinoman and Lightningirl with the longest episode yet (and introducing intriguing new members of the team).


July

A Hollywood Kind of Murder

Walter was an actor before he was a dentist. In this episode he’s back in Hollywood working on a very strange case.


August

Neutrinoman & Lightningirl: Season 2

With season 2 complete, an omnibus edition made sense. You can read more about it on my blog.


September

The Red Arrow Murders

This is what all the Walter and Emily case were leading to. And it’s not quite what Walter expected.


October

Unfinished Business: The Cases of Walter Anchor Ghost Detective.

And Walter and Emily gets their own omnibus. All six cases are here, over 500 pages of mystery!


November

“A Grave Kind of Love”

This 2019 short story came out in Joyous Christmas, just in time for the holiday season.

Out of a Christmas Sky

This new entry in the Carterville world officially makes it a series! It’s a mystery series revolving around a chief of police in a small town where almost everyone has some kind of power.


December

Where the Past Belongs: An Angelica and Ash Time Travel Adventure

I was very happy to end the year with this brand new novel (and perhaps start of a new series).


Okay, so no wonder I was so tired at the end of the year. Whew, that was a lot.

Thanks to everyone that’s been following along and picked up some of these. And those of you who have left reviews, well, I can’t thank you enough!

On to 2021.

Related Posts

Finding Time

Finding Time

The Holiday Spectacular 2024!

The Holiday Spectacular 2024!

Faces of Carterville

Faces of Carterville

Woody and June versus the Apocalypse, Volume 3

Woody and June versus the Apocalypse, Volume 3

Robert J. McCarter


Robert J. McCarter is the author of more than ten novels and over a hundred short stories...... learn more

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}