Welcome back to my monthly newsletter. Maybe I should call it a newsblog, yes? Before getting to the usual news, reviews, and writerly goodness, I would like to thank everyone who has purchased, borrowed on
Kindle Unlimited, or otherwise supported my latest horror novella
Brothers in Blood over the past month and a half. This novella has had a better opening than anything I have published. I'm not saying I can quit my day job and write full time or anything, but I can maybe buy a better bottle of
whiskey and a lobster dinner. Maybe. At any rate, thanks to everyone who shared a social media post or bought the book. Page reads on Kindle Unlimited have been fantastic. Unfortunately, as of this writing, there are NO Amazon reviews. I'm not going to lose sleep over this, but if you read the novella I would greatly appreciate an honest review. Thanks!
News
The latest
San Diego Horror Professionals anthology has been released, this time with even more SD authors than before. My offering, "Brain-Case Soiree," is a Laymon-esqu story that follows a young couple in a strained relationship who decide to explore a long abandoned asylum and find something truly unexpected. You can purchase the anthology
HERE in the US and
HERE in the UK.
I'm fine tuning two novels that I am sending to two particular publishers for consideration. I have also started a story that I like to call a cross between
THEM! and
The Descent. The idea came from a recent experience at work and a conversation with my father during a recent visit to Arizona. I've put down another novel I was working on, figuring this one is more marketable. I'll probably end up writing them both simultaneously.
Cool Read
I'm suggesting two books this month.
The Lucky Ones Died First is the debut novella from my pal Jack Bantry. I'm not only spotlighting his book because he's a friend, but also because it's a damn fun read. It's pulp cryptid horror fiction at its best. I think of this novella as
Friday the 13th but with Bigfoot rather than Jason. I was lucky enough to beta read this one and was thrilled when I heard Deadite Press picked it up. It's getting good reviews, and rightly so. Purchase it
HERE.
It would be remiss of me not to highlight James Newman's
Odd Man Out. I bought the paperback a few weeks ago (a different sized trade PB than what I'm used to, but fitting for a novella), and read it in two or three sittings, which is quick for me. Not only am I a slow reader, but I have a young child. 'Nuff said. Yes, Odd Man Out is socially relevant, yes I'm a fan of Newman's work (and I consider him a friend), but more importantly, this was an all encompassing read. The kind of story that truly pulls the reader in and blocks out everything, creating a visceral movie in my mind. This story made me forget that I'm a writer, and that's hard to do, as any writer will tell you. That's the kind of thing that elevates a story.
Animosity still holds its place as my favorite Newman read, but this one comes in a close second. You can purchase
Odd Man Out HERE.
Featured Fiction
This week I'm going to tell you a little about a story published a while back called "The Nostalgiac." This one appeared in the Post Mortem Press anthology
Fear the Abyss, which featured science fiction stories with a horror bend. It was great to be published with so many talented authors such as Jack Ketchum, Harlan Ellison, Mike Arnzen, and Tim Waggoner, just to name a few. "The Nostalgiac" was an idea I dreamed up long before I was invited to this anthology. I saw a pair of intergalactic grave robbers risking radiation to claim entire graveyards on a dying Earth. I wrote half of the story and left it there, not really knowing where to go. When I was invited to submit, I knew this was my only chance. All of the other sci-fi horror stories that I'd written at that point had been published. I thought through my issues with the plot, developed the Nostalgiac angle, and treated it very much like an episode of the Twilight Zone (the story was actually compared to TZ in a review). I think it's my best sci-fi/horror mash-up to date. You can purchase a copy of
Fear the Abyss HERE.
Book and Record Acquisitions
I bought quite a few books over the last month. The
Ten Little Indians paperback was a nice find at two bucks in a book store I had walked by several times but never stepped inside. I think that and
The Seed were pretty much two of the only horror titles they had in the entire store outside of some Stephen King and Dean Koontz. No lie. I looked through the entire store--literature, sci-fi, and fantasy sections--no labelled horror section!--with no luck. There were a few F. Paul Wilson titles, but I already had them. I was also pleased to find a hardcover first edition of
The Kill Riff on Ebay (and very affordable to boot!). Here are a few of my finds:
Closing Words
In closing, I have some reflections about life and the genre. First off, the Fourth of July came and passed. I went to the fair with my wife, mother-in-law, and son. We had a great time despite insane numbers of fair-goers. Everyone was so nice. I think that was due to the Fourth being a more family friendly day, whereas an average night at the fair consists of wading through packs of asshole teens and drunk twenty-somethings who wish they were still asshole teens.
So I was looking over my files and wondering if other writers have so much unpublished material. I'm not talking trunked stuff, but novels and novellas that are good enough for publication (or at least I think they are). I have six novels (most teetering on novella status), two novellas, and five unfinished projects. I've been reflecting on how difficult it is to break through in the biz, even on a small level. I'm convinced that networking at conventions and writing conferences is better than blindly submitting to the very few respectable publishers who actually accept submissions. Of course, talent and good stories play a part, but I keep running that quote through my head that I've heard so many masters of the genre say: "It's twenty percent talent; eighty percent luck." The numbers vary depending on who's making that particular quote, but it can be attributed to any number of bestselling authors. I've developed a few fans. They contact me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and it's surreal. I've earned compliments (mostly for my short fiction), and some harsh criticism (don't we all). I believe in my work and I
know I get better with each piece of fiction I pen, whether I trunk it or attempt publication. It's a tough business, but I'm relieved when I read some of the fiction being published and find that there are some amazing authors out there. At least, for the most part, I can see why my stories get rejected, considering the competition. I've been short-listed enough to know I'm on the right path, and I've had some of the best editors in the biz say nice things about my fiction. I have to remember this when self doubt rears its ugly head. Onward and forward and all that jazz.
That last part was long winded. Thanks for reading. See you next month!
