Rambling VLog for March 29th/30th
(download)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GTRG9Q
What happens when the world as we know it comes to an end? Will it be with a bang or a whimper? What comes next? Who survives and why? Here are four disparate stories of post-apocalyptic adventure, terror, revenge and love. In The Last Pharmacist, underground cities are dealing with the deadly epidemic of a synthetic heroin supplied by an unknown source. In Smile, the world is overrun by a terrible, terrifying invasion from an unstoppable interloper. In White Sands, a girl searches for the one responsible for the worldwide pandemic that killed her father. In Futureblind, one woman finds that she has survived a horrible fate only to face a unique destiny. Welcome to the 4POCALYPSE – Four Tales Of A Dark Future.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GTRG9Q
Presented by Dark Red Press, featuring John J. Smith, Jack X. McCallum, C.L. Stegall, and Brian Fatah Steele. A Kindle exclusive for only $0.99, paperback version available soon.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007GTRG9Q
I have almost 10k words done for the anthology piece due to Dark Red Press on the 20th of January. I'm pretty sure it's only half done. 15,000 words was my minimum, but I know I'll go over that and hit closer to 20k. It's a post-apocalyptic tale, just as the other 3 will be from the other DRP authors, for a book entitled 4POCALYPSE. An interesting premise, each of us taking a spin on that speculative fiction sub-genre. Like an idiot, I decided to set mine in the ruins of 2270 and fill it with advanced tech and my twist on zombies. (I didn't foresee the amount of research that would have to go into this one.)
As with all of my longer works, it took me a while to find the "voice." Mostly, this was because I hadn't found the soundtrack yet. Each of my novels or e-novellas have had their own selection of music. THE STITCHING was done entirely to Murder By Death, while IN BLEED COUNTRY had a lot of Puscifer and Tool. A COMPLICATED DIVINE was set to Alkaline Trio and other modern punk bands, while my out-of-print novel BETWEEN US AND OBLIVION was penned exclusively to the post-rock band 65DaysOfStatic. It took me a while, but this current novella is getting hammered out to a mix of DeadMau5, Skrillex and The Glitch Mob. The music created by those groups fit the vibe of the tale.I know some authors who must write in near silence - that would drive me insane. At the same time, once I've found my tale's soundtrack, I won't listen to it during the writing process except when I'm actually writing the story. It forces me to keep going and doesn't dilute the feeling. When I'm writing random articles, blogs (or just pissing about on Facebook), I find any instrumental post-rock works well for me. While emotive and creative, it almost acts as a default sound to be, those guitars from This Will Destroy You and Explosion in The Sky and the vocals from Sigur Ros.After this novella is done, the sequel to IN BLEED COUNTRY is supposed to be next on my plate. Perhaps I'll find the soundtrack in one of Maynard Keenan's acts again, but I wouldn't necessarily say it was set in stone. Certain aspects of a story writes itself, and a tale demands its own tune.
A lot going on right now. The DRP interview for "In Bleed Country" is up, and I'm hoping it generates more interest in the book. I've contacted three different review site with the request to submit the book - no word back from any of them. That said, if any is willing to give an HONEST review on places like Goodreads, Amazon, etc. I'll see able getting a DRP e-Review Packet out to you.
So, the 4POCALYPSE project at Dark Red Press has been pushed back a month. This works out for me greatly. I spent so much time researching aspects of the novella I was contributing, the start of the actual writing seemed daunting. Of course, once I finally got into the tale, I only had a little over a week left before the deadline. This extension should ensure the piece comes out as quality.
Speaking of, one of the main reasons I found my groove with the post-apocalyptic tale was because I discovered its soundtrack. This is always an issue with me, the right "feeling" music to inspire a certain story. C.L. Stegall talks about it in his video blog here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwQCXv6F78E and it's something that definitely resonates with me. My tastes are eclectic, and I found a few dub-steb groubs (Deadmau5, Skrillex, Glitch Mob) are helping me to write this. At the same time, I've been trying my hand at illustration again. It was a small tragedy that my CTS didn't allow me to do much tradional artwork, but I've switched up some techniques and the project currently has three fully rendered pieces of promo art.
Oh, and the evil wizards at Smashwords have arbitrarily decided my short story, "Wetter," has passed all their insane e-tests to get on the premium catalog. Have I mentioned this week how much I hate Smashwords? I wouldn't mess with them anymore if I could get free e-books up on Kindle and Nook any other way, but it's SUCH a great marketing tool. I'm fully aware I'm a D-List Author, but I also fully believe in a certain price tier - full eBooks at $2.99, eNovellas at $0.99, and eShort Stories for free.
Now if I can just get those bastards to accept the Halloween eAnthology I edited, "Past The Patch," into their damn premium catalog.
They say Santa keeps a list. Well, here's mine. Below are a bunch of cheap e-books to keep an eye out for this upcoming holiday season. Getting someone a Kindle? Why not upload a few titles into it before you throw it at their head come Christmas morning? These e-books won't break your bank account, but they will keep you quite entertained.
The Weight Of Night by C.L. Stegall - Ancient Greek mythology comes to life in this unique coming-of-age tale that spans the globe and the heart of a girl who only wants to be normal. $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Night-Progeny-ebook/dp/B004LB5BNA/
The Sorrow King by Andersen Prunty - Can love exact vengeance on a monster made from madness, depression, and misery? Or will the Sorrow King bleed the town dry before satiating himself and moving on? $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/The-Sorrow-King-ebook/dp/B004U2A32O/
The Dark Is Light Enough For Me by John Claude Smith - Twelve intricate, dark tales of bittersweet madness, twisted desire, and souls in crisis explore the deepest realms of the human, and not so human, condition. $3.99 http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Light-Enough-Me-ebook/dp/B0065M28L6/
Made In The USA by Jack X. McCallum - A covert government agency & Third Reich science, cloning & cryogenics, the Second Coming & the Millennium, all coming together in a collision of passions and perversions, past and present. $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Made-in-the-U-S-A-ebook/dp/B005QPL09E/
The Real Housewives Of Olympus by Saranna DeWylde - Come along for the ride as these goddesses take control of their Fate (or so they think) and find their Happily Ever Afters. $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/Real-Housewives-Olympus-ebook/dp/B005EBZSU2/
Finding Katie by John J. Smith - The very wealthy and very sheltered Preston Meadows lives his life protected from even the hint of harm. His world is safe and secure until someone kidnaps his sister, Katie. $2.99 http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Katie-ebook/dp/B004ZZSUYO/
Mists Of Blackfen Bog by Court Ellyn - Imaen, a disillusioned, bitter priestess, is forced to accompany her mentor into the icy swamps to learn why the spirits walk and to help put them to rest again. $1.99 http://www.amazon.com/Mists-of-Blackfen-Bog-ebook/dp/B005CJ8OG6/
Shinning In Crimson by Robert S. Wilson - Set in a dystopian, religiously-demented American Empire, the city of Las Vegas is no longer a city of sin. Now called Necropolis, it is a city that eats sin. $3.99 http://www.amazon.com/Shining-Crimson-Empire-Blood-ebook/dp/B005LD2TKK/
Hudson House by J.T. Warren - They are not the first to suffer in the house at the corner of Mangle Lane and Jackson Drive. Not the first to discover its unholy promise or the first to know its evil. $0.99 http://www.amazon.com/Hudson-House-ebook/dp/B004089GYY/
Amongst The Ruins by Saewod Tice - In the year 2220, only about 15% of Earth's population have survived and thrived after the Nuclear Disaster of 2020. $4.00 http://www.amazon.com/Amongst-Ruins-Chronicles-2020-ebook/dp/B005OZIIVE/
I don't think it's possible to calculate how many times I've screamed at the computer screen while working at the site Smashwords. An independent e-publishing site that allows authors to sell their books in all available formats, the concept seems wonderful. Unfortunately, it appears, someone has somewhere dropped the ball.
I have tons of e-books. I have the Kindle App that runs .mobi files as well as the wonderful program called Calibre. Calibre works with any e-book formats (mobi, epub, lit, pdf, etc) along with allowing you to alter the metadata, change cover art, switch formats, and manipulate the way you store your library. So yes, I know I how e-books look in various formats and bring that eye to my own. And trust me, not everyone has great looking products. Strangely enough, I've found it has nothing to do with money - big house publishers are just as likely to screw it up as amateurs.
Amazon Kindle will let anyone upload anything to their severs. I can see why some crotchety old traditionalists get riled up over this. It wasn't until recently that Amazon thought to offer formatting tips, and I'll admit that my first two books had a number of errors when I uploaded them. The thing is, unless you're a superstar, an "A-list Author," you shouldn't be charging a whole hell of a lot for an e-book and guess what - nobody really cares how the chapters headings are formated on their screen. They bought your $1.99 e-book for cheap entertainment, and while I'll be the first to demand a certain amount of quality control (and pride in your work), there's no need to agonize over font choice display.
Like Smashwords seems to.
A handful of times now, I've almost walked away from the site. However, I stick around primarily for two reasons. #1 - Smashwords is truly international, unlike Amazon with their various ".dot" endings. I've found that folks in other country ocassional can't get my work, especially those in Australia. Why I have so many fans in Australia, I have no idea, but I want them to have access to my crap books. #2 - I can put whatever I want on Smashwords for free. Some magical spell allows you to do the same at Amazon, but I haven't discovered it yet. I have a simple formula for a D-list Author such as myself - full e-books are $2.99, e-novella are $0.99, and short story are free.
Out of the nine works I have on Smashwords, ony one has been accepted into their Premium Catalog. I have no idea what I did differently with that one as opposed to all the others. They like to remain somewhat vague on the reasons, but everyone who has worked with Smashwords will recognize the response of...
I've been an Apple guy for over a decade, but WOW, does this piss me off. Does anyone even buy e-books from Apple? Where? The damn iTunes store? Sorry, I got sick of updating it every three days. And your "Help Page" is worthless.
People buy e-books because they don't take up any room, they're cheap (usually), and they can read them on their phones or when they're supposed to be working. Sure, there should be guidelines for how these things are set up, but nobody is going to win awards for Digital Excellence. Borders has shut down, Dorchester Press has gone under, the old world of publishing is slowly but surely dying. Instead of trying to cram the old rules onto the the new world, let's make up some new ones.
I mean, we see how well it's working out over in the music industry...
Last Tuesday, a little over a week ago, I uploaded a FREE Halloween e-anthology to various websites. Past The Patch was an idea that sprang up over the summer during one of the many manic e-mail trading session between the guys at Dark Red Press. Since I was the one promoting the idea (and I had always wanted to try my hand at editing an anthology), it became my project. It was early August when I sent out the first round of submission queries, with an early October release slated.
I wanted around a dozen authors, mostly because that number seemed managable for my first time stepping into editor shoes. Pretty much the same reason we decided to make the thing free. I had an idea of what I wanted with this anthology, and I went outside the normal realms of modern horror and dark urban fantasy. As I state in the brief introduction of Past The Patch, I've always been most impressed with the anthologies by the likes of John Joseph Adams, Al Sarrantonio and Harlan Ellison. It seemed they were less concerned about genre and more so about theme. I liked that. So along with the usual suspects, I attempted to snag authors who were more accustomed to writing romance, fantasy, mystery or poetry. I wanted stories about Halloween, a holiday and all that it encompassed in our collective culture, not just a collection of spooky gore-fests.
Authors wandered in, some wandered out. A few new ones showed up late to the party with more beer, as it were. Multiple times I found myself screaming at the computer for whatever reason. The release deadline of October 11th had been set, and I was still agonizing over the cover art. I think I may have annihilated a few galaxies in my stressed-out rage.
Finally all the tales were in and it was a matter of deciding upon the "track listing" and hammering out the formats. Looking over my submissions, it was quickly apparent that I was going to end the anthology with "The Witch Of Mistletoe Lane" by Court Ellyn. Almost a novella in length, it's so well written, so heart-breakingly beautiful and poignant, I knew it was the perfect note on which to end. J.T. Warren's "Halloween Candy" seemed a great choice for the opener with it's unique take on an old holiday fear. In between, all the tales were decided by their word count and subject matter. I didn't, for instance, want to put two shorter tales next to each other, nor did I want to place two stories that had children as the protagonists back-to-back. Cue more screaming at the computer.
And then suddenly... it was done. The cover embedded, legal crap page, ISBN# acquired, contents, bios, everything. It looked good! I sent it to the guys at Dark Red Press for a look-over, got the thumbs up, and started uploading. I promoted it for a few hours, then I think I passed out for a day. Past The Patch was done, and damn, it did look good!
The main download site, with various links, is on the DRP site. Who knows how many PDF's we've directly downloaded, but it's all here... http://www.darkredpress.com/read-now/past-the-patch-a-free-collection/
We've had 97 downloads off Smashwords as I write this. That site is here... https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95432
We've had 74 reads over at Scribd. That site is here... http://www.scribd.com/doc/68259166/Past-the-Patch
Finally, it's also available as a PDF at Goodreads, along with the e-anthology's page and links to all the contributing authors. Feel free to snag it or give us feedback here... http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12845734-past-the-patch
I'm proud of what was accomplished with Past The Patch, and I'm ever more proud of all of the authors who contributed to the anthology. It's a fun collective of tales, and I'm thrilled these amazing authors gave me a chance to combine their works in this fashion. Please, as October 31st lurks closer, I invite you to check out this FREE e-anthology and get ready for Halloween!
http://www.darkredpress.com/read-now/past-the-patch-a-free-collection/
Dark Red Press presents a FREE anthology of Halloween-themed tales. Available as an e-book in multiple formats on various sites, Past The Patch contains the work of thirteen rising authors in an assortment of genres. Writers from the realms of fantasy, romance, adventure, poetry and (of course) horror, give use their unique takes on the infamous holiday.
http://www.darkredpress.com/read-now/past-the-patch-a-free-collection/
Halloween – a holiday that evokes so much. Some say it’s a time when the space between worlds is too thin to bear the weight, and outer things spill over for a bit of Trick Or Treating. The stories found inside this e-anthology echo that idea, reporting back from a corner where the mirror has reflected a distorted image of this season.
Inside we’ll find a young man’s madness has driven him down a bloody path and the brutal folklore of the early 19th century clawed to life. We’ll see domestic bliss marred only by suburban lycanthropy and retail employees devoured by cosmic malevolence. Witches, monsters, and maniacs as written by authors of fantasy, adventure, mystery, poetry, romance and horror. We’ll dig deeper into a celebration now known for masks, candy and pumpkins while immersing ourselves in this anthology. Here, we’ll go past the patch and discover what tales lurk on the other side.
Edited by Brian Fatah Steele
A Dark Red Press Production
Contributors… Sarah E. Adkins, Jonathan Dukestein, Court Ellyn, Matthew Leverton, Jack Lloyd, Jack X. McCallum, H.H. Shullith, John Claude Smith, John J. Smith, C.L. Stegall, J.T. Warren, Robert S. Wilson and Brian Fatah Steele
http://www.darkredpress.com/read-now/past-the-patch-a-free-collection/
BRIAN FATAH STEELE, a member of the indie author co-op Dark Red Press, describes the majority of his work as "Epic Horror with lots of Explosions." His articles and stories have appeared in various e-magazines and online journals. Steele lives in Ohio with a few cats that are probably plotting his doom. Surviving on a diet primarily of coffee and cigarettes, he occasionally dabbles in Visual Arts and Music Production. He still hopes to one day become a Super Villain.
