Soundtrack to the Story

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.

So Much Madness...

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.

DRP Video Interview for "In Bleed Country"

Rave reviews on 4 of my e-novellas by L.E. Olteano!

http://leolteano.hostei.com/blog/wordpress/reviews/batch-review-fangirling-over-brian-fatah-steele/

Instead of stars, I got butterflies.  And I got a lot of them.  The wonderfult verbose Ms. Olteano reviewed Far House, Deep House along with A Complicated Dive, Preeminent Hollows and The Stitching.  Only one of the titles received less that 5 of her butteflies!  **dies** I guess that means she digs my warped and disturbed take on modern horror & urban fantsy.  Seriously, go check out the reviews...

http://leolteano.hostei.com/blog/wordpress/reviews/batch-review-fangirling-over-brian-fatah-steele/

DarkRedPress cover for "In Bleed Country" re-release

My boss and head of DRP is currently editing the book.  I'll be adding in three additional short stories at the end, centering on the background of certain characters: The Bound Mother, The Swansong, and that bastard scarecrow, McKiernan.  Many seem to find In Bleed Country my best work to date, so I only thought it necessary to create a cover that would portray this horrorific urban fantasy novel in a fitting manner.  So after two days of screaming at the computer and the final thumbs up from CL Stegall, I've hammered out this...

More information about how the cover was created and all the appropriate credit given to the amazinf artists at DeviantART can be found here, http://antius777.deviantart.com/art/DRP-In-Bleed-Country-cover-216438465

I hope to have the DRP re-release sometime out this month.  Find more DarkRedPress stuff at http://www.darkredpress.com

Gratitude hurled like Lightning

My new e-novella, Preeminent Hollows, is out now from Dark Red Press.  On page 5 (do these things count in an e-book?) the acknowledgements read as below.  These are only a handful of the folks who've allowed me to accomplish so much of what I've achieved.  I don't think they'll ever realize how essential their support has been.

This collection and the tale it's connected to could not have been told without the help of numerous people.  My thanks to C.L. Stegall and Saranna DeWylde for their experience in aiding me in the editing, and Chrystalyn Bradley-Rhodes for her exhaustive efforts in helping me run that bookstore.  My thanks to Amber McElreath and John Hill for their critical advice on my cover art, and to Quintin Steele on help with the layout.  A huge thanks to Dr. Roxanne Burns and Prof. Francis Graham of Kent State University for answering all my bizarre science questions, and to Dave & Shirley Marshall for putting up with my creative mood swings.  Finally, my thanks to people like Ashley Kite, Ken Gordhamer, V. Lloyd, Adam Womack and others who began reading this story years ago as Diary Of A Kaote.

Considering The Chaos Narratives are about a bunch of magical federal agents, this follows on the next page...

Dedicated to my friend,

Jonathan Joyce.

USMC and a

real hero...

John Aurelius is the planet's latest Chaos Emissary, the first ever to join The Department of Diversified Securities run by the mysterious Quantum Courts. However, there were many events that occurred before he joined Earth's secret metaphysical police and some demand repeated whispers. More than just the haunted memories from associates and adversaries, these are the rumored incidents that led Aurelius to today. These are the stories of trickster gods and murderous ghosts, of Dimensionauts and S'allow Men. Stories of a mental asylum come alive, an occult shop best avoided, and a blacker house never seen. These are the Prologues to The Chaos Narratives. (an e-novella of 12 tales)

http://www.amazon.com/Preeminent-Hollows-prologues-narratives-ebook/dp/B004YTI01O/

http://www.darkredpress.com

Editing like Mad...

I'm working madly on the last bits on my next e-novella, a collection of 12 tales called Preeminent Hollows.  It's going to serve as a set of prequels, official known as The Prologues To The Chaos Narratives.  The Chaos Narratives is a new series I'm working on, the 1st novel Stagnant Absolution, sitting half done at over 39,000 words.  Some of the tales in Preeminent Hollows may have been read before, perhaps in Fragments Of Ruin, but here we find these and other stories are all connected in a single universe... a world of trickster gods and murderous ghosts, of Dimensionauts and S’allow Men.  A world where mental asylums come alive, occult shops are best avoided and a blacker house is never seen. 

Preeminent Hollows should be released as an e-novella the first week of May, along with a major anouncement.  Stagnant Absolution has a planned release for end of summer.

Serenity J. Banks teaches Us how to Write Better

http://www.df-underground.com/3/post/2010/09/horror-and-dark-fiction-as-a-profession-the-manifesto.html

Above is a link by the brilliant Serenity J. Banks, author and entrepreneur.  Besides writing fiction, she is the Editor in Chief at Dark Continents Publishing and has worked at theDF_underground - an amazing website dedicated to the advancement of horror literature and dark fiction.  The essay you can find above contains advice that I find essential for any beginning writer in today's market, far more eloquently put than anything I could have composed.  For instance...

"The business of writing encompasses so much more than the mere writing of words. Producing and selling a novel involves writing, editing, formatting, layout, design, copywriting, publishing, packaging, distribution, shipping, networking, marketing, advertising, promotion, public relations, communications, and—with a little bit of luck—sales.  The more of those things you can add to your professional repertoire—the more of those languages you can learn—the more successful you can become as a businessperson, and the more valuable you can become as an author."

For the full amazing essay brimming with reasonable explanations on what young authors need to expect in the reality of the publishing world and (more importantly) how to succeed, follow the link to Serenity J. Bank's page back at theDF_underground.

http://www.df-underground.com/3/post/2010/09/horror-and-dark-fiction-as-a-profession-the-manifesto.html

Featured at Indie Books Blog!

http://indiebooksblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/brian-fatah-steele-and-yk-greene-dark.html

A huge thanks to Scott Nicholson and gang for featuring me and my novel In Bleed Country at Indie Books Blog.  There's a short interview along with the appropriate links to where you can find the book.  Make sure to check out the work of Y.K. Greene, the other author featured with me - her Urban Fantasy novel The Uncertainty Of Death sounds excellent.

http://indiebooksblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/brian-fatah-steele-and-yk-greene-dark.html

Celebrate E-Book Week with a $0.99 E-Novel!

Smashwords.com is a major distributor of E-Books in various digital formats.  It handles everything from Kindle, Nook, and Sony's E-Reader to simple PDF's.  Sunday, March 6th kicked off "Read An E-Book Week," and Smashwords has reported a 58% increase in traffic the last two days.  To help celebrate the digital revolution of literature and the expulsion of the status quo still clutched at by publishers, I'm offering my novels IN BLEED COUNTRY and PETTY LIKE A GOD both for less than a buck. 

*Use the following promotional coupon codes to get each E-Book for $0.99*

IN BLEED COUNTRY - KZ76Y

PETTY LIKE A GOD - CM38E

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/brianfatahsteele