Archive for the ‘Novelette’ Category

Was that an unseasonal chill in the air? Nope, it’s the warning that Symphony for Walpurgis will arrive in T-minus four weeks!

If you’re unaware, Symphony for Walpurgis is my new collection of novelettes, featuring stories of cryptids (“Famous”), malevolent spirits (“The Parasite Man”), and even a Jewish exorcism (“The House on Lafayette Square”). Yes, Jews have our own exorcisms, too. My parents tried to do them on me on and off throughout the years, but it never worked, so far as I can tell. Anyway, the new collection comes out on Thursday, May 1st, 2025, and today’s Thursday, April 3rd, 2025. Meaning we’re a month away from the book’s release!

I’m super excited for people to read this book. I tend to write stories that fall into the novelette range (around 7,500-17,500 words), but finding them homes are a challenge. Only so many presses and magazines accept novelettes, usually on the shorter side, and then the places that do accept them either only have so many slots available that competition is fierce, or they’re invite only. Hopefully this book brings out a bit more interest for novelettes. At the very least, people will be able to read a lot of them at once. Some of them have even been previously published, while the rest are original.

So yeah, I’m hoping to get a lot of people to read this book. And in the meantime, I’m doing everything I can to get people interested. Just this past week, I’ve been uploading graphics with quotes from the book’s stories, and I like to think people have been enjoying them, and even getting chills from them.

I mean, look at this one.

Brrrr! Spooky! I knew going for shorter, snappier quotes would be helpful.

Anyway, if you’re at all interested in a spooky collection this late spring/early summer, or if you’d like to support me, I’ll leave links below. Walpurgis is available to preorder as an ebook from a certain stores, but more formats and stores will be available as time goes on.

And if you like what you read, please leave a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and other readers out in the long run. In fact, I’ve already received some awesome reviews on Goodreads for Walpurgis, including a new one yesterday, and they’ve helped immensely. I’ll link to those as well.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night, happy reading, and pleasant nightmares!

Well, that took longer than I expected. But raise your glasses and let out an ear-piercing wail of terror, because I finished my first short story of 2025!

As some of you remember from earlier this month, I was originally working on a witchy Halloween story, but that blew past novelette range into novella territory, and I promised I wouldn’t write any new longer stories until the ones I was already working on were finished and had homes. Thus, the witchy Halloween story got put away for later, and I started working on something new.

And thankfully, this story managed to stay in novelette range, at just under 9,300 words. “The Manhattan Well” follows a young woman in Victorian England meeting a young man from New York who relates his traumatic experience meeting a ghost related to America’s first sensationalized murder.

This story actually has a cool story behind its inspiration. I’m a big fan of the musical Hamilton (I’m actually seeing it live for the third time this summer), and a while back, I had the song “Non-Stop” stuck in my head (I even wrote a blog post about it). As sometimes happens when I have a song stuck in my head, I looked up the lyrics.

Here’s the song in question if you’re unfamiliar or just want to jam.

So, early in the song, when Hamilton and Burr is doing that murder trial, I always thought Burr was saying, “Our client says he’s innocent, call your first witness.” But as it turns out, when I looked up the lyrics, Burr was saying, “Our client Levi Weeks is innocent, call your first witness.”

Dance and celebrate like nobody’s watching.

This led me to ask, “Who the hell is Levi Weeks?” One internet rabbit hole later, not only did I learn about one of America’s earliest true crime stories (and if you’re interested, it’s a rather cool story, so I’d check it out), but I had an idea for a horror story.

And now that the story is written, is it any good? Well, it’s a first draft. It’s not supposed to be good! It’s just supposed to exist and have potential. And on that front, it fulfills both requirements. I’ll give it an edit and see about finding a beta reader later this year. However, I have to do one more edit of The Shape of Evil before I (hopefully) pitch it at StokerCon later this year, so that’s the focus now. After that, we’ll see where we are and what I feel I should be doing.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I just wanted to share the good news with you. If anyone needs me, I’m going to go celebrate and have a super-late dinner. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and don’t throw away your shot!

Time, for better or for worse, is moving along quite quickly. And that means we are a week closer to the release of my new collection, Symphony for Walpurgis!

For those of you who are unaware (though at this point, given how much I talk about it, I’d be surprised if you weren’t aware), Symphony for Walpurgis is a collection of nine novelettes I’m releasing on May 1st, 2025. The stories include tales of cryptids (“Famous”), malevolent spirits (“The Parasite Man”), and even a Jewish exorcism (“The House on Lafayette Square”). Yes, we Jews have exorcisms. Not often, but we do.

Here’s the blurb I wrote for the back cover:

What’s the difference between humans and monsters? Is there a fine line, or is it more gray and blurred? Rami Ungar, author of Rose and Hannah and Other Stories, explores this question in his latest collection, Symphony for Walpurgis. From legendary cryptids to malevolent spirits and from Ohio in the 1950s to modern-day California, readers will be treated to nine terrifying stories of the weird and macabre. So settle down and be prepared. For you have bought your ticket to Symphony for Walpurgis.

Neat, isn’t it? I think it gets the mood of the book across quite well.

Anyway, I’m very excited for this collection. Novelettes don’t have a lot of places you can submit to, and the ones you can often prefer shorter novelettes (for those who aren’t aware, a novelette is around 7,500-17,500 words). I tend to write stories in the novelette range, so I’m hoping if this book does well, more people will want to read and write stories in the novelette range, and maybe there will be more publishers for them.

At the very least, though, I would like this book to be successful. I really enjoyed working on these stories, about half of which have originally been published, and I want others to enjoy them. If I can, I would like to sell 500 copies within the first year. I’ll certainly work hard to make that happen.

Anyway, if you would like to check out Symphony, I’ll leave links below. It’s available to preorder now as an ebook, but there will be more formats and stores in time as time goes on. And there are even some early reviews, which you can find on Goodreads, also linked below.

And speaking of reviews, if you like what you read, please leave a review somewhere. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me and other readers out in the long run.

Also be sure to check out the book trailer I made. Is it the most amazing book trailer ever designed? But does it include hints of what’s in the book and gets its mood down perfectly like the book blurb? I like to think so.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’re as excited as I am for this new book. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

(For the first two quote filled posts, click here and here. You can also see all of them at once on the Symphony for Walpurgis page.)

Well, it’s that time again. As many of you know, I’ve been creating graphics with quotes from my upcoming collection, Symphony for Walpurgis, and posting them every couple of days. This is to hopefully generate some interest in the collection by giving people short previews into what’s inside. I usually go through graphics for all nine stories in just three weeks, then I make more. But first, I’m posting the most recent round of graphics here for you to enjoy.

Who knows? Perhaps you’ll see these quotes and be interested enough to want to read Symphony yourself.

I have to admit, finding the right quotes for these graphics, making sure I can fit the quotes in the graphic templates, and then finding imagery to match the quote, is not easy. In fact, a few times, it’s been kind of frustrating. You do not know how hard it is just to find a good demon image for “The House on Lafayette Square,” or the right quote to use from “Famous.”

Still, I’ve seen these graphics help attract readers, so I think I’ll stick with it for the next couple of weeks until the book comes out.

And in the meantime, if you’re at all interested in Symphony, you can preorder copies or read early reviews using the links below. The book comes out on May 1st, just less six weeks from now, and I’m very excited for people to check it out. I’m very proud of these stories, which include tales of cryptids, malevolent spirits, and even a Jewish exorcism! Yeah, those exist. They don’t happen often, but they exist.

And if you end up reading the book, I hope you’ll leave me a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll probably be back soon, so be sure to keep an eye out. And until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

I’m at the point in my marketing plan where I get super annoying with reminders that I have a book coming out. But hey, can you blame me? If it gets one more person to read the book, then it’ll have been worth it.

So, if you’ve been living under a rock, I have a new book coming out on Thursday, May 1st, 2025. The book is a new collection called Symphony for Walpurgis. What’s Walpurgis, you ask? You can find out here. But back to the collection. This is a collection of nine novelettes, four previously published and five original, that I’ve gathered together because there’s just not enough publishers of novelettes out there these days. So, if you can’t find homes for them, make a home for them yourself and show the world how awesome they are!

At least, that’s what I’m hoping to accomplish, along with letting people read some amazing stories.

Here’s the back cover blurb for the collection:

What’s the difference between humans and monsters? Is there a fine line, or is it more gray and blurred? Rami Ungar, author of Rose and Hannah and Other Stories, explores this question in his latest collection, Symphony for Walpurgis. From legendary cryptids to malevolent spirits and from Ohio in the 1950s to modern-day California, readers will be treated to nine terrifying stories of the weird and macabre. So settle down and be prepared. For you have bought your ticket to Symphony for Walpurgis.

Sweet, right? And get this: the collection already has some reviews on it! Yeah, a couple of advanced readers posted their thoughts on Goodreads, and they really liked the collection. So much, in fact, they each gave it five stars! Considering that the book is not even out yet, that’s a really good sign of things to come!

And I really hope good things will come with this collection. I like sharing my stories with people, and I’ve noticed that short story collections tend to be very popular, especially at events. Maybe that’s because you’re getting several digestible stories in one package, rather than one gigantic story in a single package. If that’s the case, perhaps the release of this book will not only be well-received with readers, but will help me get closer to writing full time (that’s the dream, after all).

Careful, folks. There’s a lot of these beasties in one of the stories!

Besides, what horror fan could resist a collection featuring tales of several college-age kids waking up in a strange jail (“Blood and Paper Skin”); a teenage girl becoming an unwitting accomplice in a revenge plot using occult means (“Disillusionment and Trauma Sometimes Go Hand-in-Hand”); a Jewish exorcism (“The House on Lafayette Square,” and yes, Jews have exorcisms on occasion); a town filled with spiders and sordid history which is quickly catching up with the residents (“Mother of Spiders”); a Las Vegas performer who will do anything to make her mark on the world (“Famous”); an interview revolving around an unusual actress (“The Little Goddess of Horror”); a family under threat by multiple parasites (“The Parasite Man”); a young man who discovers a mermaid in his uncle’s basement (“Cressida”); and a campsite becoming ground zero for a new pandemic (“Natural Predators”)?

I couldn’t , that’s for sure.

And if you can’t, either, I’ll include links for the book, including its Goodreads page. Right now, it’s only available in ebook from a few stores, but more stores and a paperback edition will be available soon, so keep an eye out for that announcement.

And if you like what you read, please leave a review online. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me and other readers in the long run.

Thank you for your support, my Followers of Fear, and I look forward to sharing with you Symphony for Walpurgis. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

Yeah, I’m going to be extra annoying with this stuff for the foreseeable future. But hey, can you blame me? With a new book on the way, I have to do everything in my power to get people interested.

And that’s what these quote graphics are about. When Hannah and Other Stories was coming out the first time, these helped advertise the book far and wide. Obviously, I’m repeating this with Walpurgis, creating graphics for each story and releasing them three days a week on my social media.

Below are the latest round, which I’ve been releasing over the past three weeks. I hope they capture your attention.

I hope you enjoyed reading these. With these quotes, I made the fonts bigger so they were easier to read. With any luck, that will make reading them easier for people with vision issues.

If you’re at all interested in reading the previous quote graphics, you can check them out on Walpurgis‘s page on this website. And if you would like to check out the book itself, I’ll leave links below. It comes out on May 1st and is full of cryptids, malevolent spirits, and even a Jewish exorcism. Below is the blurb I’m using for the back cover.

What’s the difference between humans and monsters? Is there a fine line, or is it more gray and blurred? Rami Ungar, author of Rose and Hannah and Other Stories, explores this question in his latest collection, Symphony for Walpurgis. From legendary cryptids to malevolent spirits and from Ohio in the 1950s to modern-day California, readers will be treated to nine terrifying stories of the weird and macabre. So settle down and be prepared. For you have bought your ticket to Symphony for Walpurgis.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time (which hopefully won’t be another promotional post), good night and pleasant nightmares.

Good evening, humans. I hope you’re doing well. If you’re like me, you’re avoiding the Super Bowl (now if it was the Superb Owl, I would tune in). And I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you some updates on Symphony for Walpurgis, seeing as a lot has happened since I last posted about it. Which was…just six days ago? Damn, it has been a crazy week!

Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, Symphony for Walpurgis is my upcoming book, a collection of novelettes, some of which were previously published and others which weren’t. The book is set to come out on May 1st, 2025, meaning less than three months from now. I’m doing my utmost to get as many people as possible reading it once it releases. In fact, I’m hoping to sell 500 copies and get fifty positive reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads in the first year!

Anyway, let’s get into these updates, shall we?

Walpurgis has two reviews now!

It’s crazy to think, but Symphony for Walpurgis already has two reviews on Goodreads. And even better, both are five-star reviews! Both came from advanced readers and Followers of Fear, but they’re willing to criticize me if necessary. The most recent review, written by Louise Conway, starts with this:

Bravo! This might just be Rami Ungar’s best work yet. Offering tales of unearthly retribution, dark mysteries, vampires re-imagined and blood curdling entities, Symphony is a gloriously ghoulish anthology with something for almost every kind of horror fan.

“Best work yet.” I’m flattered. Of course, I aim to put out more and more work as time goes on, and to improve as well.

Anyway, this is good progress on my goal for fifty positive Goodreads reviews. I hope more of the advanced readers let people know what they think of the book, and that leads to plenty more readers when the book comes out. In the meantime, if you would like to read the full reviews, you can click below to check them out.

The author copies came in this weekend!

One of the most exciting moments for a published author is when the first batch of author copies comes in. That includes self-published books, and I felt that excitement this weekend when my author copies for Walpurgis came in. I designed the cover myself after a lot of trial and error, as well as the book’s back cover and interior. It was nice to see it had turned out so well!

And, being the kind of guy who likes to share every achievement, no matter how small, I filmed an unboxing video. Here it is, in all its cheesiness and beauty. Enjoy!

Hopefully, this is the first of many author copy deliveries. Like I said, five hundred sold copies in the first year, and most of those will likely come from live events. And I plan to find many homes for many copies.

The Book Trailer is Live!

Like with my last collection, Hannah and Other Stories, I sought to create a gripping book trailer for Walpurgis. This time, I wanted to have one out before the release date (that should have happened with Hannah as well, but life had other plans). And with a couple of hours of work this afternoon, I created what I think is an awesome book trailer for a collection of horror. Check it out.

Not bad, right? It’s nothing special, but I think it’s decent and conveys the horror of this collection well. If it gets even one or two people to read Walpurgis, I’ll be happy.

By the by, if you enjoyed these videos, please consider liking/commenting/subscribing. You know, all that usual YouTube shtick. You can find my channel here.

Book Quotes

One thing I learned from Hannah and Other Stories was how helpful releasing quotes from your book can be. Especially when you pair the quotes with interesting and relevant graphics. So, this time around, I’m creating graphics with quotes on them, and releasing them three times a week. Here are the first batch of quotes graphics, one from each story. Hope you find them exciting and interesting. They were fun to make.

I’ll post the next nine in a single post once they’ve been published on my social media. In the meantime, you can find each graphic as they’re uploaded on Walpurgis‘s page on this blog.

Final Word

Anyway, that’s all to say right now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll try not to overwhelm you with Walpurgis-related posts, though I do have to do my necessary advertising for it as we approach May 1st. And in the meantime, if you would like to preorder a copy of Walpurgis, I’ll leave links below. More stores and formats will be made available as we get closer, so keep checking back if you don’t see a store or format you prefer.

And if you like what you read, my Followers of Fear, then please leave a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me and other readers out in the long run.

Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

Oh, happy day! It’s still only three months away, but Symphony for Walpurgis has its first review! And holy crap, it’s a five-star review! Everybody start dancing!

No surprise, this review, which I discovered on Goodreads yesterday, comes from an ARC reader. And not just any ARC reader, but from Priscilla Bettis, who is not just a fellow author, but has been a Follower of Fear for several years now. Since…I want to say before Rose came out? Anyway, she got the ARC of Walpurgis the other day and apparently got through it in a week before leaving a review.

Don’t be fooled, though: just because she’s a longtime Follower of Fear, doesn’t mean Priscilla isn’t willing to criticize a story when she dislikes it or finds something problematic. I should know, she’s beta read a few of my stories. So the fact that she gave Walpurgis five stars means she must’ve really liked it.

Here’s some of what she wrote:

Symphony for Walpurgis is a collection of novelettes, all horror. There are themes of money-power-arrogance (I should just say “corruption), abuse of nature and one another, grief, and (my favorite) insects.

Dragon bats … not a story title, but a thing. One of the best creatures Rami’s ever created. You’ll find them in “Disillusionment and Trauma Sometimes Go Hand-in-Hand.”

In “Blood and Paper Skin,” Grey, a college-aged man, and a group of his friends run into deadly trouble when out to buy drugs. It’s scary and tense, and Ungar makes it easy to like Grey and cheer him on. But there are twists. Other characters besides Grey come to the forefront. This is the twisty-ist story in the collection, great fun!

“The House on Lafayette Square” is a Jewish demon-exorcism story with freaky-scary descriptions. The story takes a left turn somewhere, so instead of everything being tied up in a neat bow, I was left DISTURBED at the end, maybe because I am a mother IRL. (Kudos to Ungar for that.)

Wow. I disturbed her. For a horror writer, that’s a serious compliment. Especially from someone who’s a big fan of horror.

And that’s only half the review! You should see the rest of it. In fact, I hope you do. Because I’m aiming to amass fifty (hopefully positive) reviews on Amazon and on Goodreads in the first year alone, so this is a good start! So, if Priscilla’s review gets you even a little bit interested in reading the book, then I hope you read the rest and then go preorder the book.

Here’s the back cover blurb for the book, which is out May 1st:

What’s the difference between humans and monsters? Is there a fine line, or is it more gray and blurred? Rami Ungar, author of Rose and Hannah and Other Stories, explores this question in his latest collection, Symphony for Walpurgis. From legendary cryptids to malevolent spirits and from Ohio in the 1950s to modern-day California, readers will be treated to nine terrifying stories of the weird and macabre. So settle down and be prepared. For you have bought your ticket to Symphony for Walpurgis.

I’ll leave links below in case you want to check the book out. And if, after the book is released, you read it and like it (or don’t), I hope you’ll leave a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and other readers out in the end.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be sure to check in with you guys when I have updates on Walpurgis or on anything else going on in my life and/or in my writing career. So, until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Hello, my Followers of Fear. Once again, I have news regarding my upcoming book, “Symphony for Walpurgis.” For those of you who are not familiar, the book contains nine novelettes featuring tales of cryptids, malevolent spirits, and a Jewish exorcism, among other things, and will release May 1st, 2025.

Previously, the book was only available for preorder from Amazon and Kobo. But now, it’s available from Apple Books! So, if you prefer to read on an Apple device, you are now hooked up. I will include links to all the stores below. Currently, the book is only available as an ebook, but paperbacks will be available on release day from Amazon, and they will be available to preorder from Barnes & Noble once I can get those links up. (Waiting for my vendor’s license to be approved.)

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be sure to let you know if there’s any updates on this awesome book. If you end up preordering the book, I hope you’ll read it and leave me a review on whatever site you bought it from. Reviews not only help me, but other readers as well.

Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

Happy New Year, my Followers of Fear! I hope 2025 is treating you well so far. For me, it’s not so bad. Sure, there’s been heavy snow these past couple of days, but I’m indoors and don’t mind it so much.

Anyway, I’m pleased to announce that my latest book is now available for preorder. And what is that book, you’re asking? Why, it’s a new collection called Symphony for Walpurgis!

Not a bad cover, right? I designed it myself based on one of the stories in the collection.

Speaking of which, the collection is made up of nine novelettes, four of which have already been published. Those are “Blood and Paper Skin,” about a group of older teens who end up locked up in someone’s private basement; “Disillusionment and Trauma Sometimes Go Hand-in-Hand,” which features my famous monsters, the dragon bats; “Cressida,” about a mermaid who bears a mysterious resemblance to a girl who supposedly died years before; and “Natural Predators,” about a new pandemic with startling implications for the fate of humanity.

The five other stories will be “The House on Lafayette Square,” an exorcism story with a Jewish twist to it (yay for more Jewish horror!); “Mother of Spiders,” about one town’s dirty secret and the woman who comes to collect her dues; “Famous,” about a wannabe starlet who will do anything to achieve the fame she deserves; “The Little Goddess of Horror,” about a rather famous and unusual actress; and “The Parasite Man,” about a powerful lawyer whose family comes under attack from a relentless spirit.

I’m so looking forward to you all reading this book. I’ve scheduled it to come out on Thursday, May 1st, 2025, the actual date of Walpurgisnacht (think Halloween in spring for witches, if you’re unfamiliar). Currently, it’s only available to preorder as an ebook from Amazon and Kobo. And for some reason, Amazon doesn’t allow preorders for paperbacks published through their platform (yeah, I think it’s stupid, too). But I’m working on getting it available to preorder through Barnes & Noble and Apple Books, and B&N actually allows preorders for paperback books. So, sit tight. As soon as that’s ready, I’ll let you know.

And in the meantime, if you would like to preorder a copy from the stores where it’s currently available, I’ll leave links below. I hope you’ll check it out. And when it releases this May and you read it, I hope you’ll leave reviews online. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m being allowed to work from home tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean I can slack off. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.