Archive for the ‘Novel’ Category

Shoot off the fireworks! Summon the party demons! Sing praises to the gods for protection! I have completed the first draft of The Shape of Evil, AKA the 3D Printer from Hell story!

So, if you were unaware, I’ve been working on a story about a possessed 3D printer since March. It was originally supposed to be only a novelette or a short novella, but before I knew it, I’d devoted several thousand words to the first two sections of the story and was like, “Okay, this one’s going to be a novel. Why do I do this to myself?”

(This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, by the way. My Gothic horror novel The Pure World Comes was supposed to be a novelette. Boy, did that plan backfire in my face!)

Anyway, I’ve been working on this story since March, and the writing process was lengthened by how damn busy my life has been since spring. However, around halfway through the story, which was back in June, things started to speed up. I even managed to finish the last three chapters in single sittings, with the last one being written late last night after I met with my horror critique group!

If you’re curious, the story is 273 pages long (8.5 x 11, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font), and the word count is about 72,500 words. For context, the first Harry Potter novel was about forty-five hundred words longer. So, not a long novel, but a good length for a novel, to be sure.

Honestly, I’m really happy about finally finishing the story. Not only did it take longer than I thought to write, but I feel like this story has a lot of potential. Now, I feel like every one of my stories have potential, but I feel like this one’s going to be different. The story’s concept is a fun one and one I haven’t seen tackled in this or any other genre yet, and I feel like readers are going to empathize a lot with some of these characters.

So, some of you are probably wondering, “What’s next? And when can I read it?” Calm down, calm down, all in good time.

As many of you know, I like to give my stories a bit of time off after I finish the first draft before I edit them. In the case of The Shape of Evil, I plan to edit it in December, and hopefully finish the second draft by New Year’s. Afterwards, I’m going to try and find one or two beta readers who can act as sensitivity readers (my main character is nonbinary, so I want to ensure I wrote them well). After I get feedback from the readers back, I will do one more draft, and then try to find a home for the book. And from there, we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, I’m going to take a couple of days to celebrate with good food, good drink, and good movies/anime. Then I’m going to write one or two non-fiction articles, and get started on some new stories I want to write. With three months and a few days till December, I think I can get plenty done (provided none of these stories want to become novels as well).

After all this work, I’m looking forward to a break.

And that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If you want to support me while I’m working to get The Shape of Evil and other stories published, you can check out my already published work. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, I have something for every horror fan. And with spooky season starting up, now is the perfect time to read some of these stories. I’ll be sure to leave a link below if you want to check them out. Be sure to leave a review if you do end up reading them.

And until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and only 70 days till Halloween. Have you started doing your spooky dances yet?

My copy of Horror Movie, surrounded by some of the horror movies on my shelves. Because how could I not?

I was not a fan of Tremblay’s last novel, The Pallbearers Club (see my review here), but when I first heard of his new book and saw its cover, I wanted to read it! And when I got my copy from the library, I got even more excited. You can’t tell from the photo I included, but the pages have red borders, which coupled with the black cover, makes it look like a restricted video from the age of VHS tapes and Blockbusters. So, almost as soon as I finished reading You Like It Darker (see that review here), I started reading this.

Hoo-boy, did I get on a rollercoaster ride.

In 1993,* a small team of amateur actors and filmmakers come together to make a movie tentatively titled “Horror Movie.” However, tragedy strikes on the last day of filming, preventing it from ever releasing. However, scenes, stills and scripts from the movie have made their way online, and as many of the original cast and crew die under mysterious or tragic circumstances, an air of mystique gathers around the mysterious film. In the 2020s, a reboot is in the works and the studio brings on our narrator, who also played the original film’s villain the Thin Kid and is the only surviving member of the cast and crew, to both co-produce and reprise his role.

Thus begins a journey through the past and the present that will answer a question the narrator, and many of us, ask often: why do people do terrible and fucked up things?

First off, this novel is incredibly well-written. Tremblay takes the unique storytelling he used in The Pallbearers Club and applies it here like an art. Jumping between the production of the original film, the process of creating the reboot in the present, and the script of the original, you essentially get two different stories woven together. I have to applaud Tremblay for writing both a script for a very scary and fucked up film and then writing a very personal story around the script and the movie that was supposed to come about from it.

I also really liked the narrator, whose name I can’t really remember because I’m not sure if it was ever mentioned. It’s easier just to call him by his character’s name, the Thin Kid, and that sort of makes sense, as another major theme of this novel is the blending of reality and fiction. Where does our narrator end and the Thin Kid begin? Is there even a difference? It kind of reminds me of Perfect Blue,** one of my favorite horror movies, and how that movie explored how quickly reality and fiction can combine under the right circumstances.

Anyway, our narrator doesn’t have a high opinion of himself, but he’s likable. Once he commits to the movie, he commits to it–the character, the reputation of the film, and its reboot–even at the detriment to himself. Towards the end, I wondered if maybe he might be an unreliable narrator, because some of what he describes both feels like something he would do and something he might make up. It’s just amazing to read his story (which he’s narrating as an audiobook or podcast), and I had a hard time putting the book down.

If I have one thing I didn’t like, it’s that the foreshadowing sometimes worked against itself. Since the narrator is technically speaking to an audience that presumably knows about the history of the titular film, he refers to things that have happened and kind of expects his audience to know. However, the audience in the real world doesn’t, so once or twice, he refers to something that appears to be common knowledge and I’m like, “Wait, did I read that and forget? Or is it something we haven’t read yet that he’s alluding to?”

It probably did not help that I could not remember if he mentioned the narrator’s real name (I think it was David, but don’t quote me on that), so that only heightened my confusion.

All in all, however, Horror Movie is an excellent novel and well worth the read. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.8. Horrifying, entrancing and full of twists, you’ll find yourself hanging on as you discover not only why people do terrible and fucked up things, but how much reality and fiction can blend in the worst ways. Just grab a copy and see for yourself!

*The year I was born, by the way. Coincidence? I think not!

**BTW, if you have not checked that one out, I highly recommend it.

Some of you may remember prior to COVID a rather unusual novel called A Cosmology of Monsters, about a family in the business of haunted attractions and the entities that seem to haunt them through the generations (see my review here). You may also remember my interview with the author, Shaun Hamill (which you can read here). Well, Shaun’s got a new novel called The Dissonance coming out soon, and I got him to sit down with me to discuss the new book and what went into writing it.

So, without further ado, let’s do an interview!

Rami Ungar: Welcome back to the blog, Shaun. Can you tell us what you’ve been up to in the past five years since Cosmology came out?

Shaun Hamill: Like everyone else, I’ve had a crazy few years! I’ve moved from Alabama to Texas (and then moved three more times to different living situations in the last 3 years). I haven’t written as much as I would have liked, but I managed to write The Dissonance, and I have just turned in another novel I can’t talk about yet.

RU: Tell us about The Dissonance. What’s it about, and what inspired it?

SH: The Dissonance is a dark fantasy novel (with a dash of horror), about a type of magic that feeds on negative emotions: pain, depression, and the like. The only people who can use it are usually “broken” in some way—traumatized or mentally ill or the like. The story focuses on a group of friends who discover this power as teenagers, and how it shapes their lives in good and bad ways. It was inspired during COVID, when I couldn’t see any of my friends in person. I missed them terribly, so I wrote a novel about friendship.

RU: Can you tell us a bit more about the novel’s themes and influences?

SH; As previously mentioned, friendship is a huge theme of The Dissonance. So is trauma, and pain, and regret. It was influenced mainly by Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Some reviewers are also comparing the novel to IT (it deals with a group of friends and has a split timeline between their adolescent and adult lives), so that’s in the mix, too!

RU: Nothing wrong about being compared to IT, especially when it’s favorable. So, do you think your writing style has changed at all since Cosmology?

SH: I’m not sure. When I started The Dissonance, I set out to write a more accessible book, with characters who were a little easier to love and root for. I also wanted there to be more action and excitement. Whether that means a change in style? I couldn’t say. Maybe I’ve gotten a little less pretentious? I’ll be curious to see what readers of Cosmology think.

RU: I’ll be sure to let you know. Now, I’ve noticed based on Cosmology and on the description for The Dissonance, but you seem to have a thing for cosmic horror. Can you tell us your thoughts on cosmic horror and what about it you like?

SH: Yeah, I’m a cosmic horror nerd for sure. I think it stems from growing up religious (although I’m not a believer anymore). I was always fascinated by the awe and wonder that came with believing in something bigger than myself, and when I discovered cosmic horror (relatively late, in my early 30s), I found something more in tune with my personal feelings about the universe: a dark wonder, and the sense that reality is bigger and more complex and strange than any of us can ever comprehend. The best we can hope for in this life is a peek behind the curtain. Weird fiction is all about that curtain.

RU: It also seems this book will be delving quite a bit into witchcraft and the occult. Do you have experience with magic and witchcraft, or did you do a bunch of research and then make up the rest?

SH: I have an ex who practiced a bit of witchcraft. I’ve partaken in a couple of rituals (which I found as boring as church), and have spent my fair share of time in wiccan shops, browsing books of spells and baskets full of crystals and whatnot. In The Dissonance I employ a little bit of that knowledge, but mostly stick to made-up stuff, where I get to make the rules. My novel doesn’t discount the idea that pagan beliefs are valid, but it doesn’t engage with them much, either.

RU: Changing gears a bit, in our last interview, you mentioned at one point cutting down Cosmology from 250,000 words to about 100,00. Did you have to do something similar with The Dissonance?

The cover for The Dissonance.

SH: Actually, it’s the opposite! I worked hard to turn in a draft of The Dissonance at about 100,000 words. When my editor bought the book, she encouraged me to open up the world and story, and we ended up adding almost 50,000 words to the novel. Just like the cuts were appropriate for Cosmology, I think the additions ended up helping The Dissonance. The early drafts of the novel were very fast-paced—a little too fast. We needed to slow down (just a little) and give the characters time to breathe and feel between the action beats. We needed to show them having fun in addition to getting into trouble. The resulting novel is almost 50% longer than Cosmology but I have yet to hear anyone complain about the word count, so I think we got it right!

RU: Before we wrap up, are you working on anything new and spooky right now? And do you have any exciting future plans?

SH: I just turned in my third novel (which I can’t really talk about yet). It’s definitely on the spooky end of the spectrum. I’m also in talks for a fourth book (which I also can’t talk about), and have given my agent outlines for two possible other novels. So I’m going to be quite busy for the next few years! Hopefully I’ll be publishing more than once every half-decade from now on.

RU: Final question: what are some horror stories you’ve read recently that you’ve enjoyed?

SH: I loved Rachel Harrison’s latest novel, Black Sheep, and Clay McCloud Chapman’s What Kind of Mother. I’m really excited for Gabino Iglesias’s House of Bone and Rain. I haven’t been reading as much horror recently (because of the fantasy edge of The Dissonance, that’s been most of my reading), but I need to get back into it!

RU: I hope you do! It’s an amazing genre, after all. And thank you again for joining us once more.

If you’re interested in checking out The Dissonance, it comes out July 23, 2024 and is available for preorder from most retailers. And if you want to follow Shaun Hamill, you can follow him using the links listed below.

I hope you’re as excited as I am to read this book, my Followers of Fear. And until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

So yeah, it’s another anniversary! And this one’s very special. It’s the fifth anniversary of my novel Rose!

For those of you who don’t know, Rose was my first novel with a publisher and is my most popular book to date. The story follows a young woman who gets turned into a plant/human hybrid, which starts her on a desperate quest for survival. I first had the idea for the story in the middle of a science fiction literature class in college (yes, my school offered that course). I later wrote the story as my college thesis, and then edited it on and off through the years.

In 2018, I was introduced to the editor of Castrum Press through a friend, who agreed to publish Rose. Fifteen months and several drafts later, Rose was released and has been getting enthusiastic readers ever since. I even got some of my Followers of Fear to send me photos of them with the book for a special video I made. Check it out!

Not bad, huh? It’s been a while since I’ve edited anything like this, so I’m proud of the work I did. And thanks to everyone who contributed a photo and their thoughts about the book to the video. You don’t know how much that means to me.

And really, it means so much to me that so many people have been reading and enjoying Rose. Through the pandemic, and elections, and everything else we’ve dealt with over the past five years, Rose has continued to find readers who have taken the time to tell me how much they love the book. And with so many other great books out there for people to read, I find that frankly amazing.

Be sure to check out Rose this week! It’ll be a frightfully good time.

Anyway, if you’re at all interested in checking out Rose, guess what? In honor of the five-year anniversary, Rose is on sale from today through June 27th! So, whether you prefer paperbacks, ebooks, or audio books, you can grab a copy at a great price till next Thursday!

And if you like what you read, please leave a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it not only helps me, but other readers in the long run.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you enjoy reading what will hopefully become your new favorite fantasy-horror novel. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

I swear, I didn’t set out to have so many anniversaries between May and July. Most of it is coincidence.

Anyway, as you can see from the title and the above graphic, my novel Rose is marking five years since release next week on Thursday, June 20, 2024. The novel follows a young woman named Rose Taggert who wakes up with no memories of the last two years. She soon turns into a plant/human hybrid, setting off a chain of events that not only threaten her life, but those she loves. It’s a strange, Kafkaesque fantasy-horror novel, and it’s my most popular work to date.

And in honor of this momentous occasion, the book will be on sale from June 20 – June 27. Whether you prefer paperback, ebook or audiobook, Rose will be available for a great, low price. So if you like the sound of the story, stop by your favorite retailer next week and pick up a copy!

Also, in the meantime, if you’re interested, my novel Snake is celebrating its ten-year anniversary. This one is a slasher, and follows a serial killer hunting mobsters in New York City. Think John Wick, Taken and Friday the 13th got smashed into a novel together. The sale for Snake is going through Monday, June 17, so why not grab a copy? I’ll leave the links below.

And if you read either book, or any of my books, I hope you’ll leave me a review once you have. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run (not to mention other readers).

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be back very soon with more news very soon. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Pop the champagne, play the music, and dress up like your favorite slasher villain! It’s the ten-year anniversary of the release of Snake, my slasher horror novel!

For those of you who are unaware, Snake follows a serial killer hunting mobsters in New York City. Think John Wick, Taken and Friday the 13th got smooshed together into a novel. It’s a very visceral, deeply violent novel (as well as my longest), and I had a lot of fun writing it. (Yes, I’m aware that makes me potentially very messed up. I don’t care.)

Anyway, in honor of the ten-year release anniversary, I’m putting the book on sale from the majority of retailers (but especially Amazon). So, if you want to check out the novel, now is a good time to grab a copy of the ebook or the paperback. You can grab your copy at a special price until the 17th.

And if you like what you read, please leave me a review. Not only do I love reader feedback, but it helps me out as a writer in the long run, and it helps other readers decide whether or not to check out the book.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Head on over to the retailer of your choice and grab yourself a copy of Snake. And until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

That’s right, it’s another sale! This is what happens when four out of my books came out during the same three month period!

So, if you’re unaware, Snake is the oldest of my published novels (as well as the longest at around 500 pages). The story follows a serial killer hunting mobsters in New York City. Think John Wick, Taken, and Friday the 13th got smooshed together into a novel.* And on June 10, 2024, this novel will turn ten years old.

Which, if you don’t have your calendar nearby, is a week from today.

And in honor of the occasion, Snake will be on sale from Amazon (and a few other places as well). If you would like to check out the story and for a great price, you can do so between June 10 and June 17! I’ll be sure to include links.

And if you like what you read, please leave a review for me to find. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run as well.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until the sale next week, good night, pleasant nightmares, and–hold on, is that a masked killer right behind you? RUN!

*Fun fact: John Wick came out four months after this novel did. However, I was unaware of John Wick until maybe around 2015 or 2016, and I didn’t see any of the films until the third one was already on home media. I was really surprised by the similarities between the two works, but weird shit like that happens all the time (check out Ronald Malfi’s The Night Parade and then see which famous video game came out the same year to see what I mean). Now I use it to get people interested in the book. And you know what? It works!

Raise a glass in celebration! Unless it’s before five or you have some other good reason to not be drinking alcohol right now, then instead lift a Diet Coke or glass of orange juice or coffee or something.

So, as I said last week, my Victorian Gothic horror novel The Pure World Comes came out two years ago today. The novel follows Shirley Dobbins, a maid who thinks she’s getting the job of a lifetime when she’s offered a position at the manor of the Baronet Hunting. However, strange things are happening at the manor, known as the Hunting Lodge. Things that terrify and bring back things from Shirley’s past that she would rather forget. In addition, the baronet is researching some very strange science and Shirley gets wrapped up in it. All this will have an explosive conclusion that will threaten not only Shirley’s life, but those she loves as well.

It’s kind of like Frankenstein and Crimson Peak had a baby together. With an appearance by Jack the Ripper for some added terror.

Anyway, to celebrate the two year anniversary of The Pure World Comes releasing, I’m doing a sale! From today, May 10, through May 17, the book will be on sale in multiple formats from multiple retailers. Even the audio book will be on sale from select stores (I can only do sales on the audio book from Spotify, B&N, Apple and Chirp)!

This is a great opportunity to check out the book if you’re interested, so why not do so? I’ll leave links below so you can purchase from the retailer of your choice. And if you do, and you end up reading the book, I hope you’ll leave me a review letting me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me grow as a writer as well.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’re looking forward to this book as much as I am looking forward to you reading it. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

The Pure World Comes: available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, Goodreads, Audible, Chirp, BingeBooks, LIbro.Fm, Storytel, Palace Marketplace, Hoopla, Vivlio, Smashwords, Thalia, Scribd, Spotify, Fable


Two more things, my Followers of Fear:

  1. If you have read and have a copy of Rose, one of my other novels, please take a photo of yourself with the copy and send it to me with a single word to describe the book. I’m gathering photos for a project in honor of Rose‘s own anniversary next month, so if you can contribute one, it would make my day.
  2. Next week is ParaPsyCon! If you’re in or around Mansfield, OH on May 17-19, please stop by the Ohio State Reformatory for the biggest convention of ghost hunters, psychics, and more around. I’ll be there selling books and doing Tarot readings, and I would love to see you there. You can find out more details here.

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

I did say I would get a post out between last Friday and this Friday that wasn’t about The Pure World Comes, didn’t I?

So, as I’ve mentioned before, my novel Rose is coming up on its five-year release anniversary. And I’m doing something a bit different to celebrate the momentous anniversary. Specifically, I’m trying to put together a video of people with their copies of Rose, along with one word they would use to describe the book. To do this, I need photos of people with their copies of Rose giving me that one word they would use.

So, I’m asking all my Followers of Fear to help me with this project. If you have a copy of Rose, paperback or ebook, please take a photo of yourself with your book and send it to me with one word you would use to describe the book. You can send your photo and your adjective of choice to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. If you do, I’ll put it in the video.

Now, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. It’s not as if I can force you, after all. However, I need as many photos as possible to make this video longer than half a minute. So, if you can, please take that photo and send it to me along with one word to describe the book. And please send it along by May 31st. That should give you plenty of time, so please send your picture along.

Thank you, and I cannot wait to see what you send me. I’m very excited to be marking this anniversary and to be putting together this video for the anniversary. If all works out, it should be fun.

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


If you haven’t read Rose yet but would like to check it out, the links are listed below. If you end up reading it, I hope you’ll leave a review so I know what you thought. As well as send me a photo and an adjective, but no pressure. Thanks, and happy reading!

Available from Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Audible, B&N

I did say in a previous post that I would be doing something to celebrate all these big book anniversaries in the near future, didn’t I?

So, as you’ve heard, my novel The Pure World Comes was published as a paperback and ebook nearly two years ago. The Pure World Comes (or TPWC for short) is my Gothic horror novel and love letter to Victorian England and the horror stories released back then. It follows a maid named Shirley Dobbins who gets a job working for a mad scientist. Think Frankenstein and Crimson Peak had a baby together, is how I describe it, and that’s not a bad description. I mean, it’s got a crumbling old house, a mad scientist, a young woman getting into a situation where there’s more than meets the eye, and even an appearance by Jack the Ripper.

If that’s not Victorian Gothic horror, I don’t know what is!

Anyway, since it’ll be two years since the release, I’m going to do a special promotional sale for the book. Starting on May 10th, when the book came out, and through May 17th, The Pure World Comes will be sold at a discount on ebook and paperback. In addition, the audio book will be on sale from some retailers (I can only do sales from so many platforms in that format). So if you’re looking to get a copy at a lower price, this would be the opportunity to do it!

And if you get a copy and read it, I hope you’ll leave me a review so I know what you thought. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me develop as a writer.

So, in one week, my Followers of Fear, get ready! We will be enjoying the company of a maid and her employer, the latter of whom is researching new frontiers in fringe sciences, and the consequences of those actions. It shall be quite the thrilling pastime, believe me.


One more thing, my Followers of Fear: right after the last event post, I found out I was accepted back for the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo in Marietta, Ohio! This year, it’ll be occurring on September 28th, 2024 from 11 AM – 5 PM at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Marietta. There will be ghost hunters, psychics and Tarot readers, and horror creators like me. I’ll be selling books and doing Tarot readers, so please stop by if you’re in the area. I would love to see you.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope to have something not-related to the sale between now and the 10th, so hopefully I’ll come up with something by then. Until next time, good night (or good morning) and pleasant nightmares!