Hello, my Followers of Fear. Are you annoyed with me yet? No? Good. Because we got another two weeks till release, and then all the milestones after the release.
Or, to be more specific, re-release.
If you weren’t aware, I had a collection that came out in September 23, 2023 called Hannah and Other Stories. It contained seven original stories, including stories of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses. It went out of print at the end of 2024 when my contract with the publisher ended, but now it’s coming out again. With a new cover and an edit to fix any issues that were left over from the last draft. With some elements added back in that were taken out from the original publication, such as sex and cosmic horror monsters.
And it’s coming out on September 23, 2025. Two years after the original release date and two weeks from the time you are (presumably) reading this. And the first batch of author copies arrived last week, with more on the way. They’ll be going to libraries, certain lucky readers, and events where I’ll be selling books.
The first batch of author copies. They came out beautifully!
And I cannot wait for people to read it. Not only was I very proud of this anthology, but this is the first time it’ll be available in paperback (it’s a long story, don’t ask). And if it does well enough, an audio version might not be too farfetched.
Anyway, if you’re looking for a spooky collection to read this fall, or if you want to support me, or both, you can preorder a copy of Hannah using the links down below. (Paperback copies are only available for preorder through Barnes & Noble because Amazon is weird that way.) Like I said, they’ll be out in two weeks, so it won’t be a long wait.
And if you end up reading the book, I hope you’ll leave a review online somewhere. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and other readers out in the long run.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 52 days till Halloween. If you’re not preparing for the monsters eager to feed on you, what are you doing with your life?
You sick of this book yet? You’re not? Good! Glad to hear it! Now, let’s get on to the meat of this post.
So yesterday, the first batch of author copies for Hannah and Other Stories arrived. These are my personal copies which I can order at a discount and which I can use at events, give away, or just keep. Whatever I feel like. In this case, the first batch of copies include what will be my personal copy, a couple going to a few people who, for one reason or another, I need to send them to, and the rest will go to libraries.
And, of course, I had to do an unboxing video of getting the copies and put it on YouTube. I mean, how could I not?!
If you didn’t watch the video, let me sum it up this way: the author copies came out beautifully! The cover looks amazing, and the interior just looks amazing. I’m just so happy with how they turned out. So happy, in fact, I hugged my personal copy, the copy I picked up, after I finished the video.
As many of you know, this is the second time this book has been released. It was first released by BSC Publishing Group in 2023, but a paperback edition wasn’t produced due to BSC’s policies at the time. After the rights reverted to me, I knew I was going to produce a paperback. And now, in just 19 days, on the two-year anniversary of the original release, the book will finally be available in paperback.
I hope many readers who couldn’t the first time around enjoy the book.
Speaking of which, if you would like to preorder a copy of this terrifying collection full of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses, I’ll include links below. (Just be aware that the paperback edition will only be available to preorder through Barnes & Noble, because Amazon is weird that way.) As I said, the book will be out on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025, so it’s only a matter of time.
And if you get a copy and end up reading it, I hope you’ll leave a review online. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and doing so helps both me and other readers in the long run.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I will have another Hannah post out soon, and I hope to have something else out at some point in the coming week. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 57 days till Halloween. And I’m only getting scarier and weirder as time goes on.
All of the author copies in the first batch. Aren’t they beautiful?
It’s hard to believe we’re already at the tail end of August, but here we are. And with that, we’re at the one month mark till the release of my collection, Hannah and Other Stories.
Wait, did I say “release?” I meant “re-release.” And yes, I plan to get a lot more annoying with it as we get closer and closer.
So, if you’re unfamiliar, Hannah and Other Stories is a collection of mine that was originally released through BSC Publishing Group in September 2023. It contains seven original tales from yours truly, including tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses. Unfortunately, the book went out of print once my contract with BSC ended and we decided to go our separate ways. Unfortunate, but sometimes these things happen.
In any case, I’m now in the process of re-releasing the book. Not only that, but I’ve done another round of edits to improve the stories and ensure it’s as close to my vision as possible. And I added that awesome new cover you see at the top of the blog post!
I’m really excited to release this book again (and on the two-year anniversary of its original release)! I always liked this book, and when it was out the first time around, people who got copies really seemed to enjoy it. And with a paperback edition this time (don’t ask), I’m sure more people will read it and enjoy it this time around.
Who knows? We may even be able to justify producing an audio version in the future.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in preordering a copy of Hannah, I’ll leave links below. (If you want to preorder the paperback copy, it’s only available through Barnes & Noble). As I said, it comes out on September 23rd, so the book will be here before we know it. And if you end up reading it, I hope you’ll leave me a review letting me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and other readers out in the long run.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I look forward to joining you when the book comes out next month. In the meantime, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 69 days till Halloween.
I wasn’t planning on writing a blog post just a few hours after the last one came out. But like the title says, I had some unexpected good news (as well as permission to share the good news), so I might as well write a post.
As some of you may remember, last year I wrote an article about writing romantic subplots in my stories while being aromantic. If you’re unaware, that means I can’t feel romantic desire or attraction. It’s a real thing, is experienced by possibly one-percent of the world’s population (the research into this is still in its early days), and is coded into our DNA. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences writing romance when I have no experience nor desire to be romantic, so I wrote an article about it.
That article was published last year by Interstellar Flight Press in their online magazine, and continues to get reads to this day (trust me, I get stat updates regularly). And I just found out from the editor of Interstellar Flight Press, Holly Walrath, that my article will appear in Interstellar Flights Best of the Year anthology, Volume 6.
I cannot say how honored and excited I am about this. Not only does Interstellar Flight Press publish some really great fiction and non-fiction, they publish a lot of it. So, the fact that they were impressed by my essay enough to include it in their annual Best of anthology means a lot to me.
At the moment, there’s no word on a release date. However, given that the anthology covers material published in 2024, and we’ve got about four months and two weeks left of 2025, I would assume they would be releasing it in the near future. Whenever if comes out, I’ll be sure to let you all know.
In the meantime, if you would like to read the essay yourself, I’ll include a link below, as well as a link to Interstellar Flight magazine. I hope you’ll give them both a look, and let me know what you think about the article.
And until next time, Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Usually, when I do these update posts, they have a sort of format, with specific sections devoted to specific items or topics. But this time, I’m doing things a little differently. Why? Well, it just feels right to do so.
Plus, it’s not like I’m overflowing with news. I just want to update you guys on a couple of items.
So, as you may already know, I’ve been doing a ton of editing lately. A Great Editing, so to speak. I’ve already edited two novellas, and I just finished editing another draft of The Shape of Evil, AKA the 3D Printer from Hell story. Yeah, I hear you. “What? You did another edit of that novel? Why didn’t you tell us sooner? That’s kind of your thing!”
Well, it was on the suggestion of one of the agents I pitched the book to at StokerCon. They got back to me last month and encouraged me to make some changes, including aging up the characters a bit, before they read the rest of the book. After some discussion and consideration, I agreed, and I’ve spent the past month doing those edits. The result is a fourth draft of The Shape of Evil, which I think is even stronger than the last one. And I’m looking forward to sending this draft to that particular agent very, very soon.
By the way, that new draft? I finished it yesterday. I took a day off from work for a mental health day and spent most of it just working on the draft. Finished the final 100 pages or so in a couple of hours.
Now, what’s next? Well, I think I’ll take a break from editing and work on some new short stories. I’ve already started doing research for one of them, and I already have all the research materials I need for the other one. After that, I have a short story, an essay on ballet and horror, and two more novellas that need to be edited. After that, I think I’ll focus on newer work while also trying to find homes for the already edited stuff.
Or I’ll edit the stories I plan to write and try to find them homes, too. Man, it’s so hard trying to strike a balance between writing new stuff and editing the completed stuff! Especially when you’re working a full time job and keeping up with all of life’s demands, like I am.
But hey, I’ll make it work somehow. I usually do.
So yeah, if this was too long to read: lots going on, lots of editing, and some new work on the way as well. But what else is new?
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have research to get to if I want to get these stories out. Man, just actively researching them and figuring out the names of the characters has me so excited! I’m looking forward to seeing how these stories turn out once I write them.
And speaking of excited, Followers of Fear, we’re 85 days away from Halloween. Have you decided what you’re going to be reading this spooky season? If you’re still looking for the write book, or you want to support me (or both), I have plenty of stories available, including some free ones. Not to mention a wide variety, too! So, if you’re at all interested, click on the link below and check out my bibliography. You might find your new favorite Halloween read among the catalog.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear. Good night and pleasant nightmares.
Is it already August? The summer is going by quickly! Soon we’ll be getting ready for Halloween and figuring out what to put on our spooky season reading lists. Good thing there happens to be a new-ish collection of horror novelettes for you to consider adding.
So, if you’re new here and are unfamiliar, “Symphony for Walpurgis” is my latest book, a collection of nine novelettes (stories that are longer than short stories but much shorter than novels), four previously published and five original. They range from stories of cryptids and giant bats (“Famous,” “Disillusionment and Trauma Sometimes Go Hand-in-Hand”), to malevolent spirits (“The House on Lafayette Square,” “The Parasite Man”) and even a Jewish exorcism (again, “The House on Lafayette Square”). It came out on May 1st, AKA Walpurgis Night, when witches hold their get-togethers, which means it’s officially three months old.
And I’m very happy with the response so far. Everyone who’s bought a copy and gotten back to me has told me that they’ve enjoyed what they’ve read, and have even enthusiastically recommended it to other readers. Plus, at both the Big Ohio Book Con and the Columbus Book Festival, I sold out of copies on the first day of both events and came close to doing so on the second days. Clearly, people are liking the book!
But don’t take my word for it. Read some of the reviews:
Dipping my toes once again into the world of indie horror. And this, a rare read of single author short story collections.
All these stories are so very different, but they’re linked (in my mind anyway) by one common theme… that is, all these stories start out a certain way, but a turn of events during the narrative delivers a quite different story.
None of these stories are especially weak, but I have some stand out favourites: The House of Lafayette Square, Mother of Spiders, The Little Goddess of Horror, and Natural Predators. Even those I weren’t so keen on were solid, just a matter of personal taste.
Not my first outing reading this author, and it certainly won’t be my last.
MG Mason, author of “The Residents of the James Hotel,” Goodreads
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.
I absolutely adored the introduction; it creates a spooky atmosphere straight away and is so much fun, putting you in exactly the right mood for the horrors ahead. Each story is creative and the characters are so vivid and well crafted– Rami has done an incredible job of filling every page with witty prose, clever descriptions and emotions which pulled me right into the characters’ minds. Mother of Spiders was my favourite tale, and definitely one of the most nightmarish.
Only two stories had plots which I wasn’t so keen on, but even then the writing was still engaging enough to make them enjoyable reads. 100% recommend!
Louise Conway, Goodreads
From the fiendish imagination of Rami Ungar, Symphony for Walpurgis presents nine stories, each with its own wildly imaginative tale to tell. The author’s acknowledged favorite, The Parasite Man, will make your skin crawl. In contrast, the warmth and psychological insight of The House on Lafayette Square made it this reviewer’s favorite above all. An underlying theme, returned to across several stories but never repetitively, is the revenge of the mistreated, wreaking havoc on a world they never made
Ann O’Mara Heyward, author of “Tourtiere: A Culinary Horror Story,” Goodreads
Rather enthusiastic, wouldn’t you say? And so far, I’ve been lucky enough to only have one review that’s not five stars. And even that one was four stars!
And with this sort of response in just the first three months, I’m hopeful for more of the same over the next three. Since before Symphony was released, I’ve been working hard with specific goals for this book, including some milestones I want to hit in the first year. I’m not sure I’ll hit those milestones, but I’ll work like hell to make them happen. And with spooky season creeping up on us, I think now is a good time to strike.
And if this post has made you at all interested in reading Symphony, I’ll include links below. It’s currently available in paperback and ebook, and if things continue to go well, an audio version might not be out of the question. Until that happens, you can buy a copy using any of the links below.
And if you like what you read, please leave a review online. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run. Plus, reviews help other readers find books and figure out whether or not they want to read them. So you’d be helping both me and your fellow horror fans by letting your thoughts be known!
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be back very soon with another post (believe me on that promise). So, until next time, good night, happy reading, and remember, we’re only 91 days away from Halloween. You better be getting ready to have some pleasant nightmares this fall!
Happy 100 days till Halloween! Now is the time to start getting serious for spooky season. Decide your costumes and lawn decorations, stock up on candy for the trick or treaters, and decide on movies and books to enjoy. I’ll have a separate blog post for the movies, but in this post, let me recommend something for your reading list:
Hannah and Other Stories is a collection coming out on September 23rd and features seven scary stories, ranging from ghost stories to serial killers to carnivorous horses. It was originally published in September 23, 2023, and then went out of print when the publisher and I parted ways. Now, it’s coming out again, two years to the day it was originally released.
And in this edition, not only is there a brand-new cover (I mean, look at that thing! It’s gorgeous!), but I’ve updated the stories. Not only are they cleared of some of the spelling/grammar/punctuation errors I found during the first release, but I added some things that were missing or taken out during the first run. So, while the stories are very much like what was published, the additions and changes I made have much improved them.
So, I’m very excited for people to read these updated stories. And there are a growing number of people who are preordering it, including a supervisor at work! (He thinks the story about the haunted bathroom sounds neat.) It helps that this time around, unlike the first round, there’s going to be a paperback edition. Believe me, I’m excited for the paperback edition!
And if you would like to preorder a copy, I’ll include links below. You can preorder the ebook from all four sites, and the paperback from Barnes & Noble (still not sure why Amazon has such a weird policy for preordering paperbacks from self-published authors, but whatever).
And if you do preorder and read Hannah, I hope you’ll leave a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback. And it helps me out as an author, as well as other readers when it comes to their reading choices.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. We’re about sixty days out till release day, and 100 days until Halloween. I hope you’re as excited for both of these as I am. And in the meantime, I hope to have more stuff, including lists of good movies for Halloween and haunted places to visit, very soon.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, and pleasant nightmares.
Some of you may remember that, for most of 2023, I was in what I called The Great Editing. It was a phase where, except for the occasional short story, I did nothing but editing. Mostly stuff related to Hannah and Other Stories‘s first time out, but a few other stories I was editing. When it was done, I hoped to do nothing but write original stories for a long, long while.
Well, man (or whatever entity I am) plans, and God (or whatever entity runs this universe) laughs.
Because I did write a few original short stories last year. And then I wrote The Shape of Evil, which took up half the year. And then I did another couple of stories. Then I did an edit of The Shape of Evil, followed by edits of the stories that were going into Symphony of Walpurgis. Followed by one original story, and then another edit of The Shape of Evil in time for StokerCon. Then I edited stories for Hannah‘s re-release. And then I edited a novella while also writing an essay (which I will likely have to edit soon before I can submit it).
So yeah. I’m in the Second Great Editing. I thought the first one was the editing to end all editings, but I guess a second one was just inevitable! I set myself up for that with the choices I made. And now I’m suffering through it. And it will likely set up the future of my career for decades to come.
Okay, enough with the World War II joke. Point is, I’m stuck in this Second Great Editing. And with two more novellas, that essay, and a short story to edit (plus another novella which needs serious rewrites), I’m likely going to be stuck in it for a while. Possibly till next year, if you can believe it! (Some of these stories will need to be edited again once I have beta readers look them over, after all.)
I’ll hopefully have news to share about this soon.
But you know, it’s not the worst thing. Yeah, except for that essay, I’m mostly putting original works on the back burner until I can get through editing all of these stories that I’ve let sit for so goddamn long. And I really have some new work I want to throw myself into!
But like I said in the WWII joke, I think all this editing is going to have an effect on my writing career. And unlike WWII, the effect will hopefully be positive:
I can’t really get into it right now, but I’m making progress with finding a home for The Shape of Evil. People are reading and enjoying Symphony, and people are getting excited for the return of Hannah and Other Stories. And I hope these four novellas will be published together as a collection. I think this essay, once edited, will make a great entry into a magazine or essay collection. And that short story is rough, but I think it’ll be quite spooky once it’s ready for readers’ eyes.
So, I think I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing: working on these stories so I can get them to you and, if I’m lucky, maybe write full time someday. I’m working hard to make those goals happen.
That being said, once I’m out of this Second Great Editing, I’m going to dive headfirst into some new stories. You can bet your ass on that!
(I’ll also finish my mummy novel Crawler and that witchy novella I was working on at the beginning of the year. I hate leaving things unfinished. Especially when I think they’ll be amazing once they’re done.)
One last thing, my Followers of Fear: this weekend is the Columbus Book Festival. This annual festival is full of amazing writers, vendors, and entertainers, and my fellow Ohio HWA members and I will have a booth there as well. So, if you’re in central Ohio this weekend, July 12 and 13, 2025, please head to the Main Library and Topiary Park in downtown Columbus. I would love to see you.
And if you can’t stop by but still want to support me, you can check out my work. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, there’s something for every horror fan, so why not grab a book and take a look? There’s even some free stuff. I’ll include a link to my books page below.
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 in the long run.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
These past two months have gone by so quickly, it’s hard to believe we’re already in July. Not surprising, given how busy I’ve been lately. I mean, I just got done with another con, and I’m preparing for another one the weekend after this!
And yet, two months have indeed passed, and that means that Symphony for Walpurgis is two months old now.
Now, if you don’t know (though at this point, you’re probably so familiar with Symphony, you’re sick of it), Symphony for Walpurgis is my newest collection. It is a collection of nine novelettes that include tales of cryptids, malevolent spirits, and even a Jewish exorcism, and has plenty of LGBT, Jewish, and disabled representation.
And I’m very happy to say that it’s slowly growing a readership. Just the other day, I received fan art from my fellow horror writer and Follower of Fear, Louise C, for one of the stories, “Disillusionment and Trauma Sometimes Go Hand-in-Hand.” It’s of the Akolouthos, the main villain of the story (or one of them). Isn’t it awesome?! I mean, look at it!
And at Big Ohio Book Con this past weekend (which went better than any event I’ve done before, which is even more amazing when you consider that this was the first year this event happened and nobody knew how it would go, but I digress), I sold so many copies, I even sold out on the first day! The same day, someone bought a copy online, which means they were interested enough to get it for their Kindle.
Given all that, plus some glowing reviews and some authors I admire with copies of the book, I’d say that’s been a good first two months. And it makes me hopeful for month number three (especially with the Columbus Book Fest just around the corner). I mean, who knows? Maybe I’ll get to that goal of five-hundred sales and fifty reviews by May 1st, 2026, the one year release anniversary.
And if you enjoy or are curious about scary stories involving cryptids and giant bats, spirits plaguing families with parasites, mermaids, untold masses of spiders, mutating viruses, and, again, a Jewish exorcism, then you should check out Symphony for Walpurgis. It’s nine amazing and terrifying novelettes, and I’m working hard to make sure as many people discover it and enjoy it as possible. And I would love it if you were among those people who discovered and maybe even loved it.
I’ll include links for the book below. And if you end up getting a copy and read it, I hope you’ll let me know what you think. 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’ve got a busy couple of days ahead of me, but I hope I can have a few more blog posts (including a few I’ve wanted to write for a while now) out soon. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and I hope you have a great month of July. It’s what I’m planning on.
Back in 2023, I released a collection of short stories called Hannah and Other Stories. It contained tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and even carnivorous horses. Yes, you read that right. Carnivorous horses. And they were terrifying, as were the rest of the stories. In fact, the book was really well-received by most of the people who read the book.
Sadly, as of New Year’s, the book went out of print, due to Hannah‘s publisher, BSC Publishing Group, and I going our separate ways (don’t worry, it’s not because of bad blood). But the good news, the book’s rights were returned to me, so that meant I could re-publish the book whenever I wanted.
And I decided to do just that. Not immediately. After all, I had Symphony for Walpurgis to put out, so there was no way I was going to work on two collections at once! Instead, I decided to wait till after Symphony was released. Once that was done, I would go over the stories in Hannah one more time, and then proceed with releasing the book one more time.
I’m happy to say that I’ve finished going over the stories in Hannah, correcting any errors or missing pieces I missed from the first release, and making some additions or changes to the story to make them a bit closer to my original vision. I also went and got this unbelievable new cover, which is located…
…RIGHT UNDERNEATH THIS PARAGRAPH!
What do you think? Since the carnivorous horses were such a memorable part of the collection, I made sure they were on the front cover this time. And the cover artist, Carin, really brought out how terrifying they were. At least, that’s my humble opinion.
So, if you’re still with me right now, and you’re at all interested in reading Hannah, you’re probably wondering, where do I get this new edition? Well, it’s currently available for preorder, and will be releasing on September 23, 2025, two years to the day of the first release. You can preorder a copy using the links below.
And guess what else? This time, Hannah and Other Stories will be available in paperback as well as ebook! Yeah, for reasons I’m not going to get into, the first time around, Hannah was only available in an ebook format. But this time, a paperback is going to happen, and it’s currently available for preorder on Barnes & Noble. (Why Amazon doesn’t do preorders for paperbacks from self-published authors, I’ll never know.)
So, if you’re at all interested, go preorder a copy by clicking on any of the links below. And, after the book comes out in September, if you end up reading it, please let me know what you think! Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run. Plus, leaving reviews for books help other readers decide whether the book is for them or not.
I hope you’re as excited as I am for the re-release of Hannah and Other Stories. I’ve been planning this since around October last year, so I’m glad I can finally come out and say, “Hey, this book is on its way again.” And I have a feeling it’s going to do even better than it did last time!
Who knows? It may even get an audio book this time around. Wouldn’t that be cool.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll be sure to remind you all periodically that Hannah is on its way again. And until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!
Rami Ungar The Writer 