Cover illustration of “Agoraphobia” by Don Noble and Rooster Republic Press
You know what one of the good things about February is? It’s easier to figure out what day something is in March and how far away it is by what the corresponding day is in February.
As many of you know, I’m releasing some of my shorter stories as e-book exclusives with the print versions only available as chapbooks at events (click here to find out what a chapbook is. Click here to here about future events I’m attending this year). Why? Because I’m constantly trying new things to expand my audience, and this is just one of them. Anyway, another one of my stories is coming out next month on March 16th. Which, as you might have noticed, is exactly a month away!
See? It’s the corresponding day in February. Works out wonderfully.
The story in question, “Agoraphobia,” is about a man with severe anxiety and agoraphobia who is forced to leave his home when a hurricane bears down on his area. Considering how anxious and agoraphobic people are during this pandemic, I think they’ll sympathize with the main character. I even based his anxiety feelings on my own feelings of anxiety, so I hope those parts will speak to readers.
Anyway, the story is available for preorder now from Amazon. I’ll leave the links below for you Followers of Fear to check out. And if you do end up reading the story, let me know what you think. 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 have work today, so I’m going to get on it. Until next time, stay safe and pleasant nightmares!
This day has been full of exciting stuff happening behind the scenes. In fact, quite a lot has been happening on and off the blog. I can’t go into all of it right now, but I hope to get a few out before this time next week. For now, however, there’s an important one I have to make.
As I announced previously, my next e-release will be “Agoraphobia,” a short story I wrote last year about a man with severe anxiety and agoraphobia who has contend with the possibility of leaving his home during a hurricane. It gets even worse when something gets into his home.
I haven’t talked about it since then, but guess what? I’ve finished looking over the manuscript, the cover’s been created and the release date is set. The gears, ladies and gentlemen, are moving and “Agoraphobia” will release on Tuesday, March 16th, 2021! Why that date? No reason. I just believe stories, from short stories to novels, should have a good lead up time so that as many people as possible can get excited/interested in reading it.
And now, for the cover reveal. This cover was created by Don Noble and Rooster Republic Press. They do some amazing cover work, if you’re interested (you can check out their design services here). And I have to say, I love what they’ve done with my ideas:
Pretty cool, right? It’s quite atmospheric and I love the title font. And it really evokes the hurricane element.
So, where do you get “Agoraphobia” if you’re interested? I’ve include the Amazon links below. It’s available for pre-order, and at only 99 cents (or 77 pence in Britain or $1.26 in Canada). And if you do decide to read it after it comes out, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me, as well as other readers, out in the long run.
And yes, I’m sorry that it’s only available in e-book format. Print versions will only be available at events where I’m a vendor as chapbooks. (Click here to see what events I’ll be attending and when) Yeah, it’s a marketing strategy I’m trying. Here’s hoping it pays off.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have a marketing machine to set into motion. I hope you’re excited to read “Agoraphobia” as I am for you to read it.
And if you’re interested, or need something to read in the meantime, I’ve got some other stories available. You can check out my short story collection, The Quiet Game: Five Tales to Chill Your Bones; my serial killer thriller novel Snake and my fantasy-horror novel Rose; or “Mother of the King,” the first story in the New Arthur Universe, a series of shorter stories centering around the return of King Arthur. I’ll include the links below. And if you decide to read any of them, let me know what you think. As I said, it helps both me and other readers out in the long run.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, stay safe and pleasant nightmares!
So this past week, I watched an anime series that turned out to be pretty bad (I swear, this is related to writing and isn’t another anime-themed post). There were several reasons why it was terrible, but a major reason was that the main character was the reincarnation of a guy who died in our world and was reborn into a fantasy world with most of his knowledge and memories intact.
As we’ve discussed on this blog before, anime where characters from our world end up in fantasy worlds are called isekai anime. Because the main character(s) are from our world, that usually plays a large part in their character. The audience can’t watch the show without remembering that this character is from another world and the original world influences their personality and decisions in a hundred different ways.
And this anime…didn’t really do that. Like, the protagonist used some of his scientific knowledge from his previous life to make his magic stronger and invent new devices. But other than that, I often forgot he was from another world. At one point, I found myself thinking, “You know, they’ve already established this guy as a quirky magic genius. They could have written out the isekai element, attributed his knowledge of oxygen and the theory of folding space to his unusual brain, and the show would have one less problem. It wouldn’t be great, but it would have one less problem.”
And that long-winded intro leads into the subject of today’s post. How do you find a story element that’s actually hampering the story rather than improving it? What prevents a writer from creating the sort of pitfalls, be it an unnecessary character or adding an isekai aspect to the story when it serves no purpose? Or if they do, how do they find it and get it out before the story is published?
I had to make a lot of these decisions during the editing of “Rose.”
Well, part of it is experience. Namely, as we become more experienced writers, we get used to figuring out what elements work and what don’t. It’s like a voice in the back of our heads is asking, “Does this work? What does it bring to the story? Would the story suffer if I removed it?” This happened a lot when I was doing major rewrites of Rose. Rose’s fiancé Mark had a slightly larger role in earlier drafts, but during the rewrites, when I was taking the plot in a different direction, I realized that Mark couldn’t fulfill that role anymore. He still had a part to play, but the part he’d played previously made no sense in the new direction. If I kept it, it would have not served the story. Thus, Mark’s role was reduced to what it is in Rose now.
Something similar happened while writing The Pure World Comes, but that will have to wait till it’s published.
But if you do miss something, that’s where beta readers and editors come in (and why it’s important to use them before you try submitting/publishing a story). Back to Rose, while I was rewriting the book, my publisher recommended I cut out the flashbacks, which were about a third of the book. I was confused and a little upset, as I was very proud of those scenes. However, I realized that flashbacks need to connect to the main events of the story. And while the flashbacks did explain plenty about Rose‘s character in earlier drafts, it didn’t connect much to the current events, so I nixed them and started rewriting.
See? Editors and beta readers do help.
But what if you really like an element in a story and there’s a strong indication you need to nix it? Well, then you have a choice to make as the creator. In the case of the anime I mentioned, the creator, if confronted with this choice, could have either made the fact that the protagonist was from another world more essential to his character or the plot. Or, like I suggested, he could have nixed it.
You may not like it, but sometimes you have to throw out problematic elements if you can’t find a way to make them work. Photo by Steve Johnson on Pexels.com
And that’s what it often boils down to. Authors can either cultivate those elements so that they actually matter and don’t bring down the story, or they can “kill their darlings” and nix the elements. This can be hard to do, as we may love those elements as much as we love the very stories we write.* However, it’s a decision we eventually have to make with our stories if we want to not only continue with these stories, but share them with as many people as possible.
No author likes to hear that they need to nix something from their story because it adds nothing or brings the story down. However, it’s important to hear and learn to deal with them, as in the end, it helps to improve the story and maybe even get it into the hands of many readers. And besides, it’s better than having a lot of people complaining about the problem elements after release, right?
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have a busy week ahead of me, but I’ll be back before too long. Until next time, stay safe, pleasant nightmares, and if you’re looking for a good isekai anime, let me know. I have recommendations.
*Though I think the creator of the source material for the anime, he did it because isekai stories are hot right now, to the point that they’re inundating the market. It’s a problem we anime fans both joke and groan about.
Funny story: earlier this week, I found out I lost some weight, even though I hadn’t expected it (if anything, I thought I gained). I’m talking to my dad about it and say, “I’ve no idea what happened. I’ll have to watch my weight carefully for a while. Make sure I’m not going through something like out of Stephen King’s Thinner.”
My dad has never read a Stephen King novel in his life. His response was, “…okay.”
Me: “Trust me, it did not end well for the guy suddenly losing weight in that book.”
And if you count that as a spoiler, remember that book is nine years older than me. What were you doing these past thirty-seven years?
Okay, onto the meat of this post. The audience on this blog has been growing by leaps and bound lately. So first off, hi everyone. Thank you for joining the Followers of Fear. We don’t (normally) sacrifice members and there are hidden benefits to joining. Namely you’ll likely survive when I start the Apocalypse. Maybe.
Second, since there are so many of you, I thought you should know something about me and my works. First off, me: I’m a novelist from Ohio specializing in horror and dark fantasy. I like reading and writing, anime and horror movies, and being an unabashed eccentric. I also have three books and a short story on e-book available right now, so if you don’t mind (and if it doesn’t make you want to unfollow me), I’d like to tell you about those books. You know, in case you’re interested.
In his publishing debut, Rami Ungar brings us five terrifying stories of darkness in magic. You can experience the strange visions of a man battling sex addiction in “Addict”. Or feel the wrath of an enraged dybbuk in “Samson Weiss’s Curse”. Face your fears in Gene Adkin’s Murder House in “I’m Going To Be The Next James Bond” and then journey with a young autistic “In The Lady Ogre’s Den”. But most of all, prepare to play the most insidious game of all: The Quiet Game.
My second foray into self-publishing. While a lot of these stories aren’t as scary or as well-polished as some of my later work, I think they’re still enjoyable to a degree. Plus, I had a lot of fun writing these stories. Give it a shot if you’re interested.
How far will you go for love and revenge? When a young man’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the powerful Camerlengo Family, he becomes the Snake, a serial killer who takes his methods from the worst of the Russian mafia. Tracking down members of the Camerlengo Family one by one for clues, the Snake will go to any lengths to see the love of his life again…even if it means becoming a worse monster than any of the monsters he is hunting.
A homage to my burgeoning love to slashers, too many James Patterson novels, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, this was another one I had fun with. It’s also, too date, my longest book, over 100,00 words! And yet, people still find it a quick read. Must be the fast pace. Anyway, check it out if you like unusual tales about serial killers in your diet.
Rose Taggert awakens in a greenhouse with no clear memory of the past two years and, to her horror, finds her body transformed into an unrecognizable form. Paris Kuyper has convinced Rose that they are lovers, and as Paris could not bear for her to die, he has used an ancient and dark magic to save her from certain death. But the dark magic Paris has used comes at a price. A price which a terrible demon is determined to extract from Rose. As Rose struggles to understand what is happening to her, she must navigate Paris’s lies and secrets; secrets that Paris will do anything to protect.
I wrote this novel back in my last year of college as my thesis. It took five years, and more rewrites than I care to remember, but the novel was accepted by Castrum Press, my first novel with a publisher (and hopefully not the last). And you know what? Nearly two years later, it only just got its first one-star review! Yeah, that’s a record (and something I hold as a badge of pride). I think that makes it worth a try, don’t you?
So, those are my published works. And I hope to follow them up with plenty more. And while I work on those, I hope you’ll consider not only checking out these stories, but letting me know what you think once you’ve read them. I love getting reader feedback, no matter what that feedback is, and it helps me out in the long run.
Well, that’s all for now. I’m off to get a lot of sleep. Followers of Fear, stay safe, have a great weekend, and pleasant nightmares!
Happy February! How are you? Did you survive January? How’s 2021 treating you so far? How many fingers am I holding up?
Okay, enough of that. As you can see from the title, it’s been exactly two months since I published my short story “Mother of the King.” Given that milestone, I figured it was time to do another post about it. (I would have done a post marking the one-month mark, but that was also New Year’s Day. Didn’t think it was worth the bother)
So, if you’re unaware, “Mother of the King” is a fantasy/science fiction story centering around King Arthur, and the first story in a little side project of mine I’m calling “the New Arthur Universe.” The story is about the fabled return of King Arthur, told from the recollections of his mother. It’s a different take on the Once and Future King.
I actually planned for this to be a one-off story. I was like, “I just dove down the rabbit hole of Arthurian legend and came back with this one story idea. Let’s write it and see where it goes.” However, the response from readers was that they wanted more. And I was like, “Sure, why not?” So I’ve been thinking of ways to further expand the story and the universe of “Mother of the King.”
In fact, I’m working on a new story in the “New Arthur Universe.” It’s still early stages, but I hope I can put out a new short story or novelette at some point this year.
But enough about that. If you’re interested in checking out “Mother of the King” and supporting this new venture of mine, I’ll leave links below. You can read what other people are saying and maybe purchase a copy yourself. This is an ebook exclusive, with print copies only available at events as chapbooks (click here to see what events I’m currently scheduled to attend in 2021). And if you do end up downloading or buying a copy, please let me know what you think in a review. Positive or negative, I love reader reviews, and they help me out in the long run.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve got a full day of work ahead of me, followed either by some writing or a movie night. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!
As many of you know, I recently moved into my new apartment, which comes with a second bedroom. I don’t really need a second bedroom, as my only roommate is Jonesy (and skeletons don’t need that much sleep), so I turned it into a home office where I can write and do my day job. And since I finished putting it together today (as well as putting up all the wall art and getting rid of all the boxes), I filmed a short YouTube video of my new home office/writing space. Or as I prefer to call it, THE NURSERY OF HORRORS!
And yes, you have to capitalize it when writing out the name. I wrote the rules, and I enforce them as well.
Anyway, the YouTube video is below. It’s about six and a half minutes long, so why not give it a watch?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that tour. If you did, please consider liking and/or commenting on the video. Maybe even subscribe as well? I don’t post often to the YouTube channel, but when I do, it’s usually because I’m passionate enough about what I’m posting. Link for the channel itself is here.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to writing, editing and (hopefully) publishing some stories here that will scare the pants off of you in this new writing space. I’ll keep you updated on those as they happen. Until then, good night and pleasant nightmares to you all!
In my last post, I mentioned that I was prepping to move into a bigger apartment and was getting ready to do so. While going through some stuff, seeing what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to donate, I was surprised by what I found hidden at the bottom of a box: my three contributor copies of the Winter 2011 issue of TEA, A Magazine. This is significant because this was the first time I was paid for a published story!
While my memory can be very unreliable sometimes, I remember that story, and that magazine, so well. I was still in high school then, and I was just starting to try and get into the short story market. In those days, I was regularly borrowing these annual guides on the short story market, reading the articles for anything I could use to improve my own storytelling techniques and looking at the listings of magazines and small presses I could submit my work to. One of the listings was for TEA, A Magazine. You can guess what it was focused on. Articles, ads, recipes, and even fiction centering on tea.
I was a big tea drinker even then, so I was intrigued. And I thought, Why not try to write a short story about tea and send it their way? And I did, a short story called “Summers with Grandmother Fumika.” And as you can tell from that title, I was a huge nerd for anime, manga, and Japanese culture back then. In fact, I was crazier about it then than I am now! But back to the short story. “Summers with Grandmother Fumika” was about a young Japanese-American girl who stays with her grandmother during the summers, and one summer, they perform a tea ceremony for a kitsune, a multitailed fox spirit.
Definitely more fantasy-based than Rose was, though they both drew upon Japanese culture. And it had a happier ending.
I don’t think I really expected TEA to accept my work, but to my surprise, the editor actually enjoyed the story and wanted to work with me on it. A couple of months of edits, and they sent me a contract. Not too long after, they sent me a $100 check for the story, as well as my contributor copies.
My short story in the issue, “Summers with Grandmother Fumika.”
Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, once said that he could make a million dollars in his lifetime, but he would never feel richer than he did the moment he received a $400 check for his first story, A Princess of Mars. For me, I have the same feeling about that $100. Not because I grew older and $100 didn’t seem like such a big deal as it did in high school. But because that check came with more than just monetary meaning. It came with validation.
Imagine, only 17 and someone thought that something you had written was not only good, but they wanted to pay money for it! To include it in a magazine read by hundreds, maybe even thousands of people! “Intoxicating” doesn’t even begin to cover the feeling I had then. And I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since, trying to replicate it.
Of course, like any addiction, nothing ever compares to that first high. Thankfully, with this addiction, there are plenty of other perks when I manage to publish something people enjoy. You can probably guess what they are.
I’m glad I was able to rediscover that story and those contributor copies. It’s been so long, I’d forgotten that I even had them. And with it being around ten years since that issue of TEA was released, it feels almost timely. Makes me want to do something with “Summers with Grandmother Fumika.” Maybe a reading on a YouTube video? It’d be more fantasy than horror, but I’m sure there would be some people interested in hearing me read it. We’ll see after the move.
Anyway, thanks for strolling down memory lane with me, my Followers of Fear. It was a nice, warm, nostalgic moment in my day and I wanted to share it with you. And it reminds me that, even though it’s been awhile since I’ve had an acceptance, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future. Hell, if I can do it at 17, then I can do it at 27. Just a matter of time, work and finding the right publication.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, Shabbat Shalom, have a good weekend, and pleasant nightmares.
Back in November, I announced that I was going to release some of my short stories as e-book exclusives, with print versions available as chapbooks at events (click here to find out what a chapbook is, and click here what events I’ll be attending in 2021). At the beginning of December, I released the first of these stories, an Arthurian fantasy called “Mother of the King” (links below). That did very well and got good feedback. And based on that feedback, I’ve decided to tell further stories in that world.
While those are still gestating in my imagination, however, I still plan to release a few short stories over the course of the year as e-books. And, if the title of this post didn’t clue you in, I’ve decided on which story will be getting the e-treatment: “Agoraphobia,” which follows a man with severe agoraphobia and anxiety trapped in his home during a hurricane. And there’s something in his home with him.
I chose this story because I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from beta readers on the language and portrayal of anxiety. I also think, since this is more horror than “Mother of the King” was, more people will show an interest in it and want to download it. And of all the stories I’m considering for e-release, it’s the most edited, so that’s helpful.
Before I set a release date, however, I’m going to go through this story one more time and see if I can’t fix up any typos or whatever. I’ve recently learned how to do that thing where Microsoft Word reads your document to you, so I’m looking forward to using that as an editing tool. After I’ve gone through and cleaned it up as much as possible, I’m going to commission an artist to make a cover, as I feel that there aren’t any stock photos or covers I could use like I did with “Mother of the King.”
After all that, then I’ll set a release date, let you all know, and get the ball rolling on that marketing machine of mine. I hope you’re as excited as I am for me to get this story out there.
In the meantime, I’ve got some other stories available if you want to check them out. My other e-release, “Mother of the King,” is available, of course, but so are my fantasy-horror novel “Rose;” my serial killer-thriller “Snake;” and my collection of short stories, “The Quiet Game: Five Tales to Chill Your Bones.” I’ll leave the links below if you want to check them out. And if you do end up reading them, please leave a review or let me know some other way what you thought. Positive or negative, I love your feedback, and they help me and other readers in the long run.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, stay safe and pleasant nightmares!
You know, I still remember when it took me months to write a short story. Or it felt like months. It might have been less. But it took a lot longer. I didn’t always have that great discipline when it came to writing, so projects took a lot longer than they do now. I guess that’s growing up and getting experience.
Well, at least it doesn’t take that long to get stories written now. Because, guess what? I just finished my first short story of 2021!
Can I get a GIF of Kermit the Frog being totally excited right now?
Was that necessary? Not at all. Did I enjoy putting it in there? Quite.
So, I’m sure you’re curious about the short story I’ve written. The story is called, “The Divorce from God,” and is unusual for my work because it draws very strongly on my Jewish heritage. Yeah, I may be Jewish, but that doesn’t appear in my fiction very much. Probably a number of reasons for that, but I guess there’s just not many stories I feel like telling where my heritage could fit comfortably in.
However, this story was inspired by a recent scandal in the ultra-Orthodox community, so this time the Jewish heritage fit in quite well. In case you weren’t aware, back in 2013 an ultra-Orthodox rabbi was arrested for some serious crimes. You see, in Judaism, a woman can only get a divorce if her husband gives her a document called a get. Without that, she’s forever tied to him. And sometimes, husbands will hold that over their wives, leaving them with few options. Women stuck in this situation are known as agunot, or chained women.
I bring this up because the rabbi I mentioned was being hired by these women to kidnap their husbands and torture them until they granted the divorce. And the guy charged thousands of dollars for his services, too! He got away with this for decades, protected by his victims’ unwillingness to testify or by the charges being dropped. However, after one of his victims came forward, the FBI pulled a sting and he and his cohorts were arrested. Most of them are still serving their sentences, last I checked.
I first heard about this story last year when I heard that a movie was being made about it. The story immediately inspired me with ideas. And then, about a week ago, I heard about an anthology of Jewish horror being published later this year, so I thought, “Might as well write this story now. It’s a good fit.”
It was a good night of writing, all told.
And hopefully, once I’ve done some edits, it will be. I’ve already sent it to my dad, who’s a rabbi and who’s agreed to take a first look, to give his feedback on the Jewish aspects of the story and if I do a good job explaining those aspects for a non-Jewish audience. After that, I’ll probably let a beta reader or two take a look at it and do some edits before sending it in for consideration. Fingers crossed, the editors will like it.
For now though, I think I’ll celebrate with a cup of tea and a late viewing of Die Hard 2, which is probably the best of the Die Hard sequels. Tomorrow, I’ll probably talk about my next major project. Or watch and review a horror movie. Or both. We’ll see what I’m in the mood for.
Good night, my Followers of Fear. And until next time, stay safe and pleasant nightmares!
First, there’s the Paranormal and Psychic Convention, or ParaPsyCon 2021. This is an annual event held at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. You know, the former prison that was used as the set for the Shawshank Redemption and which is very haunted? Anyway, they released a new poster on Facebook today, which I’ve included below, and has said that, at the present, the convention is still a-go. This makes me very happy, because I love this location and I look forward to seeing all the different vendors there. Not to mention some friends and readers.
If you’re interested in attending, it’s going to be May 22nd-23rd. All you need to do is buy a regular ticket into the prison to attend. The convention is wrapped into the ticket cost! You can find out more details here.
The other event I’m scheduled to attend is the Indie Author Book Expo in Chicago, or IABE Chicago. Sponsored by the same group who held the event I attended in Des Moines back in July. This one will be held at the Quarry Chi on E. 75th Street in Chicago, Illinois on June 19th. I don’t think the location has ever been haunted or used as a film set, but the photos online show a very nice event space. You can walk around, check out some authors and books, and maybe say hello to me while you’re there.
And that’s the total number of events I’ll be attending this year. So far, anyway. It’s still early in the year, so if something comes up that I can go to, I will. And I’ll post about it too. (Let me know if you know of any I could go to.)
And yes, I know that COVID-19 could interfere at any time. Believe me, it interfered with ParaPsyCon last year. As in canceled it. But with the vaccine rolling out and early results showing promise, I’ve reason to hope. And make plans. And maybe see some Followers of Fear in real life, rather than through a screen.
Well, I just wanted to update you on all that. If anyone needs me, I’ve dinner to make and the first short story of 2021 to write. Until next time, stay safe and pleasant nightmares!
Rami Ungar The Writer 