My, time is going by fast. We’re already about a third into March. Didn’t we just get into February the other day?
Anyway, as many of you are aware, my short story “Agoraphobia” will be releasing in one week. The story follows a man with severe anxiety and agoraphobia who is forced to leave his home when a hurricane bears down on his area. Suffice to say, things don’t go exactly as planned.
And guess what? I’ve already received a couple of reviews on the story! Yeah, two of the eARC readers, Kim Napolitano and P.S. Winn, left four stars each, as well as their thoughts, over on Goodreads. I’ll leave a link below if you want to see for yourself, but I’m going to quote what they had to say right here. Cutting out spoilers, of course.
I love all of Rami Ungar’s stories. Throw in a creature feature? Sold!
As with all short novellas any details are spoilers so I’ll be brief. Peyton lives in a completely fortified home, afraid of the outside and of people in general. He’s locked himself away. A hurricane is moving in to knock out his or what he thinks is his actual reality…The story is as an allegory and you’ll see why.. well written and excellent action but again.. way to short. I would have liked to see our sole protagonist fleshed out a little more so I could picture his face but this is a small complaint in an otherwise fantastic story. Pick up everything you can by this amazing author. You’ll be happy you did! Enjoy!
Kimberly Napolitano, Goodreads
An intriguing short story of a man who has problems, sadly those problems are about to get worse. The author does a great job making this short story feel longer with complete content in a short space.
P.S. Winn, Goodreads
To say the least, I’m as happy as a happy, dancing devil that they enjoyed the story and thank them for taking the time to not only read the story, but to let people know what they think.
In any case, if you’re looking for something short and enjoyable to read, I’ll leave links below to where you can preorder a copy. Outside of events, it’s only available as an e-book,* but I’m hoping you’ll find it worth downloading onto your device of choice. I’ll leave links below so you can take a look and see if this is something you would be interested in. And if you do end up downloading and reading a copy, please let me know what you think somehow. I appreciate reader feedback, positive or negative.
And if you leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, you’re not only letting me know, but letting other readers know what you thought and if the story is worth checking out. Believe me, you’ll be doing plenty of people a favor, not just me.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If things this week go as I think it will, I’ll have plenty to post about in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I hope you’ll check out “Agoraphobia” and get as excited to read it as I am excited for you to read it. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!
Back in August, fresh off the heels of Rose‘s release, I wrote a post about marketing a freshly released book in this crowded market. And now that my short story “Car Chasers” has been released in The Binge-Watching Cure II, as well as the audio book for Rose coming out recently, it’s high-time I got around to doing Part 2. As I said in the last post, it’s important to have a marketing plan in place and not expect your book will snowball into popularity. Books rarely just snowball into bestsellers, so a detailed marketing plan, one you actually act on, is essential.
And this time, I will be getting into practical tips, rather than just some food for thought to get you in the marketing mindset.
Of course, I will be plugging Rose and The Binge-Watching Cure II in this post, and including links at the end. Gotta get those stories in people’s hands, am I right?
First off, put together an ARC list. ARC stands for “advanced reader copies,” and ARC lists are lists of readers, usually volunteers, who are interested in reading an advanced copy of your book (usually digital, though sometimes physical or audio). Why would you want to give people an ARC? Because ARC readers will read your book, sometimes well ahead of the release, and drum up interest via word of mouth. Sometimes they’ll leave reviews on review sites or on their blogs, other times they’ll say something on social media. Either way, they tell people about your book, and that means more potential readers.
That being said, when you have ARC readers, there are a couple things you’ll want to do when compiling your list, besides getting their contact info, of course (gotta get them that ARC somehow, right?):
This is an act of volunteering and you want honest opinions. Don’t ask people to give you good reviews, don’t pay for good reviews, and don’t pay for reviews (this does not apply to blog tours though, which we will talk about later). ARC readers are doing you a favor, so don’t expect them to say nice things just for you. And if someone wants to be paid for a review, run the hell away!
Don’t ask family or close friends to be ARC readers. Sites like Amazon, from which most authors get their sales, can get suspicious if someone who might be a relative or a close friend leaves a review. This is because some authors have used their friend groups to boost their books, even if the friends haven’t read the book. Amazon is aware of this, and has developed countermeasures to combat this practice, which sometimes go overboard.
So even if your mother is going to leave an honest review of your book, perhaps ask her to leave reviews only on Facebook. Sites like Amazon will strike down reviews and mess with your royalties if they suspect a fake or paid review.
Not everyone who volunteers to be an ARC reader will follow through reading and/or reviewing. This could be for a variety of reasons, but in the end, sometimes life happens, and they can’t follow through on the commitment. What to do about this? Well first, don’t get abusive towards people who can’t follow through on being an ARC reader. Believe me, sending them an email calling them lazy shits won’t get you anywhere, and can actually ruin careers before they start.
Second, gather as many interested ARC readers as you can. I gathered over fifty interested people for Rose, and about nineteen left reviews on various sites in the first two months, close to twice the average number. So a large ARC list of people genuinely interested in your book is a good thing to have.
Finally, save your ARC readers when they follow through. If you have an ARC reader who read your book and talked about it, chances are they’ll do it again, so remember them and ask if they’ll be interested when the next one is nearing publication. Hopefully after a few books, you’ll have a decent list of ARC readers you can message when you’re ready to publish something.
Also put together a list of places to send your book to/advertise your book with. You’d be surprised how many sites exist to promote certain genres, and which give reviews of books in those genres. Start compiling a list of these sites and publications, as well as what sort of stories they look for and how to contact them. When the book is published, keep an eye out and see which are accepting books at the moment. If you’re lucky, they may fit you into their reviewing schedule.
Look into the possibility of a blog tour. A blog tour is exactly what it sounds like: you go around different blogs to give interviews, write guest articles, or let them review your book. These are a great way to highlight your work among a huge audience, and if the blogs featuring you are in the same genre as you, it means the readers of that blog are more likely to want to check out your book.
I did a couple blog tours for Rose, and found them very helpful.
There are two ways to do a blog tour. One way is to organize one yourself by asking for bloggers to participate. The other is to work with a blog tour company, who act as a middleman to help you find blogs that’ll work with you for a small fee. This doesn’t count as paying for reviews, but instead is more like having an advertising department who help you get people to notice your book. Only these folks are contractors.
If you decide to go with the former option, put out an open call on your blog and social media for a blog tour, and see who responds. Also contact bloggers who may not be following you but may be interested in hosting you. For the latter, check with other authors to see if they have any recommendations, or see if there any that come highly rated on a website like Yelp or equivalent. If there’s a recommended one, see if they have any availability for you and start talking rates.
Well, that’s all for Part 2. I hope you found these methods to marketing your book helpful and may even share some methods you find helpful in the comments below. I’m not sure when I’ll do Part 3 or what I’ll focus on when I do, but I hope you’ll keep an eye out for it and give your two cents when you do.
In the meantime, if you would like to check out Rose or The Binge-Watching Cure II, I’ll leave the links below. Rose is my first novel with a publisher, and is a fantasy-horror story following a young woman who turns into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). The Binge-Watching Cure II is an anthology from Claren Books containing several short stories and novelettes from a variety of authors, each one longer than the last. My own short story, “Car Chasers,” which is like Fast & Furious-style car races with ghosts in the mix, occupies the eight-thousand word spot. Either one would be a great addition to your bookshelf, if I may be so bold.
It’s finally here! With four days until Rose releases, we have a cover, made courtesy of The Gilded Quill. Take a look.
Now how about that? It’s very much influenced by fantasy, which is a big element of the novel. Though if you see this book in a bookstore and think it’s a typical fantasy, you’d be very much mistaken. In fact, here’s the blurb we’ve been using:
When Rose Taggert wakes up in a greenhouse, the past two years missing from her memory, she has no idea what is in store for her. Her body changes, transfigured into a new, plant-like form by Paris Kuyper, a student and her self-proclaimed lover who used an ancient family grimoire to save Rose’s life. While Rose is at first willing to trust Paris and work with him to recover her memories and the supposed love they shared, it soon becomes clear her lover is not all he seems. In a short time, she decides to put love and memories aside in favor of survival.
But a rose may be defenseless when a storm surrounds it. And Rose may only be able to stand for so long against the forces swirling around her.
So as you can tell, this is a lot darker than your average fantasy story. In fact, it’s fantasy-horror. And from what I’ve shared with people, they’ve responded well.
Speaking of which: advanced copies will end up being sent out Wednesday. Yeah, sucks. We were hoping to have them out today, but perfection can’t be rushed, and we wanted to make sure the book comes out as pristine as possible.
On the bright side, the book will still be released Friday, and preorder links and everything will be up as the advanced copies are sent out. It’s all happening rather fast, but I think it’s going to be magnificent once it does come out.
Well, I hope, anyway. Let’s see what the reviews say when those start popping up.
Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve got to get started on dinner and get a lot more marketing work done before Rose is released. However, I might have another post, this one not Rose-related, out tomorrow, so keep an eye out for it.
I’ve been meaning to write this post for about a week, but I had to upload some videos onto YouTube, and then I was writing a short story, and editing a novella, and life got crazy. Anyway, no time like the present, so let’s talk about something I did last weekend that I’ve wanted to do for almost a year. That’s right, I did a public ghost hunt!
Those of you who’ve been reading this blog for a while may remember I wrote about visiting the Ohio State Reformatory, filming location of the Shawshank Redemption and all-around haunted location open to the public (you can read the original post here). I got a lot of paranormal evidence off video with my dowsing rods and was eager to visit again. I’d also known about the public ghost hunts they conduct during the summer months for a while. My vacation was coming up, so I thought, “Let’s do it!”
I’m not going to recount the whole evening (we were there from 6 PM on June 1st to 3 AM on June 2nd), or we’ll be there the whole day. However, I can hit you with the highlights. I arrived at the prison a little before six and waited with a couple of other early arrivals for the gate to open. Once it did, we trundled in and checked in at the front entrance. Once that was taken care of, I was led to a big gathering room where you could see the east and west cell blocks through glass windows on either side. Since the fun wasn’t set to begin until 7 when everyone was checked in, I spent time talking to other people and did an initial dowsing test, which led to this video.
Yeah, so already the place was active. And as my questions proved, this wasn’t just me manipulating the rods or anything. Something invisible and intelligent was manipulating them!
After everyone was checked in and the schedule and safety procedures were outlined, we were split into three groups. My group was full of people who just wanted a quick overview of the hot spots in the prison and how to use some of the ghost-hunting tools the prison rents out during the public ghost hunts. After that, I went with one of the staff members, Doug, to check out first James Lockhart’s cell and then solitary confinement, where the ghost of Officer Hanger hangs out. My idea was that I got such good results last time from those locations, I wanted to see if they could be replicated.
Replicated, they were. And if you watch the Lockhart video, you’ll notice at one point my cell phone’s camera refocuses for a split second. Did it perhaps sense Lockhart and was trying to focus on him? Lord knows I wasn’t the one who needed refocusing on.
After that, I went back to the “base camp” between cell blocks to grab dinner, and I ended up making a few friends: Dave and Danette, a couple on a road trip from New York to Florida, and Greg and Kathy, regular ghost hunters who volunteer a lot at these ghost hunts. I ended up spending the rest of the night with them. We got on pretty well, and I had a lot of fun going to the different spots in the prison to find evidence: the west end showers, the “Jesus Room” (that’s a thing, though it’s not on the usual tour route), the library, the “toilet room” (it has a lot of toilets on a shelf for some reason), the attic, the administration block, and the warden’s quarters.
Sadly, we only got so much evidence. For some reason, it was a pretty quiet night, at least according to the veterans like Greg and Kathy (and that was despite a thunderstorm going on outside. You’d think that would be perfect for both atmosphere and energizing spirits). However, there were some moments where we did experience something. Off the toilet room, for example, we ran into Mr. Salts, a former guard who prisoners had to see before being allowed to visit the hospital wing. He would feed Epsom salt to inmates he suspected of faking being ill to get out of work. Here’s the video of that (sorry if the angle is weird. Next time, I’ll hopefully have a legit ghost-hunting camera and spare batteries too).
So if you didn’t watch the whole video, while we were talking, Greg got swatted on the head by something we couldn’t see, possibly Mr. Salts. And then David tapped my head as a joke.
The other area we experienced something weird was the attic off the chapel (also not on the normal tour route). There, while standing in the dark, several of us noticed some strange, dull-green lights moving about. A couple of times, I thought I saw a misty-like figure. And during this, someone or something threw a rock at us from behind (and there was no one back there!). It was crazy!
After that, the rest of the night went by pretty quickly. Dave, Danette and I went around the warden’s quarters with an app on Danette’s phone that was supposed to catch ghost energy and translate it into words (reliability of said app, we all admitted, was questionable at best) before heading back to base camp to turn in our rented equipment and check out. I promised to get in touch with my friends, and then we left the building. Most people drove off, while I stayed an extra minute to burn some sage so nothing followed me back to the bed and breakfast I was staying at (ain’t nobody have time for that!).
All in all, it was a fun and amazing experience. I got to see places in the prison and sides to it that most people on the day tours never get to see, and I got to witness some really cool stuff. And you can’t discount making new friends. That’s always wonderful.
Chilling right before going on a ghost hunt!
The one criticism I have for the ghost hunt is that it may have had too many people and was kind of disorganized. There were maybe seventy people there that night, and they were free to travel just about anywhere they wanted, sometimes making a ton of noise as they went. It’s difficult to hear ghost voices or catch phenomena when you have to wonder, “Is that a spirit trying to manifest, or is someone waving a flashlight in the chapel and we’re seeing it here in the back of the attic?” A smaller number of people and a little more organization so as to minimize cross-contamination would’ve been nice.
All in all though, I would gladly go again if I get the chance. It was a lot of fun, and I got to ghost hunt firsthand, rather than just watching it on TV or pulling out the dowsing rods in a place where ghosts are known to hang out. And who knows? Maybe I’ll get to investigate some other places. Greg and Kathy mentioned going to Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Kentucky. I could see myself having a blast there, so if I can…who knows?
And if you have the chance, I highly recommend doing a public ghost hunt at the Ohio State Reformatory. You never know what you’ll come across.
In the meantime, this is just a reminder that you have till tonight at 11:59:59 PM to sign up to be an advanced reader for my upcoming fantasy-horror novel Rose from Castrum Press. The novel follows a young woman who starts turning into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). If you are interested, please send an email to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. All I ask is you read the book and consider posting a review after it’s released. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!
Well, I just finished another short story, if that title doesn’t clue you in. And honestly, I’m glad I did: I didn’t think I’d get this one done before the final edits on Rose come in (those are hopefully going to be sent to me later this week).
“Pinochle on Your Snout” is a short story that came from me wanting to work two very different things into a single story. The first is The Hearse Song (video of that song here), which includes this famous verse: “The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochle on your snout.” That song also provides one of the best titles I’ve ever given a story. The other thing I wanted to combine was the De Vermis Mysteriis, or Mysteries of the Worm, a grimoire created by author Robert Bloch and later incorporated into the greater lore of HP Lovecraft. The book is supposedly able to summon all sorts of nasty things, and has appeared in a whole bunch of other media since then, including stories by Stephen King revolving around Salem”s Lot.
It took a bit of brainstorming, but I was able to come up with a story based on those elements. How is it? Well, it’s a first draft, so it’s shit. But I think there’s potential there. It reminds me a lot of “The Boogeyman” by Stephen King, in that it’s mainly told as a confession between a man and someone whose job is to listen to other people’s stories (though not a shrink like in the King story). And I think it has a way of drawing people in. Perhaps it could be something someday.
Of course, I’ll need to do A LOT of editing on this one before I even consider sending it to publishers. How much, I’m not sure. Fiction is the only type of alchemy where you can turn shit and other worthless materials into gold. You just can’t tell how much tinkering you need to do before the alchemical transformation is done.
In the meantime, and while I’m still waiting for the final edits of Rose, I’ll edit a novella I think has plenty of potential and may only need a few edits. It’s one of the most disturbing stories I’ve ever written, so it has that going for it. I may even know a press that’ll consider publishing it.
And speaking of Rose, there’s only three days left if you’d like to be an advanced reader for this upcoming fantasy-horror novel from Castrum Press and yours truly. The novel follows a young woman who turns into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). If you’d be interested, send an email to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. All I ask is you read the book and consider posting a review after its release. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!
My dad and I on the balcony of the Garfield Memorial.
So this past week I was in Cleveland visiting family, including my dad, and getting to see a bit more of Cleveland than I ever have before (when you have a car, planning your own leisure activities during your vacation is sooo much easier). Among other things, I got to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, get the best shave I’ve ever had, and visit a huge indoor marketplace. But the one thing I wanted to talk about in this post was something my dad did with me Friday morning: we visited Lake View Cemetery.
Now if you don’t know, Lake View Cemetery is a large, ornate cemetery modeled after the great cemeteries of Victorian England and France. It’s known as “Cleveland’s Outdoor Museum,” and is home to some very prominent individuals, including Eliot Ness, Alan Freed (who coined the term “rock and roll”), John D. Rockefeller, and President James Garfield, who has the most ornate mausoleum not just of any resident there, but of any American president. Amazing considering he only served for about 200 days.
Me being me, I’d been looking forward to seeing this place since I first heard about it. And of course, me being me, I brought my reliable dowsing rods with me, because they are so good at striking up conversations with the dead.
Our first stop was the Garfield Memorial, but even before we reached that place, I could tell this was a different sort of cemetery than any I’ve visited in the past. For one, it was so pretty. Cemeteries used to take the place of public parks in places that didn’t or couldn’t have public parks for whatever reason, and as I said, this cemetery was based on the kinds popular from a hundred and fifty years ago. So you had wide, sloping hills and fields of green, a lake with benches and geese and swans in and around it, and majestic lanes to walk upon (or walk your dog, as I saw one woman doing with her husky). Also, there were so many different kinds of headstones and grave markers! Look at some of the photos below.
I don’t ktow these people, but I love their tastes. Good kitty!
Alan Freed’s gravestone, front side.
Alan Freed’s gravestone, back side.
The Rockefeller Obelisk, or most of it. It’s a big monument.
As I said, our first stop was to the Garfield Memorial, this huge, ornate structure that was even more amazing once you got inside. A docent there told us how money was raised for the memorial after the president’s death and some of the features of the construction and artwork on display. For example, the glass in the walls were all inserted by hand, and the murals on the wall include goddesses representing the thirteen original colonies, plus Ohio and War and Peace, and the leaves set into the floor are supposed to guide you around the room, showing Garfield’s humble beginnings in Ohio and how he came up to become the President, a real American success story.
The front exterior of the Garfield Memorial.
The glass designs on the wall, from afar and up close. Imagine the work that went into all that!
Later we went downstairs to the crypt, where I got out my dowsing rods. Unfortunately, my dad forgot to hit record on my phone, so we didn’t have a recording of that conversation, but I did get into contact with James Garfield’s ghost. Apparently, while his family is buried with him, none of their spirits are with him, and he’s pretty lonely. I felt bad for him, and considering how many other spirits are in the cemetery, I had to wonder why he didn’t have many people on either side of the veil to speak to. The docent later told us that after his assassination, a friend of Garfield did engage a medium to speak to his spirit, and other psychics have been by the grave.
The Garfield crypt. It was a lot mores shadowy when I was there.
The balcony from the Garfield Memorial. You can just see Lake Erie in this photo.
After a quick trip up to the balcony, where we had a view of Lake Erie (hence the name “Lake View”), we checked out some of the other graves around the cemetery. One of those graves was John Rockefeller, and that was a conversation we did get on video. Check it out below.
Now, that was amazing. How many people can say they’ve had a conversation with John D. Rockefeller? And apparently death is treating him well. Not surprising, when you consider he’s got a scenic place to live in death and lots of people to talk to. And he may go visit Garfield, for all we know.
We left soon after that. We tried to visit the Wade Chapel, this beautiful structure with this Tiffany glass decoration, but there was a funeral going on there, and we didn’t want to disturb the grieving family, who seemed like they were going to stick around a while. But in all honesty, I really enjoyed myself. This trip played to all my interests, and I got to do it with my dad, who I don’t see often anymore and whom I enjoy doing most things with.
And Lake View Cemetery is just a beautiful place to go. If you haven’t gone and have the chance, I highly recommend you take a trip there. I’ll definitely try to go again the next time I’m in Cleveland and have a few more conversations while I’m there.
Have you ever been to Lake View Cemetery? Did you have any encounters there? What was it like?
And in the meantime, this is a reminder that anyone interested in being an advanced reader for my upcoming fantasy-horror novel “Rose” has till June 7th–this Friday–to sign up. The novel follows a young woman who turns into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). If you’re interested, please send an email to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. All I ask is you read the book and consider posting a review after the release. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope to have a few more posts out this week, including a review and some more of my recent experiences. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!
I know that the majority of people who read this post will NOT be in central Ohio (and that is a damn shame, in my opinion), but I have to post it anyway. The Ohio Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, which I am a proud member of, will be having a reading at Kafe Kerouac, one of the coolest places in the University District in Columbus, this Saturday night at 6:30 PM. There will be scary stories to tell, chances to meet some great authors, new reads and friends to discover and meet, and a few drinks to have while you’re at it.
Did I mention they serve alcohol at this place? Well, they do. It’s not a reason to go in and of itself, but it’s icing on the proverbial cake.
Anyway, by this point Rose will likely be edited, so this could be the very first reading for the final version of the novel. If you’re able to, I highly encourage you to make it out and hear it. And if you can’t, I’ll try to get it filmed for YouTube. After all, I want as many people as possible to check out my novel as possible, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. Hope to see you there!
And in the meantime, Friday, June 7th is the last day to sign up to be an advanced reader for Rose, the story of a young woman who turns into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). If you or someone you know would like to sign up, send me an email at ramiungar@ramiungartherwiter.com. All I ask is you read the book and consider posting a review after the novel is released. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve got a ton of posts to catch up on, so I’ll hopefully have those up at some point soon (though between editing and everything else, who knows when I’ll have the time?). Until then, pleasant nightmares!
What if the Superman origin story had a dark, horror-movie style twist? That’s the conceit of Brightburn, a movie produced by the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and the upcoming Suicide Squad film, written by his brothers Mark and Brian, and directed by David Yarovesky, who directed the pretty-good horror film The Hive. And from the trailers, it looked like it could be really good, or just plain bad. Either way, I put my butt in the seat and waited to see how it would go.
Brightburn follows the Breyers family, consisting of farmer Kyle, wife and artist Tori, and adopted son Brandon. Around his twelfth birthday, Brandon starts exhibiting supernatural powers and psychopathic behaviors. When he starts to hurt classmates and people around town start dying or going missing, Tori and Kyle reveal to their son his extraterrestrial origins, and he reveals to them his dark purpose in coming to Earth.
*sigh* You know, I can forgive them for copying Superman’s basic power-set in this film. I can also forgive them for not mentioning him at all (probably did that out of legal reasons). But I can’t forgive them for making a bad film that puts all its best bits in the trailers!
I kid you not, everything that was supposed to make this film exciting and scary was revealed in the trailer. The woman who got glass in her eye, the guy in the car seeing Brandon flying on the road, the girl’s hand getting broken, the plane crash. Those should’ve been surprises, but we all saw them in the trailers, and that takes out all of the suspense and horror of the actual movie. Except for a few moments, I watched the film thinking to myself, “That’s predictable. That’s predictable. Oh, how could I have not seen that coming? Oh wait, I did! In the previews!”
What do you have left when you take all those elements out? Just your below-average evil child horror film, like Prodigy from earlier this year (which I didn’t review because it was so much like every other evil child film out there). Parents get a kid, usually not their own. Kid grows up mostly fine, but then starts exhibiting scary behavior. Kid turns out to be evil, either because they were born seriously messed up or because of some supernatural reason, one parent ends up dead, the other either successfully kills the kid or is killed while trying because a bystander was nearby and didn’t know the truth.
Seen it. Done it. Took it to dinner. Had a good time afterwards. Ordered them an Uber. Point is, done to death.
There were only two things I liked about Brightburn. One was the mask the kid Brandon wore, which looks like a crocheted cross between an insect head and Cthulhu’s face. The other is Elizabeth Banks as mother Tori. You really see her love for this strange boy, and how much she tries to hold onto that little boy despite all he’s done.
But other than that, Brightburn is sadly unoriginal despite marketing itself as original. And I’m convinced the filmmakers knew that, and that’s why they put all the highlights in the trailers, to get butts in seats. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving this one a 1.5. Avoid, unless you like wasting two hours of your time. I hope to God I never write anything as unoriginal as this.
Speaking of which, I’m still looking for advanced readers for my upcoming fantasy-horror novel from Castrum Press, Rose. The story follows a young woman who turns into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). Anyone who’s interested should send me an email at ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com before June 7th. All I ask is that you read the book and then consider posting a review after release. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!
So today after work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things. As I was leaving, I spotted one of my teachers from elementary school and her husband getting out of their car to do a little shopping of their own. We recognized each other right away, and while I’ve grown from the scrawny kid I was, she hasn’t seemed to age a day in the fifteen years since I last saw her, and neither has her husband. Normally I would attribute that to witchcraft, but given that they’re Orthodox Jews, I think it’s far more likely they’re using the not at all diabolical but still very impressive power of Kabbalah.
Why do I tell you this story when the subject of this post is Rose? Well, it feels like the basis of a story, and honestly, I felt like sharing it. Do I need better reasons?
But back on subject: Rose will be published in a month from today, on Friday, June 21st. And since my last post on Saturday, I’ve had some updates. My publisher Castrum Press and I have been going back and forth a lot, discussing the editing process and the things we still need to do to get the book out on time.
First, there’s the final edits. According to Castrum, I should be getting the first round of final edits probably near the end of next week. From there, it’ll be a race against time to get the edits done before too long so we can reach the target date for the release. Luckily, I’ll be on vacation during that time, and all my traveling during that vacation time will be wrapping up around that time, so it works out for me. I’ll still have to put my nose to the grindstone so I can get those edits done, but I think I’ll be able to make the deadline. I might not be able to hang out with family and friends during that time, but I’ll make it.
It beats disappointing potential readers and having to order new business cards with amended release dates, anyway (the costs of those pile up if you have to change them frequently, you know!).
In the meantime, I’ve been working on some other stuff that doesn’t get considered until we’re this far along in the process. Last night, I wrote a dedication for the book, an acknowledgements section, and a preliminary blurb for the back cover. That last part may get changed around a bit between now and release day, but I think what I wrote last night gives a good idea of what the novel is about while withholding enough information to get people to actually read.
Here’s what I sent my publisher:
When Rose Taggert wakes up in a greenhouse, the past two years missing from her memory, she has no idea what is in store for her. Her body changes, transfigured into a new, plant-like form by Paris Kuyper, a student and her self-proclaimed lover who used an ancient family grimoire to save Rose’s life. While Rose is at first willing to trust Paris and work with him to recover her memories and the supposed love they shared, it soon becomes clear her lover is not all he seems. In a short time, she decides to put love and memories aside in favor of survival.
But a rose may be defenseless when a storm surrounds it. And Rose may only be able to stand for so long against the forces swirling around her.
Like I said, this may change a lot over the next month, but I think it’s not a bad start.
As for other updates, I’ll be keeping those under wraps for a while. But I think I’ve got enough brewing in my proverbial cauldron that at the very least, I can guarantee that A LOT of people will hear about Rose and may consider giving it a read.
Speaking of which, as I said in my last post, I’m still looking for advanced readers for Rose. If you’d like to receive an early, electronic copy of the novel from my publisher prior to release, all you have to do is send an email to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. All I ask in return is that you read the book and consider posting a review after it’s released. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I hope to have more updates soon, maybe even a shot of the cover. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!
I was going to wait until I got an update from my publisher* or until Tuesday, one month from when Rose is released, but I got impatient.
So as you probably know by now, my upcoming fantasy-horror novel Rose is on target to be published June 21st, 2019 by Castrum Press. The story follows a young woman who turns into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). Yes, that trippy subject is what the novel’s about. Yes, I sold that to a publisher. And yes, it is coming out in a little over a month.
Obviously, I’m over the moon with excitement. I’m also dealing with a lot of nervousness and a touch of anxiety, but I’m working a multi-pronged approached to make sure the novel is a success. One of those prongs is through advanced readers, people who receive electronic copies prior to the book’s official release with the hopes they’ll read it, like it, and maybe help spread the word by telling friends or writing reviews online (encouraged, but not required).
And you know what? I’m still looking for more advanced readers.
I’ve managed to build up a pretty big list of advanced readers, but I could always use a few more. So from now until June 7th, if you or someone you know would like to get on the advanced reader list, all you have to do is send an email to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com. Once I have that, I’ll add your name to the list and then we just have to wait. Once I know the advanced copies are being sent out, I’ll notify you via email to give you a heads-up.
Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you all.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I should have more updates on Rose as we get closer and closer to the release date. You may even get a little annoyed with me talking about the book so much (but can you blame me?). But of course, it’s all in the name of making sure plenty of people get to read the book, so why not?
Until next time (which, for all I know, might be anytime between today and Tuesday), happy reading and pleasant nightmares!
*Speaking of which, Castrum Press has just released a new anthology, Alien Days, featuring a variety of authors writing about what our first contact with extraterrestrials might be like. A terrifying subject, even if it’s not horror. Please make sure to check it out on Amazon. I’ll be downloading a copy very soon, and I can’t wait.
Rami Ungar The Writer 