Posts Tagged ‘excerpts’

“Hannah and Other Stories:” Only One Month Till Release!!!

Posted: August 23, 2023 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Run for your lives! Light a magic candle! Pray to the Great Old Ones to be left alone! Hannah and Other Stories releases in just one month!

As you’re probably aware, Hannah and Other Stories is my new collection of short stories which is releasing on September 23rd, 2023. This collection contains seven original tales, featuring tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses, among other things. My publisher, BSC Publishing Group, and I have been working on this book for two years, so we’re very excited for people to read it. Hell, I’m kind of hoping it becomes one of the most talked about books for the Halloween season this year.

At the very least, I want to get the book in paperback. Right now, it’s only available in ebook, but if it does well, it’ll get a paperback. Maybe even an audio book.

With that in mind, we’re also doing everything we can to get people interested in the book and in maybe preordering a copy. On my end, I’ve been posting YouTube videos where I read sections from the book. A couple of the videos I’ve done are below.

Not bad, right? I tried to create an atmosphere to go with the stories, and I plan to do the stories I haven’t covered before it releases.

And BSC has been doing some amazing excerpts as well, only they’ve been posting these beautiful graphics that they do in-house! I absolutely love them. Here’s some of the most recent.

Pretty awesome, right? And you can see all the excerpts BSC has made on Hannah‘s personal page on this blog.

Anyway, I’m super excited for people to read it. These stories are all beloved to me in each their own way. What Errour Awoke is a story that not only allowed me to tap into my love of cosmic horror, but helped me to deal with world events that were causing me anxiety at the time of writing. Hannah and Queen Alice were both fun to write, with the former being inspired by a ghost story that’s always fascinated me, and the latter being an interesting mashup of Alice in Wonderland with Slender Man. The Autopsy Kid and Doctor Sarah was a story where I experimented with extreme horror and splatterpunk that I hadn’t done before, while Poor, Unfortunate Souls made for a heartfelt story of acceptance and hardship in the midst of the Paris catacombs. The Red Bursts gave me an unexpected story of finding faith in dark situations, and Fuseli’s Horses allowed me to have fun with a new monster while also playing with some teenage drama.

I can’t wait to see what people think when they read them.

And if any of this has made you want to read Hannah and Other Stories, I’ll include the links to preorder it below. That’s right, “links.” As of this past weekend, Hannah and Other Stories is available to preorder from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers, including a few international ones. I’ll include links for all the shops below, and I’ll be sure to update future posts as BSC lets me more stores are carrying the book.

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

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be sure to post more updates as we get closer to the release date. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bertrand
Booktopia
BSC Publishing Square Site
Kobo
Wook

“Hannah and Other Stories:” Two Months Till Release!!!

Posted: July 23, 2023 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Did you know that we’re only a hundred days away from Halloween? It’s true. And I can’t think of any way to celebrate the opening of spooky season than preordering what will surely be one of the best horror releases of 2023.

Okay, terrible opening aside, it is both 100 days away from Halloween and two months till the release of Hannah and Other Stories. For those of you who don’t know (I’m sure there are a few of you out there), Hannah and Other Stories is my new collection of short stories. It’s being released on September 23rd by BSC Publishing Group and features tales of ghosts, budding serial killers, and carnivorous horses, among other things.

And I am so excited for people to read these stories. The seven stories are all plenty fun and strange and unique, which is what I love. The title story, “Hannah,” is about a pair of ghost hunters who get more than they bargain for when they investigate a haunted school. The one that follows it, “Queen Alice,” combines Alice in Wonderland with Slenderman, which I’m sure would intrigue many of you. The story “What Errour Awoke” combines classic English literature, cosmic horror and some of the biggest events of the past few years into an epic tale of magic and horror. “Fuseli’s Horses” contains those carnivorous horses I mentioned, and come on! Don’t you want to know how that works?

Plus, half of the stories contain LGBT characters and “What Errour Awoke” deals with a lot of the conspiracy bullshit we’ve been dealing with these past few years, so I’m sure someone’s going to try to get it banned from a library or school at some point. I’m sure more people will want to read it just for that.

But back on track. I’m so excited for people to read these stories, and I’m doing all I can to get people interested in preordering copies. It hasn’t been easy (see my recent post on marketing), but I feel I’m making headway. For example, I’ve posted some videos on my YouTube channel, and they’ve gotten some attention. Below are some of the ones I think really help with the sell.

If you watched all those videos, or even just one, thank you. That helps immensely.

I’m also releasing tons of excerpts, some of which are below. And I’m appearing on podcasts soon. Plus, with the eARC almost ready, that will mean I can do a lot that will surely heighten Hannah‘s profile, not the least of which will be the eARC readers, some of whom are very well known in horror, may help spread the good word about it.

Hopefully by September 23rd, there will be plenty of buzz for Hannah.

In the meantime, I’ll leave a button down below. If you click it, you’ll be taken to the preorder page for Hannah. I hope you do and you decide to preorder a copy. Every copy helps immensely. And I know it’s only going to be in ebook at first, but if Hannah does well, a paperback version isn’t out of the question. Maybe even an audio book.

So if you’re at all interested, preorder a copy. And be sure to talk about Hannah on your social media. The more people talking about Hannah, the likelier it is to be ordered and read and reviewed. All that will help this book be as successful as possible.

Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I look forward to Hannah‘s release and what you think of it. Until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and–look out! There’s a carnivorous horse behind you!

Click to preorder Hannah and Other Stories

EXCERPTS FROM HANNAH AND OTHER STORIES

Hannah and Other Stories: More Excerpts With Graphics

Posted: June 29, 2023 in Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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So a few weeks back, I posted some excerpts for Hannah and Other Stories that my publisher and I had created. These excerpts each had beautiful backgrounds and graphics to match each story, and I was really proud of each and every one of them (even though I only made three). And at the end of that post, I promised to post the other graphics as soon as they were available.

I should have said as soon as there were more of them and I had the time, which is what happened. But oh well. All the excerpts are out on my other social media, so let’s post them all here.

For a refresher, here are the ones from the last post. These first two are from BSC Publishing Group and are from “The Autopsy Kid and Doctor Sarah” and “Fuseli’s Horses.”

Then we had one from “Queen Alice,” which I made. If you can’t tell, Alice in Wonderland is a big influence on this particular story.

And now for the new stuff. Here’s two more from me. One is another from “Fuseli’s Horses,” while the other is from “Hannah.”

Pretty neat, right? I wanted to use some atmospheric quotes and combine them with matching images. I’m happy to say, I think I succeeded.

Now, check out these excerpts from BSC Publishing Group. I swear, Peyton, my editor, went all out on these and they’re amazing. First, we have “The Red Bursts,” with the most scenic background.

Then we have the inciting incident, “What Errour Awoke,” which combines classic English poetry with cosmic horror and contemporary events.

I wonder what he’s screaming about? Well, I know, but I’ll never tell. Next, we have another from “Hannah” which introduces the main characters, Dominic Holmes and Diesel Berkowitz. They’re ghost hunters with their own ghost hunting show. Maybe you’ll want to check it out?

After that, we have an excerpt from “Poor, Unfortunate Souls,” which takes place in the Paris catacombs. Finally get to publish a story with that beautiful and terrifying location as the setting.

Did that make you feel claustrophobic? I’m hoping it did.

Finally, we have another one from “Queen Alice,” which BSC dropped yesterday. Don’t be fooled by the sweet prose or unassuming background, however. This tale is as dark as a pool of water on a moonless night.

So there you have it. Ten excerpts, seven by BSC Publishing Group and three by me. And who knows? Maybe more excerpts will drop between now and September 23rd. Maybe even other types of content. I already put a video about “Queen Alice” on my YouTube channel (you can check it out here), and I will probably add more videos (so subscribe there as well). Whatever there is, I’ll be share it with you, no matter the platform.

And, of course, you can preorder Hannah and Other Stories here if these excerpts have intrigued you at all. Right now, it’s only available as an ebook, but if it does well in preorders, sales and reviews, we may see a paperback and even an audio book version in the near future. That’s even more incentive to preorder a copy, if you ask me.

And if you want one more excerpt, you can click here for that. It’s a digital copy of the chapbook I’ve been giving away at events. It’s quite popular.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be back soon. Until then, good night and pleasant nightmares. I’m off to do some reading before bed.

Hannah and Other Stories: Excerpts with Graphics!

Posted: June 13, 2023 in Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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So, some of you may have seen on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that BSC Publishing Group and I have been releasing excerpts with cool images or backgrounds as part of our marketing campaign for Hannah. And because not everyone here is on my other social media, I thought I would post those images here as well.

So, without further ado, here are the excerpts of Hannah and Other Stories.

These first two are from BSC Publishing Group. My editor Peyton created them. Aren’t they awesome?

Of course, I got in the fun, too. Here’s an excerpt from Queen Alice that I released yesterday.

Not bad, right? It gives readers a good idea of what to expect with this story. And I think it would make a good movie, too. If it is made into a movie, I hope John Noble plays the protagonist Blumfield.

Anyway, those are the ones that have been released already. More are coming from BSC and from myself in the near future. I’ll post more here as they release, but if you’d like to see them first, you can follow my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, which are listed on the side of this blog if you’re on your computer and below the comments if you’re on your phone or tablet.

Also, if you haven’t yet, you can preorder Hannah and Other Stories by clicking on the link here. Or you can read a longer excerpt here.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. This will likely be my last post before Stokercon,* but I’ll hopefully have more to post afterwards. I want to talk about the new marketing strategy I’m using, as well as the upcoming first anniversary of moving into my condo.

Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.

*Speaking of which, if you’re going to Stokercon, be sure to stop by the Brighton I Room at the hotel on Friday at 11:00 AM to hear me, Barbara Cottrell, Jeremiah Cook, and Gabino Iglesias read from our upcoming works, followed by a mass author signing at 5:00 PM. Definitely not to be missed.

Self-Pub Authors: Doing an Excerpt

Posted: April 7, 2014 in Journalism
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I decided that before I left for my study-abroad trip and got nearly zero-writing done, I’d write several articles for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. God knows I have enough ideas for articles. This is the first, Doing an Excerpt, with some helpful tips on picking passages from your latest work to use as excerpts on blogs, in contests, and in the back of your latest released book (there’s something I should try!).

Please take your time and explore Self-Pub Authors. It’s a really helpful website and it’s got articles from several different authors, myself included, on how to do self-publishing for little to no cost. And if you find the articles helpful, feel free to subscribe. We’ve got articles coming out all the time, so there’s never an end to the useful information you can read.

All for now. I’ve got an appointment in a bit, so I’ll get ready for that. Have a nice day, my Followers of Fear.