Happy Birthday to the blog, Happy Birthday to the blog. Happy Birthday to Rami Ungar the Writer! Happy Birthday to the blog.
I did warn you that I would have a new blog post out sooner than you might expect. Still, pretty incredible, isn’t it? That today is the fourteen year anniversary of when I set up this blog?
I think I say this every year, but it’s kind of incredible that I’m still blogging all these years later. I started writing this blog at the library near my mom’s house the month before I started college, hoping that, as I entered the world as an adult, I could build an audience for when I started publishing. I was just a young, naive, newly-minted adult back then, no idea where my life was going beyond starting school and working towards my dreams.
Now look at me. I’m a man in my thirties, with a job and my own condo and books to my name. Still no idea where my life is going at times, but I’ve already accomplished some dreams and I think I’m getting closer to making some more come true.
And this blog’s been through it with me the whole journey. There were times, especially early on when getting only a view or two per day was considered a good day, where I thought about giving up on the blog. But I persevered. I kept posting, especially when I had good news or stories to share. And before long, people found it. Some of them even became my friends. Some of them read my work. And many of them are still following me, all these years later.
So, thank you, Followers of Fear. Whether you only just started following me a few weeks ago, or you’ve been here since the beginning, or anywhere in-between, you have kept me going through thick and thin. Through good times and tough times, through celebrations and failures, and through times of fast growth and times of slow growth. It’s fair to say that, without you guys, neither me as a person, nor me as a writer, would be where I am today.
Here’s hoping when I write this post in a year from now, I have plenty of developments to celebrate, and plenty more people here to celebrate with.
In the meantime, my Followers of Fear, if you want to celebrate with me, if you want to support me, or if you’re just looking for a good scary story or two to read this spooky season, I’ll include the link to my book page below. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, I have something for every horror fan (including some free stuff). So, go ahead and take a look. You might find your next favorite read.
And if you do end up reading something of mine, please consider giving it a review. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps both me and your fellow readers in the long run.
That’s all for now. I’m off to a meadery to celebrate. Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 90 days to Halloween!
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!
Well, I got another event on the horizon! And this one, both its timing and theme, shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows me.
I attended the Columbus Witches Ball in November 2022, and had an amazing time. Hosted by the Magical Druid, one of the most prominent metaphysical shops in Columbus (we have a few), it’s an awesome gathering of witches, Wiccans, and neo-Pagans. There was a ritual (which I filmed for YouTube), some dancing, and, of course, plenty of people interested in books and Tarot readings. I did very well on sales, and also had a ton of fun.
I wanted to go back in 2023, but I had a conflict, and last year, I attended a different event held by the Magical Druid, so I decided not to go. But this year, I’m going back. And this year, it’ll be held at the Ohio Brewing Company at 421 East 2nd Avenue in downtown Columbus from 1 PM – 11 PM. Obviously, there will be food and drink (it is a brewery, after all), but also a guest lecturer, a ritual, and dancing. Plus, lots of vendors, including little old me. I’ll be there selling books and doing Tarot card readings, so if you’re in the area, please consider attending. I’ll include links to tickets below.
And don’t worry. I’ll be sure to post a reminder before the event. Just in case you forget. And I’ll let you all know if any new events pop up. Which, given Halloween is 94 days away, is likely to happen.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares!
No, you didn’t read that wrong. That’s not a misspelling on my part of “Halloween.” That is the name of the novel, and since I heard of it, I’ve wanted to read it. I mean, with a name like that, how could I not? And with the audio book just getting released recently, I decided to give it a listen and see if this would become a new classic for spooky season.
Taking place during the Halloween immediately following the September 11 attacks, several strange things are happening in the small town of Crook’s Corner, Massachusetts. A famous scream queen is kidnapped in town while filming a new horror film. A science teacher is putting together a machine that causes those near it to see strange shapes. A Goth teenager and her little sister use the latter’s psychic abilities to play pranks on their grandmother. All this and more herald the coming of something evil: a cosmic being who wishes to become a god over all humanity. And this Halloween, they may get their chance.
This book was so hard to put down (or should I say put on pause?). The first chapter, where the scream queen is kidnapped, is shocking enough, but then the novel jumps back several hours, showing what the main characters–a group of high schoolers filming a horror movie for a class–are up to. And with those opening chapters, you get several different plot threads and you wonder how they’re all going to wrap up into one neat little package.
Which, much to my delight, they did come together nicely, leading to a harrowing story with a strong atmosphere of dread and tension. In fact, that’s probably the book’s biggest strength: the atmosphere. Once the horror part really gets going in Helloween, it’s just nonstop threat to the characters. Even in the pauses to the horror, there’s so much tension, it’s hard to relax. Add in some of the events in the latter half of the book, and you start to wonder if the characters can even triumph over the great evil.
And that’s the book’s second biggest strength: it’s characters, particularly the antagonist Geth. Geth is an ancient entity who schemes to become a god, and when it–or they, I should say–gets the ball rolling on their plans, you better believe that shit will hit the fan! And the way Geth is written, this alien being who thinks differently than us but plans to become a god over us, just makes them fascinating to follow. Even as you fear their victory due to their overwhelming power and disregard for both human life and human autonomy.
The other characters are great, too. Ralston manages to make almost all of the supporting characters– from kooky science teacher Ernie Combs and the Catholic priest to would have been right at home during the Crusades, to scream queen Darla Knight and the annoying kid who annoys almost all the other characters–feel real and fleshed out. And yes, there are a lot of them, but at no point did I ever feel like I was overwhelmed with the number of characters I encountered in the book.
Of course, our six main characters were no exception. At first glance, they do feel like your typical high school stereotypes: Cody the jock; Britney the popular girl; Jay the computer geek; Walden the film buff; Cassandra the Goth and her sweet little sister Taylor. But early on, we see that they all have deep dimensions to them, and that only grows as we get deeper into the story. Before I knew it, I couldn’t help but root for and love these characters dearly.
All in all, Helloween by Duncan Ralston is scary AF and sure to become a Halloween classic in time. On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m awarding it a 4.8. Consider picking up a copy and adding it to your reading list this spooky season. If you’re a horror fan, you won’t regret it.
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.
The detective arrives at the crime scene and finds the body is nearly identical to another murder. A soldier is walking through a swamp, when they are warned by their sergeant that mines are buried underfoot. The bride leaves her groom at the altar, looking to find herself after years of being told what she should do with her life. The singer comes across Robert Johnson’s guitar, thought to be long lost, and finds there’s more than just history attached to it.
All of these could be the beginning of a story that starts in media res.
Latin for “in the middle of things,” a story that begins in media res is one that starts midway through the plot, rather than at the beginning. And believe it or not, a lot of stories start like this. Hell, you’re probably familiar with most of them. The Star Wars movies arguably all start in media res, as they all start when a conflict is well underway. The novel Gone Girl begins with the protagonist’s wife being discovered missing. Wicked, from novel to musical to movie adaptation (love those last two) always start with the Wicked Witch being a well known figure and with several events implied as having happened and being common knowledge.
That last example brings up something important: how do these stories start in the middle when there’s who knows how much backstory we’ve missed? Often, this is accomplished through dialogue, flashbacks, and exposition. Flashbacks are especially popular, with the majority of Wicked being flashbacks, and the Deadpool films using flashbacks to explain why the film starts off with Wade Wilson getting into some insane shit.
And in horror, in media res is also quite popular. From the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein and Jekyll & Hyde to modern entries like Firestarter and Nightmare on Elm Street. Many of my own stories also start this way: Rose begins with Rose Taggert waking up in a greenhouse with no memory of how she got there or of the past two years, “Queen Alice” begins with my main character Joshua Blumfield already giving his report on the urban legend, and “The Dedication of the High Priestess” begins with Annie Hummel going to a gallery after already serving as a model for three paintings.
Why do horror authors, as well as authors in other genres, begin their stories this way? Well, one thing is the immediate hook. Take Nightmare on Elm Street: it starts with Freddy crafting his claws and then chasing after a teenage girl, only to wake up right on time. We’re immediately left wondering what happened and why, and that keeps our interest.
This oil painting by friend and colleague Iseult Murphy is based on “The Dedication of the High Priestess.” The story is an excellent example of a story starting in media res.
It also makes for great suspense. Take Nightmare again: we’ve already witnessed what Freddy’s capable of in the first scene, and so we wonder what else he can do. Would that have happened if we started with Freddy’s first murders and then getting killed by the parents? That opening violence builds up our expectations and keeps us enthralled.
Finally, you manage to get through a lot of exposition writing this way. Take Gone Girl, for example. Gillian Flynn could have started the story with Nick and Amy meeting, getting married, and the fracturing of their relationship before Amy’s disappearance, but would that have been as fun? It’s more interesting and suspenseful to read about the disappearance and then see how their relationship developed.
Another great example would be my story “The Dedication of the High Priestess” (spoilers for a story that came out in 2022). As I said, that story starts with my protagonist Annie already having modeled for a famous artist. She then goes through the gallery, which then causes her to be caught up in the King in Yellow’s plot to come to Earth. I could have started with Annie taking ballet classes, being scouted for the painter’s new series, doing the modeling gigs, and then going to the gallery, but that would have taken a lot of time and pages, and a lot of effort to keep readers interested. Starting with the gallery showing, using dialogue and exposition to explain how we got to this start, and then getting straight to the horror was very effective.
So, there’s a lot of reasons to use in media res to start a story, no matter the genre. It won’t work with all stories (looking at you The Hogfather, Die Hard, and Kill Creek), but if it works with your story, and you can do all the backstory parts without any issue, I see no reason not to use it. After all, I use it all the time. And look at me now!
Thanks for reading, my Followers of Fear. I’m about to start a new story, and it starts so in media res, some readers might need to read the start again. I thought about starting it from earlier in the events of the story, what I would normally reserve for flashbacks or exposition, but it felt like it would take too long and take up too much of a word count. Thinking about it and weighing my options made me want to write this blog post.
And now, if you need me, I’ll be busy writing what may be the most Halloween-y story I’ve written to date. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares!
In recent days and across my social media, as well as on my blog, the number of people following me has grown by leaps and bounds. Why is that? I have my theories, but this post isn’t about theories. Instead, it’s to better introduce myself to my new Followers of Fear, as I like to call the people following me and supporting my writing career.
And since I’m a horror writer, obviously I’m doing thirteen items to get to know me better.
So, without further ado, here’s what will hopefully be a fun introduction to yours truly. And who knows? Perhaps some of my long-time Followers of Fear might learn something that’ll surprise them. It’s happened before!
I’m a writer of horror and dark fantasy with five books under my belt. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and in college, I started self-publishing books. My first book was a collection called The Quiet Game: Five Tales to Chill Your Bones, which came out in 2013. The next year, I published a slasher novel called Snake about a serial killer hunting mobsters in New York City (think John Wick, Taken and Friday the 13th got smashed into a novel). Both did okay, and continue to get readers today.
Five years later, I published my first novel with a publisher. Rose was released by Castrum Press in summer 2019, and followed a young woman turned into a plant/human hybrid (and that’s just the start of her problems). I followed Rose in 2021 with The Pure World Comes, a Victorian Gothic horror novel about a maid who goes to work for a mad scientist. And last year, in 2023, I published my second collection, Hannah and Other Stories, which was released by BSC Publishing Group.
That’s all five of my books out now. I’m proud of all of them and all I’ve managed to do with them over the years. And I plan to put out more in the years to come.
All five of my currently available books. I love them and am so proud of them (and their awesome covers).
I’m Jewish, queer, and have disabilities. Growing up, my life has been an interesting ride, to say the least. Not only did I grow up in a fairly religious Jewish household, but both my father and mother are rabbis. I went to a Jewish day school for most of my youth, learning Hebrew and Judaic subjects for half the day and then learning normal stuff the rest of the day. I also went to synagogue nearly every week, and attended Jewish teen and college groups until I graduated.
To this day, I still practice a lot of the religious practices I grew up with and feel a strong connection with my faith and heritage.
I’m also bisexual. I figured that out in college, and came out about half a year after I came to that realization. Probably took me that long to get comfortable with it because, even surrounded by accepting people and LGBT family members, I still worried about being persecuted. However, I did come out and it was all good, which was reassuring. And then some years later, I realized I was also aromantic (if you’re unfamiliar, it means I can’t feel romantic desire or attraction). Which, looking back, felt pretty obvious, considering I didn’t care about having a relationship all my life. But when I realized it, it was still a bit of a revelation.
And finally, I’m on the spectrum. Have been my whole life. I also have ADHD, a form of albinism, an anxiety disorder, and most recently, diabetes. Yeah, that last one was only diagnosed a couple of months ago, and it sucks! To say the least, it was a shock for me and I miss not being able to eat sweets or have a drink as much as I used to. But, on the bright side, I’ve improved my health by leaps and bounds since finding out, and I plan to keep it that way. Too much to do in my life, after all.
And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve made it a goal to increase representation of these three groups, as well as their intersections, in my fiction. So far, I’m meeting that goal, and hope to release some of those stories soon.
My writing influences. My major influence is, without a doubt, Stephen King. I read IT as a preteen and it was a formative moment in my life! That whole summer, I was transported to Derry, Maine and, when I finished that book at summer camp, I knew what kind of books I would write for the rest of my life.
I’m also majorly influenced by the ideas of HP Lovecraft and the subgenre of cosmic horror, as well as Anne Rice and a ton of anime and manga. All those creators and stories have led me to writing some really insane stories, such as Rose, which I mentioned above, or “Fuseli’s Horses,” one of the stories in Hannah, which is about carnivorous horses.
But I’m not complaining. People seem to like my work, after all.
I love going to the movies and to the theater. It’s rare that a month goes by without me going to see a movie. Usually it’s a horror film or a new superhero film, but I sometimes go see comedies, fantasy and sci-fi films, and anime films getting theatrical releases. I just love going to the movies! I didn’t get to go as much as I wanted when I was growing up, so starting in college, I went as often as possible. And I still do.
Most people are surprised to learn I like ballet. Then they see how much it appears in my stories.
And now that I have a decent day job, I also go to the ballet and to touring Broadway shows. My interest in ballet started probably in college, and as a working adult, I got really into it. It’s gotten to the point where I’m kind of obsessed and look for ways to insert ballet and dancers into the stories I write! And as for Broadway shows, I think Disney movies as a kid primed me to be a fan of those, though the breadth and depth of musicals out there is far wider than Disney can think up, as it turns out.
Now, I have subscriptions to both the local ballet company and to touring Broadway shows that stop in Columbus. And I have to say, I think I would be just as psyched for one of my stories to be adapted into a ballet or Broadway show as I would be for a movie. Maybe even more.
I have several tattoos. To be precise, I have a chest tattoo of a tiger with a blue Star of David, a full back tattoo of one of my favorite ideas from the horror genre, a wrist tattoo referencing some of my favorite anime, and a Tarot card on my right leg that’s about halfway done. However, while I have my tattoos, I don’t normally share photos of them. That’s partially because I just don’t feel the need to. My tattoos are for me to express myself and to have my body reflect who I am. So, their existence on my body is enough for me.
Still, they’re awesome. And I plan to get more as time and money allows.
My most popular work is Rose. I’ve been publishing for over a decade now, but none of my work has done as well critically or commercially as Rose. And I think I know why: it’s the unusual story of a woman turned into a plant/human hybrid. Very weird, very Kafkaesque, and very fantasy horror. Add in that it’s a short but twisty read with Japanese folklore and mythology mixed in, and it’s not surprising that that book does so well.
Plus, you gotta love that cover.
Anyway, if you would like to check out Rose, you can check out its page HERE. I hope you like it if you read it.
I go ghost hunting at least once a year. I’ve been lucky to go to several different locations to ghost hunt. From famous places like the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, OH and the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast in Fall River, MA, to lesser known locations such as the Anchorage Mansion in Marietta, OH and the Bellaire House in Bellaire, OH, with the hope to visit and revisit many, many more.
Also, I try my best to get my investigations on YouTube and upload them to YouTube. So, if you would like to check out my ghost hunting videos, you can check out my channel HERE. They’re spooky good!
I make my own wine. Most people don’t realize that you can brew your own alcohol at home, but it is, and there are plenty of people of doing it, including me. I’ve made a batch of plum wine, and I just finished and bottled a batch of pumpkin wine (yes, pumpkin wine). And I’ve been making my wines based on colors of the rainbow: plum wine is red, and pumpkin is obviously orange. Yellow will be dandelion wine, green will be mint, blue will obviously blueberries, and indigo/violet will be elderberries. And I can’t wait to try them all!
The pumpkin wine I made, all bottled up. Looks good, doesn’t it?
I bought my first home two years ago. For millennials like me, it’s hard to find an affordable home, let alone a non-fixer upper that you don’t have to share with a bunch of other millennials. However, I was lucky enough to find and buy a small condo for myself two years ago, and I’ve been living in the Haunted Condo, as I call it, ever since.
Sadly, it’s not very haunted by anything except me. I don’t know why, I’ve done voodoo rituals and everything else to make the place haunted, but so far, no otherworldly dice. At least I can make one hell of a Halloween display every October and decorate the inside as I like!
My yard is the spookiest in the neighborhood every October.
I’m the chapter coordinator for HWA Ohio. The Horror Writers Association is an international organization that supports horror writers and helps them network and grow. Ohio’s chapter is about six or seven years old, and I’m the guy who runs it! Which was never my intention: some other members organized the chapter, and I volunteered to find a venue. Somehow, I kept arranging locations for us to meet, and that morphed into becoming the chapter coordinator. And after the parent organization set a formal election process for chapter coordinators for all chapters…well, I ran without competition. I guess people think I’m doing a good job or something?
Anyway, HWA Ohio has its own website, which lists our members and puts out news about us. If you would like to check the website out and support us, click HERE.
So proud to have a story from this collection adapted into a radio play.
I recently had my very first story adaptation. Remember my collection Hannah and Other Stories, which I mentioned above? Earlier this year, I became acquainted with a producer for WCBE 90.5, a local NPR station who interviews local creative types. He also runs a yearly Halloween show, where a short story is adapted into a radio play, with the roles played by local high schoolers.
“Hannah,” the lead story in Hannah and Other Stories, was this year’s story. It was my first time having a story adapted, and it was so, so good! The kids did really well in their roles, and it was amazing hearing my story brought to life on the radio.
And if you would like to listen to it, you can! It’s available to stream online, and you can listen to it in full HERE. Let me know what you think if you listen to it. The more people who listen, the better for future shows and future students. Plus, who knows? Maybe another one of my stories will get adapted. It happened once, didn’t it?
I tend to break out in song at any provocation. I kid you not, this is something I did daily in high school, and which I do quite frequently these days. In fact, I’m part of a critique group with some of my fellow Ohio horror writers, and they say it’s not a meeting if I don’t burst out in song at least once!
Too bad I sing badly, but hey, why should I let that stop me?
What I’m working on now. I’m juggling a few projects at the moment. For one, I’m putting together another collection of short stories, and I hope to have more on that in the coming days and weeks. I also recently finished a new novel, The Shape of Evil, which is about a 3D printer from Hell, and I hope to have that ready for pitching to agents and publishers by June next year. Finally, I also have a collection of novellas I plan to work on at some point, and I have a mummy novel I started but put aside for other projects that I plan to get back to.
Plus some short stories to send out to magazines and anthologies here and there. Yeah, I’m a busy guy, aren’t I? But that’s kind of the way I like it.
Anyway, that’s thirteen things you need to know about me. I hope you enjoyed learning about me, because I enjoyed writing it. And if you did, be sure to follow this blog and my other social media to keep up with what I’m doing and when I have new work coming out.
And if you would like to check out any of my other work, I’ll leave a link to my book page down below. You’ll find all my published works and then some there, including free stories. And if you like what you read, I hope you’ll leave a review online so I, as well as other readers, know what you think.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Surprise! The new episode of the Tales to Terrify podcast dropped today instead of tomorrow. Which means my new short story, “White Leaves,” is now live and available to be listened to. It tells the story of an apartment complex that wakes up one morning to find the entire place blanketed in strange white leaves.
Did I mention that this episode is not just the Halloween episode, but episode 666? That’s a devilishly awesome coincidence!
Anyway, if you’re at all interested in giving it a listen, the episode is available to stream now. “White Leaves” is the third and final story in the episode and comes about twenty-eight minutes in after some sponsor ads. It’s quite spooky, if I do say so myself. I’ll include a link below. And be sure to let me know what you think when you’re done! I love reader feedback, after all.
Happy Halloween, my Followers of Fear. I hope you’re having a wonderfully creepy day. And I hope you check out the “Hannah” radio play later today at 7 PM EST on WCBE 90.5’s website. Yeah, I can’t stop speaking about this, but can you blame me? It’s my very first story adaptation!
Happy Halloween, Followers of Fear! I hope you’ve left treats out for all the spirits crossing over from the other side and have dressed up appropriately for the holiday.
And, if you are at all interested, tonight airs the radio play version of “Hannah,” the lead story of my collection, Hannah and Other Stories! It’s my first adaptation, so I’m very excited. I really hope a lot of people tune in to check it out. Especially since it’s a ghost story involving a pair of ghost hunters checking out a haunted school and finding something unexpected in the girl’s bathroom.
Anyway, if you’d like to check out the radio play, it airs tonight at 7 PM EST on WCBE 90.5’s website, which I’ve linked in a button below. It’ll be one story dramatized among others as part of WCBE’s annual Halloween program (not sure what the order is or what the other stories are). And if you aren’t able to tune in live, it should be available to stream on The Craft, the show that interviews creatives I was on recently and which the Halloween show is part of. I’ll be sure to post a link for anyone interested once the stream is available.
I may also do a YouTube or Instagram Live broadcast, but I haven’t done either of those yet, so it’ll depend on interest and if I can figure out how it’s done.
So, if you’re looking forward to the show tonight, the link’s below. I look forward to listening to the show with you and hope it’s as amazing as I dream it will be. And that you’ll let me know what you think when it airs.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, Happy Halloween and pleasant nightmares.
Some of you may remember me announcing a while back that my short story, “White Leaves,” was going to be narrated on the Tales to Terrify podcast. The story follows what happens to an apartment complex when it wakes up to a sea of white leaves outside on their lawns. And this morning, I was informed that the story will be narrated on their Halloween episode this week (rather fitting, given that the story takes place on Halloween).
And guess what else? This is going to be Episode 666 of the podcast! What a devilishly crazy coincidence!
But man, this is turning out to be a really good week for me. First, I took the week off for mental health reasons, and have found myself healing by leaps and bounds with every passing day. Second, the radio play featuring “Hannah” from Hannah and Other Stories will air tomorrow night as part of WCBE 90.5’s annual Halloween show. Third, I got some good news this week on something else I’ve written (can’t say what it is yet, but it’s big). And now, “White Leaves” is going to be airing on Friday! I can’t wait!
Anyway, I hope you’ll check out Episode 666 when it airs. And in the meantime, why not check out Episode 565, which includes my previous work narrated by Tales to Terrify, “The Dedication of the High Priestess.” I’ll include the link below. And I hope when the radio show airs tomorrow at 7 PM EST, you’ll tune in for that as well (link below as well).
And if any of these stories give you the bug for my stories, I’ll include a link for my Books page below. From plant/human hybrids and strange gods to Mafia-hunting serial killers and carnivorous horses, there’s something for every horror fan to enjoy. And if you like what you read, please leave a review online. They help me, and other readers as well.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I have a pumpkin to carve before dinner. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Rami Ungar The Writer 