You like the graphic? It’s based on the one for the official contest. I hope they don’t sue me for that.
If you’re reading this, then that means I made it to the second round–the “Gauntlet Round”–of the Face of Horror contest. And I have to thank all of you for that.
So if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, The Face of Horror is a contest I’m participating in. At the end of the contest, the winner will get a walk-on role in an indie horror film and a photo shoot with Kane freaking Hodder in Rue Morgue magazine, among other things. The first round, the “Child’s Play” round, began on September 6th and ended just a little while ago. Participants advance when people either cast a free daily vote or buy extra votes (portion of proceeds go to pediatric cancer research) for their favorite candidate.
And the fact that I made it past the first round means that you all kept coming back to vote for me over these past several days. I cannot thank you enough for that. It means a lot to me that you would go to these lengths, revisiting my original blog post and my profile page on the contest site every day to vote for me. You kept me in the Top 20 participants in my group, and that means the world to me.
However, now that I’m in the Gauntlet Round, things will be a little tricky. Like I said at the beginning, I don’t expect to win this contest. I’ll be happy if I make it a couple of rounds and get some side exposure or other benefits from it. However, I would like to see if we can keep the momentum up, so I’m asking you to keep voting throughout the Gauntlet Round, which lasts from September 15th to September 22nd. If I manage to stay in the Top 15, I’ll move onto the third round. If I don’t…well, it was fun while it lasted.
Either way though, I plan to give this all I got. So please continue to cast your votes everyday for me, and buy extra if you feel comfortable doing so. With any luck, I’ll continue to stay in the running and maybe meet some new readers that way.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll probably be back in a few days with a post for the Halloween season. Until then, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 45 days and 1 hour till Halloween at the time this post is released!
Well, I have to start this post off with some bad news: I will not be at the Ohio Author Spotlight Event being held by the Pickerington Public Library in Pickerington, Ohio. I’ll get into why in a bit. Stick around, because you’ll want to read on, even if you don’t live anywhere near Ohio.
The good news is, the Bexley Public Library will be hosting another Night of Horror with me and my fellow members of the Ohio chapter of the Horror Writers Association, or HWA Ohio. We’ll be doing readings and selling books at the Bexley Public Library in Bexley, Ohio on Monday, October 3rd from 7-8 PM. The featured authors’ list is still being finalized, but I’ll be there, you can count on that.
And on October 15th, I’ll be at the Licking County Public Library for their Local Author Festival. The fair will be from 10:30 AM to 2 PM at the Licking County Public Library in Newark, Ohio. This year, the library is doing quite a bit to draw in bigger crowds than last year, so hopefully plenty of people show up.
If any of you are in Ohio during those dates, please stop by to say hello. I would be happy to see you, provided you’re not a murderous stalker or just any form of stalker, and I would gladly sign a book for you. And if any other events pop up, I will let you know.
And while this is not an event, you all know that I’m competing in the Face of Horror contest. The first round of the contest ends Friday, September 15th, at which point the Top 20 of each group will move onto the next round. I don’t expect to win, though I would love to meet Kane Hodder and have a walk-on role in an indie horror movie, among other things. But I would like to make it to the next round, and I need your help to do that. Every day, you get one free vote, so please cast your votes using the link below. Or you can buy extra votes (portion of proceeds goes to charity).
Whatever you choose, thank you for your support these past several days. Because you keep coming back and casting your votes, I’ve been able to stay in the rankings in my group and might just make it to the next round. I hope you’ll continue to support me as I work hard and try to make the most of this opportunity for my writing career. Who knows? I may even win.
Finally, why am I not going to the Pickerington Public Library this weekend? Well, that’s because Mystics and Marvels this past weekend was a huge success! I sold all but two copies of The Pure World Comes, which is more than I’ve ever sold at any other event, and earned more than at any other convention I’ve been to. My fellow authors at the HWA Ohio table also sold plenty of books, which definitely made all the work this past weekend worth it. We’ve already put a deposit down on a booth for next year, and we’re planning on bringing more authors with us next year so we all can reach even more readers.
This and other recent events make me think that, even though I’m so busy lately that I often don’t have time to write, that I’m on the path I’m meant to be on right now. It’s like the universe or God or whatever is moving me towards some new chapter of my writing career, and I can’t wait to see what unfolds in that chapter. Maybe more writing time? One can only hope.
Anyway, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll end this by posting photos from Mystics and Marvels. I’ll probably be back soon, so keep an eye out. And in the meantime, good night, pleasant nightmares, and 47 days till Halloween!
From left to right: Matt Betts, me, Sarah Hans, and Anton Cancre
This is my new author photo.
Definitely one of the most elaborate costumes I saw at the fair, if not the most elaborate: the Skull Bear!
No joke, that is a genuine wolf! Not a dark furred German Shepherd, a real wolf!
A medium made this portrait for me using pastels. Apparently he’s one of my spirit guides, and an English soldier from the Battle of Agincourt who might be my ancestor.
Another great costume, but it was difficult to communicate with this person due to the mask.
You would not believe what it took to get that photo taken.
You’re probably wondering what this is about. Well, a little while ago I heard about a contest for horror fans called the Face of Horror. What’s it about? Well, various horror fans and creators sign up to show that they are the greatest horror fans there are. The Face of Horror, if you will. And over the coming days, you’ll be able to vote for the candidate of your choice.
Guess who signed up as a contestant?
That’s right, me. I mean, can you blame me? And what happens if I actually win? Well, I’ll earn $13,000; get to stay in Buffalo Bill’s house from Silence in the Lambs for two nights (apparently it’s a real place in Pennsylvania); a walk-on role in the next movie of the director running the contest, Jim Vendiola; and a photo shoot with Kane Hodder, the only actor to play Jason Voorhees more than once, let alone four times, in Rue Morgue magazine! And all I need is your votes.
Now, I know you guys don’t owe me a thing and there’s no reason for any of you to help me. However, even if I don’t win, this could be a good opportunity for me. By participating, I might get even just a little bit of exposure, which may help me find some new readers. And if I end up winning, this could be a huge boost to my career! I could end up meeting all sorts of new people and followers through this contest.
Plus, you would have my gratitude in helping me move forward through the contest and hopefully furthering my career.
So, how do you vote? Click on the highlighted link below, and it’ll take you to my profile. You can cast one free vote per day during the contest, and can purchase additional votes (a portion of proceeds from purchased votes going to the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, which funds pediatric cancer research and financial assistance for families of patients). All you need is a Facebook account and/or a valid credit/debit card (especially if you intend to purchase more votes).
Anyway, this post being out means that the contest has begun, and the first round will go until September 15th. That’s at least ten chances for each person to vote. I hope you’ll consider voting and helping me out with moving onto the next round. Who knows? You may end up helping me further my dreams by leaps and bounds just with your support.
One more thing: I’ll be at the Mystics and Marvels fair on Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th, from 11 AM – 6 PM, at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Hilliard, Ohio. This is a really cool convention with Tarot readers and fortune tellers, stones and crystals sellers, and, of course, authors. I’ll be at the chapter for the Ohio chapter of the Horror Writers Association, HWA Ohio, so stop by if you can. You can check out more information at the website here.
And on Saturday, September 17th, the Pickerington Public Library is holding an Author Spotlight Event for Ohio authors at their location in Pickerington, Ohio from 10 AM – 2 PM. I will be signing and selling books at a spooktacular table, so I hope you’ll stop by and say hello.
And if you can’t make it to either event but would still like to support me (in addition to voting, of course), you can always check out one of my books and let me know what you think when you read it. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback and it helps me in the long run. I’ll include links below.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll check in again soon. So until next time, happy voting and pleasant nightmares!
Hello, Followers of Fear. There are sixty days till Halloween. What have you done to prepare?
Artwork produced by artificial intelligence, or AI art, has become kind of a thing as the technology has advanced. In fact, some months back, there was an app that became a fad for horror writers to generate images and even book covers. And earlier this week, John Oliver featured it on his TV show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Here’s the video, if you’re interested. It’s hysterical.
John Oliver’s wife and children must have such a blast telling people who don’t know who he is what he does for a living. “Oh, my husband/dad? He sexually harasses Adam Driver and marries cabbages on TV once a week.”
Anyway, it got me interested enough to want to play around with AI art, so I made an account with one of the recommended companies, Midjourney, and went to work. The results were not only fascinating, but gave me some thoughts on the nascent AI art industry.
First, here are some of my successes. As it turns out, Midjourney’s AI program does very well with Lovecraftian/cosmic horror entities. For example, here’s Cthulhu destroying Las Vegas because I’m not a big Vegas fan (though under the right circumstances I’d visit again).
Then, in order, we have Yog-Sothoth, Shub-niggurath, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth, two pictures of the Deep Ones, the Color from Outer Space, and the King in Yellow.
And portraits of famous people tended to go well with the program. Here are Stephen King, Anne Rice, and HP Lovecraft, three of my biggest influences as a writer, as well as one of Lizzie Borden with an axe. Because why not?
And because I love ballet and try to put dancers in my stories when I can, I made a series of ballet posts, with their titles in the captions.
Dancer and Wolf on the lake
The Little Ballerina Ghost
Dancer in the Egyptian Temple
Dancers on a Moonlit Beach
Little Dancers Running from Lava
Little Dancer and Anubis
Pretty cool, right? Most of them look really good. However, those were success stories, like I said. Here’s what happened when I tried to create Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th films.
Yeah, I know. None of those come close to looking like Jason! He’s arguably more famous than Cthulhu, but these were the results. And then there was my attempt at Freddy Kreuger from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Oy freaking vey!
Yeah, who is that? Not Freddy Kreuger, who is definitely more famous than Cthulhu! Honestly, it looks more like my conception of Leland Gaunt, the antagonist from Needful Things by Stephen King. How could the AI get our favorite subconscious serial killer so wrong?
And those are just a few examples. I went through several failures trying to get anywhere close to a specific idea or image, only to give up when I realized the program just couldn’t create it. I couldn’t even create a decent Sailor Moon or an accurate tiger image, and both those prompts have enough references out there that they should have been easy to create something accurate.
Even some of the successes took a lot of work and experimentation, such as The King in Yellow or Little Dancer and Anubis. I won’t even go into detail about how hard it was to get a good Alice in Wonderland pic that wasn’t too trippy. I mean, I know the source material is plenty weird, but not all art based on it has to be super-surreal!
And while I call some of them successes, they aren’t perfect. You can especially see it in the ballerina series, where features like the head and limbs look odd or bent in ways you wouldn’t see on a normal dancer or a Degas painting. Only the tutus and bodices come out well. The rest of their bodies can be a mixed bag.
It kind of reminds me of that scene in 1986’s The Fly, where Jeff Goldblum puts steak through the teleporter and it comes out tasting weird. He figures out that the computer hasn’t learned how to move organic materials, and is instead creating an interpretation or bad imitation of what it thinks steak is. That’s what we have here: the AI has learned how to mimic and create, but it’s still leagues away from making certain things.
And honestly, I’m glad. Art is art because there’s someone behind it with a vision or a passion. You can program a computer to recreate famous art pieces or original pieces, including Batman comics and scripts or horror screenplays. And the computer might even do a good job at times. But there won’t be any passion or soul behind it. Art is art because we’re putting our love and soul into our creations.
And getting to work with a creator? That’s even more special. Believe me, I’ve done it before, and it’s amazing to see your vision come to life with their help. Especially when working on art pieces like book covers. That truly is something special.
That being said, I can see AI-generated art being used for cheap book covers as the technology improves, and the services of artists becoming more expensive. This could especially apply for small presses or independent publishers who need to lower costs while maximizing profits. The only time publishers may use a real artist is if the author is big enough to warrant it.
Hopefully that doesn’t happen, because it would mean we wouldn’t get to see some really amazing collaborations. So, for the meantime, I’ll stop with the AI art (I’ve scratched that itch and I don’t want to pay a subscription for Midjourney, anyway), and continue supporting the artists who create amazing art. Especially horror art.
And now, here are some more pieces I created. Except for a few I’m waiting to reveal till the time is right, here are my other successes. You can ask what was going through my mind when I created these in the comments below. Enjoy, and until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!
As you know, I went to another haunted location recently. This one was the West Virginia Penitentiary, which was to be the host of the West Virginia Penitentiary Paracon. Now, you know me, I never pass up the opportunity to visit a haunted location, so the day before the Paracon I visited the prison for a tour.
Now, if you’ve never been to the Penitentiary (and I bet many of you haven’t), it’s a big, Gothic building that reminds me of my beloved Ohio State Reformatory back in Mansfield. Granted, it’s older by about twenty years and was in operation for far longer, and its history is certainly bloodier. In fact, the prison used to be known nationwide as “Blood Alley,” and it was cited by the Justice Department in an investigation of America’s prisons as its worst examples. In the late 1980s, there was a riot there that killed four people, and at one point, an Aryan Brotherhood leader was murdered by his deputy during yard time!
And these are just drops in the bucket: apparently the prison saw about 998 deaths during its operation. And that’s just the ones that we know of that weren’t scheduled executions.
Obviously, the building is supposed to be haunted up to the gills, and I was hoping I might experience some creepy occurrences while there. Sadly, I didn’t, and I couldn’t attend the vendor ghost hunt after the paracon. However, I did feel something in one area:
The “skating rink,” where I got a really bad feeling
There’s this long corridor near where you enter the building for tours called the skating rink. It got that name because during the winter, event today, this corridor ices over and you can skate on it. When the prison was in operation, prisoners were supposed to line up along the walls before going back to their cells, and anyone who would step over a line on the floor would be shot dead. It was a great way to get rid of someone you disliked, and plenty of people did.
I did not know this, but I felt some negative energy in that area. When the tour guide told us about that, it made sense.
I then told our tour guide about my feeling, and he later said to another tour guide as they passed by that he was scared of me (I hadn’t even told him I was a writer yet). I was proud that he figured out to be afraid of me. Very few realize they should until it’s too late.
Some other places that caught my attention were:
This one wall. Can you see a signature? That’s from Zak Bagans, leader of the Ghost Adventures team from TV. Apparently he left his signature there while filming an episode there. However, someone destroyed part of the signature (I think the dude was drunk), and it’s now a funny part of the tours.
This hallway is infamous for a funny reason: apparently the pattern on the floor was imported from Spain, but when Netflix used part of the prison for filming an episode of Mindhunter, they placed their own tile on the floor, ruining the pattern. Netflix is now banned from ever using the prison. I find that hysterical.
This is the Wheel. It separated the main prison from either a residential or administrative section of the prison. Only one other like it exist in the world, in Manchester, England, and it’s the only one in existence still being used.
On the tour, we learned that the prison was used as the filming location for the TV show Castle Rock, and that this particular cell was where Bill Skarsgard stood for his scenes. Standing in that same cell was just plain awesome!
Finally, there was this moment: this section, in addition to having some creepy spirits, is probably the only area in the prison where the cell doors still work. The cells are about five feet by seven, and would usually house three inmates, and they would let us experience what it’s like to be in that cell as a prisoner for a minute.
Naturally, I got it on camera.
Yeah, that was a cool moment. Even if I didn’t get any sort of presence in there.
So, would I go back? Probably, if I could properly investigate the place. There are some shadow figures that supposedly hang around, and I would like to see about contacting some of the other spirits, including ones in areas that weren’t on the tour (some places were just off-limits for certain reasons).
And maybe I’ll get something really creepy on video. Creepier than me, anyway.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to work on Crawler. After this chapter, I may take a break to work on a short story or two. And I might have a post or two to write in the near future. So, until next time, good night, pleasant nightmares, and is that a chupacabra outside your window?
It’s official: The Pure World Comes is now in audio book, narrated by the awesome Nikki Delgado.
This novel, which came out on an app called Readict last year and which came out in paperback and ebook back in May, is one of my favorite projects and I’m so excited for the story to be in audio book. Not just because it’s another avenue to reach readers (though that’s another reason), but because I love the audio medium, and I can’t wait to listen to the story alongside all those who haven’t yet.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, The Pure World Comes is a Gothic horror novel set in Victorian England and follows a maid who goes to work for a mad scientist. Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:
Shirley Dobbins wants nothing more than to live a quiet life and become a head housekeeper at a prestigious house. So when she is invited to come work for the mysterious baronet Sir Joseph Hunting at his estate, she thinks it is the chance of a lifetime. However, from the moment she arrives things are not what they seem. As she becomes wrapped up in more of the baronet’s radical science, she realizes something dark and otherworldly is loose within the estate. And if left unchecked, it’ll claim the lives of all she holds dear.
Not bad, right? And the book itself has garnered some amazing reviews already. Here’s what people are saying:
This book kept you on the edge with its many twists and turns. Really haven’t read anything like it. I will follow this author
Michele Kimura, Goodreads
I love it when I’m pleasantly surprised by a book. Rami Ungar is not a debut author, (according to the back of the book, this is his fourth novel), but his work is new to me and so I went in not knowing what to expect.
What I got was a short novel so perfectly Victorian and utterly Gothic that it made my old-fashioned self giddy as a schoolgirl….Mixing classic-romantic Victorian elements with early science-fiction, tales of Jack the Ripper/Spring-Heeled Jack, and a bit of the occult, this book gives the reader a truly chilling and also slightly fun little Gothic adventure.
Heather Miller, Amazon
The Pure World Comes by Rami Ungar The story started with a slow build which quickly turned into a page turner for me. It has a bit of a Frankenstein feel to it. It was a little out there but I really enjoyed it.
Annette, Goodreads
Again, I’m so glad they enjoyed the book. Hearing from these readers not only encourages me and helps me out as a writer, but also gives other readers an idea of whether or not they’ll like the book. I hope I can get some great feedback on the audio book.
And speaking of which, if you would like to check out the audio book, I’ll post the available links below. Right now, there are about five or six websites distributing the audio book, and more, such as Audible, expected to release it in the coming weeks (Amazon owns Audible, so of course they’re finnicky when anything produced outside their platform). So, if you don’t see it on your preferred distributor, keep checking back and it should be there eventually.
Did I mention for the first week the audio book is discounted? That’s right, for the first week the audio book will only be $5.99. It’ll go up after the 17th, so be sure to get it now at a low price while you can!
Anyway, I look forward to hearing what you think of the audio book (or the other formats, if you choose those). While you’re listening to it, I’ll be busy with other stuff, including a convention, but I promise I’ll stick around and post regularly. What can I say, I like interacting with you guys.
Until next time, my Followers of Fear, good night, happy listening, and pleasant nightmares.
The Mummy of Rameses I. I thought it worked well for the post.
Sheriff’s Deputy Cole Sawyer knew he had the right house before he’d even read the numbers beside the door. The body was sitting there on the front stoop, just as the caller had said it would be.
I’ve mentioned before that I started a new novel, a mummy story I’m calling Crawler until I can come up with a better title.* It’s been a little over three weeks since I started the novel with the lines posted above. I’m now three chapters in, and I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts with you on the writing process so far.
And what are those thoughts? Well, I’m wondering what I got myself into. This book is already seventy pages (8.5 x 11 inches, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman), and rapidly approaching twenty thousand words! And that’s just the first three chapters! It’s going to be as long as Snake by the time the first draft is done. You could use it with your favorite Stephen King doorstopper to knock someone out.
Which I don’t recommend doing unless your life is in danger and you have no other options.
All that being said, it’s also been fun to write. The first chapter, I had such a hard time pulling myself away from the computer to go to bed because I was just so into the story. I got it done at that pace in two nights. And while the next two chapters haven’t gone at such a crazy pace, it’s still been a fun process.
For example, one of my characters has grown up extremely sheltered, and the events of the novel force her into the world. Writing things from her POV has been a fantastic journey of trial and discovery. I think by the end of Chapter Two, I got her down pat, but there could still be challenges ahead.
Scratch that, I know there are challenges ahead. It may be a world where a mummy is on the attack, but it’s still based on our world. The characters’ actions and reactions to events must make sense to someone in our world. That could be hard. And I have to keep the slower moments interesting. And of course, I’ll have to get on the net every now and then to do some research. Yeah, lots of challenges ahead.
But hey, the first draft isn’t meant to be perfect. It’s meant to be passable. That way, I can build on it in subsequent drafts and create something spectacular. So if I mess up, I’m sure I’ll find some way to fix it further down the line.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll post more updates as I make progress. I promise, they won’t come at a crawl (get it?). So don’t worry, I’ll be back again soon. And until then, good night, pleasant nightmares, and do not read from the Book of the Dead. If you’re not careful, you might wake up an undead Egyptian high priest seeking to resurrect his girlfriend.
*And no, I’m not going with The Mummy. Nor am I going with I Want My Mummy; Are You My Mummy?; or Man, Fuck This Mummy. One’s taken, two are probably taken by RL Stine or Doctor Who, and the last one sounds too close to a novel on my TBR list. I might go with Sympathy for the Mummy, however. I mean, that’s probably not too like a famous Rolling Stones song, is it?
Stock image of a house. Definitely not my condo! Photo by Binyamin Mellish on Pexels.com
As many of you know from reading in this blog, I recently bought and moved into a condo after six years in an apartment complex. And while at first it was a lot of stress, I’ve been enjoying my new home while at the same time updating it, repairing certain things, and thinking of more changes to make (I’m thinking of painting my bedroom green, and my office will definitely be black and white).
Yeah, I’m lucky to have this place.
I know a lot of other people in my age bracket aren’t as lucky.
Let’s face it, housing in the United States is in a crisis right now. There are a whole lot of reasons why that is: fewer affordable apartment buildings available or being built; fewer single-family or “starter” homes available or being built; Baby Boomers and Gen Xers downsizing and taking all the homes that are available because they have more financial resources; wages having not increased for years while the cost of living having grown steadily at the same time; local ordinances making it more profitable to build multi-family homes and homes for higher-earning families; and so much more.
I won’t go more into it because I’m not a subject matter expert, but these videos do a great job explaining the problem:
This one from Vox shows how making affordable homes in the US faces more obstacles than just profits.
And Last Week Tonight with John Oliver shows the many problems that folks in many of America’s cities are facing just trying to keep a roof over their head. It’s as funny as it is troubling.
Like I said, I’m lucky. I have a good job and my paycheck has grown with every passing year. Rent in my city has, until recently anyway, been quite affordable and never got too expensive at my place. My student loans were paid off years ahead of schedule thanks to my paternal grandfather of blessed memory, and what was left of what he left me allowed me to really build my savings account. They were further built by putting away the stimulus payments the government gave out in 2020 and 2021. I didn’t have to put those payments towards necessities because my workplace had been doing work-from-home for years, so the switch wasn’t too hard on me and my employer. And I got my mortgage before the interest rate was hiked, so I don’t have to pay extra like a bunch of other people who will be borrowing money in the near future.
Again, I’m lucky.
But even with all that luck, I still had a lot of trouble finding a new home. In the six months I searched for a new home, I heard about high wait lists for apartments in the complexes I applied to. Especially the nice ones that were affordable, and those were few and far between. Most of the ones that didn’t look like they were dens of iniquity or poorly maintained charged well over a thousand dollars per month for one-bedroom apartments. And that was just looking for a place to rent! (I tried to keep my options open.) Of the seven houses and condos for sale I visited, I bid on five. And I was outbid on the first four, sometimes by several thousand dollars.
Getting this place, especially right as I was getting close to my move-out date, was a Godsend.
And I know plenty of my generation are struggling, and will continue to struggle, just to stay in a home. And for many, even a crappy apartment might be too expensive. As in the Daily Show video, plenty of millennials are buying fixer-uppers together, but for many even that is too hard.
And I just hope that, by talking about it, maybe something will change. Not on its own, obviously. What do I look like, the Pope? But maybe, if I join my voice to the chorus advocating for change, then maybe change will come. It’ll be slow, but I hope it happens. And if nothing else, maybe it’ll remind us how lucky we are to be in homes at all. And that nothing in life is guaranteed.
Well, that was a dark note to finish on. How about some photos of my new place?
My bedroom. I’m thinking of painting it green.
Jonesy hanging out on the wall near the kitchen window.
No surprise, my masks make this place so much creepier.
My first Shabbos celebration in the new place. Took a lot of unpacking before I could do this.
You like my new rug? Bought it with a gift card a friend gave me as a housewarming gift.
My new writing space. What do you think?
Finally, my new lamp. I like the meeting of vintage and industrial here.
Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. If there are any more updates on my home life that I feel like sharing, I will. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Happy Birthday to the blog, Happy Birthday to the blog. Happy Birthday to Rami Ungar the Writer. Happy Birthday to the blog.
It’s crazy to think that this blog has been around for eleven years. I’ve told this story before, but I remember when I started this blog in the library near my mother’s house the summer before I went off to college. I hardly knew what I was doing back then. I just knew that blogging might be a good platform to build an audience before I released my first book (which was an inevitability in my mind). And during those first two years of blogging, I was lucky to get one or two views a day. I could have given up plenty of times and this blog probably would’ve passed into obscurity without so much as a whisper.
But I’m pretty stubborn about this sort of thing, so I kept at it. And eventually, opportunities came my way, the blog got noticed and grew.
And now, here I am. I’m not going to go into all the crazy numbers, but I’m approaching 1400 followers on this blog, some of whom have become dear friends of mine, and the blog itself has been viewed over 145,000 times! These days, I average around 50-60 views a day, and at least a couple of likes and comments per post.
And some of you even read my books on occasion. A growing number of you, actually. That’s been a big boost to my creative drive and has spurred me to keep writing and blogging.
And I’m hoping that this next year, I’ll be able to continue to share good news with you. We should see the release of The Pure World Comes audio book, the release of That Which Cannot Be Undone and Hannah and Other Stories, plus a short story or two. But what else? Only time will tell. And I look forward to updating you on the progress of my stories and careers.
And I hope you all continue to support me. Whether it’s reading/liking/commenting/following this blog or reading my books, or both, you’re all helping me along and I can’t express my gratitude enough!
Speaking of which, I’ll leave links to my works down below. If you enjoy horror and want to support a smaller author, or you’re just looking for something new to read, reading my books is a great way to do either. And if you do read one of my books, I hope you’ll let me know what you think somehow. Doing so not only helps me as a writer, but helps other readers decide whether or not to check out my books.
That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll be back soon with another blog post or two. Until next time, good night and pleasant nightmares.
Oh, before I forget, the West Virginia Penitentiary Paracon will be occurring on Saturday, August 13th at the West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia. Doors open at 11 and close at 5, and there will be authors, psychics, ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, and so much more. I’ll be selling books and reading Tarot cards and I’m looking forward to meeting people. Hopefully I’ll meet some already-committed Followers of Fear. You never know!
As I mentioned in my last post, an audio version of The Pure World Comes is in the works and was being put through the quality assurance process. I can now let you know that TPWC has passed the quality check and is being exported to multiple audio book platforms! Even better, it should be out on most of them on August 10th, the three month anniversary of the paperback and ebook’s initial release.
For those of you who don’t know, The Pure World Comes is a Gothic horror novel about a maid going to work at the estate of a mad scientist and what happens there. Think Frankenstein had a baby with Crimson Peak. Here’s the summary from the back cover:
Shirley Dobbins wants nothing more than to live a quiet life and become a head housekeeper at a prestigious house. So when she is invited to come work for the mysterious baronet Sir Joseph Hunting at his estate, she thinks it is the chance of a lifetime. However, from the moment she arrives things are not what they seem. As she becomes wrapped up in more of the baronet’s radical science, she realizes something dark and otherworldly is loose within the estate. And if left unchecked, it’ll claim the lives of all she holds dear.
Not bad, right? And the audio book is amazing! It’s narrated by Nikki Delgado and is about six and a half hours long. And what a great six and a half hours it is! Ms. Delgado did an excellent job and I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of her reading. In fact, I made a video using the retail sample and posted it to YouTube late last night. You can watch/listen to it in the video below.
Not bad, huh? She does an amazing job reading what is probably the scariest section of the book.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll post about the audio book again as soon as it is out. In the meantime, it should show up on most audio book retailers’ websites (and likely available for preorder) by August 10th (though Amazon and Audible might be annoying for annoyingness sake). For now, you can still get the paperback and ebook editions using the links below. If you like what you read, please let me knwo what you thought so I can improve as a writer and continue to provide quality stories.
So until next time (which could be very soon), good night, pleasant nightmares, and happy reading. Or listening, whichever you prefer.
