Posts Tagged ‘The Quiet Game’

The Quiet Game: One Month Later

Posted: August 17, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Review, short story, Writing
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tqg cover

It has exactly been one month since The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones came out. Yes, one month. Feels like a lot longer, but it’s only a month. A pretty crazy month too. I moved into my new apartment with my roommate Morgan, I worked most days, I saw some old friends and met some new ones, and in four days the fall semester starts (more on that later).

I’ve sold 25 print paperback copies and ten or eleven digital copies so far (there’s a guy I met who said he’s going to be downloading the book tonight. Depending on how long it takes for KDP to register a download, I may not find out till tomorrow). Also, I’ve gotten another review on Amazon, this one from Jason Haxton, owner of a box that is said to be possessed by a dybbuk, a demon from Jewish folklore. You may also know him as the author of the book The Dybbuk Box, a book detailing his experiences with the box, and the movie The Possession, which is based on Haxton’s book.

Here’s what he had to say on the book, which he gave 5 stars. The title of the review is Nailed It:

I happened across The author Rami Unger about a year ago when he was researching the paranormal online.
He nailed the Dybbuk story. Write more… soon! Jason Haxton Author of “The Dibbuk Box:.

Pretty awesome, huh? And coming from an author of a really excellent book and someone who’s experienced the supernatural before, I take it as a compliment. Plus his review has brought The Quiet Game‘s rating to a 4.5 average. I cannot complain. Oh and Jason, I have a book coming out in November. If you want me to let you know about that one too, I will.

If you’re interested in reading The Quiet Game, check it out on Amazon or Smashwords. And however you feel about the book, please write a review if you have the time. I always appreciate feedback, whether it be positive or negative feedback that I’m hearing.

Hope things are going well with you tonight. I’ve got another blog post and some writing to do before I go to bed tonight. Wish me luck.

An Interview With Some Friends–Part 2

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Journalism, Living and Life, Writing
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Earlier today I posted the first half of an interview made by some friends of mine, Rui Li and Josh Mangel. Now I’d like to post the second part, which was recorded and then transcribed on July 1st, before The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones came out.

Before you read it, I’d like to point out that part of the ending of the interview is a little hard to read. That’s because there was some problems with the audio that recorded the interview, and what was said was therefore unintelligible. What is here is my friend Josh’s attempt to get down exactly what was said. So please pardon that, and just enjoy what you read, should you find yourself reading the entire interview.

Once again, thanks to Josh and Rui. I really appreciate you two taking the time to come over to my place and interview me about my writing. It means a lot that you show an interest in it.

~~~

Rami Ungar, a young up-and-coming horror author, has been writing stories since he was the tender age of six. He has one book already published, The Quiet Game: Five Tales That Chill Your Bones, and another coming out in November, Reborn City, a science fiction novel. He also writes for two blogs, one that showcases his personal work, and one that offers advice to self-publishing authors. Rami is sharp as a knife, talented, and certainly has the uncompromising attitude needed for a writer.

We covered several topics with Rami, and he provided us with a wealth of information on writing and the publishing process. The first part of this interview focuses on Rami’s personal story and his influences and experiences, and the second half covers publishing and some of Rami’s other secrets.

Take us through the publishing process. How does that work? I don’t know very much about publishing, and it seems like kind of a crazy process.

Would you like to hear it for a novel or a short story or an article, what?

All (laughing). Sorry.

We could be here for a while.

I think it’s interesting, for people who are reading an interview, because not a lot of people know how that happens.

Well, for a novel… publishing novels has changed over the past couple of years. How much do you know about indie publishing?

Nothing.

Well, it used to be that you wrote a novel, and you had to get an agent, and that agent had to find you a publisher. That publisher had to publish your novel for you, and the marketing department had to do some work in order to make sure that people actually knew about your novel, and bought it. Having a publisher depended on how well your novel did, so if your novel didn’t do well, your publisher could drop you. With indie publishing, authors are able to create novels on their computer, design a cover, and distribute and market themselves. Basically, they’re doing all the work, and they’re making most of the profits. Amazon has really helped with this. Amazon offers the chance for authors to get out there and actually write themselves, publish themselves, and distribute themselves. I’m using Amazon myself in order to distribute my own work, so it’s actually been very helpful. The publishing industry is reacting to that. The Big Six, as they call the big six publishing companies, which includes groups like Penguin, or Doubleday, Random House; they’re reacting to this in ways they never expecting to, because they never saw this coming, and so they have to react. They’re letting fewer books in now, they’re publishing less, because they’re driven by profit, the books they believe will make money. Authors who have really good novels, but publishing houses aren’t accepting them, they’re like, forget the publishing house, I’m going to self-publish. They’re kind of facilitating their own deaths.

So, it’s very similar to the music industry in a lot of ways.

Yeah, the artists are taking control.

What do you think about – I don’t want to admit piracy, but if you go on the Internet, you can read dozens of interesting things just by clicking the button for free. What incentive is there for audiences to read something being published, something that costs money?

Well, the thing is, piracy is taking published works and distributing them illegally, so I’d like to think that the whole legal thing is keeping people from reading pirated work. A lot of authors choose to get copyrights, which is something that I recommend. You pay a small fee to get a copyright for your work, and the legal protection is very good. I’ve copyrighted my work, and so far it’s served me well; people can’t use any of my work without getting in trouble.

Who taught you these things? How did you learn the publishing process?

It’s all out there on the Internet, there are blogs devoted to teaching people how to publish on their own; in fact, I write for a blog.

What’s the blog called?

Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. It’s me and four other writers helping other writers writing articles that are meant to help other authors publish on their own. I’ve only been working for them for the past couple of weeks. I don’t get paid for this, but I love doing it. I write articles for them as they come to me, and I publish them and hopefully they help people to write better.

Have you ever had anyone who read an article write you back and say that the information that you shared helped?

Well, the thing is with a blog that people are free to comment, and they do, so I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on my work, most of it, thank God, has been very positive. For novels, though, I often do what’s called a beta reader, and that is, I’ll ask someone, usually a friend who’s also a writer, or maybe just a very avid reader, to take a look at the novel, or sometimes a short story, and to give me feedback. I often get very helpful feedback that tells me what I should change, what I should rewrite, what I should keep…

When you do the blog and the website stuff, sometimes there are very hurtful comments. Have you ever been hurt by an online comment?

I once wrote an article on people that had been very rude to an author because she was against female genital mutilation, sometimes called female circumcision. They didn’t want her to be against this unless she was also against male circumcision. I wrote an article about that, and some people found the article, and they kept trying to convince me that male circumcision and female circumcision were just products of the devil. I just said, that’s not my belief, one may have health benefits, the other is actually very sexist in nature and serves no purpose other than to subjugate women and cause them harm.

How and when did you have the idea to publish a book, to write a book? Did you get the idea yourself or did your parents or family suggest it to you?

Well, I’ve always wanted to be a published novelist, but the whole idea of self-publishing came to me over time. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go this route, but I thought maybe I should… after hearing from people who had had positive experiences with self-publishing, I said, “Heck! Let’s do it!”

The Quiet Game is coming out in seventeen days. I’ve got another novel, my science fiction novel, Reborn City, is coming out in November. Pretty soon I’ll be able to start the process to self-publish my serial killer novel, Snake.

When you self-publish something, do you print copies yourself?

Amazon has a service called Print-On-Demand, which means that someone will order a book, and Amazon will print the order then and there and the send it to them. A little bit of the money from the sale goes to actually printing a copy of the book. With e-books, it’s even easier, because it’s just like replicating a file.

I know that a lot of this is probably already on the blog that you wrote about helping authors self-publish, but do you think that there is a future out there for a lot of the young authors? If you were giving specific advice to young authors about the very best things they could do, the best way to become an author…

Well, to become an author takes a lot of dedication: a lot of reading, a lot of writing, and a lot of passion. I would mostly say that if you want to become an author, you have to read a lot. You have to read many books from many different people. You have to write a lot, and try to learn as much as you can about writing as possible. Most importantly, you can’t lose your nerve; you have to keep going, because you’re basically typing four-letter words forty thousand times. There’s forty thousand words in your average novel, usually a lot more.

What have you done to market yourself? Do you talk to people even though you don’t want to, just to let them know what you’ve done so that others will share your story?

Marketing myself is actually not as difficult as it sounds. Sure, talking to people and telling them about my novels is part of it, but there are many other ways to market yourself; for one thing, I use Twitter a lot to get people interested in my work. These past couple of days, I’ve been using Facebook and Twitter to count down the number of days until The Quiet Game comes out. I also write a blog, a personal blog about my writing that has close to three hundred people following it and hopefully some of them will read my book. As I said, I also write for another blog that helps self-publish authors, so maybe some people will get interested through that.

Since you believe in God, do you carry around a personal item that can protect you from other things, like an amulet?

I do wear a necklace, my necklace is a mezuzah – that’s an object in Judaism that’s put on doorposts – it’s supposed to be like a protective amulet of sorts. I usually wear that all the time, and I feel it will protect me when I wear it. I’m very happy I have it. It was a bar mitzvah gift. I also have a ring with some words on the Talmud on it.

What does it say?

“He who saves a life, it is as if he saves the world entire.” Considering that I kill off a lot of the characters in my books, I have not been doing very well with that commandment (laughing)!

Have you ever wrote anything that opposes Judaism and been criticized by your father?

My dad has wanted me to write stuff based upon my own life or based upon Judaism, but things that go against Judaism in general, I’m not sure that I’ve ever written anything exactly like that that. I have written scenes full of murder, blood, and gore; I have written from the perspectives of Christians, Muslims, others. I also did write a sex scene once! It was between two people that weren’t married to each other, and Judaism does encourage people to wait until they’re married.

Would you say there are other things like Judaism that have influenced you that don’t necessarily relate to horror stories?

Things that have influenced me?

Some people would say, “I read R.L. Stine all the time when I was a kid, so I just loved R.L. Stine.” But have there been things that influenced you to write horror that have nothing to do with horror?

I do read a lot of Japanese comics as well, and those range so much in genre from comedy, to romance, to action – I’ve been able to derive ideas from those. There are stories that take place in other universes or the past, stories that involve magic, and stories that give me a glimpse as to how certain people view romance.

Is there anything else – maybe a park you like and its scenery, or a building, and you imagine the building…

I also use meditation. That’s helped me think more clearly when I write, so that’s helped.

Do you always meditate before you write?

I meditate twice a day, every day. I feel more creative and focused, when I meditate, so try and do it right before I start writing.

What I wanted to know was if there are some writers who have similar problems with writing: they don’t have a regular schedule, they sometimes sleep at night, sometimes during the day, and they don’t want to exercise because they want to just keep writing.

I’m sure there are people like that but I don’t know any personally. Most writers are on a pretty consistent schedule.

Do you have a pretty consistent schedule?

Yeah, I’d be worried if I didn’t have a pretty consistent schedule. It might point to a health problem, it might point to an unhealthy lifestyle, or it might point to something entirely different, I’m not sure. It depends on the circumstance.

How were you educated about writing before college?

I just wrote! I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. I did it for the love of writing.

I meant to ask you that before, actually. Was there someone in particular who taught you about writing?

No, the school I went to didn’t have a lot of writing classes. In fact, we only had one writing workshop in fifth grade, and afterwards everything was meant to prepare you for writing essays in college. I didn’t really have any training in fiction, not until college. But getting this far without that training; people tell me that’s something else. I’ve got to say I got where I am with the support of my friends and my family.

Do you believe you have a talent for writing?

I believe that I’ve developed a talent for writing.

Do you have any events coming up, or readings?

Readings, no. I am trying to develop a stand-up comedy act (laughing). So if it’s any good, we’ll have to see. The Quiet Game is coming out on July 17th. It will be available from Amazon and other retailers in paperback and e-book format. The price is yet to be set; I should set it soon. Reborn City, my science fiction novel, will be available November 1st, so I’m going to be doing a lot work to get ready for that, including creating a Facebook page.

Do you have a favorite writer?

Oh my God, that’s a tough question. I really like Stephen King and Anne Rice.

I know a lot of famous people, before they become famous, they really admire another famous person and sometimes they imitate them until they realize that they need to find their true personality. Did you do that?

Yeah, there were times were I sounded a lot like a hybrid of Stephen King and Anne Rice. But over time, that’s really changed, so that I sound less like them and more like me. By sounding like me, I’ve been published a few times: short stories in magazines. I like my style as it is now; I hope to improve it over time. Like I said, my writing’s improved, and I like writing like I write. My style. Rami Ungar style.

I read some of your stories; I liked them.

Thank you.

I read one about the succubus and Hunter.

Oh yeah, that one.

I liked that one.

You would (laughing).

What do you mean by that (feigns insult)?

Well, you did mention the succubus, and those are…

What are those?

They’re demonesses that have sex with you while you sleep.

Oh, I didn’t know that.

Can you repeat that?

Demonesses that have sex with you while you sleep.

Can you say that again (laughing)?

Now you’re being sarcastic!

How can that be?

Well, they’re not real.

Oh, it’s not a real thing.

Well, it might be real, it might not be. You never know… He’s actually not human, he’s actually a space alien.

(unintelligible muttering)

Actually he’s a space alien. I’m pretty sure I saw her walking around with two antennae.

Oh, is that how you say it? I thought it was antenna.

Antennae. (pause) Well, thanks for coming over.

Thank you very much.

Thanks.

 

An Interview With Some Friends–Part 1

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Journalism, Living and Life, Writing
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About a month back, I had an interview with some friends, Josh Mangel and Rui Li, who were interviewing various people for a variety of reasons, mostly having to do with a class they were both taking. The interview is in two parts, mostly because all together it’s about 14 pages worth of interview. And here’s the interview’s first half, which was recorded at my house one lovely Wednesday afternoon with some soda and snacks in my living room.

Thanks to Josh Mangel and Rui Li for interviewing me and sending me the transcripts. I appreciate all you’ve done for me and I hope this project of yours was a success.

For all readers, please be aware that the interview was recorded July 1st, meaning that it was about 17 days before The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones came out. Just something to keep in mind. Also, the bold parts are questions from Josh and Rui, while the regular script is my responses. Just for clarification’s sake.

~~~

Rami Ungar, a young up-and-coming horror author, has been writing stories since he was the tender age of six. He has one book already published, The Quiet Game: Five Tales That Chill Your Bones, and another coming out in November, Reborn City, a science fiction novel. He also writes for two blogs, one that showcases his personal work, and one that offers advice to self-publishing authors. Rami is sharp as a knife, talented, and certainly has the uncompromising attitude needed for a writer.

We covered several topics with Rami, and he provided us with a wealth of information on writing and the publishing process. The first part of this interview focuses on Rami’s personal story and his influences and experiences, and the second half covers publishing and some of Rami’s other secrets.

How did you get started writing?

I think it was Harry Potter. I read it when I was five or something and just got hooked on it. I wanted to write like that. I wanted to write about magic, and mystery, and I’ve been writing ever since. Though, when I got into horror I got into a different area.

What attracted you to writing horror?

Well, you know, there’s a funny story about that. I’ve always enjoyed scaring people – I’ve always enjoyed sneaking up behind them and going “Boo!” Sneaking up behind people isn’t always acceptable, so I guess writing scary stuff is a better alternative. And I like doing it – I really enjoy it.

Did you decide to write out of a motivation to become famous?

I think that influences me a little bit. I think that influences every writer who’s ever gone through publication – to be the famous guy whose books are in all the bookstores, who’s recognizable anywhere on a busy street. But it’s really a lot less about that and a lot more about writing what I love and sharing it with the world. I’ve got a collection of short stories coming out in about seventeen days and I’m just looking forward to sharing these stories that I’ve written with the world. So if I can make a little money off it that would be nice.

What’s your collection of short stories going to be called? Can you take us through them?

The Quiet Game: Five Tales That Chill Your Bones. It’s five separate stories that I wrote mostly over winter break. One was written over the beginning of spring semester. One, The Quiet Game, the titular short story, is about an all-girls school in the middle of nowhere that wakes up one morning cut off from the rest of the world. Everyone’s deaf, and they can’t hear a word. They soon find out that there’s something strange going on at the school, something very sinister.

Another short story is called Addict, and it’s about a man with sex addiction who’s trying to go cold turkey. He has some really freaky hallucinations when he attempts it. Another short story is called I’m Going To Be The Next James Bond, but it doesn’t have a lot to do with James Bond. It’s about a bunch of kids who go into a hospital, an abandoned hospital, in order to prove they’re brave and the freaky stuff that happens there.

There’s another short story that I’m really proud of called In The Lady Ogre’s Den. It follows a child with autism who’s in the hospital and the crazy stuff that happens there. Really terrible stuff happens to him there. The last short story is called Samson Wise’s Curse, and it involves a dybbuk – that a spirit from Jewish mythology, it’s kind of like a possessing ghost.

Is there something about being scared that attracts you personally? Do you enjoy being frightened?

Well, yes actually. Some people enjoy having a drink every now and then, some people enjoy skydiving – me, I enjoy being scared through a story. That gives me something like a natural high, and I really enjoy that. I went to see World War Z last weekend with my mom and my sister. There are some really scary parts and I was enjoying myself every minute. I had to have my hand cover my mouth, cause I was freaked out – like, what’s gonna happen? I was really enjoying myself.

What would you say is the best zombie movie?

You know, I don’t actually watch a lot of zombie movies or read a lot of zombie novels…

Best horror movie, in general…

Oh, that’s a tough one.

Best five. Or three, or…

The original Amityville Horror is definitely an awesome movie, because you really don’t understand what’s causing the haunting, or why it’s happening – a lot of the stuff that’s happening is very mysterious, and that just serves to make it scarier. At one point during the movie, the male lead, he sees a giant pig with glowing eyes looking out of a window, and just sends a silent message to him, and we don’t know what that message is or why that pig is there. It’s just really scary.

Also, there are movies like Halloween or Friday The 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street. They’re much bloodier than a lot of other horror films but they really scare people, and if you see the original films, they’re very good. They’re really well thought out.

Do you think that all of your stories need magic in some form?

Not necessarily. I’ve written a novel about a serial killer in New York City, and there’s no magic at all. It’s basically humans against humans.

Do you think that in some ways that’s the scariest thing?

For me, the darkness that humanity is capable of, the evil, that is fascinating. I mean, I don’t like it at all when it’s really happening. I don’t really like it when there’s an actual killer on the loose, or someone’s actually planning murder. But, within a literary context, it’s fascinating to think about what cause someone to want to become a killer – what causes someone to want to do something so heinous, so atrocious.

Overall, what are you scared of the most in the world?

Overall – that’s really tough. I’ve got to say I’m not too fond of wasps, or bees, or large spiders. I can deal with a small spider, once I get used to the fact that there’s one right over my shoulder and I’m like – uggh! But large spiders like tarantulas just freak me out.

I think that all of those things that you are scared of are just because they can cause you to die. Would you say that death scares a lot of people?

I think that death is a huge factor in what people are afraid of. It harkens back to our survival instincts, to look for ways to live, and fear developed from that. But, there are a lot of things that can’t hurt us but scare people to death. That makes it much more interesting – something that can’t hurt you, like the sound of thunder. That can scare people to death. The fact that that happens, that people are afraid of thunder, or people are afraid of water, even just a small kiddie pool – that fascinates me to some degree.

Talking about death, do you think that you would be more afraid of your own death or the death of family members?

Definitely more of my family members. I’m not afraid of death, per se – I’m not willing to meet it anytime soon! But I’m very spiritual, I do believe in life after death, so I’m not afraid of dying. Though, like I said, I’m not willing to meet it anytime soon. I’d be much more concerned about the death of a family member.

So have you thought about how most others are afraid of the death of their family members, so when you write, you write about causing the death of their family members instead of them? I think that now most scary stories just cause the death of the people that’s reading the book.

Yeah, or it’s already realized, like in I Am Legend or something.

That’s a really complicated question, cause when I write, I’m not necessarily thinking that I’m going to write it this way so that people are more afraid or their family members’ deaths or their own deaths. I’m writing in the way that I feel will cause the most terror. For my serial killer novel, which is called Snake, there’s a scene – I’m not gonna get into too much detail, but there’s a scene where one of the characters, one of the killer’s victims, is horribly wounded, and that terrified me a little when I read it. When I read what I had written I was actually kind of afraid. So, I’m aiming to cause the most fear, I’m not aiming to cause any particular kind of fear. But I’m aiming to cause fear in itself.

Do you ever sit around, and just think of normal everyday household objects or actions that could cause fear if changed to be just the right way? Like a picture like that, if it broke and you slipped on a puddle of water, and you landed in the broken glass, that would be horrifying.

Yeah, but I don’t usually think like that; I think that that’s more random chance, and random chance isn’t usually terrifying. People aren’t usually afraid of random chance. They’re more afraid of what may be lurking around the corner of their eye, or what they feel could actually harm them or has intent to harm them.

Based upon the description of your short stories, it seems like you have a lot of topics related to kids. So you write a lot about kids and children – could that be because you have a personal story from when you were little?

Actually, yes. Though I don’t always write because of that. Children are much more easily scared than adults are. They’re afraid of things that don’t exist or aren’t tangible: the dark, the bogeyman, and the monster in my closet. Kids are much more easy to scare, much more easy to influence. That’s why they make great protagonists in scary stories.

Do you think that people are more scared of the tangible things or the intangible things and why?

I have a theory that as we grow up we actually just change our fears to be more rational. The monster under my bed, the thing living in my closet…

It’s the IRS now (laughing).

…the IRS, terrorists, an overprotective government. We change our fears to suit what we believe is rational or irrational.

So your target audience is children?

My target audience is not children because some of these novels are definitely not for children. In fact, I would argue that none of them are for children. They’re for young adults and full adults (laughing). People who have a sense of maturity and are attracted to scary stuff but aren’t so easily influenced by that and it warps them. Say, I would never give one of my books to a ten-year old and say “go read” because I know it’s gonna freak them out if they read it.

Could you share your personal experience from when you were little that served as the origin for your love of scary stories?

Every horror writer seems to have one of those stories. Stephen King, actually – he’s considered one of the greatest horror writers in our time and he saw a friend of his hit by a train, supposedly, and that caused him to get into horror. Me, my story’s a lot less bloody. You see, when I was young, couldn’t have been more than six, these two – I was at the synagogue one Saturday afternoon, cause, I’m Jewish, and I go to synagogue a lot – and I was wandering around. These two staff members, these two people who were hired by the synagogue to work there on Saturday mornings – like take books that were left in the aisles. This was before I moved to Columbus. These two staff members, they decided to play a prank on me. So, one of them snuck ahead of me without me noticing and the other one was behind me – there was a hallway where you could do that – and this was near the furnace room, or the boiler room, or whatever you call that. There was a humming noise going through the walls, and they just gave me this weird smile, a smile I would not see until I saw Heath Ledger as the Joker (laughing). It was that freaky. And they say to me,  “You hear that sound?” And I, being no more than six, and scared, just nod my head, because I’m freaked out, and they’re like “It’s the sound of de-eath! Death is coming for you!” (laughing) That humming became the sound of buzz saws in my ears – it sounded like buzz saws or chainsaws coming from the other room – and I just ran! I ran and I ran and I didn’t stop running until I was halfway between one end of the synagogue and the other half, and that’s a big distance for a six-year old.

A few weeks later, I went to that exact same spot, just to show that I wasn’t going to die. I went through, I survived, and I guess subconsciously I reacted by learning to love horror, learning to love scaring people, and learning to love to be scared.

How do you think your background, particularly your Jewish heritage, has influenced writing horror?

Well, that’s a really good question. A lot of my stories have to do with the supernatural, and I would argue that despite Judaism and Christianity not really believing in anything like ghosts, they’re very magical religions – I mean, the splitting of the Red Sea, or the ten plagues – that is one of the best horror stories out there. The ten plagues…

What about the sacrifice of Isaac (as a horror story)?

That would make a great thriller, if I didn’t already know the ending. I would argue that religions are very magical, because they’re filled with stories of people doing amazing things. Occasionally, spirituality does appear in my stories. I’ve also written a sci-fi novel, and the main character is a very religious Muslim. Like I said, I’ve written a short story including a demon of Jewish origin, a dybbuk, so that would also count a s being influenced by my Judaism.

So, just now, you also said your short story involves an all-girls school and a sexually abusive man. Does all the sex and girls have some origin in your real life? Like, you like a girl and…

The one, Addict, which is about a man with sex addiction, that’s actually based on the experiences of a friend of mine. He has suffered from sex addiction for a number of years. He knows about this short story, he’s ok with it, but he’s suffered from it for a number of years, so that could be an influence. As for the all-girls school story, that’s just from… I just thought it was an interesting concept. I mean, from what I understand, private schools, especially ones where you live on campus, can be very closed; people can be a very small community. If you cut that off from the world, and you introduce some very unsettling circumstances, strange things can happen, things that wouldn’t happen in a normal society. It’s very similar to what Stephen King did with Under The Dome, only I did it very differently.

Do you think that in some cases horror is not universal? Like, if you put it in a certain place… someone in New York doesn’t have the same experience as someone in the Midwest, they don’t have the same fears.

Well, that’s something that’s the job of the author to get the point across to the reader no matter who they are. So I’m not so much worried about a man in New York understanding the reasoning of a man in the Midwest, it’s more can anyone understand this (laughing). If people are understanding what I’m writing, if they’re able to identify, to empathize with the character then I’m doing my job.

So, you are writing for other people to read. If no one read what you write, would you still write?

Probably. I’ve got so many stories in my head that I need to get them out on paper, just so that they can get out of my head and somewhere else. But I think that with the publishing industry as it is today, a single person at home has the ability to create a novel all by themselves and distribute it to the entire world. There’s always a chance that there will be someone who’s going to read your work, you just have to make sure that people know that you’ve written something and that it is available somewhere.

Have you ever felt so sucked into your stories that you forgot your own life and the real world?

I’ve sometimes got very into my story and spent hours just writing. I’ve never exactly just sat down and read my own work for hours on end. I do get very much into my stories. I’ll usually go around planning them for several days before I write them, and when I do, it usually just flows out. I can get very taken with other ideas as well.

Have you taken character ideas from people you know and directly incorporated them into stories?

You mean, put a friend in a novel? I’ve done that before, but only for certain reasons, because there are a lot of problems with actually putting people you know in a story. They may get a huge head (laughing) if they find out there’s a character based on them in a story, or they may object to how that character is treated. They’ll say, “I don’t think my character should do this or that” or “Why is my character a ginger?” or “Why is my character killed off? I want him to live! Why isn’t he the main character?” Oy yoi yoi! (laughing) But there are circumstances in which I will put someone I know into a story as a character. For example, one time at my high school they were doing an auction to raise money for the yearbook, and I auctioned off a role in my sci-fi novel. It didn’t sell for a lot, but a friend of mine did buy that spot, and I wrote them in, and I actually really did end up liking that character, so they may appear in the sequel. I actually ended up making him the villain’s assistant.

How many stories have you written altogether?

Oh my god, I don’t even want to put a number on that. I’ve been writing since I was five (laughing) and there are stories that have been lost and never found again, and there are stories that haven’t been published, there are stories that are published, there are stories that are in the midst of getting to be published.

The Quiet Game: My First Amazon Review

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Review, short story, Writing
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It finally happened, ladies and gentlebloggers! The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones finally got a review on Amazon. As most authors know, especially self-published authors, reviews are a major component, along with word-of-mouth, for getting your book out there and getting people to buy or download copies of your book. So now that I finally have a review on Amazon, I’m very happy!

And guess who gave the review? My dear mother, Rabbi Wendy Ungar. Now wait, before you judge and say something like, “She probably gave a positive review because it’s her son”, let me remind you that this is my mother we’re talking about. She introduced me to most of my influences, she’s honest when it comes to a book she’s recently read and she voices her opinion on it, and she knows I like it when she gives me a sincere opinion.

So what review did she give me? A 4-star review, with these notes to go with:

“I thought these stories would be scarier than they were, but it was a great read and a good effort from the first time author. These stories were more in the genre of creepy rather than scary, but what I really liked was that it made you think of them long after the book ended. The themes of addiction, of sweet innocence gone bad, and of the sins of the fathers being visited on their descendants were very well dealt with, and caused the reader to think of them even after finishing the book. I’m looking forward to more from this new author!”
If you didn’t know we were related, you’d think she was talking about someone she didn’t know. But still, coming from my mother this means a lot to me. My mother is one of my biggest fans and I’m always happy when she gives me her thoughts on the book. So thanks Ima. I always appreciate it when you tell me your thoughts on something I’ve written.
If you haven’t read The Quiet Game yet but you’re interested in checking it out, you can check out the Short Story Collections page, or you can check it out on Amazon and Smashwords.
Also, expect another post on The Quiet Game soon. I got interviewed not too long ago, and the interviewers finally sent me the transcripts for my blog. Check it out when it comes out.

The Quiet Game: Three Weeks Since Publication

Posted: August 7, 2013 in short story, Writing
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I swear, I’ll stop doing these update posts once we get past the 1-month marker. Then I’ll do it once a month.

It’s been three weeks since my collection of short stories, The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, was published. So far, 22 print copies have been sold and 9 electronic copies have been downloaded. several friends and family members have also said they’re going to buy copies, but do to either time, money issues, or poor memories haven’t gotten around to it. Not that I can blame them: in this crazy world, getting a book by a friend off of Amazon or Smashwords isn’t always first on anyone’s list of priorities.

I also haven’t recieved any reviews yet, but I know they’re on the way. My mother said that the next time she’s on Amazon, she’ll write a review for The Quiet Game the next time she’s on Amazon, and my friends Angela Misri and Matthew Williams said they’ll review it too. I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say. Heck, I’m looking forward to what everyone has to say. It’s always good to get feedback on my writing, good or bad. It’s how I’ve grown and gotten better at writing fiction.

Until I get those reviews, I’m still working hard. I’m just about ready to resume writing two books at once, having had a nice past two days to relax, meditate, read, and watch Doctor Who spin-offs on DVD. Now I’d just like to get back to work, maybe write another article or two for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. We’ll see what happens.

Until then, expect a few blog posts from me. I’ve done some thinking over the past few days on fiction writing and on life and what-not, and I  want to share them with you.

See you later.

The Quiet Game: Two Weeks Since Publication

Posted: July 31, 2013 in Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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It’s been officially two weeks since The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones became available on Amazon and Smashwords. In that amount of time, I’ve received a lot of encouragement and praise from friends and family. In fact, the number of copies sold has risen to nineteen paperbacks and eight e-books. I haven’t received any reviews yet, but I’m sure as more people read the book and get through it, they’ll write a review.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention it, but I’ve signed my first autographs! They belonged to my parents and my dentist, but I’ve signed some copies of the book. It was an exhilarating feeling, and it made me happy to leave personal messages to the people who bought my book. After all, even though they were family and friends, it’s still amazing that I’m published now, and I wanted to share the joy with the people who are helping to make this into a success, whatever that is in the difficult world of self-publishing.

If you haven’t checked out The Quiet Game yet, then you can read a description of it on the Short Story Collections page, complete with links where you can get a copy (should you so desire to buy one). I promise you, it’s a chill of a good time.

The Quiet Game: One Week Since Publication

Posted: July 24, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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It’s been one week since The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones was published in an elaborate post meant to take the place of an actual launch party (see here). I’m starting to wonder if I should’ve just said “The book’s out, here are the links to purchase it”. But anyway, it’s been a week since The Quiet Game came out, and since then I’ve sold about 10 print books and 8 e-books, with more to come as people tell me they are planning to buy it or will buy it as soon as they get home (thank you, everybody!).

And I’ve gotten some reviews, as well. One was from my mother, who said she can’t read me at night anymore (and has since given me a full report over the phone over what she liked and disliked), while the other was from Jason Haxton, author of The Dibbuk Box, which indirectly inspired one of the short stories, Samson Weiss’s Curse (apparently he really liked that one). As Jason told me, he thought the book was a strong start and wished me a hearty congratulations. Thanks Jason, I really appreciate the feedback.

And with other friends promising reviews I cannot wait to see what people think. In fact, this whole journey in publishing The Quiet Game has been a blast (except for the wait to get the copyright, but I won’t let that ruin the whole thing). I’ve learned a lot, had some great help from friends and family, and got to express myself as well. Maybe in a few books’ time I’ll write another collection of short stories, and it’ll be better than The Quiet Game! Sounds like fun, right?

If you’re interested in reading The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, you can purchase it off of Amazon or Smashwords, in both print paperback and e-book. And if you do read it, please let me know what you think. I always appreciate feedback, even negative feedback. It makes me want to work harder for my readers.

The Quiet Game: My First Review

Posted: July 18, 2013 in Living and Life, Review, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Between finishing the last post and getting out of the shower, I realized that there wasn’t enough time to watch a movie before bed (another time, perhaps). Which is why I decided to write this post, featuring my first review of The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. (If you’re interested in reading but don’t have the link, click here). It comes from one of my beta readers, and it was posted on her Facebook status. And by the way, this happens to be my mother.

Yes, I know your family is supposed to love everything you write, even if you have your character choking a baby (please don’t ever write anything as sick as that). But my mom’s a little different. For starters, my mother was the one who got me into Anne Rice and Stephen King. Yes, she did. Originally a fan of the two authors, she’s the one who lent me Interview with the Vampire and told me to read Stephen King when I’d read several Anne Rice books. She’s also lent me other books and turned me onto other writers like Dean Koontz and Dan Brown. She also introduced me to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files, shows which had a profound influence on me and my writing.

So even though she’s family and even though my mother doesn’t get the same sort of thrills I do from horror movies (I feel delightfully terrified while she’s just terrified), she’s definitely helped in molding me into the writer I am. Which was why I was very delighted when I called her and she told me she was about one short story into the book. And later when I logged onto Facebook, I was greeted with my first review. What did Rabbi Wendy Warren Ungar have to say? Why this:

“Reading Rami’s new book of short stories that was just published, (shameless promotion here), and I’ve discovered that my son is yet another author I can’t read at night!”

If you haven’t noticed, the subtitle on this blog is “Scared yet? My job here is done.” Well folks, my job here is done. Because I’ve always dreamed of giving someone a fright with my writing, and hearing that my mother can’t read my work at night gives me a small sense of accomplishment. I like knowing that I can deliver the goods when I say my stories are scary, and I like knowing I’m getting the sort of reactions I’d hoped for.

So Mom, thanks for reviewing and shamelessly promoting and all that. It means a lot to me and I hope to make even better stories as time goes on.

I also hope to post more reviews for The Quiet Game as they come. I know some friends have said they’ll write a review when they’re done, so I’m sure those reviews will show up in the next couple of weeks. Until then I hope you enjoy reading The Quiet Game as much as I enjoyed writing it, putting it together, and sending it out to you.

Good night everybody!

The Quiet Game Launch Party

Posted: July 17, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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Welcome! Come one and all to the launch party for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. Seeing as I can’t actually afford a launch party, this post has just become Ohio’s most happening place right now. We have so much for you, but first, why not have a drink?

Expensive champagne all the way from Google. And have some hors d’oeuvres:

And before we get to the entertainment portion of the party, I’d just like to thank everyone for coming. Your support has meant the world to me, and without it I seriously doubt any of us would be reading The Quiet Game over the next couple of weeks. A special shout-out goes to my family, a spectacular “BOO!” to my beta-readers and their excellent feedback, and a cauldron full of weird goop for all those who contributed in some way to the creation of The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones.

Now I know you want to scroll down and download or order a copy of the book. I know, I know. But before you do, there’s some wonderful entertainment here for you. First, we have a special performance by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. They’ll be telling us why I should shop at the thrift store more often.


Thank you, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Macklemore. I can’t tell which one is which, truth be told. Now, before we bring out our next guest performers out, I’d just like to say a few words on how The Quiet Game came to be. During the Fall 2012 semester at Ohio State, I started toying with the idea of writing a collection of short stories. I had several ideas for short stories on my tack board, and the critiquing of Reborn City was taking longer than I thought it would. So after the semester ended, I shrugged and said “Why not?” That later lead to five really creepy short stories being written over the course of a month, with one of them being rewritten several times over. Then there was some artwork to create, a book trailer, a copyright to get, but in the end it led to The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones.

And you know what? It was worth it!

Our next performance is from the group who asks, “Is there a more logical way this movie could’ve ended?” Please welcome the folks from HISHEdotcom and their new video, “How Man of Steel Should Have Ended.”


Boy, was that something else! Now I know you all want to get back to your day jobs, so I won’t keep you much longer. I just would like to say thank you, and I hope you will indulge me by watching the book trailer for The Quiet Game one more time.

Now without further ado, here is The Quiet Game: Five Tale To Chill Your Bones! First we have the Amazon page! Very cool, right? And for a limited time, you can save twenty-seven cents when you buy from Amazon now! That means instead of paying $5.50, you pay $5.23 (you’re on your own for shipping and handling).

And right after it, we have the link for that wonderful e-book sharing website. Yes, it’s the Smashwords link! A lovely page, in a lovely shade of blue.

Well, thank you all for coming and I hope you enjoy reading The Quiet Game. I hope you’ll also tell your friends and family about it and maybe write a review or two about it (every review helps). I would just like to close this party by having Mr. Macklemore and Mr. Lewis come back on stage. Which one are you guys again? Oh, what does it matter? Party hard!

The Quiet Game: Less Than 24 Hours

Posted: July 16, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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God, time seems to fly! Just yesterday it seems I started counting down the days till July 17. Now it’s the 16th, I’ve got so many people wanting to read my book, and I’m pretty sure I’ve solved all problems that would’ve delayed the publication of the print version if left unsolved (yes, you can breathe a little easier now).

I’d also like to reveal why there was almost a delay in the publication of the print paperback of The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. Look at the cover below.

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You see all that lettering along the sides? Apparently it’s a little too close to the edge, so CreateSpace told me to change it so that it doesn’t get cut out when The Quiet Game goes to print. For that, I had to download a free trial of Photoshop and do a little bit of tweaking, but I ended up creating an awesome cover exclusively for the print version (the one above will be used for the e-book). Check it out:

print paperback version.

print paperback version.

Pretty sweet, huh? And I still manage to get the creepy effect without losing anything in the trim. And next time I design my own cover, I’ll know not to put too much on the edges so that CreateSpace doesn’t send me an email telling me there’s problems with the cover.

Hope you’re as excited as I am for the publication. I’ll write again when it comes out. Until then, hope you’re not too scared to read it!

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