I have enjoyed all of the Steven M. Moore novels and short stories I’ve read so far. I was very interested in hearing Steve’s opinions about my writing and storytelling on these first collections.
Steve read a couple of my stories and then wrote a really nice blurb on his blog, along with a very nice compliment in the comments section. Take a look, and while you’re at it, take a look at Steve’s SF and thriller fiction books!
Notes from the Writing Trenches
Thanks, Steve!!!
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THE GATEWAY, a collection of three short horror stories, is live on Amazon!
You can purchase The Gateway for $0.99. Here’s the description from Amazon:
An imaginative boy discovers that the gateway for all evil has been opened, and his neighbor has been possessed! The fate of the whole world, or at least his neighborhood, is in his hands now. He must act to destroy the Gateway.
A 1500 word short tale of horror.
Contains two bonus stories:
America’s Pastime – a 1300 word short horror story, &
Hot Spot – a 700 word short horror story (dedicated to Dale Vincent Schwitalla)
It also contains an afterword which is sort of a tribute to the person who that last story is dedicated to. To make a long story short, Dale Vincent Schwitalla, known online as “Vinnie”, was a terrific writer of short horror fiction. I always believed his stuff was professional quality in all aspects of his writing. He was published in a handful of online magazines, but was one of those writers who never really loves what he’s written (I think). I depended on Vinnie for critiques of many of my short stories, and had a ton of respect for him as a writer. Hot Spot was written in response to a story Vinnie had written about a serial killer, titled The Butcher. As far as I know, that story is long gone. My own story was originally titled The Baker. Vinnie wrote the logical third story, called The Candlestick Maker, and we had ourselves a nice little trilogy of loosely related stories.
I lost touch with Vinnie when Delphi sort of faded away, and an internet search years later found an obituary for him. Apparently Vinnie had passed away in a motorcycle accident. His family lost a husband and a father, and the world lost a very talented and imaginative horror writer. So Hot Spot is dedicated to Vinnie.
Go check it out if you’re so inclined!!!
Thank you!
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I’ve loved Hugh Howey’s WOOL series, and I loved THE PLAGIARIST almost as much, and I love HIS story as well.
You have to like it when he comes out with something like WHY YOU SHOULD SELF PUBLISH in the Huffington Post.
The fact is that you should write because you love to write, and if you want to share your stuff, you can either submit it to tons of various editors and agents and magazine publishers and whoever else has decided that they are smart enough and perfect enough to sort out the good from the bad, or you can self-publish. I’ve chosen to self-publish and I’m not going to look back.
Whatever happens, happens.
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I’m very excited to announce that JACK’O’LANTERN is live and available for purchase on Amazon! Here’s the blurb:
Four young wanna-be Halloween vandals are terrorizing the far side of their neighborhood by smash pumpkins, and they encounter a jack’o’lantern that is by far the largest and ugliest pumpkin they’ve seen this night. But this pumpkin is more than it appears to be…
A mild horror short story of about 1300 words.
Contains two bonus stories (NEITHER IS HORROR):
The Moment (about 1500 words) and
Sarah’s Puppy (about 1000 words)
and a short Author’s Note
And the cover:
Please check it out! It is available for sale for $0.99. Thank you!
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I get to read a lot of young adult/middle reader books because, well, that’s what my boys read. So I picked up this book called Feed by M.T. Anderson, which is a young adult novel set in a future where everyone’s hooked into a constant feed from, well, somewhere – sort of like Facebook and Amazon on steroids. Imagine getting messages beamed right into your head based on what you just looked at or listened to or bought – like what Amazon does with its book recommendations and many other sites do now when we surf the net. (Buy a pair of sneakers for an eighth grader? Suddenly all the ads at your favorite music site are for shoes from Reebok or whatever…) “TV” programming is beamed directly into the characters’ skulls and instead of drugs, they go “mal”, which seems to be visiting a site that sort of scrambles the feed to a point where you’re disoriented and you seem drugged. Everything is at the tip of one’s…well…mind.
The drama in this one comes when the main character Titus is attracted to a girl (Violet) and Violet has problems with her feed, and because these things are so integrated with the brain, it threatens to kill her. How Titus reacts is a large part of the story, but just the way their world works is just as big. It could be falling apart around them and no one would notice because they’re too distracted by their feeds.
It extrapolates what we’re experiencing today, with political distraction from huge, important issues that have the potential to help all of us, and instead are framed to benefit corporations. I’m enjoying the book, though I think it could be better structured. And it’s a bit confusing, being in Titus’ head for much of the book. He’s a teenager in the future, where the slang, the actions, the terminology, are very different from what today’s slang, actions, and terminology are. And then it’s more confusing because I’m not a teen and I don’t understand some of the stuff from TODAY!
I’m not going to have my 13-year-old read it yet because I think it’s a little above him still. But later, it may contain some important lessons and food for thought.
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I’ve also started 68 KILL by Bryan Smith. Can’t say too much about it yet. I like Smith’s other horror offerings. Hoping this one is as good.
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So over the weekend I got two short story pairs published on Amazon. It gave me a couple of starts and stops, but I finally got there. (Thanks to author Sean Hayden for making that little suggestion that got me there!)
And as I looked in today, I noted that I actually sold a short story! With no promotion, I sold one! Amazing, huh? So now I see how writers can get sucked into checking sales numbers all the time.
I haven’t gone back yet, but I’m sure I will do so again before the end of the day.
Need…..To……Know…..Did…..Anyone……Buy…….Another?…..
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And then there were two…
Odd Man Out has gone live on Amazon as of today!
Here is the description…
When making their annual visit to a cabin in the woods , Paul and his six friends are prepared for a fun weekend of relaxation, good eats and quality time with their significant others. And they are all looking forward to playing their annual game. But it’s Roger’s turn to choose the game, and who knows what he has in mind?
A short horror tale of approximately 1600 words.
Includes the bonus horror story HOUSE AT THE BEND IN THE ROAD (approximately 1800 words).
You can buy Odd Man Out at Amazon for $0.99!
Thanks!
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Sole Occupant is live on Amazon!
Here’s the description:
Even though they frequently told their guests that their house was haunted, none of the eight college students living there really believed it was. But when one of them finds himself home alone on a weekend night, the big old house makes him rethink his beliefs. Is a ghostly resident playing games with him, or is it all in his imagination?
A 2400 word short horror tale.
Includes the bonus flash fiction story: The Only Solution (685 words)
You can buy Sole Occupant on Amazon for $0.99!
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Here’s a look at my second cover for my upcoming short story, Odd Man Out. This story will contain the bonus story, The Moment.
The cover was done (again!) by my friend Rich Siegle. Check out Rich’s band, The ExitSpecialists on Facebook, where you can link to their music. (It’s the least I can do in return for Rich!)
Watch this blog for announcements very soon about the publication of these two works!
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Well, here it is! The cover of the first of those short story pairs I wrote about.
I’m not going to talk about the contents of the story right now – I figure that the best time to talk about it is when the story is actually coming out. But I hope the cover gives you a glimpse of the content.
The cover artist is Rich Siegle. Rich is a good friend of mine, besides being a talented graphic artist and a talented musician and songwriter. Check out the page for his band The ExitSpecialists on Facebook! (Thanks Rich!)
Check back for the next cover in a day or two!
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