31 Oct
Happy Halloween, squiders! And happy Nano Eve to those participating! Here’s a bunch of spooky books if you need something to read!
WELCOME TO THE HALLOWEEN BOOK BLAST!
Click on any of the below book covers to be taken to the page that has more information on the novel as well as the Buy Links!
Before you leave, don’t forget to enter the Giveaway!!!
27 Oct
Hello hello, squiders. I started writing this post on Wednesday before realizing that I was a day late on my promo post and switching to that instead.
(Very embarrassing. I’ve been doing promo posts for years but have never been late on one before. Alas.)
That was Wednesday, and now it is Friday night, and the bulk of the post, which was about how MileHiCon is this weekend and how, instead of doing prep for it (and which needed to happen on Wednesday, as that was my last day off of work before the convention) I was instead descending into existential dread brought on my imposter syndrome.
But I did eventually prep at least a few of my panels (the one causing the most dread, my Sunday morning one about moon colonies or some such, is as of yet untouched), get everything together, discover that my point of sale app that I’ve been using for the last ten years was discontinued in Sept (the dangers of only doing one con a year), find and set up a new point of sale app, and so forth and so on.
Today was very stressful in general–the small, mobile ones had their Halloween parade at school, and then we had a meeting with the special education team, and then I had to go to work and finish up a major project (and everybody came to “help” and had to add in their two cents, which made it more stressful), and then I had to drive across town through a traffic jam and arrived at the con about an hour after I meant to.
But the con itself went quite well today. I got all checked in and learned I could stay and do the indie publishing panel I thought I wouldn’t be able to. My first panel was on plot twists with Connie Willis and Rick Wilber, and it went much better than I feared (my first thought when I looked at who was on the panel with me is that I was wildly outclassed) and Connie was very nice to me, and I ran into some friends I haven’t seen in a while. And the indie publishing panel also went quite swimmingly.
Tomorrow and Sunday we’re potentially getting a foot of snow, so that does put a bit of a damper on things. Fingers crossed for safe driving conditions.
Anyway, I suspect from what I titled this post that I wanted to talk about Nano. I did find my novel idea document and update it, and put it on the cloud, and cross document the other files so everything’s nicely in one place. And I added a few more ideas. For when I am ready to start something new.
And I did sign up for Nano. But the idea is that I will do my revision and count the words there towards my 50K. I really can’t justify starting something new right now. (And, of course, because I’m ignoring them, the other novel ideas have started offering up plots and characters and whatnot. What is up with brains?)
Not sure I can get 50K on the revision. The document is at, oh, 42K right now, and that’s with working on it for the last six months. (I did redo some chapters during the marathon, so we may be closer to 50K, but the point still stands.) Arguably you can’t rush a revision–the point is to make sure you’re fixing everything, after all, but I’ve put together a system. I always paper edit before I start the rewrite, and I’m going to count that as a day of writing (so 2000 words) when I do that. So we’ll see.
If it’s not working, we’ll abandon it and go back to our normal program already in progress. I want this to be the last revision of this book, after all, and if I feel like I’m rushing, I’ll stop.
Anyway, see you guys next week!
25 Oct
Good morning, squiders! I have a promo for you today! Another spooky story for spooky season (and I am a sucker for books with a Kit as the main character, not going to lie). Scroll all the way to the bottom for an excerpt!
Horror
Date Published: 10-24-2023
In Scarburn County, Tennessee there is a small mountain community called Black Rock, known for its unusual and prevalent blight that affects all vegetation . . .
When an unexpected death forces Christopher “Kit” McNeil to return to his small hometown in the Tennessee mountains after eighteen years, he must confront his past and a secret he’s kept since he was twelve.
A talented guitarist with a history of bad choices and even worse luck, Kit soon reunites with an old friend and learns about recent disappearances and mysterious deaths in the area. They begin to wonder if it’s connected to what they witnessed in the woods when they were kids and if a creepy local family is involved. Stranger still, almost half of their high school graduating class has died.
When more shredded bodies begin appearing, Kit becomes a suspect. But what he discovers is even more frightening—evil has set its sights on him and his friends and it won’t stop until it gets what it needs.
Can Kit and his friends band together in time to stop this ancient evil? Or will a new reign of terror that the Cherokee once called Uyaga be unleashed to roam the earth once more?
About the Author
BHC Press has published the first two books in my post-apocalyptic epic fantasy Deiparian Saga, “The Witchfinder” (which was nominated for the Pushcart Prize) and “The Crimson Fathers.” The final installment, “Bane of the Witch,” is slated for release in 2024. If you’re interested you can find out more on my author’s page at https://www.bhcpress.com/Author_J_Todd_Kingrea.html. I am a member of the Horror Writers Association and write Blu ray reviews for “Screem” magazine. I have also written short stories and game material for the “Call of Cthulhu” role-playing game.
Contact Links
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a Rafflecopter giveaway
Excerpt:
CHAPTER 1
Within Arm’s Reach
To twelve-year-old Christopher “Kit” McNeil, summer was the greatest time of the year.
It was even better than Christmas. Sure, there was a lot of buildup to Christmas Eve and the
anticipation of Christmas morning, but it was just a single day. On December 26, everything
pretty much went back to normal. By New Year’s the tree, brown and shedding needles, lay
beside the road like an accident victim no one had bothered to help. Cardboard boxes held
together with masking tape were stuffed with lights, tinsel, and ornaments, and stored away in
the attic.
But summer was different. It lasted three whole months. The days stretched together,
filled with bike riding, and ice cubes made from cherry Kool-Aid, and the unmistakable tang of
chlorine from the town pool. Most families took vacations during that time.
Other people’s families. Not Kit’s. Too expensive, his father always said.
His friend Troy Wallace’s family did though. Sometimes he’d bring Kit a T-shirt from St.
Louis or a bottle of sand from Destin, Florida.
If summer held one drawback for Kit, it was being stuck in Black Rock without Troy. Kit
had few friends, and when Troy was away on vacation, he felt lost. That week seemed to drag on
forever. He slept in when he could, mowed the lawn when his father ordered him to, and rode his
bicycle to no place in particular. At night Kit watched reruns on television with his mom or sat
by his open window putting together plastic model kits. He drew a red star on the calendar to
mark Troy’s return.
Which had been four days ago.
Tonight was the first time in over three weeks that Kit had gotten to sleep over at his
friend’s house. Kit didn’t like having Troy over to his house, because he never knew what kind
of mood his father would be in. Albert McNeil had made it clear he didn’t care to have any more
kids around.
Troy’s mother had taken them to Moviehound Video & Tanning in Black Rock Plaza to
pick out two movies. “Only two to make it fair,” Mrs. Wallace always said. “One for Kit and one
for Troy.” On the way home she’d picked up a pizza for them at DiVeccio’s Italian Kitchen.
After the double feature of Terror Train—Kit’s choice—and Alligator (which was the best Troy
could find after his mother nixed The Gates of Hell), they had gone out to the green Coleman
tent set up in the backyard. They’d walked around the neighborhood after Troy’s parents went to
sleep and had only just gotten back into the tent when Mrs. Wallace called to them.
“Kit? Troy? Are you boys awake?”
The boys heard the back door close and footsteps cross the yard. They pushed the flaps
aside and watched her approach in her housecoat. She stopped in front of them.
“Kit, your mother is on the phone. She needs to talk to you,” Mrs. Wallace said in a
concerned tone.
“Huh? What for?” Kit asked.
Her mouth pinched and she motioned him out of the tent. “I-it’s important.”
In the kitchen, the receiver lay on the counter, the white spiral cord coiled like an albino
serpent.
“Hello?” Kit said.
“Hey, it’s Mom. I— Hold on.”
Kit heard her talking softly to his father in the background. “Mom? What’s going on?”
“Honey, I need to come and get you. We’ve got to go to Murfreesboro. Your uncle
Arnold… H-he’s been in an accident. We’ve got to go.”
“Right now?” Kit asked. Selfishness flared in him. He didn’t want to leave. As far as the
boys were concerned, the night was just getting started. Kit still wanted to go bike riding around
town in the early morning hours like they’d planned. He didn’t want to go to Murfreesboro for
something that didn’t sound all that urgent to him.
“Can I just stay here with Troy?”
Kit’s mother cleared her throat. “Mrs. Wallace was kind enough to offer, but no, you need
to be with us. It’s…it doesn’t sound good.”
“Please, Mom?” he pleaded.
“No, this is something we have to do as a family. I’ll be over to get you in a few minutes.
I’ve got a lot to do in a short amount of time, so be ready.”
“But I’ve got my bike over here.”
“You can get it when we get back.”
“Lemme just ride it home. I can be there in ten minutes.” He twirled the phone cord
around his finger.
“I will come get you.”
“I can ride home while you’re doing all the other stuff you said you had to do.”
There was silence on the other end of the line, followed by more muffled voices in the
background. “Okay, fine. But I want you on your way as soon as you hang up. You’ve got ten
minutes.”
Kit accepted the minor victory. “Okay.”
“Be careful. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
He handed the receiver to Mrs. Wallace. Troy followed Kit back to the tent and helped
him collect his things. It was a little after one o’clock in the morning when Kit rode down the
driveway and into the deserted street. The wind pushed his hair away from his forehead as he
zipped down the hill out of Troy’s subdivision.
I wonder what kind of accident it was, Kit thought.
He had always liked Uncle Arnold. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn’t have been
Arnold’s son rather than Albert’s. His uncle had always treated him with kindness and love, and
he seemed to enjoy having Kit around. Kit felt guilty about his attitude on the phone. The more
he thought about his uncle, the faster he pedaled.
His route took him straight through downtown Black Rock. He crept past the old brick
buildings that lined the street on either side, guarded by silver parking meters. There were no
cars parked along the sidewalks, and none moved on the street. The traffic lights blinked yellow.
Kit coasted to rest his legs for a moment. He looked toward the nearest building and
realized someone was watching him. The person stood in the shadow of a recessed doorway that
led up to a set of ramshackle apartments.
Probably one of the town winos his father was always griping about or somebody who
couldn’t sleep.
Kit turned to face the road again and noticed another person in front of the furniture store.
And another in the doorway of the department store.
And the doorway after that.
And the one after that.
A figure lurked in every alley and entrance on both sides of the street. All had hooked
noses and wide-set eyes. Everything else about them was indistinct, like a group of cookies made
with the same cutter. Yet something about their features sent a chill through Kit despite the
muggy night air.
He heard footsteps and looked over his shoulder. The figures were disengaging from the
shadows after he rode past. They crossed the sidewalks and merged into a group that walked
stiffly down the middle of the street after him.
Kit pedaled faster as the street began a gradual uphill climb. Another glance showed the
group was getting larger. Breathing heavily, Kit stood and pedaled up the incline. He didn’t
remember this hill being so steep before. His wheels slowed; his momentum lessened. It was like
riding through syrup.
His pursuers drew closer. Footsteps increased in speed and rhythm. Kit knew he
shouldn’t, but he looked back anyway.
The group, thirty strong by now, started to run toward him. The distance between them
closed.
“Leave me alone!” Kit yelled over his shoulder.
His bicycle was barely moving forward. Sweat covered his brow as he stomped the
pedals. He knew he could get off and run, but something held him to the seat. Then his
momentum was gone. The bicycle wobbled.
Dozens of identical hands reached for him.
20 Oct
Good morning, squiders. We’re having new trees put it to replace the seven (7! 50 ft or more tall!) trees we lost during the tornado. Only four (my arborist says we have to wait a few years to put trees back where there were ones growing, so the root system can decay enough that a new tree can establish itself), and relatively small (between 8 and 12 feet tall, though taller than we thought we were going to be able to afford) but it will be nice to have some trees again. Fingers crossed that they all survive and establish themselves and are happy campers.
I ordered books to sell at MileHiCon and most of the copies of Hidden Worlds arrived damaged. Because of course. I tried to return them with the thought Amazon would just replace them and send me some new ones, but apparently because they’re author copies, they don’t do that, and shipping costs almost as much as the books themselves. If I ever get a free minute I’m going to go bother Amazon customer support but I don’t maintain hope. Sigh.
Also looked more closely at my panels for the year, and I had to email the programming director and ask to drop the indie publishing one, which is tragic. Why are the best panels always the ones I can’t make? But I have a charity gala that night and I’m already going to miss a chunk of it with a different panel (though I would have kept this one if I could). Alas.
I also got another reading panel this year, this one on -punks, and I did have a -punk story published earlier this year, so I can read that, though I don’t know how long the story can be. Hooray for not having to find a story a few hours before. But I did realize I hadn’t gotten paid for said story so I had to email the editor for that too.
Anyway, I did make a to do list for the convention, which mainly consists of making sure I know where everything is and packing it up, and–oh, cripes, I never requested a co-op table spot. Did I? Good grief.
Okay, now I have done that.
Yes, packing things up and printing out some things if I don’t have any more (flyers and business cards), making sure people can give me money, and getting ready for my panels. (I am on a panel with Mary Robinette Kowal! I may die.)
Otherwise, Chapter 11 is going okay. Needs some rework in the middle but I haven’t gotten there yet. May need to ponder Malana’s motivations in general. I’m afraid I may have left some of them in the dust as we’ve moved into Act 2 so I’m going to stare extra hard at those. Critique group on chapters 9 and 10 this weekend, so we’ll see what they say on the non-marathoned chapters (and also if I did drop some of Malana’s stuff in Cpt 9).
I did very briefly poke around and see where I was keeping potential novel ideas, for Nano, which I am not doing despite all my brain seems to not understand that. And the answer is…I don’t really have a good system. What I seem to have done is to make a Google Doc for a story idea when I have it (“Backyard RPG story idea,” “Maze Story Idea”) and they are all separate and hence impossible to find if you don’t remember what you called the document.
(Ask me how long it took me to find my planning document for the story that became Across Worlds with You)
So I think, if nothing else, I need a better organization system. A master document, with links to the other documents. And I KNOW that somewhere I have a big long list of novel ideas but apparently that is NOT on the cloud so now I’m going to have to go looking for that stupid thing. (And hope it’s not on the external hard drive that I currently have no way to access because I lost the power cord.)
Looking back over these documents has been somewhat good for the “help I haven’t had an idea in years” existential crisis I had last week. Because in most cases, the idea is just a premise, or maybe a setting or some characters. They all need to be built up. Very rarely do I get the whole story in a dream.
(Though I did have a story-y dream last night. Will ponder. Or forget it, as dreams go.)
In one case, the document is literally a list of Arthurian texts with the sentence “If I ever get around to doing an Arthurian based novel” at the top.
My writing forums and groups are all in Nano mode, so I have had other ideas as well. Someone mentioned rewriting a novel, and I do have one that I need to do that for–full rewrite, not a revision. But you do have to, you know, plan that stuff out, or you get a rewritten novel that’s just as bad as the first time you do it. Another friend has been using a Discord bot to get writing prompts, some of which I might steal because they did set off delicious ideas in my head. But not necessarily to write for Nano.
Because I’m not doing Nano.
Seriously.
I may consider a compromise, though. Maybe a novella? 20K-30K words on something new. A collection of interconnecting short stories. Something like that.
We’ll see how I feel after I organize my ideas.
Happy Friday, squiders. See you guys next week.
17 Oct
Howdy, squiders, how’s your October going? Mine has so far featured two deaths, the failure of my furnace right before it got cold, and yet somehow is still better than September was.
My family got me a recurve bow and some arrows for my birthday last week, so I’m hoping to finally go back to my archery hobby some time soon. She said, laughing in her head, when she hasn’t gotten an off day in three months.
(In theory I don’t work Mondays and Fridays and should be able to do whatever I want those days. In practice, I don’t get to.)
I finished Chapter 10 this morning and started Chapter 11, meaning Chapter 10 took less than a third of the time to revise that Chapter 9 did. And I sent both chapters off to my critique group, so we’ll see how this goes. These are the first two chapters my critique group is getting that didn’t get run through the Critique Marathon, so we shall all wait and see if the quality has dropped off sharply.
(But seriously, fingers crossed.)
MileHiCon is in a week and a half. I did remember to order new books, but I do need to sit down and actually think about what else I need to do and make a plan for it. Dates attached, all that jazz. Just not sure when that’s going to fit into everything else, hahahaha.
That’s not hysterical laughter, I swear.
Nano is still floating around, not like anything has changed. No ideas. Still not a good time. I think I will go to the kickoff though, just for fun. I’ve done that before without actually doing a real Nano, and it’s like 10 minutes from my house for my region.
I just…I feel like I’m always playing catch up lately, but not actually getting anywhere. Like, I haven’t had time to deal with SkillShare, I just now got my newsletter out (two months late), I don’t have any time or energy for marketing. I am making progress on the revision, which is the most important thing, but so much of being an author these days includes juggling in marketing and business stuff and I’m just…not managing that. At all.
Oh well. Things are what they are, and we keep on keeping on.
See you later in the week, squiders.
13 Oct
Good morning, squiders! Hope you’re having a good week! Today I’ve got a horror story for you.
Horror
Date Published:10-13-2023
A series of haunting nightmares draws five former residents of a New York City high-rise back to their one-time home. But this is not a reunion. These five strangers have never met. But they are connected.
The depressed photographer with telekinetic abilities … the paralegal who reads evil thoughts of strangers … the struggling author who can predict dark futures … the malicious hypnotist … the witch’s daughter …
They have met in their dreams, and they have observed the shadows who follow them until they awaken. Now they want answers. And when the five board the same elevator at the same time, an ominous reality surfaces. They did not return on their own. They were drawn back. Drawn by their nightmares. Drawn by darkness.
Drawn … to be collected.
About the Author
A writer since grade school, Eric Woods resides in Springfield, Illinois and finally published his first novel in 2018. Today he has five novels, two novellas, and one book of stage plays. Most recently, his short story “The Taurus Bull” was featured in HorrorScope: A Zodiac Anthology.
If you want to be spooked in person, Eric hosts the Lincoln Ghost Walk in Springfield (through October). Come take the tour and learn some creepy tales about the 16th President of the United States!
Eric earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Master’s Degree in Communication from the University of Illinois Springfield. He served as a collegiate speech and debate coach for seven years, and has been a local freelance writer since 2005.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
See you next week!
10 Oct
Good news, squiders! I finally finished Chapter 9. Still a mystery as to why it took so very long, but hoorah.
Started Chapter 10 today and have already made decent progress. Admittedly my notes for updating this chapter basically just said “Good shape, just streamline” so perhaps that’s to be expected. Or not! Who knows how anything is supposed to work anymore.
That being said, the idea of doing Nano continues to raise its head. Very strange. Normally after I make my determination to do or not do Nano, that’s the end of it. (The sole exception being my very first one, back in 2003, where I said to myself that, as an upperclass engineering student working toward two degrees, surely I did not have time to do Nano, and then on Nov 3 I woke up with a full story idea and went for it anyway.)
(And only made it to 29K because I got a concussion during a broomball game and then got the death flu for two weeks.)
(It was the most I’d ever written on a single story to date, though.)
(And it went into a drawer and will never ever see the light of day.)
My normal arguments don’t seem to be working. I’m in the middle of a revision, so I shouldn’t start a new story. I don’t have a story idea, so I don’t even have anything to start. And I had this thought the other day that I haven’t actually had a new story idea in…who knows. Like, I’m writing older ideas that I wrote down years ago and never got to instead of coming up with something new.
That last one is a bit concerning. Of course, I know that you can’t be a consistent writer if you’re only writing when inspiration strikes, but surely some story ideas should be popping up here and there. I know how to find inspiration if necessary but I haven’t had a story pop up, fully formed, in God knows how long.
Maybe I’m misremembering. Maybe I have been having ideas, and I just write them down in my idea document and keep going. Or maybe, you know, life has been a disaster lately and we’re just getting by, and that’s okay, and when things get better–and I have to believe they will–my creativity will pop back up too.
But anyway, that’s all well and good, but why do I keep wanting to do Nano?
Very strange. Not sure what to do about it. Do I do a quick poke through my idea file and see if a story pops up? And if nothing does, see if the idea will finally die? Do I continue to ignore it and see if the feeling just goes away?
To be continued, I guess. Promo on Friday!
6 Oct
Last week I got an email from MileHiCon with the schedule of panels for this year, and then I didn’t do anything because, you know–oh, actually, you probably don’t, I was in a play last week, I was a teenager which was very funny to me but also very fun. But I didn’t have a lot of free time. And then a few days ago I got the updated MileHiCon schedule and was like, crap, I haven’t even had a chance to look at it, I know they gave me Sunday panels and I need to see if they overlap the Critter Crunch, because that would be tragic and it might be too late to change it because I haven’t gotten on it.
So last night I finally went to look and, they’re not doing the Critter Crunch at all this year. D:
(For those new to the blog, the Critter Crunch is apparently the first ever robot fighting competition, going since the mid-’80s. They have 2 lb and 20 lb categories, and the bigger, mobile one has been talking about making a robot to fight in it for years. He’s actually making a robot at school this year so this news has been DEVASTATING.)
Anyway, so I guess it’s fine that I didn’t check the schedule.
I HAVE checked it now, and I’m on one panel with Connie Willis and another with Mary Robinette Kowal, which is more bestsellers than I normally interact with and I am freaking out a little bit about that.
Also I have been reminded that MileHiCon is coming up in three weeks and I need to prep for it.
This includes looking at the descriptions for the panels I’m on more than a few days out (no trying to find a short story a few hours before it needs to be read this year, thank you), and I’ll need to order more copies of Hallowed Hill and Hidden Worlds.
Also need to find my con supplies and make sure they’re all where they’re supposed to be, and maybe print out more flyers.
Probably something else, but that’s a good place to start.
Nano is still kind of gnawing at me (it’s the 25th anniversary!) but no story has miraculously come into being, so we continue to mostly ignore it. But it is hard, sometimes, to watch people in my writing communities gearing up and getting excited while we continue on continuing on. Alas.
How’s October treating you, squiders?
2 Oct
(Which was Chapter 10 until I realized during my critique group meeting last week that I had, once again, misnumbered my chapters, since I took Chapter 6 out completely.)
(I was commenting on one of the other members’ use of fun little news clippings at the beginning of each chapter and how I’d like to do something fun at the beginning of mine, but I had trouble even numbering them correctly. And then I realized I had, indeed, not numbered them correctly–though, to be fair, it was only Chapter 9 that was misnumbered. So far.)
(We all have strengths and this is not one of mine.)
The critique marathon ended at the end of August, so I’ve been working on Chapter 9 since then, and it is STILL NOT DONE.
I was doing a chapter a week all summer–sometimes with MAJOR rewrites–and I can’t manage a chapter in a month? What the hell.
Now, to be fair, Chapter 9 is longer than the other chapters. Somehow, over the many many revisions, Chapters 1-8 have all streamlined to be about 3-3.5K. Some sort of weird magic. Chapter 9 is probably at least 5K, if not 6K. So it’s like two chapters! But not really.
(I did have the thought that perhaps I should break it up, but there’s no clear place and then it messes with my viewpoint rotation which I JUST FIXED so…)
It’s also right at the act change so that probably makes sense.
But it feels like I’ve been working on it forever. The chapter that never ends, it just goes on and on, my friends…
I’ve counted the pages on my paper copy and it’s 18 pages long (double-spaced). The other chapters were more in the 11-13 page range, so it is definitely longer and not just my imagination. I’ve done 12 of those pages thus far and so have 6 left, though the last page is just a paragraph.
But I have got to pick up the pace. Holy crap. A chapter a month! This revision will never get finished.
(Also, I’m through Chapter 8 with my in-person critique group so I will need 9 and 10 done by about the 15th so I can send them out. But maybe the deadline will help?)
To also be fair, September was kind of a nightmare on several fronts. The bigger, mobile one’s best friend’s mom asked about doing a playdate, and I literally could not find a single day ALL MONTH where he was available. October is already better (and also I should text her) just in terms of not having SO MUCH on the calendar, plus most of the house stuff related to the flood and the tornado is in the final stages. The flooring goes into the basement on Friday and the last of the damaged trees was removed on Saturday (God, my poor trees), so then it’s just putting the bathroom back together (caulking the shower, putting the toilet back, installing new sinks) and putting the furniture back, and we’ve got to pick out new trees and get them planted, but the hard stuff is mostly behind us.
Fingers crossed. Also no more natural disasters this year THANK YOU PLEASE even though they’re forecasting some sort of massive weather event this winter due to El Niño.
(Although since the tornado destroyed all my big trees I guess I don’t have to worry about snow taking off any major branches. Yay.)
Anyway. Wish me luck on FINALLY getting through this chapter. And I’ll see you later this week! AND HAPPY OCTOBER, best month of the year, woot woot.
Where Landsquid Fear to Tread 