A Publishing Milestone

This month, I finally achieved something I'd been wanting to do for the past two years. I self-published my first collection of short dark suspense stories on Amazon, both for Kindle and the upcoming print edition. Malice and Mayhem: Tales of the Macabre are eleven stories, five previously published, that deal with how strong emotions like jealousy, obsession, and vengeance can often have detrimental, even deadly consequences.

I noticed that many of my characters, both in my short stories and in my longer works, are often seeking vengeance or are obsessed with wanting something, no matter how dangerous it might be. In "Obsession," Corinne cannot get over the fact her dead ex-boyfriend had a girlfriend before her, and she's determined to use necromancy to find out who he loved more. In "Family Tradition," a cursed kris (wavy dagger) forces a young man to commit murder, and he finds getting rid of the weapon is a lot harder than he expected.

These stories are influenced by the dark suspense shows of my past, namely Thriller, Night Gallery, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The idea is not to slather the stories in gore for the sake of scaring readers, but to leave them feeling uneasy. (Although there are some graphic descriptions, the overall rating for the book would probably be 14 and up.)

You can find out more about Malice and Mayhem and read the entire first short story, "It's in Your Blood" by clicking here.

Sometimes, there's truth to the warning, "Be careful what you wish for..."

Playing with Book Trailers (For an Unpublished Book)

I suppose you're wondering what would possess me to make a book video for a novel that hasn't yet received a contract. What am I? Arrogant? Presumptuous? Stupid? Crazy?

Well, probably. Maybe not all on the same day but at least one out of four. However, none of those adjectives fit the current description. So why?

I wanted to. Simple as that. I've been taking a short break from writing and decided to work on my drawing and video editing skills. (Note: the drawing is another blog.) For those of you who don't know, I used to shoot and edit a local TV show (that lasted one season). And I like working with video and imagery.

It also gave me a chance to use footage I'd shot years ago on 16mm film (converted to video). In fact, one of the rolls of film I shot inspired a scene in the book. Yes, it may be disturbing to some. Certainly unsettling. Unfortunately, Eastern Cemetery has a reputation undeserved or not. Its history is tragic enough without the vandalism. 

But there it is. Whatever the fate of the book, I hope you enjoy the trailer. If nothing else, it was a fun creative exercise.