Wednesday, February 13, 2013
1,000 Downloads!
My eight flash fiction horror stories have been downloaded a combined 1,000 times on Smashwords.com!
2013 ABNA: The results are in and...
...NOPE. My pitch for THE MENGELE EFFECT didn't make the cut. Bummer. Guess I'll try again next year!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas takes a jab at Stephen King?
I finished Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas novel ODD INTERLUDE. Quick read, and not bad...not his best, but still enjoyable. In the back of the book, there's an excerpt for his next Odd Thomas book, titled DEEPLY ODD. Now, I've heard Dean Koontz and Stephen King aren't exactly "BFFs"...and you can find people out there who love one and viscerally hate the other, crowning either Koontz or King as the BEST. I personally enjoy reading both of them...King can scare the willies out of me, and Koontz can make me laugh out loud right before he scares me (and sometimes afterwards, too). Different writing styles, different stories, different politics (one a liberal, the other more conservative), but both are wildly successful.
That said, I found this part of the DEEPLY ODD excerpt kinda humorous...read it for yourself, and decide whether or not Koontz is using his character Odd Thomas to take a jab at Stephen King's CHRISTINE:
Odd Thomas: "I'm not one who believes that a vehicle can be possessed by a demonic spirit, and, driverless, speed around town to run down people for the thrill of tasting blood with its tires, any more than I believe that Herbie, that Volkswagen in that series of Disney movies, had a mind of its own with a desire to bring lovers together and to thwart villains. If you believe the former, you have to believe the latter, and the next thing you know, you'll be taking your Ford, with its sexy GPS voice, to the car wash just to see her naked and soapy."
See what I mean?
That said, I found this part of the DEEPLY ODD excerpt kinda humorous...read it for yourself, and decide whether or not Koontz is using his character Odd Thomas to take a jab at Stephen King's CHRISTINE:
Odd Thomas: "I'm not one who believes that a vehicle can be possessed by a demonic spirit, and, driverless, speed around town to run down people for the thrill of tasting blood with its tires, any more than I believe that Herbie, that Volkswagen in that series of Disney movies, had a mind of its own with a desire to bring lovers together and to thwart villains. If you believe the former, you have to believe the latter, and the next thing you know, you'll be taking your Ford, with its sexy GPS voice, to the car wash just to see her naked and soapy."
See what I mean?
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Reading ODD INTERLUDE by Deank Koontz
So far, I'm about halfway through Koontz's ODD INTERLUDE...pretty good! If you're a fan of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas, I think you'll like this one...
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Excerpt for "Reflections" Posted!
Click on over to my web page & open The Hopper tab; you'll find excerpts for two of my in-work novels and two short stories.
The next one to be published will be "Reflections" - I just posted an except for it today on the web site. Give it a look & leave me a note to let me know what you think so far!
The next one to be published will be "Reflections" - I just posted an except for it today on the web site. Give it a look & leave me a note to let me know what you think so far!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
"Beach House" and "Legend" @ Barnes & Noble
There's sometimes quite a lag between when a book/story makes its way to some eBook retailers and when sales/downloads are reported...so, looking at the ranking numbers is the only way to guess how sales are going (or in this case, free downloads).
Two of my flash fiction stories, "Beach House" and "Legend", seem to be doing pretty well at Barnes & Noble, as both have dipped below the #30K barrier. As of this morning, "Beach House" is sitting at #23,868 and "Legend" at #29,712. Every time I check, both numbers keep creeping down...which is cool!
Two of my flash fiction stories, "Beach House" and "Legend", seem to be doing pretty well at Barnes & Noble, as both have dipped below the #30K barrier. As of this morning, "Beach House" is sitting at #23,868 and "Legend" at #29,712. Every time I check, both numbers keep creeping down...which is cool!
These two stories are both getting quite a few downloads on Smashwords, too. If you haven't read them yet (remember, they're FREE!), click over to Smashwords or Barnes & Noble & give them a read! If you like them, please leave a review! If you DON'T like, them...um...you can leave a review, too, but then I'll have to kill you off in one of my future stories. Don't say I didn't warn you... ;)
Oh yeah...only 11 more days until the Second Round'ers are announced for the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. I'll post the results here (good OR bad) once the announcement goes public...(fingers crossed)
Monday, January 28, 2013
Over 900 Downloads!
Writing those eight flash fiction stories was a lot of fun...and as of today, they've been downloaded over 900 times on Smashwords.com! (923 to be exact, but who's counting???) "Beach House" is leading the way with 136 Smashwords downloads, and is sitting at #27,382 on Barnes & Noble. They've all started appearing on B&N, Sony, Diesel, and Kobo, but the numbers haven't been reported as of yet. I can't wait to see! (I also can't wait until the Second Round'ers are announced for the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, but that's a different subject...)
Here's the Smashwords links & the dates they were published:
"Ripple" (9 Dec 2012)
"Feed the Bear" (13 Dec 12)
"Table Manners" (16 Dec 12)
"Beach House" (21 Dec 12)
"Solace" (23 Dec 12)
"Legend" (28 Dec 12)
"Sluagh" (31 Dec 12)
"Spirit Board" (6 Jan 13)
If you read one, feel free to leave a review!
Here's the Smashwords links & the dates they were published:
"Ripple" (9 Dec 2012)
"Feed the Bear" (13 Dec 12)
"Table Manners" (16 Dec 12)
"Beach House" (21 Dec 12)
"Solace" (23 Dec 12)
"Legend" (28 Dec 12)
"Sluagh" (31 Dec 12)
"Spirit Board" (6 Jan 13)
If you read one, feel free to leave a review!
Monday, January 14, 2013
2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award - Submitted!
At zero-dark thirty this morning, I submitted my novel THE MENGELE EFFECT for the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA). The submission included a 300-word pitch (posted yesterday, if you saw that entry), a 5,000-word excerpt, and the full manuscript...mine was ~84,000 words (based on the computer word count) or ~124,000 words (based on an old-school publishers count of 250 words per formatted manuscript page; courier 12 font, double spaced, 1" margins all around).
Amazon started accepting entries at midnight Eastern time, and will continue until they receive 10,000 (stop date is 27 January).
This year, they've divided their submissions into five categories:
- General Fiction
- Romance
- Mystery/Thriller
- Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
- Young Adult Fiction
13 February - Second Round Announcement (2,000). Based on judging the 300-word pitches, the judges will cut the field from 10,000 to 2,000 for the Second Round. Huge cut...and it highlights how important those 300 little words really are!
12 March - Quarterfinalists Announced (Top 500). Based on the 5,000-word excerpts, the judges will cut the 2,000 Second-Rounders down to determine the 500 Quarterfinalists. Amazon customers can download, rate, and review ABNA excerpts on Amazon.com, and provide feedback to Amazon Publishing Editors.
16 April - Semifinalists Announced (Top 25). Publishers Weekly reviews each full manuscript...and makes the cut from 500 down to 25 Semifinalists.
21 May - Finalists Announced (Top 5). Amazon Publishing Editors pick the top entry from each of the five categories. Each of the five finalists is guaranteed a publishing contract through Amazon, and a $15K advance on royalties. Cool.
15 June - Grand Prize Winner Announcement. Of the five finalists, Amazon customers vote to select the Grand Prize winner, who, instead of a $15K publishing contract, will receive a $50K publishing contract. Really cool.
In 2011, my novel THE COMING made it to the Quarterfinals...I hope THE MENGELE EFFECT does that well during this year's contest!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award - The Pitch
In 2011, my novel THE COMING made it to the Quarterfinals round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest (top 250 of 5,000 entries). This year, I'm submitting my second novel, THE MENGELE EFFECT. Below is my "pitch", which is what the judges will use to make their initial cut:
THE MENGELE EFFECT
Science
Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Category
The mutations begin in a Kansas
City salvage yard.
Hours later, the light of day
reveals a dead city, stripped of life by creatures torn from the pages of a
nightmare. On this night, the gates of Hell
swing wide and release the spawn of mankind's hate to pour across the Midwest
in an unstoppable, ravenous wave, slowed only by the sun's killing light. A quiet, peaceful evening in America’s
Heartland becomes—as the few remaining survivors would later recall—the last
night humanity would rule the planet.
Carolyn Ridenour fights a daily
battle to keep America safe from the world's tiniest, most fearsome weapons. Ordered to Kansas City to investigate the
unfolding horror, she barely escapes the creatures' nocturnal onslaught, saved
at the last instant by Colonel Garrett Hoffmann, a man who'd witnessed the
slaughter of hundreds of his troops—and innocent civilians—under the creatures'
horrific advance. President Andrew
Smith, former Navy Admiral and battle-scarred hero, watches as city after city is
literally eaten alive, the military’s conventional might useless against a
swarming foe that inexplicably—and exponentially—replenishes its numbers every
twenty-four hours. Frantic for answers,
the President is pushed towards the unthinkable by members of his own
government…trusted advisors who have long prayed for this day, each members of
an ancient order sworn to destroy civilization in order to save their own
souls.
Carolyn and her team race to find a
way to stop the creatures—products of perverse, decades-old genetic research
performed in Auschwitz’s filthy labs, refined by Cold War enemies, and perfected
by nature—before a co-opted President unleashes the fury of America's nuclear arsenal
on his own soil...
And his own citizens.
I'll find out on 13 Feb 13 if it makes the cut. That's a lot of 13's...hopefully, it's a LUCKY number!
And his own citizens.
###
I'll find out on 13 Feb 13 if it makes the cut. That's a lot of 13's...hopefully, it's a LUCKY number!
THE COMING - 5-STAR Review!
My first novel, THE COMING, is available on Smashwords & Amazon for $0.99.
THE COMING is a story of a world teetering on the brink, its future resting solely on the shoulders of two young people struggling to decipher mysterious events swirling around them, racing against time to fulfill a promise once lost, and prevent the onset of an encroaching, interminable darkness—the End of Days.
Here's a nice review I received from Lisa Kovanda, author of "Reckless Abandon", "The Hunt" and "Cedar in Seattle":
"Terrifying End of Days tale! I
love a book that gives me several characters in seemingly unrelated
circumstances, but as the plot tightens they are all drawn together to
create a climactic showdown. Chuck's "Amazon Breakthrough Novel,"
quarter-finalist novel takes you on a cross-country journey and
intertwines the past, present, and future. It's not for the feint of
heart, but if you like a bit of End Of Days terror, this is a book for
you."
THE COMING is a story of a world teetering on the brink, its future resting solely on the shoulders of two young people struggling to decipher mysterious events swirling around them, racing against time to fulfill a promise once lost, and prevent the onset of an encroaching, interminable darkness—the End of Days.
Here's a nice review I received from Lisa Kovanda, author of "Reckless Abandon", "The Hunt" and "Cedar in Seattle":
"Terrifying End of Days tale! I
love a book that gives me several characters in seemingly unrelated
circumstances, but as the plot tightens they are all drawn together to
create a climactic showdown. Chuck's "Amazon Breakthrough Novel,"
quarter-finalist novel takes you on a cross-country journey and
intertwines the past, present, and future. It's not for the feint of
heart, but if you like a bit of End Of Days terror, this is a book for
you."Tuesday, January 8, 2013
700 Downloads!
On 9 Dec 2012, I published my first flash fiction horror story, "Ripple". 30 days, 8 short stories...and just broke the 700 combined download threshold! Woo hoo!
Here's the links:
"Ripple" (9 Dec 2012)
"Feed the Bear" (13 Dec 12)
"Table Manners" (16 Dec 12)
"Beach House" (21 Dec 12)
"Solace" (23 Dec 12)
"Legend" (28 Dec 12)
"Sluagh" (31 Dec 12)
"Spirit Board" (6 Jan 13)
Here's the links:
"Ripple" (9 Dec 2012)
"Feed the Bear" (13 Dec 12)
"Table Manners" (16 Dec 12)
"Beach House" (21 Dec 12)
"Solace" (23 Dec 12)
"Legend" (28 Dec 12)
"Sluagh" (31 Dec 12)
"Spirit Board" (6 Jan 13)
Monday, January 7, 2013
"Spirit Board" Flash Fiction Horror - First 5-Star Review!
My 8th flash fiction horror story, "Spirit Board", went on-line at Smashwords.com late last night, and is sitting at 40 downloads so far. Thanks for the nice review, Frank!
When Cassie Mattis discovers an old Ouija board at an estate sale, her life takes an unexpected—and quite terrifying—turn...
Frank Gorhau: "Nicely written! Another great piece of work by Chuck. He manages, in a
few short words, to paint an incredibly illustrative picture to the
reader, and has the knack to make you almost feel what the character is
feeling. In this case, I think I need to go get a sweater...The house suddenly got cold for some reason."
When Cassie Mattis discovers an old Ouija board at an estate sale, her life takes an unexpected—and quite terrifying—turn...
Frank Gorhau: "Nicely written! Another great piece of work by Chuck. He manages, in a
few short words, to paint an incredibly illustrative picture to the
reader, and has the knack to make you almost feel what the character is
feeling. In this case, I think I need to go get a sweater...The house suddenly got cold for some reason."
Sunday, January 6, 2013
"Table Manners" - 100 Downloads
My flash fiction horror story "Table Manners" has hit 100 downloads on Smashwords.com, with a couple of nice reviews:
Frank Gorhau: "Another Outstanding short story! Takes me back to the days when I would stay up late to watch The Twilight Zone. Of course, the down side is that I'm never going to look at restaurant fare the same way again..."
Jenny Gaines: "I'll echo the previous reviewer- I'll probably think of this next time I go out to eat. Good job, Chuck!"
Frank Gorhau: "Another Outstanding short story! Takes me back to the days when I would stay up late to watch The Twilight Zone. Of course, the down side is that I'm never going to look at restaurant fare the same way again..." Jenny Gaines: "I'll echo the previous reviewer- I'll probably think of this next time I go out to eat. Good job, Chuck!"
Thursday, January 3, 2013
"Beach House" Hits the Century Mark!
Frank Gorhau: "Another outstanding short by Chuck... he always sets up what appears to
be an open-and-shut situation, and inserts a masterful twist at the
end. I've become accustomed to the twists, and look forward to each of them..."Tuesday, January 1, 2013
2012 - A Very Good Year! Bring On 2013!
One year ago today, I decided to take one of my novels, THE COMING, and self-publish it through Smashwords.com. I'm glad I did...
Since that day, I also published my second novel, THE MENGELE EFFECT, and watched as they both made their way to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, the Apple Bookstore, Sony, and a couple other eBook stores. As of today, I've sold 72 novels combined (36 of each). No, those aren't huge numbers, but for just throwing them out there to see if anyone might read them, I'm pretty happy! I made enough money to fill-up my Cherokee approx. one and a half times, too, so that's good... ;)
To end 2012, I decided to try my hand at writing "flash fiction"--short stories of 1,000 words or less. In the last 23 days, I've knuckled-down and written 7 flash fiction horror stories (all between 900-1,000 words). I really enjoy trying to cram a complete story in just a few pages, and I think I've been successful...they've been downloaded a combined total of 501 times (yes, I'm counting), with twenty-one 4 and 5-STAR ratings! (being FREE helps, but what the heck!) Those reviews are what any writer craves...good and bad, but I sure do enjoy reading the good ones! If you're reading this post, and you left one of those reviews, THANK YOU!
For 2013, I plan on writing more flash fiction, and concentrate on taking a few dusty (electronically speaking) novel drafts and write them as 9-10,000 word short stories instead. I've also committed to the Nebraska Writers' Workshop to finish a short story I've let sit idle for almost a year, titled, "The Coin". I plan on releasing it this coming March on Smashwords.com (it says so on my web page now, so I HAVE to do it!)
So, keep your eyes peeled in 2013 for more goofy horror/supernatural stories as I dig them out from the back of my misshapen bald cranium! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Since that day, I also published my second novel, THE MENGELE EFFECT, and watched as they both made their way to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, the Apple Bookstore, Sony, and a couple other eBook stores. As of today, I've sold 72 novels combined (36 of each). No, those aren't huge numbers, but for just throwing them out there to see if anyone might read them, I'm pretty happy! I made enough money to fill-up my Cherokee approx. one and a half times, too, so that's good... ;)
To end 2012, I decided to try my hand at writing "flash fiction"--short stories of 1,000 words or less. In the last 23 days, I've knuckled-down and written 7 flash fiction horror stories (all between 900-1,000 words). I really enjoy trying to cram a complete story in just a few pages, and I think I've been successful...they've been downloaded a combined total of 501 times (yes, I'm counting), with twenty-one 4 and 5-STAR ratings! (being FREE helps, but what the heck!) Those reviews are what any writer craves...good and bad, but I sure do enjoy reading the good ones! If you're reading this post, and you left one of those reviews, THANK YOU!
For 2013, I plan on writing more flash fiction, and concentrate on taking a few dusty (electronically speaking) novel drafts and write them as 9-10,000 word short stories instead. I've also committed to the Nebraska Writers' Workshop to finish a short story I've let sit idle for almost a year, titled, "The Coin". I plan on releasing it this coming March on Smashwords.com (it says so on my web page now, so I HAVE to do it!)
So, keep your eyes peeled in 2013 for more goofy horror/supernatural stories as I dig them out from the back of my misshapen bald cranium! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Monday, December 31, 2012
My seventh flash fiction horror story, "Sluagh", is ready for a FREE download at Smashwords.com! (And if you're wondering, it's pronounced sloo-ah...I think)
"Close your eyes tight, 'till come light of day...if sleep you do not, Sluagh shall steal you away..."
"Close your eyes tight, 'till come light of day...if sleep you do not, Sluagh shall steal you away..."
Saturday, December 29, 2012
400 Downloads!
As of a few seconds ago, if my cipherin' is correct, my six flash fiction horror stories just hit a combined 400 downloads on Smashwords.com! Woo hoo!
These little stories are awfully fun to write...I wish the story ideas would pop into my cranium before 9 P.M. though, so I could go to bed at a reasonable hour instead of dorking-around with my laptop until 2 A.M. ...
These little stories are awfully fun to write...I wish the story ideas would pop into my cranium before 9 P.M. though, so I could go to bed at a reasonable hour instead of dorking-around with my laptop until 2 A.M. ...
"Legend" - FREE Flash Fiction Horror!
My sixth flash fiction horror story, "Legend", is ready for a FREE download at Smashwords.com!
An old, abandoned barn provides the perfect stage for Luke's plan to frighten his girlfriend late one summer night. The legend of Fuller's farm, though, proves more chilling than he could ever imagine...
An old, abandoned barn provides the perfect stage for Luke's plan to frighten his girlfriend late one summer night. The legend of Fuller's farm, though, proves more chilling than he could ever imagine...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Over 300 Downloads!
First, MERRY CHRISTMAS! Second...as of this afternoon, my five flash fiction horror stories--"Ripple", "Feed the Bear", "Table Manners", "Beach House" and "Solace"--have been downloaded 317 times! All 4 and 5 star ratings, too! Love it...
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