Samie Foster's Blog - Posts Tagged "thriller"
A Ghost Story is Free This Week!
Hello everyone! It has been an interesting week. As someone who lives in a top floor apartment with no air conditioning I had to take refuge in the crazy triple digit heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest. I was staying away from home all week. I did take my computer with me, and did a little bit a work. But this week involved a bunch of interviews, errands, and then there was a holiday. So I did not get as much done as I wanted. But I did get a little something done.
Once Upon a Time in Boston is set up for a Kindle release. I am ready to release it next week. I am hoping to do a free promotion on the week on release, if KDP will let me do that. Also, the Siren on Berry Ave rough draft had its first round of edits. I need to make it all pretty now for Scribophile. And that is all I really have to report.
But I am continuing the free short story promotions. This week, it is a spooky tale about a haunted retail store called Late Shift at Pennies. So if it sounds like your thing please take a look or grab a free copy. The last couple of weeks no one took advantage of the free stories. But they were also lighter fantasies, so maybe everyone is waiting for the darker stuff to return. And if that was the issue, it’s the return of darker material this week. I’ll post the synopsis below.
It is no mystery that the Pennies retail story is haunted. Ghosts act as pests for all employees of the store. Their harmless activity tends to intensify toward midnight which is known to most as witching hour. People have grown used to the ghosts and accepted them as another common everyday thing. But an unlucky Pennies employee named Ian is about to discover the ghost's true motives.
This short story will be free from July 7th to July 11th. You can grab it at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C7X0IKY.
And that is what I have for this week. I apologize for not having more. I have been very busy lately but I promise new stuff is coming. I’ll be blogging the new news soon.
Once Upon a Time in Boston is set up for a Kindle release. I am ready to release it next week. I am hoping to do a free promotion on the week on release, if KDP will let me do that. Also, the Siren on Berry Ave rough draft had its first round of edits. I need to make it all pretty now for Scribophile. And that is all I really have to report.
But I am continuing the free short story promotions. This week, it is a spooky tale about a haunted retail store called Late Shift at Pennies. So if it sounds like your thing please take a look or grab a free copy. The last couple of weeks no one took advantage of the free stories. But they were also lighter fantasies, so maybe everyone is waiting for the darker stuff to return. And if that was the issue, it’s the return of darker material this week. I’ll post the synopsis below.
It is no mystery that the Pennies retail story is haunted. Ghosts act as pests for all employees of the store. Their harmless activity tends to intensify toward midnight which is known to most as witching hour. People have grown used to the ghosts and accepted them as another common everyday thing. But an unlucky Pennies employee named Ian is about to discover the ghost's true motives.
This short story will be free from July 7th to July 11th. You can grab it at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C7X0IKY.
And that is what I have for this week. I apologize for not having more. I have been very busy lately but I promise new stuff is coming. I’ll be blogging the new news soon.
Rainy Day Hotel is a Little Closer to Publication & There's a Free Short Story Giveaway This Week
Hey there. It has been a while since I posted. And in that time, I been working behind the scenes on some things. What things? Well, let me update you on all of it.
First of all, Rainy Day Hotel is finally sent out to beta readers through Scribophile. And finally, new critiques are trickling in. With the short story now around 80 pages long with the recent rewrite, I know its a bit of waiting game for all the reviews before the possible final rounds of edits. I strongly feel that there is going to be a lot of positive feedback for this one, with all the work so far and I am so close to the final draft. In the meantime, I am working on putting together some cover art until all the reviews come in.
Beyond that, I’ve been writing some new stuff and figuring out what to edit on next. I’ve been jotting down a fantasy tale with a blind protagonist. It’s a half finished novella so far. But I’m sure I’ll see it to the end, and some day it’ll be a kindle release for all to read. But as for what can be on track for self publishing next, I’m still trying to figure that out. I have been working so long on this horror thriller, that I wanted to work on something a bit more simple and different. A change of pace would be really nice. I have a scifi short story on my computer. It’s about a man who moves into a house that an invisible girl is squatting in, and it’s a bit of a scifi romance. I think I’m gonna clean it up, share it around, and see what the reactions are before I consider self publishing it. Those raw reactions are so incredibly important.
And lastly, I wanted to do a giveaway. I haven’t given away a short story in a long time. And because its the middle of summer and hot for a lot of people, it might be nice to read an urban fantasy about a half siren girl who can control water. It’s called The Siren on Berry Ave and I will post the synopsis down below.
Half-bood. It’s a term for those not quite human. Offspring of monsters and humans. It is an issue that the United States has not known how to deal with. The solution for the longest time was to lock them away from the public. But when a new law is passed to make them citizens, and they are released into the world.
One of these half-bloods is Cyan. A teenage girl with a Siren blood flowing through her veins. With her mom long gone, her step father takes her in and, for the first time, enters the real world. But it’s not an easy one for a half-blood. In a world that hates monsters, it’s hard to find her place in it. And as she tries to find her way, she knows the monstrous half of her family is out there. And she fears he may come for her.
This e short story will be free from July 12th to July 16th, and you can grab your copy at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4STDYY.
And that is all that I have for now. I wish that I had something more exciting, but I don’t at the moment. I apologize for being slow as I work on this sort of stuff lately. Since taking a new job a year ago, my time management skills toward my writing after long work days (and work weeks), has been poor. But I’m not giving up. I got too much stuff written down to not share it with the world. Have a good week all. I hope have a new stuff ready in the near future.
First of all, Rainy Day Hotel is finally sent out to beta readers through Scribophile. And finally, new critiques are trickling in. With the short story now around 80 pages long with the recent rewrite, I know its a bit of waiting game for all the reviews before the possible final rounds of edits. I strongly feel that there is going to be a lot of positive feedback for this one, with all the work so far and I am so close to the final draft. In the meantime, I am working on putting together some cover art until all the reviews come in.
Beyond that, I’ve been writing some new stuff and figuring out what to edit on next. I’ve been jotting down a fantasy tale with a blind protagonist. It’s a half finished novella so far. But I’m sure I’ll see it to the end, and some day it’ll be a kindle release for all to read. But as for what can be on track for self publishing next, I’m still trying to figure that out. I have been working so long on this horror thriller, that I wanted to work on something a bit more simple and different. A change of pace would be really nice. I have a scifi short story on my computer. It’s about a man who moves into a house that an invisible girl is squatting in, and it’s a bit of a scifi romance. I think I’m gonna clean it up, share it around, and see what the reactions are before I consider self publishing it. Those raw reactions are so incredibly important.
And lastly, I wanted to do a giveaway. I haven’t given away a short story in a long time. And because its the middle of summer and hot for a lot of people, it might be nice to read an urban fantasy about a half siren girl who can control water. It’s called The Siren on Berry Ave and I will post the synopsis down below.
Half-bood. It’s a term for those not quite human. Offspring of monsters and humans. It is an issue that the United States has not known how to deal with. The solution for the longest time was to lock them away from the public. But when a new law is passed to make them citizens, and they are released into the world.
One of these half-bloods is Cyan. A teenage girl with a Siren blood flowing through her veins. With her mom long gone, her step father takes her in and, for the first time, enters the real world. But it’s not an easy one for a half-blood. In a world that hates monsters, it’s hard to find her place in it. And as she tries to find her way, she knows the monstrous half of her family is out there. And she fears he may come for her.
This e short story will be free from July 12th to July 16th, and you can grab your copy at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X4STDYY.
And that is all that I have for now. I wish that I had something more exciting, but I don’t at the moment. I apologize for being slow as I work on this sort of stuff lately. Since taking a new job a year ago, my time management skills toward my writing after long work days (and work weeks), has been poor. But I’m not giving up. I got too much stuff written down to not share it with the world. Have a good week all. I hope have a new stuff ready in the near future.
Rainy Hotel is Done. I'm Just Figuring Out How To Got About the Release Right Now and Some Other Random News
Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well. It has been a little while since the last post. And I’m happy to say I made quite a lot of progress. So let’s discuss it.
The main thing is Rainy Day Hotel is done. It’s finished, polished, formatted, and I actually finished the cover art for. Well, mostly finished the cover. I still may tweak it a little bit. But it’s ready to upload to KDP and thrown out into the world. And I have been enjoying blissful feeling of being done after a year of rewrites, and chaos! But the question now is, when is it going to be released? Well….I’m trying to figure that out. In the past, I kind of just threw things out there. Then I used Twitter to push things harder, and the result has been not the greatest to okay. So I’m just taking a moment to see what I can do to promote it. Should I do a giveaway? Maybe a pre order countdown thingy? Push on multiple social media outlets instead of just one? Because let’s face it. Twitter is not nearly as useful as it should be in the marketing department. Should purchase a digital ad service? Or maybe to do physical giveaways? I think because it’s only gonna be 70ish page story, it would be relatively cheap to produce paperbacks for a giveaway. But that would require a lot of courage that I’m not sure it at the moment. And I’m toying around with the thought of making a book trailer to coincide with the release. I do have audio files from reading the story out loud in the final polishing phase. One part in particular would be perfect to coincide with some sketches and a nice guitar rift. It’s something that I can do given a bit of time. But anyway, that is what is going on. I’m just brainstorming about how to go about this release at the moment, and will have a release date news soon.
Beyond that, I still need to decide what to work on next. I actually been busy with life, Rainy Day Hotel, and sick lately so it’s taking a longer than I wished. But the other night I printed out some rough drafts of a trio of stories. They include the science fiction Grey Matter, the dark fantasy Witches in the Castle (Working title for now), and the horror fantasy The Curse of Kiera White. As I go through them, I will make my final decision about what I will focus on next. I am dying to get something else closer to publication.
And that’s all I got for now. Sure it this might be a more dull update than usual, but I am quite happy that with the progress that is being made. And when I do finally release Rainy Day Hotel, I hope that some of you will give it a chance and enjoy it. I did work really hard on this.
The main thing is Rainy Day Hotel is done. It’s finished, polished, formatted, and I actually finished the cover art for. Well, mostly finished the cover. I still may tweak it a little bit. But it’s ready to upload to KDP and thrown out into the world. And I have been enjoying blissful feeling of being done after a year of rewrites, and chaos! But the question now is, when is it going to be released? Well….I’m trying to figure that out. In the past, I kind of just threw things out there. Then I used Twitter to push things harder, and the result has been not the greatest to okay. So I’m just taking a moment to see what I can do to promote it. Should I do a giveaway? Maybe a pre order countdown thingy? Push on multiple social media outlets instead of just one? Because let’s face it. Twitter is not nearly as useful as it should be in the marketing department. Should purchase a digital ad service? Or maybe to do physical giveaways? I think because it’s only gonna be 70ish page story, it would be relatively cheap to produce paperbacks for a giveaway. But that would require a lot of courage that I’m not sure it at the moment. And I’m toying around with the thought of making a book trailer to coincide with the release. I do have audio files from reading the story out loud in the final polishing phase. One part in particular would be perfect to coincide with some sketches and a nice guitar rift. It’s something that I can do given a bit of time. But anyway, that is what is going on. I’m just brainstorming about how to go about this release at the moment, and will have a release date news soon.
Beyond that, I still need to decide what to work on next. I actually been busy with life, Rainy Day Hotel, and sick lately so it’s taking a longer than I wished. But the other night I printed out some rough drafts of a trio of stories. They include the science fiction Grey Matter, the dark fantasy Witches in the Castle (Working title for now), and the horror fantasy The Curse of Kiera White. As I go through them, I will make my final decision about what I will focus on next. I am dying to get something else closer to publication.
And that’s all I got for now. Sure it this might be a more dull update than usual, but I am quite happy that with the progress that is being made. And when I do finally release Rainy Day Hotel, I hope that some of you will give it a chance and enjoy it. I did work really hard on this.
Let’s Talk About Upcoming Releases, Writing Groups, & A Snowy Mountaintop Dark Fantasy & A Bunch Of Other Stuff To Talk About
Hey all. I wanted to share another one of these update blogs, or newsletters, or whatever the heck you want to call them to let you all know what is going on. I think it’s been three weeks (or month maybe) since the last one so I wanted to share what’s going on. So what has been going on?
Well…. I have a confession to make. I’ve been distracted. After finishing the final draft of Rainy Day Hotel I just didn’t want to do anything with it for a while. I just wanted to enjoy the bliss of being done. And in that break I joined a local writing group at a book themed cafe which is incredibly lovely. And then in those sessions and during writing at home I returned to something I started around last September. It’s a wintery mountaintop horror, dark fantasy. I am making so much progress on it, and I am just reminded how storytelling is so much fun after crawling out of the sea of editing, beta readers, formatting, proofreading and blah blah blah. I’m having a really good time writing it, and I am looking forward to the day that I can share it with you in the future. But that is miles away.
What about now? I am shifting focus back to Rainy Day Hotel, and I am sure you want to know what is going on with that. So this is the tentative plan. I’m shooting for a March release. I’m gonna do a social media push with a free book giveaway during the first week, so that it can get some real reviews and get it in the hands of a lot of people at first. So there will be a press release and notes on Substack about t beforehand. I’ll release a newsletter on Goodreads. Threads and Twitter writing communities are going to hit with a bunch of ads. There will be an announcement on Scribophile. And quite possibly I may try to boost it with Freebooksy. I have looked into Amazon Ads, and the general feedback I heard is they aren’t as good as they appear to be. Booktasters seem good, but a tad shady. I would like to do more research before doing anything with them. And maybe Bookstagram.
Here me out. This is my Instagram, or Bookstagram as writers call it, idea I get my account going. I am constantly posting nature and hiking photos from my outdoorsy trips on Twitter and Threads already. So I’m thinking about making a paperback of my shorts, or longer projects (Or hardbacks of those said stories. Might hold up better in backpacks now that I think about it) and setting them up in really pretty places and taking a snapshot to promote my stuff. I don’t know how long it would take to a get physical copy made and delivered. It has been a long time since I used Print On Demand. But if it can be done in a timely nature, then I may do that as part of a promotion gig as well for Rainy Day Hotel. It’s just an idea. I’m not sure if it the idea will work overall, but it’s worth a try. And starting with almost no followers with Rainy Day Hotel? Why not give it a try? If nothing else, it might be a fun way to start a Bookstagram account and get a following.
Also, I am working on some other things sporadically. I am editing some rough drafts of some other stories, trying to figure out what I want to add to the editing block next and put on the route to publication. I’m also revising an older horror book called Hollows. I’m just smoothing it out of any mistakes I may have overlooked because I didn’t know about ProWritingAid at the time of the release. It’s never too late to go back and revise your work. I have a become so thorough in my editing process in the years since, that it is worth the effort to do so.
Also, one other thing. My book covers, especially on my older shorts, are quite shabby. So I really wanna redo some of those. Especially now that I have a professional art tablet. It all should be so much easier now.
But that is what’s going on. Like always, it is constant chaos. But things are getting done. Maybe it’s all done in a scattershot, almost seemingly nonsensical fashion. But a book is coming out. Writing is happening. New projects are on the way. I will have more news for you in future posts.
Well…. I have a confession to make. I’ve been distracted. After finishing the final draft of Rainy Day Hotel I just didn’t want to do anything with it for a while. I just wanted to enjoy the bliss of being done. And in that break I joined a local writing group at a book themed cafe which is incredibly lovely. And then in those sessions and during writing at home I returned to something I started around last September. It’s a wintery mountaintop horror, dark fantasy. I am making so much progress on it, and I am just reminded how storytelling is so much fun after crawling out of the sea of editing, beta readers, formatting, proofreading and blah blah blah. I’m having a really good time writing it, and I am looking forward to the day that I can share it with you in the future. But that is miles away.
What about now? I am shifting focus back to Rainy Day Hotel, and I am sure you want to know what is going on with that. So this is the tentative plan. I’m shooting for a March release. I’m gonna do a social media push with a free book giveaway during the first week, so that it can get some real reviews and get it in the hands of a lot of people at first. So there will be a press release and notes on Substack about t beforehand. I’ll release a newsletter on Goodreads. Threads and Twitter writing communities are going to hit with a bunch of ads. There will be an announcement on Scribophile. And quite possibly I may try to boost it with Freebooksy. I have looked into Amazon Ads, and the general feedback I heard is they aren’t as good as they appear to be. Booktasters seem good, but a tad shady. I would like to do more research before doing anything with them. And maybe Bookstagram.
Here me out. This is my Instagram, or Bookstagram as writers call it, idea I get my account going. I am constantly posting nature and hiking photos from my outdoorsy trips on Twitter and Threads already. So I’m thinking about making a paperback of my shorts, or longer projects (Or hardbacks of those said stories. Might hold up better in backpacks now that I think about it) and setting them up in really pretty places and taking a snapshot to promote my stuff. I don’t know how long it would take to a get physical copy made and delivered. It has been a long time since I used Print On Demand. But if it can be done in a timely nature, then I may do that as part of a promotion gig as well for Rainy Day Hotel. It’s just an idea. I’m not sure if it the idea will work overall, but it’s worth a try. And starting with almost no followers with Rainy Day Hotel? Why not give it a try? If nothing else, it might be a fun way to start a Bookstagram account and get a following.
Also, I am working on some other things sporadically. I am editing some rough drafts of some other stories, trying to figure out what I want to add to the editing block next and put on the route to publication. I’m also revising an older horror book called Hollows. I’m just smoothing it out of any mistakes I may have overlooked because I didn’t know about ProWritingAid at the time of the release. It’s never too late to go back and revise your work. I have a become so thorough in my editing process in the years since, that it is worth the effort to do so.
Also, one other thing. My book covers, especially on my older shorts, are quite shabby. So I really wanna redo some of those. Especially now that I have a professional art tablet. It all should be so much easier now.
But that is what’s going on. Like always, it is constant chaos. But things are getting done. Maybe it’s all done in a scattershot, almost seemingly nonsensical fashion. But a book is coming out. Writing is happening. New projects are on the way. I will have more news for you in future posts.
Indie April is Here Which Means it's Time For Giveaways...and the First One is Rainy Day Hotel..
Hello everyone! I hope all is going well. Things are going on well my end. Finally got Rainy Day Hotel out. I just submitted the final version of the hardback version to go live on Amazon, and am looking forward to getting clean copies for some marketing ideas. Also, there’s this certain wintery mountain top horror story that I have been writing for the last three months or so that I finished! I finish the first draft the other night. So everything moving forward is brand new. And what is new stuff? Well, some of it is giveaways.
Indie April is coming up, and I hoping to do a giveaway away a different novella every week. I say hoping, because I am going hiking in the woods and mountains on an weeklong outdoorsy vacation. But first three weeks. Those are happening for sure.
And the first one up is obviously Rainy Day Hotel. I really wanna get this in the hands of people. And if people get a chance to check it out, hopefully I’ll get some reviews. I worked so hard on this. I really want people to read it.
The scifi horror thriller novella will be free from April 3rd to April 7th. You can grab your copy @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXSH9FC2
And in case you forgot what it is about. I’ll post the synopsis down below.
Life is simple on Imber. There may be months of acid rain, but in the research base nicked named by the crew as Rainy Day Hotel, it’s pretty easygoing. At their own pace, they collect samples, do lab work, compile the results and wait for their employer to pick them up in a few months. But things turn sideways for the crew when a couple members run into alien life on what they thought was a desolate planet. And the worst part of it is, it followed them. The base is locked down, as the creatures dwell outside their doorstep. But all is not well as they wait it out. The crew that returned is injured and sick. A parasite was brought inside with them. So with monsters outside and a contagion inside, they must find a way to survive.
And that’s what I got for this week. I hope you take a chance on my novella. And have a lovely week.
Indie April is coming up, and I hoping to do a giveaway away a different novella every week. I say hoping, because I am going hiking in the woods and mountains on an weeklong outdoorsy vacation. But first three weeks. Those are happening for sure.
And the first one up is obviously Rainy Day Hotel. I really wanna get this in the hands of people. And if people get a chance to check it out, hopefully I’ll get some reviews. I worked so hard on this. I really want people to read it.
The scifi horror thriller novella will be free from April 3rd to April 7th. You can grab your copy @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXSH9FC2
And in case you forgot what it is about. I’ll post the synopsis down below.
Life is simple on Imber. There may be months of acid rain, but in the research base nicked named by the crew as Rainy Day Hotel, it’s pretty easygoing. At their own pace, they collect samples, do lab work, compile the results and wait for their employer to pick them up in a few months. But things turn sideways for the crew when a couple members run into alien life on what they thought was a desolate planet. And the worst part of it is, it followed them. The base is locked down, as the creatures dwell outside their doorstep. But all is not well as they wait it out. The crew that returned is injured and sick. A parasite was brought inside with them. So with monsters outside and a contagion inside, they must find a way to survive.
And that’s what I got for this week. I hope you take a chance on my novella. And have a lovely week.
