Todd Russell's Blog
July 30, 2013
66 Days of Fresh Flesh
Time to celebrate the 66 days of Fresh Flesh!
Rather than spill everything this entails in one blog post, the details will be revealed over time in a variety of places (scavenger hunt?). I much prefer a good mystery over just another book promotion (especially when there are countless book promotions these days).
So, if you've been waiting to read Fresh Flesh, there is no better time than now during the 66 Days of Fresh Flesh. It's available at all the popular online stores (and there is a surprise that waits at some of the links below, hint, hint), although I'd advise against getting the ebook version at Barnes & Noble until they price match (*most*) everybody else. Ironically, they have one of the best paperback prices, so if you prefer good old-fashioned paper--and the cover art drawn by Aeron Alfrey looks fantastic on any book shelf--then I do recommend buying the paperback version at Barnes & Noble.
Fresh Flesh available at:
Amazon | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords
Bump that bad boy up your TBR and post a review at Amazon and other fine stores. If you love, hate or feel somewhere in the middle about the novel, then say it in your review with as much zeal in your fresh flesh as you can muster.
March 2, 2013
Historical Fear-related Cinema
In 1916, the highest grossing film of the year was the silent version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. An adaption of the classic 1870 novel by Jules Verne detailing Captain Nemo's famous undersea journey to dispatch that mysterious sea creature.
Frankenstein, starring the legendary Boris Karloff, was the top film of 1931. Here is a list of all fear-related films to be the top grossing films of the year:
1916 - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
1931 - Frankenstein
1933 - King Kong
1960 - Psycho
1973 - The Exorcist
1975 - Jaws
1987 - Fatal Attraction
1991 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1993 - Jurassic Park
Unless we count Avatar (2007), it's been 20+ years since the top grossing film was in the horror genre. It's time for something truly scary (and please no more remakes and reboots of classics), Hollywood!
February 20, 2013
Novella ideas
I've always been intrigued with novellas and enjoyed several over the years. This started--at least consciously--with one of my major influences, Stephen King, and his excellent collection of novellas, Different Seasons. To this day, his novella "Apt Pupil" is among the most disturbing novellas I've read. It's the subject matter, not gross-out factor or anything, how utterly believable he makes the descent of the young Nazi protege that still makes me tremble all these years later.
Wikipedia has a good description of the novella. They state a novella in terms of word count is 17,500-40,000 words. I've seen different publishers consider lower numbers, but that range is fairly universal.
It takes me about 1-2 hours to read an average novella. That's comparable time-wise to watching a movie. An average novel takes me around four hours to read. Some of the massive tomes can take me ten hours or more.I read about 1,200 Kindle locations an hour, less or more depending on how immersed in a story I get and the writing style. Deep, long paragraphs slow me down, while I burn through short, snappy paragraphs like Jeff Strand and J.A. Konrath use.
The Black Hole: > Novella, < Novel
There is still a black hole with numerous publishers that exists between 40,000 words (some it's less than that) to the minimum word length they accept for novels. Too long for novella, too short for novel. In fact, I have a completed draft of a story that's just north of 45,000 words. Where does it fit? I've wrestled with what to do with it, either try and expand it without unnecessary padding or mercilessly prune to make it fit a novella?
I have a few novella ideas
Lately, I have a few ideas with characters bombarding my brain that might be novella-length. I say 'might' because I don't know how long (novel-length is how I've described these longer ideas in the past) they will be until I'm done writing.
Having written hundreds of flash fiction tales (my story streak ended last February at 172 consecutive stories), I can gauge the word count on those much better than longer works. Every one of the novels I've written, I had no idea how long they'd be when I set out to write them. It's the last thing a writer wants to think about. OK, it's the last thing I want to think about. The story comes out of my brain and whatever word count is in the first draft is anywhere from close (short story) to needing pruning (novels). I pruned over 40% of a first draft from one of my novels.
I think my record writing single day output on one story has been a little over 15,000 words, so it's conceivable (though unlikely) I could knock out the first draft of a novella in a few days. Let it simmer while I start the second one and when that's finished return to polish the first one. Rinse, wash, repeat. It all sounds good in theory, but how will it work in reality?
Back to these ideas rolling around in my head, because it's scary doing too much theorizing. And, yes, ideas, plural. At least three different longer ideas which might be novella-length. Definitely more word count ambitious than maximum short story (under 7,500 words) length.
I have sort of written one novelette. I'm talking about "The Illusion" (roughly 7,300 words) which is in Mental Shrillness. Every other story I've written has been either a short story (that including flash fiction) or novel.
Novellas can work well for horror, thrillers and suspense tales. You can get a great story with decent character depth at that length. I've read several good ones from DarkFuse recently like Without Purpose, Without Pity by Brian Hodge and Fear Me by Tim Curran. If you love reading horror even half as much as me, go buy and read those two novellas ASAP.
So, yes, I'd like to try my hand at writing a novella-length story. Not next year or five years from now. Maybe as soon as tomorrow would be exciting to start working on my first one. I don't want to comment specifically on any of the story ideas yet (that can dampen my enthusiasm for writing, I've found), but after getting started I think it would be interactive and interesting to provide more details somewhere on my website.
It's possible that one or more of my ideas will turn out to be too long for a novella. I'm curious if that happens to experienced novella authors? They sit down thinking an idea seems novella-length and, later, when the first draft is done it's way out of novella range, making it fall back into the black hole during redrafting. Certainly if any novella authors are reading and want to chime in, please do so in the comments below.
I would love to be able to create and (hopefully) see published at least one novella someday soon. Would you like to read a novella by me?
February 15, 2013
Checking out DarkFuse
I did something new reading-oriented at the end of last month.
For the first time in 30+ years of reading horror I joined a paid subscription book club. It's a Kindle ebook club specializing in dark fiction, horror, thrillers and suspense. It's called DarkFuse and cost me $59.98 for the year. For joining I will receive:
- (12 total) 1 novel every calendar month between the 1st and 9th of the month
- (12 total) 1 novella every calendar month toward the end of the month
- 5 bonus free ebooks chosen from their DarkFuse shop
- 6-12+ various bonus ebooks throughout the year
- access to the members-only area where other subscribers and DarkFuse authors are hanging out and interacting
- the ability to vote in the DarkFuse Reader's Choice Awards
A few weeks after joining I posted some details of my members experience in a (free) Horror group I frequent at Goodreads. Here are the details, plus some new experiences:
- PayPal is used for the subscription and it is setup to automatically renew one year from the date you signup. You can cancel the subscription through PayPal any time. If you were gifted the subscription, I saw somebody asking about that and the answer is you would need to signup again next year when it renews with your own PayPal subscription.
- when I signed up I received an email (the email that is associated with my PayPal account) within hours asking me to reply with my five free titles. You can choose any from their shop page listed here:
http://www.shop.darkfuse.com/
The five titles I chose were:
Fangboy by Jeff Strand
Benjamin's Parasite by Jeff Strand
Long Black Coffin by Tim Curran
Cherry Hill by James A. Moore
The Bleeding Season by Greg F. Gifune
- The five 'free' titles were delivered to me within 24 hours of paying of signing up via Amazon Person Document Delivery. As such, they don't show on my normal Kindle bookshelf, nor do they have cover art displayed in the carousel, which kind of bummed me out a bit. Also, I have to manually bookmark the pages of these books because my Kindle Fire seems to lose the places in documents.
- I received one additional bonus ebook (a short story, actually) Restoration, sent the same way as the five free books. This one does have cover art, oddly enough, but it doesn't show up in the books area either :(
- I received an email explaining that every month for 12 months I'll receive a new Darkfuse novel ($2.99 value) from the 1st-9th of the month as a gift and a novella ($1.99 value) toward the end of the month. These will come from Amazon as a gift.
- On February 1st, I received my first novel delivery. It was Season of the Wolf. This came as an Amazon gift ($2.99). I accepted the gift via the link on Amazon and this book appeared in my books area with cover art (woot!) :)
- there is a somewhat active messageboard inside the members-only area with some knowledgeable horror and thriller readers. Some are also members of Horror Afficiandos :)
- you need at least 25 posts on the messageboard in order to enter raffles for additional stuff. The first item for raffle is a very nice prize. I found this requirement easy to do within a few days, as there are enough threads on the board already. A more ambitious forum hound could probably meet this posting requirement in a day or less.
- you also need X number of posts to download additional short stories in the download area. I haven't used this part of the site yet, but I think it is five posts per download (it might be five after each download?). There are a couple dozen short stories and two novellas, all by Darkfuse authors and/or the publisher. There are no novels in this area as of this writing.
So, to summarize, I paid $60 USD for the subscription and so far have received six novels (five free + February novel). I am scheduled to receive 11 more novels (@ $2.99 each) and 12 novellas (@ $1.99 each).
Since the regular cost of their novels in Kindle Format is $4.99 (the $2.99 is only on the release day, I believe) and the novellas are $2.99 (released at $1.99 for short time), the savings is good versus NOT being in the club and buying directly from Amazon. If you miss buying when the books come out, you'll pay the higher price. I suppose there is a possibility you could catch some of these cheaper on a promotion, but certainly not all of them.
Assuming the release day pricing, here is what I'll receive:
12 novels @ 2.99 = 35.88
12 novellas @ 1.99 = 23.88
5 'free' novels @ 2.99 = 14.95
------
= $74.71 (+ tax not included, if I buy through Amazon, I'm charged sales tax on every book purchase)
Note: this does NOT include promised "bonus" books to be delivered over the next year.
Clearly, this is a *GREAT* deal for horror and thriller fans, as the quality of Darkfuse titles seems to be pretty high from what I've read so far. Especially for those planning to read most/all of the books.
I've only been disappointed with one title out of sixteen read as of this blog post. That's a pretty strong ratio.
Oh, and I've also bought the following DarkFuse books since being in the club (the first three were five star reads):
The Mourning House by Ronald Malfi - $2.99 (novella)
Snowblind by Michael McBride - $2.99 (novella)
Fear Me by Tim Curran - $2.99 (novella)
The Underdwelling by Tim Curran - $2.99 (novella)
Puppet Graveyard by Tim Curran - $2.99 (novella)
Clockwork Dolls by William Miekle - $2.99 (novella)
When We Join Jesus in Hell by Lee Thompson - $2.99 (novella)
Fevered Hills by Keith Deininger - $2.99 (novella)
Without Purpose, Without Pity by Brian Hodge - $2.99 (novella)
Since I will definitely be buying more Darkfuse titles that aren't part of my subscription, they have found a good, repeat sale customer.
Hope this answers any insider questions folks might have and if you do join the club, please list my name, Todd Russell, as the person who referred you and, yes, I'll get $$ referral $$ credit. You are welcome to hit me up with any questions about the club below and I'll try my best to answer them.
January 2, 2012
January sucks--not!
I can't believe another January is here. Every year it seems the years go by faster, more of my already-gray hair graying and I look back at what was and wasn't accomplished writing-related the prior year.
According to my word tracker, I wrote 110,073 new words, 50,000+ of which were done during NaNoWriMo 2011 when I worked on the first draft of Fresh #2 (still working on it)
Cranked out 132 flash fiction tales in The Story Streak and posted them all online in various writing prompt contests. About 40% of them were judged first place. Thank you, judges! Doubt I'll ever be able--nor should it be fair--to repeat that feat.
Saw my goal of 3-4 books published realized. Mental Shrillness at the end of March 2011, my debut novel Fresh Flesh on my birthday September 29, 2011 and Flash O'Lantern: 13+ Stories in October 2011.
Now what about 2012? Sure, I'll put myself on the spot. Plus, if you have enough, you're bound to make at least one.
Write more than 110,073 new words. This works out to 301+ words per day.
Continue The Story Streak. I'm 134 days along as of this writing, so why not 365 more? Would also like to see Guinness Book get back to me about my record attempt (tapping desk). The promised 4-6 weeks passed quite some time ago.
Increase goal to 4-6 books published in 2012. I was supposed to announce the title of my next novel last month and didn't get it done in time. So it's here . . . somewhere.
Themed months? I'm a sucker for themes--especially horror and thriller-related--and since January is the Red Cross Blood Drive Month, this month is all about vampires. I'm going to be sharing all kinds of vampire-related stuff through my Twitter (@Todd_Russell) and perhaps a few blogs here. And with Valentine's Day next month, it's easy to love where that theme is likely headed.
Better stop before I make too many goals. It's like eating cookies. A few are good, too many and you get fat. Cheers to a healthy and prosperous 2012 for all of you. Thank you for reading.
December 28, 2011
What Scares Author Melissa Smith
Well, here's my attempt at explaining what makes my blood run cold and turn to sludge in my veins.
To put it simply, it's the unknown and everything that word encompasses. What's on the other side of that door? What will happen if I do this, or if I don't do this? Did that shadow really move, or was it just my imagination? Did I really just hear footsteps or was it just the cat? And speaking of my cat. Why does he walk to the same corner of the living room day in and day out and stare up at the ceiling. What does he see? What does he hear that he sometimes even responds. Or to smell a scent I haven't smelled since I was a child. A scent that belonged to a long gone grandmother. Surely it's just my imagination. Has to be, right?
No. The unknown, while making me a little nervous at times, isn't really what frightens me.
My greatest fear is being in a situation where I would have to choose which one of my sons to save if there could only be one. To be placed in that most darkest of places where the survival of both of my babies is impossible. How can I choose? If I can't, they are both lost to me. How can I not? But who? How? This one thought has plagued my dreams since my youngest was born. Is it premonition? Or just a mothers fears? Either way, I have absolutely no desire to ever see it become real.About Cloud Nine: A Paranormal Romance of the Guardians of Man
What happens when you receive a guardian angel?
What if you don't believe you need one?
What if one wants you removed?
There are people out there that want either Sterling or Claire for themselves.
Someone who will stop at nothing to have Sterling.
Someone who will do anything to reclaim Claire's affections.
Together, Sterling and Claire will dissuade them.
Someone will fall. Someone will hurt. And others will...
Where to buy
Amazon |
Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Smashwords
Thank you for sharing what scares you, Melissa.
- Todd
Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:
Kennesaw Taylor
Ren�e Pawlish
Dana Taylor
V.A. Jeffrey
Jon Reisfeld
Laurie Stevens
Stephen L. Brayton
Velda Brotherton
Tim C. Taylor
LeAnna Shields
December 14, 2011
Holiday Hop Dec 15-25!
Happy Holidays! Thank you for stopping by my blog to learn more about the Holiday Hop running from December 15 - 25, 2011.
What is the Holiday Hop?
It's a chance to explore the work of 60+ authors and win many great prizes including the Holiday Hop Grand Prize of an Amazon Kindle Fire!
What giveaway is Todd Russell running at ToddRWrite.com during the Holiday Hop?Every day during the Holiday Hop I will be giving away one e-book of my debut horror novel FRESH FLESH. All you need to do is be the first @Todd_Russell follower to make an elligible tweet (see criteria below) after midnight PST (GMT-8) who hasn't already won during the contest. Your tweet must contain the following information:
1. Must use the following sales link for Fresh Flesh: http://amzn.to/pYD8nW
2. Mention me somewhere in your tweet using my Twitter name: @Todd_Russell
3. Use these two hashtags: #horror #novel
4. Be 140 characters or less. Less is more.
5. Winner must be a follower of @Todd_Russell
6. Be creative!
Rules: no limit to the number of creative tweets one can make every day but only the *first elligible tweet* (if you've already won, your tweet will be inelligible for the daily giveaway, but still elligible for the ToddRWrite.com Grand Prize giveaway) I receive after midnight PST (GMT-8) each day will win the daily giveaway. Each day on Twitter, I'll announce and ask the winner to provide their email address so I can mail the coupon to download FRESH FLESH in the e-format of the winner's choice. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.
If you've already won, you are still elligible to win the ToddRWrite.com Grand Prize below by making the most creative tweet about FRESH FLESH during the contest period (December 15-25). I will be commenting on tweets throughout the contest period, so it's also a chance to interact directly with me. Let's have fun with this contest :)
How to win the Todd Russell ToddRWrite.com Grand Prize
Make the most creative tweet about FRESH FLESH during the contest (December 15-25, 2011). Every tweet that follows the six criteria mentioned above will have a chance to win this contest.
GRAND PRIZE: Autographed FRESH FLESH 6x9 paperback with collectible Fresh Flesh bookmark. Only a small number of these bookmarks were created. They are cool and look just like the fantastic cover art drawn by International Horror Guild winning artist Aeron Alfrey.
Yes, it is possible to win the FRESH FLESH e-book, paperback AND win the Holiday Hop Grand Prize (The Amazon Kindle Fire) all with only one very creative tweet :) Let's see you do it.
Hop over to the other author websites in the Holiday Hop
Now that you've checked out my giveaways, please start your journey hopping the other fine authors. You can continue your journey at the official Holiday Blog Hop website and the Holiday Hop page.
December 11, 2011
Fresh Flesh excerpt: Amazing Clearing
Spring 1984.
Kyle Roberts didn't like anybody he couldn't understand. English was the only language he wanted spoken by others and the only language he knew. The group's dominant language would be among the first of many battles. Several in the group wanted the language to be Spanish while the majority favored English. One couldn't speak any other language than Japanese.
His name was Saruwatari Naoki, age 54. They knew he was 54 because several times he had drawn the number in the dirt and pointed to his chest. It was one of the few things he could write in English. He was the oldest in the group.
He was about to do something unusual that would make him a folk hero in the group.
Saruwatari first discovered the clearing on the west side of the island.
They called him Sar for short. He had grown up on the volcanic Izu islands in Japan. The group leader, Kyle Roberts, had learned this from Seth Everson, a newbie who rambled about his eyes having special powers. Seth was the only one who knew enough Japanese to interpret.
"A clearing?" Kyle said. "So what, there are several clearings."
Seth said something in Japanese and Sar grabbed a stick and started drawing symbols in the dirt.
"Well?" Kyle's impatience grew. He'd considered gutting the Japanese farmer on several occasions. Sar had been saved by Seth's half-assed translating.
Sar's anxious eyes bothered Kyle.
"Something about the ground and farming. I don't quite understand, sorry." Seth shrugged.
"Show me this place," Kyle said.
Sar led Kyle and Seth across the island. They talked back and forth in Japanese, further annoying Kyle.
"What are you talking about?"
"He's talking about the dirt on the Izu Islands. He loves talking about dirt."
Kyle grunted. "Big surprise. A dirt-loving farmer."
The sun bore down on the trio as they made it to a 75'x75' clearing. Sar bent down and ran his fingers through the dirt. He looked up and rattled off more Japanese.
"Sar says vegetables will grow here."
"Without any seeds? Yeah, right."
Kyle munched on the berries. Gigantic-sized, tasty berries.
Several butterflies fluttered across the clearing. Kyle stopped and admired them.
"I think he's saying something about the seeds already being here," Seth said. "He says this summer we'll have vegetables to eat."
"These are the best berries anywhere on the island," Kyle replied. "Tell him I said: 'nice find, Sar.'" Kyle was disappointed that he hadn't found this place first. Having not been here a full year there were bound to be some useful spots he hadn't found first. And the butterflies seemed to like this place too.
Sar bowed at Kyle, smiling.
* * *
Summer 1984.
Kyle was sitting on the beach when Sar and Seth approached him. They showed him long, bright orange carrots. The carrots had grown in the clearing on the west side of the island that Sar had discovered.
"Sar was right," Seth said, offering Kyle a carrot. Kyle chomped on it and, like the berries that grew around the clearing, the carrot was very tasty. Best carrot he'd had in years. The only carrot he'd had in years.
Kyle was impressed and a bit surprised by Sar's discovery. Sar was proving to be more useful. And Everson, ranting about his eyes aside, wasn't half-bad either. Before summer was out, Sar also shared potatoes and tomatoes grown in the clearing with the group.
The happiness of having something to eat besides berries, coconuts and fish would soon end. They were not allowed to be happy here for long.
Read
sample opening chapters at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
December 7, 2011
The Story Streak reaches three digits
I've been in a productive rhythm every day with my goal of writing at least one new short story (minimum 250 words) every day since Monday, August 22, 2011. You can read the original post explaining my goal here. In that post I talk about allowing myself days off, but so far I have not taken any.
As of this writing, I've gone *108* days in a row. I've entered all 108 shorts into online writing prompt contests and have won either an honorable mention or first place 54/108 times (50%). My longest single story written during this time has been 2,000 words. Interested readers can see them linked for a short time on the fan page here.
Around Halloween 26 of my shorts were Halloween-themed. I took some of these and others during The Story Streak for the young adult horror eBook-only collection: Flash O'Lantern: 13+ stories.
Recently, I've been in the Christmas mode and have written 15 Christmas-themed shorts. A lot of these tales have a Twilight Zone feel to them. In November, I completed NaNoWriMo 2011 (50,000+ words during the month) and wrote over half the first draft of the second book in the Fresh series.
The next plateau in The Story Streak will be 365 days. Seems like a long ways away, but who knows? Should have an announcement on my next novel soon. Back to the writing cave. Thank you for reading!
December 3, 2011
What Scares Author Kennesaw Taylor
What scares me the most?
This question did a pretty good job of it. Us humor columnists tend to make fun of everything, that didn't seem the way to go. Writing some short piece about my child hood would have served to scare others, but would not answer the question asked. I could have written a fiction piece designed to showcase my great talent as a writer. I could have given rise to the doubt all writers live and write with every time they sit down or more importantly every time they get up. I could have explained the fear most feel when putting their words out there for the world to judge. The same fear that keeps most writers from changing the world.
What scares me the most? Not knowing the names of the five children who die every day in America of child abuse! The thought of a three year old cowering in the corner, shivering from fear and the look of horror on their faces as their innocent life is extinguished. I don't know their names, you don't know their names, they are invisible and that invisibility is the stuff that my nightmares are made of.
FIVE INNOCENT SOULSFive innocent souls, in search of Heaven's door.
Five innocent souls, in pain never more.
It's a hell of a way to Heaven, a path no one would take.
Five innocent souls each day, have that journey to make.
Do you know the five?
Perhaps you knew them when they were alive.
When their voices could still be heard.
Now silenced, they'll not utter another word.
You could see it in their eyes, you could see it in the souls.
The average age of the five was scarcely three years old.
Someone knew the five, someone knew their names.
Someone let them die, someone lives in shame.
Five innocent souls, hearts beating, tears abound.
Five innocent souls a day, lowered into the ground.
Five Innocent Souls, stagger, faces cast down, through heaven's door.
As God prepares for another day and five souls more.
Where to buy Informally Educated
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
About the Author
Kennesaw Taylor is an advocate against child abuse and domestic violence. A position demanded of him by fate, not granted him by education. His childhood is chronicled in his first book Informally Educated. His humor column is in its third uninterrupted year in the Wilkinson County Post as well as other Georgia papers and continues to grow online. I got the South in my Mouth (and I can't get it Out) and its accompanying book of photography, Kennesaw's Southern Odyssey, are Kennesaw's sixth and seventh published works. Born in Milledgeville, Kennesaw now lives in Athens Georgia and has spent his life traveling to gain the rich background necessary to make him a treasured American writer. Degrees from the school of hard knocks, the school of life, and others hang on Kennesaw's office walls.
Website: http://kennesawtaylor.com/
Blog: http://blogasaw.blogspot.com/
Thank you for sharing what scares you, Kennesaw.
- Todd
Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:
Ren�e Pawlish
Dana Taylor
V.A. Jeffrey
Jon Reisfeld
Laurie Stevens
Stephen L. Brayton
Velda Brotherton
Tim C. Taylor
LeAnna Shields
Sarah Woodbury
