Shaun Meeks's Blog - Posts Tagged "ghosts"

At the end of April 2012, I released my latest collection of short fiction called At the Gates of Madness. It is available on all Amazon site (with the exception of Amazon.ca at the moment) in both print format ($11.51) and digital format ($1.99). The book contains 18 stories that cover numerous sub-genres of horror including ghosts, demons, revenge, monsters and mullets. Both versions are 418 pages.

I'm going to keep this one short as I have some writing to get to. If you head to The Original Van Gogh's Ear Anthology Series website, you can read a story of mine called Shelly's Tape for free. It's a flash fiction piece about a haunting of sorts. Here's the link:

http://theoriginalvangoghsearantholog...

Brothers Ilk is quickly coming together. This past week I finished a new novella for it, House in the Valley, as well as three new short stories, Beggar, By Invitaion Only and Unopened (a follow up to Open Book). They will be joining my stories All In Vein and The Pork Pie Sisters.
Right now I am currently working on two more stories, possibly the final two for my side of the collection. One is called Faded Star, a story about a former rock star that longs for his old glory and fame and is trying to find a way to get back into the spotlight. The other story is called Gathering and is about a woman that sees signs of things changing, strangers around her that know her, causing her to fall into a paranoid nightmare. I hoping to have these done by the end of the week and start editing them as my brother ties up his stories and edits them as well.
I am also getting ready to do a photoshoot this coming week, an idea I started that Mina LaFleur pulled together into a quite the digusting cover. Once it gets going, I will be putting the first edits up on my Facebook page.

Earlier today I received an email from a teenage girl that had just read Angel in the High Tower. The email was very sweet as the girl went on to say how much she loved it and how well she related to the main character, Angel. She said the story was sweet and sad at the same time and the end broke her heart. She wanted to know what happened with Sam and Angel. She then asked me to expand on the story, to "write a novel about Angel...no! No! Can you write a whole series about her? Like three or four books with Angel in it?" It was one of the best emails ever because she actually seemed to care about the character I created. I have gotten emails before about how much people have like a certain story, or the way I write, but this is the first time anyone has sent me an email going on about how much they loved the character, how much they were able to relate to someone that I wrote about.

Originally, Angel in the High Tower was a YA short story, much shorter than the one that appeared in The Horror Zine Fall 2013, and slightly less violent. I originally submitted it to Dark Moon Digest for their YA edition, but they passed on it. I reworked the story and added back the parts I had to take out (mainly the scene with Sam and Angel testing her ability to leave the house and the scene with the confrontation in the basement). When I had finished it, I wasn't sure it was much of a YA story anymore as the end is a bit extreme for some people. I did tone it down quite a bit from the first draft, but I felt like the horror really needed to be there.

So, is there a possibility of a longer, novel version of Angel in the High Tower? I had never considered it before, but since the email this morning and some of the others, I have been giving it some thought. I know that there us at least one novel I could do, the story is already there. It would be a more expansive, detailed version of Angel in the High Tower that would include an entire section before she met Sam. More than that? Who knows? The way my writing works, I never really know where it will take me.

If you have read Angel in the High Tower, I would love to hear what you think, either as a comment here, or you can review it on Amazon or on Good Reads. If you haven't picked up a copy of The Horror Zine Fall 2013, you can also read it for free online at the link below:

http://thehorrorzine.com/Fiction/Sept...

This weekend I finished putting together Dark Reaches and have shipped it off for editing. This will be my third collection of short stories, the first two being At the Gates of Madness and Brother's Ilk (with James Meeks). As it stands right now, here is the table of contents:
Introduction
The Soldier
Dreams of a Dead Man
Angel in the High Tower
The Creek
House in the Valley
Give Me Convenience
In the Sun
The Undergarment Eater
Mr. Stand
Under the Apple Tree
Down at the Farm
Family Lessons
Shifty
Accidents
Miriam
Afterward

There are reprints from magazines, new versions of two stories and also some brand new fiction. I am hoping to get this out by December of this year or January of next year. As it stands it is 92000 words long, which translates into about 400 pages, but there may be some changes to it as three stories might be getting picked up very soon; The Undergarment Eater, In the Sun and Shifty. I am working hard and writing new ones to replace these, so this for now is a touch and go ToC.
I am also working on a book cover for this, as I prefer to do my own. This one will be based on the story in it called Miriam and will have Mina LaFleur modelling. Can't wait to get it done and put it out.

Last year I announced the release of my second full collection called Dark Reaches. It was expected for release in 2015, but due to some issues with the cover, and other releases, it was pushed back and back and back. It happens. Nothing can be done about it, but to announce that it's finally on the horizon. Right now the last edits on the cover are being touched up and then it'll be sent out into the world where it should be.

Dark Reaches will feature 16 short stories. Some have appeared in magazines and anthologies before, and others are seeing the light of day for the first time. Three of the stories are re-edits of previously released ones, where parts that had been cut before for the sake of length have been re-added to return the story to the original tale. There's a Dillon the Monster Dick short story in here, my first YA story, an out of print zombie erotica story and the very first story I ever sold. This collection is miles above where At the Gates of Madness was and I can't wait to see how people react to it. There are ghost stories, monsters, zombies, demons, unfortunate situations and death in these stories. There may also be a hidden surprise somewhere as well.

Originally, a story called Miriam was supposed to appear in here. It first appeared in Dark Light anthology book 3, but was removed due to the next anthology I release being called Miriam and other stories, with a cover that'll make it all worth it. So, with the removal of that, I added one called Despair, from Someone Wicked. It's a good switch and did nothing to take away from the flow of the book.

With that change, here's the new ToC:

Introduction
The Soldier
Dreams of a Dead Man
Angel in the High Tower
House in the Valley
Give Me Convenience
The Cleansing*
Mr. Stand*
Shelly’s Tape
Family Lessons
Despair
Mommy’s Little Demon*
The Old Man*
The Undergarment Eater
Perfection Through Silence
Body Bag
Taut
Afterword

The book is due out mid June 2106. Links will be posted once it's out and review copies will be available if you PM me.

From October 23-25, my new collection of short fiction called Dark Reaches is free for Kindle users over on Amazon.
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Reaches-S...

Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01G...

Amazon.ca:https://www.amazon.ca/Dark-Reaches-Sh...



Dark Reaches

2020 has been a strange one for me, and I'm sure fpr most of you as well. It has not been the most productive on my end. My latest collection, From Nightmare, Dreams was set to be released in summer of 2020, but when the summer came, it just didn't feel right. This year the world had so many more important voices that needed to be heard than my own, so I decided to wait. And I waited, and waited.

Now, as the year changes, I want to start off 2021 with a bang. By the end of January, the collection of new and old stories will be released. I have wanted this out for so long, and seeing it coming out after a pretty nasty year, I think is a great way to wipe the dust of 2020 off and start fresh. The book has quite a few never before published stories, as well as some fan and critic favorites (And Midian Whispered Its Name, Red Velvet, In the Sun, and Dead Bill to name a few). As always, there will be some hidden surprises as well.

IFWG Publishing is also set to release the next Dillon the Monster Dick book, number 4 in the series called Heads, You Lose. This was also supposed to have come out in 2020, but again, what can you do? Originally I had an idea to do 7 books in this series, but I think now, to keep it fresh, there will be only 6, with A Touch of Death currently in the works, and then Dillon At the Gates of Madness to round out the series. That's the plan at least, but who knows if things might change before then.

I had also started a Patreon in late 2019 and had thought it was a great idea. I had no idea what 2020 would bring, but a little after Covid hit I put the page on hold. During the protests, I didn't think it was a place for a writer to be charging people to read relatively unimportant things. Like I said, there were more important voices that needed to be heard. Not that I had many subscribers anyway, which is why I had a funeral for my Patreon account and buried it. I doubt I will ever revisit it again. It was more work than it was worth.

I have written a few stories this year and plan to start submitting again. If you've read this far, i hope the New Year is good to us all. I hope there will be a sense of normalcy instead of the sense of dread that has been looming. Stay safe. Be well. I hope we can all see each other soon.