Gary Val Tenuta's Blog

Just finished making this teaser trailer for the ebox set of my series of novellas and novelettes: Twisted Tales from the Files of the Second-Chance Limousine Service .

https://youtu.be/kYDxsKXzhk0

ASH: RETURN OF THE BEAST - Review by Drake Morgan, HorrorNovelReviews.com

"There have been countless novels over the decades that somehow include, reference, or are about Aleister Crowley. His dark legacy has fueled fiction and non-fiction alike, much of it retreads the same old ground. Satan; that “book”; evil magic; and so on, have become tired tropes. Gary Val Tenuta’s latest work, Ash: Return of the Beast steps into new territory with the Crowley/dark magic legend. Rather than simply focusing on a single aspect of Crowley’s legacy or Crowley himself, Tenuta creates a familial legacy.

"The story centers around a death-metal musician named Rodney Duckworth. He’s compelled by something he cannot explain to purchase a large, crumbling mansion. Within its dark walls, he discovers he’s the heir to a very evil bloodline. The dead bodies mount and Detective Kane is assigned to the case. He is paired with a detective who seems far more at home among the pentacles and gargoyles than he is and we slowly begin to see there is far more here than meets the eye. As he struggles against the forces of darkness, ancient secrets are revealed that bring the novel to a shocking conclusion. [...]

"For those readers interested in Crowley, dark magic, Satanism, and demons, Tenuta delivers. He avoids many of the cliché elements of Satanism narratives and gives us an action-packed story that moves along well."

• • •

ASH: RETURN OF THE BEAST is a modern-day supernatural crime chiller, a tale of revenge steeped in the occult. The story is a work of fiction inspired by a little known factoid about the death of Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), the notorious occultist whose favorite number was 666 and whom the British press once labeled as "The Wickedest Man In The World". Crowley’s body was cremated but the unexplained 1947 disappearance of the urn containing his ashes has remained a mystery… until now.

This diabolical tale propels the reader through a series of curiously interconnected events spanning the years from 1947 (and the death of Aleister Crowley) to the 1990s and the coming-of-age (and eventual stardom) of a "death-metal" rocker with the unlikely name of Rodney Duckworth.

The time-line shifts to the present day where Brian Kane, a gruff and gritty street-worn Seattle Police Detective, reluctantly teams up with the mysterious Rowena Ravenwood, an attractive and rather unconventional female FBI agent assigned to a most unusual investigative unit. Their task is to figure out why good, healthy, God-fearing preachers in their fair city are suddenly dropping dead... one at a time... exactly nine days apart.

What is the meaning of the strange symbols branded onto the bodies of these hapless victims? Are they all part of some bizarre cult? No eyewitnesses. No fingerprints. Is it really murder? Where’s the evidence? And what is the disturbing secret that Detective Kane is holding so close to his chest?

The investigation catapults Kane and Ravenwood headlong into life-threatening situations as they feel their way through the strange, dark labyrinth of the world of the occult and find themselves battling for their lives against the powerful forces of ritual magick.

A bloody carnage of unimaginable horror is about to be unleashed upon the world as the offspring of the fabled “Old Ones” are awakened from their ancient slumber.

The survival of the entire human race hangs in the balance and the clues to help solve the case are in desperately short supply. Worse yet, so is the amount of time left to stop the mysterious killer's reign of terror before all Hell breaks loose. And – according to Special Agent Ravenwood – that’s not just a figure of speech.

REVIEWS:

"Rivals the best I've ever read by Stephen King, Peter Straub, or Dean Koontz. Hell, Clive Barker would be proud of this one. Yes, it's that good." - Jeff Whelan

"It threw me for a literary loop, and I could NOT put this baby down!. The characters are very realistic... the plot is amazing. The twists in this story were terrific." - J. Wall, photographer

“The writing was flawless, and the plot was so clever and enticing, that I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys occult mysteries. A riveting story.” – Sandra Carrington-Smith

"A page turner... dragging you into a world where few authors have successfully gone... to the Gates of Hell and back! The thrill ride alone is worth the purchase." - Valerie Bowen, author of the Mind of a Madman series

"Wow...Dan Brown fans watch out! It's gripping, tantalizing... I was hooked by the end of the first chapter and literally unwilling to put it down!" - Nikki, book blogger at Close Encounters With The Night Kind

“Spectacular imagery...” – Michelle Parkins, South Africa

"The character creation is fabulous." - Christina M. Condy, goodreads.com reviewer

"A good break after all the boy-meets-girl plots. Good writing... interesting concepts... a riddle and some clues to solve... I was reminded of Dennis Lehane. Very different from other horror fiction stories... even gave the whole Necronomicon tale a new spin." - Cyma R. Kahn, goodreads.com reviewer

"Brilliantly conceived and executed. A riveting occult crime thriller. I couldn't put it down." - Rai Aren, author of Secret Of The Sands

"A close-the-drapes-and-hang-onto-your-seat-read. Highly recommend it." - Meredith Wright Hutchins, attorney, Olympia, WA

"An ending you will never see coming! Highly recommended!" - Lila L. Pinord, Port Angeles, WA

"Filled with magick... at times drawing one into the evil." - Ellen In Atlanta, amazon.com reviewer

"Plenty of atmosphere and a compelling narrative. A worthwhile roller-coaster ride." - Bob Freeman, author of The Descendant

"What a great story – fast paced and exciting, right to the end." - Roxanne Bland, Of Werewolves And Other Strangers

"Excellent read! Exciting, really moves right along & a wee touch of romance. You wont be sorry!" - Sue McRae, Stanwood, WA

"If you are a fan of Stephen King, you would like this occult thriller. It's not quite explainable and you can't tear yourself away." - John C. Stipa, Virginia

"A tingly, spine-chilling little entry that belongs in any true horror aficionado's collection." - Wendy Potocki, author of The White Lady Murders

“The narrative takes a different approach to the run-of-the-mill Satanist storyline.The action builds nicely and we are drawn into the web of evil and dark revelations as the story progresses.The narrative is rich with details on magic, mystical cycles, and ancient gods and goddesses.” – Drake Morgan at Horror Novel Reviews

"Although this is fiction it makes you wonder whether there is some truth behind the whole story. A real page turner." – Anthony Cessar, Gudja, Malta

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Caution: This book is intended for adult readers due to strong language and some implied sexual content of a deviant nature. Note: the sexual content is implied as opposed to graphic. It is not included as a gratuitous element. Rather, it is critical to the background of one of the primary characters, his personal development and the motivation driving his future behavior.
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KINDLE (U.S.) $2.99 - http://amzn.com/B006J6HRGE

KINDLE (U.K.) £1.86 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006J6HRGE

PAPERBACK (U.S.) $12.30 - http://amzn.com/1478314192

PAPERBACK (U.K.) £9.95 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1478314192

• BOOK TRAILER, REVIEWS, and MORE: http://www.garyvaltenuta.blogspot.com...

Altogether now... ready? A-one, a-two...

You blurb all day
You blurb all night
Blurb, blurb, blurb
Til the early mornin' light.
Hopin' your book
Is the one they'll choose.
And when the sales don't come
You feel like a bum.
You got the Indie Book Promo
Ain't gonna do it no mo'
Welcome to my pity party
Somebody shoot me boogie blues.

The Indie Book Promo Blues
Yeah, it's the Indie Book Promo Blues.
Your precious time you fritter
On Facebook and Twitter
Tryin' hard to spread the news.
Then when no one bites
You turn out the lights
And cry the Indie Book Promo
Ain't gonna do it no mo'
Welcome to my pity party
Somebody shoot me boogie blues.

• • • • • • • • •

The reason why there are a million (well, okay, only a little over half a million on amazon) "How To" books on the subject of book marketing is because that's what every indie author wants to know. How to? Probably everything you read about the subject in those books is good advice, to some degree or another. Unfortunately, most of it isn't likely to result in a whole lot of sales. Why?

I suspect it probably has something to do with the fact that the market is now saturated to the hilt with books by indie authors. In a single year (2009 to 2010) nearly 3 million indie paperbacks were published (according to an estimate by Bowker's "Books In Print"). That breaks down to about 625,000 books a month! And that's just paperbacks! The number of ebooks published would likely double that amount. And it hasn't slowed down. If anything, the number of independently published books (paperback and ebook) published per year continues to increase.

That being the case, it's almost pointless to spend time promoting your book to a general population of readers. One of the best pieces of advice is to identify a specific target population, people who would be most likely to buy your book if they knew it existed.

You can find a lot of online sites, forums, groups and book clubs that are dedicated to a specific genre (for example, "Fantasy"). That's great. The only problem, for an author, is that it seems most of such groups are not particularly author friendly. That is, they either flat out don't allow authors to promote their books on the group pages or, if they do allow it, they'll have it set up so that promotions are only allowed in a specific "author promotion" section on the group site. A lot of the groups at goodreads.com are set up like that. That seems like a good idea, right? I mean, I can see the reasoning. If they allowed promos on the discussion pages, we pesky indie authors would invade in droves of Biblical proportion like a plague of locusts. Thing is, it seems most of the group members who aren't authors, (and that's usually the majority) never (or hardly ever) bother to check out the book promotion section. Why? Because many (most?) of them still seem to be under the impression that if you self-published your book, it's probably not worth reading. In any case, the result is that the only people who visit that section are other authors whose primary reason for going to that section isn't to find new books to read. No, they're only there to post a promo blurb for their own book.

AUTHORS PROMOTING TO OTHER AUTHORS

That's become the case all over the internet. There are a ton of book-related Facebook groups where authors are encouraged to promote their books but, again, it's just hundreds of authors promoting to other authors whose primary reason for being there isn't to find a good book to read. They're only on that page (for a minute or two) to promote their own book. People who actually want to find a new book to read rarely (if ever) go to one of those Facebook pages.

Of course authors are readers, too. And once in a blue moon, another author will see your promo blurb on Facebook or Twitter and they'll click the link and buy the book. It's rare, but it does happen. I belong to over a dozen book-related Facebook groups and I do post promos at least 2 or 3 times a week on all of those group pages but, honestly, I don't think it does much good. So why do I do it? I guess because at least I feel like I'm doing something!

What about purchasing ad space, like on goodreads.com or Facebook? Some people do get a few sales from those ads. I've tried both but they didn't seem to result in any sales.

What about Twitter? Seems like every author now has a Twitter account. But do promo tweets result in sales? Maybe, once in a while, but the problem with Twitter is that there's no way to know if a sale was the result of having tweeted a promo blurb. There's no way to track that. I use Twitter quite a bit but, to tell you the truth, I think it's probably more of a waste of time than it is an effective sales tool. Again, I think I do it only because it's there and it makes me feel like I'm doing something rather than doing nothing at all.

What about giveaways? I tried the Kindle 5-day free download thing. At the end of the 5 days, nearly 500 copies of my novel (Ash: Return Of The Beast) had been downloaded. I have no idea how many of those 500 people actually read the book after they downloaded it but none of them bothered to post a review on amazon. Getting reviews is really the primary reason for giving the book away in the first place. The more reviews your book has on amazon, the more likely it might attract other readers.

Some people have had better luck with the giveaways but, from what I've heard (from other authors who have tried it), it's not all that effective. Some authors have argued, saying, "Well, at least now my book is being read by hundreds of people!" Well, maybe. What they don't seem to realize is that there are 10s of thousands of people out there who are practically addicted to scarfing up as many free ebooks as possible just because they can. They'll probably never get around to actually reading most of them.

What about personal blogs? I'm pretty much a newbie when it comes to blogging. My blog http://www.GaryValTenuta.blogspot.com has only been in existence for a short time and it's had only a little over 1200 page views. All I know, at this point, is that those 1200+ page views haven't yet translated into a single book sale. But, like I said, I'm still new at this and looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Another suggestion you'll often find in those "How To" books is to "engage in conversations with readers without necessarily promoting your book". The idea is that sooner or later, as people get to know you, they'll want to know more about your books and that will result in sales. Been there, done that (still doing it) and it's not all that effective. Nothing wrong with engaging in online conversations with people who love books but the bottom line is you'll end up investing a LOT of time for very little (if any) actual return in terms of book sales.

So what's an author to do? That's what we ALL want to know. The best advice I can offer is to just do what you can (all of the above) with the realization that it's probably not going to result in a lot of sales. And while you're doing those various promo activities, keep on writing! Get another book out there. Or a series of short stories or novellas. The more books you have available, the better the odds of getting sales. If you have one book available, you might only get 2 sales in a month. But if you have two books available, and two of each are purchased, you've collected royalties on four sales that month, and so on. It takes time for the sales numbers to build up. But as your sales numbers increase (along with the number of reviews), so does the ranking of your books in amazon's system. The higher the ranking the more visible your book will be for people using key words to search for specific kinds of books on amazon.

Of course there's always the possibility that your book contains that undefinable magical "something" that excites the first few readers so much that they tell all their friends they just have to read it, and then it becomes an over-night cultural phenomenon, in which case a big publisher will offer you a ton of money for the rights and you'll no longer have to suffer the Indie Book Promo - ain't gonna do it no mo' - welcome to my pity party - somebody shoot me boogie blues.

Ash: Return of the Beast

Excerpt from the supernatural crime chiller, Ash: Return Of The Beast



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“Harok uzni hadahs. Harok uzni hadahs. Harok uzni hadahs! Lalartu, sixth Offspring of the Old Ones! Blood demon! Dweller amongst the undead! Come! Thou who dost slay mothers at the moment of birth! Come! Carry me to the sixth of nine and light the path for my return! Then we shall be as One! Harok uzni hadahs!”

The sixth candle began shaking, vibrating furiously. The flame flared beyond its natural capacity, filling the room with a blinding light. Cowl's body went limp as the intense brilliance subsided.

At that moment, Cowl's virtual double--enshrouded in a hooded robe--materialized in the restroom at the concert hall where Pastor St. Martin was in the process of unzipping his pleated black trousers.

Deep in thought about the protest he was about to lead against Mega Therion--that abomination and corruptor of innocent youth--the preacher was about to relieve his straining bladder when his attention was suddenly drawn to an unexpected reflection in the mirror before him. He froze, staring at the dark hooded figure standing not five feet behind him. A crackling sound came from above. St. Martin looked up. The fluorescent tubes on the ceiling were flickering like strobe lights. A moment later the room went dark.

••••
Read the rest here (if you dare):

http://www.wattpad.com/7684201-excerp...

Talk about synchronicity, try this double whammy concerning my unfinished novel, The Dreamstone .

Whammy No. 1 - In 1979 I conceived of and began writing a story called The Dreamstone . My dream was to have it turned into a full-length animated film.

Ideally, I wanted the remarkable fantasy artist, Brian Froud, to be the art director and to design the characters and the creatures featured in the story.

About half way into the writing of the story I decided to send queries and chapter excerpts to publishers, naively hoping maybe I could get an advance to finish the book. The first query went to Harper & Row in New York. Several months later I received their rejection letter.

That slowed me down a bit and I wondered if the story was worth finishing. I worked on it now and then, still thinking it was a good story. Then along came a full-length animated film by Jim Hensen (of Muppets fame) called The Dark Crystal . Not only was the story uncomfortably similar to my Dreamstone (both are gems of crystal that need to be restored/recovered in order to fix the situation in their respective worlds)but the art direction of Dark Crystal was based on the work of... wait for it... Brian Froud. Seriously? Unbelievable.

So then I figured why continue with The Dreamstone because every publisher was surely bound to dismiss it as an obvious Dark Crystal rip-off. So I let the story sit, unfinished, for years.

Whammy No. 2 - A few years ago I dug out the partially finished Dreamstone manuscript and decided to give it another go. A bit more sophisticated about writing at that point, I realized the proposed ending for the story was completely unsatisfactory. It just would not do. Not no way. Not no how. But that presented a major problem. I couldn't figure out a way to remedy the situation. I puzzled over it now and then for many months but simply could not come up with a solution. Then, a couple years ago, I came up with a solution. With just a slight revision in the plot I was able to see how a satisfactory ending could be achieved! Yaaay! I was really excited to get to work on the story and finish it at long last.

I told my girlfriend about it and, knowing about the past situation with Dark Crystal (not to mention a similar situation that happened with a song I wrote) she suggested maybe I should Google the word "Dreamstone" to see if anyone else had used it. I laughed. Impossible, I thought. But was I in for a shock. A Google search turned up the following Wikipedia entry:

"The Dreamstone was a British animated television series that ran for four series of 13 episodes between 1990 and 1995."

And if that wasn't shocking enough, compare the following:

This is from my personal notes concerning my story:

"The World of Dreams is divided into two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. The Kingdom of Light is ruled by the Old One, the DreamMaster, G’rah B’el and the Kingdom of Darkness is ruled by the evil D’rath K’ahn, the Sender of Nightmares, the Imperial Lord of the Kingdom of Darkness."

Compare that with this from the Wikipedia entry:

"The Dreamstone was set in a fantasy alternative world ... and concerned itself principally with the struggle between good (personified by The Dreammaker, a Gandalf-esque white magician), and evil (personified by Zordrak, Lord of Nightmares)."

Quite a coincidence, eh? Could there be more? Oh yes.

More, from my personal notes concerning my story:

"D’rath K’ahn has grown bored with people having nightmares so infrequently so he has sent one of his Dreamons to steal the Dreamstone and bring it to him. Once the Dreamstone is in his possession it will cause more and more people to begin suffering from nightmares every night. If the situation is not remedied then this will become a pandemic and soon no one will ever have a good dream or a good night’s sleep ever again."

Compare that to this from the Wikipedia entry:

"Zordrak would instruct his henchmen to steal the Dreamstone, which he planned to destroy, so that nightmares would plague the sleeping world."

More, from my personal notes:

"Separating these two kingdoms there is a very strange and very gray realm known simply as In Between. In the realm of In Between everything seems vague, hazy and undefined."

Compare that with this from the Wikipedia entry:

"...Sergeant Blob, an archetypal Sergeant Major type - would cross the Mist of Limbo (a vast Purple Mist) to get to the Land Of Dreams."

All of this was disturbing enough to make me wonder if somehow the creators of this British animated series had come across my story and basically ripped me off. But then I thought, no. After all, I began writing my story way back in 1979 . This British story wasn't aired until 1990. It was such a long span of time between the two that it must just be a coincidence. It was then that I noticed, in small print at the top of the Wikipedia page, a link to something called the Ealdwood Stories from which The Dreamstone was apparently adapted for television.

So I clicked the link and it took me to another Wikipedia page where the "coincidence" became even more incredible.

It involved an author by the name of C. J. Cherryh who wrote a collection of fantasy stories under the title, The Ealdwood Stories. Given the fact that I began writing my story, The Dreamstone , in 1979 and, given the fact that it was in that same year that I sent my query and chapter excerpts to Harper & Row Publishers, the real topper to this strange series of "coincidences" was this quote from that Wikipedia page:

"Cherryh first introduced readers to the world of Ealdwood in 1979 with her short story The Dreamstone."

As you can imagine, that sat me straight up in my chair.

Cherryh's novel, based on her short story ( The Dreamstone ) went on to win a number of prestigious awards.

Now, of course, I had to once again consider the possibility that I'd been ripped off. When I sent my query and chapter excerpts to Harper & Row in 1979, did they recognize the potential of the basic storyline but - realizing I was an unknown writer with no sales track record to assure a return on their investment - they passed the idea on to Cherryh who did have a track record of successful book sales?

I supposed it was possible but, upon further research, I could find no link between Harper & Row and DAW Books, the publisher of Cherryh's work. It didn't make sense that Harper would turn over a good story idea to a competitor.

So here I am, pretty much stuck with the conclusion that all of this was just one strange coincidence or, more accurately, a true "synchronicity". And there is still another odd thing to add to this tale of two tales:

In my story the item known as the Dreamstone (visualized as similar to a crystal ball) sits atop an ivory statue about 3 feet tall. The statue is of three graceful faery figures standing with arms upstretched with their hands open in such a way as to accommodate the round crystal Dreamstone.

Sometime - I believe it was in the mid-1990s - I attended a kind of New Age expo, a big annual event in the Seattle area, where people displayed all sorts of products for sale.

As I was walking amongst the hundreds of vendor displays, my attention was drawn to something very familiar across the room. It was, unbelievably, an ivory-colored statue, just about 3 feet tall, of three faery figures with their arms upstretched and their hands opened in such a way that they could hold a round object!

I inquired about the piece and learned that it belonged to a fellow whose name I was not only familiar with because of the bizarre conspiracy books he'd published but also because his first name, Val, is my middle name. I also learned he lived in my home state of Washington although on the opposite side of the Cascade mountains. The artist who created the statue, if I remember correctly, was a friend of his.

So what are we to make of all this?

At this point I guess it's just a prime example of Carl Jung's notion of synchronicity. But, as a writer with an unfinished manuscript in my drawer, I'm left wondering if there is any point to finishing my story, The Dreamstone ?

I haven't seen the British animated series based on Cherryh's book and I haven't read the book itself. However, having read some of the plot synopses online it seems pretty clear that there are many major differences in the details of our respective storylines even though the basic theme is exactly the same.

Still I wonder, if I finish my story and self-publish it, will it now paradoxically be dismissed by readers as a rip-off of Cherryh's story? Or worse, could I be legally charged with plagiarism despite the fact that I have photocopies of the original, dated, query and chapter excerpts that were sent to Harper & Row back in 1979? Or should I just forget the whole thing and move on to something else? What an odd situation to deal with.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. The problem is, I just don't know what to do with it. I did, however, create a cover for it. You know, just in case I decide to go ahead and finish the darned thing.