As a writer I have a tendency of people watching and eavesdropping on conversations. I fully admit that I’m a bit of a voyeur, but it’s part of the job. Yes, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Recently I was once again eavesdropping on an interesting conversation between a group of friends in a coffee shop. The dynamic of the group was also interesting as they all varied in age and came from different walks of life. Not entirely sure how they all ended up as friends, but that doesn’t really matter, what does is the topic of conversation that made my ears prick up.

One of the women asked when each of them thought had been the best time of their lives. What I thought was particularly interesting was that they each thought the best was behind them. Their answers varied from their time in high school, to varsity, the their first job, to when their first child was born.

The thought that the best is behind me is just too depressing to contemplate. My childhood, while probably not the worst childhood ever was bad enough for me to seek refuge in my over active imagination, which is apparently why one shrink told me was the reason I ended up as a writer in the first place. My teens were spent watching my father die from a horrible disease, so once again not exactly the best of times. My twenties were spent on bad relationships and figuring out who the hell I am and then there was a bad marriage as well, so once again not the best of times. And so far my thirties have been about rebuilding my life after a divorce and getting my writing career up and running. I’ve had an interesting past and I wouldn’t change any of it, but I think the best is still ahead of me. I know who I am and what I deserve in a relationship, which I didn’t know when I was younger. I’m doing what I love and am finally living life on my terms and not someone else’s. My career is heading in the right direction. I have a publisher I love working with and have a few books under my belt and many more stories running around my head waiting for me to tell them. There is still so much life left to live. So many things to do and see. Still so many adventures to be had. The best should never be in the past, but always still to come, waiting just around that corner.

So … are you like those women who thought the best was behind them or are you like me and think it’s still to come?

Shadows is getting a new cover! Getting a new cover designed is always fun and I have to say this cover may be my favourite one for Shadows. It’s absolutely stunning.

Here’s the cover for the print edition, coming soon.

And here’s the new ebook cover:

Don’t you just love it?

Requiem in E Sharp is now available in paperback!

You can order your copy from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

You can also download it for your kindle from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

If you want to read a review of Requiem in E Sharp before you buy it, have a look at what Killer Aphrodite and A Knife and Quill had to say about it.

Writing is a business! If you want to be a writer who sells books and makes a living from putting pen to paper you need to accept that as fact. As a writer, my books are a product. My publisher is the manufacturer and distributor of that product. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and wherever else I sell my books are the retail outlets. And as with any other business you have to market your product to a target audience, which can be rather difficult and feel like a constant battle. And you, as the writer, are the brand behind the product.

Writing is a highly competitive business. There are over a hundred thousand new books hitting the shelves every year and getting yourself heard above the screams of other writers is sometimes like farting against a thunderstorm. In a world of free downloads and pirates it’s becoming more and more difficult to get people to pay a reasonable amount of money for your product. It’s a world where people are willing to spend more on their tall skinny latte than on a book you spent years working on. All these factors can lead some writers to desperate acts like bombarding unsuspecting readers with spam messages on Facebook or paying for reviews which don’t work. In fact those kamikaze tactics will only serve to turn readers off. I know it turns me off.

So … what’s a writer to do? How do I as a writer get my product/books noticed by as many people in my target audience?

First thing is to identify that target audience or market. Mine is obviously horror fans. People who enjoyed Stephen King and Clive Barker etc. Then it’s a case of letting them know I exist by getting reviews and interviews on respected horror websites like This is Horror, and Killer Aphrodite etc. I need to reach as wide an audience within my target market as possible, which means getting on to as many of those sites as possible. But those sites will only give me a decent review if I have a quality product. Which brings me to the most important factor in the business – You have to have a good product! Your book needs to be the best that you can make it. It also has to look good. A professional, quality cover will get you a long way, because people really do judge a book by its cover.

Which brings me to another point – Professionalism. As a writer you are also a professional. If you get a crappy review you don’t get to be a whiny bitch about it.  You suck it up. Reviewers are just people whose opinions are clouded by their own issues. But if you only get shitty reviews you have to take the hint, learn from it, and probably write a better book next time around.

Have a look at what Joe Konrath says on selling ebooks. He says it pretty well.

Another thing I do is have business cards with my website and twitter address. That way whenever someone asks me what I do and where they can find out more about my books I just hand them my business card. It’s those small little things that can help. Sometimes it’s just about having a conversation with a potential reader that will get you a book sale.

Sometimes sales figures can be incredibly depressing and there will be times when you’ll want to throw in the towel. I know, I have those moments on a pretty regular basis especially when a family member refers to my business as a hobby. But you can’t give up. It takes time and energy to build any business. You just have to keep producing quality products.

Since it’s Women in Horror month I thought I’d let you know about an anthology that honours women in horror.

DEEP CUTS ANTHOLOGY HONOURS WOMEN IN HORROR

Co-editors Angel Leigh McCoy, E.S. Magill, and Chris Marrs announce the publication of DEEP CUTS, an anthology of short horror stories celebrating Women in Horror Month, February 2013. Both genders submitted stories, and they also submitted recommendations for short horror stories written by women writers. There are 60 recommendations in all.

“Deep Cuts smartly sidesteps the bloody ‘women in horror’ debate and puts its money where its mouth is. This fantastic collection, featuring both genders, pays tribute to the best dark tales told by women. A deeply cerebral experience that is at times honest and intimate, but always chilling.” – Mercedes M. Yardley, author of Beautiful Sorrows.

Title: Deep Cuts­

Publisher: Evil Jester Press

ISBN-13: 978-0615750897 | ISBN-10: 0615750893

List Price: $14.95

Publication Date: Jan. 14, 2013

Format: Trade Paperback; 286 pages

Dimensions: Length 6″ Height 9″ Width .7″

Brief Description:

Deep Cuts presents 19 stories of mayhem, menace, and misery by today’s writers, in honor of the women who write horror. And, like songs buried deep in an album’s track, gifts you with 60 recommendations for their powerhouse tales, all for your terrifying enjoyment.

Three spotlight writers included in the anthology are Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, and Mehitobel Wilson. Lisa Morton wrote the Introduction.

NANCY HOLDER is a New York Times Bestselling author. Her work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A five-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times. She has sold many novels set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.

YVONNE NAVARRO is the author of twenty-two published novels and well over a hundred short stories, and has written about everything from vampires to psychologically disturbed husbands to the end of the world. Her work has won the HWA’s Bram Stoker Award™ plus a number of other writing awards.

MEHITOBEL WILSON has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award™. In addition, she received an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror five years in a row. Her work is featured in Sins of the Sirens, a Dark Arts book.

LISA MORTON is an award-winning author, screenwriter, and producer. She plays an integral role in the horror community as Vice President of the Horror Writers Association. In addition to her accomplishments and accolades, Lisa is also well-known for being a champion of women writers in the horror genre. Her most recent works is the graphic novel Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times, written with Rocky Wood and Greg Chapman, published by McFarland.

THE EDITORS of Deep Cuts are Angel Leigh McCoy, E.S. Magill, and Chris Marrs. Between them, they have decades of experience as writers and editors. We are available for interviews or guest blog posts and would greatly appreciate any publicity you can give our project.

You can get your copy from Amazon.com

Nerine Dorman is no stranger to my blog and if you haven’t read at least one of her books, you really should go get one right now … okay wait until you’ve read what she has to say about her new book – Camdeboo Nights and then go get one or two of her books.

Nerine is also going to give away an ecopy of Camdeboo Nights to one lucky reader who can tell me what sort of car Trystan drives? Leave your answer in the comments section and Nerine will email it to the winner!

***

Trystan peering through the broken slat in the window blinds was the very first kernel of an idea I had when I started writing Camdeboo Nights. I had this vision of a young man of perhaps seventeen or eighteen caught forever on the cusp of adulthood. Like his home which was slowly falling down around his ears, he was dusty and tattered at the edges. His only pride and joy was the 1948 Hudson Commodore called Rose he’d kept in pristine condition for all these years.

But the novel started life as a piece of flash fiction I sold to a now-defunct online zine, and ties in with the story of the Uniondale phantom hitchhiker. Here’s the bit that I love the most from that encounter…

And here’s an excerpt:

His passenger started laughing as well, but it was not the pleasant sort of sound he’d expect from a young woman. That tone conveyed a more than healthy current of disdain.

He glanced in her direction the instant the passenger door swung open. The woman was gone. Shock washed through him even as he slammed his foot down hard on the brake. Rose slewed across the road. He did not pause to consider how lucky he was that there had been no oncoming car or truck. He’d worry about the loud banging of rocks beneath the car later.

Stopping was more important.

A scream ripped from his lips, jagged fear locking him in position. Trystan could not remember having felt this way for a very long time.

Rose cut out with a shudder. Silence reigned, so heavy he could hear the ringing in his ears punctuated by the soft tick-ticking of Rose’s cooling engine. Moonlight cast everything in a bluish hue. The stink of hot rubber made him gag.

He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t alive, either.

He sat still. Some long-buried reflex caused him to draw breath he didn’t need before he expelled a sigh. Far, in the distance, an owl hooted a lonely call, and the distinct scent of apple blossoms filled the car’s interior.

Trystan got out and walked back to the first skid marks where the car had over-steered, checking for blood, for a body, at the very least. Nothing. With shivers rippling through his flesh, he drove home hungry, reflecting on the irony of his not believing in ghosts, until now.

* * * *

South Africa is full of myths and legends. From stories of the watermeid (Karoo mermaid), a type of spirit associated with water holes to the tokoloshe (a Puck-like imp) or legends such as Antjie Somers or Van Hunks and the Devil to the Flying Dutchman, there’s plenty of grist for storytellers’ mills. Phantom hitchhikers, check. Grey or white ladies wandering the halls of historical buildings, check. There is so much inspiration, and I drew upon our country’s rich heritage while writing Camdeboo Nights, where contemporary culture meets an older, ancient Africa.

Central to the novel is the location of Nieu Bethesda. I’ve long had a fascination with this small Eastern Cape hamlet that’s exactly in the middle of nowhere on the map of South Africa. The place itself offers a tantalising glimpse into the region’s past, as you can walk along the Gat River and see the fossils of ancient therapsid dinosaurs that used to roam here before humanity was even whispered of. The Owl House – a work of art by outsider artist Helen Martins – is another reason to visit, and also directly inspires events in the story.

I chose a different tack when writing the novel. Normally I write from one character’s point of view throughout, usually in first person. This time I tried multiple points of view a la George RR Martin (but just not so wordy!), with my two primary characters, Trystan and Helen, and secondary characters Etienne and Arwen. With the first two there’s a whiff of a romance between the vampire and the budding mage, and with the latter pair, a bit of comic relief between the little person (he hates being called a dwarf) and his witchy friend. Add a classic car that might be haunted, and you’ve got a high-spirited romp across the South African landscape, with many mysteries, twists and turns thrown in.

Curious much? Go check out the novel here… http://lyricalpress.com/camdeboo-nights/

Or stalk me on Twitter @nerinedorman.

I’ve been working on the new book, The Incubus Project, and over the last few days I’ve been wrestling with a sex scene. I don’t know why, but I always find sex scenes difficult to write. Not because I’m uncomfortable with them, but because I think they’re the scenes that need to be written particularly well. It’s easy to write a bad, cliché ridden sex scene, but writing a sex scene that leaves the reader breathless, emotionally engaged, and horny as hell is a whole other story.

Sex scenes need to strike a delicate balance. It can’t be a blow by blow sort of thing. You have to get the right emotional and carnal aspects. And it can’t all just be about the cock. It also can’t just be passive. Lets face it there’s nothing quite as bad as passive sex. And while the brain is the biggest sex organ, it can’t all just be in the head. You also want to engage to readers own imagination, but you also have to lead the reader’s imagination. As a writer you can’t just hint at something and hope the reader gets it. You have to meet the reader at least half way. Then there’s the logistics involved. Do you even worry about where the legs and arms are? Or where the lips and tongues are? It can all go terribly wrong very quickly. But like with most sexual encounters whether on the page or in real life, once it’s finished it can be very satisfying – if it’s done right. So … what do you think about sex scenes in literature and how they should be written?

In other news: Killer Aphrodite reviewed Requiem in E Sharp and The World SF Blog interviewed me.

The first week of 2013 has flown by and some exciting stuff has already happened, but before I get into that let’s have a look at the year that was 2012.

In many ways 2012 was one of those big ones for me. It was also the year of the short story. I had two new books come out and made it into five anthologies. I started 2012 with a goal in mind, and I think I succeeded. I wanted to get Oasis finished and published, I wanted to find Requiem in E Sharp a home, I wanted to find Shadows a new home, a home that would give it the love and attention it deserved. I found that home in Fox Spirit. I also wanted to get as many short stories into as many anthologies as possible, so five stories in five anthologies is not bad going.

My goals for 2013 are to write two novellas and hopefully get them published. The one is called The Race, it’s about a bunch of women with swords slicing and dicing each other in a bid to win their weight in gold. The second one called The Incubus Project, and is a departure from my usual stuff in many ways in that it’s got more of an erotic and romantic bent to it, although chances are when I’m halfway through it I’ll change my mind and end up writing something more hardcore and with a very unromantic ending. You never know. All in all I’m rather excited by what’s ahead this year. It’s going to be fun!

Today, I got to start the year off with a radio interview on Radio Today with Bruce Dennill who was also one of the first ever journalist to interview me when Shadows first came out. You can listen to the podcast here.

Happy New Year everybody!

Today we have Colin f. Barnes paying us a visit to tell us the story behind his new novella, Heart for the Ravens. So please give Colin a mighty big welcome.

Big thanks to Joan for hosting me on her wonderful blog today. Joan invited me along to talk about my latest release, ‘Heart for the Ravens,’ a gothic horror novella. You might be wondering who the hell I am, so here’s a quick bio and then onto what this book is about.

Colin F. Barnes is a writer of dark and daring fiction. He takes his influence from everyday life, and the weird happenings that go on in the shadowy locales of Essex in the UK. Colin likes to blend genres and is currently working on a Cyberpunk/Techthriller serial ‘The Tehcxorcist,’ which combines elements of Sci-Fi, Thriller, and Horror.

Okay. Now that you know who I am, what is Heart of the Ravens, and how did it come about?

Like most of my stories, it was quite ephemeral and I can’t quite put a finger on the initial spark of the idea. The genesis of the story was an idea for an anthology with Fox Spirit Books about a woman’s ideal companion. This led me to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I wanted to explore that idea a little more and as I thought about it, I realised the story would be too big for a short story for the anthology, so Fox Spirit asked to see a novella version.

I wanted to tell a tragic story in the mode of the 19th century gothic horror. I’ve always loved that era; the tone, the darkness, the slightly larger-than-life characters. And so my protagonist came to me. Katerina Roeslling is the daughter of a well-to-do businessman in Highgate, London. Only she isn’t your typical 19th century woman. She has an interest in books and science, specifically the radical ideas of Dr. Erasmus Darwin (Charles’ grandfather). He believed in ‘spontaneous generation,’ which was the process of bringing life to dead matter. This was also the initial influence on Mary Shelley’s use of science in Frakenstein.

So we have this curious woman with a love of science in a world that was mostly male dominated. Her quest is to find a man with a good heart: a quest not so easy in those days. It’s this quest that brings her to a solider (Willhelm), whom she thinks will be perfect for her, but a tragic twist sets off a chain of disasters that unleash a nightmare from which she is seemingly unable to escape.

The main themes I wanted to explore in this novella were: The role of women in a male society, the burgeoning, but still un-evolved scientific method, and the desire for companionship and what lengths we would go to get it.

Thanks again to Joan for hosting me on her blog. Here’s the blurb for my story:

A love of science meets a burning desire for life.

In the traditions of Poe and Shelley, Heart for the Ravens is a gothic horror story set in the 19th century following a heroine in search of a man with a good heart.

Katerina Roeslling is the daughter of a wealthy businessman and resents being treated as just another asset by her father. When she meets Willhelm, a rough-hewn, but charismatic, soldier, she thinks he is the right man for her, but he is just the start of a tragic nightmare.

Katerina has to fight her demons of guilt and grief and face her true fate at her family’s Whitby summer home ‘Ravendale.’

It is there she’ll discover what she is capable of and what continues to haunt her from the shadows.

You can download your ebook copy of Heart for the Ravens from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

You can also get it as a paperback from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

You can stalk Colin on his website, Twitter, and on his Amazon Author page.

I am very excited to announce that Oasis is now available in paperback! Requiem in E Sharp and Shadows will also be available in paperback in the very near future.

So … for those of you who have issues with ebooks you can now order your paperback copy from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.