Mar 1, 2019 | Action & Adventure, Advice for Writers, Expert, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-fi, Thriller, Uncategorized
Stephen King in Creepshow — Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Stephen King is one of the most successful authors in the world. He's written more than 60 books, all of the them bestsellers. And he writes horror.
Horror!
Yes, that much maligned genre I keep talking about. He's been doing it for 40 some years and he's still going strong.
King himself once called his writing “the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries.” It's not complex stuff. He writes prose that is simple and easy to follow.
He spells everything out for his readers. No literary subtitles here. If he wants you to know what a character is feeling, he tells you what that feeling is and why that character is feeling it.
Writers are weird people. When one of them makes it big, you get articles like this one. Did I mention, writers are weird?
King's simple style does not, however, limit the stories he tells. He is a master storyteller, often weaving complex plots with lots of characters and making it look easy.
His stories are exciting and fast-paced. They suck you in and won't let go. You have to keep reading and reading.
He is also very good with time and place and very good with character. And it is with his characters that his writing shines and wins over his readers.
His characters are always sympathetic, sometimes with heartbreaking backstories that he explicitly writes in detailed flashbacks, usually everyday people.
Even his bad guys are only bad because of some sort of corruption, typically from an outside evil force. And by ‘outside evil' I mean an antagonistic force, often supernatural, that is either out to get his mostly innocent and well-meaning characters (like Pennywise the clown in It), or out to make them do evil things themselves (like the Overlook Hotel in The Shining).
Here's how you do an author pic. Black and white. Stark shadows. No smiling. Intense eyes. Courtesy of Simon and Schuster.
But always these antagonistic forces come from things that are twisted, evil and not human. It's a comforting message that people like to believe. People are good. Other things are bad. A message worth noting as a contributing factor to King's success.
Personally, I have been reading Stephen King since I was 14 years old. I have read a good majority of what he was written, with only some of his newer stuff missing from my list.
Even as I discovered writers I liked more over the years, I've always come back to King's stories. I'm drawn back to them when I need something into which I know I will lose myself.
If you're like me and you grew up with a sort of high-minded ideal for your writing, born out of reading too much Hemingway and Faulkner (or whatever “classic” author you're into), then further perpetuated by college literature and creative writing courses, it's worth taking a step back and looking at the work of an author like Stephen King.
King's writing style is simple, his characters are easy to relate to, and his stories move quickly.
These are traits that sell books.
King is not famous because he writes horror, but in spite of it.
…
Oh, and my favorite King novel?
The Tommyknockers (I know, I know. Considered one of his worst. Ask me in the comments and I'll tell you why it's my favorite.)
Keith Deininger is the award-winning and #1 Amazon bestselling author of many horror and fantasy titles, including WITHIN, THE FEVER TRILOGY and THE GODGAME series. He has been called “one of the finest writers of imaginative fiction” and “Ray Bradbury on acid.” His latest novel, VIOLENT HEARTS, has been compared to Stephen King’s fantasy-based work. He lives in Albuquerque, NM with his wife and two kids. Although he loves a good nightmare, in person he’s a really nice guy. Promise.
www.KeithDeininger.com
Keith Deininger
Dec 4, 2018 | Advice for Writers, Expert, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-fi, Uncategorized
A sinister ritual and nightmares made manifest… What's not to love?
“You’re an author? That’s awesome! What do you write?”
“Horror,” you say, proudly puffing out your chest.
“Oh…”
Uncomfortable looks. The subject is quickly changed.
Your puffed chest deflates and you slink away in shame…
It’s hard to promote horror. No genre is more misunderstood and fractured by sub-genre: supernatural, post-apocalyptic, fantasy, sci-fi, comedy, slasher, not to mention vampires, werewolves, zombies, gelatinous snot from outer space, man-eating rose bushes, and nebulous shape shifting child serial killers (10 points if you can guess those last 3 in the comments). The list goes on. It’s difficult to tell someone you’ve written a horror novel and generate interest, and this makes it all the more difficult to promote and sell a horror novel.
How NOT to market your book…
When you mention horror, everyone is thinking something different. Some people think of vampires (some people, believe it or not, think Twilight is horror, and in some ways it is). Some people think of slasher horror, which mostly comes from movies like Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street where groups of not-so-smart teens are picked off one by one by some sort of killer on the loose. This is fine, but only one kind of horror and one that tends to make people think the genre is juvenile and aimed mostly at teenage boys, which it is not!
And then there’s King. When you mention horror, a lot of people think of Stephen King. King is a huge influence on the horror genre and he has written a lot of different tales, but his horror tends to be about outside evil terrorizing and corrupting generally good and well-intentioned people. (I could write a lot more about King’s particular brand of horror, but that’s an entire article all its own—watch this space!) And to further complicate matters, when a lot of people think of Stephen King, they think of creepy ol’ Jack Nicholson rampaging around with an axe, which is more Stanley Kubrick’s vision than King’s (more on this too in the future if there’s interest).
And to make matters even worse, horror is often subject to controversy and scorn. There are those who will tell you horror is bad for you. They think it’s all gore and violence and that reading such things brings out the worst in people. This is, of course, simply not true. In fact, I’d argue, the opposite is true (Another post! These things are writing themselves).
The horror is real.
So then how the hell do we promote it? You’ve written a horror book. You want people to see it, to read it, to love it. First step is education. We need to teach people about horror, about the joys of darkness. That’s the only way we’re going to find the right audience. What better place to start then with blogging?
In this ongoing blog series I will be talking about how to sell a horror novel. I’ll tell you right now, it’s not easy. I’ve been doing this for years now and the struggle is ongoing. But I will share my experiences and what I have found that works and what doesn’t.
Next month I will be talking about blogging techniques to help educate the masses about horror. I will talk about how important it is to define your horror novel, so that you know what kind of horror it is and can attract the right kind of reader.
Until then, embrace the darkness!
Keith Deininger has been writing about horror, fantasy and science fiction since 2013, but he’s been obsessed with it for far longer. He is the award-winning and #1 Amazon bestselling author of many horror and fantasy titles, including WITHIN, THE FEVER TRILOGY and THE GODGAME series. He has been called “one of the finest writers of imaginative fiction” and “Ray Bradbury on acid.” His latest novel, VIOLENT HEARTS, is about a sinister ritual and the terrors of nightmares made manifest. He lives in Albuquerque, NM with his wife and two kids. Although he loves a good nightmare, in person he’s a really nice guy. Promise.
Don Viecelli
Jan 5, 2018 | Editors' Blog, Sci-fi
I joined BooksGoSocial Science Fiction Team 2 one year ago in January 2017 along with 10 other members. Since that time we have grown to 19 active Members and work with 7 Collaborators from other Teams.
We call ourselves, Writers of SciFi. It has been a much more productive experience than I imagined. Along the way we have learned what it takes to be successful Indie Sci-Fi Authors.
The lessons learned were mostly from trial and error. However, we did have BooksGoSocial guidelines, training tools and helpful suggestions to point the way. Our Team is more than willing to offer suggestions to other BGS Teams in exchange for some friendly Collaboration or Social Marketing efforts.
You can track our activities on BGS Google Spreadsheet at this link.
I was asked to say something about my work, which is completely about Science Fiction. I have authored ten Sci-Fi books so far, the first one self-published by an POD distributer in 2003. Since then I have steadily increased my online presence using Amazon, Barnes & Noble (Nook) and Smashwords self-publishers. My work is easily viewed on my website.
My most successful books are part of The Guardians Series, Books 1, 2 and 3. Go to my BookFunnel link for a Free copy of The Guardians – Book 1, no Newsletter sign up required.
Interested in joining an author team? Click here.
Mark Kingston Levin
Aug 11, 2017 | Erotica, Featured, Sci-fi
What will sex be like in our distant future?
To get more than a glimpse read 30th Century Escape By Mark Kington Levin
Jennifer the heroine was born and raised in the 30th century. She's been tasked with attacking the Syndos – genetically-enhanced humans – before they destroy humankind. She will use the one-way time-travel device in 2971 to trans-time back to 2015 as she was a historian and archeologist specializing in the 21st century. There she will infect the Syndos as they are created with a virus to kill their disposition towards sociopathy.
In the 30th century, sexual variation of sexual behavior of all kinds are accepted by society. Their attitude towards sex has changed. The men take the wife’s family name and women are often the sexual aggressors. However, there are the Syndos who have two wives.
This is my view of our future given current trends in the past 300 years. Jennifer is bisexual and is looking for a man to have children with and women to enjoy sex with her and her husband. On the other hand, the Syndos have two wives, but the women are free to have lovers of either or both sexes. Even multiple sex partners are equally acceptable for men and women in the 30th century including swinging couples, bisexuals, homosexuals and others.
What is happening in our society today? According to university researchers, poly love or open marriages has been growing for decades along with couples adapting to and practicing the swinging lifestyle. These swinging activities were sometimes called wife swapping in the sixties. Thousands of years ago these activities were acceptable in the Ancient Greek and Roman societies as well as many other with no stigma. Given recent trends on gay and lesbian marriages, and increasing openess to open relationships and other less traditional forms of relationships, the pendulum may be swinging back.
Jun 9, 2017 | Editors' Blog, Sci-fi
Both break out novelists and well established writers alike will agree that the books below stand apart from the crowd in the best way possible! While not being a huge Sci Fi fan myself, I must say that these five novels have caught and kept my attention. Not every title is newly published, so you may be surprised to find a previously undiscovered gem.
Corrosion: The Corroding Empire: Book 1 by Johan Kalsi
Johan Kalsi is Finland's hottest science fiction author. An accomplished geneticist as well as a 6'3″ ex-Finnish Marine, in CORROSION, Kalsi shows himself to be more Asimovian than Asimov himself. CORROSION marks his English-language debut.
Galactic society is ruled by algorithms. From interstellar travel and planetary terraforming to artificial intelligence and agriculture, every human endeavor has become completely dependent upon the hypercomplex equations that optimize the activities making life possible across hundreds of inhabited worlds. Throughout the galaxy, Man has become dependent upon the reliable operation of ten million different automated systems.
And when things begin to go wrong and mysterious accidents begin to happen no one has any idea what is happening, except for a sentient medical drone and the First Technocrat of Continox. But their ability to even begin to try fixing the unthinkably complicated problem of galaxy-wide algorithmic decay is made considerably more difficult by the fact the former is an outlaw and the latter is facing a death sentence.
“Scalzi is one of the slickest writers that SF has ever produced.” ―The Wall Street Journal on The Human Division
“Fans of Game of Thrones and Dune will enjoy this bawdy, brutal, and brilliant political adventure” ―Booklist on The Collapsing Empire
The Enemy Within by Scott Burn
Scott Burn, a former lawyer turned writer, creator of the science fiction comic book series AGON, and writer of several successful feature screenplays is now dominating the Sci Fi writing scene with his debut novel, THE ENEMY WITHIN.
Seventeen-year-old Max has always felt like an outsider. When the agonizing apocalyptic visions begin, he decides suicide is his only escape. Instead, he soon finds himself in an institution under the guidance of a therapist who sees something exceptional in him. Just as he begins to leave the hallucinations behind, Max discovers the visions aren't just in his head.
There are three others who have shared those same thoughts, and they've been searching for Max. Like him, they are something more than human. Each of them possesses certain abilities, which they're going to need as a covert military group begins hunting them down. As the danger escalates, Max doesn’t know which side to trust. In the end, his choice will decide the fate of both species.
“This is a fine Sci-Fi story anchored to firm thematic material… A great combination of suspenseful action and empathetic characterization based on relevant ideas, which can be enjoyed on several levels. Highly recommended for all Sci-Fi and general novel fans.” ―Airborn Press
“A riveting read that will keep you on the edge of your seat even after you've finished it. I was extremely impressed with this author's debut novel and cannot wait to see what else is in store for us from him!” ―Urban Book Reviews
Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
The thrilling sequel to the Hugo and Nebula-winning Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
It’s been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since Binti was declared a hero for uniting two warring planets. A year since she found friendship in the unlikeliest of places.
And now she must return home to her people, with her friend Okwu by her side, to face her family and face her elders.
But Okwu will be the first of his race to set foot on Earth in over a hundred years, and the first ever to come in peace.
After generations of conflict can human and Meduse ever learn to truly live in harmony?
“There's more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor's work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics.” ―Ursula Le Guin
“A perfect dove-tailing of tribal and futuristic, of sentient space ships and ancient cultural traditions, Binti was a beautiful story to read.” ―Little Red Reviewer
Liquid Gambit by Bonnie Milani
Bonnie Milani is soon to be a household name. Her short story ‘A Hot Day on Titan' has been nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, her novel ‘Home World' won the 2016 EVVY awards' 1st place in the science fiction category, and most recently, her novel ‘Home World' has been awarded the BooksGoSocial Gold Quality Mark.
Death is never more than an airlock away for the denizens of Hell, the last deck before the Void on the last station in human space.
It’s a place where justice is for sale and slavers hawk their human merchandise to the highest bidder. But to Rick, a scarred, bitter Lupan warrior, it’s home – or at least the one place in the known universe where he can ignore all the death warrants on him throughout the rest of the Commonwealth. It’s also the place where a few drops of the most precious liquid in all of human space can buy him a berth on the last ship back to his birth world. Until a mysterious, vaguely familiar woman walks into the dive Rick runs. And brings his deadly, ugly past in with her.
Somehow Rick must unlock the secrets she carries. Because if he fails, he will lose far more than just his life.
“Liquid Gambit is a futuristic thrilling adventure; with suspense so strong, I wasn’t sure what was coming next.” ―Boundless Book Reviews.
“I Want more. Milani is the next powerhouse of sci-fi.” ―Marion Pagano.
Smartbrain (Penchant Series Book 1) by G. F. Smith
Smartbrain, a two-part novel and the first in the Penchant Series, introduces the Reader to a burgeoning, future universe where new, uber-immersive consumer technology creates the potential for worlds of augmented realism that exceeds ordinary, high-definition reality by inestimable measures. A 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards “Finalist”
New Consumer Tech: SMARTPHONE STREAMS DIRECTLY INTO HUMAN BRAIN
Part 1: Mind
Sarah Whiting, young, attractive, tech-savvy homebody, accepts a potentially lucrative offer to join a product/market analysis team that is performing the final evaluation of the believed technological breakthrough of the century before its release to the public. As the incredible opportunity unfolds, Sarah finds herself smitten with the technology, as well as with the project’s lead engineer. Even with the contrast of taking care of her Alzheimer’s-ridden father, it all seems like a dream-come-true for Sarah. That is, until she abruptly learns that she may now be unwittingly mired in a dangerous ruse of international deception, and that the man she’s fallen for, as well as this new, highly transformative technology may originate from somewhere else, other than Earth.
Part 2: Matter
Sarah’s world is further thrown into chaos and confusion when she wakes up with little memory of her recent past and is told that she is a victim of severe brain injury brought on by the very technology she had been working with. Sarah is lost in the revelation, loath to accept the reality being told her, and soon falls into a downward spiral fueled by a husband she doesn’t remember, along with the abysmal fear that she may actually be losing her mind. What Sarah doesn’t realize is that as she fights to gain a hold on what is real, others are in the process of risking their lives in a desperate attempt to free her from her perceptual prison. Filled with guilt, the very man who blames himself for Sarah’s cerebral incarceration begins to work with a group of highly trained professionals who might just be Sarah’s only hope of ever returning to her real life.
“G. F. Smith's “Smartbrain” novel is a well written, intriguing look at our own civilization and our technology, from the viewpoint of our own society, and from the viewpoint of envious aliens…I was fascinated by the new technology, and drawn-into the story by the likeable characters and the fully-engaging plot…I look forward to the next book in the series.” ―John C. Meyer
Make it a year of curiosity! ―G. F. Smith
Bonnie Milani
May 31, 2017 | Featured, Sci-fi
That woman smelled of trouble the first time I saw her. If I’d known just how much trouble that’d be, I probably would’ve cut and run right then. Probably.
Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t have noticed her at all, except it was eight bells, station day. That was too early for my evening crowd, and too late for the poor sots who’d been in here when Bayliss and his Sec team arrived. The usual run of deckhands and pickpockets hadn’t made it up from Hell yet, because dockside shifts on Bogue Dast Station didn’t change for another hour. So both my bar and the corridor outside it were close to empty when she stopped to read the ‘Rick’s Bar’ sign flashing above my hatch.
The in-draft wafted her scent to me clear as good air: worry, tinged with fear. Nothing unusual in that kind of scent, not down here on V Deck. Nothing unusual in her, either. Her graying hair looked home-cropped, her face gray-tired. Not at all the kind of woman who usually starts gin joint blood matches. She was wrapped in one of those big black greatcoats, the kind favored by quacks and faith healers all across the Commonwealth rim. That coat could mean trouble – folks on the wrong end of quackery don’t usually live long enough to finish paying their station fees. And another unexplained death in my vicinity was the last thing I needed just now. Only that wasn’t what got my attention. What perked my ears was that somehow she made me think suddenly of warm kitchens and sweet smells and my wife’s good cooking.
“You want help with the clean up?” Calhoun, the younger of my two visiting clansmen, lifted a silver-tipped ear in question. Thanks to Bayliss, my bar was empty except for them. Well, them and a couple of shipless drunks snoring on the counter.
The sound of his voice made the woman squint in at us. Maybe it was the way we all three perked ears at her that put her off. Or maybe it was the amber gleam of our eyes in the dimness of the bar. Lupan night eyes always make human-onlys nervous for some reason.
Whatever the cause, she moved on. But I had a feeling she’d be back. I wasn’t sure I liked the feeling. I told myself it didn’t matter. Calhoun was right. I needed to get the place cleaned up before the evening crowd showed. I shook my head and ruffled the mane between his ears to let him know I appreciated the offer.
“You sure?” That was Khouros, elder clansman and Exec on the Orpheus, one of the few Lupan ships that still put in here at Bogue Dast Station. Beneath the silver sweep of his ears, his eyes took in the tumble of chairs and glassware littering the floor. The fine mane covering his head and shoulders had thinned since last I’d seen him, and the silver tips of his wolf-ears had dulled to gray, but his amber eyes were still clear and his fangs as sharp as ever.
“Yah, I’m sure. Thanks, but I’ve got it.”
“Wasn’t asking about the clean-up.” Khouros’ ears dipped in warning. “Word is that maintenance found another slaver drifting outside one of the locks.” He lifted an ear, questioning. “You sure you don’t want a berth out on Orpheus?”
There was a thought that made the hairs in my under-mane tingle. I shot a glance at the lumps slumped over the counter. They were still snoring, but that didn’t mean they were asleep. Or that they weren’t Bayliss’ spies. In case they were I made a show of studying the ragged scars along the backs of my fingers, mementos of where my captors had ripped my talons out
