New Project and Vella Update

Threads that Bind is a new blog launched by Jack Tyler, a long time indie author.

The blog is a coalition of authors and artists specializing in things macabre. It doesn’t matter the genre, just as long as the subject matter is chilling. Because, as some argue, horror isn’t a genre, it’s a mood, it’s the atmosphere that is brought to a genre.

Aside from Jack and myself, David Lee Summers, an indie author who has also been around the block a few times, and Venus Tyler, an upcoming young artist who is demonstrating a superb command of the artistic media, are also involved in the project.

It is our intention to add other writers and artists to our consortium. So that we can get varied perspectives on the genre, the craft, and the art of the macabre.

So take a look at our new project and feel free to add comments as to what you would like for us to discuss and we will take that under advisement.

My inaugural post can be found here: https://threadsthatbind.net/2022/11/25/fear-is-always-with-us/

I talk about my own introduction to the horror genre, which goes back 60 plus years, and why I find the macabre captivating. I hope you enjoy the post! And the blog!

Vella Report

As you may recall, I launched Tales Macabre and Arabesque on Vella back in October.

So far, I would have to say the results are underwhelming.

I published the first four episodes in October, and have been releasing a new episode every Monday starting with Halloween.

Yesterday, Episode #8, “Diaphanous, In Red Silk”, was published. It is a flash fiction piece, that in Japanese literary fashion, provides the middle of the story, and invites you, the reader, to provide the beginning and end. I hope you enjoy it.

Thus far, there have been 20 episode reads; 7 of which were locked episodes. Which means readers paid tokens to read those seven episodes. The other 13 reads were of the initial free episodes.

Amazon told me that I earned a $10 bonus for October, and I noticed that so far for November I have earned 24¢ in royalties.

I do have 4 folks following the story, and have received 13 thumbs up. A nice bit of positive response there.

As I contemplate the less than stellar performance of my entry story, it may be due to the fact that I only have one story up. A story that is actually a short story collection.

And it may be that the indie mantra of write fast and publish often also applies to Vella.

If that is the case, then I should probably be running at least two, if not three or more series at one time. And that’s a lot of writing.

Another possibility for the underwhelming performance may be freebie grabbers.

Those are the folks who will read anything for free and suddenly disappear when they have to fork over some money.

I’ve run into freebie grabbers with my mailing list promotions, where I offer a free book in exchange for adding the person to my email list. 

The freebie grabber takes the book and immediately unsubscribes or proceeds to never open a single email from me. And those folks usually constitute at least half of the responses I get on such promotions.

Amazon, by giving away the first three episodes of a Vella story for free, is, in my opinion, inviting freebie grabbers to the party.

I will have to talk with other Vella authors to find out if they have an issue with freebie grabbers. These are only my initial ruminations, and may need to be taken with a grain of salt.

On the positive side, from what I hear, for those who can produce the necessary product at a swift enough pace, some decent pocket change awaits. And who doesn’t like pocket change?

In the new year, I may have to consider running a couple of series and see if that moves the income needle more in my favor.

The one big advantage of Vella, as I see it, for now at least, is that it operates outside of the normal KDP world. It is its own entity.

Another is that Vella is sponsored by Amazon. It avoids the obscurity of platforms like Chanillo and provides a monetary incentive, unlike Wattpad. And who doesn’t want the advantage of prominence and money?

I encourage both readers and writers to give Vella a try. It just may prove to be the next best thing since sliced bread.

You can find Tales Macabre and Arabesque here: https://amzn.to/3u2mAwm

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

Tales of Terror - Part 3

 

Halloween is fast approaching and in this final post celebrating Halloween 2021, I offer a few more of my terror-inducing favorites. These are stories by contemporary writers, my peers, so to speak. And these guys set the bar quite high.

Bleak Mathematics

I love the cosmic horror of Brian Fatah Steele. It is some of the most imaginative stuff I’ve read — by any writer.

Steele’s short story collection, Your Arms Around Entropy: And Other Stories, is one of the best collections of the macabre you will ever come across. And the story “Bleak Mathematics” is not only my favorite from the collection, but one of the most memorable stories I’ve read.

Steele is quite easily the inheritor of Lovecraft’s mantle. Pick up a copy of Your Arms Around Entropy and you will never be the same.

A Crow’s Game

There’s weird, and then there’s Andy Graham’s weird. And Andy’s weird is truly terrifying.

A Crow’s Game is part of The Risen World Series and I could have easily picked any of the 4 books, or the entire series for that matter, to spotlight.

A Crow’s Game is somewhat unusual because it has a weird, nonsensically nightmarish quality about it. Dreampunk terror perhaps.

Andy Graham’s stories are crazy scary. They reveal a world that we really don’t want to know exists. A world that for all of our modern finesse we know does exist, lingering in the deepest recesses of our id.

Get A Crow’s Game on Amazon, and be forewarned: it will scare the bejeezus out of you.

Congeal

John F Leonard is a fairly new to me writer, and I’m very glad to have met him. The stories I’ve read thus far put him amongst the top writers of the tale of terror.

Congeal is a story of post-apocalyptic cosmic horror which, should you read at night, you’ll want to make sure all the lights are on.

I look forward to reading more of Leonard’s work, and I hope you join me on the road into terror.

Pick up a copy of Congeal from Amazon.

Tony Price: Confidential

Richard Schwindt’s work is no stranger to this blog. And his occult detective, Tony Price, is perfect for Halloween. Tony is a colorful character with whom you will quickly fall in love.

The three adventures in Tony Price: Confidential are spooky scary creature-features, filled with dark humor, and, well, scary monsters.

I can’t say enough good things about Richard’s writing, so pick up a copy of Tony Price: Confidential on Amazon and give yourself a scare.

01134 and Exit

Crispian Thurlborn is also no stranger to this blog. I admire the craftsmanship of his work, and when he uncorks the terror it’s the kind that sneaks up on you and grabs you after you’ve read the last page.

01134 and Exit are two super spooky tales of terror. Subtle, understated, they will clobber you in the middle of the night, long after you’ve finished reading. Perfect for Halloween, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Both stories are available on Amazon: 01134 and Exit.

There you have them. Wonderful tales of terror to spook out your Halloween. Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Indie April Suggestions - Part 4

 RH Hale

Today, I’m showcasing my fourth author for Indie April: the incomparable and supremely talented RH Hale.

Twitter has been a good source for finding talented writers of truly amazing books. My reading life has been enhanced many-fold by these wonderfully creative people.

RH Hale is one of the most talented of the literary finds I’ve come across. And I’m so thankful I did.

Her two books

Church Mouse: Memoir of a vampire’s servant

and

Church Mouse (Book 2): The Change

elevate the vampire novel to a new height. Yet these books are more than just vampire novels. For Rona Dean, the human servant, the watch dog for these supremely deadly creatures, tells us her story. And by doing so, we are given an insight into what it’s like to live on the knife-edge of terror day in and day out; and, through this daily exposure to terror and incredible horror, we see Rona, the church mouse, change, grow, and eventually earn the respect of the monsters she serves.

Gothic novel? Or are these books a coming of age story? A tale of macabre terror? Or a philosophical treatise on what it truly means to be human?

Perhaps Church Mouse is all of these, and more.

Ms Hale’s storytelling is superb throughout. We are given atmospheric descriptions of places, and mood evoking pictures of settings. Her characters are alive, real. You can touch them, feel with them, feel for them.

Her command of the novel form is equal to that of the most mature of writers. Her words mesmerize us, evoke deep feelings in us, touch all of our senses — they let us see and experience Rona’s world.

These two novels are simply brilliant. They are gothic masterpieces. They are among the finest horror literature being written today. They rightly belong next to the classics: “Dracula”, “Carmilla”, and “The Vampyre”.

Simply put, Ms Hale is one of the finest indie authors writing today. She is nonpareil.

Church Mouse, Book 1, Amazon US

Church Mouse, Book 2, Amazon US

Church Mouse, Book 1, Amazon UK

Church Mouse, Book 2, Amazon UK

Church Mouse, Book 1, Amazon Canada

Church Mouse, Book 2, Amazon Canada

Church Mouse, Book 1, Amazon Australia

Church Mouse, Book 2, Amazon Australia

Church Mouse, Book 1, Amazon Germany

Church Mouse, Book 2, Amazon Germany

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Van Dyne’s Vampires

A writer is a little bit like a god. Gods in all religions are creators. They are responsible for the world as we know it, and for the world we cannot see.

Writers create worlds, both seen and unseen, every day, along with myriads of people. Like gods, writers are creators.

The act of creating is, for me, exhilarating. It is the most exciting part of writing. Someday I hope to have enough money so I can hire someone to do all the other aspects of the writing business so I can just write.

The first audience of a writer is himself. If the story doesn’t interest him, it won’t see the light of day. And it might not even see completion. After all, writers basically write about what they know and they write a story they find interesting. That’s what keeps them going. I suppose the same can be said of deities: they do what pleases them.

Yesterday was supposed to be the official launch day of Van Dyne’s Vampires (Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigations, Book 4). However, Amazon is having hiccups in their KDP processing. Consequently, Van Dyne isn’t showing up on the Pierce Mostyn series page and the price (as of this writing) is still listed at 99 cents, which is what I offer as a special deal to my reading list folks. However, since the book is still 99 cents — grab a copy before the Zon finally gets its act together and raises the price to $2.99.

The Pierce Mostyn stories have been a joy to write. More and more I’m growing to truly love Mostyn and company. I’m anticipating a long relationship with him and his world.

Van Dyne’s Vampires is a bit of a departure from the previous three stories, where I riffed on a story by HP Lovecraft. Van Dyne is my own creation. Although characters of his ilk abound. Van Dyne is the Moriarity, the Zeck, the Fu Manchu of Pierce Mostyn’s world. The human evil genius. Never mind that Mostyn also has Cthulhu and his buddies to contend with.

Cthulhu and friends, however, don’t care about us. We are to them as ants on a sidewalk are to us. That is the horror of the Mythos: in the vastness of the universe, we don’t matter. We are nothing. Whether human beings and our little world continue to exist doesn’t even register in the minds of entities greater than ourselves.

The true horror of our quest to meet other intelligent life is that they will be superior to us and not care if we live or die. And maybe for them, things would be better off if we were dead. Be careful what you wish for.

However, for some, the fear of the Mythos might be a bit remote. So I created someone we all can relate to: namely, the bully; the person who uses others to satisfy his or her own needs. Valdis Damien van Dyne is that bully on a mega-scale. He is that egotist who thinks nothing of others — other than how they can best serve his needs.

We’ve all been bullied. We’ve all dealt with users. And when that bully or user has power over us, there is fear we feel deep in our gut. It is far more visceral than the fear of being nothing.

And just as we hope someone will come to our rescue, there is Pierce Mostyn and the OUP. A little bit of the cavalry coming over the hill just in the nick of time. And we like that.

You can get Van Dyne’s Vampires at Amazon, or read it for free if you are a KU member. Enjoy!

Comments are always welcome; and, until next time, happy reading!