Todd Russell horror, thriller and suspense author news and views

Historical Fear-related Cinema

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 14:54:17 -0500

Summary: The last top grossing horror movie was 1993 Jurassic Park. Here's a list of other fear-related films since 1916.

In 1916, the highest grossing film of the year was the silent version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. An adaption of the classic 1870 novel by Jules Verne detailing Captain Nemo's famous undersea journey to dispatch that mysterious sea creature.

Frankenstein, starring the legendary Boris Karloff, was the top film of 1931. Here is a list of all fear-related films to be the top grossing films of the year:

1916 - 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
1931 - Frankenstein
1933 - King Kong
1960 - Psycho
1973 - The Exorcist
1975 - Jaws
1987 - Fatal Attraction
1991 - Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1993 - Jurassic Park

Unless we count Avatar (2007), it's been 20+ years since the top grossing film was in the horror genre. It's time for something truly scary (and please no more remakes and reboots of classics), Hollywood!

Novella ideas

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:53:23 -0500

Summary: With shorter attention spans and ebooks, the popularity of the novella is on the rise, especially with dark fiction. Todd Russell ponders some new novella-length ideas.

I've always been intrigued with novellas and enjoyed several over the years. This started--at least consciously--with one of my major influences, Stephen King, and his excellent collection of novellas, Different Seasons. To this day, his novella "Apt Pupil" is among the most disturbing novellas I've read. It's the subject matter, not gross-out factor or anything, how utterly believable he makes the descent of the young Nazi protege that still makes me tremble all these years later.

Wikipedia has a good description of the novella. They state a novella in terms of word count is 17,500-40,000 words. I've seen different publishers consider lower numbers, but that range is fairly universal.

It takes me about 1-2 hours to read an average novella. That's comparable time-wise to watching a movie. An average novel takes me around four hours to read. Some of the massive tomes can take me ten hours or more.I read about 1,200 Kindle locations an hour, less or more depending on how immersed in a story I get and the writing style. Deep, long paragraphs slow me down, while I burn through short, snappy paragraphs like Jeff Strand and J.A. Konrath use.

The Black Hole: > Novella, < Novel
There is still a black hole with numerous publishers that exists between 40,000 words (some it's less than that) to the minimum word length they accept for novels. Too long for novella, too short for novel. In fact, I have a completed draft of a story that's just north of 45,000 words. Where does it fit? I've wrestled with what to do with it, either try and expand it without unnecessary padding or mercilessly prune to make it fit a novella?

I have a few novella ideas Lately, I have a few ideas with characters bombarding my brain that might be novella-length. I say 'might' because I don't know how long (novel-length is how I've described these longer ideas in the past) they will be until I'm done writing.

Having written hundreds of flash fiction tales (my story streak ended last February at 172 consecutive stories), I can gauge the word count on those much better than longer works. Every one of the novels I've written, I had no idea how long they'd be when I set out to write them. It's the last thing a writer wants to think about. OK, it's the last thing I want to think about. The story comes out of my brain and whatever word count is in the first draft is anywhere from close (short story) to needing pruning (novels). I pruned over 40% of a first draft from one of my novels.

I think my record writing single day output on one story has been a little over 15,000 words, so it's conceivable (though unlikely) I could knock out the first draft of a novella in a few days. Let it simmer while I start the second one and when that's finished return to polish the first one. Rinse, wash, repeat. It all sounds good in theory, but how will it work in reality?

Back to these ideas rolling around in my head, because it's scary doing too much theorizing. And, yes, ideas, plural. At least three different longer ideas which might be novella-length. Definitely more word count ambitious than maximum short story (under 7,500 words) length.

I have sort of written one novelette. I'm talking about "The Illusion" (roughly 7,300 words) which is in Mental Shrillness. Every other story I've written has been either a short story (that including flash fiction) or novel.

Novellas can work well for horror, thrillers and suspense tales. You can get a great story with decent character depth at that length. I've read several good ones from DarkFuse recently like Without Purpose, Without Pity by Brian Hodge and Fear Me by Tim Curran. If you love reading horror even half as much as me, go buy and read those two novellas ASAP.

So, yes, I'd like to try my hand at writing a novella-length story. Not next year or five years from now. Maybe as soon as tomorrow would be exciting to start working on my first one. I don't want to comment specifically on any of the story ideas yet (that can dampen my enthusiasm for writing, I've found), but after getting started I think it would be interactive and interesting to provide more details somewhere on my website.

It's possible that one or more of my ideas will turn out to be too long for a novella. I'm curious if that happens to experienced novella authors? They sit down thinking an idea seems novella-length and, later, when the first draft is done it's way out of novella range, making it fall back into the black hole during redrafting. Certainly if any novella authors are reading and want to chime in, please do so in the comments below.

I would love to be able to create and (hopefully) see published at least one novella someday soon. Would you like to read a novella by me?

Checking out DarkFuse

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:50:05 -0500

Summary: Information about DarkFuse - The Kindle Book Club

I did something new reading-oriented at the end of last month.

For the first time in 30+ years of reading horror I joined a paid subscription book club. It's a Kindle ebook club specializing in dark fiction, horror, thrillers and suspense. It's called DarkFuse and cost me $59.98 for the year. For joining I will receive:

- (12 total) 1 novel every calendar month between the 1st and 9th of the month
- (12 total) 1 novella every calendar month toward the end of the month
- 5 bonus free ebooks chosen from their DarkFuse shop
- 6-12+ various bonus ebooks throughout the year
- access to the members-only area where other subscribers and DarkFuse authors are hanging out and interacting
- the ability to vote in the DarkFuse Reader's Choice Awards

A few weeks after joining I posted some details of my members experience in a (free) Horror group I frequent at Goodreads. Here are the details, plus some new experiences:

- PayPal is used for the subscription and it is setup to automatically renew one year from the date you signup. You can cancel the subscription through PayPal any time. If you were gifted the subscription, I saw somebody asking about that and the answer is you would need to signup again next year when it renews with your own PayPal subscription.
- when I signed up I received an email (the email that is associated with my PayPal account) within hours asking me to reply with my five free titles. You can choose any from their shop page listed here:
http://www.shop.darkfuse.com/

The five titles I chose were:

Fangboy by Jeff Strand
Benjamin's Parasite by Jeff Strand
Long Black Coffin by Tim Curran
Cherry Hill by James A. Moore
The Bleeding Season by Greg F. Gifune

- The five 'free' titles were delivered to me within 24 hours of paying of signing up via Amazon Person Document Delivery. As such, they don't show on my normal Kindle bookshelf, nor do they have cover art displayed in the carousel, which kind of bummed me out a bit. Also, I have to manually bookmark the pages of these books because my Kindle Fire seems to lose the places in documents.
- I received one additional bonus ebook (a short story, actually) Restoration, sent the same way as the five free books. This one does have cover art, oddly enough, but it doesn't show up in the books area either :(
- I received an email explaining that every month for 12 months I'll receive a new Darkfuse novel ($2.99 value) from the 1st-9th of the month as a gift and a novella ($1.99 value) toward the end of the month. These will come from Amazon as a gift.
- On February 1st, I received my first novel delivery. It was Season of the Wolf. This came as an Amazon gift ($2.99). I accepted the gift via the link on Amazon and this book appeared in my books area with cover art (woot!) :)
- there is a somewhat active messageboard inside the members-only area with some knowledgeable horror and thriller readers. Some are also members of Horror Afficiandos :)
- you need at least 25 posts on the messageboard in order to enter raffles for additional stuff. The first item for raffle is a very nice prize. I found this requirement easy to do within a few days, as there are enough threads on the board already. A more ambitious forum hound could probably meet this posting requirement in a day or less.
- you also need X number of posts to download additional short stories in the download area. I haven't used this part of the site yet, but I think it is five posts per download (it might be five after each download?). There are a couple dozen short stories and two novellas, all by Darkfuse authors and/or the publisher. There are no novels in this area as of this writing.

So, to summarize, I paid $60 USD for the subscription and so far have received six novels (five free + February novel). I am scheduled to receive 11 more novels (@ $2.99 each) and 12 novellas (@ $1.99 each).

Since the regular cost of their novels in Kindle Format is $4.99 (the $2.99 is only on the release day, I believe) and the novellas are $2.99 (released at $1.99 for short time), the savings is good versus NOT being in the club and buying directly from Amazon. If you miss buying when the books come out, you'll pay the higher price. I suppose there is a possibility you could catch some of these cheaper on a promotion, but certainly not all of them.

Assuming the release day pricing, here is what I'll receive:

12 novels @ 2.99 = 35.88
12 novellas @ 1.99 = 23.88
5 'free' novels @ 2.99 = 14.95
------
= $74.71 (+ tax not included, if I buy through Amazon, I'm charged sales tax on every book purchase)

Note: this does NOT include promised "bonus" books to be delivered over the next year.

Clearly, this is a *GREAT* deal for horror and thriller fans, as the quality of Darkfuse titles seems to be pretty high from what I've read so far. Especially for those planning to read most/all of the books.

I've only been disappointed with one title out of sixteen read as of this blog post. That's a pretty strong ratio.

Oh, and I've also bought the following DarkFuse books since being in the club (the first three were five star reads):

The Mourning House by Ronald Malfi - $2.99 (novella)
Snowblind by Michael McBride - $2.99 (novella)
Fear Me by Tim Curran - $2.99 (novella)
The Underdwelling by Tim Curran - $2.99 (novella)
Puppet Graveyard by Tim Curran - $2.99 (novella)
Clockwork Dolls by William Miekle - $2.99 (novella)
When We Join Jesus in Hell by Lee Thompson - $2.99 (novella)
Fevered Hills by Keith Deininger - $2.99 (novella)
Without Purpose, Without Pity by Brian Hodge - $2.99 (novella)

Since I will definitely be buying more Darkfuse titles that aren't part of my subscription, they have found a good, repeat sale customer.

Hope this answers any insider questions folks might have and if you do join the club, please list my name, Todd Russell, as the person who referred you and, yes, I'll get $$ referral $$ credit. You are welcome to hit me up with any questions about the club below and I'll try my best to answer them.

January sucks--not!

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:22:08 -0500

Summary: Looking back, looking forward another year. A vampire-themed month.

I can't believe another January is here. Every year it seems the years go by faster, more of my already-gray hair graying and I look back at what was and wasn't accomplished writing-related the prior year.

According to my word tracker, I wrote 110,073 new words, 50,000+ of which were done during NaNoWriMo 2011 when I worked on the first draft of Fresh #2 (still working on it)
Cranked out 132 flash fiction tales in The Story Streak and posted them all online in various writing prompt contests. About 40% of them were judged first place. Thank you, judges! Doubt I'll ever be able--nor should it be fair--to repeat that feat.
Saw my goal of 3-4 books published realized. Mental Shrillness at the end of March 2011, my debut novel Fresh Flesh on my birthday September 29, 2011 and Flash O'Lantern: 13+ Stories in October 2011.

Now what about 2012? Sure, I'll put myself on the spot. Plus, if you have enough, you're bound to make at least one.

Write more than 110,073 new words. This works out to 301+ words per day.
Continue The Story Streak. I'm 134 days along as of this writing, so why not 365 more? Would also like to see Guinness Book get back to me about my record attempt (tapping desk). The promised 4-6 weeks passed quite some time ago.
Increase goal to 4-6 books published in 2012. I was supposed to announce the title of my next novel last month and didn't get it done in time. So it's here . . . somewhere.
Themed months? I'm a sucker for themes--especially horror and thriller-related--and since January is the Red Cross Blood Drive Month, this month is all about vampires. I'm going to be sharing all kinds of vampire-related stuff through my Twitter (@Todd_Russell) and perhaps a few blogs here. And with Valentine's Day next month, it's easy to love where that theme is likely headed.

Better stop before I make too many goals. It's like eating cookies. A few are good, too many and you get fat. Cheers to a healthy and prosperous 2012 for all of you. Thank you for reading.

What Scares Author Melissa Smith

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:03:35 -0500

Summary: What Scares Authors #23, learn in her own words what scares author Melissa Smith.

Well, here's my attempt at explaining what makes my blood run cold and turn to sludge in my veins.

To put it simply, it's the unknown and everything that word encompasses. What's on the other side of that door? What will happen if I do this, or if I don't do this? Did that shadow really move, or was it just my imagination? Did I really just hear footsteps or was it just the cat? And speaking of my cat. Why does he walk to the same corner of the living room day in and day out and stare up at the ceiling. What does he see? What does he hear that he sometimes even responds. Or to smell a scent I haven't smelled since I was a child. A scent that belonged to a long gone grandmother. Surely it's just my imagination. Has to be, right?

No. The unknown, while making me a little nervous at times, isn't really what frightens me.

My greatest fear is being in a situation where I would have to choose which one of my sons to save if there could only be one. To be placed in that most darkest of places where the survival of both of my babies is impossible. How can I choose? If I can't, they are both lost to me. How can I not? But who? How? This one thought has plagued my dreams since my youngest was born. Is it premonition? Or just a mothers fears? Either way, I have absolutely no desire to ever see it become real.

About Cloud Nine: A Paranormal Romance of the Guardians of Man
What happens when you receive a guardian angel?
What if you don't believe you need one?
What if one wants you removed?

There are people out there that want either Sterling or Claire for themselves.
Someone who will stop at nothing to have Sterling.
Someone who will do anything to reclaim Claire's affections.
Together, Sterling and Claire will dissuade them.
Someone will fall. Someone will hurt. And others will...

Where to buy
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Smashwords

Thank you for sharing what scares you, Melissa.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

Holiday Hop Dec 15-25!

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:27:28 -0500

Summary: Win great prizes during the Holiday Hop from December 15 - 25, 2011 including free ebooks, an autographed paperback and the Kindle Fire!

Happy Holidays! Thank you for stopping by my blog to learn more about the Holiday Hop running from December 15 - 25, 2011.

What is the Holiday Hop?
It's a chance to explore the work of 60+ authors and win many great prizes including the Holiday Hop Grand Prize of an Amazon Kindle Fire!

What giveaway is Todd Russell running at ToddRWrite.com during the Holiday Hop? Every day during the Holiday Hop I will be giving away one e-book of my debut horror novel FRESH FLESH. All you need to do is be the first @Todd_Russell follower to make an elligible tweet (see criteria below) after midnight PST (GMT-8) who hasn't already won during the contest. Your tweet must contain the following information:

1. Must use the following sales link for Fresh Flesh: http://amzn.to/pYD8nW
2. Mention me somewhere in your tweet using my Twitter name: @Todd_Russell
3. Use these two hashtags: #horror #novel
4. Be 140 characters or less. Less is more.
5. Winner must be a follower of @Todd_Russell
6. Be creative!

Rules: no limit to the number of creative tweets one can make every day but only the *first elligible tweet* (if you've already won, your tweet will be inelligible for the daily giveaway, but still elligible for the ToddRWrite.com Grand Prize giveaway) I receive after midnight PST (GMT-8) each day will win the daily giveaway. Each day on Twitter, I'll announce and ask the winner to provide their email address so I can mail the coupon to download FRESH FLESH in the e-format of the winner's choice. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law.

If you've already won, you are still elligible to win the ToddRWrite.com Grand Prize below by making the most creative tweet about FRESH FLESH during the contest period (December 15-25). I will be commenting on tweets throughout the contest period, so it's also a chance to interact directly with me. Let's have fun with this contest :)

How to win the Todd Russell ToddRWrite.com Grand Prize Make the most creative tweet about FRESH FLESH during the contest (December 15-25, 2011). Every tweet that follows the six criteria mentioned above will have a chance to win this contest.

GRAND PRIZE: Autographed FRESH FLESH 6x9 paperback with collectible Fresh Flesh bookmark. Only a small number of these bookmarks were created. They are cool and look just like the fantastic cover art drawn by International Horror Guild winning artist Aeron Alfrey.

Yes, it is possible to win the FRESH FLESH e-book, paperback AND win the Holiday Hop Grand Prize (The Amazon Kindle Fire) all with only one very creative tweet :) Let's see you do it.

Hop over to the other author websites in the Holiday Hop Now that you've checked out my giveaways, please start your journey hopping the other fine authors. You can continue your journey at the official Holiday Blog Hop website and the Holiday Hop page.

Fresh Flesh excerpt: Amazing Clearing

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:44:06 -0500

Summary: In 1984, Saruwatari Naoki shares an amazing clearing he finds on the island.

Spring 1984.

Kyle Roberts didn't like anybody he couldn't understand. English was the only language he wanted spoken by others and the only language he knew. The group's dominant language would be among the first of many battles. Several in the group wanted the language to be Spanish while the majority favored English. One couldn't speak any other language than Japanese.

His name was Saruwatari Naoki, age 54. They knew he was 54 because several times he had drawn the number in the dirt and pointed to his chest. It was one of the few things he could write in English. He was the oldest in the group.

He was about to do something unusual that would make him a folk hero in the group.

Saruwatari first discovered the clearing on the west side of the island.

They called him Sar for short. He had grown up on the volcanic Izu islands in Japan. The group leader, Kyle Roberts, had learned this from Seth Everson, a newbie who rambled about his eyes having special powers. Seth was the only one who knew enough Japanese to interpret.

"A clearing?" Kyle said. "So what, there are several clearings."

Seth said something in Japanese and Sar grabbed a stick and started drawing symbols in the dirt.

"Well?" Kyle's impatience grew. He'd considered gutting the Japanese farmer on several occasions. Sar had been saved by Seth's half-assed translating.

Sar's anxious eyes bothered Kyle.

"Something about the ground and farming. I don't quite understand, sorry." Seth shrugged.

"Show me this place," Kyle said.

Sar led Kyle and Seth across the island. They talked back and forth in Japanese, further annoying Kyle.

"What are you talking about?"

"He's talking about the dirt on the Izu Islands. He loves talking about dirt."

Kyle grunted. "Big surprise. A dirt-loving farmer."

The sun bore down on the trio as they made it to a 75'x75' clearing. Sar bent down and ran his fingers through the dirt. He looked up and rattled off more Japanese.

"Sar says vegetables will grow here."

"Without any seeds? Yeah, right."

Kyle munched on the berries. Gigantic-sized, tasty berries.

Several butterflies fluttered across the clearing. Kyle stopped and admired them.

"I think he's saying something about the seeds already being here," Seth said. "He says this summer we'll have vegetables to eat."

"These are the best berries anywhere on the island," Kyle replied. "Tell him I said: 'nice find, Sar.'" Kyle was disappointed that he hadn't found this place first. Having not been here a full year there were bound to be some useful spots he hadn't found first. And the butterflies seemed to like this place too.

Sar bowed at Kyle, smiling.

* * *

Summer 1984.

Kyle was sitting on the beach when Sar and Seth approached him. They showed him long, bright orange carrots. The carrots had grown in the clearing on the west side of the island that Sar had discovered.

"Sar was right," Seth said, offering Kyle a carrot. Kyle chomped on it and, like the berries that grew around the clearing, the carrot was very tasty. Best carrot he'd had in years. The only carrot he'd had in years.

Kyle was impressed and a bit surprised by Sar's discovery. Sar was proving to be more useful. And Everson, ranting about his eyes aside, wasn't half-bad either. Before summer was out, Sar also shared potatoes and tomatoes grown in the clearing with the group.

The happiness of having something to eat besides berries, coconuts and fish would soon end. They were not allowed to be happy here for long.

Read sample opening chapters at Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

The Story Streak reaches three digits

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:43:13 -0500

Summary: The Story Streak: a new short story every day since Monday, August 22, 2011 has reached three digits (100+ stories).

I've been in a productive rhythm every day with my goal of writing at least one new short story (minimum 250 words) every day since Monday, August 22, 2011. You can read the original post explaining my goal here. In that post I talk about allowing myself days off, but so far I have not taken any.

As of this writing, I've gone *108* days in a row. I've entered all 108 shorts into online writing prompt contests and have won either an honorable mention or first place 54/108 times (50%). My longest single story written during this time has been 2,000 words. Interested readers can see them linked for a short time on the fan page here.

Around Halloween 26 of my shorts were Halloween-themed. I took some of these and others during The Story Streak for the young adult horror eBook-only collection: Flash O'Lantern: 13+ stories.

Recently, I've been in the Christmas mode and have written 15 Christmas-themed shorts. A lot of these tales have a Twilight Zone feel to them. In November, I completed NaNoWriMo 2011 (50,000+ words during the month) and wrote over half the first draft of the second book in the Fresh series.

The next plateau in The Story Streak will be 365 days. Seems like a long ways away, but who knows? Should have an announcement on my next novel soon. Back to the writing cave. Thank you for reading!

What Scares Author Kennesaw Taylor

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:48:51 -0500

Summary: What Scares Authors series #22, learn in his own words what scares author Kennesaw Taylor.

What scares me the most?

This question did a pretty good job of it. Us humor columnists tend to make fun of everything, that didn't seem the way to go. Writing some short piece about my child hood would have served to scare others, but would not answer the question asked. I could have written a fiction piece designed to showcase my great talent as a writer. I could have given rise to the doubt all writers live and write with every time they sit down or more importantly every time they get up. I could have explained the fear most feel when putting their words out there for the world to judge. The same fear that keeps most writers from changing the world.

What scares me the most? Not knowing the names of the five children who die every day in America of child abuse! The thought of a three year old cowering in the corner, shivering from fear and the look of horror on their faces as their innocent life is extinguished. I don't know their names, you don't know their names, they are invisible and that invisibility is the stuff that my nightmares are made of.

FIVE INNOCENT SOULS

Five innocent souls, in search of Heaven's door.
Five innocent souls, in pain never more.
It's a hell of a way to Heaven, a path no one would take.
Five innocent souls each day, have that journey to make.

Do you know the five?
Perhaps you knew them when they were alive.
When their voices could still be heard.
Now silenced, they'll not utter another word.
You could see it in their eyes, you could see it in the souls.
The average age of the five was scarcely three years old.

Someone knew the five, someone knew their names.
Someone let them die, someone lives in shame.

Five innocent souls, hearts beating, tears abound.
Five innocent souls a day, lowered into the ground.
Five Innocent Souls, stagger, faces cast down, through heaven's door.
As God prepares for another day and five souls more.

Where to buy Informally Educated
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

About the Author
Kennesaw Taylor is an advocate against child abuse and domestic violence. A position demanded of him by fate, not granted him by education. His childhood is chronicled in his first book Informally Educated. His humor column is in its third uninterrupted year in the Wilkinson County Post as well as other Georgia papers and continues to grow online. I got the South in my Mouth (and I can't get it Out) and its accompanying book of photography, Kennesaw's Southern Odyssey, are Kennesaw's sixth and seventh published works. Born in Milledgeville, Kennesaw now lives in Athens Georgia and has spent his life traveling to gain the rich background necessary to make him a treasured American writer. Degrees from the school of hard knocks, the school of life, and others hang on Kennesaw's office walls.

Website: http://kennesawtaylor.com/
Blog: http://blogasaw.blogspot.com/

Thank you for sharing what scares you, Kennesaw.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

Stick a fork in NaNoWriMo 2011!

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:21:04 -0500

Summary: Motivational message to my fellow wrimos: you can do it!

Fellow wrimos, you can do it. I believe in you!

Believe me, I know what NaNo failure is like. I tried NaNoWriMo (short for National Novel Writing Month where goal is to write at least 50,000 words during the month of November) once before under a pen name. It was back in 2004, I think. I'm too ashamed to even travel back that far and research. I struggled to 35,000 words, pantsing it all the way, and ran into plot walls the size of Everest. As Yoda might say, "Disappointed, I was."

Fast forward to 2011 and the eBook revolution. Scored a Kindle and published a book of stories I wrote back in 1990s called Mental Shrillness. On my birthday, September 29, 2011 my debut novel Fresh Flesh was released. As I was digging through agent correspondences and notes for Fresh Flesh, I came across the log sheet for the first draft. I started the first draft in November 1988. I had thought about working on the second book in the Fresh series during CampNaNoWriMo and even signed up, but held off. When I saw this log sheet it seemed like a good idea to work on Fresh #2 during NaNoWriMo 2011.

That's what I have been doing. The title of Fresh #2 is Fresh Fetus and was given at the end of Fresh Flesh and on my NaNo page, so it wasn't a total secret. I'm happy to report to interested readers that I'm about 70% done with the first draft of Fresh Fetus. I didn't--and won't--be able to complete the first draft during NaNoWriMo 2011, but I started and wrote 50,000+ words of the first draft this month.

This was my first year of trying NaNoWriMo under this name. That's one way to tackle your past NaNo failures, I guess, just change names. I'm not writing this post to boast, I'm writing it to motivate my fellow wrimo buddies. Here are some things I did this time that I did not do on my first attempt seven years ago:

- Joined a NaNoWriMo writing group at writing.com. I wasn't even registered at writing.com until August 2011. Should have registered ten years ago. Why didn't I? I have no answer.
- Got paired randomly with a NaNoWriMo Writing Buddy. We sent each other an email every week during NaNoWriMo offering each other some helpful suggestions for staying motivated. Here is a sample of what I sent my buddy when she appeared to be stuck at one point:

> If you happen to be stuck (?), you might think of your favorite characters in your story and write some scenes with these characters. Even if the scenes don't seem connected to the rest of your story, you might find that it frees you from thinking about the rest of the novel. You can always pull these scenes out in editing and maybe make a tie-in short story or maybe the muse will connect your character(s) to the plot point you are at in your novel.

- Attended a local, offline write-in event at the library. There are local writing groups all around the world and if there is one near you, wrimo, I encourage you to attend. I wrote over 2,700 words during one of these write-ins. They do group activity things like word wars and you can talk with other writers who are in the same trenches. I got a couple cool NaNoWriMo stickers. Wish I'd done this last time.
- Visited an online write-in. This one didn't go so well due to the low attendance, but I put it here because I think if you visited an online write-in with a big enough group, it could help.
- Joined a Facebook group with fellow wrimos. We commiserated about the process and posted our progress.
- Added a bunch of writing buddies through NaNoWriMo. I could have done more to communicate with these folks (for the most part, I didn't), but I followed their progress toward 50,000 words with interest.

The main difference between last time (fail) and this time (success) is that I got involved with other writers. Participating in group functions helped on some psychological level. They didn't write any words for me, of course, but I had an added motivation of not wanting to report back my daily writing as a goose egg. I didn't feel alone. Writing might be a largely solo profession (unless you're collaborating with others on a project) and if there is an opportunity to get out and meet other writers from time to time, it's worth doing. Even if it doesn't improve your writing output, you might make a new writing friend.

Throughout December, I'll continue working on Fresh #2 and hopefully can get the first draft done before the end of the year. Then it will sit for awhile before I go back and work on the second draft. Beta reading possibly as soon as March or April and then another coat of paint, final editing, proofing and a planned future release date!

NaNoWriMo 2012
Really? This soon?

Will I do NaNoWriMo again? Too early to tell. Overall, it was a positive experience and I did get a good chunk of a first draft done. I won't know how good the first draft is until it's done and settles a bit. I'm too close to first drafts when writing them to ever be a good judge of the quality, but there are a few things about the story that I like a lot. The important part to me is that my time was well used. I can never get this time back and if the material turned out during NaNoWriMo takes more time to edit and rewrite then it won't be something I'll likely do again.

Next? I'm thinking about trying Script Frenzy in April 2012. The goal there is to create 100 page script. I'd like to do an adaption for one of my novels, perhaps Fresh Flesh. Anybody reading done Script Frenzy? Please let me know what you think. Also, I'd love to hear from other wrimos in the comments. Let me know how you did during NaNoWriMo 2011.

Huge Thanksgiving Black Friday 2011 eBook sale!

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:40:11 -0500

Summary: Happy Thanksgiving! Save up to 100% off the regular price of all my eBooks at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. As appreciation and thanks for giving my stories a read, all my eBooks are on sale at deep discounts on Thanksgiving and Black Friday 2011. If you already have these books, consider buying them as a holiday gift for friends and family. No coupon codes needed!

- Save 66% off the regular eBook price of *Mental Shrillness
- Save 75% off the regular eBook price of *Fresh Flesh, my debut novel!
- FREE Flash O'Lantern: 13+ Stories

Shop for these great deals at one of the following fine etailers!

* Fresh Flesh and Mental Shrillness are also available in paperback versions. Buy both and save on shipping costs.

What Scares Author Renee Pawlish

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:17:14 -0500

Summary: What Scares Authors series #21, learn in her own words what scares author Ren�e Pawlish.

I don't get creeped out reading "scary" books or even watching a scary movie, at least at the time. What does scare me is something that seems so silly in one sense, and yet I know it's my subconscious storing all the scary scenes from books and movies in my head . . . so what is that thing?

It's the dark. I'll give you an example. I live in a tri-level house. My TV is on the lower level. When I go to bed, I shut off all the lights and head upstairs. There's usually a light on in my bedroom that gives off a hazy glow that barely illuminates a part of the hallway. But behind me, in the living room and kitchen, and the downstairs, where the TV is, it's all darkness. And what might be looming in that darkness?

As I walk up the stairs, I can just feel that ghost, zombie, or demon with his hands reaching out, trying to grab me. Silly, isn't it? Yet I will dash up those stairs and into the light of my bedroom, my heart pounding . . .

I try to create this is my novels - that sense of something out there that you can't see, and heck, it's probably NOT there, but then you know it is there, and it will pounce on you at any second. And what do you do?

About Nephilim Genesis of Evil
A dark power described in Genesis revisits a small mountain town.
A journalist who witnessed an evil presence searches for answers.
He finds a town succumbing to supernatural forces.
Now, an evil prophesy may be fulfilled by the Nephilim.

It's the first in a trilogy, available in trade paperback and ebook from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053DUCVG/

And Smashwords as an ebook:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65718

About the Author
Ren�e Pawlish is the author of Nephilim Genesis of Evil (first in the Nephilim trilogy), the Reed Ferguson Mystery Series (This Doesn't Happen In The Movies and Reel Estate Rip-off), Take Five, a short story collection, and The Sallie House: Exposing the Beast Within, a non-fiction account of a haunted house investigation in Kansas. Renee's websites is www.reneepawlish.com

Thank you for sharing what scares you, Renee.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

Facebook Fans Save Money

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:12:23 -0400

Summary: How to become a Facebook fan and save money on books.

Let's face it, these are tough economic times. I love saving money and passing along money-saving coupons, discounts and giveaways to readers and fellow book lovers.

For those reading the blog who haven't checked out my Facebook fan page, please take a second and visit the page and 'like' it: http://www.facebook.com/booksbytoddrussell

Once you have clicked 'like' and return to the Facebook page again, you'll see the fan-only page pictured above with coupons and other deals for my books.

Newsletter - get notified when new books are available
Another great place to save money and be the first notified whenever new books are released is to sign up for my newsletter. You can sign up at the Fans VIP page or below right now:

Happy reading to you!

Browser compatible scrolling clickable book covers

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:51:18 -0400

Summary: iPhone users can't see Flash. I built a simple animated scrolling script using the HTML marquee tags so iPhone users can see and click on my book covers, banners and text.

I've been an iPhone user for a couple years now. It bums me out when I see heavy Flash-enabled websites because they don't look good on my iPhone. Keeping this in mind, we've tried to do things around toddrwrite.com that involve limited Adobe Flash usage.

With the release of my debut novel Fresh Flesh and a new Halloween-themed collection of stories called Flash O'Lantern, I now have three books. I wanted one of those cool scrolling book widgets and found one on Amazon on toddrwrite.com. The only problem is that the widget uses Flash.

So I put on my geeky hat and poked around HTML to see what I might be able to build to emulate those cool scrolling book widgets. Something quick and simple that would work in the most common browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and on the iPhone. The answer?

The MARQUEE tag.

If you are reading this blog post in your reader, then you won't see the marquee, so here's a YouTube video (sorry about my jittery video hand) I shot showing how it works:

How to build your own scrolling book covers
Anything put between the marquee tags will scroll which means you can create HTML and then add marquee tags around it. Voila! You're done. Here's the syntax for the marquee tag with Javascript so that when users hover over it with their mouse the scrolling stops and then restarts when the mouse leaves (note: if the user has Javascript turned off, this functionality won't work):

<marquee behavior="scroll" direction="left" scrollamount="2" onmouseover="this.stop();" onmouseout="this.start();">

Everything after this tag will scroll until the marquee closing tag:

<marquee/>

Notes: the only cross-browser compatible behavior's is "scroll" so no need to use anything else.

direction
left - as shown above, this scrolls the contents from left to right
right - scrolls contents from right to left
up - scrolls contents vertically from bottom to top
down - scrolls contents vertically from top to bottom

scrollamount
This controls how fast the contents scroll from left to right. Suggest you something under '10' or the scrolling contents will move too fast.

Are you third party hosted?
Flash is a good workaround for sites when you can't use your own HTML, like on third party hosted blogs (Blogger and wordpress.com). The MARQUEE solution won't work on a third party hosted site that doesn't allow using your own HTML and Javascript. In that unmodded iPhone users like myself will have to continue to go without.

MARQUEE obsoleted in HTML5
For any purists who might be reading, yes, unfortunately the marquee tag has been obsoleted in HTML5, but that doesn't mean the code above won't continue to be supported in common browsers for a long time. What should you use instead of marquee in HTML5 if you don't want to worry about obsolete code? Full Javascript scrolling is actually preferred since it allows you to much more complex animations. Here's a Javascript marquee script that might be a good start in that journey.

What Scares Author Dana Taylor

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:08:24 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #20, learn in her own words what scares author Dana Taylor

What scares this author? The daily news, certainly. Just today there is a killer shark on the loose, tons of tsunami debris is floating toward Hawaii and I think another dead satellite is about to hit mother Earth. Splash! Right into my pool?

However, my biggest fear is being taken for a crazy, flakey old woman. I hate it when that happens. And it does. You see, I hang out with psychics, healers, animal communicators and the like. And yes, it's a case of birds-of-feather-stick-together. I'm personally the least-gifted of the bunch, but I have developed a knack for energy healing. Officially, I am a Reiki practitioner, but there are many realms of energy healing.

To make matters worse, I am a Christian who believes in reincarnation. Have you ever been with a bunch of conservative Christians and brought up the subject of past-life therapy? Talk about scary! They perform an exorcism right on the spot. Or dissolve in laughter.

The scariest thing was putting all of my adventures into a book entitled Ever-Flowing Streams Of Healing Energy. In it I reveal how I was dogged by mysterious maladies and phobias for about forty years. After seeking relief through traditional medicine and mainstream spirituality, I ventured into the scary waters of alternative therapies and ultimately found healing through the work of a Reiki/Past-Life therapist.

Challenging belief systems and suggesting paradigm shifts is a very scary thing. But sometimes it takes facing our hidden fears (even if they're from a past life) to find peace and wholeness.

About the Author
Dana Taylor began studying healing prayer in the 1980s and attended seminars held by prominent healing teachers of the era including William Vaswig, John Wimber and Delores Winder. She learned principles of Chinese medicine under Sunrider International founders Tei Fu Chen and Dean Black. She was also one of the early distributors of Young Living Essential Oils. A Reiki II practitioner, she has attended Reconnection healing conferences conducted by Eric Pearl.

Born and raised in Southern California, Dana graduated from the University of Redlands. She has been published in various magazines, including the Ladies' Home Journal. Dana hosted the Internet radio program Definitely Dana! at Healthylife.net and won a number of contests with the Romance Writers of America, including Best First Book from the Golden Quill Awards. Her fiction books include Ain't Love Grand? and Devil Moon: A Mystic Romance. She has a new three-story collection for the Christmas season entitled Hope for the Holidays.

She is a founding member of SupernalFriends.com and writes a blog entitled Supernal Living with Dana Taylor.

Buy Ever-Flowing Streams of Healing Energy at:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Thank you for sharing what scares you, Dana.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

What Scares Author VA Jeffrey

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:59:10 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #19, learn in her own words what scares author V.A. Jeffrey

Two things scare the daylights out of me: dependence on others and insects. I have no idea where my fear of insects comes from. No one in my family has any recollection of me haing any life-altering encounter with them as a baby or a small child. It's an irrational fear that sprouted wings all by itself and it hasn't gotten any better as I've gotten older, sadly. I used to visit my grandparents in Jamaica when I was a kid every few years and this fear truly took root at their home. You see, my grandmother kept a spotless home. You could eat off of her floors, literally. Yeah it's cliche but it's also true in this case. The climate down there allows insects of all kinds to flourish and at that time, my grandparents didn't have screens on their windows or doors so it didn't matter how clean your house was, insects got in. Roaches, specifically. Gigantic, flying roaches. (My skin is crawling as I'm writing this. Seriously.)

I would take a shower in the mornings and jump and squeal at every shadow or glint of light and sometimes those things would be on the shower curtain or they would come up from the drains while I was taking a shower or brushing my teeth. I loved my grandparents and loved visiting them but usually by the time we left I was nearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown! Everyone would think it was so funny, too. My fear hasn't gotten any better with time. Even moths frighten me. The big fat ones especially. I remember my family had gathered around the TV many years ago to watch Aliens. Of course, those things just had to look like massively large insects. It was night time and there were no lights on in the house except for the TV. That further cemented my fear of insects. Don't know where it comes from, don't know if I'll ever shake it. Probably won't.

My other great fear is being forced to depend on other people to do important things for me. I like to do everything myself. I've been in positions before where other people saw a need and helped me out - but it was insincere. After a while, I was made to feel as if I were a burden to them and they were doing me a big favor - even though I never asked for there help; they volunteered it! The nerve of some people. I detest things like that because it robs you of your dignity. I don't have a lot. I certainly don't have a lot fo money but I do have pride and nothing injures it more than feeling like you're a louse feeding off of others. I know that in some cases it's necessary to rely on others and I don't mind it when someone offers me their help. I appreciate such gestures but being forced to rely on someone is hard and being forced to rely on those who use it has a weapon against you is hell. They can treat you any way they like and what can you do about it but put up with it. Not a pleasant position to be in.

About the pumpkin princess
Eerie dreams. Rotten pumpkins. A fairy princess in trouble!

A sudden, strange blight strikes pumpkins everywhere which means no pumpkin pie, no pumpkin bread, no pumpkin spiced cookies, not even pumpkin soup! Worse, the blight will eventually spread to other crops.Queen Faye's skulduggery spills out ever more into Anne's own world. She knows that the fairy Queen of Winter is behind this dark mischief. The blight and one of Anne's dreams leads her back to Other Land to rescue the Pumpkin Princess, the fairy who helps usher in the fall harvest.

Since Anne's first visit, the Winter Queen has grown more powerful and is terrorizing all of Other Land with her plans to rule the land. Many fairy folk have fled their homes, have gone in hiding or are preparing for war and a cruel, unending winter. Anne must find the courage and fortitude to brave the dangers that face her in Other Land and the cleverness to stop Queen Faye's plans and along the way she finds unexpected friends in unexpected places, but is it enough to stop the Winter Queen's rampage?

Buy the pumpkin princess at:
Amazon | Smashwords

About The Author
Victoria A. Jeffrey grew up in Portland Oregon, attended Portland Community College and studied graphic design. She is also an author and an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction and non-fiction. She has written two collections of poetry and some short stories. She is currently working on the Secret Doorway Tales children's fantasy series.

Thank you for sharing what scares you, Victoria.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

What Scares Author Jon Reisfeld

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:24:05 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #18, learn in his own words what scares author Jon Reisfeld.

The lion at the door, bunny ski-slope designers ... and the current state of our society. Throughout my life, whether awake or asleep, the things that really scared me always had to do with human frailty, stupidity or evil -- even when they first appeared to me in disguise.

As a toddler, I had a recurring nightmare that always ended the same way: with me sitting up in bed, heart pounding, bug-eyed and drenched in sweat. What brought me to that state? The lion at the door. This was no ordinary lion, but a full-sized male, with powerful, sinewy legs, sharp claws, a large dark mane and hungry fangs, dripping with saliva. I never knew how it got there. It might have escaped from the zoo or slipped away from a traveling circus for all I knew. But none of that mattered as I watched, in terror, as the beast paced back and forth, just five feet away, passing between the bushes that flanked the sidewalk at the base of our front steps.

For some reason, our house's thick, wooden, interior front door stood wide open. Only a flimsy metal and glass storm door secured the space between the lion and me. Sometimes, I would grab the storm door's handle and attempt to turn it, just to make sure it was locked. Each time, to my horror, the handle would turn until the door slipped loose from the frame. When that happened, I'd quickly pull it shut again and then run through our dining room to the kitchen, to make sure that dead-bolted door, and the even flimsier wooden screen door beyond it, remained closed. I'd inch up to that door, turn its handle and pull with all my might, only to find its deadbolt still firmly in place. A wave of relief would wash over me, just as the lion came into view again, staring at me through the door's thin veneer curtains.

The nightmare always ended at the lion's initiative. At some point, he would either raise his front claw, growl at me or suddenly spring up, bridging the distance between the front sidewalk, where it paced, and the top of the stoop, where I stood. Years later, I decoded this nightmare, when I realized that my first childhood memory occurred in the very same spot. I was two and a half. It was mid afternoon, and my parents were having a fight. I was downstairs and my four-year-old sister was upstairs, playing in her room, when I heard my father yell and storm out the front door. As he got into his car, my mother ran past me, opened the door and yelled after him, "Wait, I'm coming with you!" As I stood there, behind the same glass and metal storm door, I watched them drive away in the family car. I'm sure they were gone for no more than a few minutes, but the fear of abandonment was palpable. And it returned, over and over again throughout the years, to taunt me in my dreams.

My issue with bunny ski-slope designers occurred eight years later, when my family went to the Pocono mountains for Christmas vacation. I had never skied before so I took an introductory lesson that taught me how to get up on the skis, push for speed and snow plow to a dead stop. Having mastered the basics, I headed for the top of the bunny slope and pushed off.

Down I went, straight as an arrow, building up speed all the while. This was living. This was fun. Incredible! The cold wind hit my face and burned my ears, and I was really starting to fly. Then, several hundred yards ahead, I saw it: A small, red wooden fence comprised of vertical slats held together with chicken wire. The fence rose out of a modest mound of snow, and there, directly in front of me on that fence was a sign. I couldn't make out what it said, but I knew it was time to start applying the brakes.

I turned the heads of my skis inward, as instructed, and pressed forward and down, digging them into the snow, which began flying up around me in enormous walls, just as my instructors said it would. (I could almost hear them slapping each other on the back and congratulating themselves as they marveled at my near-perfect execution of the snowplow maneuver.) Only one thing detracted from my reverie: my rapid rate of descent. Despite all my snowplowing, I continued to race ahead like a ski-slope juggernaut. No matter what I did, I kept barreling forward. When I had come within 100 yards of the fence, I could finally make out the writing on the sign. It read, "Beware, 300-ft Drop." I blinked. I shook my head and looked again. The message did not change.

Meanwhile, my impotent snowplow continued to make a big show of things as the distance to the fence grew shorter and shorter. When I was no more than 20 yards away from it, I finally rolled hard to one side. My skis flew off, and I began tumbling forward, head over heels. The sensation reminded me of getting caught under a big, breaking wave at the beach. Finally, the spinning stopped and I found myself sitting upright, with my ski boots dug deep into the snow. I had come to a stop just one yard before the fence and directly in front of the 300-foot drop sign.

That marked the end of my brief infatuation with skiing. The thought that someone, anyone, could build a children's bunny ski slope in front of a 300-foot drop was more than my 11-year-old mind could fathom.

As I've grown older, I've learned that bunny ski slope designers were the least of my problems. Plenty of people, who we all expect to act responsibly, demonstrating at least a modicum of concern for the welfare of others, have routinely proven to be derelict in their duties. That's why what scares me now -- and the most -- is the mess that our government, our society and our economy have gotten into. The economic collapse that we continue to wrestle with grew out of a failure of government oversight; the unbounded greed and arrogance of Wall Street investment bankers and the successful actions of paid lobbyists, who, for decades have bought preferential treatment for their corporate clients for pennies on the dollar and at the enormous expense of average Americans. Perhaps the reason Congress has failed to act, and to work with the Executive branch to solve our problems, is because many members know they have blood on their hands.

But the gravest danger to come out of this economic disaster is the notion that out-and-out crooks and disingenuous and corrupt government overseers do not have to pay for their crimes. We must insist that they be held accountable, if our society is to have any hope of continuing to function for the good of all. That's why I am encouraged by the Occupy Wall Street movement. At least it suggests that some of us are waking up and showing our displeasure with a society gone completely amok.

My book, The Last Way Station, tells the story of the final judgment of one of history's most notorious villains and mass-murderers: Adolf Hitler. But it's fiction. Hitler never paid, in this life, for his massive crimes against humanity, and for a good reason. He built the Third Reich on a foundation of complete non-accountability for evil doers.

About The Last Way Station
On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler, one of the most notorious mass-murderers in history, retired to his room in his bunker, 25 feet beneath the old Reich Chancery garden. Above him, the Red Army was encircling Berlin as his dream of a thousand-year Aryan empire lay in ruins.

Hitler placed a glass cyanide capsule between his teeth and pointed a loaded service pistol at his right temple. Then, smugly believing he had both evaded capture and escaped all accountability for his crimes, he bit down and pulled the trigger. He was wrong!

The Last Way Station begins moments after Hitler's successful suicide, when the F�hrer finds himself mysteriously transported to a numbingly cold, solitary holding cell in the afterworld. There, he meets his caseworker, a supernatural being tasked with helping him face, and work through, his sins. The caseworker explains that Hitler will remain in solitary confinement indefinitely, as he prepares his soul for eventual return to the material world. The method, Hitler learns, involves seeking enlightenment through physically embodying his victims and then personally reliving the atrocities committed against them in his name. This speculative, historical fantasy narrative explores Hitler's psychology, the psychology of evil and asks, 'What, if anything, constitutes fitting punishment for the 'super evil?'

Book Purchase Links:

Amazon
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble

About the Author
A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Jon Reisfeld has worked, most of his adult life, as a writer and marketer. He has more than 25 years combined experience in journalism, corporate communications, advertising and marketing.

At 23, Jon became the first writer ever to have a story start on the cover of Baltimore Magazine. (It was a piece about teenage suicide.) He later founded and published Housecalls, a Baltimore-based health-and-fitness magazine. In the mid 90s, Jon served as Director of Marketing and Communications for Duron Paints and Wallcoverings. He ran the half-billion dollar regional paint company's 12-person in-house advertising agency for several years before returning to his private marketing consulting practice.

Jon's eclectic interests run the gamut from cosmology, chaos theory, technology and sci-fi to social issues, politics, the economy, anthropology, marketing and writing. He began writing fiction in his 40s and enjoys reading, walking, cycling, attending the theatre and "most" new movie openings. His next major fiction project will be a sci-fi trilogy set on earth and spanning "several hundred years" of human history.

website: www.jonreisfeld.com
blog: www.writeatyou.wordpress.com

Your book sounds like an interesting read. Thank you for sharing what scares you, Jon.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

What Scares Author Laurie Stevens

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:34:44 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #17, learn in her own words what scares author Laurie Stevens.

Dolls scare me. I may have been a big fan of Barbie back in the day but most dolls creep me out. My parents insisted on buying dolls as souvenirs for me from their worldwide travels and they had a rack custom made to display their purchases. Ignoring my protests, my parents hung the display rack directly across from my bed. Every night I had to stare at that weird Japanese doll wearing a kimono and holding up a bucket in each hand. I could swear her arms wavered slightly. Then there was that innocuous-looking Dutch doll with her long blonde braids and eyes that could open and close. Did she wink at me? A baby doll from some unknown country scared me so much; I turned her around every night. I knew, just knew, that some morning I would wake up with her freaky smile facing forward again.

The dolls hung prominently in my room until the night I watched "Trilogy of Terror" with Karen Black. My older sister thought the T.V. movie was too funny but I watched it in wide-eyed horror. Something about that little voodoo doll running through Karen Black's apartment with a knife the size of its body and gnashing its overly large, sharp teeth made me shiver against the couch. The doll rack came down that very night and I checked under my bed before I went to sleep for the next three years. No lie. After watching Bride of Chucky, I got over my fear of glass-eyed stares (let's face it, even I had to see the humor in watching two dolls have sex). My fear, however, must have been genetic because my sister gave my daughter a life-size plastic doll one holiday season. We named her Penny. Penny was as big as my daughter. I knew something was dreadfully wrong the day I came into my daughter's room and saw Penny sitting amid a shrine of play food, fake flowers, and lots of comfortable pillows.

"What's the deal?" I asked my daughter.

She pulled me out of the room (so Penny couldn't hear) and whispered, "I have to keep her happy because I think she's going to kill me when I go to sleep." She began to cry. Oh, Geez... Penny had to go. I had to admit that when we both walked into the room and approached Penny's shrine, my daughter and I looked at each other. We were both afraid to throw her away. We shared visions of her lifting her plastic arm from trashcan and climbing out. We both knew we would open our eyes one night and see a ragged-haired, large-eyed plastic girl leaning over us, poised with a weapon. So, we did the only thing possible. We put my son on the job. Young boys have a knack for destruction and my son made an effective doll assassin. I think a hammer was involved. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking this woman's kids are as weird as she is. Well, what do you expect? Their mother writes about psychological torment, murder, and police investigation. Blame the baby doll.

About The Dark Before Dawn
High in the Santa Monica Mountains grisly murders are taking place. On each of the victim's bodies a note is left for L.A. Sheriff's detective, Gabriel McRay. The killer's identity is locked in the suppressed memory of a horrifying trauma from Gabriel's own childhood. Teamed with his forensic pathologist girlfriend and his psychiatrist, Gabriel runs two parallel investigations. The first: a dark journey into the terrifying recollections of his past and the second: the hunt for a serial killer who seems to know more about Gabriel... than he knows himself.

Where to buy The Dark Before Dawn
Amazon paperback
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456450115/

Amazon Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FM2F38/

Barnes & Nobel paperback
barnesandnoble.com

Nook
ebook

About the Author
Laurie Stevens is a novelist, screenwriter, and playwright. She has written for television (Chris Isaak's Guide to Jazz Fest), for film (Footprint Films and John Daly's Film and Music Entertainment) and her stage play, "Follow Your Dreams" ran for eight weeks in Los Angeles. Laurie's novel "The Dark Before Dawn" is the first in a psycho-thriller/detective series and was awarded the Kirkus Star and "Best of Indie for 2011". Psychology and forensics abound in her books. In her words: "My favorite research is to pick the brains of therapists - how's that for a twist?"

Website: http://www.lauriestevensbooks.com
Facebook: thedarkbeforedawn
Twiter: @LaurieStevens1

Thank you for sharing what scares you, Laurie.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

What Scares Author Stephen L Brayton

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:27:51 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #16, learn in his own words what scares author Stephen L. Brayton.

Fear

I once read an article stating how fear is an acronym for False Evidence Against Reality. The article went on to discuss how most fears aren't as devastating when the reality of the situation is revealed.

For instance, I fear change. Change in my residence or employment usually produces a queasy feeling in my stomach. However, in the face of reality, the new apartment or job isn't as bad as expected.

Many of us experience fear in one form or another and at different intensities. Anything from a mild anxiety about an upcoming dinner date to a long suffered phobia of spiders or heights. Tony Shalhoub portrayed a man with the ultimate in fears in the television series Monk.

Fear, however, is a bit different from being scared. Fears can be faced and, in many cases, overcome. The phobias some people have can be dealt with through counseling or outright confrontation with the fearful situation. Scared is heightened and lingering fear. Scared is knowing potential danger is imminent. The teenage camper, having seen her mutilated friends strewn about the woods is truly scared of what's behind the door of the lonely old cabin she's discovered. She knows the killer stalks her and is watching, waiting.

For me, scared was driving seven miles on a curvy, hilly, ice covered road with steep ditches on either side and no way to turn around. As a child, scared was being stranded on the other side of a large lake with no way to return except for trekking another hour back, knowing the trouble I'd be in.

Horror movies rarely scare me. Sure there are moments that give my heart and stomach a short-lived jolt, but they're rare. The twist at the end of The Sixth Sense didn't really scare me, per se, but left me feeling very weird since, for me, Bruce Willis being dead was completely unexpected. Most horror films, though, are various versions of the same theme: the serial killer or mutated monster slaughtering the wayward young or ghosts, vampires, or other supernatural entities doing the same.

Radio and literature hold more potential to scare because they force you to use your imagination. One of the most famous radio incidents creating a mass scare was Orson Welles narrating the alien invasion of War of the Worlds in 1938.

I've collected hundreds of horror novels throughout the years and have been scared by only a few. Not very many have left a lingering sense of dread or maintained the imagination after the last chapter. There have been rarities leaving me wondering, "What if..." or "What would the next scene be?" because there was no real resolution in the story.

H.P. Lovecraft was a master at creating those lasting feelings for me. He wrote some truly scary material and years passed with several re-readings of a few of his stories for me to understand the attraction to his stories. Rarely did he show you the monster. One of his best stories, in my opinion, At the "Mountains of Madness," draws you in so well with so much detail and description, you feel that you are right there with the travelers discovering an ancient vanished civilization in the Antarctic depths. When they flee the scene, you are desperately wanting to know what the main character saw when he looked back over his shoulder, what awful, nameless thing destroyed the mind of his partner...but Lovecraft doesn't tell you. You are left wondering...wondering what could it be? For me, I loved that scared feeling imagining there really were super tall mountains at the South Pole hiding all sorts of unknown creatures.

I hope I've created some scary moments in my book, Night Shadows. I waited until later in the book before the monsters were 'seen' and known. Several readers have shared the fact they really didn't want to turn out the lights the night after reading the story. I hope I have also left people with a lingering imagination, a sense of 'what if?'

What scares me scares many people. The unknown, the possibilities in the unknown. Also the experience you have when-

Oh, crap! Don't you dare sneak up on me and tap my shoulder. You nearly scared me to death.

About the Author
Stephen L. Brayton owns and operates Brayton's Black Belt Academy in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He is a Fifth Degree Black Belt and certified instructor in The American Taekwondo Association. He began writing as a child; his first short story concerned a true incident about his reactions to discipline. During high school, he wrote for the school newspaper and was a photographer for the yearbook. For a Mass Media class, he wrote and edited a video project. In college, he began a personal journal for a writing class; said journal is ongoing. He was also a reporter for the college newspaper. During his early twenties, while working for a Kewanee, Illinois radio station, he wrote a fantasy based story and a trilogy for a comic book. He has written numerous short stories both horror and mystery. He has also written a paranormal mystery, entitled Night Shadows, sequels to Night Shadows and Beta are in rewrite/revision stages.

Buy Night Shadows at Amazon

Website: www.stephenbrayton.com
Blogs: http://stephenlbrayton.blogspot.com , http://braytonsbookbuzz.blogspot.com

A fellow Lovecraft fan, right on! Thank you for sharing what scares you, Stephen.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

What Scares Author Velda Brotherton

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:34:47 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #15, learn in her own words what scares author Velda Brotherton.

SCARE ME, GO AHEAD, I LOVE IT

Revealing what scares me is easy, but what scares me is not "really" scaring me. It's thrilling me, getting the adreline pumping, raising the hair on the back of my neck, making my heart race, adding to my enjoyment. All these things feed some weird need which I don't understand.

Remember those Freddie movies, where this guy comes out of dreams to terrorize the dreamer? And later that movie where the girl with hair over her face crawls out of the television, to terrorize the viewer? By now you can tell I'm a movie buff, but I'm also an avid reader. The most unusual aspect is that I love being scared. I thrive on it. Obviously others do too, for they flock to the movies and buy the books of those who can scare them the most.

Give me a Stephen King horror novel and I can't put it down. The Shining where the Dad goes slightly bonkers and begins to stalk his family with an axe. King is expert at taking a normal family or situation and ripping it apart when something goes badly wrong with one or more of them. He plays on human nature's fears rather than making up a boogie man. And he is one heck of a writer because he grabs his readers by the hand and literally drags them into the world he's created.

The worst thing about my thirst for terror is it doesn't stop with the good scary stories. The bad ones intrigue me as well. I've been known to read some of the dreck along with the best as long as it's scary. There's no explaining that, because I'll usually throw a bad book across the room, unless there's something supernatural, or a ghost or demon involved.

Edgar Allan Poe is an example of an author good at scaring me so bad I feel great.

In his day Poe was a writer of all genres. He is credited with inventing the detective story in Murders in the Rue Morgue. Arthur Conan Doyle fashioned some of his Sherlock Holmes tales after Poe's earlier works. And there were Poe's love stories, "The Purloined Letter" and who could forget "The Raven"?

On the other hand, "The Tell-tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" were so creepy they were not popular with the readers of his time. They are two of my favorites for that very reason. I get the shivers reading them.

This is not unusual for authors today who write "way out of the box," as they try to outdo each other terrifying the reader. As time goes by and writers and movie producers vie to tell the most terrorizing tales, we might find Poe's work tame.

For information on Poe, his work and his history, see http://www.poestories.com

Here are some examples of today's writers who succeed in scaring me:

Robert R. McCammon's best book is probably Swan Song which is evil personified. It's difficult to put down because the characters are so flawed and yet so likable.

Phantoms by Dean Koontz is a delicious read. In a town where no one survived, what is that moving about in the shadows?

Graham Masterson's Walkers is a frightening tale of walls that have eyes, ears and a soul. So give me more and keep me scared and I'll be happy.

About Montana Promises
Montana Promises is a Western Historical Romance, the first of a trilogy that spans the years between the gold strikes in Virginia City and the cattle ranch wars after the Civil War. Tressie Reed is left alone on the high plains after her mother dies in childbirth. All she wants is to follow her father who abandoned them to go in search of gold. Ex soldier Reed Bannon, fleeing Union soldiers after the Battle of Prairie Grove, has been badly injured but makes it to the soddy where Tressie tends to his wounds. Reed must clear his name and Tressie must forgive her father before they can make a life together.

Montana Promises at Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005G4WVSE/
Montana Dreams at Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LDPE48/

About the Author
Velda has been writing since 1983 when she began working for newspapers, first as a stringer for a daily, then later as a feature editor for a local weekly newspaper. Her first books came out in 1994 with a nonfiction and her first Western Historical Romance with Topaz/Penguin. After six romance novels, she wrote several regional nonfiction historical books for different publishers. She has gone back to her first love, fiction, and turned to Ebook publication. Her Western Historical Romance Stone Heart's Woman will be released by The Wild Rose Press in Feb. 2012. A paranormal, Wolf Song, will be released by SynergEbooks in November, 2011. She has published four Kindle novels and plans on two more in the near future. She lives with her husband in the Ozark National Forest of Arkansas. They enjoy traveling and join together in researching her historical books. They have two children, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Website: http://www.veldabrotherton.com

Blogs: A Writer's Blog, A Journal
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorveldabrotherton
Twitter: @veldabrotherton

Wow, Velda we share an affection for the same authors. Thank you for sharing what scares you.
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

Fresh Flesh excerpt: Torque

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:59:11 -0400

Summary: On Valentine's Day 1992 Wally 'Torque' Adamson is paroled. He doesn't waste any time looking for love and trouble. An excerpt from debut novel Fresh Flesh on sale 9-29-2011.

After twenty-six years in San Quentin for the brutal murder of his mother and wife, and eighteen months before Jessica Stanton washed ashore the island, the state of California decided to let Torque walk. And it was no longer than five minutes after he passed the gate, smiling, waving goodbye to the guards, that he smelled the coppery scent of blood.

They let me out, he thought, whistling the Marine song, and on such a glorious day.

A sunny, hot Valentine's Day. He could already see the pitiful young lovers, gathering like moss under the shade of towering oaks, playing pussy-pussy, kissy-kissy games. Husbands forced into buying chocolate sweets and long stem roses (which died after two weeks anyway, so what was the fucking purpose?). Wives acting phony when their surprise came or cuntish when it didn't. Little boys and girls barely acquainted with the birds and bees, passing out nonsensical Will You Be Mine cards. Torque just couldn't understand the fascination. He knew the only good thing about Valentine's Day was the color: red.

The same color as blood.

Satan's color.

Torque sighed wistfully, looking across the jammed parking lot for Baby Blue, his pick-up up truck. It had to be there somewhere, he knew, because Uncle Sal told him it was in his last letter. Uncle Sal said he parked it and left sweet Sally under the seat. Uncle Sal was a swell guy, he kept Sally all these years, and took care of her like she was one of his own. Uncle Sal knew Sally would be put to good use again someday. If not by Torque, by him; Uncle Sal said his wife was getting too big for her britches. If that came down, Sally would be pleased. She loved blood.

But not more than Torque.

There she was: Baby Blue, sitting next to some red foreign piece of shit; what a disgrace. Uncle Sal must have missed it, Torque was disappointed, and decided that as a good, upstanding citizen of the United States he would slash the tires and steal the stereo. The least he could do.

Torque's birth name was Wally Adamson, but those who knew that were either the law, dead, or as crazy as him (Uncle Sal, for example). He'd gotten the nickname by the way he torqued his mother and ex-wife's heads with his monstrous hands until they snapped. After he torqued their heads, he let Sally do the rest.

It took him three minutes to reach Baby Blue. Four more to fix the foreign jobby. It would have taken less time, but he was a little rusty, and he would have felt wrong not slicing the leather upholstery to ribbons. He climbed into the pick-up and looked underneath the seat. The keys were waiting on Sally's sleek body. He took them, jammed them into the ignition and let her rip. She fired like she'd never gone cold. Now that's love.

Looking back at San Quentin, his home since he was eighteen, he felt a little sad to be leaving. He took a moment and studied its beautiful figure. The cold, unforgiving concrete and you're-never-going-to-leave-here barbed wire fences. He couldn't have asked for a nicer prison home. He loved it and it loved him.

Before tearing out of the parking lot, he opened the window and spit on the foreign jobby. It would never park next to Baby Blue again. The road opened up, and Satan led Torque's nose to the overwhelming scent.

"Speak to me," he said crazily. "Tell me what I must do. Tell me how I can join you."

The wind brought him an answer. Another smell. It was a weird, succinct odor that, at first, stupefied him. He hadn't come upon that odor for quite some time.

And then he recognized it was fried chicken.

Southern Fried Chicken.

"Wonderful." He laughed happy as the day was bright, driving toward the smell of chicken.

And blood.

On the way a few cars passed him too close on the two-lane road. He could tell Sally was getting nervous and it started bothering him. Back off, he gave them all dirty, hateful stares. They obeyed and gave Baby Blue breathing room.

The power of Satan. I have the power of Satan.

It took about five minutes to trace the smell down. Torque was right, it was emitting from a Southern Fried Chicken fast food restaurant. He pulled into the barely-filled parking lot, passing the slowly revolving chicken logo. It was their knockoff of Kentucky Fried Chicken's spinning bucket of chicken. Everybody ripped off everybody else on the outside. The smell was unbearable.

Too much chicken. Not enough blood.

He turned off the engine and hugged Sally. In the glove box, Uncle Sal had packed plenty of ammo. He cradled Sally, the sawed-off double barrel pointing like eager fingers toward blood. Sally could smell it a thousand miles away, something Torque could never quite figure out. He wondered if a vampire could smell it that far away. No, he decided, vampires are pussies. They can only kill after daylight, at night. Sally never slept; she was ready for blood 24/7, 365.

And boy was she ready now. She was trembling in his hands.

He got out of Baby Blue and, in broad daylight, walked across the parking lot with Sally ready at his side. Valentine's Day. Cupid had his bow and arrow. Torque had Sally.

A starry-eyed college kid waltzed out of the front door, a bucket of chicken in his hands, a small grin on his face.

"First blood," Torque laughed, aiming.

Fresh Flesh is coming September 29, 2011. You can read the first two chapters of Fresh Flesh as bonus content at the end of the ebook version of Mental Shrillness available at Amazon US UK DE and Smashwords.

Fresh Flesh excerpt: Alone

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 20:43:48 -0400

Summary: Dick leaves Jessica alone in the cave for the first time. An excerpt from debut novel FRESH FLESH on sale 9-29-2011.

Jessica awoke and sensed being alone. She sprung up and searched around.

Where was Dick? The rock where he had been whittling was vacant. The sun still shone brightly through the cave entrance, and she told herself that he had probably just stepped outside to find another branch to whittle. She must not have been asleep that long. An hour? two? At least, Dick had not left her alone in the dark.

But he had left her alone.

Fear strangled her body. Tiny ripples of gooseflesh rose like weeds all over her body. The cave reeked not only of fish, but of a worse odor, a fouler stench: loneliness.

She got up and went quickly to the cave entrance.

"Dick? Dick?"

The wind howled. Mocked.

Louder: "Dick?"

Nothing. No echo.

She walked ten feet down the beaten trail. Stood alongside the makeshift bathroom. Called again.

"Dick?"

He was gone.

Looking into the jungle's confusing mixture of plants, vines, rocks and trees, she remembered his cautionary words: Still plenty big enough to get lost in.

Yes, she thought and his other words resonated inside her brain: if you know what I mean.

The wind drove a few icy chills up and down her spine.

Where could Dick have gone? The beach? Fishing?

"Dick?" she called out again. No doubt, he'd left her alone. What's wrong with that? Her conscience was annoyed, it's broad daylight and you're being (Edward's words) chickenshit.

But even in their Valford mansion she couldn't stand being left alone. And Edward seemed to leave her alone too often. "Stop being so yellow honey," he'd say with his annoying chuckle. A sound like billiard balls cracking together during an aggressive break. "What's so bad about being home alone? Turn on the TV or radio if you want some company."

Sometimes that worked.

Except now she didn't see any big screen TV or high end stereo receivers popping out of the bushes. Let me charge that to the Mastercard too please.

Jessica turned and stared back at the cave entrance. It was approximately ten feet in diameter with long green and brown vines twisting around the creepy opening. It reminded her of the hungry, spittle-dripping mouth. Darkness and evil dominating over light inside the cave. There was nothing positive Jessica could say about her new home, even from a good distance.

There was something wrong with this "freakishly unknown" island. She felt something dark and disturbing churning inside her stomach.

She decided it wasn't wise for her to have left the cave. She started back. She made it five feet before she heard something rustling in the bushes nearby.

Something alive.

Something moving closer.

Her heartbeat shifted into overdrive, pummeling the ventricle walls. Hairs on the back of her neck rose. Prickling sensations nipped at random spots on her body: fingertips, toes and palms.

Her eyes searched for the intruder. Found none. She was disturbed and on the verge of executing her best shriek.

Nothing, Jessica. Edward's click-clack (eight-ball corner pocket) chuckle: chickenshit.

A harsh wind blew and the whole ravine came alive; shiver-dancing to the ocean tide's music.

Damn imagination. Her heartbeat slowed, returned to normal. A minute passed before she felt silly being scared of nothing.

That was when something cold, something real, emerged from the ravine, grasped her naked shoulder, and squeezed.

"Gotcha."

It was only Dick.

"Hey! You scared the shit out of me." Jessica trembled.

"I--I was just teasing, sorry." Dick yanked back his icy hand. "I was watching you."

"Then why didn't you answer me?"

"I thought...I just--"

"I don't enjoy being frightened, Dick, and this island scares me enough. Please don't. Don't do that again."

He held up his spear, a string of fish tied onto it. "Peace? I brought dinner."

"Don't do that again." She was still in reprimand mode. "My nerves aren't steel, okay?"

"Okay."

She looked at his despondent eyes. "I don't like being left alone."

"You don't have to explain yourself, Jessica. It's not the first time I've screwed up."

"Then," she said, eyeing the fish with a grimace. "Let's go...eat."

What Scares Author Tim C Taylor

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 20:11:43 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #14, learn in his own words what scares author Tim C. Taylor.

My son scares me the most. I guess my wife does too, but mostly my son, and he's only five.

I blame Rudyard Kipling.

When I was very young, I used to love Kipling's Just So Stories; these old-fashioned and rather silly parables about animals delighted me, and intrigued me with the way the author addresses the reader as 'dearly beloved'. Years later, when my wife was pregnant, I watched a TV documentary about Kipling and rediscovered that sense of delight when I learned that Kipling wrote 'dearly beloved' to address his daughter, Josephine. He made up the Just So Stories as bedtime tales for her; she would quietly hold his hand as he wrote them down to sell to periodicals.

Then, having built this picture of blissful family life, the documentary shattered it because Josephine died very suddenly of pneumonia when still a little girl. Kipling was devastated. A few years later, in 1915, his only son was killed at the Battle of Loos.

Thanks, BBC, for screening that, just as I was about to become a dad.

So what scares me most is the thought of my son being damaged. Falling off a cliff, bird flu, mugger, Martin invasion: in my darkest moments I've imagined all of them (except the last one). Wife and son in a car crash: 100 points, game over!

I don't let it show; I don't let him know. Most of the time I don't worry about him but always lurking in the back of my mind...

Maybe I'm just soppy, maybe I'm just a dad, maybe it was all those dad hormones when I watched that TV program -- I don't know. What I am sure about is that the thing that scares me most is my son.

I wrote a science fiction story about those fears. It's a short story called No More than Human after the Theodore Sturgeon classic More than Human. In it, the future for unmodified people, as we largely are today, looks very bleak indeed. Something cracks when the main character watches his wife brutalized (I couldn't bring myself to portray a child damaged so). In the end he deliberately endangers his children and the generations to come after, but in doing so he buys hope.

Where To Buy No More Than Human
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords (multiple e-formats) | Barnes & Noble (NOOK) | iTunes US | iTunes UK

About the Author
Tim writes science fiction, though latterly people are calling his work steampunk or fantasy. When he lost his job in February 2011, his co-workers gave him a Kindle as a leaving present. A few weeks later he had set up Greyhart Press and begun to publish other authors of horror, science fiction, and fantasy.

Tim's blog: www.timctaylor.com On Twitter: @TimCTaylor

Thanks Tim!
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

What Scares Author LeAnna Shields

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:25:47 -0400

Summary: What Scares Authors series #13, learn in her own words what scares author LeAnna Shields.

Hi everyone.

My name's LeAnna and I guess I'm supposed to write about what scares me. Hmmm well I suppose the answer I should give is that since I'm a follower of Christ I don't have to be scared of anything except life without Him.

But the truth is there are things that scare me.

One is wasps for sort of good reason. I'm very mildly allergic to wasp stings. I won't die or anything, but my skin has an over reaction to the venom.

Second, spiders the little suckers just give me the screaming heebie-jeebies. The irony is one of my favorite recent characters is half spider, try researching that and not feeling your skin crawl.

Third and last, I get scared by those paranormal shows. You know the ones where they go into a house and look for evidence. Yeah I watch those and then can't sleep without facing my bedroom door. Go figure. What do I want to see when something that used to be alive is coming after me? Well, that's what scares me.

About The Alestrion Chronicles: Slaves Redeemed
The Alestrion Chronicles: Slaves Redeemed is set in a distant star system and follows the story of Aria a young girl who was taken from her home world by pirates and sold into a life of slavery. When she is brought home at the age of 14 she must enter into an apprenticeship at a griffin farm, while efforts to catch the traitor responsible for her exile and plans for a coming war are made behind the scenes. Living the life of a star griffin racer is good for Aria, but fate has other plans for her when she learns of an assassination plot against the king of her world. In running to save the monarch she will be pulled into a new way of life and a new higher roll.

Where to buy The Alestrion Chronicles: Slaves Redeemed
Barnes & Noble (NOOK)
Smashwords (other e-formats)
Amazon (Kindle)

About The Author
LeAnna Shields grew up and lives in Colorado. She went to public schools until high school and then chose a home school out of Chicago called Christian Liberty Academy Satellite School. Home school is where she excelled and learned to write. It was fun for her to write fan fiction about Star Wars. During college she started this series, Alestrion Chronicles. She has put much love and hard work into it. Hope you enjoy it as much as many of us have.

Thanks LeAnna!
- Todd

Read what scares the last 10 authors in the What Scares Authors series:

Streak begins and read new short story Fossilization

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:01:57 -0400

Summary: Caught in a fire of unknown origin, the strength of a couple's love is exhibited in this new, contest winning flash fiction by Todd Russell. Also explaining the start of the new story every work day streak that began Monday 8-22-2011.

Started one story every work day streak
On Monday, Aug 22, 2011 I decided to see how many days in a row I could write at least one new short story each working day. I'm seven days in now and have written seven brand new short stories. All have been flash fiction pieces under 300 words (some call this microfiction), but I have been working on longer works at the same time. The longer works hopefully will be completed and appear at some point in the future during the streak. Keep reading for explanation how that might happen.

No idea how long this streak will continue and I've decided to use Major League Baseball consecutive games rules. The same rules applied to Joltin' Joe DiMaggio from May 15, 1941 - July 16, 1941 when he set the record for consecutive games with at least one hit. Nobody has beaten his record since 1941. If you check the game records DiMaggio's team didn't play games on the dates listed below.

Days off during DiMaggio hit streak
May 26, 1941 - 11 consecutive games
May 31, 1941 - 5 games (16 total games)
June 4, 1941 - 3 games (19)
June 6, 1941 - 2 games (21)
June 9, 1941 - 3 games (24)
June 11, 1941 - 1 games (25)
June 13, 1941 - 1 games (26)
June 23, 1941 - 9 games (35)
June 30, 1941 - 7 games (42) Note: June 31, 1941 an invalid date
(2) July 3-4, 1941 - 3 games (45)
(3) July 7-9, 1941 - 3 games (48)
streak ended July 17, 1941 - 8 games (56)

Even for non baseball fans, DiMaggio's streak is impressive. He had 14 non-working days to rest during his streak of 56 consecutive games with a hit. He had 91 total hits with an overall batting average of .408.

All this baseball stuff means that, yes, I will take days off here and there along the way.

The streak will end when I do not write a complete new fiction story (can be any length, any genre, but must be fiction) on a working day.

Multiple day stories may count
This got me thinking: what if I write a story that takes say 3 days to complete? Yes, I could include that story on day 3 as a valid completed new story, assuming I had completed other stories the other two days. So not all of my stories must be started, written and completed on the same day, as long as I have completed stories the other days in the streak.

No stories started before 8-22-2011 will count
Here's the no sandbagging rule.

EXAMPLE. I can't count my debut novel Fresh Flesh that comes out 9-29-2011 on 9-29-2011 if that's a working day, even though I'm still tweaking the work and adding a few new words as feedback continues to roll in during the final proofing stage because I started working on this book a long, long time ago.

What does my typical work year look like?
My typical work year schedule involves working six days a week on average and taking two 1-2 week long vacations a year. So if we factor in four weeks vacation (30 days) + 48 single days off (one day off per work week, vacation weeks already counted) and subtract that from 365 days in a year, I should have at least 287 working days per year (365 - 78 = 287). That's a very low number of days worked and my actual working days are more like 310-330+ days per year. Depending on how long this streak goes, we'll learn the actual numbers together in time.

List of stories in streak so far
"Pine of the Indians" - A man collides with history in this flash fiction story. (#1, Monday Aug 22, 2011)
"Fossilization" - Caught in a fire of unknown origin, the strength of a couple's love is exhibited. (#2, Tuesday Aug 23, 2011)
"Pyracantha Eyes" - A well-trained man encounters unexpected witnesses. (#3, Wednesday Aug 24, 2011)
"Texting Triangle" - A woman's friend dies in a suspicious car accident and sends text messages from the grave. (#4, Thursday Aug 25, 2011)
"Dead Lead" - Exploring life and death in the easel tray. (#5, Friday Aug 26, 2011)
"The Loser Winner" - A swimmer tries to beat her best time against faceless creatures with curled tails. (#6, Saturday Aug 27, 2011)
"Another Day" - A chess match in a strange diner between a recluse and a violent criminal (#7, August 28, 2011)

Where can the streak stories be read?
As a means of third party independent verification and to share with readers who want to follow along, I am sharing non-permanent links in my fan area: http://toddrwrite.com/fans/ and sometimes I might mention some stories on Twitter and my Facebook page.

Many of these stories will only be available online for a brief period of time (at least 66 hours, no guarantees beyond that), so those who are interested in reading each and every story will need to bookmark my fan page and check daily (my work days, anyway) for updates. Some stories I may post permanently here in the blog or perhaps combine in a book or other projects of interest down the road. Anything posted in this blog, like the story "Fossilization" below is permanent, so please if you like the story feel free in linking from your sites/blogs/social networks.

The reason I'm not keeping the stories up permanently is that I might be reworking some of the stories into longer stories or scenes. Again, I have no plans to take any stories down that are posted in this blog, so readers are encouraged always to link to anything in this blog.

Enough story streak talk, where's the story "Fossilization"?
On August 23, I took first place in a flash fiction online prompt contest with the story "Fossilization" below. The contest had a maximum word limit of 300 words and required that the story included the words: orange, fire and fossil. I hope you enjoy the story as much as others that left reviews. Please use the comments and give me your feedback.

Fossilization by Todd Russell

How and why the fire started, who started it, Donner and Maria would never know. Everywhere they turned in the forest the orange-red, flickering tongues cut off their escape.

"We're not gonna make it!" Maria said, coughing.

Donner hugged his wife of thirty-two years. "Remember that bear cave we saw late yesterday? Over there, beyond the smoky ridge."

Donner led his wife through the gray haze. He could feel the smoke burning through his lungs. Maria coughed harder. If they didn't get to safety soon, smoke inhalation would claim their lives long before the flames.

As they passed the bridge, Maria collapsed. Donner picked her up and carried her into the cave.

"Stay with me, honey. We made it."

The cave air was cool and musty. Donner walked toward the back, holding Maria. "I love you and will never let you go."

"I--" (COUGH) "love...you, too."

And then Donner, with Maria still in his arms, fell into the hole. Falling, colder, colder, black.

* * *

Axmar's FF-129D detection light blinked and projected light against the cave wall showing a detailed projection of what was buried deep beneath the surface. He found something unique and rare that he could take back to his home world.

"Request fossil date projection."

The FF-129D responded with a red digital counter incrementing on the wall and stopping on a year.

2011.

"Humans were so primitive," Axmar said aloud, recalling from his studies that this year had been plagued by widespread economic conflict and raging terrorist factions.

The orientation of the skeletal remains, preserved in rock for over 12,000 years, appeared as if they died holding hands.

Never-ending love, Axmar thought. That's what I'll call this earth World War III exhibit.