Revised Blurb for 'Bad Apps', A Book of Techno-Horror

A vector graphic illustration of five bionic eyes.

Credit: Pixabay

The last four or so weeks have been a time of making revisions suggested by beta readers to my upcoming short story collection, "Bad Apps". Those revisions are almost complete. This past week, specifically, has been a time of revising the book’s blurb. The most important change I made to the blurb has to do with genre classification. But first let me mention some of the notable changes to the book itself.

Latest Revisions to 'Bad Apps'

The most notable of the latest revisions I made to "Bad Apps" is actually a small one, yet a very important one. One of the beta readers had suggested that I mention AI in one of the stories. I had already referred to artificial intelligence in the book’s introduction and in a few of the other stories. In fact, in one it’s the deadly antagonist. However, I needed to reflect AI in another story because that one involves a search engine—one that can read the user's mind.

When I had first wrote this story a few years back, artificial intelligence was not a major feature of search engines. Lately, however, it’s become a major feature of them. AI is also a controversial topic right now since it has more people scared that it will exceed human intelligence, and so it goes with the horror in books like "Bad Apps". So, if the beta reader who suggested this addition is reading this, thanks again!

Other revisions suggested by beta readers have to do with cutting out a few needless scenes and details. Lately, I've been re-reading for continuity those stories that I made these latest changes to. So far, the continuity has been looking good, and so the changes haven’t affected it.

Thank You Beta Readers!

I'd like to thank all beta readers who read and commented on the beta version of “Bad Apps” and to remind them they will soon be getting the perks I said they would. The first of these perks is a downloadable image of the book's cover which I'm currently working on the concept sketch for to send to the artist. I'm aiming to have the cover reveal by mid-April and to release the book by the end of that month. I'll definitely keep everyone updated.

Newly Revised 'Bad Apps' Book Blurb

Back in November, I posted the official blurb for "Bad Apps" to My Books page here at the Fantastic Site. I had already known that it was a working blurb, and it still may be. Internet searchable terms for books change all the time. So, I recently did some hunting for the latest searchable terms on Google and Amazon for the science fiction horror subgenre that "Bad Apps" falls under. One of the most notable ones that I found was "techno-horror".

Originally, I had used “techno-terror” as a primary keyword to refer to the more precise subgenre "Bad Apps" falls within, which is science fiction horror that emphasises computer technology. I used it because of its alliteration, especially when putting it before a word such as tales (“techno-terror tales”). However, when I used it in a Google search, too many results came up that had to do with a fandom collection based on the video game, "Apex Legends". So, I did a search using "techno-horror" instead, and that brought up more varied results proving it to be a more generic term. For that reason, I chose to emphasise "techno-horror" in the blurb, instead, by placing it in the earlier portion. However, I liked the alliteration of "techno-terror" too much to delete it, and so I placed that toward the end.

You can see the updated version of the “Bad Apps” blurb at My Books page here at the Far Out Fantastic Site. Let me know what you think of it. If you think it can be improved even more, please let me know in the comments box below or email me at sarellanorose@gmail.com. I'm always open to suggestions!

For more in-depth details and behind-the-scenes looks at "Bad Apps" and other writing projects of mine, be sure to subscribe to my free newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call". I'm going to try to come out with the next edition in April sometime in which I hope to have the most in-depth details on "Bad Apps". By then it will be very close to the book's release! Keep checking back here throughout next week for the next "Book-To-Movie" post! You can also visit my Facebook page for the latest updates.

Until next time . . .

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