A Far Out Fantastic Site

Credit: Pixabay Can you believe we’ve arrived at another holiday season and the end of the year? It seems like each year goes by so fast! There are all kinds of great stuff to look forward to at this time of year: time with family and friends, good holiday food, gifts. But it's more about the giving than the getting. But the giving can really deplete your bank account, especially if you're like me and have a big family. Well, that's when you look towards the holiday sales. One of many of those is Smashwords' End of Year Book Sale in which my books are participating in! Want something chilling to read during this holiday season? You'll find mine and plenty of other authors' books of science fiction and horror at that sale! And if that's not enough, check out the list of links to holiday horror reading and viewing below!  Smashwords End of Year Sale Is the holiday shopping making your money vault go low? Well, from now through January 1, you can find my books ...

Credit: the blogger Halloween is upon us! And I've been busy doing writing-related projects in relation to the holiday. One is the Halloween edition of my free author's newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call" which is now out. Be sure to check your in-boxes if you haven't done so. If you're not subscribed the newsletter, you can do so here .    Also going on now through the Halloween/Day of the Dead weekend is a sale on my books! You'll find more about that below. But first, I just wanted to share with you a comment of mine to a YouTube video I watched a while back about the extensive commercialisation of Halloween. This time of year offers plenty of opportunity to make a sale (as with my discounted books listed below), but we must remember that the hallowday is primarily about the community, both living and dead.  Blogger's Response to Video,  'Halloween is Dying'   (I encourage you to watch the video at the link above to get a better understa...

Credit: Pixabay.com The holidays are almost here! That means the Hallowday edition of my author’s newsletter coming out soon and end of the year book sales. It also means ghosts at Christmas and . . . vampires at Christmas?  Well, there’s one coming soon to a theatre near you. A vampire movie, that is. So, keep reading for the details! ‘Nosferatu’ Remake to be a Holiday Release The new remake of the 1922 German unofficial “Dracula” movie adaptation, "Nosferatu", releases December 25th (US). This will probably be fitting for some horror fans since many of the scenes are of dark, frozen landscapes, and it’s actually set during the Christmas season according to a review at Slashfilm .  So, it's kind of a black Christmas film, but don’t expect gore exploitation in the ugly manner of “Silent Night, Deadly Night”. This movie, directed by Robert Eggers (“The Lighthouse”), is a more psycho-sexual interpretation of the original. It appears to have a more dream-like (as in nightma...

Credit: Pixabay.com I apologise for posting so late. I was busy all weekend putting together the Halloween edition of "Night Creatures' Call", my free author's newsletter. If you're not subscribed to it, then you can do so here . In the newsletter, I talk about writing project details that normally are not discussed here. I also offer discounts on books that you'll often be the first to know about like the case has been with the latest edition of the newsletter with my current subscribers. Speaking about discounts, I was busy putting together those as well. Afterall, it's my Halloween treat to you! So, be sure to check that out below. But first, some highlights of a zombie fest that I attended over the weekend. Davis Zombie Bike Parade This past Sunday, I attended the Zombie Bike Parade in Davis California, home to UC Davis. In its sixth year, one of the event's hosts was the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Davis, a lodge chapter. Although I didn...

Credit: Pixabay Here in my home area of Sacramento California, we've been getting some sizzling, hot weather! Saturday was a high of about 109! I mostly stayed in my air-conditioned pad all weekend working on writing and doing some reading. Speaking of which, I finally got my summer reading list together. I had been in a desperate run both to the brick-and-mortar book stores and Amazon looking for books that would appeal to me for summer, mainly in the science fiction genre, but also a few in adventure. If you need more ideas for reading in the AC’d house, out by the pool or on the beach, maybe you’ll find this list helpful. If you’re in the southern hemisphere where it’s winter, you may still find it useful. If you don’t, then look even further below because I talk about the annual Smashwords summer/winter book sale where you'll find thousands of books at super discounted prices! And that includes my books! I also have some on the latest progress of my upcoming collection of s...

Credit: Pixabay This is the weekend that we usually have our Book-To-Movie review, but I'm postponing it until next weekend. I was spending all day yesterday racking by brain dead while doing my state sales and use tax return, which in California is due at the beginning of each fiscal year. So, I was worn out totally by the evening. I couldn't keep focused or even awake to work on the current story in progress for my upcoming short fiction collection, "Bad Apps". So, I've been working on it this evening to make up for the lost time. However, I didn't want to leave you without a blog post this weekend since last weekend’s already got delayed to the middle of the week (too long of a delay for a weekly blog). So, I wanted to do at least a short post for this week, one that will tell you how you can get a free, pre-release edition of "Bad Apps"! And you can do that by being a volunteer beta reader! How You Can Volunteer as a Beta Reader for ‘Bad Apps’ ...

Be a rebel, support indie authors!   Credit: Wikimedia Commons This is going to be a short post because it's Fourth of July weekend here in the US. So, for those of you who celebrate, I don't want to keep you from family outings and celebrations, including your communities' firework shows. Also, yesterday was a long one and I need a little bit of a break myself. But I wanted to make sure that you have another outlet to celebrate freedom and independence. That is, the freedom to read the works of independent authors, also known as self-published authors. So, be a revolutionary and shop for books by indie authors at Smashwords' July Summer/Winter Sale ! The sale includes both seasons because at this time of the year it's winter in the southern hemisphere and, being an online distribution centre for books, Smashwords caters to customers from all over the world.  Books from from 75% to 100% Off the Original Price Credit: Pixabay.com That said, I’ve discounted my books  ...

Credit: Pixabay.com I received my second dose of the Covid shot yesterday. Even though I didn’t get sick from it like some people have, I woke up with muscle soreness this morning and have had it all day. So, I’m going to take it easy today and keep this post short with a little sci fi news and updates. Also, it’s a holiday weekend, so we all deserve to take at least a small break. I’ll mostly be working on my short stories for my upcoming   collection throughout the weekend. ‘Alien TV Series in the Works Noah Hawly, producer of the Hulu series, “Fargo”, is coming out with a TV series based on the “Alien” movies. Like “Star Wars”, The original 1979 “Alien” spawned an entire franchise of sequels, prequels and retail items. The franchise came out with action figures, bubble gum trading cards, games, comics and even prose fiction books. And now, also like the “Star Wars” franchise with its “Mandalorian” series, it’s finally coming out with a TV series. According to Hawly in a “V...

Credit: Pixabay.com Well, the photographic cover for my single short story book, “Circa SixtyYears Dead” will not be here in time for the holidays. However, the print version will be here sooner than I had anticipated, thanks to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing’s new paperback print option. “Circa Sixty Years Dead” Print Edition Until recently, a print version of a self-published Kindle book had to be produced by separate means through Amazon’s Create Space. But now a print edition of an ebook can be produced a little bit more quickly through Kindle Direct’s new print option (currently at the beta level). So far, I’ve partly regi stered “Circa” for this option . I just have to upload the manuscript and cover to the program. The manuscript is what may take a while before I upload it because I need to make sure it’s formatted correctly and formatting isn’t the best of my self-publishing skills. Apparently, the manuscript and cover have to come from my o...

Credit: Pixabay.com I said I would have some treats for you on this Halloween weekend and I’ve kept my word! Starting now and ending midnight October 31 st (early November 1 st ) you can purchase my collection of dark fiction, The Fool’s Illusion, at 50% off the list price. To do that just go to CreateSpace .com   and use this code: 5HVKZ4DU . And if that’s not good enough, then starting Sunday and also ending at the stroke of the witching hour on Halloween, you can get a copy of my newest horror book, “Circa Sixty Years Dead”, for free! Just go to Amazon to claim it; no code needed. A print book of short horror and science fiction at half price and an ebook of a short but terrifying supernatural tale at no cost! Take advantage of this offer now because, as I said, they turn back into rotting Jack-o-Lanterns at midnight, Halloween (early morning November 1 st ). And if my books of horror and dark storytelling aren’t good enough for your Halloween reading, c...

What's the worst April Fool's trick you've had played on you? It probably wasn't as bad as any of the ones the many characters in my short fiction collection,  The Fool's Illusion , pull on their victims. But this one is no trick: from now through Tuesday April 1st (11:59 P.M. Pacific Time) you can have the print edition of  The Fool's Illusion  for $3 off the list price! This book has a little something for everybody: vampires; the living dead; magicians; deadly creatures from the deep; cyber, outer and liquid space adventures and nightmares; strange but fascinating characters. So don't fool yourself into thinking you have plenty of time to purchase this one at this great discount because you don't. April Fool's is only two days away, so get it now! Go to  https://www.createspace.com/4376356  and use the discount code DHYE2PQA to purchase your copy! Until next time . . .