Tatterdemon by Steve Vernon – HALLOWEEN HORROR!!!

WOW – Read this FANTASTIC review!

areadersreviewblog

Steve Vernon’s ‘Tatterdemon’ is a horror like no other! It is more than appropriate to read at this time of year during the harvest and Halloween season! Highly recommended for adults only due to its violent, gory and horrific theme, Tatterdemon is full of terrifying tales as well as being one complete horrifying nightmare based in the small town of Crossfall. The town’s people have all been cursed by Thessaly Cross, a witch, 300 years previous and now after a wife-beating husband is killed by his wife he returns from being buried in his field as a zombie scarecrow – the Tatterdemon! Many of the local folk begin to take their personal matters into their own hands and face the ones they feel ridiculed or belittled by. As each person is killed the Tatterdemon is able to have them buried and then begins to raise the dead for more mayhem…

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Quiet Horror, Still the Darling of the Horror Genre

For the most part I write loud wet gooshy horror – but a few of my works whisper and creep. My novel DEVIL TREE is an example of “quiet horror” – and it is one of the darkest yarns I have ever crafted – and yet, it is not for everyone.

Neither was the work of Charles Grant. His work was slow, quiet and intensely subtle. It coaxed and it hinted and it whispered terror. It kind of reached down and slow-tickled something deep down in a reader’s heart.

Not everyone got it. I talked to a lot of people who felt that Charles Grant’s writing was WAY too slow and subtle and boring.

I loved his work.

Here’s a great article on what makes quiet horror work.

Quiet Horror, Still the Darling of the Horror Genre.

And – if I can be just a little bit crass – and I will be – you know I can’t help it – you might want to try a bite out of DEVIL TREE. The e-book is currently available for a measly 99 cents for the month of October.

 

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

 

 

On becoming a self-published author from scratch — goals and checklists

Okay – so this guy is just getting started but it is a GREAT beginning.

We all need a reminder every now and then on how to stay on track.

On becoming a self-published author from scratch — goals and checklists.

Some Helpful KBoards Links for Authors

Kboards is a GREAT place for indie writers to hang out and learn.

My favorite Halloween novel…

The first horror novel I read – given to me by my sainted grandmother – was DRACULA, by Bram Stoker himself. Had a GREAT cover shot of Christopher Lee looking tall, dark and gruesome as usual.

HOWEVER, the book that turned the crank for me was indeed SALEM’S LOT.

(just had to stand on my tiptoes and reach up with a back scratcher to claw my old paperback copy down from the top office shelf where I keep my Stephen King novels – and now I’m going to have to read it again)

I came to Salem’s Lot by way of a very weird detour. I read a Marvel comic book – (think it might have been Marvel Two In One Annual – and it was – I just spent fifteen minutes on Google hunting up the reference) – that showed Benjamin Grimm – The Thing – reading a copy of Salem’s Lot.

Cool, I thought.

If the Thing can read Salem’s Lot I better too.

All right, so I was pretty young at the time.

Anyway – to make a LOOOOONG story short – it was while I was reading Salem’s Lot that I first decided that I wanted to write a horror novel. So in a very real way that one book changed my life.

And I was thinking of Salem’s Lot when I wrote Tatterdemon – which is still on sale for a measly 99 cents. I’m bumping the price back up at the end of October – so if you want it on your Kindle – go and grab it now!

yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

Print Is Not Dead

I have been working VERY hard to sell my e-books – but I am just as excited to see my traditionally-published books sell as well.

I’ll be at Coles Scotia Square on October 18th from 2pm to 4pm.

I’ll be at Chapters Dartmouth on October 19th from 12-4pm.

I’ll be at Coles Halifax Shopping Centre on October 25th from 5-8pm.

I’ll be at Chapters Halifax on October 26th from 12-4pm.

I’ve asked that all the stores have plenty of copies of my latest collection MARITIME MURDER, my children’s picture book MARITIME MONSTERS, and my kid’s novel SINKING DEEPER – now with a great new cover.

Let me tell you – PRINT IS NOT DEAD!

(thanks to the good folks at Buzzfeed for this one)

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I’m working day shift this morning so I won’t be able to follow the progress of my big promotion this morning – but my hockey/vampire novella SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME is marked down to 99 cents over at Amazon.com – and it will be listed in the Bargain Book section of Ereader News Today – an e-book service that reaches THOUSANDS of readers. So I am hoping to see a bounce in sales for that little e-book today.

Wish me luck!

Yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

Sudden Death Overtime – now on sale for 99 cents

“C’mon…hockey and vampires, how could I resist. You all know how much I love vampires and as much as I love vampires, I love hockey just as much. Combining the two in a horror story is just brilliant in my opinion, especially if it is done right. And
Steve Vernon gets it right. “Sudden Death Overtime” hit all the right notes with me. A wonderful cast of characters, great dialogue between the characters and an evil bus full of vicious vampires.

Reading “Sudden Death Overtime” brought back so many memories of my childhood and our backyard skating rink that our father would painstakingly work on for hours. We would spend hours out there in the winter playing hockey. Of course, we didn’t have a bus load of vampires to fend off…unfortunately.

The best part of the story is the group of “old guys” that still strap on the skates and maintain their backyard rink for the neighborhood children. Their love of hockey shines through in the way they communicate with each other and their willingness no matter how old they are getting to pass that love along to the next generation. Characters are the driving force for me in any story and Steve’s characters are wonderful, life like and quite funny also. They also accept what is happening to them and use their knowledge from horror movies to take on the vampires. The ending is nothing that I really expected and I thought it was perfectly fitting for the tale.” – FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND

Find out what Famous Monsters of Filmland is raving about.

On sale right now for 99 cents!

Order it on Amazon.com TODAY!

Does Bundling Work? – an e-book strategy

The other day I was asked if bundling works.

Now – for those folks who are wondering – I am NOT referring to that oddball nineteenth century practice of wrapping courting couples up in blankets and bags and allowing them to spend the night together just so long as no skin touched!

No – I am talking about e-book bundling – taking three or four of your e-books and releasing them as a bundle – under one discounted price.

Like this –

Yes, dear reader – bundles do work for you in that they improve your visibility and thus your marketability by ONE more product. Each book listing on Amazon, Kobo, Kindle and the like is ONE more chance for you to sell an e-book.

That’s ONE more fishing lure out there in the water.

We’ve figure that out already – so I won’t dwell on that particular benefit.

Let me tell you about another benefit.

Bundles give you a chance at offering a SALES PRICE!

That’s a powerful lure.

Just take a look at all of those folks out there in the shopping malls. They see the slightest hint of a sales price and they start reaching for their wallets.

“Oh my golly,” they’ll say. “I can buy ONE Steve Vernon novel for three dollars or FIVE of them for twelve dollars. That’s a bargain. I would be ten kinds of stupid not to grab that five book bundle. My neighbors would laugh at me. My children would disown me. The cat would pee on me. I must be quick and grab it RIGHT NOW!!!”

If that doesn’t appeal to you then you might want to also consider that a book bundle works in another way.

A well-priced book bundle tackles the whole “round-to-it” factor in a way like no other piece of e-book marketing.

Just think about all of those projects around the house that you have been putting off. The fridge that needs cleaning. The wall that needs painting. The cat pee stains that need to be de-funkified…

If that doesn’t work for you – why not think about all of those BOOKS that you have been meaning to purchase.

Your readers suffer from the same lack of focus. Maybe they bought one of your books. Maybe they bought TWO of your books. But a book bundle gives them a chance to buy ALL of your books – or a big freaking chunk of your book inventory. Think of it like a crack dealer. You give them a dose and they might get hooked and come back looking for more. A book bundle gives them THREE or FOUR or FIVE good solid doses and before you knowing it those poor hapless readers are just going to be jonesing for a brand new fresh batch of Mark Cooper books.

Before you know it Steve Vernon is going to have created an entire army of Steve Vernon addicts – faster than you can say Heisenberg.

Hope that helps.

Yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

PS: If you are interested in owning that bundled collection I’ve shown you just click the picture and it will take you RIGHT to the proper Amazon page.

BUT – if you would like to own yourself a FREE Steve Vernon e-book just hit this cover RIGHT NOW!

Or – if you are a Kobo owner hit this link for the same FREE e-book right NOW!

AND if you are interested in picking up a Kobo copy of my Gift Pack Bundle just hit this link for a chance to BUY this bundle RIGHT NOW!

AND – if you give me another minute I am going to try to sell you a genuine set of tin-can-cutting Ginsu Knives for three low, low, low payments of $19.95 each – plus GST and whatever other crazy tax you can think of!

Yours in storytelling,

Steve Vernon

Tesseracts 17 Interview: Rhea Rose

And here’s a third interview for the TESSERACTS 17 collection – this time with British Columbia author Rhea Rose. She wrote a nasty little story entitled “The Wall” which is painted with as much horror as it is science fiction.

Colleen Anderson

Another BC author, Rhea Rose’s story “The Wall” graces the pages of Tesseracts 17. It is a disturbing tale of love, obsession and loss.

CA: Rhea, your story “The Wall”  is a classic descent-into-madness story, or is it?

I think you can definitely describe this story as a classic descent-into-madness tale.  It’s also a horror story. When I wrote it I was playing with both those aspects of storytelling, madness and horror. I asked myself, “Is she crazy” or “Is this really happening?” I decided at some point that the “Wall” needed to be more concrete, more of a real creature rather than an imagining on the part of the main character. At that point, when I made the wall more of a creepy little character, was when the story turned from a one-dimensional descent- into- madness story to a more multidimensional  horror tale, as well.

CA: The disturbing…

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Trolling Lures – Now Only 99 cents!

I just marked my novella TROLLING LURES – A COYOTE TALE down to 99 cents over at the Amazon site.

So what is it about?

It started out as a simple drive down a country road.
Oh sure, Hillman was thinking about suicide.
Oh sure, the dead woman is in his back seat was goading him on.
What was the point?
Why bother living?
It turns out Coyote has something to say about that.
Coyote…and a Troll.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6081TW