Fresh meat in the Video Reviews department, and submission guidelines

I recently had the privilege of reviewing Coral Moore’s Broods of Fenrir. It’s a werewolf urban fantasy, and let’s just say I am now in love with werewolves.

Have a watch:

If you like my reviews, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I try to keep a fresh assortment of indie books that range in length from short stories to novels.I update about once or twice per week, depending on health, schedule and how long the books are. I try to cram a short story or a novella between novels to keep things fresh.

Additionally, I promised some submission guidelines for those among you who are up to the nerve-wracking awesomeness that is having me video-review a book. Well, look no longer. I’ve got a bit of a back list, but I’m still accepting submissions for the time being. Let me know in the comments, twitter or any of the other myriad ways there are of contacting me.

The Zombie Bedtime Stories blog tour marches on!

We’re about halfway through the month. There are plenty more interviews and guest blog posts coming up. I’m very excited about them all, of course. I have to be! Here’s the quick run-down of my latest guest blog adventures:

Last weekend, I outlined my Quest for a Crochet Zombie on SM. Robertson’s blog. She and I talk about crochet, rescuing birds, writing and all other good things on Twitter, so I was so happy when she offered to host me.

Today, a post called Zombies In Disguise came out on Mercurial Musings. It’s kind of funny, I expand on the “ha ha, mall patrons are zombies” logic. To make us all zombies.

This weekend, I have a packed itinerary. It’s going to be great.

 

Guest Post: Nobody Expects The Zombie Inquisition

I’d like to introduce you to a new writer friend I’ve made. His name is John, and he’s a lawyer, but he’s a nice lawyer! (Stop being prejudiced!) I’m presently in the middle of reading his legal thriller, Atticus for the Undead, and while it’s the first legal thriller I’ve ever read, it’s opened my eyes to the genre. It also has zombies in it, which helps. Stay tuned for my video review.

Now, I’ll turn you over to John. Hi hi to John, audience!

 

Hi. I’m John Abramowitz.

If you haven’t heard of me, I’m not surprised. I’m a relatively new indie author, and I’m
trying to build On The Bird Publishing from the ground up. Thea kindly offered me this space on
her blog to help spread the word about my brand. (Don’t worry, I promise not to track too much
mud on your carpets!)

When I sat down to write this, I struggled with the question of what I could say. I could
tell you that I’m a long, tall Texan (over six-and-a-half feet, in fact), that I’m a lawyer in the day
job, or that I use way too many parentheses (as you’re already discovering), but none of those
really tell you what I’m about as a writer.

So let me start by telling you what I’m not about — or rather, what I don’t want to do. I
don’t want to write great literature. I have absolutely no interest in that. Mark Twain once said
that “A classic is a book which people praise and don’t read.” He understood that, too
often, “classic” is a synonym for “boring”. And if there’s one thing I never want to be, it’s boring.

Sure, don’t get me wrong — there are issues I have strong feelings about. I have things to
say. But I think you should always make your social commentary in the context of telling a good
story. I would rather read an entertaining, emotionally engaging story that had nothing
whatsoever to say about the human condition than read a book chock full of social commentary
which had no blood going through it.

(Actually, “no blood going through it” may be the wrong phrase to use for a guy who
currently writes paranormal and urban fantasy thrillers, come to think of it. I guess you’ll have to
read Weaver and Atticus for the Undead and find out for yourself if there’s blood in them. I can’t
spoil — that would be mean!)

If you like books that are enjoyable first and meaningful second, then welcome to On The Bird.

Video book review: Book 2 of The Zombie Bible

I had the privilege of reading and reviewing the second book of The Zombie Bible, What Our Eyes Have Witnessed. The story takes place in ancient Rome, and focuses on the events leading up to the martyrdom of St-Polycarp.

Head on over to The Zombie Bible’s website, and tell Stant I say hi. Or, better yet, pick up this great read. Treat yourself. It’s a couple of months until the next Zombie Bedtime Story, after all.

The Zombie Bedtime Stories blog tour continues with a stop at Chaos and Insanity

The wonderful Coral Moore over at Chaos and Insanity was kind enough to interview me as part of the Zombie Bedtime Stories blog tour.

Head on over, see what I have to say about zombies, writing and more zombies.If zombies aren’t your thing, Coral has some excellent insights on werewolves and shape-shifters.

PS. Bedlam, part 4 of Zombie Bedtime Stories, is looking good.

The Zombie Bedtime Stories blog tour has begun! Today’s host: @onthebird

That’s right, I just did my first guest blog post!

I discussed the Anatomy of a Zombie Story at onthebird, the home of John Abramowitz, author of the zombie legal thriller Atticus for the Undead. Are you intrigued? I know I sure am!

Drop by, see what goes into my super-scientific zombie story formula before I patent it, and tell John that Thea sent you. 🙂

2012: Year of the Zombie

Welcome to 2012, my fellow time-traveling friends. Yes, we’re all traveling in the mundane direction of our collective proper time, but it’s still time travel in a sense.

2012 means all kinds of great things over at Zombie Bedtime Stories and Sanity Vacuum central. Late 2011 was a difficult period in my life, and I expect early 2012 to follow suit. For those not in the know, I fell ill with pneumonia in late October. This caused my to tear a ligament in my chest, a painful and surprisingly debilitating injury. I have been in a state of near-bedrest and very low mobility ever since. It did, however, propel me into the realm of writing full-time, as there was precious little else I could do, and I’m not the type to feel sorry for myself in bed. In November, through the haze of painkillers and pneumonia-induced confusion, I wrote Sanity Vacuum, my first novel.

In December, I released Deadlocked, and I experienced a pleasing (and startling) spike in sales. As I am still not strong enough to return to work (a 15 minute walk outside laid me up for two days earlier this week), I am going to focus my energies in early 2012 to the following:

1. I am going to do a lot more guest posts, and many more book reviews to increase my visibility.
2. I am going to write at least 500 words/day towards new Zombie Bedtime Stories, as part of #WIP500. Conceivably, I could complete the entire series rough drafts during this year, assuming average length as under 15k.
3. Complete my first draft edits of Sanity Vacuum. There’s a lot to do here (see: written on painkillers, kind of disjointed), and it’s vastly different from editing a Zombie Bedtime Story for reasons related to length and continuity. I absolutely love the story and concept of it, which is why I’m putting so much effort into saving it. Tough love style.

In essence, these goals closely mirror my plan for the rest of the year. Eventually, I won’t have a novel to edit and hopefully by that time I’ll be able to look at getting employment that’s more gainful than my Kindle sales. 500 words per day is easily attainable, I’ve had days where I can finely craft that much prose in 15 minutes.

I’m thinking of goals for Sanity Vacuum. I’m going by chapters/day for edits–I try to get 2/3 chapters per day inked up and inputted. After this draft, print-off editing is going away because of budget issues. Then, I see other people managing 15k/day in edits, and feel inadequate.

What do your editing goals look like?