Dirty Dozen Author Interview – De Kenyon – Bundle/Fantasy/Horror/Kids – Blood Moon Bundle

Tags

Blood Moon Bundle, fantasy books, Fantasy for kids, horror, kids books, werewolves

Welcome to De Kenyon

What first prompted you to publish your work? Jealousy.  An indie author started publishing his work, and rather than hate him forever 😛 I decided to follow suit.

How did you become involved in book bundles? Would you recommend it? I got invited.  It’s fun and I very much recommend it.

Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’? I vary.  Sometimes I pants, and sometimes I plot.  Sometimes I’ll even write up a full synopsis first (most writers hate them!).  But I rarely stick to whatever plan I came up with in the first place!

What is your favourite mythical creature? Why is this? The Fae.  I’m the kind of person who always wants to see behind the stage, under the basement, and the other side of the mirror.  The fae are always sneaking around, slipping through the cracks between worlds.  That speaks to me.

If you had to pick 5 books to take to a desert island which 5 would it be? How long am I going to be stuck on this desert island, anyway?

Assuming that a) they have to be paper books, and b) that I don’t want to use one of my choices as something like How to Survive on a Desert Island, today I’m going to say:

• The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox by Barry Hughart, because that’s my go-to book for terrible days.
• Journey to the West, the bawdy tale of a monk’s journey toward enlightenment, because it’s super long (2500 pages) and I’ve been meaning to read it.
• St. Augustine’s Confessions, because I hate that book and would gladly use it to start fires, for toilet paper, etc.
• Can I put the Internet in a paper book?  No? Okay, then the collected works of William Shakespeare (Riverside Edition).
• The collected Anne of Green Gables series, or, if I can’t get that (it’s not available in a single collected edition), H is for Hawk.  Both of them are nerdy comfort reading.
• And, finally, a blank book and a beeeeg box of pencils, which I will sharpen on rocks…

My favorite books are the Alice in Wonderland books by Lewis Carroll, but I think I could probably write them from memory!

If you could have dinner with any literary character who would you choose, and what would you eat? I don’t want to eat with a literary character.  I want to have dinner with Edgar Allan Poe and get the scoop on exactly how he died!  Okay, literary character…I’m going to pick Hannibal Lecter.  He doesn’t kill indiscriminately, after all, and he’s a gourmet.  A lot of my favorite characters would be real pills at the dinner table, they’re such picky eaters.  What would we eat? Whatever M. Lecter wanted…

Sort these into order of importance:

Good plot

Great characters

Awesome world-building

Technically perfect

 

How much research do you do for your work? What’s the wildest subject you’ve looked at? I try to do a lot of background research for historical pieces, and fairly similar amount for sci-fi elements.  I grew up reading a lot of folktales and mythology, so most of the time when I draw from those elements, I just need a refresher.  My big thing lately is about researching real-life homicide detective procedures for some of my adult mystery stories (under another pen name).  WOW.  I don’t really even want to say some of the things I’ve researched for that.  It gets gruesome.

Tell us about your latest piece? “Beware of the Easter Moon” is a short middle-grade creepy adventure story about a boy who discovers that his family isn’t exactly normal.  It was inspired by me suddenly realizing, completely out of the blue, that Easter always falls on or just after a full moon.  The reason the Easter celebration moves around so much is that it’s the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the spring equinox.

So…obviously there needed to be werewolves.

What’s your next writing adventure? My next adventure as De Kenyon is going to be London in the 1880s, infested by cats, rats, and tentacled things coming out of the sewers!

With the influx of indie authors do you think this is the future of storytelling? How about a future of storytelling?  It’s not like indie authors are the future of storytelling if they’re happening now.

The interesting question is, to me: what happens after this?  If indies bring a major challenge to the big publishers, and they do, how do the big publishers respond?  Do they shrink?  Do their corporate over-bosses force them to shift course?

And what about collective groups of indies, or indies organized under other indies?  I ghostwrite for some indie authors (who shall remain unnamed) who seem to be making the shift from indie authors to indie publishers.

Will the big publishers start trying to buy out those indie publishers?  I mean, I would.

Are indie/self-published authors viewed with scepticism or wariness by readers? Why is this? We are, but less than we used to be.  I think it helps that readers are noticing that big publishers aren’t doing the level of editing that they used to do, and have stopped assuming that traditionally published books are perfect.

I think it also helps that it’s easier and easier for readers to pick indie books with a reputation for quality behind them, by both recommendations and algorithms, so they tend to end up with the better books now, instead of a deluge.

Is there a message in your books? If I have a message, it’s “Beware of bullies! They aren’t always obvious.”

Blood Moon Bundle.

When the sun has set, when the moon is full, the shapeshifters gather—wolves, cats and totemic creatures, nightmares and revelations.

Seeking answers, seeking revenge, seeking a cure to affliction, seeking blood, seeking answers or seeking love—a gathering of beasts abounds. Dare you walk beneath the moonlight?

https://books2read.com/BloodMoonBundle

https://bundlerabbit.com/products/detail/beware-easter-moon

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Eclectica – Short Story Bundle – On Preorder Now

Tags

book bundles, Bundles, Eclectica Bundle, Short Stories

Eclectica A Short Story Bundle

On Preorder – available from 13th April 2019.

From fantasy to space adventure, pirates, mystery, horror, historical fiction, romance and coming of age you’ll find short, snappy reads herein. There is something for everyone in this lucky dip.

19 short stories and collections from multiple authors.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NWQ4YTP/?tag=kydala-20

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NWQ4YTP/?tag=kydala-20

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/eclectica-1

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1458246383

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1131078746

https://bundlerabbit.com/b/eclectica

Blown – Diana Deverell

Socks and Pins and Aliens – Thea Hutcheson

Tales of Blood and Ink – Kate MacLeod

Tales of Tomorrow – Debbie Mumford

Shaken, Not Stirred: A Dawna Shepherd Short Story – Diana Deverell

City Shadows – Chuck Heintzelman

Outside the Walls – A.L. Butcher and Diana L. Wicker

Tales of an Altered Past Powered by Romance, Horror, and Steam – Donald J. Bingle

Dear Brother – Felicia Fredlund

The Cache and Other Stories – Sherry D Ramsey

Sword Oath – Jackie Keswick

The Hooded Man – Barbara G. Tarn

S F & H – Harvey Stanbrough

Resonant Bronze – J.M. Ney-Grimm

Hitomi’s Path – M.L. Buchman

Children – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Jhyoti Planetside – Marcelle Dube

Petra and the Blue Goo – Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Tears and Crimson Velvet – A. L. Butcher

NN Light’s October Giveaway

Ooops late again…. but here we go.

October is here and it’s one of my favorite times of the year. The weather turns chilly, the leaves change color and I get an excuse to binge-eat Halloween candy/chocolate. As the wind shakes my windows, I love to curl up with a good book. N. N. Light feels the same way and they’re hosting a spooktacular giveaway. Sorry, couldn’t resist the Halloween pun. No tricks, just treats for booklovers! Everything from romance to paranormal to fiction is being given away. You can even enter to win one of mine. Go on, indulge your inner kid and enter this giveaway.

Trick or Treat Binge-Read Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db775020/

Literary Giveaway Portal:  https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/literary-giveaway-portal

Here are some of the prizes

signed print copy of Hacking IT by Kimberley Dean

e-copy of Spirited Attraction by Ashantay Peters

e-copy of Heart Healer by Leslie Bowes

e-copy of A Kiss and a Promise by Tricia Schneider

e-copy of Three Lessons in Seduction by Sofie Darling

print copy of Horu’s Chosen (An Alternate Egypt) by Janet Lane Walters (US/Canada only)

print or e-copy (winner’s choice) of Emmie of Indianapolis by Kay Castaneda

e-copy of Pearlman by David Russell

e-copy of Too Good to be True by Livia Quinn

e-copy of Oath of a Warrior by Mary Morgan (US/Canada only)

e-copy of The Secret of Hillcrest House by Melanie Robertson-King

e-copy of Debriefing the Dead (Book 1 of The Dead Series) by Kerry Blaisdell

e-copy of Tied Up With Strings by Madeline McEwan

e-copy of Arresting Mason by Amber Daulton

e-copy of The Queen of Paradise Valley by Cat Dubie

print or e-copy of one of C. C. Bolick (winner’s choice)

e-copy of The Mystery of Flight 2222 by Thomas Neviaser

e-copy of Once Broken by D. M. Hamblin

e-copy of Lovers by Midnight (Monster Ball) by Ashantay Peters

e-copy of A Debt to the Devil by D. M. Hamblin

e-copy of Other Dark Tales by A. L. Butcher (Smashwords voucher)

e-copy of The Colony and The Last City by RM Gilmour

5 e-copy of The Adventures of Harry Morgan, Volume 1 by Clabe Polk

A Fifth of Boo! Halloween/Horror Charity Anthology

Tags

Authors raising money, Boo!, Cancer Research, Charity Anthologies, Halloween, horror

A Fifth of Boo!

Volume 5 of the Boo! series

Authors raising money for good causes.

A spooktacular collection of horror, fantasy, and Halloween-themed short fiction.

Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2Nsdrp2

Amazon.com https://amzn.to/2BZmsnu

All proceeds for the sale of this book will be donated to Cancer Research UK

Featuring:
Dinner and a Show – Derek Moreland
Such an Adventure – Ann Cathey
The Voice – JD Mader
The Jaws of Ammon-Thet – John Petelle
Waiting – Oz Wainerdi
Untitled – Kristina Jackson
The Atherton Vampire – Lynne Cantwell
Happy Samhain – LB Clark
Punch Drunk – Laurie Boris
Betrayal – Erin McGowan
The Secret of Blossom Rise – A.L. Butcher
The Day of the Dead – Laurie Boris
Life Lessons – Ann Cathey
Flowers for Hannah – LB Clark
You Wish – Laurie Boris
Dinner – Jen Daniele
The Curse of the Single Bed – Mark Morris
Rose’s Screams – Erin McGowan

Dedicated to all those touched by cancer.

Dirty Dozen Author Interview – Linda Jordan – Here Be Ghosts Bundle

Tags

Author Interview, Dirty Dozen, Gjosts, Here Be Ghosts

 

Author name: Linda Jordan

~What first prompted you to publish your work? Alfred Lets Loose is one of those magical stories that came to me just as I was waking up one morning. I could hear the voice of the main character and had the story unravel itself before I even made it to a standing position. I can’t remember how long it took me to write, but it’s rare that a story comes to me all spooling out like that. It’s a wonderful experience.

~Are you a ‘pantser’ or a ‘plotter’? I started out as a plotter, but have turned into a pantser. I read Dean Wesley Smith’s book Writing Into the Dark and I was convinced that was the way to go for me. We have very similar problems with being easily bored. After I outlined a book, I no longer wanted to write it.

Making the change was frightening at first. I was afraid that no story would come. But it always has. Every single time. And I’m enjoyed being surprised by the story that does come. I figure if I’m surprised, the reader will be as well.

~What piece of advice do you wish you’d had when you started your publishing journey? I wish I’d known to look at everything I was writing as practice. It would have taken some of the pressure off. Everything I write is always practice for something else. Also, I wish I’d known to trust myself.

~What are your views on authors offering free books? Do you believe, as some do, that it demeans an author and his or her work? I offer free books on a regular basis (usually the first in a series) as a means of giving people a taste of my work and as a gift for signing up for my mailing list. I don’t think free books are demeaning.

Libraries? They’re this awesome place that lend free books. All right, paid for by our taxes, free books.

I think free books are good marketing, if done right.

~What are your views on authors commenting on reviews? Don’t do it. What people think of your work is their own business, not yours.

As a writer, you shouldn’t be reading reviews of your past work. You’re done with that. Over. Finished. You should have moved on and be writing the next book. You did the best you could at the time. Every book will get better. If you spend all your time neurosing about the skill level in your previous books, there will be no new work. You won’t improve.

~How influential is storytelling to our culture? Storytelling is so embedded in our culture we don’t even realize we’ll listen to any sales spiel if there’s a story involved. It’s the heartbeat of our culture. We crave stories and we’re drawn into stories on a daily basis. We want the story of our kid’s day at school. We want to listen to the stories of the world when we turn on the news. Songs are stories with a rhythm. We sit around the screen at night, watching stories.

~What’s the best advice you’ve received about writing/publishing? Write the next book, publish it. Then write the next one. And repeat.

~What is your writing space like? My writing space is in the kitchen (the center of the universe). I have a desk that closes with a drawer where my laptop lives. The closing desk is essential—because cats. My desk is covered with rocks, lists, post-its, fairy lights, pens and other cool stuff. And a couple of light boxes because I live in the Pacific Northwest where it’s dark and rainy for five months of the year. Next to this desk is a standing desk, which is home to too many piles of things. But I still use it, moving the laptop back and forth between the two. That’s my fall, winter and spring office. They summer office is outside at a table under an umbrella to keep the glare down. I’ve got three different tables out in various parts of the garden, each with an extension cord to plug in. Where I sit depends on the warmth of the day and whether I need more shade or sun at that time of the day. I love writing outside, but alas, it’s only for a short few months of the year.

~What’s your next writing adventure? I’m currently writing the second novel of a five book series. It’s a post-apocalyptic story with magic. I’m having so much fun with these characters and this world. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

~What is the last book you’ve read? Space Tripping with the Shredded Orphans by Sonya Rhen. A fun YA science fiction book about a rock band touring the universe and all their mishaps. Finished it last night. Guess I’ll need to pick up the other two books in the series. Science fiction humor is a hard thing to balance and she does a great job.

~Is this the age of the e-book? Are bricks and mortar bookshops in decline? I think we’re in the middle of a transition. I think the story is the important part and that the form it takes will continue to morph and expand, along with technology. I think ebooks are a huge thing, but not the end. I also think there will always be paper books. People still love them, including kids and teens. Bookshops are in decline at this point. They may rally and shift form, but I think the age of the super bookstore is over. They take up too much expensive real estate and don’t earn enough money to sustain the business. I also think new ways of storytelling will come into being with new technologies.

~With the influx of indie authors do you think this is the future of storytelling? I can’t see that trad pub will be able to continue business the way they have in the past. They’re owned by such large corporations who are pinching every penny paid out to writers and not supporting books that aren’t bestsellers. I think being an Indie is a much more vibrant path and the potential for growth is awesome. Provided the vendors continue to send money our way. It seems to be working for musicians and for movies. I hope it continues to work for writers. I can’t say it’s the future, because the future is always changing.

~How important is writing to you?

Vastly important. I spent decades procrastinating and the days I didn’t write I felt terribly guilty. Now when I don’t write because life has gotten too busy, I feel uneasy. The whole day feels wrong. As a result, I write most every day. And most days it’s the most rewarding thing I’m doing. Telling this story, one chapter at a time. Writing is my life.

Links

htpps://www.lindajordan.net/

www.facebook.com/LindaJordanWriter

 

Bio

Linda Jordan writes fascinating characters, visionary worlds, and imaginative fiction. She creates both long and short fiction, serious and silly. She believes in the power of healing and transformation, and many of her stories follow those themes.

In a previous lifetime, Linda coordinated the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop as well as the Reading Series. She spent four years as Chair of the Board of Directors during Clarion West’s formative period. She’s also worked as a travel agent, a baker, and a pond plant/fish salesperson, you know, the sort of things one does as a writer.

Currently, she’s the Programming Director for the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest.

Linda now lives in the rainy wilds of Washington state with her husband, daughter, four cats, a cluster of Koi and an infinite number of slugs and snails.

Dirty Dozen Character Interview – Steve Barras – Ghosts/Here Be Ghosts/

Tags

Character Interviews, Dirty Dozen Interviews, ghosts, Here Be Ghosts

Welcome to Steve Barras

• Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m dead. I occupy living human bodies.

• Tell us why you’re embarking on this adventure?

I didn’t choose it. It was thrust upon me. But I don’t want anyone else to go through this, either.

• Do you have a moral code? If so what might it be?

…I did, once. I helped people. I was good at it. But then I died, and now I have to kill to survive.

• Would you kill for those you love?

…I killed those I loved. I stopped myself and only kill strangers now.

• Would you die for those you love?

There’s no point. I’m already dead.

• Who is your greatest enemy?

I am my own worst enemy. But I will stop the Other in any way I can.

• What is your greatest weakness (we won’t tell)?

I can’t just die for real. Instinct forces me out to hunt when by all rights I should die with the body.

• How would you describe yourself?

Look in the mirror. You won’t see me there, because I’m already wearing your body.

• How do you think others see you?

They don’t because they would only see someone they already know.

• Do you believe you will be successful in your quest?

I have to be. The Other is killing for the thrill of it. I have to stop him, show him he doesn’t have to live this way. He doesn’t have to burn this fast and I can show him how to live a little longer.

• What is your greatest fear?

That I will spend eternity burning out bodies until there are no more left.

• What do you think of your author/creator?

Another body to occupy until it burns out. *shrug* Not my preferred choice in bodies, but if needs must, then I will take it.

 

For the author

Books in which this character appears:

A Burning Rainbow Man, a short story

Available from Smashwords

Links, short author bio…

You can find my work here:

Ann Stratton – author bio

https://draft2digital.com/book/

and of course, here on Bundle Rabbit.

Ann Stratton started writing at thirteen, with the typical results. She’s gotten a little better since then, she hopes, having taken a much more serious approach in later years. She lives in Southeastern Arizona, trying to juggle too many interests at once.

 

 

 

The Watcher – Spotlight – now in Audio

Tags

audio, audiobook, Book spotlights, historical fiction, horror, Jack the Ripper, Short Stories

The year is 1888, and the place is Whitechapel, in the very heart of London. But the heart is bleeding. A mysterious killer is stalking women of the streets – his true name is unknown but his legend will go down in history. This is a short tale of Jack the Ripper.

18 rating for scenes of violence.

https://www.books2read.com/TheWatcherJTR

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/2xdkprc

Amazon.com http://amzn.to/2v6EUsb

Smashwords  http://bit.ly/2xtps6k

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/2v6xDZs

Kobo http://bit.ly/2v6zoG6

I-books

Bundle Rabbit https://bundlerabbit.com/products/detail/the-watcher

Audio – narrated by Matt Jenkins

Amazon UK audio

https://amzn.to/2xxI86q

Amazon Audio

https://amzn.to/2DpJSoG

Audible.Com

Audible.co.uk

 

Echoes of a Song – Spotlight

Tags

Audio books, book spotlight, Echoes of a Song, Indie Authors, Legacy of the Mask Tales, My books, Phantom of the Opera, Short Stories

Echoes of a Song – A Legacy of the Mask Tale is now available as an audio edition – to celebrate here’s a spotlight!

Synopsis

A dozen tumultuous years after the dramatic events at the Paris Opera House Raoul, Comte de Chagny is still haunted by the mysterious Opera Ghost – the creature of legend who held staff at the Opera House under his thrall, kidnapped Raoul’s lover and murdered his brother. In Raoul’s troubled imagination the ghosts of the past are everywhere, and a strange and powerful music still calls in his dreams.

Madness, obsession and the legacy of the past weave their spell in this short, tragic tale based on the Phantom of the Opera.

Echoes of a Song Legacy of the Mask Tales

Echoes of a Song Audio

Excerpt 1

(c) A. L. Butcher

The Angel of Death stalked the De Chagny’s so the whispers said. Maybe it was true. For once the Angel of Death had been a man. A masked man of magic, of music and of murder. The Angel had many names, and many guises; Raoul had once laughed scornfully at Christine’s infatuation with the Angel of Music. But now he understood the terrible bewitchment, for it was his now to bear. This man, this ‘Phantom’, who at once was angel, ghost, maestro, architect, and magician had held them all in his not insubstantial power. Erik – so he called himself – had almost brought the mighty Paris opera house to its knees. Erik’s opera house, so Christine had told him. And in those desperate nights, at least, it had been true.

Raoul pulled out the hidden drawer beneath one of the shelves and read the newspaper – now yellow and faded – as he had every night for three years like a consuming obsession. First the accounts of the ‘accidents’ at the opera: the terrible night the chandelier had fallen killing an employee, the apparent suicide of a stage hand and the murder of one of the foremost tenors. Wild stories abounded about an ‘Opera Ghost’ who’d managed to fool the managers into parting with a fortune, terrified the corps de ballet and whose face was so terrible to behold that any who saw it would die, but who sang with an angel’s voice. The truth was not something that bothered the Paris Tribune too much, but the truth could be strange beyond reason. And the Surete could hardly believe the wild stories of masked men and angry ghosts. They’d searched and asked questions, and considered a cuckolded husband or an angry father, but no perpetrator had been found. The case dwindled into obscurity. Months and years went by and other cases took prominence and now few remembered one death in a city where murder was common and adultery more so. Peering at the faded print in the bad light Raoul found the part he sought in the letters of the city’s more reputable rag.

“Erik is dead,” Raoul said it aloud. Three words. Three words which had haunted him these twelve years.

Echoes of a Song – Universal Link

Amazon .com http://amzn.to/2E7Cdu0

Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/2BJwAgk

Print

https://amzn.to/2N0JIbI

https://amzn.to/2Nxki4I

Amazon Audio https://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Song-Legacy-Mask-Book/dp/B07HCKG3WK/

Amazon UK audio https://www.amazon.co.uk/Echoes-Song-Legacy-Mask-Book/dp/B07HCM1624/

Audible UK https://adbl.co/2xlH8Tz

Audible.com https://adbl.co/2MRTQP7

Audiobook Narrator Interview – Matt Jenkins

Tags

audio book narrator interviews, audiobook, interviews, narrator

*Name: Matt Jenkins

*Tell us a bit about yourself: Born and raised in a church (literally, in a church – the graveyard was my playground…) I have been reading in public since I was able to see over the lectern. Then I got dragged down the dark path of technology and computers consumed my soul. At least for a while. Then, thankfully, I escaped. Now I’m a Buddhist (much to the chagrin of my Christian folks) and a freelance electronic designer. One side-effect of all the technology is an understanding of audio production, and I am the chief audio engineer for the local Talking Newspaper for the Blind. I also sing in a number of local choirs.

How did you become involved with audiobook narration and production? One of our reading team at the Talking Newspaper mentioned ACX to me one day, so I thought I’d look it up and see what it was. Sometimes when reading a book I’d secretly visualise myself producing it as an audiobook, and ACX has opened that door to me.

Is this your day job? Nope.  As I mentioned above I am a freelance electronic designer. I spend my days sat in front of my computer drawing lines on the screen. Industrial control and monitoring systems are my thing.

Tell us about some of the titles you’ve narrated. Do you have a favourite amongst these? This is a tough one to answer: I have only produced two books so far – The Watcher: A Jack The Ripper Story, and Beyond The Vale, by Kerry Alan Denney.  I’m not sure which is my favourite, as they are like chalk and cheese.  Both have been enjoyable to produce, and good stories that I enjoyed reading.  I hope for many more to come.

Do you have a preferred genre?  Do you have a genre you do not produce? Why is this? Not really a preferred genre. I do, though, think it’s important to enjoy the stories you read. If you’re not enjoying the story it comes across in your reading. You have to enjoy the story to take a proper interest in it and bring the story to life. There’s no genres that I won’t touch, but if the book doesn’t appeal to me I won’t bother with it. Mostly I gravitate towards fantasy and science fiction, but I’m not fixated solely on it.

What are you working on at present/Just finished? Just finished The Watcher. Nothing lined up at the moment, but I do have a few auditions out there – one I’d really like to get selected for is Among The Dead – a Zombie book.

*Tell us about your process for narrating?  (Be as elaborate as you like.) My first book was produced all manually. Lots of reading and re-reading, then cutting up, splicing together, etc afterwards. The editing took longer than the reading. That was the worst part of reading, actually – the editing. So, being a technofreak, I decided to do something about it and wrote my own software to do it all for me. Now the editing is done while I’m reading by the program itself at the press of a key and afterwards is just a brief cleanup to make it sound as good as possible. The editing for The Watcher (it’s only a short story) took about 30 minutes, and 25 of that was just listening through.

What aspects do you find most enjoyable?  Getting to read books I’d otherwise never think to read – and (hopefully) getting paid for it 🙂

What do you find least enjoyable? The post-reading editing. Hence the spiel above….

Have you ever found an author you couldn’t continue to work with? How was this resolved? Not yet. But that’s only after 2 books…

Do you consider royalty share when looking for books to narrate? If not why is this? Yep, I do. Being a freelance designer my income tends to come in lumps, with vast expanses of poverty in between.  With royalty share, I’m hoping to get a little bit of regular income to help smooth over those dearths.

Do you listen to audiobooks? Indeed I do. They’re great to keep the right side of my brain occupied while I’m working with the left.

*With many people owning MP3 players do you think this is the future of storytelling? I don’t know if it’s the future, but it certainly has a prominent place in the future.

Why do you think audiobooks are becoming so popular? They’re great for when you’re commuting, jogging, working, whatever it is you do. You can listen and do other things (which is important in this fast-paced, need it yesterday, world).

Can you remember the first audiobook you owned? Probably a Terry Pratchett (read by my hero Tony Robinson). Sourcery + The Colour Of Magic I think it probably was. On cassette.

If you are an author, do you produce your own audiobooks or do you prefer to look for an independent narrator? Why have you made this choice? I’m not an author (yet).

Has ACX/Audible fulfilled your expectations? (such as earnings, ease of use, workload etc.?) I’ll let you know next year 🙂

Have you ever had a negative experience producing a book? Not as yet.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve had? Pause. Just that. Pause. The silence is as important as the words.

What is the worst piece of advice you’ve had? Is there such a thing as bad advice? If you learn from the experience it’s still positive, yes?

If you could narrate any book you wanted which would it be and why? Well, there’s The Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan). That’d keep me in work for the rest of my life. I am (of course) a Terry Pratchett fan, but there’s no way I’d be able to match up to Tony Robinson’s readings. I quite like Tom Holt’s works – they combine fantasy with the kind of warped humour that appeals to my twisted psyche. Plus doughnuts.

Please tell us a silly fact about yourself. I spent 3 months living in Sweden when I was 4. When I came home, and started school, the teacher asked: “Who can count to 10?”. I put my hand up, stood up, and counted to ten, perfectly. In Swedish. Ett, två, tre, fyr…

Where can we learn more about you? I keep my personal life off the internet. But you can check out my company site if you like: https://majenko.co.uk

Social Media links: Social media is a mug’s game. You won’t find me on there. Twatter, Basefook, etc – not for me. I value my sanity, and I don’t need the rest of the world to tell me I’m fat: I already know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hell Week 2018 – Orpheus/Janet and Chris Morris #HeroesinHell

Tags

Ancient History, Ancient World, Fantasy, hell, Hell Week 2018, Heroes in Hell, Janet Morris, Perseid Press

Welcome to Orpheus

Who are/were you?

I was the Thracian Argonaut, magician, musician, and prophet. Still am, though here I do hell’s bidding, such as sitting in this dank cell with you as my interrogator.

Who is your ‘lover’ in Hell? Eurydice, the oak nymph, my wife; most beautiful and desired of women, lo these many years lost to me – twice sought and once returned to me from Tartaros

Love in hell, isn’t that a contradiction? How does this work? Love is the province of the soul; death cannot faze it nor passion still its rhyme.

Many of the denizens of His Satanic Majesty’s realm have a curse – what is yours? You jest. Do you not see the puddle by my feet, the wet where I sit on your prison bench? Do you cannot hear the dripping from my flesh? All of us who served on Jason’s Argo drown again and again in salty water, and between drownings our skin drips brine continually.

Who are your friends/allies here? Friends in hell? That’s the contradiction. My friends met in hell are my friends met in life; those met in hell who serve my ends let me serve theirs: such men and women, witches and goddesses, and empowered souls like Shakespeare and Marlowe serve the gods of hell from their day and set us tasks that lead us to more curses and misery: in hell, suffering is the only true coinage, and even that be scarce.

Describe your home/environment in Hell.

Home? Environment? I am a musician, part of the pit orchestra in New Hell, a place where all the worst from every day and age gather together and prey upon one another, eon after eon. Sometimes we serve as sea-going mercenaries in Jason’s crew, but with Medea on our track, these days bring only danger, loss, and separation for an infernity that makes lovers weep and the devil grin.

Eternity – that’s a damned long time. How do you spend the endless years here? No, not ‘eternity.’ Infernity – thanks for that to John Milton, who like the Bard of Avon and his lover Marlowe create words to suit their trials and tribulations, words that jump from their lips and torture damned souls the more.

Hell covers all eras and technologies, there are many hells within Hell. How have you adjusted to this strange world? Adjusted to digital damnation? To weapons that don’t work well but take their feet and serve like soldiers; to politicians spouting lies from their umbilicals? From avengers, who stalk one another throughout hells ages and devise punishments more foul the deeper in hell you go. Feel that cold, seeping from the brine that drips from me? The closer to hell’s belly you get, the more you suffer its cold – loveless, lonely, and afraid.

Why do YOU think you’re in Hell? I know what I did, writing my Orphic missives: I called upon hell and it answered, sending a viper to kill my Eurydice and sending me on fruitless quests to find her deep in Tartaros.

What are your greatest fears here? That, once I find her, I should lose her again – only so many times can a mortal beseech Hades and Persephone for manumission. Eurydice is the breath of salvation to me; without her, afterlife is an empty threat.

Author Spotlight

*Name and bio:

Best selling author Janet Morris began writing in 1976 and has since published more than 30 novels, many co-authored with her husband Chris Morris or others. Christopher Crosby Morris is an American author of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a lyricist, musical composer, and singer-songwriter. He is married to author Janet Morris.

Tell us about your story for this edition. For Lovers in Hell, Janet and Chris Morris wrote a novella in three parts which follow lovers as they lose and find one another among hell’s multifarious domains.

What inspired you to use the character(s) you’ve chosen? The characters for lovers include those who have served in other volumes of this series, such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sappho, Samael, Orpheus, and some never before met, such as Eurydice,

Writing for a shared world is challenging, how do you meet that challenge? We do a new Hell volume every year or so, or whenever we have enough stories that meet our criteria. In the time between volumes, we discuss with our group of writers story names, themes, and execution. Writing for hell is not easy. At this moment, we have two more volumes plans, so we may never escape hell ourselves . . .

Tell us why you chose this story to tell out of so many possible options? We’ve wanted to do Lovers in hell for years, but we didn’t have the right group of writers for it. This year, all the requirements came together and we called for stories for Lovers in hell. Next will be Mystics in Hell, which suits our current list of characters and invites new ones.

What are you currently working on? An anthology and a new novel by Janet and Chris Morris, as well as some new music.

Name the last two books you’ve read – tell us about them. Aristotle: On Breath, one of the most accessible works of Aristotle in the Loeb edition.

Ghost Stories of Henry James – in which something actually happens during each story, most often in the last two paragraphs. We learn more from James every time we read him, as we do with Waugh.

What are your views on authors offering free books? We disapprove of this generally, and only once in a great while offer books for free, if we’re introducing a new author or reissuing a series.

What are your views on authors commenting on reviews? Don’t comment on reviews if you can possibly avoid it.

Which books/movies/plays have influenced your life? The Black Stallion. Justin Morgan Had A Horse, The Iliad. Hamlet. Henry V. Brideshead Revisited. Lion in Winter. Atlas Shrugged.

In these days of movies and video games are books really influential? I hope so. The books we write aren’t for beginning readers, in any case, and if the casual reader or the various Hater sects are attracted to digital games and other diversions which provide no deeper value or commentary on the human condition, then that’s fine with me: it keeps them off the streets.

What do you think are the top three inventions/discoveries in human history and why? Fire, which allowed the earliest development of humanity. The Wheel, which allowed humans the key to engineering. Early writing (such as pre-cuneiform and hieroglyphs), which created the tools for written history. The Rosetta stone, which showed people the possibilities of comparative linguistics.