Fred, the envelope please...
Mary Rajotte is the winner of my 50/50 split of In the Memory House profits for November, thus continuing a fine tradition of Canadians winning my contests. Congrats, Mary. I'll be in touch to share the bounty.
Which might (or might not, who knows?) have been a bigger bounty had I started with this:
Instead of In the Memory House. Sometimes I need a little more market research. I tend to be too much of a gut guy. You see,
In the Memory House is also the title of Howard Mansfield's book of essays about New England culture and history.
Yeah. Not my book at all. Mine features a living house which tries to make friends by killing people. Think of it as a house with Asperger's on steroids.
So maybe
Echoes of the Dead has a little more zip. The word "Dead" lands hard, at least. It does deliver the message directly, and I've found that is a key piece of marketing any book. And yes, the paperback is still coming.
And then I've nixed
Smoke and replaced it with
Vengeful Spirits. Again, I think the new title lands harder and sends a little more of a direct message about the book's content. I've also tweaked the cover with new font and image:
This poor puppy has been through a number of changes, originally starting as
Borrowed Saints. Like I said, I'm a gut guy. My heart and mind need to arm wrestle before the next book skitters into the wild.
Congrats again, Mary. And good luck, my dear books. I will try to do you better in the future.
I've nuked a good portion of my blog today, including all of the pretty little pictures of my books on the sidebar.
Don't worry, they're still
here, just not plastered to my virtual front door. (Not that you were worried, anyway.) I'm feeling somewhat scattered. Maybe it's my new fake name. (Heh.)
Maybe it's because I woke at 2:30 AM last night, evidently in training for the pending addition to the family.
Don't forget the free story offer if you grab a copy of
In the Memory House by Wednesday. I'm also splitting
Memory House profits with one lucky soul. Let's get reading.
Ken Wood, editor (and writer) extraordinaire, notified me "Wanting It" from
Shock Totem #3 has been recommended for a Stoker. This doesn't mean I'll be adding "Stoker Recommended Author" on any book covers or anything because that would be silly. But it's nice to know somebody likes your work. If you haven't read "Wanting It" or anything from
Shock Totem,
leave this blog immediately and grab a copy.
I promised a contest, and a contest you shall have. This one relates to my recent release of
In the Memory House.
An author can always use a bit of help spreading the word about his/her work, so that's what I'm asking of you, dear readers.
Mention the book in a blog, tweet about it, tuck it into a newsletter, Facebook it (is that a verb now?)... whatever. Just help spread the word.
If you tweet, mention my handle (@aaronpolson). I'll probably stumble across other references on the web, but you can either email me (aaron.polson(at)gmail.com) or drop a line in the comments to make sure I have your entries. And you can enter multiple times.
The contest runs through the end of the month.
What do you win? Half of my proceeds from
In the Memory House through November 30th. Incentive? Yes.
The links:
In the Memory House at Amazon.comIn the Memory House at Amazon.co.ukIn the Memory House at SmashwordsThank you, and happy hunting.
In the Memory House is now available at Amazon.com, Amazon UK, and Smashwords with other formats (including print) to follow...
Of course you can sample the goods at yesterday's post.
Anyway (and of more importance), Owen's soccer team won their tournament this weekend. The final standings came down to goal differential, which they edged the second place team by one. Yikes. He played his eight-year-old heart out, and I couldn't be more proud.
Better than a book release any day.
But book releases are great, too--really. ;)
And "contests" are even better. I have one to announce tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
In the Memory House, a new supernatural thriller, is now available at
Amazon.com,
Amazon UK, and
Smashwords with other formats (including print) to follow...
From In the Memory House:
They never planned to enter the house.
They never knew the house existed. If not for the snowstorm, they would have never found the house—or, moreaccurately, the house would have never found them. As it was, five friends stood on the concreteslab porch while wind whipped snow in small eddies around them Johnny, tall andangular in a light jacket, rapped his knuckles on the door. The two girls—Kelsey with her dark, ropeycurls tucked under an ivory stocking cap and Sarah, blonde and pale and pretty andwearing pink—huddled together against the siding. Ben, soft and thick with a lingering layer ofchildhood fat, leaned against the railing, staring across the white field.
“Nobody’s home,” Jared said. Hewasn’t wearing a proper coat. As theyscrambled from the ditch, Kelsey had looked at his grey sweatshirt and jeansand had said he would freeze. Jared, hisbrown eyes dark enough to challenge a moonless night, had smiled and said,“I’ll be fine.” On the porch, he didn’teven shiver. “Doesn’t look like we’re getting in. We should head down the road,see if we can find someplace, any place to ride out the storm. Nobody has any cell service, so we can’t callsnow-plows-r-us.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “We’d befine if dipshit hadn’t landed us in the ditch.”
Johnny wheeled from the door. His blue eyes sparked. His fists clenchedand unclenched. “Dipshit? I didn’t seeyou volunteer to drive. Damn SUV needsnew tires. They’re as bald as Sarah’s dad.”
“Hey,” Sarah said.
Kelsey squeezed her arm. “He’s right. Your dad is pretty shiny upstairs. But I’m freezing. Right. Now. Can we just break in or something? I’m sure Farmer Bob or whoever owns this placewould rather have a broken window than five humansicles in his field.”
“Farmer Bob?” Jared poked his head out from under the porch roof. “Damnplace is brick. Three stories. How do you figure a farmer lives her
Five years ago, one of them never left the house. Now they've returned, and Hollywood cameras will catch every moment...
And by "canned" I mean the first draft of In the Memory House is DONE.
Whew.
It's a slim book at only 60K, but those words came with a price: months of writing and rewriting and several characters who will never be the same.
Some may have even been harmed in the drafting of this book. *sad face*
On to a short story I've been itching to write, and then edits and the next book and the next and the next...
Happy writing.
My "House" novel, now going by the name In the Memory House is nearing first draft completion. First draft completion doesn't mean much in my book. As a writer, I am a "pantser" for the most part, one of those free spirits wandering through the plot, dropping suspense and characterization along the way. The characters tend to reveal themselves better this way...
But then I have to pick up the pieces. My lead, a graduate student in psychology, has really shown me dark and secret corners of her life.
Now I have to go back and makes sure the early, more "private" chapters work.
From one of the final chapters:
Kelsey glanced once more at the door, took a breath, and plunged into the dark, groping with both hands now, reaching in front of her and to the sides to find the layout of the space. Her knuckles dragged against stone. She stopped, felt on both sides, and noted a rough, circular cavern. Her hands played with its boundaries. Behind her, the door had vanished, leaving no lingering ambient light.
She found herself in a cave. She hadn't stepped inside a cave since she was eight.
What are some of your most-powerful childhood memories?
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Congrats to Mary! Echoes of the Dead has my vote; nice edit. Where do you find your cover images (that you don't paint)?
Congrats, Mary! Super cool news (and a great contest, Aaron). By the way, sorry for the multiple comments on the last post. Making up for my MIA month I guess.