Mastering Suspense: Essential Techniques for Keeping Readers on the Edge in Thrillers

 Maintaining tension and intrigue in thriller writing is essential for keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Here are some effective techniques to achieve this:

**1. Pacing and Timing

• Quick Cuts and Short Chapters: Use short, punchy chapters and frequent scene changes to create a sense of urgency and keep the story moving rapidly.
• Cliffhangers: End chapters or scenes with unresolved conflicts or questions to keep readers eager to turn the page.
• Controlled Reveals: Release information gradually. Avoid giving away too much too soon; instead, provide small hints and clues that build suspense.

**2. High Stakes

• Personal Investment: Ensure that the stakes are high and personal for the protagonist. When characters have a lot to lose, the tension feels more intense.
• Escalation: Gradually increase the stakes as the story progresses. The threats and challenges should become more significant, amplifying the suspense.

**3. Unpredictability

• Twists and Turns: Incorporate unexpected twists and surprises to keep readers guessing. Ensure that these twists are both surprising and believable.
• Red Herrings: Use misleading clues to divert attention and create uncertainty about the true nature of the threat or the identity of the antagonist.

**4. Suspenseful Atmosphere

• Descriptive Language: Use vivid, sensory descriptions to create a tense atmosphere. Describe settings, sounds, and feelings to immerse readers in the suspense.
• Uncertainty: Create an atmosphere of uncertainty where characters are unsure of their surroundings or the intentions of others. This adds to the overall tension.

**5. Complex Characters

• Flawed Protagonists: Give your protagonist flaws and vulnerabilities that make their journey more challenging and relatable.
• Ambiguous Motives: Develop multi-dimensional antagonists with ambiguous motives. This complexity can make the threat more intriguing and unpredictable.

**6. Internal Conflict

• Psychological Tension: Explore the protagonist’s internal struggles and fears. Their psychological state can add an extra layer of tension and depth to the narrative.
• Moral Dilemmas: Place characters in situations where they must make difficult moral choices, adding to the emotional and psychological tension.

**7. Plausible Threats

• Realistic Scenarios: Ensure that the threats and dangers in the story are plausible and grounded. Readers are more likely to be engaged if the threats feel real and imminent.
• Detailed Research: Use accurate and detailed research to make the threats and scenarios believable, enhancing the suspense.

**8. Tight Narrative Focus

• Limited Perspective: Use a limited perspective to control what the reader knows. Revealing information only through the protagonist’s point of view can heighten suspense.
• Focused Plot: Keep the plot tightly focused on the central conflict. Avoid subplots that could detract from the main source of tension.

**9. Intense Conflict

• Physical and Emotional Conflicts: Include both physical confrontations and emotional conflicts. The combination of external danger and internal struggle adds depth to the suspense.
• Urgency and Pressure: Create a sense of urgency by placing characters under constant pressure. This can be through time constraints, relentless pursuers, or escalating dangers.

**10. Foreshadowing

• Subtle Hints: Drop subtle hints about future events or revelations. Foreshadowing can build anticipation and make the eventual payoff more satisfying.
• Symbolism and Imagery: Use symbols and imagery to hint at deeper themes or future plot developments, adding layers to the story.

Examples

• “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn: The novel masterfully uses unreliable narration, unexpected twists, and intense psychological tension to maintain suspense.
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson: This thriller keeps readers engaged with its complex characters, intricate plot, and well-executed red herrings.

By applying these techniques, you can create a thriller that keeps readers eagerly turning pages and deeply invested in the story.

General Tips for Creating Compelling Characters

 General Tips for Creating Compelling Characters

1. Backstory: Develop a rich backstory for your characters that explains their motivations and behaviors. This helps make them feel real and relatable.

2. Goals and Motivations: Clearly define what your characters want and why they want it. Their goals should drive their actions and decisions.

3. Flaws and Strengths: Create well-rounded characters by giving them both strengths and weaknesses. This adds depth and makes them more believable.

4. Growth and Change: Characters should evolve over the course of the story. Their experiences should lead to personal growth or change.

5. Voice and Dialogue: Ensure each character has a distinct voice and way of speaking. Their dialogue should reflect their personality and background.

Villains in Horror

1. Psychological Depth: Craft villains with complex psychological profiles. Explore their fears, insecurities, and motivations. This makes their actions more understandable and frightening.

2. Unpredictability: Make your villain unpredictable and menacing. Their actions should keep readers on edge, as they’re never quite sure what the villain will do next.

3. Symbolism: Use your villain to symbolize deeper fears or societal issues. This adds layers to the character and enhances the horror element.

4. Relatability: Even the most monstrous villains should have aspects that readers can relate to or understand. This could be a tragic backstory or a recognizable flaw.

5. Power Dynamics: Explore the power dynamics between the villain and other characters. The villain’s power should create significant obstacles for the protagonist, heightening the tension.

Heroes in Fantasy

1. Unique Abilities: Give your heroes unique abilities or characteristics that set them apart from ordinary characters. These should be integral to their journey and growth.

2. Personal Stakes: The hero’s journey should involve personal stakes beyond the main quest. This adds depth and makes their struggles feel more significant.

3. Moral Complexity: Develop heroes with moral complexity. They should face difficult choices and dilemmas that test their values and beliefs.

4. Mentors and Allies: Introduce mentors or allies who help the hero along their journey. These relationships can provide additional character development and emotional depth.

5. Hero’s Flaws: Like villains, heroes should have flaws. These imperfections make them more relatable and allow for meaningful character growth.

Examples

• Horror Villain Example: In Stephen King’s It, Pennywise the Clown is not just a frightening entity; he embodies the children’s deepest fears and traumas. His unpredictability and psychological manipulation make him a compelling and memorable villain.

• Fantasy Hero Example: In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Frodo Baggins is a hero with ordinary origins who takes on an extraordinary quest. His personal struggles, moral dilemmas, and growth throughout the journey make him a relatable and inspiring hero.

By focusing on these elements, you can create characters that are engaging, memorable, and central to the emotional impact of your story, whether you’re writing horror or fantasy.

25 Back-to-School Horror Prompts to Start the School Year with a Scream

 Here are 25 creative writing prompts to inspire your back-to-school horror:

1. The Haunted School Bus: A group of students discover that their school bus has a dark history and is haunted by the spirits of previous passengers.

2. Cursed Curriculum: A new teacher introduces a curriculum that causes students to experience terrifying, supernatural events tied to the lessons.

3. The Locker Room Secret: Students find a hidden locker with a mysterious, old diary that predicts horrifying events happening at school.

4. Back to School Nightmares: A student’s recurring nightmares about school start blending with reality, and the line between dreams and waking life begins to blur.

5. The Unseen Classroom: A school has a hidden classroom that only appears to certain students, and it holds dark secrets from the past.

6. The Principal's Office: New students realize that their principal is not what he seems and that the office is a gateway to something sinister.

7. Haunted Textbooks: Textbooks from an old, abandoned library begin to rewrite themselves with horrifying content, affecting the students who read them.

8. The Study Group: A study group at school summons something they shouldn’t have during a late-night study session.

9. The Mysterious Substitute Teacher: A substitute teacher arrives and has an unsettling influence on the students, revealing a dark purpose.

10. The Curse of the School Bell: Every time the school bell rings, something sinister happens, leading students to uncover the bell's dark history.

11. The Class That Never Ends: A class gets stuck in a time loop, with each repetition becoming increasingly nightmarish.

12. The Disappearing Students: Students start disappearing one by one, and the school’s history reveals a pattern of similar disappearances.

13. The Ghostly Gradebook: A gradebook from a past era predicts students’ failures and subsequent horrifying fates.

14. The Haunted Yearbook: A yearbook with photos of students who haven’t graduated yet starts showing disturbing and eerie changes.

15. The Science Project: A group of students conducts a science experiment that inadvertently unleashes a terrifying entity into their school.

16. The Gym's Dark Past: The school gym, once the site of a tragic event, becomes a place of supernatural occurrences.

17. The Art Class Horror: Artwork created in an art class begins to come to life, causing chaos and fear in the school.

18. The Abandoned Wing: Students exploring an abandoned wing of their school find it filled with the remnants of a dark and tragic past.

19. The School Nurse’s Secret: The school nurse has a chilling secret, and her medical treatments are more sinister than they seem.

20. The Forbidden Book: A student finds an old book in the library that causes terrifying changes in anyone who reads it.

21. The Extracurricular Terror: Students who join a new club or extracurricular activity encounter a malevolent force that is connected to the school’s history.

22. The Phantom Hall Monitor: A hall monitor who vanished years ago begins appearing to enforce a horrifying set of rules.

23. The Fateful Field Trip: A school field trip takes a dark turn when students become trapped in a location with a malevolent presence.

24. The School Spirit: The school’s mascot or spirit is revealed to have a dark, vengeful history.

25. The Detention Horror: Students who stay after school for detention discover that the detention room is a gateway to another realm.

Erotic Vampire Novel For Sale Now!

Lucien Delacroix is a sexy, reclusive billionaire, who can get anything for anyone anywhere at any time. He hides away from society to protect his deepest darkest secret. Lucien never ages. He's a vampire with an urgent need to feed off sexual energy. Forsaking the old ways of drinking blood, he’s become the champion of his brethren, sacrificing his soul to protect them from being hunted. Brianna Richardson needs to get her story on Lucian Delacroix, no matter the cost to her mind or body. When she enters the dark, mystical world of sexual fantasies in the Delacroix house, she has no idea how far the ride goes. It's not until the body count starts to rise that she realizes she's in over her head. The choice is final - her story or her life.

Buy Now!

‘The End Of Conservative Books’: Amazon Quietly Bans Books They Deem Offensive, ‘Hate Speech’

Conservatives are sounding the alarm about an updated Amazon policy that bans books the ubiquitous billion-dollar company deems offensive or includes so-called “hate speech.”

As noted by The Daily Wire, Amazon has ramped up its censorship on conservative views in recent weeks. For example, a popular documentary on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was banned from their streaming service this past week. Before that move, the company deplatformed conservative Ryan Anderson’s book critical of gender theory, “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Movement.”

When Just the News reached out to Amazon over the ban on Anderson’s book, the outlet said the company directed them to a page outlining their “Content Guidelines for Books.” Under a section labeled “Offensive Content,” Amazon states that they “don’t sell certain content including content that we determine is hate speech, promotes the abuse or sexual exploitation of children, contains pornography, glorifies rape or pedophilia, advocates terrorism, or other material we deem inappropriate or offensive.”

“A review of those policies suggests that sometime in the last few months Amazon made a major change to the ways in which it moderates book content on its servers, imposing a much stricter standard on books than it had previously done,” the report said. It appears the company recently added so-called “hate speech” to their guidelines on book platforming, and is amping up their censorship of the “offensive.”

Daily Wire podcast host and conservative author Matt Walsh warned that the designation from Amazon broadened to include conservative views, as it seems to be leaning, could lead to the potential “end of conservative books.”

“If Amazon decides to label conservative books ‘hate speech,’ that’s effectively the end of conservative books,” he posted to Twitter on Saturday.

“Publishers won’t bother publishing books that can’t be sold on Amazon,” he explained. “This is a hugely important issue. I don’t think it’s getting all the attention it deserves.”

Read the rest of the article and Twitter tweets at:

‘The End Of Conservative Books’: Amazon Quietly Bans Books They Deem Offensive, ‘Hate Speech’ | The Daily Wire

•

Ten Halloween Writing Prompts

Once upon a midnight dreary, you found inspiration growing weary. Never fear(y): These Halloween writing prompts are here to rescue you from the haunted crypt of writing block. They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, and they’ll have you back to penning spine-chilling tales in no time.

Halloween Writing Prompts

The Fear Within (Book Trailer)

Sell your Self-Published Books on Consignment

The American Booksellers Association shared a very useful article last year by Karen Schechner (the senior editor at Kirkus Indie) explaining how self-published authors can sell their books at a few independent bookstores around the country.

Read the full article here:

https://www.adweek.com/galleycat/how-to-sell-your-self-published-book-into-bookstores/52736

Win an Amazon Gift Card!

I'm looking for someone to create the cover art (preferably digital or photographed) for my upcoming high seas thriller, On Deadly Seas. It's an 18th century pirate ghost story. Summary of the book is as follows:

Strange things happen aboard the 18^th century brigantine, The Fiery Wench. Accidents occur quite frequently; crew men are killed off in horrific ways; and visitors have reported seeing the ghosts of those tortured souls warning them of worse things to come. Pirate Captain Aiden McGuire never believed in curses and he would have anyone whipped who even suggested the idea. It’s only when young Jaclyn steals away aboard his ship that one misfortune after another befalls him and his crew. The decks of The Fiery Wench, for the first time since he became captain, start to flow red from the blood of his men. Is his stowaway a Siren who has come aboard to tear apart his vessel, or is she an innocent caught in a game of tragedy? Only time will tell as this ship sets sail ON DEADLY SEAS.

THE PRIZE: $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD

CONTEST RULES:

Winner will be selected on April 2, 2019 and announced via my email list, . The prize will be emailed within 5 business days. Winner must check our blog and contact us within 2 business days to confirm their email address for delivery. Valid only where permitted by law.

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Answer this question in a comment on this blog post: Why should I choose your cover art?

2. Like Screams for Sale on Facebook and share it with a friend.

3. Follow me on Twitter @shelbypatrick

4. Subscribe to my email list at darkfictionmuse-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

5. Email up to three of your best cover artwork to blackwidow@shelbypatrick.com

Winning entry will be used as the cover art for my book. Artist will be credited on the inside of the book. 

How to become a successful writer

This is a great article from Writer’s Digest.

https://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/questions-and-quandaries/writing-advice/how-to-become-a-successful-writer-to-dream-or-not-to-dream

Fright Night Hoodie

This is totally awesome.

Limited Edition Print

Love Gone Awry

2019 is just around the corner. It's not too early to start planning for Valentine's Day and I have the perfect gift.

Have you always wanted to be the star of your own story? Do any of the following apply to you?

• Been scarred by love
• Had a scorned woman try to exact revenge on you
• Lost the love of your life
• Dumped or been dumped but then reunited with that person and realized they weren't the same
• Been blinded by love
• Went a little too far for love
• Had regrets with a past lover
• Will never forget your first love
• Found true love that only a tragedy could stop

Well here's a unique opportunity to be the hero (or villain) of your own making.

I will write a piece of dark fiction, up to 1,000 words, based on your "Love Gone Awry" idea.

Send me an email at blackwidow@shelbypatrick.com with the subject "Custom V-Day Story" briefly summarizing your idea in 100 words or less. Since this is meant to be a horror story for the Valentine's season, please let me know if you want to be the hero or the villain and provide me with a location (preferably your own or some place you always wanted to go but isn't too exotic). Also, please provide two names to be used in the story: yours (or an alias) and that of a loved one.

For example, your email may look like this:

I would like a custom story featuring me as the hero, where I was foolish and lost the love of my life and now realize my life is incomplete without him/her.

 

OR

 

I would like a custom story featuring me as the villain, in post-apocalyptic California, where Necromancers roam the place, seeking out depressed souls to reunite with loved ones.

Stories cost $30, paid via PayPal, and will be sent to you via email. Please allow up to three weeks for turn-around time. 

Buyers must agree to allow their story, or a portion of it, to be posted at my website, blog, or in a future anthology.

Horror Excerpts

I have three excerpts online from short stories in my anthology The Fear Within. To read the complete stories and more, you can purchase my book HERE

Please send an email to each of the following addresses to read the excerpts:

After Hours -- Working late becomes a night for survival. CLICK HERE

Behind Closed Doors -- What was grandmother hiding behind the locked door in her basement? CLICK HERE

Under a Watchful Eye -- No guards, no fences, and no escape for prisoners once they enter Innsmouth. CLICK HERE 

The Nun - Movie Review by Shelby Patrick

"Pray for forgiveness"

Set in the Carta Monastery in Romania in 1952, this horror story is quick to tear apart our faith. It is based on the Conjuring series and centers around a few true-life facts. Three main stars light up the screen -- Jonas Bloquet (Frenchie), Demian Bichir (Father Anthony Burke), and Taissa Farmiga (Sister Irene).

Plot Synopsis (from imdb.com): A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

The movie opens with two nuns walking down a creepy hallway to a door that reads "God Ends Here". Once they unlock the door, they unleash the evil demon Valak, who needs a host to be able to walk in this world. One nun is possessed while the other one hangs herself, setting off events in the Vatican that result in sending a priest and a nun on the verge of taking her vows to investigate.

The movie is riddled with cliches from the start and there isn't much left to the imagination. You can pretty much guess what is about to come before it happens. The most horrifying part was the demonic face of the nun; the rest was child's play for a seasoned horror fan.

Most surprising of all was that the ending didn't suck. They didn't throw in some stupid finale that made you sit up and say, "what just happened?" It actually made sense.

It might scare some people. The movie was rated R for obvious reasons. It was released on September 7, 2018.

It was mildly entertaining but not worth the money I paid to see it. 

Behind the Masque (Prologue)

Abernathy Estate, Detroit suburbs, Spring 2008

        

         Kyle Abernathy sat alone in the darkened drawing room, watching the flashers of police cruisers and ambulances outside the window. Dozens of people poured in and out of the mansion, tracking muddy feet all over pristine carpets. The noise was deafening; cops wandering around, feet stomping through the halls, raised voices, and the sounds of people vomiting outside the half-closed door. It was horrible and it wouldn’t be over with anytime soon; a violent crime had been committed, here in the Abernathy’s safe haven. The police had a job to do and it didn’t matter that he, perhaps more than most, paid their salaries; they would do it with or without his consent.

         The door opened and a tall, lanky red-head walked in. Her navy business suit was glued to an athletic shape and she walked with a purpose, the lights from the hall glinting off her badge.

         When the officer reached for the light switch in the room, Kyle frowned.

         “Leave them off,” he said, so soft and quiet that she might not hear.

         “Mr. Abernathy, I’m sorry, but I have to ask you some questions now.”

         He didn’t like this cop. She smelled of sweat and hard work and had eyes that were narrow and dark, as if hiding something. It was easy to tell when a person had secrets since he had a ton of them hidden away. Her voice was gruff, not very feminine. It was irritating. Women should act and sound like women, not construction workers.

         “Where’s Jackson?” he asked.

         “Detective Jackson has other cases to handle. I’ll be lead investigator for you…”

         “He’s too busy to help my family? Doesn’t matter, I suppose. You already have the person responsible in custody.” He looked back toward the window. “How bad is it?”

         “No one has told you?”

         “Of course not. I was out of town and received a call that I had to come back. They said it had something to do with my mother. It was a shock to return and find cops swarming my estate. All I know is that my mother is dead. How did she die?”

         “Your mother was tortured before he killed her.”

         He didn’t respond for several long minutes, then said, “I heard talk, Detective. My mother was barely recognizable and when I see trained police officers losing the contents of their stomach all over my carpeted floors, I can only assume it was very bad. What did he do to her?”

         “I don’t think you need all the gory details, Mr…”

         “Look, Officer…” He leaned over to get a look at her badge. “…Higgins, I want to know everything. I can handle it. Now tell me what he did to her – all the details, if you will.”

         She swallowed, tapped her pen on her notepad, and then said, “Her back was whipped, right down to the bone. Her fingernails were ripped out and as if that wasn’t enough, he…he…”

         Kyle watched Officer Higgins catch her breath at the memory.  “He what?”

         “He skinned her. I’m sorry, Mr. Abernathy, truly sorry.”

         “And the guy who did this?”

         “He worked for your gardening company. After finishing with the matriarch of the manor, he sat down and called 9-1-1. We found him sitting next to the body, covered in blood.”

         “Thank you, Detective, that will be all.”

         “Mr. Abernathy, I have some questions…”

         “Which I’m sure will be answered shortly. Right now, I want to be alone.”

         The police officer nodded and left the room, shutting the door. Kyle turned back to the window and smiled, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ring coated with blood. It bore the crest of the Abernathys and was passed down from one head of the household to the next. Mrs. Abernathy had worn it for years. Kyle had ripped it from her cold hand hours earlier as she lay dying in the basement. She hadn’t said a word; just tried to cough out a retort, but nothing could get past the bruised lips. It was atrocious, but partly sensual, the way her too skinny, ribs showing, wrinkly body swayed back and forth from the hooks embedded into her back. She reached for him, but fell short of the mark. He wanted her to die; the old bag held on for way too long. Eventually, it happened and the light left those sagging eyes. Now the legacy was his.

         He spun around in his chair, unlocked the desk drawer, and dropped the ring inside. Once the murderer was convicted and sentenced to a life in prison, he could safely wear it. When he returned his attention back to the window, they were carting his mother’s corpse away.

         “Goodbye, mother,” he said.

         After they loaded the body, he stood, straightened his tie, smoothed out his black pants, and then walked to the door, ready to go have a talk with the irritating detective.

Buy Behind the Masque at amazon.com

When Angels Sing (Prologue)

Blaze Kerrigan, he always hated that name. It was a stupid name, but one he carried well. Oh, it wasn’t a birth name, of course. No, the birth name had been Darren or Donald or something like that. He couldn’t remember anymore. It was a name for a weakling, though, and weaklings deserved nothing more than a life of pain. He was good at that, causing pain now. It hadn’t always been that way. At one point, he had been a good man, a trusting man, a loving man. Then she came into his life. The perfect angel, Melanie. She had been a beautiful girl, a flaxen-haired goddess. He used to imagine seeing a halo surrounding her head. God had kissed her when she was born and she had been very special to him.

Her voice had called to him many times. He had listened within the shadows as her songs took flight, filling him with a passionate longing to be with her. Sometimes her voice could turn him on more than he liked, but he had held his control, until a young man came along and sapped her energy. She hadn’t wanted to sing anymore. He had missed her singing, his sweet Melanie. So he went to her one night. They had argued. He hadn’t meant to do it, but before he could stop himself, he had stabbed her over and over. He hadn’t felt the horror he thought he might, instead he felt a wave of pleasure come over him. He had enjoyed drawing her blood. Just thinking about it now stirred something inside of him and he remembered how he had plunged the knife into her soft abdomen. With every plunge, he felt euphoric and knew he had found his calling. All he had to do now was get that damn name out of his mind: Blaze Kerrigan. It was all he could see, Blaze, Blaze, Blaze! The day he had killed Melanie was the day Darren or Donald had ceased to exist and Blaze had been born.

Time to end it, Blaze old boy.

But first things first. Ever since Melanie, the man had needed more. He couldn’t help himself. Those pretty young women all needed to be heard. He would listen and love them and when the time was right, he would kill them, but he wouldn’t do it alone. Just as he created Blaze Kerrigan, Blaze Kerrigan had created him. He was killing now for the both of them and neither would get any rest for a long time. It was time to start the game.

He turned his attention to the young woman before him screaming into the phone glued to her ear. He liked that. Her sweet, melodic voice sang to him.

He ducked into a doorway when she turned her head. Her face held the rugged look of a woman who loved the outdoors. A few wrinkles cut across her brow, a long scratch that split her left cheek in half, and a square jaw made her look slightly masculine, but her voice drew him in. It wasn’t as soft or as sweet as his dear Melanie, but he loved it just the same. It was time to move on, on to the next perfect little angel, this waitress that had waited on and flirted with his Blaze creation.

The girl worked out at a karate studio in downtown Manhattan. He had seen her there just moments ago, her long legs flying at imaginary assailants, her nimble hands moving fast against the heavy bags. Very fit and dangerous, that would be something new to him. It was too bad for her, he thought, that the karate school didn’t teach her one thing – how to avoid distraction.

He jumped on her trail right after class; she hadn’t even noticed. A moment after leaving the school, her cell phone attached itself to her ear, and her mind became preoccupied with yelling at whoever was stuck on the other end. Not very wise on her part, he thought. It would be easy to sneak up behind her and blitz her. He didn’t like easy, so he waited, and watched as she let herself into an apartment complex. Apartments meant other people around. Other people meant nosy neighbors. He didn’t like that complication.

A light turned on. Third floor. Her apartment is on the third floor. He glanced up at the sky; it would be dark soon. If he waited a bit longer, stealing into her apartment would be a breeze. He hoped she would be in the shower, or perhaps sleeping by then. The thought of subduing her made his limbs go weak. The game got better with every angel he hunted. He licked his lips and waited for the cover of darkness so he could fade into the shadows.

Those shadows were his friends, his only friends now. They never lied to him or tried to hurt him. He loved the cover they provided. Once inside them, he could become anyone or anything. No one ever beat the shadows. They were his dark side and they now beckoned to him.

He smiled, reaching inside his jacket to take out the small camouflaged knife he carried. He headed for the apartment building door.

Buy When Angels Sing at amazon.com

Looking for a Fiction Editor

Here's the deal:
I write horror, fantasy, thrillers, science fiction, and erotic horror. 

I have been working with several editors for a few years now; unfortunately, we keep hitting snags and I have to continue finding new editors. What I really need is someone who can work with me for awhile and not fade away or suddenly want more money. 

My past editors work as follows: I pay $25 up front. They will then read over the initial manuscript, perform line edits and check for grammatical errors, passive voice, the overuse of pronouns, etc. They will also check for inconsistencies in my plot, story lines that don't make sense, characters that don't fit, story structure, and areas that I need to work on, etc. In essence, they do it all, then send me back chapter by chapter with their notes and comments. Once I receive this initial draft back in full, I pay $25. 

I usually wait until I have the complete manuscript back before I start on a rewrite. Rewrites can take awhile, but once I'm finished, I'll send the revision back to my editor for his final comments (at no additional cost). 

He also will look over and comment on my query letters and synopsis; although, some of my manuscripts are to be self-published so this won't apply to those. After the second read-through and final notes, I send the rest of the payment ($25). 

If you are interested in this position, please apply at:

Fiction Editor Application

Howling Kitties Galore!

There is a new phenomena for pet lovers out there. They are called Lykoi cats, or specifically Werewolf Cats. Say what?

These wonderful animals are a natural mutation from a domestic short-haired cat that has the appearance of a Hollywood werewolf. They are partially or almost hairless and genetically distinctive from the Sphynx. They are said to be friendly, unchallenging, and affectionate.

Becoming popular in 2010, these kittens are very scarce. At the time, an estimated 54 were readily available. There is a waiting list and they come with a high price, ranging between $1,500 and $2,500.

These hunter-minded house cats display some similarities to dogs -- they are able to wag their tails, play fetch, and have a keen sense of smell.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Six Feet Under...

Have you had your heart broken one too many times? Are you tired of all the lovebirds out there while you sit at home alone again? Does the commercialization of holidays tick you off? Or would you just like to send your special girl or guy something unique this year? Then why not star in your own Valentine's horror story? I am an author of several books and short stories. I can craft an award-winning short story for you or your loved one, centered around Valentine's Day. Unrequited loves, eternal love, lovers that come back from beyond the grave, heart broken revenge stories, you name it. Contact me with your story idea and payment offer. Stories will be sent to you via email with 72 hours of payment (made only by PayPal.)

For the Love of Horror

Check out a few of my books here: