Donald J. Bingle November 2021 Newsletter |
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November is National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo), so many, many of my writing pals are hunkered over their keyboards trying to turn out 50,000 words in a single month. Me, I'm working on this newsletter and also doing some revisions on a short story I promised in my most recent Kickstarter. But, I do have some thoughts on the next step after NaNoWriMo--getting your writing critiqued by a professional or workshopped by your friendly neighborhood writers group. My book, Frame Shop, is about murder in a suburban writers' group. It's filled with violence, humor, and occasional writing advice, from its over-the-top prologue to its quirky addendum. Here's a link to the video pitch from when I Kickstarted it years ago, along with a link to a reading from it I once did at Waterline Writers (you can start at about 2:40 if you want to skip the intro). My Christmas Carol Critique Collection shows what a professional critique service might have done with classic holiday songs had they been presented for review. You can find individual installments of the four book series here or you can get them as a single collection here. If you want a preview, here's a link to me reading Season's Critiquings, the first in the series. |
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The holiday shopping season is upon us and all the experts are encouraging people to shop early because of supply chain issues. Of course, ebooks don't have those problems. But, whether you are shopping for my books, someone else's books, or any of the two or ten bazillion other items sold on Amazon, please keep in mind that if you access Amazon through my Affiliate Link, I get a miniscule percentage of your purchase at no cost to you. It's a way to support independent authors even when you are just doing your regular, non-literary shopping. Go ahead and shop right now; I'll wait. |
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| | Weldon Burge's Harvester of Sorrow Releasing November 16, 2021 in print and ebook Weldon Burge was kind enough to send me an ARC (Advance Reading/Reviewer Copy) of the first volume in his new Ezekiel Marrs detective series, Harvester of Sorrow. Just finished reading it the other day. If you are looking for something more sinister than a fair-play mystery and something more ominous than a slam-bam action piece, this book might be right up your alley. I'd call it a period police procedural with a supernatural twist. There are bizarre situations, cop camaraderie and banter, family moments, gruesome crimes, and enough fights and action sequences to punctuate the dark mood, along with a few unexpected twists and turns. Here's the pitch: "Assured, gritty, expertly paced, and sleek as a bullet, Burge's eerie and intense tale of grizzled detectives frantically searching for a ritual killer who may be far more than he seems is not to be missed. I could not put it down!" -Greg F. Gifune, Bestselling Author of THE BLEEDING SEASON, SAVAGES, and MIDNIGHT SOLITAIRE A whirlwind of tragic, terrifying events... A vodoun priest is brutally slain in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. On American soil, a man stands atop his car-naked from the waist down-and suddenly succumbs to a mysterious death. Within the silence of a state park, an abducted child is found dead; yet another in a series of similar slayings. In the small city of New Warfield, ODs have skyrocketed from the use of cocaine tainted with an undetermined substance. Detective Ezekiel Marrs may just have the wealth of strength and skills needed to fight these dark forces, to uncover the facts behind these hideous cases and how they relate to one another. With his team, Ezekiel takes on the immense task of putting the pieces together...making the connections that will hopefully solve this puzzle and stop the seemingly endless death and destruction. But when Ezekiel and his fellow police officers find themselves facing two of the most vicious adversaries they've ever encountered, more lives hang in the balance as they battle to survive a deadly, inevitable confrontation with unimaginable evil. My only minor (writerly) quibble is that the opening chapter is in my mind really a prologue, as it is separated in time and place from the main action of the book and does not involve the main protagonist, but you've probably already read my blog about what makes a prologue versus a first chapter. I wouldn't even mention it, except some readers think that the first character they meet in a book outside of a prologue is the protagonist and I don't want anyone to be confused when they start the book. Available in print and as an ebook here. | | |
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| | Extraordinary Voyages by Steven Paul Leiva is Extraordinary! Movie producer, humorist, scholar, raconteur, and author Steven Paul Leiva has collected some of his peculiar tales into one volume for your reading pleasure. Here's the pitch: Award-winning, Amazon Bestselling author Steven Paul Leiva is your tour guide to some of the strange destinations he has traveled over the years. In Made on the Moon, travel with Leiva into the mind of one Stanley Lewis, a little man with a big dream. He had wanted to go to the Moon from the time he was an infant. Not a toddler, not a child, not a young man, but a babe in his mother’s arms. Then go even deeper into Stanley’s mind as Leiva takes you to the poetic realm of this little man’s mind by presenting What a Pleasure it’s Been to Piss in Porcelain: The Rude Poems of Stanley Lewis. As you might guess, you don’t want to read these poems to your mother. Next stop—Mars! We are joined on the tour by Cyrano De Bergerac and Baron Munchausen in the year 1641. Although the Baron is actually from 1790. A weird situation for historical personages. But then Cyrano and the Baron were also fictional characters. An imaginative tale about real imaginative gentlemen on a surreal trip tripping over the real. Then two short stops to conclude our voyages. You won’t even need an overnight bag. And, here's what I had to say in a review of Made on the Moon four years ago: 5.0 out of 5 stars Bizarre, Audacious, Literary Science Fiction This is an audacious piece of intelligent and poetic science fiction. It builds slowly from a quirky, literary, character-driven base to bizarre flights of fancy filled with turns of phrase so striking you will find yourself writing them down as you read along. As the increasingly interesting tale develops, Mr. Leiva adds whimsical stylistic changes and nostalgic remembrances of a time when enthusiasm and possibility were not weighted down with the disappointments of reality. By the time one gets to the striking developments of the final pages, you understand not only the facts of the story, but the truth of it. I've also read Leiva's other tales in this collection and think you will enjoy them all. Get Extraordinary Voyages here. | | |
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He barely survived a killing spree. Now he’s on a mission to prevent the deadliest attack in U.S. history . . .Jon Steadman is desperate for closure. After the love of his life dies in a campus bombing, his relentless quest for answers reveals bizarre violent incidents involving other unsuspecting students. When copycat blasts add to the tragic body count, he’s certain he’s stumbled on a lethal conspiracy. Teaming up with his best friend and pursuing a theory connecting the genetic dots, Steadman finds every avenue blocked by powerful people ready to kill to protect their secrets. As his hunt takes him across the globe, he exposes a sinister terrorist plot known only as The Event. Can one ordinary man step up and stop ruthless killers from executing a devastating catastrophe? SPREE is a story of one man’s battle to overcome the wounds of the past and find redemption in fighting for what’s right. An action-packed thriller, SPREE takes the reader on a whirlwind ride of unexpected twists and turns until the very last page. "Neeman's debut thriller jumps off the pages and had me reading late into the night.".-Jay Lefkowitz, former White House advisor and Wall Street Journal book reviewer Buy SPREE to foil a global plan for terror today!. |
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A compelling suspense thriller that will have you confronting your own demons
Every night since Sophie’s thirtieth birthday, she has been jolted out of her sleep by the same nightmare. Then, her husband inexplicably vanishes.
She finds solace in a soothing therapist and is on the road to reclaiming her life. That is, until she notices her husband’s keyring in her therapist’s handbag.
When she decides to trail her therapist home, all she wants is to find her husband. But the people in the woods have other ideas…
The Tens is a psychological thriller that tackles the theme of mysticism versus madness that won’t stop until you’ve uncovered the truth about Sophie… and yourself.
'The white rock, which was nearly her height, loomed at her with a reflective sheen. The hollows in its side looked like eyes, terrifying and watching. Sophie could hear it laughing at her, like a cartoon character. Menacing mirth that echoed from nowhere but also all around her during a night that was as cold as it looked in the heart of the woods.
Despite the fear, Sophie strode up to it and laid her creased hand on the chalky surface, wanting to know if it was real. Her palm slipped upwards and she wobbled on her feet. She could have sworn the rock moved to spite her. Or maybe it was the sudden ferocious wind that had knocked her off balance. She dropped to her knees, as if she were at the mercy of an altar; hoping to be relieved of the haunting of that white rock.
Sophie knew she had to get out of there, dizzy with the desire to run away from the rock and the maniacal laughter. But no matter where she turned, she couldn’t find any openings in the trees that were beginning to buck in the wild wind. In fact, with every blink, the army of trees hugged tighter together and seemed to circle in on Sophie. Like they were arm in arm, moving forth as one. With the wind all but drowning out the laughter, she pressed her back against the reflective rock and waited…'
Please note: The Tens has Australia/British English spelling.
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A huntress in red and a lost cursed boy meet in the woods. Love ensues. A dark fairytale starring Little Red Riding Hood and her reluctant WereWolf. A young boy makes a perilous escape from his life in a town he calls 'Hell'. When freedom seems only one more humiliation away, Death as a rabid beast savagely rips freedom away from the boy's desperate grasp. Until a mystery hunter cloaked in blood red slays her prey, saving the young boy. Now his life has taken a different form of imprisonment, for the now dead beast has cursed him, and Red, the hunter, gave him a bleak sentence; "In 30 days, you will die." "In 30 days, I will kill you." Will the young boy, thrust into the Deep Woods with his executioner, survive his imprisonment? Is Red only a hunter, or another soul that has some deep scars woven in their flesh? Get The Red and Her Wolf for FREE. |
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Donald J. Bingle is the author of seven books and more than sixty shorter works in the horror, thriller, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, steampunk, romance, comedy, and memoir genres. His books include Forced Conversion (near future military scifi), GREENSWORD (darkly comedic eco-thriller), Frame Shop (murder in a suburban writers' group), and the Dick Thornby spy thriller series (Net Impact, Wet Work, and Flash Drive). He also co-authored (with Jean Rabe) The Love-Haight Case Files series (a three-time Silver Falchion winning paranormal urban fantasy about two lawyers who represent the legal rights of supernatural creatures in a magic-filled San Francisco; Book 2 just came out). Don also edited Familiar Spirits (an anthology of ghost stories). Many of Don's shorter works can be found in his Writer on Demand TM collections. Get the audiobook version of Net Impact at Audible.com, Amazon, and iTunes and the audiobook version of Wet Work at Audible.com, Amazon, and iTunes. Full disclosure: Various links in my newsletter or on my website may include Amazon Affiliate coding, which gets me a small referral fee (at no cost to you) if you purchase after clicking through. |
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