Summer's Almost Over
You know what that means
In this edition of ye olde newsletter…
Book Fair for Grown-ups Post-Mortem
Your Favorite Author’s Favorite Author w/ Donyae Coles
Story Sale News
Judging Dreaded Destinations stories
Of Dread, Decay, and Doom Crowdfunding
Abducted Reviews & Book Launch Info
Beginnings and Endings Workshop
Writing Update
Book Fair for Grown-ups Post-Mortem
When last we left your humble narrator, I was getting ready to sell books at the InBound Brew Co.’s Book Fair for Grown-ups at the MN State Fair Grounds on July 12. To say the event was a success for me…would be a massive understatement.
Since the show, one of the organizers shared that at the event’s peak there were 8,000 people in attendance. And, boy howdy, was that reflected in sales. I went through nearly my entire stock of books. Here’s a peek behind the curtain: total sales in dollars equaled around $700.
Hands down, the most money I have ever made from selling my books in a single day. It felt great—as you might expect. Getting to connect with readers, getting to practice and refine my pitches for all of my titles, checking out local/local-ish booksellers interested in horror, these were all positives from the event. Plus the two free beer tickets that vendors received were pretty sweet as well.
Oh, and, of course, there was The Nut House cover cookie made by Cookies on the Fly, which was an absolute delight to look at. Someone bought mine and although I missed them during the show, I was able to sell them a copy of The Nut House as well as a few other titles.
I will definitely be aiming to vend again next year and order even more stock for the event. Although it was exhausting and drained my social battery, but good, it remained a net positive event for me. I love shows like that where the focus is on the reader and connecting with readers. I think the results speal for themselves.
Donyae Coles’s Favorite Author
Speaking of Twin Cities-based authors, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing the incredible Donyae Coles for my monthly interview column over at Shortwave Magazine: Your Favorite Author’s Favorite Author.
Donyae chose an author that was completely new to me Francesca Lia Block and does a superb job at laying out what she likes so much about Block’s work, how it helped shape her own writing, and the points of divergence between her style/subject matter and Block’s.
It’s a fun read and I absolutely recommend checking it out.
Reprint Sale!
Thrilled to share that my short story “Iggy Crane and the Headless Horse Girl,” my “Wes Anderson aesthetic, Sleepy Hollow reimagining at a posh girls’ boarding school” tale that originally appeared in my collection Pre-Approved for Haunting (out now from Keylight Books/Turner Publishing) is going to be reprinted in an upcoming issue of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine.
Penumbric has been on my list of publications that I’ve wanted to crack for a while and I’m excited that this very weird story was what did it for me.
Will share more details about the actual reprint publication when I have them. Watch this space!
Judging 13 Dreaded Destinations
At the end of last week, the latest issue of Elegant Literature (the publication that’s exclusively for new authors) dropped, revealing the finalists for their “Dreaded Destinations” contest. That theme was selected by yours truly and all stories had to involve said dreaded destination and include a gate in some way.
I was the Head Judge for the contest, reviewing the 13 finalists and selecting the grand prize winner (who receives a $3K award in addition to the word-count rate).
Folks, let me tell you, it was not an easy decision. There were some absolutely fantastic stories included in this batch of finalists.
Ultimately, I selected the story “Wrong About” by Charlie Rogers as the winner. My judge’s notes covering why exactly I selected that story appear at the end of the magazine.
If you’re a new or newer author with no or very few credits (pro, semipro, whatever), then I’d recommend checking out the contest.
Dread, Decay, Doom, and Crowdfunding
Underrated horror trope? For me, probably “Oops, all spiders!” Which brings me to my story “Did You Hear the One About the Girl with the Spider in Her Brain?” a riff on the Scary Story where a blemish is actually a spider egg sac. Except here, one of the baby spiders ends up in…the brain.
This story is slated to appear in Of Dread, Decay, and Doom, an upcoming horror anthology from Stars & Sabers Publishing. And folks? Publishers/editors Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell have assembled a murderers’ row of contemporary horror authors for this project. BUT…
…the fate of this anthology AND my little story about a girl and her brain spider rests in your hands. The anthology is up on IndieGoGo raising funds to make this assemblage of nightmares a reality. If you wanna see brain spiders and other weird horrors, please consider donating.
For more on the anthology and the participating authors, check out this link. I know we’re in a Golden Age of Horror, an embarrassment of riches on the book front. BUT the names here are a mark of quality, a guarantee of a spooky good time. (Plus brain spiders!)
SAVE THE BRAIN SPIDERS! DONATE TODAY!
It’s Almost Time to Get ABDUCTED
That’s right, y’all. We are now TWENTY days from the release of my debut novel ABDUCTED from Dark Matter Ink.
Here’s the copy:
In 2005, Police Sergeant Stacy Keppler worked her first big case: the abduction of Matt Freeman, a young boy taken from his bedroom in the dead of night. The only witness to the crime: Matt's older sister, whose story of “Gray Men” was dismissed by almost everyone, causing the case to eventually go cold. Now, nineteen years later and on the eve of her retirement, Stacy receives news she never expected to get: they’ve found Matt Freeman alive. But the young man who has returned is...different. Changed. And things about his story just aren’t adding up. Skeptical of the official narrative and determined to learn the truth, Stacy heads down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and cover-ups in an effort to finally solve the case that has haunted her for decades.
As you’ll see (partially) from the front cover, the book has received the endorsement of muti-award-winning and all-around delightful writer friend Ai Jiang. Other blurbers include Renan Bernardo, Stephen S. Schreffler, and Jendia Gammon.
Not to mention the early reviews have been coming in and they are looking GREAT!
And indie horror reviewer supreme, Milt Theodossiou calls ABDUCTED “Highly recommended!”
But Wait There’s More…
As noted above, my debut novel is set to drop on Tuesday AUGUST 26 and if you’re in or around or traveling to the Twin Cities, then you can help me celebrate.
I’ll read a bit from the book and then sign copies. I’ll sign whatever really. I’ll just be happy to be there and have my book out in the world.
Next Chapter is the largest indie bookshop in St. Paul and I’m absolutely delighted to be having my launch there.
So hire that babysitter or give your kiddos the iPad for the evening (c’monnnnnn) and come by Next Chapter at 6 pm Central on August 26 to help celebrate a pretty cool milestone in the writing career of yours truly. Oh and if you’re coming, sign up via Facebook, so they now how big a crowd to expect (counting on you, folks!)
Where to Begin and Where to End
Circling back to Elegant Literature from earlier in the newsletter, this past weekend I had a chance to teach another workshop for the Education+ members of the EL website.
This time, I led a workshop on BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS.
Here’s the pitch:
In this workshop, we’ll focus on 2 of the most important elements in a successful short story: the opening and the conclusion. For the opening: we’ll cover the importance of a good title, good first sentence, good paragraph; effective openings; setting the scene/tone/characters with the opening; establishing stakes and genre. For endings: we’ll cover paying off the promise of the beginning, tying the ending to the beginning formally, leaving the reader satisfied but wanting more. Students will have a chance to share their opening sentences/paragraphs and have group brainstorm potential endings based on the opening.
It was a fun workshop to do live with some great audience participation. The recording is available along with 80+ hours of content in the Education+ section of the Elegant Literature site. I have a few more free trial memberships to give away, so if you’re interested than shoot me an email at patrick.barb@gmail.com.
Earlier, I taught a version of this workshop for the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) where I’m currently serving as their Short Story Expert. That was also a lot of fun and it was great to see how the different audience types responded to the material.
Writing Update
Finally, I thought I’d end with a general update on the writing stuff I’ve got going on.
Right now, my main focus is on completing edits to my novel manuscript (tentatively titled Family First) after receiving agent feedback. It’s coming along, slow and steady. In this particular case, I’m looking to add a little more meat, more connective tissue to the manuscript.
I also have a commissioned short story that’s gonna be really weird and hopefully also uplifting (?!?), but like in a sinister way. There’s also a new sci-fi/horror novelette that I want to write (something to wrap up an informal trilogy alongside Helicopter Parenting in the Age of Drone Warfare and JK-LOL).
Anyway, that’s all for me.