Cross Promotion and Advertising with Carl Alves

This year, at the Bram Stoker Award® Weekend, Incorporating World Horror Convention in New Orleans 2013, Carl Alves and I attended an excellent workshop on how to market your work by Matt Schwartz from Random House. One of Matt's suggestions was to get together with an author friend or two and cross-promote each other's works. That's what Carl and I are doing this weekend.

I'll admit I'd never read any of Carl's work before this, but he sent me a copy of Blood Street and I've really been enjoying the story. I'm not a big vampire novel fan these days, although I loved Salem's Lot and the Anne Rice novels among other traditional vampire stories back in the day.

Click to purchase.

This is the synopsis from Amazon:  Blood Street is True Blood meets the Sopranos set in the streets of Philadelphia. When vampires tangle with the Philadelphia mafia, one thing is certain - all hell is going to break loose. 
           Alexei chose the wrong neighborhood to claim his latest victim, a member of Enzo Salerno's crime syndicate. Now Philadelphia mob boss Enzo Salerno is determined to hunt down the man who killed his associate in such gruesome fashion in his South Philly row home and serve his own brand of old fashioned Italian style vengeance. 
           Perplexed by this unnatural murder, Salerno uncovers clues that lead him to believe that this was not a mob hit, and that a vampire was responsible for this death. Magnus, the leader of Alexei's brood, must use all of his resources to save them from both the mafia and the FBI, sparking a bloody war that plays out in the streets of Philadelphia. Who will survive on Blood Street?   

I'm ten chapters in, and my favorite part of the story thus far is the mob setup. Carl gets it right, which makes me wonder a little...Ha! But I've seen all those mobster movies and read The Godfather, and you won't be disappointed with the development of these mob characters and their crime syndicate. He's done a great job of "showing" and not "telling." I'm sure it would have been easier to do an info dump to explain it all, but Carl takes the time to weave it nicely through the story.

I've recently been introduced to the vampires part of the story, and they're the typical vampires from back in the day, and I thank him for that. Nice job so far. When I'm finished with the book, I'll post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and in my next blog, where I will also write about how the whole cross-promotion trial went.

EAST END GIRLS Book Launch Party

Saturday, August 31st was the evening of my book launch party for East End Girls, my historical horror novella for JournalStone Publishing's Double Down Series, Volume 1. Gord Rollo's, Only the Thunder Knows, about notorious grave robbers Burke and Hare is on the flipside.

This is the second book launch party I've had within a six month period, so this one went smoother as far as me knowing what I needed for setting up, and I was a lot less nervous. A dear friend of mine runs a jewelry business called Ravenous Design and I invited her to join me, along with another one of her friends, who co-created HipsSister athletic wear, so between the three of us, we got some good traffic and cross-selling. Fortunately, I also brought copies of my debut novel, The Evolutionist, and it sold nearly as well as East End Girls did, because friends have told friends that it's about the "local" area and those who have read it are spreading the word. (Thank you all for that! XOXO!) So, all in all, I sold a little over fifty books, which was pretty awesome. But I will say the only minor downside to having a joint venture was that I used what I made in sales to purchase items from my party partners. Ha!

Since I've been writing, (and maybe even a little before that,) I've become somewhat of a recluse. But as a writer, I've learned that it's important to "get out there" and be able to "sell yourself." Having these book launch parties is one way for me to see old friends and make new ones. It's amazing how well you think you know people, but then you find out something new. A friend of a friend may be a well-known agent, or Hollywood producer, or run an advertising agency. All connections that might become handy at some point in your career. Then your friends make those same connections with others for things that they're curious about, or interested in, or need, and relationships and friendships are made. It's a beautiful thing.

I had a wonderful time, and actually got up and walked around and talked to people when the initial crowd thinned out. Now I feel one of the reasons I have to continue writing is so I can have more book parties and more opportunities to mingle with friends and make new ones. I'd really like to thank everyone that came, spoke with me, and had a good time. Always love the support!

My next event is KillerCon Convention at The Stratosphere here in Vegas, September 19th thru the 22nd. It also takes place over my birthday, and a whole lot of fun happens! Click the logo below for more information. There's still time to register.

"Reclamation"

A few months ago, I was asked by a local Las Vegas editor if I'd be interested in writing a short story for the upcoming Las Vegas Writes anthology, which coincides with  the Vegas Valley Book Festival, (October 30th - November 2nd) and a contributing authors' panel discussion/book launch scheduled for Halloween.
Hell Yeah! is what I was thinking, but I'm pretty sure I responded with a little more decorum. I was told that the theme is progress and it has to be about Las Vegas in some way.


To get an idea of what they might be looking for I read last year's anthology, Wish You Were Here, which was an homage of stories and essays to the old Vegas postcards, which I think were also used as writing prompts or at least chosen to go along with the pieces, which I thought was brilliant.

I've had a story in my head for a while, working out the nuts and bolts of it for a few months, but I knew right from the beginning it would have to do with water. I live in the dessert, so water is something precious. Then I've always thought that the whole "Primordial Soup" idea was interesting, too. Put those things together in a "horror/scientific" type of mind and I thought, what if the soup came back because water got smart and didn't like what we were doing to it? What would it do to us? How would it act? After a trip to the Hoover Dam for some background and research, my short story "Reclamation" became a more solidified idea and I began to write it out.


Taking the Hoover Dam tour wasn't just probably one of the coolest things I'd ever done, I got some good research out of it and learned quite a bit. After watching a short black and white film like the ones they showed us on projectors back in the day like old "Re-building of America" documentaries after The Great Depression, we got on an elevator and went down over 500 ft. The crowded elevator part was a bit uncomfortable, but it was very quick. I'm not even sure I felt butterflies in my stomach when we slowed/stopped. Then down below, I didn't feel like I was that far under the earth. It was very cool and open, considering it was about 110F degrees outside that day. The Nevada side turbines in the picture to the left where the American Flag hangs, hum a lot quieter than I thought they would.

Then you take the elevator back up after the tour guide is done explaining how things work. Our tour guide was very patient, as I kept him busy asking questions that made the rest of the tour group a little nervous.
Let me tell you, if you've never done it, the view from the top is a doozy. Especially if you have issues with heights and it's windy. Hundreds of people walk across the top of the damn every day. There's also another bridge that was recently built to keep cars from driving over the top of the dam anymore. To be honest, that's fine by me. I always hated that drive over. Not that the new bridge is any less scary.


 At the end of the trip we went to view some of the famous statuary done by Norwegian-born, naturalized American Oskar J.W. Hansen. One of them was the monument of dedication on the Nevada side of the dam. Rising from a black, polished base, is a 142-foot flagpole flanked by two winged figures, which Hansen calls the Winged Figures of the Republic. The winged bronzes which guard the flag, wear the look of eagles. The winged figures are 30 feet high. Their shells are 5/8-inch thick, and contain more than 4 tons of statuary bronze. The figures were formed from sand molds weighing 492 tons. The bronze that forms the shells was heated to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and poured into the molds in one continuous, molten stream. It is said that touching their feet is good luck so were sure to do this.

I suppose my whole point in writing this particular blog post was to show how important research is even when writing a short story. I wanted to know what the smells were like at the dam, what it felt like, and sounded like, so that I could "show" not "tell" when I wrote details in my story. From minor to major ones, research is an all important thing. I know that when I'm reading, and with my nursing/medical background, if I read something that just isn't possible or not right, but know could have easily been rectified with a little research, I tend to put the book down. And I'm not saying that my research is always a hundred percent. I am writing a work of fiction after all.

I turned "Reclamation" in the yesterday and reminded the editor that I'm a horror writer, so my idea of progress may differ from others.

THE EVOLUTIONIST Las Vegas Book Launch Party

April 13th was the big day. My friends had flown in from Sacramento late Friday night on the twelfth, and after an interesting cab ride they suffered through from the airport, we all finally settled in after two in the morning. Excited for the day ahead, I woke up early and made them wake up, too. We had breakfast and then I left them at the hotel so I could make preparations and try to get a nap. (Unfortunately, the nap didn't happen.)

The Suncoast Hotel provided quite the spread, including some really cute individual desserts. If you missed out, the food was delish.

By the time the party started, I was already feeling a bit tired. And nervous. So I had a dirty martini I'd been sipping. (Because alcohol always helps to wake you up. NOT.) People started coming in around 5pm and I began signing books, and my friend Mindy was in charge of the accounting.


I enjoyed meeting lots of new people that were interested in the book, but because I was busy signing, I missed out on talking to some old friends I hadn't seen in a while, which was kind of a bummer. So, I took a few more sips of martini.

I met one lady who was writing and interested in getting advice on how to get her fan fiction of Fifty Shades of Grey published. (I didn't tell her that she was the second person locally, within a matter of two weeks, that had approached me on the same exact subject matter, which I thought was kind of interesting.) Anyway, as writers, we always like to encourage other writers to keep writing, so I gave her the advice of attending romance/erotica cons and Googling publishers/editors that would be interested and submitting. I have not read the series, so it was hard to know which publishers to recommend, and I'm at the far end of the spectrum from romance novels as far as my own stories. Ha! To be honest, one of the best ways to learn is trial and error. I learned everything the hard way myself, from the correct way of formatting a manuscript, to submitting to an agent versus indie publishers, and everything in between. It's not easy, but if you can learn the process and continue to write, then I feel you become more appreciative of it all and know that it's something you really want and not just a fly-by-night idea. Of course, at the time, I couldn't think of that last best bit of advice. Then I had more sips of martini and continued with more of the signings.

When things started to slow down, I finally got up and mingled a little bit. I was thoroughly exhausted at this point and maybe a little bit buzzed. Having something to eat definitely helped.

All in all, I thought it was a good turnout, a lot of fun, and I even sold some books! I'd like to thank my friend Mindy for her accounting skills, Stacy Scranton for her photography skills, (she will be the official photographer for The Bram Stoker Awards® Weekend Incorporating  World Horror Convention in New Orleans from June 13-16, 2013,) where I will also be in attendance, reading, signing, selling, and volunteering. I also want to thank my husband for all his help and everyone who came to support me. It's definitely something I'd consider doing again. There were many more photos that wouldn't all fit here, so I will eventually add them to the gallery on my website, www.renamasonwrites.com

Coming soon is my blog on the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and some NOLA advice from someone who has been to a writer's convention there for 6 years in a row.

Black Water Snake

The new year hasn't quite started off the way that I would've wanted, but hopefully, it improves as the weeks go by. The "black" years have never been good for me anyhow. For starters, I had been looking for (and trying out) new laptops. I wanted something really small, thin, and light, but it had to be powerful enough to run a database. I found one! The AcerS7. I absolutely love it. The only downside is the "Delete" button that is at the bottom of the keyboard, two spaces to the right of the spacebar. I'd like to shoot the engineer who came up with that idea. I haven't lost  part of an MS thus far, but I have deleted entire paragraphs of emails. I'm going to try putting some kind of textured sticker on the key to let my fingers know (teach them) that they shouldn't be on it. I've been typing for so long and up to 120wpm w/ fewer than 13 mistakes, that my fingers type sometimes, faster than my thoughts. They even make corrections on their own. (Or maybe, it just feels that way.)

 

In any case, the Acer S7 has my thumbs up. Most of the complaints about it in other reviews were for it's low amount of memory. I don't use a lot of memory, so that wasn't a big issue for me, and I purchased a mini XD card and stuck it in the slot. Wow. It's amazing to me how that tiny little thing could hold 32gigs of ram (or whatever.) I'm no techie by any means. So the laptop works great, but it's my internet that is bad, and there's nothing I can do about that right now.  

 

The next bit of good news with a sting is that my debut novel, The Evolutionist, will be out by the end of this month or early April. I was hoping that it would be out sooner, but things happen for a reason. I've scheduled a book launch party for Saturday, April 13th at The Suncoast Hotel in Summerlin. I'm hoping---fingers crossed---everything goes off without a hitch. This past Saturday, I decided to update my website for the release of the novel. Because of my "spotty" internet service and frustration, I ended up deleting the entire thing but the main page. It took me all of yesterday, but I think I have it back up and running. Nothing is coming without a price this year. That's what I'm saying about the "black" part of the water snake year. But at least I'm learning early on.

On some good news that brings me a little more added work, I was promoted to the HWA Head Compiler for the Bram Stoker Awards ®. I also took on the "Recently Born of Horrific Minds" column for the monthly HWA Newsletter. I did get some help for the compiling, though. And that is most certainly good news. The column is fun writing up, and I enjoy working with Kathy Ptacek and Erinn Kemp (the columnists for "The Classifieds" and "Fiendish Endeavors." You can find out more and how to advertise and receive the monthly newsletter here: http://www.horror.org/

I also received an acceptance letter to the International Thrillers Writers as an active member. Find out more about this organization here: http://thrillerwriters.org/

My novella, East End Girls, is now available for preorder. http://journal-store.com/fiction/only-the-thunder-knows-east-end-girls/ Thanks to Gene O'Neill and Chris Marrs, Gord Rollo teamed up with me to do a "Double Down" book for JournalStone Publishing. They're supposed to be like the old "Ace Doubles" flip books. It was a lot of fun to write. We both decided on historical horror tales while Gord was here in Las Vegas for KillerCon last year. So great to see it all fall into place.

Then there was some really sad news this month with the passing of James Herbert, David B. Silva, and Rick Hautala. Please if you can, make donations to their families or even just buy their books to keep their legacies going.

The Next Big Thing Blog Tour

Two weeks ago, author Benjamin Kane Ethridge asked me join this chain-letter type blog tour and after several email volleys, I finally "got it" and agreed to do it. So here goes.

1) What is the working title of your next book?  The working title of my next work is East End Girls, and it's a novella.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?  The idea came a few years ago while I was reading/researching famous historical crimes and thought, what if?

3) What genre does your book fall under?  The genre is Horror/Alternate History.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  If I could choose any actors for a film adaptation of my book, I would want Real British ones. Emily Blunt would be my first choice for the main character.

5) A one-sentence synopsis describing my book:  Desperate to follow in her father's footsteps, a young lady crosses paths with Jack the Ripper and discovers the darkness that dwells within a killer.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?  It is being published by JournalStone in the "Double Down" series.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?  30 days of NaNoWriMo!

8)  What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  Stevenson's, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but it's a bit of a stretch.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?  I had originally planned it as a short story but was encouraged by my editor, R.J. Cavender, to write it as a novella or novel. Other than that, it was my love of history that inspired the story.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?  It has a historical twist, which I personally enjoy reading.

This blog tour of "The Next Big Thing" continues next Wednesday, December 5th. Keep an eye out for Q & A's with:
Cynthia Vespia, Lou Sylvre, Jerry Wheeler, David-Matthew Barnes, and Derek Johnson.

The Haunted Mansion Writer's Retreat 2012

It was Thursday, September 27th, exactly one week after my birthday, and still recovering from KillerCon Convention in Las Vegas, when I was met at the luggage carousel at SFO by Lisa Morton who was all smiles. Despite all of our reported delays and texting them to one another, we all seemed to land around the same time and didn't have to wait too long for anyone. As soon as I retrieved my luggage, we were off to find Chris Marrs, which thanks to Lisa, who actually reads the signs in airports, we were able to do without taking a shuttle to the other side of the airport. After a harrowing taxi ride we finally made it to the mansion and were met by Weston Ochse. Inside, we had our pictures taken and pinned above the fireplace which reminded me of players in a murder mystery.

 

Our lovely hostess, Rain Graves, showed us to our rooms and gave us a tour of the house. The interior was beautiful. Creaky stairs, dark woodwork, stained glass. Just lovely. During the tour Rain pointed out "hot spots" in the house for paranormal activity. I'll admit I'm not so into that kind of thing. I've always thought along the lines of letting sleeping dogs lie. But when Rain told me that my roommate wasn't coming, I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous about sleeping alone and thankful I brought  Prince Valium to help me out with that.

 

Not long after the tour, we were forced by the wonderful Eunice Magill to take a walk of the grounds. And oh, what a walk that was. If the house didn't give you the creeps, the pathwalk most certainly would. When I saw the old swimming pool, I immediately thought of the "baby bog" from Matheson's, Hell House. There are old twisted trees, stone and stick totems reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, a cave, a burnt hollowed out tree, and lots of steep steps that led up and up and up. Trying to walk at night without a flashlight would surely result in a broken neck or in the least, a sprained ankle. I took a picture of what to me looked like a wood nymph.

 

Then the dinner bell rang! The food was beyond delicious and we were never left hungry. I can't even list a favorite dish because they were all so tasty.

 

At night we'd sit on the porch and talk. Sometimes three deer would show up then take off when they heard rustling in the trees. Someone talked about mountain lions and after that I stayed close to the house at night. Ghosts are one thing, but an animal attack is well, a whole other animal. (Yeah, cheesy.)

 

The second night, the lovely and talented Fran Friel came down from the very "active" 3rd floor and roomed with me. Definitely the best roommate I've ever had and she never complained that I was in the bigger bed. HA! Gotta love her for that. A real sweetheart. And super bonus, I got a signed copy of Mama's Boy, which I can't wait to start reading.

During the day, many of us hung out in the library and worked on our individual projects. One of which was a rug. LOL! Loren Rhoads. I got a lot done while I was there, so if you think it's all fun and games, it's not. I completed five chapters of rewrites and edited a short story.

S.G. Browne, Weston and Sephera Giron would walk around the house with one of those handheld "ghost reader thingies" and a tape recorder. They came back excited about a recording, but no one believed them because it sounded like Darth Vader taking a breath. But after some cleaning up of the recordings by the very talented William Gilchrist, voices both male and female were heard speaking  clear words. I was sitting next to them as they sorted through the recordings and it made the hairs on my arms and neck stand up. Reminded me of the scene in the movie, The Changeling, (the best ghost story ever,) when George C. Scott's character first heard the haunting child's voice on the recording. C-R-E-E-P-Y. That night I was real glad Fran was with me.

A few other ghostly moments went down, and I actually did feel changes in the house that made me uncomfortable at times, but overall, I never felt like anything bad was out to get me. Then again, I choose to ignore things like I said before - let sleeping dogs lie.

It was a great experience and the camraderie couldn't be beat. I tend to feel a little awkward in large groups, but The Haunted Mansion Writer's Retreat 2014 will be something I look forward to in the future. For those of you who might be thinking about it. Do it. Book early, you won't regret it.