R.S. Merritt's Blog
December 24, 2024
Refining the Idea
I have a general idea for the next Zombie Series I'm writing. Before I put fingers to keyboard (pen to paper) I like taking some time to hash it out.
Right now the next series is tentatively titled "Twisted". Not trying to give too much away but let's say recreational drugs get tainted and lead to a whole lot of undead style shenanigans. The catalyst for the apocalypse is less important to me than picking the core characters I'm going to be writing for the next two years...
They have to be people I can get inside of and relate to so I can tell their story. Characters that breathe and act in the ways that they should. (People do weird things when faced with crazy circumstances).
I'm thinking a recently divorced dad back from being deployed overseas. Goes to stay at his parent's lake house to meet his daughter who his ex is shipping up to him for the summer via train... Not necessarily a special forces dude but more of an average Joe. Maybe a cook but not a Steven Seagal kind of cook...
Other characters we'll meet along the way will be according to where he's at and what pops in my head. Ideas anyone?
Right now the next series is tentatively titled "Twisted". Not trying to give too much away but let's say recreational drugs get tainted and lead to a whole lot of undead style shenanigans. The catalyst for the apocalypse is less important to me than picking the core characters I'm going to be writing for the next two years...
They have to be people I can get inside of and relate to so I can tell their story. Characters that breathe and act in the ways that they should. (People do weird things when faced with crazy circumstances).
I'm thinking a recently divorced dad back from being deployed overseas. Goes to stay at his parent's lake house to meet his daughter who his ex is shipping up to him for the summer via train... Not necessarily a special forces dude but more of an average Joe. Maybe a cook but not a Steven Seagal kind of cook...
Other characters we'll meet along the way will be according to where he's at and what pops in my head. Ideas anyone?
December 23, 2024
What's Next
Wrapped up the second half of the "Hole in the Hallway" series. It's edited and just waiting for a cover. I love how the first cover came out so very excited to see what Harry Lamb comes up with for the second. It's to be based off a church in Bodega Bay, California. The one featured in the Alfred Hitchcock movie the Birds. Kinda cool.
I'm proud of how the second and concluding book "Goliath's Bane" came out. I'm looking forward to releasing it. It crosses over a bunch of genres which I know isn't great from a marketing perspective, but whatever. I had fun writing it and I like it, so there you go :-)
I'm looking forward to doing another apocalyptic series. Trying to figure out now how I want to start it out. Been dabbling with some thoughts on how the 'virus' will impact people. I really love writing the beginning of these books and seeing how they develop. My imagination tends to have a life of its own!
I'm proud of how the second and concluding book "Goliath's Bane" came out. I'm looking forward to releasing it. It crosses over a bunch of genres which I know isn't great from a marketing perspective, but whatever. I had fun writing it and I like it, so there you go :-)
I'm looking forward to doing another apocalyptic series. Trying to figure out now how I want to start it out. Been dabbling with some thoughts on how the 'virus' will impact people. I really love writing the beginning of these books and seeing how they develop. My imagination tends to have a life of its own!
February 11, 2024
Now Available on Audio
This title uses virtual voice narration.
Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks.
Based on true events
In the early 80's a family living in a house on an island perched atop steep bluffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean encounter an ancient evil that threatens to tear them apart. The children are the first to recognize the danger the family is in. The adults in complete denial that something so insane could really be happening. It becomes a horrifying race against time for the children to get the parents to acknowledge the terror coming for them all. A demonic presence seeking to use the family for its own nefarious purposes.
As the body count builds, they begin to unravel a dark history that connects their piece of the island to supernatural events of biblical proportions.
"A fast paced horror story full of twists and turns."
"Something completely different"https://www.amazon.com/The-Hole-in-th...
https://www.amazon.com/Hole-Hallway-R...
Virtual voice is computer-generated narration for audiobooks.
Based on true events
In the early 80's a family living in a house on an island perched atop steep bluffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean encounter an ancient evil that threatens to tear them apart. The children are the first to recognize the danger the family is in. The adults in complete denial that something so insane could really be happening. It becomes a horrifying race against time for the children to get the parents to acknowledge the terror coming for them all. A demonic presence seeking to use the family for its own nefarious purposes.
As the body count builds, they begin to unravel a dark history that connects their piece of the island to supernatural events of biblical proportions.
"A fast paced horror story full of twists and turns."
"Something completely different"https://www.amazon.com/The-Hole-in-th...
https://www.amazon.com/Hole-Hallway-R...
January 29, 2024
January 20, 2024
Zournal Now in a Boxset
Books 1 - 6 of the Zournal series now available in a single Box Set!
https://www.amazon.com/Zournal-Books-...
***Dark, LOL, Edge of Your Seat Apocalyptic Fun told from a First Person Journal POV!!!***
https://www.amazon.com/Zournal-Books-...
Steve wakes up one morning after a horrible couple of weeks in which he's lost his girlfriend, his job, his savings and the majority of his self-respect. Dragging himself out of bed he wanders over to the window with a bottled water and a handful of Advil. Looking out of his apartment window he sees people running around crazily and a bunch of burning shrubbery. He decides to go back to sleep and see if it all goes away. When he wakes up for the second time it turns out the view from his fourth floor apartment wasn't a nightmare. It was his new normal.
Armed with a blunt samurai sword and some stolen steak knives he ventures out into the fray.
These aren't your standard Zombies but Steve isn't your standard Zombie fighter either. Join him in Book 1 as he heads out to check on his parents and try to survive in a world that's gone crazy...
https://www.amazon.com/Zournal-Book-1...
Box set includes all 6 volumes:
https://www.amazon.com/Zournal-Books-...
***Dark, LOL, Edge of Your Seat Apocalyptic Fun told from a First Person Journal POV!!!***
https://www.amazon.com/Zournal-Books-...
Steve wakes up one morning after a horrible couple of weeks in which he's lost his girlfriend, his job, his savings and the majority of his self-respect. Dragging himself out of bed he wanders over to the window with a bottled water and a handful of Advil. Looking out of his apartment window he sees people running around crazily and a bunch of burning shrubbery. He decides to go back to sleep and see if it all goes away. When he wakes up for the second time it turns out the view from his fourth floor apartment wasn't a nightmare. It was his new normal.
Armed with a blunt samurai sword and some stolen steak knives he ventures out into the fray.
These aren't your standard Zombies but Steve isn't your standard Zombie fighter either. Join him in Book 1 as he heads out to check on his parents and try to survive in a world that's gone crazy...
https://www.amazon.com/Zournal-Book-1...
Box set includes all 6 volumes:
December 9, 2023
Exploited Blood Book3 is Out!
DM if you'd like a code for this or any of my audio-books! Please specify US or UK.
Exploited Blood Book 3 now Available on Amazon, Audible, ACX in Audio format!
It came out Awesome!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Rite-Exploited...
An Amazon Best Seller in the Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic Categories!!! Available on KINDLE UNLIMITED
Exploited Blood 1 Audible Link
https://www.audible.com/pd/Exploited-...
Exploited Blood Book 3 now Available on Amazon, Audible, ACX in Audio format!
It came out Awesome!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Rite-Exploited...
An Amazon Best Seller in the Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic Categories!!! Available on KINDLE UNLIMITED
Exploited Blood 1 Audible Link
https://www.audible.com/pd/Exploited-...
November 26, 2023
September 6, 2023
Youtubes and books about ghosts in a house I lived in...
I'm working on a different kind of book and doing some research. My dad was in the USCG so we got to live in some cool places growing up. One of those places was the SouthEast light on Block Island, Rhode Island. I have my own personal stories and knew there were others who had stories. The below video on YouTube was pretty neat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2X0z...
I'm going through working on the first chapters of "The Hole in the Hallway" and I'm remembering all these things that happened when I lived there. its surreal reliving those memories as I work them into a fictional story based on events that actually happened to me.
I'm vividly remembering actual nightmares from when I was 8 years old. Nightmares that have followed me well into adulthood. I've been taking Melatonin to deal with the sleep paralysis symptoms I've started having. Now I can remember the same thing happening to me when I was younger...
Wondering if I should've just stuck to using my imagination to follow characters I made up instead of dredging up my past to put on display.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2X0z...
I'm going through working on the first chapters of "The Hole in the Hallway" and I'm remembering all these things that happened when I lived there. its surreal reliving those memories as I work them into a fictional story based on events that actually happened to me.
I'm vividly remembering actual nightmares from when I was 8 years old. Nightmares that have followed me well into adulthood. I've been taking Melatonin to deal with the sleep paralysis symptoms I've started having. Now I can remember the same thing happening to me when I was younger...
Wondering if I should've just stuck to using my imagination to follow characters I made up instead of dredging up my past to put on display.
September 2, 2023
Starting Over
Exploited Blood Book 6 releases on Monday. It's the finale to a series I first envisioned as a traditional vampires versus zombies thriller. Like everything else I write it took on a life of its own and became something different. Something better I think. That's the beauty of writing with an open mind. The ideas come and the worlds form and its all there just to be recorded. Its more like I'm trying to describe the story I see in my mind than that I'm writing if that makes sense...
Anyway. That's a wrap on zombies and vampires for now. Now I'm working on a concept I've been toying with for most of my life. I think it'll be a standalone novel. (but who knows!). The topic stems from my childhood and some discoveries I made while doing some research. This is all super high level rough draft right now as I go through my process.
I grew up on an island. I lived in certifiable haunted houses. (Check out the lighthouses on Block Island and Watch Hill in Rhode Island). The Block Island one sits on top of bluffs where hundreds of Native Americans were killed. All kinds of crazy stories there. Including ones I was part of. Ones involving ghosts and demons and 'night hags'. It's a story that's going to be hard to tell as I open myself up to reliving those horrors and translating them into a story of sorts.
More to come as right now I'm just laying the groundwork. Its a little crazy how much I'm starting to remember. All the night terrors that are coming back to me. The shadowy figure at the foot of my bed...
Anyway. That's a wrap on zombies and vampires for now. Now I'm working on a concept I've been toying with for most of my life. I think it'll be a standalone novel. (but who knows!). The topic stems from my childhood and some discoveries I made while doing some research. This is all super high level rough draft right now as I go through my process.
I grew up on an island. I lived in certifiable haunted houses. (Check out the lighthouses on Block Island and Watch Hill in Rhode Island). The Block Island one sits on top of bluffs where hundreds of Native Americans were killed. All kinds of crazy stories there. Including ones I was part of. Ones involving ghosts and demons and 'night hags'. It's a story that's going to be hard to tell as I open myself up to reliving those horrors and translating them into a story of sorts.
More to come as right now I'm just laying the groundwork. Its a little crazy how much I'm starting to remember. All the night terrors that are coming back to me. The shadowy figure at the foot of my bed...
September 1, 2023
Exploited Blood 6!
Exploited Blood Book 6 Comes out Sept 4th!
PreOrder your copy today!
https://www.amazon.com/Exploited-Bloo...
First Book in Series Link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...
New Book 6! Link
https://www.amazon.com/Exploited-Bloo...
An Amazon Best Seller in the Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic Categories!!! Available on KINDLE UNLIMITED
Exploited Blood 1 and soon 2 Also Available on Audible!
https://www.audible.com/pd/Exploited-...
PreOrder your copy today!
https://www.amazon.com/Exploited-Bloo...
First Book in Series Link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...
New Book 6! Link
https://www.amazon.com/Exploited-Bloo...
An Amazon Best Seller in the Dystopian and Post Apocalyptic Categories!!! Available on KINDLE UNLIMITED
Exploited Blood 1 and soon 2 Also Available on Audible!
https://www.audible.com/pd/Exploited-...
