J. Manfred Weichsel's Blog, page 3

New Free Audio of Warrior Soul - You get to hear what my voice sounds like!!!

Dear readers, 
You won't believe what I have to tell you! I got the amazing opportunity to record my short story Warrior Soul for the YouTube show Godless Read, which is on the awesome Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. This is a dream come true for me, because Godless Reads episodes usually get thousands of views, which means that this is going to be the biggest single piece of exposure I've ever had. The recording just went live today, and I need your help to make it a success. Please listen and share it with everyone you know. 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCaajyGUA8M 
And if you love the recording, please support me and Godless by buying a copy of Warrior Soul & Other Stories at Godless. They made this possible, so I want to show them some gratitude. Or if you prefer physical media, you can get the paperback at Amazon.
Thank you for reading... and listening. Please share to make sure as many people hear Warrior Soul as possible!
J. Manfred Weichsel

Announcing my first anthology as editor

 

Dear readers,

Are you ready for three science fiction stories that will make you throw up? Well, you’re in luck because I have decided to try my hands at editing an anthology in my Tales to Make You Vomit universe, and it is going to be disgusting!

If you’re unfamiliar with Tales to Make You Vomit, a ghoul called the Librarian keeps a library of the most disgusting books ever, which she challenges visitors to read, without throwing up. Each title in the series features a frame narrative involving a visitor to the library, as well as the text of the book that visitor must devour.

So far, the three books in the series are She Was Asking for It, which is about the disgusting sex lives of failed Hollywood actors, Kittycat Massacre, about a crazy old woman who tortures and abuses cats in front of an adolescent girl, and Savage Headhunters, about the trophy collecting practices of US servicemembers in the Japanese theater of World War II.

You can also find all three books on Godless, which is their natural home.

The new book is titled Tales to Make You Vomit: Gruesome Futures. NASA has made a return trip to the moon. The astronauts exit their craft, only to discover that the librarian has decided to put humanity on trial by forcing each of them to read a science fiction book from her collection. If just one can read a book without throwing up, the earth will be spared. But each time one of the astronauts vomits, the librarian will launch, by catapult, a giant rock at the earth, which will, upon impact, cause massive loss of life.

The three books the astronauts must read are:

It Only Hurts When I Swallow, by Misha Burnett, which is about the horrific punishment received by a man in the future, The Rape and Annihilation of Babe Babylonia, by Max Gunssler, which is about the horrific punishment received by a woman in the future, and a currently untitled story by Todd Love, which is sure to be especially disgusting. And of course, the frame narrative will be written by me, J. Manfred Weichsel.

So, you’re probably wondering right now, who the fuck are these people? Well…

Misha Burnett is completely autodidactic. Having always read anything he could get his hands on, he further educated himself in the library of a university where he was working as a janitor, although according to him he started at the university with a better grasp of most subjects than the majority of the instructors. His major influences include Tim Powers, Samuel Delany, William Burroughs, and Phillip K. Dick. You can find all his books, as well as magazines and anthologies he has appeared in, on his Amazon page.

If you’re looking for someplace to start, An Atlas of Bad Roads is a great horror collection, while Endless Summer is an excellent collection of science fiction. Misha also has a Kickstarter going on right now for a new collection called Small Worlds. Later this year, Misha and I will appear in an anthology from Cirsova called The Mighty Sons of Hercules, so keep an eye out for that one too.

Max Gunssler blogs about exploitation films and B movies as Christopher Zisi at his blog Zisi Emporium for B Movies. As Max Gunssler, he writes novels inspired by the kinds of movies he blogs about. You can find many of his books on Amazon. He also has a few books on Godless, which are too hot for the world’s longest river.

Todd Love writes extreme horror books. You can find many of them on Godless. He also has books on Amazon, including the short story collection Howling of the Damned, which is especially disgusting. His next book, What Grief Consumes, will be available on Amazon June 4th.

The Gruesome Futures cover will be by the regular Tales to Make You Vomit cover artist Ramiro Roman, Jr. He does a lot of incredible art and comics under the name SkinCube. You can learn all about his many amazing projects at his linktree.

So that’s about it! I have penciled in July 22 as the release date. This is a very special day for me, because it’s my birthday, so what better day to release my first anthology as an editor?

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

J. Manfred Weichsel

Three Titles Now on Kindle Unlimited!

Dear readers,

I usually don’t talk shop, but Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program allows subscribers to KU to read an unlimited number of eBooks each month. It’s a very popular income stream for indie writers, who get paid per number of pages read rather than per sale, but the catch is that eBooks enrolled in the program must be exclusive to Amazon, and I like to sell my eBooks on a lot of different platforms.

Well, other than Amazon, the only eBook store that’s been really amazing to me has been Godless.com. Godless is absolutely incredible. I have the best fans there, and my horror eBooks sell better there than on Amazon! The rest of the eBook stores aren’t that great. Kobo pays the lowest royalties in the industry, I can’t seem to find an audience on Nook, Smashwords is going through internal changes that I’m not thrilled about, and hardly anybody at all buys books on Apple Books or Google Play.

The thing is, Godless is a horror store, and while all of my books are horror-adjacent, some are more horror than others, and it’s really my straight-up horror books such as my Tales to Make You Vomit series that do well on the platform.

So, I’ve decided to do an experiment and move three of my less horror-adjacent books to Kindle Unlimited. If it’s a success, I will split my catalog between Godless and KU, keeping my more purely horror books on Godless, and moving the others to Kindle Unlimited. For new releases, the horror books will stay out of KU so that I can put them on Godless, while the less horror-ish ones will be published on Godless first for a two-week window so my fans there can get them, before moving to Amazon to take advantage of their exclusivity deal.

But, for the experiment to be a success, I am going to have to get a whole lot of Kindle Unlimited page reads. So, if you are a subscriber to Kindle Unlimited and want to see more of my eBooks enrolled, read the ones that are already there, and share them with your friends, and to online groups with a lot of Kindle Unlimited subscribers. That way, I will want to put more eBooks into Kindle Unlimited. Otherwise, I will take the three books out of the program at the end of 90 days and republish them to the other eBook platforms.

The three eBooks now enrolled in Kindle Unlimited are:

Not Far from Eden

The Calydonian Boar Hunt

Planet of the Wage Slaves

So, if you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, check them out now, and be sure to leave a review and tell all your friends about them! It will be very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

J. Manfred Weichsel

New podcast interview with Blasters & Blades Podcast

Dear readers,

I have a lot of news to report, and if you read on, you’ll find buried in it all the very first teasers for my next two books, but first the biggest news, I just sat down with the Blasters and Blades podcast for my second interview with them, talking about Warrior Soul & Other Stories, my author career thus far, and other interesting tidbits such as the DuMont network.

You can find the Podcast here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blasters-and-blades/episodes/Episode-246-J-Manfred-Weichsel--Short-Story-Connoisseur-e22tidn/a-a9nh2b2

You can also listen to the interview on YouTube here:

In other news, Warrior Soul & Other Stories and Savage Headhunters each got new reviews last week, and I’d love for you all to check them out. Warrior Soul & Other Stories was reviewed by Mike Rankin at Horror Bookworm Reviews, while Savage Headhunters was reviewed by Benjamin Espen at With Both Hands.

Please check the reviews out. Even if you have already read my books, it’s always interesting to see what others think, and both reviewers recommend a lot of great fiction for you to read. So please, take a look at the reviews above.

I am not ready to make official announcements yet, but I am currently working on my next two books, and there is going to be more vomit and more action girls in your future. The next vomit book will be my first anthology as an editor, while I am writing the action girls book in response to a poll that you all had the opportunity to vote in.

Both books are going to be science fiction.

Okay, so that’s my news roundup for today!

The above was my second interview with Blasters and Blades. You can find my first one, where I talk about The Calydonian Boar Hunt here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/pod/show/blasters-and-blades/episodes/Episode-189-J-Manfred-Weichsel--Making-Mythology-Sexy-e1p1gqf

Or on YouTube:

Thanks for reading!!!

Sincerely,

J. Manfred Weichsel 

New Release Alert: Warrior Soul & Other Stories is now available!

 

Dear readers,

I’m excited to announce that my latest book, Warrior Soul & Other Stories, is now available for purchase! This collection of twelve boundary-shattering tales explores the fringes of what's possible in speculative fiction, taking readers on a journey to the far reaches of imagination and beyond.

You can get your copy of Warrior Soul & Other Stories today from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Godless, Google Play, Scribd, or Smashwords. It should be available on Kobo soon.

If you want a paperback, I’d suggest getting it now before they make me change the cover. You can get the paperback on Amazon.

If you are international and want to be brought to your own country’s store, use the universal Book Link.

I'm so excited to share this new collection with you, and I can't wait to hear what you think. With heart-stopping action, mind-bending science fiction, far-out fantasy, humor, and horror, these twelve stories reveal the naked truth of our humanity.

Share

Cover Reveal for Warrior Soul & Other Stories

 

Dear readers,

I am thrilled to reveal the cover for my upcoming book, now titled Warrior Soul & Other Stories! The cover art is by the talented Scott P. "doc" Vaughn, and the design is by Drew Stepek, owner of the eBook store Godless.com.

The cover depicts a scene from the titular story, Warrior Soul, in which two young models, Peace and Mil, have been posing for a photographer. He pulls out a special camera that photographs models' souls, takes their picture, and they are transported to an alternate dimension. Now the two damsels find themselves trapped, floating naked in empty space.

The nudity of the two women represents the raw, unapologetic nature of my storytelling. Like the exposed bodies on the cover, my stories strip away the veneer of societal norms and delve deep into the human psyche, exposing the rawest and most vulnerable parts of our existence. Through my boundary-shattering tales of adventure, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and humor, I fearlessly explore the fringes of what is possible in fiction, exposing the naked truth of our humanity.

I know many will find the cover to be controversial, but I believe it perfectly captures the tone of the book: exciting, provocative, and boundary-pushing.

I am honored to have worked with such talented artists as Vaughn and Stepek, who have captured the essence of my stories in this striking and evocative image. I hope that the cover will pique your curiosity and entice you to read Warrior Soul & Other Stories when it comes out on March 16.

Thank you for your support, and I can't wait for you to join me on these adventures to the edge of imagination and beyond.

Announcing The Pulp Stories

Dear Readers,

I am excited to announce the upcoming release of my tenth self-published book, The Pulp Stories! This collection of 12 previously published and unpublished short stories is the culmination of everything I have been working on over the past few years, making it my most important release to date.

The stories in The Pulp Stories range from science fiction, to fantasy, horror, and adventure. They originally appeared in NewPulp publications such as Cirsova Magazine and the Planetary Anthology series between 2018 and 2022. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with these fantastic publications.

As I reflect on my journey as an author, I am reminded over and over of the incredible support and loyalty of my fans. Many of you have been with me from the very beginning, and others have joined along the way. I want to thank you for your support, and I hope this collection will remind you why you fell in love with my writing to begin with.

For those of you who are new to my work, I want to invite you into my world and show you why my writing is different from anything else out there.

In The Pulp Stories, you'll encounter stories that will make you laugh, stories that will make you cringe, and stories that will make you think. The collection is a rollercoaster ride of emotions, from the absurd to the sublime, and everything in between. I've poured my heart and soul into these stories, and I hope you'll feel that as you read them.

The cover of the book is still being finalized, but it will be by my regular cover artist Scott P. “doc” Vaughn, and will depict a scene from Warrior Soul, which is probably my most well-known short story. As anybody familiar with Warrior Soul can guess, the cover will definitely be my most controversial, but I believe it will perfectly capture the tone of the book: exciting, provocative, and boundary-pushing.

The book will be released on March 16, and it won't be available for pre-order. If you're not already subscribed to my Substack, I encourage you to do so to make sure you don't miss important announcements such as the cover reveal, which is coming next week. I look forward to sharing The Pulp Stories with you, and I hope it will be a book that you'll treasure for years to come.

The Pulp Stories marks the end of one chapter in my career, and the beginning of a new one, making its release a very special and emotional experience for me. As I prepare for the release of The Pulp Stories on March 16, I want to invite both my long-time fans and those who are encountering my work for the first time to join me in this new chapter of my career. This is not just a book release; it is a new beginning.

Savage Headhunters is live!!!

Savage Headhunters is live!!!

Looking for a book that is as twisted as your sense of humor? Well, the wait is over, and Savage Headhunters is live! Check out this darkly hilarious novel that explores the unsettling reality of war through the eyes of American soldiers who collected Japanese skulls as trophies. You can get it at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Godless, Google Play, Scribd, and Smashwords.

If you read my books on Kobo, the link should be live soon so check back there in a couple of days.

If you are international, shop at another store, or are looking for the paperback, use the Universal Book Link.

Savage Headhunters has been getting really great reviews on Facebook, Amazon, and even a blog!

So, pick up Savage Headhunters now: because sometimes the best way to deal with the horrors of war is to make inappropriate jokes about them. 

Savage Headhunters Cover Reveal and Release Date

First, feast your eyes on the Savage Headhunters cover. Isn't it a beauty? Feel free to click on it, make it really big, and download it! It's all yours! 

Second, mark your calendar apps, because Savage Headhunters is coming out February 16th!!! 

I can't believe I started researching this book back in July. Savage Headhunters took me way too long to write, although I wrote and published Planet of the Wage Slaves while working on it. The good news, though, is that it's going to be worth the wait. I have always admired the anti-war theme in satire, and given the way current events are going, I felt an extra urgency to write one of my own before actual war breaks out and it becomes seditious. 

Savage Headhunters represents the convergence of many different ideas and concepts that have woven throughout my career. It's the third book in my Tales to Make You Vomit series, which started with She Was Asking for It and Kittycat Massacre, it's my third jungle adventure book, after Ebu Gogo and Jungle Jitters, and, if you accept that World War II is the foundational myth of the modern world order, it's my third mythological adaptation, after Not Far from Eden and The Calydonian Boar Hunt. 

The book tells the true American tale of World War II soldiers on the island of Guadalcanal, who collect the skulls of dead Japanese soldiers, and pose with them for pictorials in Life Magazine. Savage Headhunters started out as an extreme horror book but wound up being much more bizarro. I am absolutely thrilled with it and can't wait to share it with you. 

Remember, Savage headhunters is coming February 16! In the meantime, feel free to share the cover with all your friends on social media. It's a real beauty and deserves to be seen. 
Finally, please, check out the surreal webcomics and other works from Tales to Make You Vomit cover artist Ramiro Roman. He is a really great artist and has a lot of fantastic stuff. 

Savage Headhunters Update

I finished writing Tales to make You Vomit: Savage Headhunters yesterday!!! I revise as I go, so I should only have to give it two or three more passes before I get it to my editor. You should expect to see it mid-February. 

The book is currently over 23,000 words, which makes it the longest Tales to Make You Vomit book. It wound up being a bit more bizzarro than I intended, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. Please keep an eye out for it! My next blog post will be when the eBook is live on all stores. 

In other news, I got a couple of reviews I want to bring to you attention.

The first is a review of Jungle Jitters from legendary horror reviewer Corrina Rhcp Morse!!! Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/NoReMorseReviewsPage/posts/pfbid0bbGiLt2mg3eUE4PbKpCDWegtp5TWnZwDP9KhnT5CGh5TPLbBm2BFeSeiJ5TF5HsNl

For more horror reviews, you can follow Corinna on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoReMorseReviewsPage

Or on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...

The other is a review of not Far from Eden on Smashwords: Scroll down for the review: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1119452

Now, I want to point out something to all of you. The Not Far from Eden review is much shorter than the Jungle Jitters one. In fact, it's just two sentences long. And guess what? That's okay! In fact, it's great. A short review helps me out just as much as a long one. The important thing is that people who have never read me, who might be thinking of buying one of my books for the first time, sees that other people have taken the time to write a review. That is very powerful. 

Another thing I want to point out is that although Smashwords is my third best store, (Amazon is #1 and Godless is #2,) this is my only review on Smashwords. I really want to help grow Smashwords as a store, because I like it and believe in its mission, and one way I can do that is to beg all of you to review my books there! I know a lot of you who read my blog buy my eBooks on Smashwords. If you could take the time out to write reviews of my books, even if they are only a sentence or two long, it will show other readers, who might not be familiar with me, that others are enjoying my work, and it will encourage them to check it out too. 

Savage Headhunters could be a very big book for me. It could introduce a lot of new readers to my work, and point them to other books of mine, such as the other two vomit books, She Was Asking for It and Kittycat Massacre, or my other jungle adventures, Ebu Gogo and Jungle Jitters. 

For this to happen, I am going to need your help! So please, review my books on Facebook! Review them on Goodreads! Review them at the store where you bought them! Every little bit helps!!!

Thank you everybody for reading my books and thank you for everything you do. Your continued support means everything to me. I wish everybody a happy and joyous new year.