Trey Stone's Blog, page 14

Book Review: Gerald’s Game by Stephen King

In many ways this is the scariest King book I’ve ever read.

The plot of Gerald’s Game is simple: Jessie and Gerald Burlingame go away for the weekend to their cabin in the woods. During some raunchy foreplay where Jessie gets handcuffed to the bed, Gerald dies from a heart attack. You know how it is – a typical Saturday afternoon. Oh, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the keys to the handcuffs are just out of reach, along with Jessie’s phone, her neighbors, and anyone who could possible save her. Cue Jessie realizing that she’s going to die in her own bed, if she can’t figure out how to get out of the cuffs.

This is the beauty of this story and why I think it’s much scarier than many of King’s other books – the fear comes from that slow spiral toward certain death. It’s not an external force, no spectral horrors, no vampires or walking dead, just Jessie’s mind slowly pulling her under.

And what a pull it is.

I like King. After reading probably a dozen of his books, I know what I can expect and I look forward to it – but, I still think they’re too long half of the time. That’s not the case with Gerald’s Game, not because it’s particularly short, but because it has an uncharacteristically fast pace. Everything is set in motion from page one and we get the ball rolling pretty fast. Even with a sprinkle of backstory and what it was like for Jessie when she was younger, the story is still constantly rolling forward. We never stop – not even once – until it’s over.

A slow spiral toward certain death

Unfortunately, I read a translated version of this book – in Norwegian – because it was given to me by someone and I knew I wanted to read it. I figured I’d just have to suck it up and read it in Norwegian. I HATE reading translated books. Even if the story is the same, you lose so much nuance, so much voice, it’s terrible. Perhaps particularly terrible when you know the author from before. You expect a certain type of writing, and there’s so much that just doesn’t carry over.

Also, Mike Flanagan’s movie based on this is brilliant. I saw that a few years ago, and I got to say, he nailed it. Yet, the book still managed to surprise and frighten me, even when I know for the most part what was coming.

Anyway – Gerald’s Game is fantastic, if you’re looking for something a bit different than King’s regular stuff. There’s nothing supernatural here, no child with superpowers or strange dark things fluttering around in the night. It’s quite refreshing. It was good to read another King book again.

If you like psychological thrillers and horror, I’d like to ask you to check out my upcoming book, At The Gate, releasing September 6. It’s terrifying, thrilling, and heart-breaking, and it’s guaranteed to leave a chill down your book.

ARTWORK REVEAL – Original Illustration for At The Gate

They’re finally here – the six original illustrations for my upcoming thriller, At The Gate, in all their beautiful glory!

At The Gate is a dark and terrifying thriller, about a man named Joseph who’s overcome with guilt and grief after losing his daughter. He checks in to The Gate on a mission to end it all. But after the disappearance of a guest everything begins to unravel. Days go missing, people are acting strange, and nothing is what it should be. At every turn, he’s reminded of this most painful mistake.

The book touches on a lot of heavy themes; depression, pain, loss, and grief, among others – and my wonderful editors at Inked In Gray had the idea to add some artwork at key sections of the book. They brought in the amazing Axel Toth (@Urbanknightart) to create six beautiful pieces for us. I love how every single one of these came out, they’re beautiful, terrifying and capture so much of what I try to convey through the book. Painful and devastating feelings I’m sure many of you can relate to. Check out the artworks below!

Oh – and if you pre-order the book (ebook, paperback or both) directly through Inked In Gray, you’re automatically entered into the giveaway where you can win copies of these for yourself!

I’m really proud of this book and it means a lot to me – I can’t wait to share it with all of you.

PRE-ORDER NOW Pain, Depression, & ShameDesperation, Rage, & Denial

Book Review: The Harvest by Sara Clancy

A gruesomely terrifying piece of horror – and I loved every bit of it!

I picked this up on a whim and boy am I glad I trust my whims – this book is absolutely terrifying straight out of the gate.

The premise is simple: four old families are cursed forever by a dead witch, forced to take part in the witch’s harvest, every year.

The twist? The witch picks the four contestants herself – after haunting them for weeks on end – and if they don’t complete the harvest within seven days, they die.

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started reading this (which is how I often throw myself over books), but this impressed me greatly. Right from the start it was terrifying and horrible, and Clancy has an incredible way of painting an image and setting a scene.

There’s something raw and real about horror that keeps pulling me back when I deep down also want to look away – be it in books, movies or video games. It awakens that instinct in me that makes you want to peek through your fingers, that makes you want to investigate the creepy sound from the loft, or call out for whoever’s there when you know you’re home alone – and Sara Clancy does it really well.

This book is part terrifying horror story and part YA adventure novel, and I’d say I liked the horror part the most. It’s not that I didn’t like when the four harvest contestants had to overcome their personal horrors and work together to survive – there’s a battle royale feeling to all of it that I enjoyed a lot – it’s just that I’m much more intrigued by the horror.

Clancy has set this series up for an interesting continuation and any lover of a good horror story would enjoy this – just make sure to lock your doors and maybe have a friend ready on speed dial.

Pre-Order My Psychological Thriller – Win Amazing Art!

See those six illustrations on the table in front of me? Those that are intentionally out of focus and hidden behind a big business card? Those are the original artworks for my upcoming psychological thriller, At The Gate, all made by the incredible talented Axel Toth (@UrbanKnightArt).

At The Gate is a dark, psychologically terrifying novel that promises to horrify and thrill you until the bitter end. It features a lot of heavy themes, like pain, loss, regret, and rage, which have all been beautifully captured by Axel.

If you pre-order At The Gate through Inked In Gray, you automatically enter the giveaway where you can win your own beautiful copies of these amazing illustrations.

Pre-order At The Gate here!

The artworks themselves will be revealed soon – meanwhile you can check out more of Axel’s beautiful art on his website – stay tuned!

Book Review: 61 Hours by Lee Child

My first Jack Reacher book – and my new favorite action hero!

I’m not sure how I never read a Lee Child book before, but it was about damn time, because Jack Reacher is right up my alley!

If you’ve been living under a rock like me, Jack Reacher is an ex-military loner who has a knack for finding his way into trouble, and a habit of not being able to walk away without solving it first. I imagine that’s the case for all the Jack Reacher books, and it’s definitely the case here.

In 61 Hours, Reacher finds himself on a bus going through South Dakota that just happens to crash during a snowstorm. Luckily for all the old tourists, Reacher is there to figure out how to get them out of the blizzard and into the nearest town, but that’s where things start getting weird.

The local police are all on high alert. Roads are blocked off, houses are being watched, and Reacher can’t help his interest being piqued. With no way out of town, and since he’s already been helpful with the bus crash, he ends up staying overnight with the assistant chief of police, who eventually lets him in on what’s going on.

There’s a witness in town—an old lady who saw a drug deal go down and is preparing to testify about it—and the police know that someone’s coming after her. Now that Reacher happens to be there, maybe he can help them out? There’s only 61 hours to go.

I love Child’s writing style. The book is long, but doesn’t feel like it, because it’s easily read and there’s constantly something going on. Reacher is an exciting action hero. He’s big, strong and stoic, but not in a dark and dreary kind of way. And what really makes him interesting his how he sees what others don’t, analyses and calculates every little thing. You get to follow along on all his thought processes, and you get a sense of how he sees the world. Every little thing he says and does is carefully planned out, and it makes him so damn entertaining.

Child’s writing is like that as well. Everything means something, even the smallest things. I’m impressed at how he manages to pull everything together, he must have a massive cork board full of notes and pins with red strings crisscrossing his office.

The only thing negative thing about this, and it’s not really a thing at all, is that one of the (many) twists in this was quite obvious. So obvious that I was thinking to myself, it can’t possibly be that easy, he’s tricking me, but then he didn’t.

Lee Child is fantastic, and I’m definitely going to read more Jack Reacher.

I had the honor of having my own psychological crime thriller be compared to Lee Child once – and now that I know what that entails, I’m bearing that badge with a lot of pride. So if you’re a fan of thrillers like these, check out my books!

5 Reasons to Work on Multiple Projects – The Benefits of Divided Attention

Let me ask you a question – do you work on multiple creative projects at the same time, or do you have a sole focus from start to finish?

A friend of mine asked me this question recently, and we realized we’re in completely different camps on the matter. I’m definitely in the former.

Currently I’m 1) drafting a novel, 2) working on revising and publishing another, 3) editing, revising and submitting short stories to various magazines and sites, 4) querying two novels, and I’m 5) technically waiting to hear back about at least two projects. Also, 6) I should really re-read and revise a novel I wrote last winter.

I can’t imagine doing it any other way. My friend said they work on one single project from start to finish, from drafting all the way through to publishing, before they even consider doing anything else. That’s wild to me, and I figured I’d write up a little post on why I think it’s highly beneficial to work on many things a time.

5 Great Reasons to Work on Multiple Projects At The Same Time:It’s MotivatingThere’s nothing that’s as much fun to do as writing, when it is fun. I think we all experience that, regardless of how we structure our work. For me, it’s quite logical then that it’s more fun to have more fun. Being able to jump from one fun project to another just enhances the whole experience for me. It makes me more eager to put in more work, because I want to see them all come to life.It Gives You and Your Work Time to RestI’m a big believer in the letting your first draft rest for a while method of writing. I think I picked it up from Stephen King, and it just makes sense to me. When I’m done with a first draft, I save it, put it away somewhere where I know where to find it and know that I have multiple backups, then I go do something else. It gives me some time off, but it also gives the project some time off. When I come back to re-read it, I’m not locked into that way of thinking, and I see and read things more clearly. Maybe a section doesn’t work anymore. Maybe a character doesn’t actually come across the way I hoped. It’s much easier to start editing after some time away from a project.Less DowntimeThis one’s quite obvious: at some point you’re going to have to send your stuff away, be it to critique partners, beta readers or editors. What do you do in the meantime? Nothing? That’s fine if you need that break, it healthy to take a step away and focus on something else occasionally, but I like to use those moments to maybe read through that first draft I had lying around for a few months (see point 2), or maybe outline a new project – which sometimes feels like a break in itself!Avoid SlumpsThis one’s related to point 1, because there’s nothing more demotivating than when work is hard and you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere. Perhaps you have methods of getting through that by brainstorming around your problem or just pushing on, but having a secondary project to switch to can be a very useful diversion. Not only are you giving yourself time off from your main project, but you’re also getting more of something else done.Multiple PayoffsMaybe this way of working makes every project take longer, but it also means that you’re going to have more things that are slowly nearing completion. And I don’t know about you, but I quite like the feeling of having multiple things that I know are getting finished and ready to see the world. It feels like I’m accomplishing more things at once!

How do you structure your work? Are you a multitasker like me or do you prefer to have a sole purpose? Have you tried both methods and decided to stick with one or the other? Let me know in the comments!

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my books, pre-order my upcoming psychological thriller At The Gate, and sign up for my newsletter to get a free book!

I Have A Gift For You!

Today I want to say thanks. For being a reader. For being a friend. For sticking around.

Today I’m giving you a gift – as a way to say that I appreciate all of you who drop by my blog.

Which is why I’m giving everyone who signs up for my newsletter before the end of the month, a review copy of my first book – The Consequence of Loyalty – for free!

So, thank you. I couldn’t have done this without you.

Get The Book

Accomplishment Accomplished!

When was the last time you felt proud of something you did?

For me it was five days ago – when I ran my second ever marathon.

I wouldn’t say I love running. At best, I like it as a friend. It’s a thing I started doing firstly because I realized I could (because believe me, there was a time in my younger days that when I never would have thought that I could run anywhere), and secondly, because it gives me a feeling of accomplishment.

(Also, there’s a whole getting regular exercise for you is healthy bladibladibla, but let’s not get too into that.)

It’s a very basic form of accomplishment. You put on your shoes, you go out and move your feet for a bit, you exhaust yourself, and then you feel better after. You feel rewarded. A psychologist, chemist or biologist, would explain that that’s the release of endorphins in your blood stream—and sure, that might be the actual reason for why I’m feeling what I’m feeling—but there’s also a sense of just… having done something. Something that in one sense doesn’t mean anything at all, to anyone, but at the same time, it just makes me feel a tiny bit different. Better, in a way.

I moved to an Arctic island a few years ago, and that’s where I ended up turning my life around in an attempt to become healthier. This is also where I started running. I joked about running a marathon back then, but luckily a certain world-wide health crisis cancelled it.

So when I knew I was moving back up to the frozen wastelands of the north this summer, I looked into signing up. Felt like something cool to say that I had done, right? Something fun to have accomplished, that would make my whole new healthy lifestyle come full circle. Well, thankfully the whole race was full. No more room at the inn! Ah well, at least I tried.

Then I get this message from a friend, four days before the race. “Hey, they opened up for last minute registration!“

Goddam it!

But I did it. I signed up, showed up, and ran. It was awful. It’s not winter in the Arctic at the moment, but with the rain and wind chills, the temperature was below freezing. Somehow though, I managed.

It feels good to know that I’ve done it. It’s not the run in itself that feels like the accomplishment. Not running the two laps, not exhausting myself for nearly five hours in the cold, or torturing my legs and feet for half a day.

It’s bigger than that, in a way. It’s all of it, starting four years ago. I said I was going to do it, and I did it. I’ve accomplished something. And that’s a good feeling to be left with—maybe especially since it seemed so impossible all those years ago.

So next time you do something—anything, no matter how big or small, take a moment to appreciate what you’ve accomplished. We all deserve that. Especially when it’s one of those things we thought we’d never do.

Book Review: The Call of Chaos by Sean R. Frazier

The Witcher meets The Hobbit in this wonderfully crafted and delightfully terrifying fantasy!

Cor’il Silvermoon has been exiled from his homelands – but he doesn’t know why. Forced to roam the world outside the safety of what he used to call home, he is destined to meet friends, make enemies, and face the terrors that are about to be unleashed on the world.

Frazier has crafted a delightful tale and put a unique spin on a fantasy story that might seem familiar to many. With characters roaming the world to find somewhere that will take them in, and others fleeing where they came from, I was immediately reminded of Sapkowski’s The Witcher series, and why I loved it. But there’s also a focus on the inevitable adventure in between, the things that happen between places, as characters get to know each other and build relations. This is the kind of storytelling that made me fall in love with The Hobbit, way back when.

The world-building in The Forgotten Years is excellent, balancing elegantly on the edge of not too much, yet incredibly immersive and detailed. It’s the kind of first book in a series that makes you want to pick up the other ones. And it’s an interesting world as well, one I’d love to delve further into. There are of course – as with any good fantasy – political conspiracies and intriguing mysteries set up to be investigated in the future.

Frazier’s writing is excellent, exactly to my taste – witty and fun when it’s called for, but serious and dark when it needs to be. What I enjoyed the most was the emerging of the evil that is crawling out of the shadows. Parts of it was surprisingly terrifying, and I love it when fantasy can take a dark turn. There’s also an excellent magic system in this novel, very interesting and very unique – a feat that can be difficult to accomplish in this day and age.

I enjoyed every minute of this book – and I don’t doubt any lover of fantasy would feel the same. Another indie gem, highly recommended. Good news is, there’s four books in the series already!

Finding Motivation

Lately I’ve been lost.

The last week or two, I’ve felt like I had no idea what I’m doing with myself. Not just with writing, but with everything I’m trying to do.

Work has been unfulfilling, my training felt like it was at a standstill, and my creative endeavors felt pointless. Life’s as a whole has just been a bit meh, lately.

Weird thing is, I had this notion that this had been going on for ages. That I’d been walking around feeling like this for, weeks, maybe months. Turns out – when I do a little bit of mental time-tracking and investigation (also known as remembering) – that less than two weeks ago I felt pretty good about everything.

So what’s the deal?

Of course, there is no deal. Life goes up and down, that’s just the way it is. That’s the price, but also the reward, of living. Can’t have highs without lows, it just doesn’t work like that.

What it really comes down to then, is to find an efficient way to, 1) Recognize a low, and 2) Find a way out of it.

Because no one likes being low. I can enjoy that sad melancholy of it occasionally, kind of like when you listen to a sad song and look at the pouring rain on car window, because you enjoy that feeling of it in that exact moment. But most of the time I want it to go away. I much prefer being on a high, feeling like what I’m doing matters.

Last night, I recognized one of those lows. I walked around here, trying to find something I wanted to spend my evening on, and caught myself thinking that absolutely everything was pointless. In that moment, that second I noticed myself thinking that, I managed to turn it around. I managed to get to step 2: Find a way out of it.

Now, I’m not sure exactly what I did. Maybe it was the fact that I recognized myself in that situation that made me able to turn it around, but it worked. I sat down with my guitar, tried to be creative for a bit – but not for too long! – then I moved on to other things I enjoy. I cooked myself dinner, watched a show, read a book, played a game, and called my wife.

In one sense, it’s just all the things I always do.

For some reason, it worked. Something changed. I woke up this morning (just a few hours ago), feeling completely different.

Now I’m going to try to hold onto this high feeling for a bit. It’s much more preferable.

What do you do when you feel low? Do you have go-to remedy that brings you back on track? A comfort food or a favorite show? A movie you’ve watched a dozen times that always makes everything right? Let me know in the comments!

And please, if you like thrillers and want to support an indie author, check out my books. You can pre-order my upcoming psychological thriller At The Gate today!