Caleb J. Ross's Blog, page 65

Brand new story, "Different People Entirely" in the Ice Picks anthology. Horror? Yep.

When anthology editor S.S Michaels approached me last year about contributing a story to the Ice Picks: Most Chilling Stories from the Ice Plaza anthology, I hesitated for a moment. I never thought of what I write as horror. Grotesque? Sure. Morbid? Sometimes. Horror? No. But the more I thought about it, the more I accepted that a stretched definition of horror (never mind that I didn't even consider a narrow definition at all) could very well encompass my work.

Other people have thought of my work as horror, so I broke down and thought of the solicitation as a challenge. I came up with "Different People Entirely," a story of a breaking family that embarks on a vacation to the Ice Hotel in Scandinavia. How does the family fare? Read for yourself.

The anthology contains stories from the following authors:

Jeremy C. Shipp
Caleb J. Ross
Robert R. Best
David Dunwoody
Todd Austin Hunt
John Edward Lawson
Cate Gardner
Stacey Graham
Damien Walters Grintalis
S. S. Michaels (Editor)

New review of Murmurs: "If another writer tells stories quite like this, I do know know of him"

A beautiful few words from reader Frank Edler:

"These are fairly short bursts of that unique domestic fiction that Ross not only has a penchant for writing but also executes to a level that could earn him the moniker of 'Father of Domestic Fiction'. If another writer tells stories quite like this, I do know know of him or her…Once again I walk away from another of Caleb J. Ross' work with an uneasy feeling. ..The author is brilliant at looking at a tender moment and peeling away the layers to reveal the disturbing grotesque. We connect with it because under all our facades lies a bit of that same ugliness to some degree or another.

I must now venture forth into his longer works, STRANGER WILL and I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE KEVIN….I can not wait to have my emotions unsettled a little bit more."

Read the full review here.

I did it. I have an official author Facebook page now. Changes coming.

I did it. I broke down and created an official Caleb J. Ross author page on Facebook. I've been averse to doing this for a while, primarily because I want to avoid perceived ego as much as possible (well, as much as a guy with a self-titled website can do), but also because I don't want to bombard people with duplicate content posts. The logic being that until the official author page gains traction, I would have to post updates to both the author page and my personal page in order to curb anybody missing out on my genius (see, no ego there). Nobody needs double Caleb.

So, here's what I propose:

If you are currently a Facebook friend via my personal page, but you ONLY WANT TO RECEIVE AUTHOR TYPE UPDATES, then un-friend my personal page and Like my author page. You can actually do this by clicking this link or you can click "like" in the sidebar box to the right.
If you are currently a Facebook friend via my personal page, and you want to receive BOTH AUTHOR AND PERSONAL TYPE UPDATES, then stay friended AND Like my author page. You can actually do this by clicking this link or you can click "like" in the sidebar box to the right.*
If you are not currently a Facebook friend via my personal page, and you are not currently a fan of my author page, then you are likely responsible for the Holocaust. Sorry.

*The inevitable question: "If I am a Facebook friend on your personal page and I Like your author page, won't I be bombarded with duplicate content?" At first, yes. However, I have started a new category on this blog called Un-Writerly. Any blog post with this tag will ONLY be posted to my personal page and WILL NOT be posted to my author page. For example, if all is set up correctly, you are able to view this very blog post ONLY on my personal page. You may still receive a few duplicate status updates, but those should be very minimal.

Put this one on your radar. Psychosis, an Anthology

This one has been in development for  awhile and is getting closer and closer to seeing print. I hope, anyway. While I wasn't able to put something together to contribute to the collection (the editor approached me; I originally intended to, but life got crazy so I couldn't do it…not literally crazy, not crazy enough to be appropriate fodder for this anthology…just metaphorically crazy).

Add this to your RSS reader and keep an eye out for it. Based on the website, it appears we've got writing from the following authors to look forward to: Bryan Howie, Rebecca Jones-Howe, Dakota Taylor, Jessica Taylor, Kenneth Goldman, Liana V., Nicholas Wilczynski, Josef Van L., Richard Thomas, Renee Asher, DWG, Bradley Sands, Rachel Cohen, Sam Jackson, Martin Garrity, Cristiana Zanelli, and Sarah Davenport with Traci Foust, author of Nowhere Near Normal: A Memoir of OCD, writing the introduction. I don't know most of these authors, but I soon will.

Ryan W. Bradley Fails the Internet: The Code for Failure blog tour.

When I told Ryan that for the blog tour stop here I would write a bit about my own strange affection for convenience stores/gas stations he, in more eloquent words, told me I was crazy. Well, perhaps I misrepresented him. His actual words: "I like the nostalgia factor. I like the smell of gas but I'll tell ya, the nostalgia goes away when you work there."

Perhaps so. But if the work experience is anything like that of Code for Failure's narrator, then I'd say nostalgia is but one type of memory you'll come away with. This guy gets laid like a disembarking Hawaii tourist.

The novel is less a single, cohesive story and more a collection of vignettes all related to the narrator's job as a gas station attendant cum oil changer, or gas station attendant cum to married women and teenage girls, as the case may be.

Back to my gas stations. Why do I look back so fondly on convenience stores? Growing up in a small town of 3,500-4,000 people, shopping took place between two grocery stores and three gas stations. The gas stations felt consistently new and comforting. Why? I'm not sure. Perhaps the understanding of temporary fuel, of gaining sustenance where I probably shouldn't. Is this a comment on my fatherless childhood, needing to thrive in less than optimal conditions? Probably not. But I have no better reason.

When road-tripping (that's engaging in a long-distance trip in a car, not hotboxing in a vehicle) I actually look forward to the gas station breaks. I'm not at all the sitcom stereotype father, the guy who simply wants to 'get there' as fast as possible. I'm the sitcom stereotype kid who wants to break every 100 miles to pee.

But a kid's gas station Code for Failure is not.

You want a gas station experience like one you'll surely never have? Order Ryan W. Bradley's Code for Failure, now at Black Coffee Press.

While you're at it, check out the rest of the Code for Failure tour:

Monday March 19


The Next Big Book Blog




Tuesday March 20th


Allison Writes




Wednesday March 21st


This Blog Will Change Your Life




Thursday March 22


Dead End Follies




Friday March 23


Booked In Chico




Saturday March 24


Me




Sunday March 25


Monkey Bicycle




Monday March 26


Hawthorne Scarlet




Tuesday March 27th


Ryan W. Bradley

Kristin Fouquet offers some beautiful words about As a Machine and Parts: "I will continue thinking about this book for some time."

The always wonderful Kristin Fouquet offers some kind words about As a Machine and Parts over at La Salon Annex:

Reminiscent of Metamorphosis and Flowers for Algernon, Caleb J. Ross takes us inside the mind of a man who is transforming. This man, Mitchell, experiences a slide from human to machine. This transformation coincides with the deterioration of his relationship with a much older lover, Marsha…Although I place As a Machine and Parts on the shelf alongside Charactered Pieces and Stranger Will, I will continue thinking about this book for some time.

But perhaps my favorite line, just because I'm glad this particular referent story hit home with another writer:

As writers, we must always wonder what is derivative and how many words we can truly call our own.

Read the full review. Then, buy As a Machine and Parts. And while you are at it, round out that Amazon free shipping deal and grab Fouquet's incredible, Twenty Stories and Rampart & Toulouse.

Kristin Fouquet offers some beautiful works about As a Machine and Parts: "I will continue thinking about this book for some time."

The always wonderful Kristin Fouquet offers some kind words about As a Machine and Parts over at La Salon Annex:

Reminiscent of Metamorphosis and Flowers for Algernon, Caleb J. Ross takes us inside the mind of a man who is transforming. This man, Mitchell, experiences a slide from human to machine. This transformation coincides with the deterioration of his relationship with a much older lover, Marsha…Although I place As a Machine and Parts on the shelf alongside Charactered Pieces and Stranger Will, I will continue thinking about this book for some time.

But perhaps my favorite line, just because I'm glad this particular referent story hit home with another writer:

As writers, we must always wonder what is derivative and how many words we can truly call our own.

Read the full review. Then, buy As a Machine and Parts. And while you are at it, round out that Amazon free shipping deal and grab Fouquet's incredible, Twenty Stories and Rampart & Toulouse.

Does posting purchase links in social network comments lead to book sales?

It's been only two days since I started my Annoying Links test, and though I originally intended to stretch the test for a full week, I am going to cut it short. Why? A couple of reasons. One, I simply feel dirty posting links everywhere (even though I stated very explicitly up-front that the links were for study purposes only). Two, though only two days have gone by, the test isn't looking too positive.

The abbreviated results

Will posting self-promotional links in social network comments lead to book sales? Maybe. But is feeling like a dirty sales person worth it? No.

The process

Over the course of 2 days, I posted a total of 42 comment replies on Facebook and Google+, each containing two links at the end of the post. The posts themselves were genuine responses to comments, things I would have posted even if I weren't conducting a test.

The two links at the end of the post were 1) a self-promotional link for my book I Didn't Mean to be Kevin and 2) a link to the original annoying link blog post which explained why I posted annoying links in the first place. Examples below:

The results

44 visits to explanation blog post. During the two day test I received 44 social referral visits to the You may notice some really annoying links out there during the next week post. The most important ones to look at are those from Facebook and Google+ (which are the two networks on which I posted links).

19 visits from Facebook
1 visit from Google+

10 visits to the I Didn't Mean to be Kevin purchase page. The I Didn't Mean to be Kevin campaign page was established strictly for the purpose of this test, so it was restricted from being indexed by search engines which would potentially disturb the test. In other words, the most likely way someone could get to this page is through one of my comment posts.

6 visits from Facebook
1 visit from Google+
2 direct visits (meaning the URL was likely copy/pasted)

1 click on a link to purchase a book. I tagged each one of the bookseller links on the buy page with a Google Analytics event tracking code so I would know exactly how many times each was clicked.

1 click

Was it worth it?

Out of 44 annoying links I received 1 potential book sale. In short, no, it wasn't worth it.

Sure, expanding the networks in which I posted links may have helped. I could have also posted more than 20 (x2) links per day. I might even have had some success by being more strategic with my posts. Or perhaps by rejecting the desire to qualify the links with a comment about their annoyingness could have helped. But, even with those assumptions, I'm just not comfortable with the shotgun link approach.

More Stephen King Family Guy references. Surprised? You shouldn't be.

(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series)

An old episode, and honestly one of my least favorites. Not sure why, but this one just never did it for me. These two references come from the season two episode titled "A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Bucks" in which Chris becomes a hot-shot New York artist.

First, an evil stuffed clown at a carnival:

Stewie: "Ooooo how deliciously evil looking! It's like something out of Stephen King"

The evil clown doll may be a reference to King's character "Pennywise the Clown" from his novel"IT!" (catch credit goes to TVRage.com)

The above aside then leads directly into the second Stephen King gag, a more direct reference in which King (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) sells his publisher (or agent) on a terrible idea for a book. The publisher, of course, buys it.

Stephen King: Okay, for my 307th book .. this couple is attacked by a… uh…  A lamp monster!  .. ooh…

Publisher/Agent: You're not even trying anymore, are you?

King: ..

Publisher: When can I have it?

You may notice some really annoying links out there during the next week

(If you got to this page via an annoying social media or blog comment link, keep reading. This is all for the sake of science.)

I'm a data nerd. I've gone record stating such, and I'll go on record again. Something about seeing charts and graphs and trending lines and mapping the effect of X to Y and…let me pause to catch my breath a bit. I am fresh off a really successful Goodreads.com user study thing, so I'm itching to get back to the spreadsheets.

So why tell you this? I am going to conduct a week-long test of sorts that will probably be a bit more intrusive than most of my other studies. I've noticed a lot of incessant product whoring on forums, blog post comments, and social status updates. You know the kind: "BUY MY BOOK HERE," and "IF YOU LOVE VAMPIRES CLICK HERE." Annoying right? But people keep doing it. Why? It must work, right?

Right?

Well, that's what I'm going to find out. Over the next week or so I am going to end as many post comments and social status updates as possible with a link to the purchase page of my book. I'll track the clicks to my website. I'll also include a link to this blog post so that people are perhaps not entirely put off by the annoying sales pitches. I understand that having two links may dilute the test, but I'd rather play it safe and hopefully alleviate any hate.

Once I have the results, I'll post them here. Check back in about a week. The test may last longer, depending on how things work.

I know this is risky—If I was smart I'd create fake profiles, rather than use my real ones, but I'm not smart.

An example of the links you may see:

Check out I Didn't Mean to be Kevin, my newest novel: bit.ly/ReadKevin

Why am I posting this annoying link? See here: bit.ly/AnnoyingLinks