Gerald Dean Rice's Blog, page 45
April 7, 2014
April 4, 2014
If Only I had an Idea What This Was #buyindie #iartg #horror
Nick entered through the mudroom. His heart hammered in his chest like a fist-sized bird eager to be free. He could sense this was it, three weeks of investigation had lead him here, to this house.
He hadn’t knocked or even waited to see if anyone would come in or out; his sense had told him he needed to be inside immediately, that it was beyond a matter of life and death.
Nick proceeded quickly to the door opening into the house proper. He paused with a hand poised over the knob, took out his gun. Shooting someone wouldn’t be preferred but at the end of the day he’d rather risk a trial than be dead.
He opened the door and was surprised at the sight of a little person encased in shrink-wrap, strapped to a white piece of cardboard, propped against a door. Almost like a tiny (well, big) cut of steak like at the grocery store.
Poor little man. Nick thought that must have been a horrible way to go even though he had a serene look on his face. He was about to step into the little nook and passed him when the little man twitched. Barely perceptible and Nick almost missed it, but he had. He froze, stared intently, waiting for another movement.
There it was. The corner of his eye, half an eyelid flickered and was still again.
I wrote this back in September of last year, but I have no clue where it’s supposed to be going. It’s intriguing, but I have no clue what to do with it. It was titled, The Followers of Xokk.
Download a copy of Where the Monsters Are. Only $0.99!
Nick reached an arm out and finger-poked a hole in the plastic covering his open mouth. It took a moment, but then the ragged edges of the hole began to flagellate with the slight push-pull of his respiration.
Nick quickly unwrapped his head, then his body, coloring slowly trickling into the little man’s sheet-white cheeks. He blinked a couple times and Nick set him on the floor.
He regripped his gun. How many hundreds of years had man been doing that? Gripping a weapon for security like a child with a blanket or ragged teddy bear. But his tightening grip was inversely related to his relaxed mental state. At that moment he was supremely confident he could have handled an army of unknown foes with only the dozen bullets in his gun simply by virtue of how tightly he held it.
April 3, 2014
Non-Review Reviews #amazon #iartg #amreading
Download a copy of 30 Minute Plan and judge for yourself!
“Very disappointed. I was bored out of my mind by the Authors rambling even before I got to the story. Once I finally started reading I quickly stopped. It wasn’t what I had expected at all. It might be to someone else’s liking but I am not a fan of this author so far.”
Not that I should be immune to one-star reviews, but there’s absolutely nothing to this review to help anyone decide whether to or not to download this title. You were bored out of your mind by my rambling even before you got to the story. Do you mean the foreword? Why not just skip over it and go straight to the story? And why did you quickly stop once you got to the story? If it’s poor writing, a tired story, or whatever else, say that. I suspect this is someone else’s account and they’re posting anonymously.
April 2, 2014
LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO HELP WRITE BOOK #craigslist #ripoff
Looking for someone with knowledge of writing an autobiography. Also involved in hardcore punk band SBLC. Wanna write a tell all book of all the craziness,mishaps….and how the hell am I still alive. I think it would be a inspirational book. From a crazy upbringing..to punk rock underground band SBLC and the infamous (brightmoor punks) to getting run over, stabbed , shot…drug addiction..living in cars…to meeting my wife..growing up..being a father..to a wonderful like. Damn I really need help writing this….Please help out…looking for passionate people. Not just some stiff that needs money. I can’t pay much…if any. ..but you will be paid back dearly once its published. Anyone left in this world with passion for writing?….thank you!
Now I can certainly appreciate a hard luck story, but my same argument applies: don’t underwrite someone else’s dreams. This poster would pawn you off as ‘some stiff that needs money’ but why else would you let him leverage your valuable time, else you were going to get paid for it? I don’t know, maybe you do have a thing for homeless, drug-addicted punk rockers, but the majority of anyone interested and qualified to do this work want to get actual money rather than a promise of dear payments once the book is published.
I suppose this person who can’t pay much must have a killer marketing plan and copies will be flying off the shelves, right? Or is the material so crucial that millions will have no choice but to purchase? Don’t help out. People like this need to know our services as writers have actual, quantifiable value and we devalue ourselves by assisting. I don’t mean to come off as angry–really, I’m not–but by one writer lowering his value, we all have our prices cut.
I’m sure this person means well, but I mean well when I walk into a McDonald’s with a hungry belly and no money. I can’t get that #10 combo no matter how interesting my story is.
Read about more scams to be avoided here.
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April 1, 2014
#Emmy voters should embrace #TheWalkingDead
AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is not only the biggest hit on cable, it’s also delivering the kinds of numbers the broadcast networks have all but given up on. However, it’s usually overlooked in conversations about the best work on television, especially when overshadowed by “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” on the same network. But Emmy voters, you should approach it with fresh eyes this year.
March 27, 2014
The Weaving Dead #horrorsnippets
Okay, so I started this on a whim and I’m not exactly sure where this is going. Should I finish?
Check out more Horror Snippets here. And download a copy of my $0.99 zombie tale, The Butterman Cometh (The Zombie Archives).
Officer Teabody climbed his large frame out of his cruiser and casually closed the door. He jabbed both thumbs into his belt, oncing over the big black Buick he’d pulled over. The old car hadn’t been going fast and that was the problem. Had whoever this was simply driven ten miles above the speed limit like everyone else Teabody wouldn’t have noticed him at all.
He’d tried not seeing the car as he’d been thumbing around on his game of Sudoku on his iPhone, but the Buick had crawled across his peripheral vision, several passing cars honking, and thus demanding his attention. Teabody liked Sudoku a lot and he did not like pulling people over, but if he wanted to continue playing while being gainfully employed, he had to occasionally make a traffic stop or two.
And someone making such blatantly poor use of all three southbound lanes on Rochester right in front of him meant that big black Buick had to be one of them.
Teabody took a deep breath and unclipped his Glock. He slid it out and let it hang by his side. He wouldn’t need to use it, these sorts of stops rarely, if ever, had some psychopath behind the wheel. The psychos tended not to stop and wound up starting a high-speed chase and killing some poor unsuspecting motorist. No, the ones who stopped usually were the bluffers; people who were drunk or stoned who thought a breath mint could hide what was on their breath or an air freshener would mask the smell of marijuana.
But he followed the procedure on the off chance this would be the one-out-of-a-thousandth customer who would do something truly stupid like try to shoot him as he came up to the car. Officer Teabody sauntered over, his eyes examining the rear window for passengers in the backseat. All he could make out was darkness. He came up to the bumper of the big black Buick and stared into the side rearview mirror, hoping to get a look at the driver. But it had been turned crazily and the only thing he saw in the mirror was a view of Rochester road, completely useless to him and the driver prior to being pulled over.
His mouth disapproved, forming itself into a grim line. Teabody knew his mouth. He listened to it. It was telling him this one might be a winner. Maybe not a one-in-a-thousandth, but the guy right before him–someone who might demand a gun to be pointed in his face before he complied.
Teabody’s ears perked as he tried to listen for something above the throaty growl of the big black Buick’s old engine. It sounded like there was a geriatric lion under the hood. The car had definitely put its better days in its rear view, but it still could probably get up in speed. The brake lights were off, so the car was in park. If the driver put it in gear, it would take several seconds before he could pull out onto the street. Officer Teabody would be back in his car before he hit twenty miles an hour and would be hawking him before he reached the next stop light. He amended his estimation after he peeked over at the far side of the car and saw the tire was in mud. The big black Buick was rear-wheel drive and would do a significant amount of peeling before finding traction. He could probably make it back into his cruiser and pit the car before it got off the shoulder.
But the driver showed no sign of making a run for it. Matter of fact, he didn’t show any sign of anything. As he sidled up alongside the big black Buick, he hunched his shoulders, letting anything unexpected filter in through his senses. He didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary, didn’t even taste anything strange, but his twitching mouth told him there was more here than initially expected.
Finally, Teabody was just shy of the driver’s side door. The Buick was two-door so he was a little farther back than he wanted. The windows weren’t tinted, but it just looked so dark inside. He gradually made out the shoulders and head of the driver who appeared to be just sitting there, waiting. The window was rolled up, which agitated Teabody even further. Typically, people had the window down and were waiting for him, license, registration, and an unsure smile in hand.
This driver appeared to be sitting straight, eyes forward.
It made the corners of Teabody’s mouth nervous. Made him think about just raising his gun and firing until it fell on empty, reload, and begin firing again. Now there was an odd thought. He’d never fired on anyone before and this certainly hadn’t evolved into a situation that deserved it. He had to maintain control of himself.
He didn’t want to release the Glock from his thumbs-forward grip, but realized knocking on the window with the barrel of his gun might come off as a threat. He let go of the gun with one hand and wrapped on the glass.
The driver didn’t move.
March 24, 2014
#TheWalkingDead Season #Finale Predictions #amc
The following is a list of people who will die:
Maggie
Sasha
At least 2 guys in Darryl’s group
Some guy you see in the background once
Now what’s going to actually happen? After the events following the group’s hasty exit from the prison, surprisingly few people died. For a show that has no compunctions about killing main characters, there’s been too much build-up for all these main characters to make it. Combo that with the fact that Terminus looks quiet (one might say almost too quiet) that can only be foreshadowing that something grizzly is going to happen.
For starters, how does everyone just walk in unchallenged? When there are legions of walking corpses eager to rend the flesh of living people’s bones, it makes no sense that there aren’t any sentries. And that woman who greeted them seemed to have no worries that no one was there with ill intent.
I believe there were people in the buildings watching their every move and if anyone had done anything untoward they would have been summarily dispatched. That’s why I think Darryl’s new group is going to take heavy casualties.
I think this is going to be some sort of commune where people have to pay for continued protection. After a relatively small skirmish, everyone will be put properly in line and put to work.
One question, though. Why isn’t everyone shaking that scientist guy until he tells them what caused the outbreak? I mean, if he knows, wouldn’t you want to know immediately?
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March 14, 2014
The Lost Father
I know it sounds like the awesome title of some new thriller (and who knows, it may yet be), but this is a song I found by chance. My wife and I go to sleep to a Music Choice channel that plays soothing music. As I was laying down Wednesday night this came on and it just grabbed me. I leapt out of bed, put my glasses back on and read the title of the song and the composer.
Listen to Kevin Keller’s The Lost Father.
Did you hear that? Haunting, isn’t it? That is going to inspire me to write something. I looked him up on Amazon and I think I’m going to buy the ">Nocturnes CD and check out his other stuff.
And you know what reads really well with a nice Kevin Keller CD? Smells Like and Where the Monsters Are. Only $0.99!
March 10, 2014
A Gigantic Ripoff #scam #alert
I just spotted this one on Craig’s List. It seemed all right, right up until the point where they said they charge money. Read on:
Authors Needed (Houston)
compensation: yes
We are a small book publishing firm in Texas that has co-published 10 books and currently we are looking for more titles to publish in Barnes & Noble and Sears. We are looking for authors that have work that they are wanting to publish in a matter of weeks. We are open to all genres of work as well as length. We do NOT charge to review your work or decide if we would publish it. But, we do charge a small monthly fee of $40 per month after the book is in retailers. If you’re interested and would like to learn more or visits us at our office, send us an email and we can talk more and set up a visit. Thank you
Aside from the $40/month fee, I’m not entirely certain how they select titles to publish. No charge to review is always a good sign, but why are they in such a hurry to publish? Every publisher I work with has several months between when I submit a final draft to when they actually publish. It’s odd. And it’s a little confusing when they say they don’t decide if they would publish it. I suspect that’s a wording issue.
On second thought, this may not be a scam. But unless you know you are going to have high-volume sales (which is virtually impossible) and have no means of getting your book on shelves at Barnes and Noble or Sears (B&N actually has a way you can get your book on their shelves if you’re an indie publisher). This publisher needs to provide a lot more detail to show how it would be worth your while to pay them $40 a month. Starting with how they are going to make you at least $120 a month.
March 7, 2014
Get Your Manuscript Edited Here
In case you didn’t know, Razorline Press offers editing services. I’ve edited about 2 dozen titles, mostly horror, but that was by design. I can edit any genre. I just recently got a testimonial from one of the authors I work with and here’s what he had to say:
I love telling stories but damn I know I can make some typos. I’ve used Gerald Rice many times for my books and will continue to do so. I highly recommend him as an editor. He’s fast, knowledgeable, and affordable—the exact qualities you need in an editor. Don’t go out there and get fucked over by some fool pretending to be an editor. Gerald’s the real deal and his prices are a steal.
So if you’re wrapping up on a project and you want to take it to the next level by having it professionally edited, drop me an email at razorlinepress@gmail.com. I’ll even give you a free 500 word editing sampler.
