Rebecca Besser's Blog, page 33
February 3, 2016
A Howl in the Night Series by Courtney Rene
Sweet Sixteen is supposed to be a turning point in your life. The world is before you in all its glory, just waiting for you to reach out and grab it. Right? For Abigail Staton no, not so much. Not only does she suddenly lose her best friend due to a fight, but suddenly her mother expects her to believe that the father, she has never met, is actually a werewolf. With that revelation, Abby is thrust into the world of two wolf clans who are not only fighting each other, but also fighting for Abby, one of the few females born to the shape-shifters. Her father is determined to pair Abby up with Derek, a very dominant and overwhelming shifter. Abby vehemently balks at this union to disastrous results. When war is declared between the two clans, Abby has to decide what side she is actually on.
Life as a shape shifter is not as easy as it would seem, especially not for Abigail Staton. Being a teenager and a shape shifter is even harder, not to mention being one of the last remaining females in the two competing wolf clans and the only girl in her new schools. Striving to find where she belongs, gets sidelined when an old threat to the wolves resurfaces. The clans are forced to come together in a semi-truce, and the already dominant males become even more controlling in trying to protect their own as well as their secret. Abby finds herself in the middle yet again, but this time, she will need both clans in order to survive.
Author Courtney Rene
Courtney Rene lives in Ohio with her husband and two children. She is a graduate and member of the Institute of Children’s Literature. Her writings include magazine articles, short fiction stories, several anthologies, and her novel, Shadow Dancer, published through Rogue Phoenix Press. Her website is located at: www.Courtneyrene.com (www.ctnyrene.blogspot.com). Please feel free to contact her at ctnyrene@aol.com.
Find more of Courtney’s titles on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Courtney-Rene/e/B004X6SS2Y/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1454525029&sr=1-2
January 23, 2016
Writing – Personal VS Professional
By Rebecca Besser
Yesterday I posted about having inner peace as a writer and how a writer shouldn’t base their creative worth on book sales (Giving Up – Writing Isn’t An Option). In no way did I mean by that post that writers shouldn’t get paid and shouldn’t seek to get paid. Because I believe all artists should be paid for their work.
Being paid for your work and book sales are two different things.
An article writer, for instance, gets a flat rate for their work or gets paid a rate per word – this rate of pay has nothing to do with later sales of the publication.
As far as book sales, advances or signing bonuses a writer gets paid for their book are merely royalties paid in advance in the hopes of the publisher making that money back from book sales. A writers make no more money until the sales of their book have exceeded what they’ve already been paid in advance. Then they receive royalties (a percentage of sales that was agreed upon in their contract).
For writers that self-publish, they hope to get what they put into their book as far as editing and cover cost, etc., back through royalties earned from book sales, because they are author and publisher. This leads to self-published writers getting discouraged easily, because they’re all in and not making their money back when there are little to no sales.
Not placing your value as a creative artist on book sales does not mean that you shouldn’t get paid for the skilled work you do. You can control what you agree to write for as far as advances and per word rate by agreeing to those terms. You cannot predict sales or force anyone to buy your books later or if you self-publish. That’s always a gamble. Many marketing strategies can be tried, but none of them are a guarantee.
You can determine (to an extent) the worth of your work when you agree to terms, but you can never control sales. You can’t base your worth on something you can’t control. You can determine your work’s worth on terms you can negotiate through a paying market/publisher. You have the right to charge for your skill and your time.
Writing is a business once you seek publication through a market where you make money or self-publish a book for which you charge money. And that’s a choice – the choice to be a professional writer. You are choosing to be in the writing business, that you want to be paid for your skill and time.
But there’s another choice…
There are many writers who only ever seek to write for personal reasons. They’ll post on their blog or through non-paying markets, or give their books away for free all the time. That’s “personal” writing. Some make money eventually, once (or if) they get enough attention and someone offers to pay them, but they don’t seek out payment for what they write.
There’s nothing wrong with either option as long as you’re happy. You just need to understand the difference. And respect that people have the right to choose their own path.
The fact that I sought out and now have an agent speaks clearly for the path I’ve chosen. ;)
©Rebecca Besser, 2016. All rights reserved.
Giving Up – Writing Isn’t An Option
By Rebecca Besser
Over the last year or so, I’ve seen posts on social media where many writers I know have been down and have questioned whether they should give up writing. This has mostly come about because of low sales and feeling like they have a lack of fans.
At some point, I think even highly successful writers have wanted to give up – we’ve all heard stories about how Stephen King and other now popular authors had a lot of rejection early on in their careers. So, in actuality, it truly does happen to the best of us. We all have doubt when we try hard and it doesn’t look like we’re gaining anything. That’s simply human nature. We want to be recognized for our hard work, for pouring our souls out to the masses. We want all that time we took from our families and all the effort we put into making our work presentable to mean something. We want acknowledgement that most likely will never come.
After all, writing is easy, isn’t it? Everyone’s going to just write a book someday, right? (Yeah, I hate people who say stuff like that to me. They obviously know nothing about what it takes to actually write a book.)
What most people (who aren’t writers) don’t realize is that if you’re truly a writer giving up is never a real option. And people don’t just become writers one day because they decide to. Writers who are meant to be writers can’t help but write and they can’t give up. Writing is part of who they are. They’re happier when they’re writing than when their doing almost anything else. It goes the same for musicians, painters, and any other type of artist. The need to create, to express themselves through some medium isn’t just about how much their fans love them, it’s about being who they are inside.
Yes, all artists want their work to be appreciated. They all want fans and dream of success. But life doesn’t always work that way.
To be happy as a writer (or any other form of artist) you have to come to some kind of understanding with your inner self. Because you have to know where your creativity comes from and know that not everyone will see and understand what you create takes out of you.
You have to find acceptance and peace within yourself.
Once you do that, you won’t let your value be controlled by other people or sales, or anything else beyond your control. At that point, you can set personal goals for yourself and find success in the things you can control. Feed your goals and your inner self because writing starts with you. After that, it’s all a game of chance.
©Rebecca Besser, 2016. All rights reserved.
December 17, 2015
December 6, 2015
New Release – Strange by Mark Taylor
Title: Strange: A Dark and Surreal Collection
Author: Mark Taylor
Genre: Horror, Surrealism
Synopsis:
Are dreams made of jello or of blackened hearts? What are the four shadows? From a career defined by darkness comes the unexplained, the unbelievable and the shocking.
Mark Taylor’s Strange is a collection of six. Six tales of woe, six tales of terror, six layers of hate. But more, so much more, they are the answers in the darkness, the shades no longer grey…or are they?
Within the trials of Networking and the totalitarian Total Entertainment are the terrifying consequences of technology, and Eternal Light sees the world extinct. Inside and Elizabeth toy with the mind, and that just leaves Dead Game where you might like what you find.
Come, come and visit…come and play…where we are all a little…Strange.
Excerpt:
“Welcome to the Consternation Lounge.”
The calm, soothing voice of the Company echoed along the corridor as the door slid open silently. Massi looked to the ceiling as he listened to it. It was supposed to be a woman, but it was a machine. You could tell.
On the other side of the door a woman waited. She was real, he surmised. She was wearing a slim close-fitting trouser suit, her blond hair tied in a tight bunch at the back of her head. “Mr. Rubens?” She asked, smiling pleasantly, but she knew exactly who he was.
“Yes.” He returned the smile.
“Is this your first time?” The woman stepped forward and held out her hand to show him the way. She couldn’t touch him. That wasn’t allowed. Massi nodded and let her guide him. She led him across the shiny metal floor of the suite—perfectly smooth—his bare feet padding on the warm surface, to the single reclined booth. “There’s nothing to worry about. Have you experienced any of Absorption Entertainment’s catalogue?”
He eyed the booth nervously. “Yeah. ‘Bout two years back I tried one of the Darcy line. The booth looked different to this though.”
“Yes,” the woman nodded, “with each scenario the expected physical reaction is different. Darcy is a much mellower journey.”
“So, what will happen this time?”
“Oh, there really is nothing to worry about.” She gestured to the seat in the booth, “Please. I’ll set up the Experience.”
Massi pushed his doubts aside and slid into the booth, sitting back. This was too expensive to change your mind at the last minute. And besides, it was Absorption Entertainment. The last entertainment company left.
“Now,” she said, “as you have done this before do you want me to run through the procedures?” When he shook his head she continued. “When the play begins your vision will be altered, but not be too disoriented by it. If the last time you rented an Experience was two years ago, you should notice the wonder of the new Integrated Cerebral Platform,” She looked him in the eyes—she was attractive enough that he could have been aroused by her doing so, but she was staring deep beyond his face—looking into him.
“How long will it last?” he asked.
“Around two hours.” She smiled and tilted her head to the side like an air stewardess pandering to a frightened flier.
Then she was gone.
Massi had blinked from one reality to another.
The area smelled wretched. He couldn’t tell when or where he was, but the soft ground was covered in slicks of oil and grime. It looked like the pictures he had seen from the war. From within the darkness came a shuffling of feet…a mutter…followed by several moans.
The woman watched Massi’s vitals as he sank into The Experience, his fingers curling unconsciously around the arms of the booth. She slipped her hand into the Communications Imprint Device, the CIm-Dev, and interfaced with AI. “Client Rubens 4071 is in play.” A holographic countdown coagulated into being above Massi’s twitching body. It read 01:58:15.
She would return when his story was finished.
***
Author Mark TaylorMark Taylor’s debut novel crash landed on planet earth in 2013. Its dark brooding style benchmarked his writing and has led to further releases of novel and short story collection alike.
While most of Mark’s work is macabre, occasion has it that he will write about kittens and daisies. Just not very often.
Some say he is a product of his environment, others, a product of his own imagination.
©Mark Taylor, 2015. All rights reserved.
December 5, 2015
Survivor Dangers by Rebecca Besser
Survivor Dangers
By Rebecca Besser
By default most people think that the biggest threat during a Z-poc would be zombies. At first, that might be true. At first it will be the zombies, then it will be basic human stupidity in dealing the zombies, then it will be those stupid people turning into zombies, and if you survive all that… What’s next? Survival.
Survival in and of itself has a lot of dangers. Have you tried to live and sustain your life (and your family’s) without a decent shelter for more than a weekend camping trip? Can you even function without electricity and running water for more than a week? Or prepackaged food for more than a couple of days?
Most of you are probably sitting there thinking: “Pfft! Yeah, I’m tough!”
But what if the world went to shit in the dead of winter and you had no heat, no running water, and little food that you could gather without being able to run to the store? Can you even make a fire without matches?
Keeping yourself warm and fed are going to be the next dangers you’re going to have to face.
Yes, you will face other people, but that’s only if you survive long enough to do so.
More than likely, half (or more) of the human survivors that don’t become zombies would die from the cold or starvation.
Another half of what’s left would probably die of disease or infection from wounds or accidental injuries.
Now, let’s just say it’s not winter or you live in a warm climate… The number of people who would die from freezing would decrease, but instead dehydration or a sickness brought on by drinking contaminated water would increase. (After all, you could melt snow for water and that could help for a while.) Throw in heat exhaustion, low blood sugar, and the untellable other health issues anyone could have from living constantly in a harsh environment without adequate supplies…death is assured for most.
Granted, with that many people out of the way, prepacked food and bottled water sources will be overly plentiful, but you’ll more than likely have to fight for them.
That’s more injuries, more dehydration, more zombies, and more other people who want the same things and don’t want to share.
Most zombie entertainment doesn’t show you some of these aspects because they need their characters to live so they have a story to tell. We all know that real life isn’t that forgiving and we can’t all be that lucky.
We get mesmerized by those who survive in zombie entertainment because we like to imagine ourselves as them, being smart enough or lucky enough to beat the odds of ALL the things that could go wrong and are stacked against us.
But real life isn’t fiction. I don’t think there would be near the numbers we would hope for of survivors should something as global as a Z-poc happen.
And don’t even start to argue – it would be global with human stupidity and people doing so much traveling (it has been demonstrated in many stories and scenarios).
After thinking about all that could go wrong, and all that could kill you, I pose to you the question I asked my husband the other day:
Would you rather be a zombie or a survivor?
©Rebecca Besser, 2015. All rights reserved.
December 3, 2015
December 1, 2015
Teaser: John O’Brien #WinterofZombie
John O’Brien’s Teaser for #WinterofZombie!
Originally posted on Dying Days:
Teaser from A New World: Untold Stories 2
John O’Brien
Then, almost as if a switch had been thrown, everything went quiet. No one responded to queries, no one issued ongoing situational reports. The printers fell silent and no more messages arrived on the monitors. All heads stared at their screens and then, one by one, turned toward him. It was as if the world had drawn a deep breath, ready to unleash horror upon exhale. Joe heard startled screams that erupted in a chilling fashion down the hallways and from the adjacent rooms. The held breath was expelled, releasing terror upon on an unsuspecting world.
The heads that had been watching him following the sudden cessation of communications turned sharply toward an entrance situated in the middle of one wall. The two Marine guards posted there looked at the closed steel double doors, as if they could see what…
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Shut the Damn Door by Rebecca Besser
Shut the Damn Door
By Rebecca Besser
Recently, while watching Fear the Walking Dead, I found myself completely annoyed with the stupidity of humanity. In situations where people don’t know what’s going on or what to do, they tend to make the stupidest of decisions. Like leaving the damn doors open behind themselves when they leave the house and, by doing so, allow a zombie to get into their house.
I was literally screaming at the TV, calling the people idiots for not shutting the door to their house when they left.
My husband said, “You would do the same thing.”
I responded with, “No, I wouldn’t.”
Why wouldn’t I? Because I’m not stupid enough to leave everything open to someone or something that might harm me or my family. Hell, I’m allergic to cats so I shut the door every time I step outside so that one doesn’t sneak in while I’m not looking. I even shut the door so as not to allow bugs in because mosquitoes love me! I sure as hell wouldn’t leave the door to my house open if I thought anything even remotely close to zombies were running around outside. In that case, I wouldn’t leave the house unarmed. And I’d damn well shut the damn door.
Smart people don’t leave their secure, safe place open to just anyone or anything. That’s how people get hurt and die.
Yes, I’m aware people would be in denial, just like the characters of the show I just mentioned. But, they stared the dangers in the face (at least a couple of them did) prior to the incident. They made the mistake of not telling the third person in their party (who hadn’t witnessed what was going on) blind to the entire situation, hence the door being left open by that person. Hence the risk to all their lives.
Luckily they all managed to survive, even though that third person I mentioned finally came face to face with the danger no one would tell her about at the risk of her life. She managed to escape…barely.
You’re probably wondering why the writers would make their characters so naïve. Frankly, it’s because writers want a reaction from you. Example: Me screaming at the TV. They want you to feel something for the characters or about the characters. That’s how they get readership/watchers. Writers want the characters to be relatable in some way.
Even if you’re not stupid enough to leave the door to your house open during the Z-poc, I’m sure you know someone who is dumb enough to do so. Human beings will always be in denial of the biggest threats that face them. Those that survive in the hard times will be the people who are strong, decisive, and cautious (or the people who are protected by such a person). All the others will find their demise one way or another.
So, shut the damn door and survive. Protect yourself and your own. Be a strong survivor whatever the danger that’s staring you in the face.
©Rebecca Besser, 2015. All rights reserved.
November 29, 2015
Teaser: Jay Wilburn #WinterofZombie
Jay Wilburn’s Teaser for #WinterofZombie!
https://www.facebook.com/events/407191079474857/
Originally posted on Dying Days:
The Dead Song Legend Dodecology
Book 2: February from Vicksburg to Cherokee excerpt
by Jay Wilburn
They scrambled out from under the remains of the shack and ran through the gap created by the dead chasing them over the top where they used to be. Satch was carrying his sister trying to hold her throat, but he still nearly outran Tiny. Blood dripped into the pine straw behind them and Tiny heard the dead following.
“How far, Satch?”
“Down by the river. Keep going.”
As they crossed the road, a zombie with green smeared in its beard whirled on them. Satch ducked away and Tiny stabbed into its head. Brackish water gurgled out of the wound and the grimy creature collapsed to the road.
Another dove teeth first at Satch’s leg and he had no free hand. Tiny stabbed into the forehead and stopped the undead attack short. He ran…
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