Bradley Convissar's Blog, page 2

It's Been a While

Well, as the title says, it's been a while.  So many other things going on.  And as they say, every minute spent on writing blog posts is a minute not working on actual writing.  But with my first full-length novel at the editor's, being beaten up by a professional, I find myself with a little free time.  Yes, I could be working hardcore on the novella I am finishing up, "The Fountain", or start working on the next book, The Hum, but I am enjoying a couple of days without any writing responsibilities.

Once Blood, Smoke and Ashes returns from the editor for a final go through, I am going to be spending a lot of late nights polishing that up, so there will be little time available for these mundane but necessary tasks, like: setting up advertising dates for February and March (done), putting together a new Darkest Days Publishing site (done, at www.darkestdayspublishing.com), writing up an intro page, an acknowledgment page, an end note (working on it), putting together a new biography (done), putting together the basic eBook document (need to start), putting together the basic print version document (need to start, not looking forward to that) and updating this blog site (still doing).  And those are just the tasks I can think of off the top of my head.

At least I can now cross 'writing my first blog post in over half a year' off the list.  It isn't exciting, but it is done.

Anyway, I'm going to put something up for the Coffinhop in the next day or two.  As soon as I figure out what I am doing.

Keep your eyes peeled for that.  And  I will be posting information, including firm release date and cover image, for  Blood, Smoke and Ashes as it becomes available.  But for now, you can click here to be brought to the book's official page over at Darkest Days Publishing.

Thanks for your time.

The Short Story- Novella-Novel Quagmire

As any of my fans know, I have yet to write a novel.  I am in the middle of one right now, but I have yet to publish one.  I have spent the past three years working on shorts works, and to this day have published 26 or so short stories and 4 novellas.

Now, I did this for one main reason: exposure.  In the time I spent working on these shorter works, I could have written two or two and a half books.  But then I would have had 2 or 3 works published  instead of the 16 or so collections and novellas I have available.  Was it the right choice?  Who knows.


Read more »

Goodreads giveaways

I am currently running a pair of giveaways on Goodreads, so click on the links below if you would like a chance to win a copy of either Reflecting on Midnight or Pandora's Children: The Complete Nightmares Book 1.Read more »

What's wrong with short stories?

After looking at various reviews of my free short stories, "Blink" and "Last Dance of a Black Widow" one of the most common complaints I found is... "I expected more" or "I was hoping for more" or "This would have made a good book but it was too short."  Or something similar.  People simply wanted more.  They enjoyed the story but needed to have more of it.  The killer is, these people then give me three out of five stars, not because they didn't enjoy what they read, but because they felt cheated.  Now, readers can't feel cheated monetarily because these stories are free, though I guess they can feel cheated time-wise because they spent ten minutes reading something that they thought never really ended... but that's a different issue altogether.


With "Blink", which is a sci-fi/horror story, people want to know what happens after Dr. Brian Mallory makes his hideous discovery.

With "Last Dance", a character sketch, people really want to know about Abbey Whistler's life before she died (the 3,000 word short story describes the time between actual death and when death comes for her).

Truth is, if I ever become a "professional writer" where I can spend less time at my real job and more time writing, I would be happy to write novels based on these two stories.  But the fact remains: they stand strong on their own as simple short stories.  And I did my job well if I have piqued readers interest enough that they are wondering about the stories after they have finished them.

When thinking about this topic, about short stories that really don't seem to have an adequate ending, my mind always travels back to Stephen King's "The Mangler" from Nightshift.  Talk about a story that has no real ending.  The laundry machine, which has killed half a dozen people, suddenly breaks free of it's moorings after  an exorcism, then ends abruptly.  What about "The Mist", a novella from Skeleton Crew.  The movie adaptation had a definitive ending, although an awful one, but the book offered nor real ending whatsoever.  In both cases, the reader is left dangling.  And you know what?  It's okay.

Now, part of me thinks that King meant for The Mist to be a full-length novel but just couldn't find a way to prolong and end it, giving us a very strange ending, but "The Mangler"... well, it was what it was, and that is okay.  Because it was entertaining.  Do I want to know, or need to know, what happens afterwards to have enjoyed what I read?  No.  Would it have been nice to know more?  Who knows.  Maybe more story would have turned an enjoyable short story into a mess of a novel or novella.  Reading should be about the trip, not the destination (though a bad ending can ruin the experience).  But again, I digress.

Both "Blink" and "Last Dance of a Black Widow" succeeded at being what I wanted them to be.  Short little jaunts that could be enjoyed in ten or fifteen minutes.  Could they have been expanded?  Sure.  Hell,  most stories, whether they be 100 word flash fiction or 900 page novels, can be expanded on.  But in the end, the reader has to understand that what an author releases is usually released in that form for a reason.  I am not ready to delve into Abbey Whistler's past yet, and I am not ready to explore the future of a world where sentient tongue jewelry exists.  But I wanted to tell these particular stories because I hoped that they would entertain and be a little thought provoking.  And, as far as I can tell, I succeeded.

So that is my story and I'm sticking to it.  You want to know more about these two particular stories?  I'll be happy to tell them one day when I have the time.  As for now, just know that I told the stories I wanted to and that I'm happy with the results.

Reflecting on Midnight covers- need your opinion part 2

Now I still want opinions on the title design from the previous post, but now I am going to ask for opinions when it comes to the author name itself.  Michael pointed out that my name in the 2 previous examples looked a little unbalanced because of the two capitals on the left and only one on the right.  And I do agree, to a degree, and I did notice it.  I just liked the design.  It's a little different.  But anyway, I adjusted the name and now want opinions on it.  Do you like the original style from the previous post, despite it being unbalanced?  I personally don't care for the balanced look, which you will find on the cover below on the left.  I like the straight across look on the right better than the look on the left.  But there's still something I liked about the unbalanced look...  Opinions welcome...

Reflecting on Midnight covers- need your opinion

If anyone can give me their opinion on which cover I should use, I would appreciate it.  Thanks!
The only difference is in the title.  I know the top looks really empty, but I really didn't want to block out the eyes and the nose in the clouds.  I may put a quote from a review up there... but anyway, if you could leave me  something in the comment section with your opinion, I would appreciate it!

Cover for "I Never: A tale from the Tavern at the Edge of Forever"

Here is the working cover for the final novella which will be included in my Reflections on Midnight collection at the end of the year, along with Digs of War, King of the Merge and FotoShop of the Gods".  More gangster/fantasy with a horror element.  Really defies all attempts to shove it into a single genre.

To read Dean Koontz or not to read Dean Koontz, that is the question

Ahhh, the tease that is Dean Koontz.  A new book comes out every year, and after serious consideration about whether or not I think I will enjoy it based on the description, I almost always buy it.  It may take years, but I always get it.   But why the hesitation? 

Because of huge, relatively recent disappointments.  Like The Good Guy and the Husband and My Heart Belongs to You.  And Relentless.  I wish I could scrub that book from my memory.  They all started with such promise.  And they all fizzled.  Bad.  Some worse than others.  One in particular crash and burned.

Now, I know that he, like King, will never reach his pinnacle again.  I doubt we will see such masterpieces as Midnight and Whispers and Phantoms again.  I don't know if it is a lack of interest in writing such epic stories, or his simple enjoyment in writing shorter works.  Whatever the reason, it doesn't mean that Koontz can not still write fun, engaging books.  And that is why I comes always come back.  Because for every crappy The Good Guy, there is a fun romp like Life Expectancy.  For every dull The Husband, there is a truly frightful The Taking.
And there is always Odd Thomas.  And while the newer installments have not been as good as the first book, they always keep me entertained.

Now, why bring this up now?  Because I just finished Breathless.  And it left me... well, definitely not breathless.  Or amazed.  Or even satisfied.  Disappointed, I guess.

I'm not going to go into depth on the story.  I still don't even understand the need for half the characters or side plots in this damn book, except to draw it out and make it longer!  It started out with potential.  The first several plot threads grabbed my interest and kept me rapt.  I want to see how everything was connected, how all of the characters would be drawn together.  But they never did get pulled together, and in retrospect, half the story seems... pointless.  Maybe it's me.  Maybe I missed something vital that would have connected the dots.  Maybe I'm just not smart enough.   But maybe Koontz tried too hard to be existential and just lost me along the way.
Every book Koontz writes has some includes some amount of philosophy.  He likes to wax poetically.  He loves to explore the philosophical beliefs of his characters.  And he likes to wonder about the nature of the universe.  But sometimes he just goes too far.  I love learning about what makes his characters tick, but I'll be blunt: I enjoy reading his stories about murderers more than I like reading his books about more esoteric topics.
Breathless was fun at the beginning, when I thought all of the characters were destined for a final confrontation.  But that confrontation never happened, and Koontz spent the last ten pages unsatisfactorily wrapping up some of the side stories and rambling about the mysteries of the universe.  I was bored.  And you know what?  I just didn't care.  And that's probably the worst feeling to evoke in a reader.

Apathy.

I would rather one of my readers HATE my book rather than not care.  Because to hate something, you need to feel something.  To hate, you need an emotional connection to the characters and the action.  To have an apathetic reader means that you failed to connect at all.

*Sigh*

There was a reason I waited a couple of years before I read this.  Just the description made me think I wasn't going to like.  But I'm a sucker for Koontz, so I read it. 

I hope "What the Night Knows" is better- it's sitting downstairs now.  I'll get to it after I finish Simmons' Song of Kali.  And I'm looking forward to 77 Shadow Street and Odd Apocalypse.  Hopefully they will be more fulfilling

Hopefully.

But, unfortunately, with Koontz these days, you never know.

I don't mean to beat up on the man; he has provided me with countless hours of entertainment over the years.  Sometimes I just wonder if he needs to be run over by a van to kick his ass into gear so he writes consistently great thrillers again.

New Free Books

After the success of Last Dance of a Black Widow (17,000 downloads in 10 days, 5 5-star reviews, Shelfari updates by a fan, and a significant amount of paid-for books sold), I have released 2 more books for free.  The first is an original 3,500 word short story, The Butcher:

 A killer is on the lose. A butcher who eats his victims. So far, five girls have died horribly, pieces of them mailed to the local newspaper. Will Miranda be the sixth? Or has the Butcher of Bayonne bitten off more than he can chew this time.

The second is The Madame Penitent, which can be found in both Pandora's Children Book 3 and The Complete Nightmares Book 1.  This is probably my favorite story in the collection and is a fan favorite.  I also included Naughty and Nice as a bonus, which can be found for free in Dark Interludes and also The Complete Nightmares Book 2.  I included this story simply because it is a fun read.  While I was re-editing it a month ago, I realized why it won 3rd place in Suspense Magazine's annual contest: because it is dark and funny with a lot of good lines.

Anyway, both are now available on Smashwords for free, and will be available on Amazon for free in a month or so- it is quite a convoluted path for an indie author to get their stuff on Amazon for free, but it can be done.  Just takes a while.  Anyway, here are the covers.

Flesh Gothic by Edward Lee review

I have started to write quick reviews for EVERYTHING I read, whether it be a 600 page book by a traditionally published author or a 5 page short story I downloaded for free from Amazon.  I will start with the book I just finished  20 minutes ago:  Flesh Gothic by Edward Lee.


This is the second book I have read by Mr. Lee, the first being Ghost Train.  I'll give it a solid 3 stars because, while I wouldn't recommend it to someone else to read unless they were a huge fan of splatterpunk horror, it wasn't awful and kept my attention.

The plot, as with most of Mr. Lee's and Richard Laymon's books, centers around sex.  But this book goes even further, exploring the most carnal, depraved and violent sexual experiences one can imagine. Lee paints a very vivid portrait of sex and violence becoming intertwined to create a sort of Hell on earth and it can get a little uncomfortable.  But that's his purpose, so I can't complain.

There isn't anything deep about this book, nothing philosophical, nothing to really dissect or wonder about once it is over.  It is what it is:  a quick, fun romp full of blood and monsters, murder and sex, betrayal and violence.

And all of that being said, I think what bothered me the most was that the book didn't have a satisfactory conclusion.  It felt like Act 1 in a 2-Act book, and when it was over, I asked myself: Is that it?  It felt like it needed another hundred pages.  Or a sequel.  for two reasons.  One, to finish the story. And two, to close some of the nagging plot holes.

Anyway, that is all I will say on this book.  If you are a fan of the SAW movies and like books that are not terribly scary but full of sex and gore, then pick it up.